Commentary Purg XXI 67-72

His use of the first person here is the first instance of an autobiographical bent on the speaker's part, but his self-identification still awaits.  He only now formally concludes his response to Dante's insistent and paired questions, first alluded to in the last canto ([Purg XX 145-151]); in a gesture typical of purgatorial brotherhood, his next thought is for his fellow penitents (cf. Virgil's similar wish at [Purg XXI 16-18]).  (For Statius's various sins and the time spent purging them on the mountain, see C.Purg.XXI.22-24 and C.Purg.XXII.92-93.)