(Note to the reader: This Introduction is intended to give the reader a broad view of the action and significance of the entire Purgatorio from its beginning to the end. As with the Inferno and the Paradiso, each canto of this second Canticle of the Poem is also preceded by a brief summary.)
Dante’s Purgatorio is the second Canticle of his three-part Divine Comedy, the story of his protagonist’s (also named Dante) journey through the afterlife from Hell to Paradise. It is difficult to assign a precise date for its writing, but since he seems to have written the Inferno around 1307, the Purgatorio (and his later Paradiso) would have followed before he died in 1321.
The Doctrine of Purgatory
Catholic doctrine teaches that Purgatory is a place or state where souls after death are purged (as the name of the place suggests) of any remaining taint of sin before entering Heaven. Unlike Heaven and Hell, Purgatory is a temporal “place” that will cease at the end of time. Thus, souls in Purgatory are not there permanently. The amount of time a soul might be there is known only to God, and may differ from soul to soul depending on the progress they need to make (or make up) toward the goal of their eternal salvation. In contrast to the hopelessness of Hell, the temporal nature of Purgatory makes it a place of hope and redemption.
There are no specific references to Purgatory in the Hebrew Bible, though one will find in later texts the idea of prayers for the dead, and Catholics are often encouraged to pray for the souls in Purgatory. The Second Book of Maccabees (12:43ff) is often mentioned in this regard. In the New Testament, while Jesus makes frequent references to Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven, Resurrection, eternal life, and a few to Hell, etc., he says nothing about an intermediate place between them. And a convoluted passage in St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (3:11-15) is often referred to as pointing to salvation after some period of punishment. Given the human condition and the understanding that no one is perfect, there is a certain logic to the idea of Purgatory as a place “on the way” to Heaven where the soul is cleansed of what remained “undone,” as it were, during one’s life. In comparison to this paucity of biblical and doctrinal information, Dante’s presentation of Purgatory is wonderfully detailed.
Location of Purgatory
In the Divine Comedy, Dante conceives of Hell as an immense, upside-down conical abyss that stops at the very center of the Earth. Damned souls, according to the gravity of their sins, which they wilfully chose over God, are punished on various levels within the cone. The sins and resulting punishments become more terrible the farther down one goes. Accompanied by his guide and mentor, Virgil, Dante saw the whole of it. Purgatory, on the other hand, is conceived of by the Poet as a mountain at the opposite side of the globe from Jerusalem, with levels like Hell on which sinners undergo various punishments as part of their purgation before entering Heaven. Dante’s Paradise exists in the Empyrean, outside the cosmos and beyond time and space.
The genius of Dante’s imagination never ceases to amaze the readers of his Poem, and his explanation of the formation of the pit of Hell and the mountain of Purgatory is cleverly conceived. Virgil explains this to him in the last canto of the Inferno. Following the design of Ptolemy, the second century AD Egyptian astronomer, Dante’s cosmos consists of a series of nested transparent crystalline globes, most of them named after the known planets at the time, with the Earth at the center. This design generally held until the time of Copernicus and Galileo.
When Dante and Virgil arrived at the frozen bottom of Hell (at the center of the Earth), they saw Lucifer from the waist up. The rest of him was frozen in the ice. In order to leave Hell, it was necessary for the two travelers to climb down through the ice hanging on to the shaggy haunches of Lucifer. At the hip, literally at the center of the Earth, they had to turn themselves around and climb upward to get through the ice. The size of Lucifer was immense, and once on the other side, Dante was amazed to see his huge legs pointing upward from the ice. Virgil then explained. When Lucifer was thrown out of Heaven, he fell downward through the cosmos toward the Earth, pierced the southern hemisphere, and stopped at the very center of all gravity. He couldn’t fall any further without going upward again. At one time, there was land in the southern hemisphere, but when Lucifer approached, that land sank in horror at what was coming and moved to the northern hemisphere. At the same time, all the earth ahead of Lucifer’s boring down flew up behind him forming the Mountain of Purgatory directly above/opposite the spot where he fell down into the sea. The great “funnel” shape of Hell is thus mirrored by the “cone” shape of the mountain. In Dante’s geography there is nothing in the southern hemisphere but water and the Mountain of Purgatory.
A Pilgrim Going Home
Dante’s Comedy is the record of a spiritual journey. Its purpose is to lead the reader from a state of misery to a state of utter fulfillment and happiness. Written as an exile from Florence, the Poem mirrors the soul as an exile from Heaven longing for and returning to its original home with God. It is a kind of pilgrimage to a sacred place, and like all journeys of this type, the experience is transformative. On his way “home,” Dante saw the effects of sin in all its forms as he traveled among the eternally damned down to the bottom of Hell. Climbing the mountain of Purgatory along with his guide, Virgil, he will also see sinners and punishments. But these in Purgatory repented before they died, whereas those in Hell willfully chose their sin instead of repentance. In Purgatory, then, the experience of suffering and punishment is redemptive for the souls there, who willingly undergo the purgations that restore them to their original state of innocence. In his Inferno, the souls in some places are tormented by demons. This is not the case in Dante’s Purgatory.
There are three distinct areas on the mountain. At the base is Ante-Purgatory, which covers Cantos 1-9. Here we find souls who are not ready to begin their renewal because they delayed their repentance while they were alive, or their repentance was insufficient. The center and largest area on the mountain is divided into seven levels or terraces, which is covered in Cantos 10-27. Each terrace has a specific punishment matching one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Souls whose lives were most marked by one of these sins spend time on that particular terrace. At the top of the mountain is the third area, the Earthly Paradise (Garden of Eden), covered in Cantos 28-33.
Dantean Theology
It is fair to say that Dante’s theo-poetic formulation of the afterlife has continued to capture both the spiritual and literary imaginations of countless readers over the last seven hundred years. While the doctrine of Purgatory is rather understated in terms of its biblical foundations, from Dante’s time onward, his poetic expression of that doctrine has (perhaps to the chagrin of some theologians) given that doctrine a set of images that continue to capture the imaginations of thoughtful readers–Christian and otherwise. While some parts of this second Canticle are uniquely Dantean, the whole of it is grounded in a wholesome and hopeful Christian theology that energizes its theme of the ultimate goodness and redemption of the human person. This is a place of restorative love. What the souls in Purgatory did not achieve in terms of moral or spiritual goodness, this they complete while they suffer in the various ways Dante will show us. And, again, it is important to note that those in Hell freely chose to be there by choosing their sin over God. Noting this, Dante tells us “they lost the good of the intellect.” They became petrified in their sin. By contrast, the souls in Purgatory may have been terrible sinners or lesser ones, but all of them, at some point in their lives, accepted the grace of God (some, as we will see, at the very last moment).
The Role of Beatrice
Beatrice Portinari and Dante Alighieri were the same age and lived in the same neighborhood in Florence. Though they came from different family backgrounds, they were acquainted, and it is fair to say that Dante was attracted to her. But, as I remind my students, they were not lovers, nor was there any affair between them. Beatrice married Simone de’ Bardi in 1287 when she was 23, and died three years later. Dante, in the then-current literary tradition of courtly love, wrote his Vita Nuova (the New Life). This is an autobiographical book of/on poetry, where Beatrice is the subject of many of his poems. Following the last poem in this book he writes:
“After writing this sonnet a marvelous vision appeared to me, in which I saw things that made me decide not to say anything more about this blessed lady until I was capable of writing about her more worthily. To achieve this I am doing all that I can, as surely she knows. So that, if it be pleasing to Him who is that for which all things live, and if my life is long enough, I hope to say things about her that have never been said about any woman. Then, if it be pleasing to Him who is the Lord of benevolence and grace, may my soul go to contemplate the glory of its lady–that blessed Beatrice, who gazes in glory into the face of Him Who is blessed forever and ever.”
She later became for him an icon of all that is true, good, and beautiful, the inspiration and energy behind the Divine Comedy.
In Canto 2 of the Inferno Virgil explained to Dante how Beatrice came to him in Limbo and commissioned him, on behalf of the Virgin Mary, to guide Dante down through Hell and up to the top of Purgatory. As the reader will discover, Beatrice will be waiting for him there. Her message to Virgil was urgent because Dante had lost the right path (as he admitted in the opening lines of the Inferno) and was, as a result, in grave danger of losing his soul! The journey through Hell and Purgatory will save him. Though she is mentioned from time to time along the way, she does not appear again until Canto 30 in the Purgatorio.
Arrival at Purgatory
Dante and Virgil emerge from Hell onto the shore of Purgatory at sunrise on Easter Sunday morning in 1300, and they will be on the mountain until noon the following Wednesday. Their days in Hell were significant in that those days commemorate the darkest time in Jesus’ life: his betrayal and arrest, his crucifixion, and his burial. In contrast, their arrival in Purgatory on the day of his Resurrection is marked by a wonderful display of stars and planets in the sky and a spectacular sunrise. One can imagine the pilgrims’ relief from the oppressive darkness and stench of Hell when they emerged to see the entire cosmos laid out before them. Immediately, Dante, like a god, acclaims: “Let the poetry of death rise up!”
