Clymene

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In the first verse of Canto XVII of Paradise Dante compares himself to Phaethon, who with the very same spirit went to his mother Clymene to ascertain what he had heard about his origin, namely whether he were not truly the son of the Sun. The author-approved note on the canto clarifies the meaning of the mythological parallel: just as the mythical youth, having obtained from his father permission to drive the sun-chariot, brought death upon himself, so Dante approaches his ancestor Cacciaguida full of doubt about the answer he will receive concerning his future life. Clymene is therefore evoked not as a presence in the journey, but solely as the term of the mythological comparison opened by the poet to raise himself to a heroic dimension at the decisive moment of the prophecy. The entry assigns her no roles beyond the maternal one with respect to Phaethon, the only fact that the anchor verses and the author-approved note furnish with certainty.