John the Baptist

Profile

John the Baptist is recalled by Dante in Purgatorio as the one who was nourished in the desert. The Gospel tradition, cited by the commentaries, indicates that the Baptist fed on locusts and wild honey during his penance. The note to the passage contrasts this humble diet with the greatness of his figure, which the Gospel itself proclaims as the greatest among those born of woman. The Dantesque reference to the locust, a bitter food, is compared to the acorns made savory by hunger, according to a rationalist explanation of the myth of the age of gold. The closing of the canto signals the voice that proclaims the humble and glorious figure of the forerunner, a conclusion that Dante also takes up in Paradiso.