Recalling that various areas of Hell had historical or mythological guardians, it is not long before Dante and Virgil encounter Cato of Utica, the famous 1st century Roman statesman and orator. He is the guardian of the shore approach to the mountain. That Cato, a pagan and a (noble) suicide, should assume this role in what is doctrinally so Roman Catholic a place as Purgatory must have been for some readers, and still is for others, a great shock. However, right from the start, Dante asserts his authority as a poet, even though he is writing about matters theological. Furthermore, if Dante the character has experienced in the extreme, one might say, the justice of God in the Inferno, in the Purgatorio he experiences the broad view of divine mercy. Consider the famous hymn by F.W. Faber, There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy, and keep it in mind as you read and experience Purgatory with Dante:
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, / like the wideness of the sea.
There’s a kindness in God’s justice, / which is more than liberty.
There is welcome for the sinner, / and more graces for the good.
There is mercy with the Savior, / there is healing in his blood.
But we make God’s love too narrow / by false limits of our own,
and we magnify its strictness / with a zeal God will not own.
For the love of God is broader / than the measures of the mind,
and the heart of the Eternal / is most wonderfully kind.
If our love were but more simple, / we should rest upon God’s word,
and our lives would be illumined / by the presence of our Lord.
In Hell, the passing of time was measured by reference to the moon. Here in Purgatory, everything in the heavens can be seen. Just before he sees Cato, Dante sees a constellation of four stars (the Southern Cross?) last seen by Adam. They represent the Four Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude, and their light shines on the venerable face of Cato. In his role of guardian, and thinking Dante and Virgil have escaped from Hell, he immediately challenges them as to how they got there. Satisfied with Virgil’s answer, he sends them down to the shore and tells Virgil to wash the grime of Hell off of Dante’s face. He also tells Virgil to pluck a reed from among the plants that grow along the shore and wrap it around Dante’s waist. Both actions are highly symbolic. The washing of Dante’s face is a kind of baptism. In the sacrament of baptism, the immersion in or pouring on of the water symbolizes the washing away of sin and, in the case of immersion, coming up from the waters of death to a new life with Christ. In the sacrament, the one being baptized is clothed in a white garment that symbolizes their new life with Christ in the community of believers. The reed Virgil wraps around Dante’s waste recalls that white garment. It also symbolizes his commitment to continue the journey. In Canto 17 of the Inferno, Dante and Virgil arrived at the edge of a great waterfall that poured down into dark abyss of lower Hell. Dante was wearing a cord around his waist, suggesting that he might have been a pious auxiliary member of the Franciscan Order and wore that cord as a token of his voluntary membership. Virgil told Dante to take the cord off and give it to him. Virgil threw the cord over the edge of the abyss to summon Geryon, the monster of Fraud on whose back they soon descended. The reed Virgil now wraps around Dante may symbolize a replacement of that earlier cord. Pliant and resilient as reeds are, it symbolizes these same qualities so necessary in the spiritual life. Plucking out the reed was accompanied by a miracle. It was immediately replaced by another. Interestingly, no other souls Dante encounters in Purgatory wear a reed.
The Boat of Souls
Walking along the shore with the sun beginning to rise over the horizon, Dante and Virgil see a great red light racing toward them across the water. As it comes closer, they see that this light is a great angel with immense white wings guiding a boat filled with souls. In Canto 3 of the Inferno, Dante and Virgil encountered Charon, the mythical boatman who ferried the damned souls gathered along the shore across the River Acheron into Hell. Here, in contrast, the angel brings the saved souls from Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber River, to this shore where they will begin the purgation that will purify them for Heaven. This is Dante’s first of many encounters with angels in Purgatory who act as guardians and guides at various levels as he and Virgil climb the mountain.
As the boat nears the shore, Virgil has Dante kneel in reverence, and Dante notes how the souls are singing Psalm 114 which celebrates the freedom of the ancient Israelites as they left the slavery of Egypt. Like them, the symbolism here is clear: these saved souls have died and left the world and its temptations en route to Heaven via the desert of Sinai/Purgatory. More than this, we can expect to hear singing and chanting all throughout Purgatory. Later, noting this, Dante himself will observe: “How different these paths are from those in Hell. One hears music here; there, the shrieking of laments.”
St. Augustine is often credited with the saying: “Whoever sings prays twice,” and Dante was greatly influenced by him. Reading the Purgatorio one cannot help but be caught up in the singing and chanting. This is a place of intense prayer, prayers from the Psalms and from the Liturgy. Dante will also encounter souls who tell him that prayers from the living will lessen the time those suffering souls spend in Purgatory. Even the punishments have a holy purpose, and at times a soul will tell Dante that they cannot spend more time talking with him because they must resume their purgation. On the terrace of Sloth, the souls exclaim: “Run faster! We cannot waste time because time is love.” Here is a hint of Augustine’s restless exile–like Dante himself: “Our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee, O God.” Exiled from Heaven by their sins, the souls in Purgatory know they are going home, and that their penance is helping them get there.
First Meeting
Reaching the shore, the souls disembark from the angelic boat and look around confusedly. Seeing Dante and Virgil there, and thinking that they are familiar with Purgatory, the souls ask them for directions. While Virgil tells them that they are newly arrived as well, they are amazed to realize that Dante is still alive. More than that, an old friend of Dante’s, Casella, is among those holy souls and recognizes him. Their reunion is both joyful and comical. Dante, after three tries, can’t embrace him because he’s a shade. Dante has a living, corporeal body which emphasizes physical materiality as an important aspect of the poem. The Commedia is not a vision, not a fantasy. It is real, everything and everyone that Dante sees and experiences are real, and to get the fullest experience of the poem the reader must willingly suspend their disbelief and join Dante as a third traveler.
Casella was a musician, and based on what happens next, he most likely set various poems of Dante’s to verse. Dante asks him to sing one of his poems and everyone is so lost in the beauty of it that they momentarily forget why they are here. Until… Cato appears suddenly and scolds everyone for wasting time. They all scatter like a flock of frightened birds.
Approaching the Mountain–Ante-Purgatory
There are numerous helpful drawings and diagrams of the Mountain of Purgatory. When Dante stops to get a view of the mountain, the first time he seems to do so, its amazing height and sheer verticality are stunning. When he looks down, he gets a fright at first because he sees his own shadow, but not Virgil’s. Here is a moment for some important information. These moments will occur several more times. Virgil takes the opportunity to explain to him the nature of the diaphanous bodies of shades. Though they are transparent, they can still feel pain, cold, and heat. And, as though to forestall any questions, he tells Dante that this feature of shades is a mystery beyond the power of human intelligence to understand. Later, in Canto 25 Statius will give a fuller and quite amazing explanation of this mystery.
Virgil himself is taken aback by the steepness of the mountain and concerned that there is no apparent starting place from which to begin the ascent. As a matter of fact, he subtly admits that he has never been to Purgatory. This area at the foot of the mountain is called Ante-Purgatory. At that moment, Dante sees another group of souls slowly approaching. When they meet, Virgil asks if they know where to begin the climb. Once again, these souls, too, are startled that Dante casts a shadow. Then one of them calls out to Dante and asks if he recognizes him. He identifies himself as Manfred, the son of the Emperor Frederick II, and asks that he go to his daughter, Constance, and tell her that he repented of his many sins as he lay dying on the battlefield. Manfred’s explanation of his repentance and acceptance of the forgiveness of God make for an amazingly beautiful theology of the mercy of God. He tells Dante:
“Horrible was the nature of my sins,
but boundless mercy stretches out its arms
to any man who comes in search of it…
The church’s curse is not the final word,
for Everlasting Love may still return,
if hope reveals the slightest hint of green.”
Understanding that, among his many sins, Manfred had been excommunicated from the Church three times helps us understand his experience of the mercy of God. At the same time, we learn something about how Ante-Purgatory works. He tells Dante that souls like his, who sinned grievously during their lives and waited until the end to repent, must wait in this place thirty times as long as they waited to repent when they were alive. Only then can they begin their actual penitence on the Mountain. However, this time can be shortened by prayers from those who are still alive.
The Climb Begins
The group of souls at the base of the mountain had been walking along for several hours–Dante engrossed with Manfred’s story–when someone stopped and showed the two Pilgrims the place to start climbing. The narrow gap was almost invisible and the initial ascent was precarious, being almost vertical. Exhausted, the climbers find a place to rest and, remarking about the height of the mountain, Virgil tells Dante that the mountain is very steep and difficult to climb at first, but gradually it will begin to slope until the climb is hardly noticeable.
But someone has been eavesdropping on their conversation, and a smart remark about Dante’s fatigue comes from behind a large rock. We are still in Ante-Purgatory, and the curious travelers get up to find the source of the hidden voice. They discover a large group of souls lounging lazily, looking beat and exhausted. Dante recognizes one of the indolent souls as a friend named Belacqua who, when he was alive, was known as the laziest man in Florence! Dante asks why he’s just wasting time, but Belacqua tells him that indolent sinners like themselves must wait here in Ante-Purgatory for as many years as it took them to finally come around to repentance when they were alive. And like Manfred, he tells Dante that prayers from the living who are in a state of grace can lessen their time of waiting here before they can begin their actual penitence on the mountain.
