The Last Voyage

Ulysses, persuasive speech, and the limits of travel

Odysseus survives by knowing how to travel and when to resist an invitation. Dante's Ulysses turns the desire to know into a final voyage beyond permitted waters. Virgil's account of his cunning and Dante's dream Siren make persuasive speech part of the danger.

1. Odyssey 11.126–137
2. Odyssey 12.184–191
3. Aeneid 2.162–170
4. Inferno 26.55–63
5. Inferno 26.112–120
6. Inferno 26.130–142
7. Purgatorio 19.19–24