Real

meadow

Prato as a hellish topographic term cited by Ulysses at Inferno XXVI, 9, referring to a place of waiting and desire beyond the sea.

Description

In the twenty-sixth canto of the Inferno Ulysses describes his own journey beyond the Pillars of Hercules, recalling that, as he approached Spain, he sighted the place indicated as Prato. According to the note on the verse, Prato is the name that Dante's Ulysses gives to an overseas goal longed for by him; the phrase «di quel che Prato, non ch'altri, t'agogna» indicates a place that is the object of desire, set against every other possible destination. The critical tradition discussed in the notes recalls the identification of this site with a promised or mythical land, evoked as the ultimate term of navigation beyond the limits of the known world.

In the text

Linked verses

1 verses
CanticaCantoVersoTestoOpen verse
InfernoCanto XXVI9di quel che Prato, non ch’altri, t’agogna.Open verse