Leaving those lazy souls behind, Dante and Virgil continue their difficult climb upward, but not before one of thee sinners remarks to the others that Dante casts a shadow. A bit later they encounter the last group of souls in Ante-Purgatory. These are the late repentant–those who gave themselves over to the mercy of God at the very last moment of their lives. They are chanting the Miserere, Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, O God, with your merciful love. In your great compassion, wipe out all my sins.” Immediately recognizing that Dante’s body is not transparent, some of their group come to speak with him. Virgil assures them that Dante is alive and they rush back to tell their group. Once again, the issue of Dante’s bodiliness is highlighted, and this will continue to happen. It reinforces the “real-ness” of Dante’s experience, and his expectation that the reader believe in it as much as he does.
When the news that Dante is alive reaches the group of souls, all of them come running toward him begging to be remembered by their loved ones. All of them died violent deaths, and three of them recount the different circumstances of their final conversion. Perhaps the most striking of the three is the story of Bunconte da Montefeltro who led the Ghibelline forces of Arezzo against the Guelfs of Florence in the famous Battle of Campaldino in 1289. Mortally wounded, and with little more than a second of life left to him, he uttered the name, “Mary,” and was saved! Dante is unstoppable when it comes to the mercy of God, and the whole of the Purgatorio is evidence of this. Interestingly, Dante fought in the Battle of Campaldino as a young man. Buonconte’s forces were defeated by the Florentines. The reader will remember his father, Guido da Montefeltro, in Canto 27 of the Inferno.
As for prayers, almost at the beginning of his encounter with these last and late souls Dante assures them of his remembrance and they assure him they knew they didn’t have to ask. But by the time he and Virgil are ready to move on, Dante is flooded with prayer requests anyway. As he writes it: “Their only prayer was that others pray for them.” Moving on, Dante turns this experience on Virgil, reminding him that in his Aeneid (VI:376) he had the Sibyl state: “Cease hoping that the decrees of the gods may be turned aside by prayer.” Dante, of course, knows Virgil’s great epic backward and forward. But Virgil holds his ground, telling Dante that the statement stands for itself. “But,” he tells Dante, “if you think more carefully about the matter, it should be clear that those who pray are not deceived. The justice of the gods is hardly lessened if it is moved by the ardent love of those who pray to them.” One of the difficulties here is that Dante is asking a Christian question to Virgil, a pagan. In the end, Virgil refers the matter to Beatrice who, at the top of the mountain, will make all of this perfectly clear.
Sordello
Moving on from these souls, Dante and Virgil see one sitting by himself who seems like he may be guarding the place. Thinking that he might be able to tell them the quickest way to resume their climb, Virgil questions him. Instead of answering, the soul asks who they are and where they are from. Virgil tells him where he is from, namely Mantua, and the other stands up quickly and happily embraces Virgil as a fellow countryman. He identifies himself as Sordello. Seeing them embrace as though they had been lifelong friends, Dante launches into a long invective against the corruption and disharmony in Italy. This he blames on both the Church and the Emperor (and includes his own hometown of Florence) as contrasted with the affectionate friendship displayed by Virgil and Sordello.
Sordello himself seems to have been quite an adventurer and libertine in his lifetime and, like the other souls not far from him, he might have died a violent death. Most importantly, however, Sordello was reputed to be the most famous troubadour of his time, and Dante had written about him in his volume on language, De Vulgari Eloquentia.
Learning more about each other, Sordello offers to guide Dante and Virgil as far as he can go, to where Purgatory really starts. However, since it is getting toward dusk, Sordello tells them when darkness falls they will not be able to climb upward an inch. It is a rule of the Mountain, he tells them, because (symbolically) in the darkness the will is impotent. And so he leads them to a lovely place to stop with a wonderful view of the valley just below them. Almost immediately, they hear the singing of the Salve Regina, the Church’s beautiful evening prayer to the Virgin Mary, and they see a large of group of souls sitting upon the grass.
The Negligent Rulers
Sordello tells Dante and Virgil that these souls are negligent rulers, men who placed the duties of their office before the salvation of their souls. Like all the rest in Ante-Purgatory, their delay in turning to God requires them to delay their entrance into Purgatory proper. And he begins to name and describe for his new companions many of the rulers they can see from their natural balcony. Following these descriptions, one of the rulers stands and intones another evening hymn asking for God’s protection throughout the night. As all the others join in, two angels descend from Heaven and stand guard on either side of the group. These angels are dressed in green garments and carry flaming swords that are short and blunted. The color green is a traditional symbol of hope and new birth, and the blunted swords are a symbol of mercy. The faces of the angels are so bright that Dante cannot look at them. Sordello tells Dante and Virgil that the angels come every night to defend the souls against a great serpent, obviously a symbol of evil and, he suggests, the very one that tempted Eve. With this, Sordello tells them it’s time to go down into the valley and spend the rest of the evening with the kings.
Among the noble souls in the valley, Dante meets an old friend, Nino, who, like others before, is amazed to learn that Dante is still alive, and asks him for prayers. Later, as he looks at the sky, Dante sees three great stars that have replaced the four he saw early that morning. These represent the three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope, and Love. A short drama begins when Sordello grabs Dante’s arm and points to the great serpent slithering through the grass. Immediately, the angels swoop down upon it and drive it out of the valley. Everyone is safe, but all have been reminded, in seeing the serpent, of how they succumbed to temptation. This drama is repeated every evening.
The Gate of Purgatory
Canto 9 represents a major transition point in the Poem from Ante-Purgatory to Purgatory proper. Following the drama with the serpent and the angels, Dante falls asleep after his first full day on the mountain. Early the following morning, before he awakens, he has a dream of a great eagle that swooped down out of the sky and snatched him up into the Sphere of Fire (in Dante’s cosmology, borrowed from Ptolemy, this filled the area between the Earth’s atmosphere and the Moon). The great heat of the fire woke Dante and he found himself alone with Virgil and far above the Valley of the Kings. While Dante was asleep, Virgil tells him, a lady named Lucia (most likely St. Lucy, who convinced Beatrice in Inferno 2 to send Virgil to Dante) carried him to where he awoke, saying that she would help speed his journey.
Having reached the Gate of Purgatory, this new day begins with a highly symbolic three-part ritual to mark Dante’s formal entrance into Purgatory proper. From a distance, the Gate appears as a small opening in the great wall that surrounds this middle section of Purgatory. As Dante and Virgil get closer, they see the large Gate and a sword-bearing angel, clothed in ash-colored garments, seated at the top of three steps made of different kinds of stone. The face of the angel is dazzling bright, and the sword he carries reflects the sun, symbolizing the power and authority of God.
Part One: Invited to come forward, Dante approaches and climbs the three steps. Each step, colored differently, represents a phase the repentance necessary for the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Sacrament of Penance). The first step is of pure white marble, polished like a mirror. It symbolizes the act of introspection on the part of the penitent. The second step is made of a blackish-purple stone, rough, burnt, and cracked. It symbolizes sorrow and contrition. The third step is made of blood-red porphyry and symbolizes the penance the sinner accepts.
Part Two: At the top step, Virgil tells Dante to ask the angel humbly to unlock the gate. Dante kneels and contritely makes the request. Then, with the tip of his sword, the angel carves seven Ps into Dante’s forehead, each P standing for the Latin word pecatum (sin; all seven symbolizing the Seven Deadly Sins of Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice and Prodigality, Gluttony and Lust that will be punished beyond the gate). He tells Dante to make sure each P is erased once inside the gate.
Part Three: The angel then reaches inside his cloak and draws out two keys. One of them is silver, and the other is gold. He puts the silver key into the lock first, and then the gold one. At that, the gate opens. The angel explains that one of the keys (the gold one) is more precious than the other (the silver one), but the two keys must work together or the gate will not open. The gold key (used second) represents Christ’s absolution of the sinner through the priest. The silver key (used first) stands for the judgement the priest must make that the sinner is sincere in seeking absolution. Furthermore, the angel tells Dante that the keys are from St. Peter (recall that in the Gospel of St. Matthew (16:19) 16:19, Jesus says to Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven.”) And St. Peter told the angel: “Admit too many, rather than too few, as long as they kneel humbly at your feet.” Telling the Pilgrims not to look back once inside the gate, they hear the chanting of the Church’s great hymn of praise, the Te Deum Laudamus (We praise you, O God).
Seven Terraces–Seven Deadly Sins
From this point until Dante and Virgil reach the top of the Mountain of Purgatory, they will climb up to and walk along a series of seven terraces (one for each of the Deadly Sins) connected by a stairway and guarded by an angel. The major action on each terrace will be the punishment of a particular Deadly Sin and the Pilgrims’ interaction with the sinners bearing the unique penalty appropriate for their sins. Recall that the pit of Hell was similarly designed, with descending levels and punishments appropriate for the sinners at that level. Dante called this form of punishment (matching the sin and the sinners) the contrapasso. Basically, the punishment fits the crime. At each terrace, the travelers will hear, spoken or sung, some scriptural passage or a referemce to the Virgin Mary. They will also see or hear examples of the vices punished there and the virtues opposite those vices. Using the image of riding a horse, Dante thinks of these as a whip and a rein. And, finally, they will always move to the right (counterclockwise) along each terrace. The symbolism here is obvious. The wall of the mountain will be to their left, and the edge of the cliff (with amazing views) to their right.
