Commentary Par XXX 95-99

On identical rhymes, see Wlassics (Wlas.1975.1), p. 121.  He points out that this repetition of vidi (I saw) underlines the claim for a poetics based in seeing and making seen.  As several commentators have observed (apparently the first was Scartazzini [DDP Scartazzini.Par.XXX.97-99]), aside from the four occurrences of the identical rhymes of 'Cristo' (see C.Par.XII.71-75), there are only two other cases of triple identical rhymes in the poem, the bitterly ironic repetition of 'per ammenda' in [Purg XX 65-69] and the occurrences of 'vidi' here.

Responding to the word's presence in verse 61, Aversano (Aver.2000.2), p. 152, points to the repetitive pattern of the same form, vidi, in John's Apocalypse (four times in Apoc. 5:1-11).  Dante uses that form seven times in all in this canto, the most of any canto in the cantica (Par. XVIII is the nearest challenger, with six uses; however, Inferno IV, with its list of forty virtuous pagans whom the protagonist saw in the Limbus, has fully eleven appearances of vidi; and in Purgatorio XXXII, there are eight.  There are 167 occurrences of this form of the verb vedere in the poem, all but fourteen of them spoken by the poet; exceptions include Virgil [at [Inf IV 53], [Inf VIII 25], and [Inf XXIX 25]], the protagonist [at [Inf XXIV 129]], and several souls to whom Dante listens [[Inf XXVI 103], [Inf XXVII 79], [Inf XXVIII 71], [Inf XXXII 116]; [Par XIII 136]; [Par XV 115]; [Par XVI 88], [Par XVI 91], [Par XVI 109]].)  Vidi is one of Dante's favorite locutions, reflecting his strategic insistence on the reality of his experience.  Cf. Scott (Scot.2002.1), p. 481, pointing out that the nominal form occhi is the substantive most frequently found in the poem, occurring 213 times (263 if we include the singular, occhio, nearly twice the total of the second-most-used noun, mondo [143 occurrences]).