Commentary Purg XXVII 142

The precise meaning and reference of this concluding verse has been the subject of much discussion.  The meta-literary sense that he has of the canto as a whole leads Picone (Pico.1987.2), pp. 400-401, to allegorize the crown and miter that Virgil awards Dante as (1) the triumphant laurel of the modern poet and (2) the Christian truth that he can add to Virgil's store of pagan wisdom and poetic technique.  As Fasani (Fasa.2001.1), p. 432, points out, although the modern discussion has tended to treat the terms as synonyms, as long ago as in the commentaries of the Ottimo (DDP Ottimo.Purg.XXVII.139-142) and of Francesco da Buti (DDP Buti.Purg.XXVII.124-142) they were understood as separate entities.  To the Ottimo they signified 'rector and shepherd'; to Francesco, laurel crown ('corono; di laurea, come poeta') and bishop's miter ('come vescovo e guidatore dell'anima tua a l'eterna salute' [as bishop and guide over your own soul, bound for eternal salvation]), two very different sorts of adornment for Dante's head.  Fasani opts for the crown as a sign of Dante's active life, his temporal (and decidedly imperial) political mission, and sees the miter as an image of his contemplative life, the poet's spiritual mission.

      In the recent and continuing argument there are those who argue, as did Contini (Cont.1976.1), pp. 188-89, citing Scartazzini (DDP Scartazzini.Purg.XXVII.142), who had come upon a description of the coronation of the emperor Otto IV in 1209 in which he was crowned and mitered in a study by one Father Ponta, collected in his Opere su Dante, published in 1845, pp. 189 and 193, that for Virgil to grant ecclesiastical authority is totally foreign to anything we have read in this poem.  In an entirely similar mode, Singleton (Sing.1958.1), pp. 64-69, cites (not Ponta or Scartazzini or Contini) Kantorowicz (Kant.1957.1), pp. 491-92, for the use of the miter in the crowning of the temporal ruler.  This series of interesting attempts to make Virgil's last words in the poem tautological does, however, leave one less than easily convinced; the word 'miter' is removed from an ecclesiastical context only with difficulty.

      Virgil can make Dante neither an emperor nor a bishop (and surely not a pope).  He is metaphorically crowning Dante for now having, in his will, the ability to rule himself morally, as the world, were it only better governed, would be ruled by two powers, emperor and pope.  Dante is now said by Virgil to be in complete command of the powers of his will, a microcosmic image of the world made just (improbable as Dante would have thought such a happy state) under its two prime authorities.