Pride
With the gate far behind them, Dante and Virgil once again begin a difficult climb upward through a narrow cleft in the rock face of the mountain. Almost immediately on reaching the first terrace, they see that the walls of the mountain to their left are of flawless white marble and covered with huge, photographically perfect, sculptured scenes. These, Dante claims, are better than the finest sculptor, or Nature herself, could produce. Gaping in amazement as they walk along, they take in the scene of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel brought the message to the Virgin Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus. The sculpture is so perfect, Dante says that one could virtually hear the angel’s greeting and Mary’s response.
As they continue around this terrace, a second sculptured scene, this one from the Hebrew Bible, shows them a great procession as the Ark of the Covenant is brought into Jerusalem. Ahead of it are choirs that Dante claims one can hear singing. And leading it all is King David dancing with joy in the streets as the crowds cheer.
Then they encounter a third sculpture, this one from Roman history. On his way out of Rome, leading his armies on horseback amid banners and crowds, the Emperor Trajan is stopped by a poor widow, weeping and demanding justice for her dead son. Despite each of his objections, the widow prevails on his compassion and he turns back.
All of these are scenes depict great humility: the Virgin Mary’s openness to God, King David’s dancing like a fool before the Ark, and an Emperor’s compassion aroused to justice by a hapless widow. But we haven’t yet met any sinners. Soon enough, however, Virgil pries Dante’s eyes away from the amazing wall art to look at a group of sinners approaching them very slowly. Before any more is said, though, Dante the Poet interrupts his narrative and directly addresses the reader with this warning:
“But, Reader, when I tell you how God wills
His penitents should pay their debts, do not
abandon your intention to repent.
You must not think about the punishment,
think but of what will come of it–at worst
it cannot last beyond the Final Day.”
The reader needs to keep this admonition in mind along all seven terraces.
As the group of penitent souls approaches, it becomes clear that they are all bent over under the varying weight of the great stones they carry on their backs. What a perfect contrapasso! These are the proud sinners, many of them famous, whose heads (and noses) were held high as they looked down and sneered at others. Quite soon it becomes clear to an anguished Dante that this is the Terrace of Pride. What he sees he feels deeply.
The pathos of this scene is amplified by the unique version of the Lord’s Prayer the sinners pray together as they approach the Pilgrims. At the end of the prayer, they pray, not for themselves to be kept from temptation, but that others may be kept safe from the wiles of the Evil One. The reader can already see the movement of forgiving grace at work in these sinners. And returning to the theme of prayer in Purgatory, Dante remarks that if these proud sinners can pray for us in their torments, imagine how much good we can do for them with our own prayers.
When the sinners and the Pilgrims meet, Virgil asks for directions to the shortest route to the next terrace. Soon enough, Dante recognizes a famous manuscript illustrator he knew. As the artist humbly confesses his arrogance and praises God for his conversion, he admits the hollowness of pride. Earthly fame is just a gust of wind, he tells Dante, as he points out a particular sinner crawling along the ground under his heavy burden. And this leads Dante to make a remarkable admission–proof that Purgatory has the same salutary effect on him as it does the sinners. He tells the sinner that, listening to his words, his own heart has been humbled and his pride reduced. Then, continuing to look at the crawling man, it seems that Dante must have known him, and that he should be down in Ante-Purgatory, not here. Once again, Dante learns an interesting lesson: this crawling sinner had a close friend who, after he died, willingly shamed and embarrassed himself by begging in the streets as a way of making up for his friend’s sins. This won the crawling sinner’s release from Ante-Purgatory so that he could begin his own penance.
The reader might not have realized that Dante, in order to converse with the proud sinners, has to bend over so that they can turn their heads to the side to see his face. Their heavy burdens prevent them from standing or looking upward. As he and Virgil leave these sinners, Dante stands upright but explains that in his heart he is still bent over and humbled–the good effect the encounter with these sinners has had on him.
Upon their arrival at this first terrace, the two travelers were amazed at the perfectly-executed sculptures along the wall of the mountain depicting the magnanimity of the Virgin Mary, King David, and the Emperor Trajan. Of course, Dante and Virgil aren’t the only ones who see these carvings. The proud sinners, making their slow rounds along this terrace would see them too. But they cannot look up at them. Because they are bent over, they have to turn their heads to the side. These wall carvings were obviously instructive in virtues opposite to pride. But now, as they move on toward the stairs upward, Virgil points out how the pavement they walk on is also carved with numerous images of great and famous figures from history and mythology. Dante is reminded of tombs and monuments embedded in the floors of great churches and cathedrals. These images here, however, depict the downfall of the proud figures they represent. This is also a learning device for the sinners. As they move along, to the side they see three carvings of virtue, and beneath them twelve carvings of the sin itself. Keep in mind that Dante has to bend over (like the proud) to see the carvings beneath him.
Coming close to the carved out stairway that will lead them to the next terrace, Dante and Virgil see another brilliant angel who, with arms and wings outstretched, welcomes them graciously. With a brush of his wing against Dante’s forehead, the angel erases one of the Ps carved there and assures him that from now on the traveling upward will be easier. As the two climb, they hear the chanting of one of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” And the ever-curious Dante can’t help but touch his forehead to feel where the now-erased P was.
Envy
Arriving at the second terrace, Dante shares an insight that applies to himself and the reader, and for a general understanding of Purgatory, calling it “the mountain that heals all who climb it.” Unlike the previous terrace, there is nothing to be seen here. The wall of the mountainside and the pathway are completely bare and unremarkable. But after walking for a while and seeing no one, they hear disembodied voices that seem to fly over them calling out messages that highlight the virtues of generosity and good will toward others. Though we haven’t seen them yet, these are intended to be instructive to the envious sinners who inhabit this terrace.
Soon enough, Virgil points out a large group of sinners huddled together against the wall and dressed in coarse, nondescript cloaks that match the barren stone around them. Leaning against each other, they recite the Litany of the Saints. This is unique in that the souls in Purgatory most often rely on us to pray for them. Here, they also beseech the saints, as well. As Dante approaches these sinners, he is so overcome by pity at what he sees that he cries. And he dares anyone seeing what he sees not to cry bitterly with him. Why? Because the eyes of these envious sinners are sewn shut with iron thread! Envy, if we think about it, is a sin of the eyes. Seeing such a graphic contrapasso, Dante tells us he felt guilty staring at them, knowing that they couldn’t stare back. But looking at all of them, he is reminded of the groups of helpless blind beggars who gather at church doors on feast days hoping to receive alms. Then, graciously speaking to them with words of hope that they will soon see the eternal light of Heaven, he asks if there are any Italians among them. Correcting him, one soul answers back that all of them are citizens of the true city of Heaven. Again, there is a lesson to be learned here: the sinners no longer think of themselves in terms of nationality.
Trying to discern from their faces which soul spoke to him, Dante sees one whose face is uplifted and seems to want to talk. As they converse, she identifies herself as Sapia from Siena. And in a play on her name, she tells Dante she wasn’t very sapient (in Latin the word would be sapiens, wise). Instead, until she turned from her sins when she still had a chance, she was consumed with envy, always happy at another’s misfortune or begrudging their good luck. As we saw among the prideful sinners, Sapia, too, would have been consigned to Ante-Purgatory when she died if it were not for the prayers and penitence offered on her behalf by a friend.
In a clever twist, Sapia, though she cannot see, can tell that Dante is alive by the way his words have breath with them. And she wants to know who he is. Rather than identify himself, Dante tells her that he, too, might have his eyes sewn shut one day, but only for a short time. What “weighs” on him is that he may have to spend time burdened like the prideful sinners below. Then, admitting that he is alive, he promises to do whatever he can to alleviate her suffering when he returns to earth.
His next encounter with two envious sinners begins with their wondering aloud who he is that wanders among them while still alive. Dante identifies himself by the region where he lives, but tells them (perhaps tongue in cheek) that they wouldn’t know him because he’s not famous. Figuring that he’s from the region of the River Arno, and the city of Florence specifically, the two sinners launch into a tirade about the corruption of that city and how its citizens have become like ugly, snarling little animals. Reminiscing about the quality of the old families who have all died out, the two sinners send Dante away so they can weep in private.
As the two Pilgrims move on toward the stairs that will take them upward, they hear more disembodied voices, this time with warnings of the evil that befalls the envious. Suddenly, another brilliant angel appears before them and invites them toward the stairs, saying this will be an easier ascent than the last one. Virgil assures Dante that it won’t be long before he can look at the angels without difficulty. Climbing upward, they hear the last of the disembodied voices crying out, “Rise, you who conquer sin,” and another of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful.”
