By another way, another port
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disse: « Per altra via, per altri porti verrai a piaggia, non qui, per passare: più lieve legno convien che ti porti».
he said: “By another way, by other ports you will come to a shore to cross, not here: a lighter vessel must carry you.”
Charon tells Dante he will come to shore by another way and a lighter boat, not here.
Charon, still not grasping who has come, sends Dante off to a different crossing: <i>per altra via, per altri porti</i>. He half-glimpses the truth without knowing it. The living man is indeed bound for another passage — not this ferry of the damned but, in time, the shore of Purgatory, where the saved are carried.
<i>Più lieve legno</i>, a lighter vessel, is Charon's own phrase, and it points beyond his understanding. His heavy boat is for the weight of the lost; a soul not damned needs a lighter craft. The ferryman speaks a prophecy he does not know he is making.
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