Argus

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In Purgatorio XXIX Dante describes the peacock's tail, whose feathers are full of eyes like the eyes of Argus, establishing a simile between the eye-shaped spots on the bird's feathers and the far-reaching gaze of the mythological figure. Argus is recalled here in his quality as a guardian endowed with a multiform and ubiquitous sight, a quality that had made him famous as a watchman. The Dantesque reference evokes the classical tradition of Argus Panoptes, the hundred-eyed guardian, placing him within a visual simile that heightens the wonder of the canto. The mention is limited to this figurative comparison within the canto, with no further narrative development.