Before reaching the next terrace, a second P seems to have been removed from Dante’s forehead without his realizing it. Virgil remarks about it and then takes the opportunity to offer him another lesson. At the root of many temptations we face is that we make “partnerships” with the things of this world when we should really be making them with the next world–Heaven. And so we sin and bring suffering upon ourselves and others. “Partnership” here is another way of talking about sharing. In the worldly economy of things, the more we share with others we fear that there will be less for ourselves. This gives rise to envy. In the next world, he tells Dante, the more that is shared the more there is. It’s a matter of “ours” rather than “mine.”
Wrath
Arriving at the terrace of wrath, Dante has three ecstatic visions–the message of each one showing that meekness counters the sin of wrath. Virgil, from whom Dante’s thoughts are not hidden, tells him that the purpose of the visions was to fill his heart with God’s peace. It being late afternoon now, they walk toward the setting sun. As they do so, a cloud of smoke envelops them, leaving Dante virtually blind and clinging to Virgil who tells him to hang on tightly and be careful because he could otherwise become lost. Recall that in Canto 9 in the Inferno, Virgil actually “blinded” Dante by covering his eyes with his own hands so he would not accidentally catch sight of Medusa, be turned to stone, and lost forever. Not only does this acrid smoke sting his eyes, it has an unnatural quality to it, almost like a thin garment that literally wraps around him. The discomfort of this experience is another example of Dante’s “participation” with the souls in their punishment.
As on the previous terrace, Dante hears voices, but these are the actual sinners. They’re singing the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God). A symbol for Jesus, almost from the beginning of Christianity, is a lamb, a sacrificial lamb slain in expiation for our sins as was done during the Temple liturgy in Jerusalem. Repeated three times, it says: “Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.” This beautiful prayer comes just before the Communion in the Mass, asking God for mercy and peace. What’s special about this particular prayer is that it’s sung in unison and perfect harmony by the souls here whose lives were ruined by the sin of wrath. Furthermore, this is also another example of Dante’s use of liturgical prayer in the Purgatorio.
Hearing Dante and Virgil conversing about the prayer, a soul interrupts them and asks Dante to identify himself. Once again, the Poet refrains from giving his name, and instead tells the soul that he is alive and that he is, by a special grace from God, on a journey through Hell and Purgatory and is on his way to Heaven. He asks the soul his name and invites him to join them and to show them the way up. Agreeing to go as far as he is allowed, the soul identifies himself as Marco from Lombardy and asks Dante to pray for him.
Promising to pray for him, Dante tells Marco that he has a question that has bothered him since he spoke with a soul on the terrace below. He wonders if Marco can shed any light on the problem, which is this: “Why is there so much wickedness and corruption in the world? Some say it is ordained in the stars, and others say its origin is earthly.” He wants to know, he tells Marco, because he wants to teach others the right answer. And where will this lesson be found? Right here in the Commedia. Dante’s purpose in writing the Poem is to lead others from suffering to happiness.
Marco begins to answer by saying that humans are basically blind. They think everything is ordained by the stars. But if this were true, he continues, then our free will would mean nothing. Yes, he admits, the stars have some minor influence. But even if our will has to struggle with right and wrong, we must never forget that we are subjects of a power much higher than the stars, a power which the stars cannot overcome. If things have gone bad in the world, it is no one’s fault but our own. And now he will explain.
The answer to Dante’s question, then, comes down to bad example and bad leadership. Whose? Marco (Dante) blames both the corrupt Papacy and the corrupt leadership of the Empire. The Pope wants to be the Emperor and vice-versa, thereby attempting to merge the shepherd’s crook with the sword. This will not work, and as long as this corrupt co-mingling of offices is allowed to continue, it will defile both entities and the result will be misery and suffering. And with this, the matter is closed. The cloud of smoke (symbolizing, perhaps, Dante’s nettlesome question?) begins to dissipate, and Marco must turn back.
It should be clear to the reader that this discussion didn’t “just happen.” The corruption of the papacy and the lethargy of the Emperor to control his empire below the Alps, not to mention the interference of the King of France, were major problems in Dante’s time, problems that caused untold human (and spiritual) suffering, not the least of which was Dante’s own exile.
As Dante and Virgil emerge from the smoke of wrath, the setting sun is in front of them. Suddenly, Dante experiences three more instructive visions for the wrathful sinners, all three of them quite violent. In the first vision, he sees re-enacted the terrible story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses of Tereus, Procne, and her sister Philomela, which involves rape, mutilation, and an unspeakable revenge including the murder and eating of a child. The second vision comes from the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible, where Haman, a minister of the Persian emperor, out of anger that a Jew would not bow down to him, plots to have all the Jews in the land exterminated. The third vision comes from Roman mythology. It concerns the anger of Amata over the engagement of her daughter, Lavinia, to Aeneas when Amata had already promised her to Turnus. While Aeneas and Turnus engaged in mortal combat she killed herself.
Why should Dante experience these visions? First of all, everything in the Comedy is designed to be a learning experience–for Dante the Pilgrim and for the reader. Also, we must remember that Dante is a “participant” in Purgatory whereas he was only a “visitor” in Hell. Obviously, the passage through Hell was designed to acquaint him (and the reader)–at arm’s length–with sin in all its forms. But the passage through Purgatory, while it has similarities to his experience in Hell, brings him into closer contact with the sinners and with his own need for an inner conversion. His time on the mountain would be rather hollow if he simply passed along from terrace to terrace merely observing what takes place there. The fact that Dante’s Hell is an immense conical pit is not an accident. “Going to Hell” is an irrevocable moral fall–downwards. No one gets back out. And his Purgatory is a great mountain. It must be climbed, grappled with, and that takes stamina and hard work (physically and spiritually).
Sloth
When Dante comes back to his senses after the three visions, he and Virgil are greeted by the brightly shining angel of this terrace who shows them the way upward. No sooner does Dante begin to climb than he feels the angel brush a wing against his forehead, erasing the third P. And once again he hears the singing of one of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the peacemakers.” As they reach the next terrace, Dante feels all the strength draining out of him. It is getting dark and they must stop where they are until the light of day returns.
Having been asked what sin is purged on this fourth terrace, Virgil explains obliquely that the sin here is sloth and it is counteracted by zeal. This will become clear when they encounter the actual sinners. In the meantime, however, Virgil explains that all the sins purged on the Mountain of Purgatory originate with love, which comes from God. At first, this sounds absurd, but Virgil’s point, as he continues, is that it’s the excess or inadequacy of this love that leads to sin. That’s at the heart of the matter here. So far, he tells Dante, they have witnessed the purgation of inadequate love on the first three terraces: Pride, Envy, and Wrath. Here on the terrace of sloth, it’s insufficient love. On the next three it will be sins of excessive love that are purged. And at this point in the text we arrive at the very middle of the Poem.
When Virgil’s explications on love conclude, the two Pilgrims are startled by the arrival of a large group of souls who race by them at breakneck speed. These are the slothful sinners and their frenzied racing is the contrapasso for their sin. Two in front shout out for those behind them the positive lessons they must learn: how the Virgil Mary rushed to the hill country when she heard that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, and how Julius Caesar rushed to subdue Spain. The rest of the crowd shout out in response: “Run faster! We cannot waste time because time is love.” This is a remarkable idea, coming particularly after Virgil instructed Dante on the nature of love, and coming from sinners being purged of sloth, a sin of insufficient love.
Then something unusual happens. Virgil asks the rushing souls to point out the way up to the next terrace. And he “sweetens” his request telling them that Dante is alive. But those runners don’t stop or take any interest in Dante. Politely excusing the rest, one sinner tells Virgil to follow them, and that the desire to run is so strong in them they simply cannot stop. As the last two sinners race by, they shout out negative examples to consider: that the Israelites who passed through the Red Sea never actually reached the Promised Land because of their infidelities (though their children did get there); and that those who abandoned Aeneas on his journey to found Rome lost the glory of their quest. And with that, Dante falls asleep.
The Dream; Avarice
Early the following morning, Dante dreams of a hideously deformed woman, stuttering, cross-eyed, stumbling, and ugly. The more he stared at her, the more her deformities disappeared as she turned into a beautiful Siren. Then she began to sing about her exploits in capturing Ulysses and his men and causing them to abandon their goal. This so entranced Dante’s mind that he could not break away from her. At that moment, a saintly Lady (possibly St. Lucy or even Beatrice) appears and calls out to Virgil (who had already tried to awaken him). He quickly goes up to the Siren, and tears open her dress down to the waist. A terrible stench emanates from her body and wakes Dante with a start, and they move on to find the stairway to the fifth terrace.
While, on the one hand, this dream offers a break in the action, it is gravely dangerous because the Siren’s purpose is to cause Dante to lose sight of his goal as he focuses on her deceptive beauty. That Virgil had tried three times to awaken him points to the powerful hold the Siren had on Dante. At the same time, the appearance of the saintly Lady is a sure reminder that his journey through the realms of the afterlife has been sanctioned by Heaven and nothing is going to stop it. It is also fascinating to observe that when the saintly Lady calls out to Virgil he actually enters Dante’s dream and brings it to an end by exposing the Siren for what she really was. This is, in a way, a sleight of hand, but it serves to highlight the reality of this scene.
