Commentary Par IV 55-57

Bosco/Reggio, in their comment on this passage (DDP Bosco.Par.IV.55-57), point out that its source may lie in Albertus Magnus, De natura et origine animae (II.7), since that is a sure source for the embryology of Purgatorio XXV, as was established by Bruno Nardi ('L'origine dell'anima umana secondo Dante' [1931-1932], repr. in Nard.1960.2).  Should that be true (and, as they argue, it seems likely that it is, since there is little to suggest Dante really knew any Plato directly, even in Latin translation), it would deeply undercut the notion that Dante's acquaintance with the Timaeus was firsthand.  And this would also reveal that Dante had a noted precursor in trying at least to open the question of Plato's possible acceptability to Christian thinkers, as one tradition has even no less a rigorist than Thomas Aquinas doing (see the last sentence of C.Par.IV.55-63).