Commentary Par XI 72

A much debated line, from the earliest days to the present.  Is the verb in this line pianse (wept), as Petrocchi has decided, or is it salse (climbed), as Benvenuto da Imola insisted (DDP Benvenuto.Par.XI.70-72)?  Evidently, the shocking and otherwise unheard-of act that is portrayed if the reader accepts the second option has kept some commentators on the side of the version of this verse contained in the Codice cassinese, in which we find pianse.  As always, we are constrained (as we should be) by our decision to follow Petrocchi's text; on this occasion we would have gladly been governed by Benvenuto's reading of the line.