As they near the stairway up to the next terrace, Dante and Virgil are greeted by another angel who welcomes them with another Beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” and then removes another P from Dante’s forehead. This time the Beatitude acts as an introduction to what the travelers are about to see on this fifth terrace. But Dante, still troubled by his dream, tells Virgil it fills him with dread. Calming him, Virgil explains that the Siren is the cause of the weeping they will soon hear on this terrace.
And so it comes to pass. As the Pilgrims make their way, all the souls there are stretched out on the ground, face down, weeping and sighing. An appropriate verse from Psalm 119 (v.25) is their constant prayer: “My soul clings to the dust.” Dante engages one of the sinners in conversation, assuring him of whatever he can do to help him. The soul replies that he was a Pope and that his life was marked by the sin of Avarice. But when he became the successor of St. Peter, he turned his life around and focused on things above instead of the material things of this world. He tells Dante that just as avarice and greed cause a sinner to turn their back on God and keep their eyes on earthly goods, so here the contrapasso is that they must lie face down on the ground, with their eyes on the dirt and their backs to God. This, he tells Dante, is the harshest penalty in Purgatory. By this time, Dante is on his knees out of respect, but the Pope tells him to stand up and remember that all of them, Popes included, are merely servants of God. In the end, he tells Dante that he has only one relative left, a niece whom he commends to Dante, hoping that she will avoid the sin that so marked his family. As a matter of historical fact, she was a good woman and the wife of one of Dante’s close friends.
As the two travelers continue to step among the prostrate souls, Dante strongly condemns the sin of Greed and mourns at how many souls it has stolen from God. Up ahead, he hears a soul crying out examples of poverty and generosity–opposite virtues of avarice and greed. This soul is Hugh Capet, founder of the Capetian Dynasty of French Kings. And in a long rant, he excoriates his line of heirs for their sinful ways.
As Dante and Virgil continue along the Terrace of Avarice there is a sudden strong earthquake that shakes the entire mountain. Dante is so frightened that he believes he will die at any moment. As the shaking continues, a tremendous shout is raised up by everyone around: “Glory to God in the highest.” At this, Dante’s fright is exchanged with an even stronger curiosity on his part to know the source and reason for this unexpected event.
Statius
Dante continues to be tormented by his curiosity, when up from behind comes a shade who joins him and Virgil. After greeting the travelers with a gracious benediction, Virgil reciprocates. But this causes the shade, thinking the two have somehow escaped from Hell (recall Cato in Canto 1), to ask how they’ve come to be here. Virgil explains that Dante is alive and that he, Virgil, has been called up from Hell to guide him as far up as he can. Then he asks Dante’s troubling questions: why did the mountain shake, and why did everyone shout?
In answering, the shade tells them that Purgatory proper–that is, above the Gate–is not affected by any meteorological phenomena, including earthquakes. But, you will say, there was just a great earthquake that shook the whole mountain. The concept of tectonic plates and their movement was only put forth in 1965. Medieval science proposed that they were caused by shifting masses of wet and dry vapor through caverns deep in the earth. Rather, the shade tells them, the mountain shakes whenever a soul feels itself to have been purged enough to start climbing upward. This is when the shout occurs. The will to rise upward proves that the soul has completed its purgation and causes it to move up toward Heaven. The soul may have striven to rise up before, but only when God’s will and the soul’s become one does the soul become free of its debt. The shade tells them that it had been on this terrace for over 500 years, and only now has it been set free. The shaking and the shouting were for him.
Both Dante and Virgil are delighted with the shade’s answers, but Virgil presses him further and asks who he was and why he has been in Purgatory for such a long time. The soul obliges by telling them that he lived during the reign of the Emperor Titus (late 1st century) and that, while he was a famous poet, he was not yet a Christian. He identifies himself as Statius, the author of two great epics, one about Thebes and one about Achilles, though he did not live long enough to complete the latter one.
Now the fun begins. Statius tells them that the spark that inspired him to write was Virgil’s great epic, the Aeneid, which he considered to be the “mother of his poetry.” Without it, his own work would have been worthless. Moreover, he tells them, he considered Virgil to be his own poetic mentor, and says that he would be willing to spend another year in Purgatory if only he had lived when Virgil lived. At this, Virgil turns to Dante with a look that says, “Don’t you dare!” But Dante has already smiled just a tiny bit. Statius sees it. When he asks him why he smiled, Virgil gives the ok to tell, and Dante happily tells Statius, “Your words are guilty of my smile,” and that he’s been talking with his idol all along. Statius kneels down to embrace Virgil’s feet.
Gluttony
Moving on, the three travelers arrive at the stairs to the sixth terrace and an angel removes yet another P from Dante’s forehead with another Beatitude: “Blessed are they who thirst for righteousness.” As they continue along the terrace, Virgil tells Statius that he has had a great affection for him, more than for anyone else. But he can’t understand how Statius, who lived such an exemplary life, could give himself over to the sins of avarice and greed. Statius replies that he understands how Virgil might misread surface impressions, but that his sin was not avarice but it’s opposite: prodigality. On the Mountain, a sin and its direct opposite (in this case, avarice and prodigality) are punished on the same terrace. That is why they found him on the terrace below. And here the Pilgrims (we) have a new feature of Purgatory to add to what they already know. Furthermore, Statius quotes the very line from Virgil’s Aeneid responsible for his conversion, and tells him that after reading it he was a changed man.
Virgil continues to question Statius, asking how it was that he actually became a Christian. And again Statius credits this to one of Virgil’s poems (which, over the centuries, some have interpreted as a prophecy of the coming of Christ). But here he pays Virgil a great compliment: “It was you who showed me the waters of Parnassus to drink, your light showed me the way to God. You were the one traveling in the dark who held his lamp behind him so others could see the right path. Through you I became a poet, and through you I became a Christian.”
It was when Statius heard the Christian evangelists preaching and saw how they were persecuted that his heart was won over by grace and he was baptized. But, he tells Virgil, though he helped the early Christians in Rome, he pretended to be a pagan, and out of fear of being persecuted himself he kept his faith a secret. For this lack of openness he has spent the last 400 years on the Terrace of Sloth.
As they continue to talk and walk along the terrace looking for the next way up, they see a great tree in the middle of the path. It is filled with beautiful fruit and the delicious smell of it fills the air. Unlike trees that taper toward the top, however, this one tapers toward the bottom–to keep the sinners from climbing it, so Dante thinks. Furthermore, a clear stream of fresh water pours out on this tree from the edge of the cliff far above it. Mysteriously, as they approach the tree a voice from within it shouts out: “Stay back! This fruit and water are not for you!” Then it shouts a series of examples of moderation in eating and drinking.
Moving away from the tree, the three travelers soon hear the chanting of a verse from Psalm 51: “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will sing your praise.” This is from a band of souls who pass by quickly, staring at them as they move along. But these souls are unbelievably emaciated, almost like walking skeletons. They are the gluttons. As Dante stares back, one of them recognizes him and calls out. For his part, Dante hardly recognizes this old friend, Forese. Answering, Dante tells him that he wept when he died, but more than that he wants to know how he and the rest of his company could be so wasted away. The soul explains that they were gluttons, and every time they circle past the mysterious tree, a power comes forth from it that causes in them a constant craving for the fruit and water. This is the contrapasso and, the soul tells Dante, they choose it! Dante then asks him how he got here so quickly. Again, it is by the power of prayer–in this case his beloved wife. But the mention of her devotion to him leads him into a rant against the lascivious women of Florence who parade around dressed indecently. When he is finished, Dante tells him about his journey through Hell and up this mountain to see Beatrice, and how Virgil is leading him.
After a while, Forese points out several other notable gluttons and soon departs. Continuing on their way, the three poets encounter a second mysterious tree, similar to the first one, in the middle of their path. This time they see a crowd of sinners surrounding the tree with arms stretched upwards, crying out for what they cannot have. When those sinners run off, the three travelers also approach the tree which, again, tells them to go away. Except this time it also adds that it is an offshoot of a tree higher up which gave its fruit to Eve (the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden). A mystery of the trees. Leaving, they encounter a brilliant red angel who shows them the way to the seventh and last terrace. As they pass him, he erases the sixth P from Dante’s forehead.
Lust
The reader will have noticed–here as well–that climbing the stairs between terraces takes quite a bit of time judging from the long conversations that take place on them. As the three poets climb to the seventh terrace, Virgil, who can read Dante’s mind, knows that he has another question and urges him to put it into words. Dante tells him he doesn’t understand how, if the gluttons are spirits, they can be so thin. Virgil graciously passes the question to Statius for what will be a long and fascinating discourse on human generation, the creation of the soul, and the formation of shades.
