Commentary Par XVII 46-48

At least since the time of Scartazzini, commentators have recognized that the word indicating a cruel step-mother (noverca: Phaedra, Florence) and that indicating a man unjustly exiled (immeritum: Hippolytus, Dante) are found in a passage in Ovid's Metamorphoses (XV.497-505).  At least this seems to have been true in the text of Ovid known to Dante, which had 'immeritumque' where modern texts show 'meritumque.'  Bosco/Reggio (DDP Bosco.Par.XVII.46-48) point out that the words exul immeritus found in four of Dante's thirteen epistles likely come from this passage in Ovid and that Hippolytus, as a result, should be considered a figura Dantis.  And for Dante's sense of himself as sharing with Ovid the experience of exile, see C.Par.XVII.55-57.

As Cacciaguida begins his lengthy series of predictions concerning Dante's life, we may perhaps remember that two passages in Inferno ([Inf X 130-132] and [Inf XV 88-90]) surely seem to promise that Beatrice will be the one to reveal to Dante the course of his future life.  Several readers have advanced hypotheses in order to account for Dante's obvious change in plan, most notably Marguerite Mills Chiarenza.  For a summary of her argument, see [Inf X 130-132]. But see also Martinelli (Mart.1979.1), arguing that the Anchises/Aeneas relationship in Aeneid VI was in fact the governing reason for the change.