Venus

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The entry documents exclusively the mention of Venus in Purgatorio XXVIII, v. 65, where the effect of Matelda's gaze is compared to the goddess wounded by her son. According to the authorized note on the same canto, Venus was struck by an arrow of Cupid accidentally, as Ovid recounts in the Metamorphoses (X 525 ff.), and fell desperately in love with Adonis; the note further clarifies that the Ovidian reference serves to mark the theme of love that transpires from the figure of Matelda, described by Dante from the opening verses. The note specifies that the expression «fuor di tutto suo costume» alludes presumably to the fact that Cupid wounded Venus without intending to, without realizing it, whereas his custom was to strike the target deliberately.