Meleager

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In Purgatorio, Virgil recalls to Dante the example of Meleager to illustrate the question, posed by him shortly before, of how it is possible to grow thin in bodies that have no need for nourishment, such as those of souls. According to the myth, reported in the notes to the canto, the life of Meleager was destined, by the will of the Fates, to last as long as a brand thrown into the fire at the moment of his birth. The Ovidian reference indicated in the notes points to Metamorphoses VIII, where the destiny tied to the brand is narrated at length. The Dantesque mention is exclusively paradigmatic: it serves to support an explanatory simile and does not place Meleager in any circle, terrace, or heaven of the otherworldly journey.