Statius begins his remarks on human generation (fascinating medieval bio-science) by noting that in the body of a man there is a special blood that does not circulate, but stays in the heart. It has special formative powers to shape the members of a human body. Only during sexual intercourse does this blood (basically semen) flow from the heart, through the penis, and into the woman’s womb. When the “blood” from the man mixes with that of the woman, human formation begins. The active force at work becomes the soul, which moves and feels. As the brain is formed in the embryo, the soul is infused by God who delightedly breathes his living spirit into it. The intellect is, from then on, empowered to think and to reflect on itself. Then at death, memory, will, and intellect continue to live and become even more powerful. The remaining bodily functions stop. At that point, the soul finds itself, in virtue of how it lived, either at the entrance to Hell or on the shore of Purgatory. There the body re-forms itself and the soul imprints its shape onto the air around it and it becomes a shade. And out of the air the soul shapes all the organs needed for the senses to operate. Specifically answering Dante’s original question, Statius tells him that the souls/shades assume the form of their desires, which direct them to the particular form of purgation they must undergo. In this case, the gluttonous shades desire the purgation of starvation.
By now, the three travelers have reached the seventh terrace and begun their walk around it. Not far along, they see great flames suddenly shoot out from the wall of the mountain across their path and bend upward at the edge of the cliff with the air coming up from below. Dante is terrified, not only by the flames, but also by fact that they must walk single-file along the edge of the cliff–flames to their left, the void to their right. As they make their way carefully along the ledge, they hear within the flames the singing of a lovely Latin hymn: Summae Deus Clementiae (O God of highest clemency). Dante sees the souls within the flames singing this hymn and alternating with examples of the virtue of chastity. These are obviously the lustful sinners undergoing the contrapasso of their purgation.
As the three continue to walk carefully along the edge of the cliff, Dante attracts the attention of several of the sinners in the flames going in the same direction. They’re curious because his body blocks out the light of the sun. One might imagine walking through an aquarium (in this case an ignarium) where, instead of water in the tanks, there is flame, and the sinners are the fish. Dante and the sinners, while separated, are also quite close to each other, and one of them asks how it’s possible for him to be here if he’s still alive. But before he has a chance to answer, another group of sinners arrives in the flames, coming along from the opposite direction. Not only do the two groups rush to embrace and kiss each other with great affection, but those who just arrived shout out, “Sodom and Gomorrah!” while the other group shouts, “Pasiphaë enters the cow!” With that, the newly-arrived group rushes off leaving the first group to hear Dante answer their earlier question.
As he explains his journey, the Pilgrim begs the sinners to explain the scene he just witnessed. As it turns out, the group of souls who came and went were homosexual sinners, and the ones remaining are heterosexual sinners. When they meet, they embrace and then reproach themselves for their various sins by shouting them out before they separate. The Sodom and Gomorrah reference is probably clear for the homosexual sinners. The Pasiphaë reference for the heterosexual sinners comes from Greek mythology. She was the wife of King Minos of Crete. She fell in love with a bull and had a fake cow constructed so she could get inside it and be serviced by the bull. The offspring of this union was the famous Minotaur (recall Canto 12 in the Inferno). In both cases, the sinners are referring to“unnatural” acts which they shout out in shame as they repent.
After explaining this part of their contrapasso, the sinner identifies himself as Guido Guinizelli, a famous Bolognese poet. As it turns out, this is a scene not unlike the earlier revelation of Virgil to Statius. Guido was greatly influential on Dante and his poetry, so much so that, as Statius called Virgil’s poetry the “mother” of his own, Dante calls Guido’s poetry the “father” of his own poetry and that of many others. At the same time, as he has done with other sinners he’s met, he asks what he can do to help Guido. Hearing how much Dante revered him, Guido points to another sinner ahead of them and tells him that he was the master of them all. This moment of gracious deference should be noted as a sign of the positive workings of Guido’s purgation. Before leaving him, Guido asks Dante to say an Our Father for him.
The sinner Guido pointed out is none other than the famous Provençal poet, Arnaut Daniel, and he is the only non-Italian in the entire Comedy who speaks to Dante in his own local dialect. He greets Dante with joy and tells him that he is here repenting for the follies of his past life (some of his poems, apparently, were quite pornographic). Nevertheless, he wishes Dante well on his journey upward and asks him to pray for him.
The three poets leave the lustful sinners and continue along the terrace. Late in the afternoon, they see ahead of them the bright angel of chastity who welcomes them with another Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” But… He tells them they can go no farther without passing through the flames themselves. Dante, in a panic, tells us he felt like a man about to be buried alive. With images of burned bodies in mind, he stubbornly refuses to move, but Virgil finally convinces him that, while he will feel pain, he will not he harmed. Still afraid to enter, Virgil, somewhat impatient now, arranges that he will go first, then Dante, and then Statius behind. As he passes through the flames, Dante remarks that the heat was so intense he gladly would have dived into a pool of molten glass to cool off!
When they emerge from the flames, they hear a voice calling to them with the words Jesus will use at the Final Judgment: “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world” (Mt. 25:34). Then the voice tells them not to waste time because the sun is setting and they won’t be able to move. As they climb upward, the last rays of the sun disappear and the three of them fall asleep on the stairs.
In the early hours of the morning, Dante has a third dream. In the dream he sees a lovely young woman, happily singing to herself as she walks through a meadow picking flowers. She says her name is Leah and that she enjoys what she does, making herself look pretty. Whereas her sister, Rachel, loves to sit before her mirror looking at her beautiful eyes. In the book of Genesis, Leah and Rachel were the wives of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. Traditionally, spiritual writers note that Leah represents the active life and Rachel represents the contemplative life. Here Dante seems to follow this line of thinking. Soon enough, we will meet Leah in a different form.
No more is said of this dream, and when Dante awakens, he almost flies up the rest of the stairs to catch up and Virgil and Statius. (The seventh P was obviously removed in the fire.) When he reaches the top of the stairs, he meets Virgil who speaks for the last time in the Poem. He tells Dante that they have seen Hell and Purgatory together, and that they have reached the point where his guidance is complete. From now on, he tells him, his will is upright and well-directed, and not to follow it now would be wrong. Virgil’s last words to his disciple are: “I crown you lord and master of yourself.”
The Earthly Paradise
Now free to explore on his own, Dante begins to wander into the verdant forest and meadows of the Garden of Eden which crowns the Mountain of Purgatory. A gentle, sweet-smelling breeze blows constantly from the east. Reminiscent of the opening lines of the Inferno, Dante tells us that he had gone so far into this forest he lost sight of where he came in. Soon, he comes to a marvelously clear stream, and on the other side he sees a lovely young woman gathering flowers, not unlike Leah in his recent dream. Her name is Matelda, but this will only be revealed at the very end of the Purgatorio. Calling to her, Dante asks that she come closer to the bank of the stream so they can talk. The reader will notice that in this place Dante is now in the lead with Virgil and Statius walking behind him.
When Matelda arrives at the stream, she welcomes them as newcomers to this place with the words of Psalm 92 (v.5): “You delight me, Lord, by your deeds; at the works of your hands I shout for joy.” Then, speaking to Dante, she invites him to ask her anything he’d like. Dante’s questions seem to be about the earthquake that happened when Statius was freed from his purgation, and about the source of the water in the stream. But it’s only when Matelda starts to answer that we begin to get a glimpse of what Dante was asking about. She also tells him that virtually all the plant life on earth has its origin here. Everything that grows in Eden is the original of itself. As the earth turns and creates the gentle breeze he felt, seeds flow down upon the rest of the planet below causing things to grow. As for the water, its springs have a divine origin, not the clouds and rain. Though she doesn’t name them specifically, we will learn the names of these streams later from context. The one separating Matelda and Dante has the power to erase all memory of sin. Another stream further on has the power to restore the memory of all the good a person has done. Furthermore, the stream between them must be drunk from first, and then the other. Dante will encounter these special waters later.
The Mystical Pageant
The scene that begins to unfold now is one of the most amazing, visually imaginative, and symbolically rich in the entire Comedy. We have already been told on several occasions that Dante will finally meet Beatrice here in the Earthly Paradise. And since she is already in heaven, it is necessary to prepare both Dante the Pilgrim and ourselves for her arrival.
Dante and Matelda have been walking together on opposite sides of the stream. When the stream turns toward the east, she stops and tells Dante to pay careful attention. In the long Christian tradition, the direction east has always been mystically associated with the Second Coming of Jesus, so we are led to expect something extraordinary at any moment, and Dante the Poet does not disappoint. Suddenly, there is a burst of light that doesn’t go away. Rather, it slowly gets more brilliant, and Dante hears singing as the air is transfused with this light. Soon, he sees what he thinks are seven golden trees slowly moving toward him. As they approach, he realizes these are immense candlesticks that give off great streams of light like rainbows. This light creates a kind of multi-colored canopy above the forest.
Then, following the great lights comes a procession of twenty-four dignified elders dressed in dazzling white garments. These elders represent the books of the Hebrew Bible. As they move, they sing the praises of the Virgin Mary because she (and her son) are who their texts ultimately pointed to.
Next after the elders, Dante sees four creatures with wings that are covered with eyes symbolizing both the omniscience of God and the four Gospels. These form the four corners of a large square within which is a triumphal chariot pulled by a great griffin–a creature that has the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. His head and wings are gold and his body is white with big red markings. Its wings, pointing upward, extend farther than Dante can see. The chariot represents the Church and the griffin represents Christ in his two natures as God and human. The marks on the griffin’s body represent the wounds Jesus suffered before he was killed.
Near the right wheel of the chariot are three dancing women. Dressed in white, red, and green gowns, they represent the three Theological Virtues of Faith (white), Hope (green), and Love (red). Along the left side of the chariot dance four more women dressed in royal purple gowns. They represent the four Cardinal Virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude. Following the chariot are seven elderly men dressed in white who represent the books of the New Testament apart from the four Gospels.
When the griffin and chariot are directly opposite Dante there is a great clap of thunder and the entire procession stops. What has happened in this procession is that all of Scripture has passed in front of Dante, from Genesis to Revelation. In the Middle Ages, however, the Bible was understood to be not only the Word of God, but this Word of God was also a record of all of history. So all of Scripture, all of history, and all time–everything–has passed before Dante in this grand mystical procession. When it stops just across the stream from Dante, those ahead of the chariot then turn around to face it. Thus, all Scripture, all history, all time is now facing the chariot and the griffin, symbols of the Church and of Christ. Dante, Virgil, Statius, and Matelda are doing the same.
The Arrival of Beatrice
At this point, one of the twenty-four elders sings a verse from the Song of Songs (4:8) three times: “Come, bride, from Lebanon.” Then all the rest join in singing it. In its Hebrew Bible context, the bride here is Israel who is being summoned from Lebanon by her spouse, God. In the Christian interpretation, the bride is the Church and her spouse is Christ. In the Poem here, bride being summoned is Beatrice, who symbolizes revelation, wisdom, and Christ. At the moment this verse is sung, a hundred angels descend from heaven and hover above the chariot showering down flowers and singing out two chants. One is from the Gospel of St. Matthew in New Testament: “Blessed are you who come,” and the other is from Virgil’s Aeneid: “O give us lilies with full hands.” In this summons of Beatrice Dante pays his highest compliment to Virgil by merging words from the Bible with words from the Aeneid.
Then, amid the angelic singing and in a rain of flowers, a woman descends from heaven into the chariot. Though at first he cannot see her clearly, Dante realizes that this is Beatrice and turns around to share his excitement with Virgil. At this highly charged moment, and in what is, at the same time, the saddest moment in the Commedia, Virgil is not there. He has disappeared! Up to this point in the Poem, he represented human reason as far as it could go in his guidance of Dante. But with the arrival of Beatrice, who represents divine revelation, he has been eclipsed. His commission is finished.
Dante’s Trial and Confession
Calling Virgil “My sweet father,” Dante breaks down in tears as he grapples with the shock of his loss. But not for long. Almost immediately he hears a commanding voice call out to him: “Dante!” This is the only time in the Comedy that his name is used, and it is Beatrice who calls him from the chariot, telling him to stop weeping. As he struggles to see her clearly, Beatrice identifies herself and begins to rebuke him in words tinged with sarcasm. If readers are expecting a romantic and joyful reunion between these two, they will be sorely disappointed. There is serious unfinished business between them and a rift in their relationship that must be repaired.
With shame, like a guilty child before his angry mother, Dante slowly turns and faces Beatrice. As he listens to the angels singing softly again, he imagines that they’re asking her to treat him more gently. But this only causes him to weep all the more. Hearing the angels sing to her, Beatrice tells them that her purpose in treating Dante so harshly is to bring him to recognize the truth about himself and suffer the guilt it will cause him. Continuing, she tells them that Dante, from birth, was endowed by God with great gifts that would have borne much good fruit. While she was still alive, her presence was enough to keep him on the right spiritual path. But when she died, he began to stray after things that fail to satisfy. In spite of her prayers, he didn’t seem to care. In the end, there was only one thing to do to save him from eternal damnation. And that was to have him literally travel to the bottom of Hell. For this purpose she commissioned Virgil who finally brought him to this place. But, and remember that Dante is hearing this, she tells the angels that the very laws of heaven would be meaningless if he were to cross the stream of forgetfulness without repenting.
At this point, the reader is most likely wondering about what terrible thing Dante did to make Beatrice so overbearing and unforgiving. First of all, Beatrice made some of this clear to Virgil when she appeared to him in Canto 2 of the Inferno and commissioned him to bring Dante to her by the hard route. At the same time, one needs to read Dante’s other writings, particularly his major work on poetry, the Vita Nuova, to understand that, while he maintained an appreciation for Beatrice, he also “courted” another lady in her absence, namely Philosophy. At the risk of over-simplifying, Dante comes to realize that the secular/worldly philosophy he pursued after Beatrice’s death will not ultimately satisfy him, and that he must return to the right spiritual path she represented. To do this, he writes the Divine Comedy. Throughout the Poem, she is the energy and force that gives it meaning and makes it work. In a sense, the Poem is Dante’s salvation. In the end, Beatrice needs to bring Dante back to the right path by facing him with his abandonment of it, and getting him to admit that, in her absence, he was guilty of substituting philosophy for that right path. Let us watch as she does this.
As Beatrice continues her “prosecution,” Dante feels both the weight of her words and his own guilt. Between fright and shame, he admits weakly that what she tells him is correct. But she wants to know, because he was on the right path when she was alive, what it was, precisely, that led him to abandon it so deliberately after she died. He replies that, having lost her, the false joys of other pursuits filled the gap of her absence. And though she agrees that that happened, she still wants to know why, when he felt himself going astray, he didn’t come rushing back to her–the right path. Now feeling the stabbing pain of remorse at having betrayed her abiding good will toward him, even when she was dead, Dante is so overcome that he faints.
The Reunion
When he comes back to his senses, he realizes that Matelda is leading him through the waters of the stream that separated him from Beatrice. It was sin that separated them. But now that he has confessed and admitted the error of his ways, the waters of forgetfulness remove from him the memory of his betrayal and the happy reunion can now take place. Matelda leads Dante to the four ladies at the chariot representing the Cardinal Virtues, and they lead him to stand in front of the griffin. As Beatrice looks at the griffin, Dante looks into her beautiful eyes and sees reflected there the two natures of the griffin/Christ. This is the fruit of his repentance, to behold the revelation of Christ in her eyes. Then the three Theological Virtues approach and, to the singing of the angels, they ask Beatrice to smile upon Dante who, they tell her, has come so very far to see her. And indeed he has! Beatrice, who represents the revelation of divinity, acquiesces to their request. Dante, for his part, admits that the experience of this revelation, coupled with Beatrice’s smile, is beyond the power of his poetry to express in words.
Dante is so happy to see Beatrice–now a heavenly being, remember, that his eyes hurt. But his focus now changes to the mystical procession which begins to move away, leaving Beatrice in the chariot, the griffin, and the seven Virtues. This remaining group moves deeper into the forest where the griffin stops before a tree of tremendous height, barren of all leaves and fruit. This is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Beatrice and her handmaids (the Virtues) sit under the tree and the griffin (Christ) pulls the chariot up to it. When he lays the pole connected to the chariot against the tree it immediately springs into bloom. And as the angels continue to sing softly, Dante falls asleep.
The Prophetic Tableaux
When he awakens he witnesses a series of seven mini-dramas involving the chariot which symbolizes the Church. The chariot is ravaged by an eagle, a fox, and a dragon. Then it is covered with feathers, and finally sprouts horns and heads. In the end, a naked whore is seen seated on the chariot being kissed by a giant man. When he sees her leering at Dante, he beats her and drags the chariot away. Each of these scenes represent the various tribulations faced by the Church until Dante’s own time. Having watched this graphic presentation, everyone mourns at the sufferings the Church experiences. But Beatrice prophesies that the Church will delivered from its misfortunes.
As the Purgatorio comes to an end, the small group move further into the forest and Beatrice, calling Dante “brother,” invites him to walk alongside her, now assuming her role as his guide for the rest of the Poem. Soon, they arrive at the place he had seen earlier, where two great springs of water gush out of the ground. Beatrice explains that one of them is the Lethe, the stream which erases all memory of sin. The other is called the Eunoë, whose waters restore the memory of all the good that one has done. She then has Matelda (who is finally named here) bring both Dante and Statius (who has been silently present all along) through the waters of the Eunoë. As Dante returns to Beatrice, he tells us that he has run out of words to describe any more of Purgatory, but that he feels reborn and renewed (like the Tree of Knowledge) and ready to ascend to the stars. All three Canticles end with the word “stars.”
Having read this Introduction, the first-time reader, in particular, should have a clear idea about what Dante will experience in this second part of the Comedy. Before the Poem started, off-stage, as it were, Dante seemed to be headed for Hell, and not as one passing through! Lost in the moral wilderness of the dark forest at the beginning of the Inferno, he is rescued by Virgil who was sent by Beatrice to guide him through Hell and then up to the top of the Mountain of Purgatory as a learning experience beyond all others that will eventually save his soul. And this we have witnessed. With Virgil’s mission accomplished, Beatrice will now guide him into and through Paradise.
Michael F. Meister, FSC, PhD
Saint Mary’s College of California
February 7, 2024