Divine Comedy: Purgatorio Dante Alighieri

After passing through the gate of Purgatory proper, Virgil guides the pilgrim Dante through the mountain's seven terraces. These correspond to the seven deadly sins or "seven roots of sinfulness":[29] Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice (and Prodigality), Gluttony, and Lust. The classification of sin here is more psychological than that of the Inferno, being based on motives rather than actions.[30] It is also drawn primarily from Christian theology, rather than from classical sources.[31] The core of the classification is based on love: the first three terraces of Purgatory relate to perverted love directed towards actual harm of others, the fourth terrace relates to deficient love (i.e. sloth or acedia), and the last three terraces relate to excessive or disordered love of good things.[29] Each terrace purges a particular sin in an appropriate manner. Those in Purgatory can leave their circle voluntarily, but may only do so when they have corrected the flaw within themselves that led to committing that sin.

The structure of the poetic description of these terraces is more systematic than that of the Inferno, and associated with each terrace are an appropriate prayer and beatitude.[32] Robert Hollander describes the shared features of all the terraces as "(1) description of the physical aspect of the terrace, (2) exemplars of the virtue that counters the sin repented here, (3) description of the penitents, (4) recitation of their sins by particular penitents, (5) exemplars of the vice, (6) appearance to Dante of the angel representing the countering virtue".[33]

First terrace (Pride)

The first three terraces of Purgatory relate to sins caused by a perverted love directed towards actual harm of others.

The first of the sins is Pride. Dante and Virgil begin to ascend this terrace shortly after 9 AM.[34] On the terrace where proud souls purge their sin, Dante and Virgil see beautiful sculptures expressing humility, the opposite virtue. The first example is of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, where she responds to the angel Gabriel with the words Ecce ancilla Dei ("Behold the handmaid of the Lord," Luke 1:38[35]). An example of humility from classical history is the Emperor Trajan, who, according to a medieval legend, once stopped his journey to render justice to a poor widow (Canto X).

Also associated with humility is an expanded version of the Lord's Prayer:

"Our Father, You who dwell within the heavensbut are not circumscribed by them out ofYour greater love for Your first works above,Praised be Your name and Your omnipotence,by every creature, just as it is seemlyto offer thanks to Your sweet effluence.Your kingdom's peace come unto us, for ifit does not come, then though we summon allour force, we cannot reach it of our selves.Just as Your angels, as they sing Hosanna,offer their wills to You as sacrifice,so may men offer up their wills to You.Give unto us this day the daily mannawithout which he who labors most to moveahead through this harsh wilderness falls back.Even as we forgive all who have doneus injury, may You, benevolent,forgive, and do not judge us by our worth.Try not our strength, so easily subdued,against the ancient foe, but set it freefrom him who goads it to perversity."[36]

After being introduced to humility, Dante and Virgil meet the souls of the proud, who are bent over by the weight of huge stones on their backs.[37] As they walk around the terrace, they are able to profit from the sculpted examples of humility. The first of these souls is Omberto Aldobrandeschi, whose pride lies in his descent ("I was Italian, son of a great Tuscan: / my father was Guiglielmo Aldobrandesco"[38]), although he is learning to be more humble[39] ("I / do not know if you have heard his name"[40]). Oderisi of Gubbio is an example of pride in achievements – he was a noted artist of illuminated manuscripts.[39] Provenzano Salvani, leader of the Sienese Ghibellines, is an example of pride in dominating others[39] (Canto XI).

In Canto XIII, Dante points out, with "frank self-awareness,"[41] that pride is also a serious flaw of his own:

"I fear much more the punishment below;my soul is anxious, in suspense; alreadyI feel the heavy weights of the first terrace."[42]

After his conversations with the proud, Dante notes further sculptures on the pavement below, this time illustrating pride itself. The sculptures show Satan (Lucifer), the building of the Tower of Babel, King Saul, Niobe, Arachne, King Rehoboam, and others.[43]

The poets reach the stairway to the second terrace at noon.[44] As they ascend, the Angel of Humility salutes them and brushes Dante's forehead with his wings, erasing the letter "P" (peccatum) corresponding to the sin of pride, and Dante hears the beatitude Beati pauperes spiritu ("Blessed are the poor in spirit", Matthew 5:3[45]) (Canto XII). Dante is surprised to discover that climbing now seems easier than it did before. Virgil tells him that one of the initials has been removed from his forehead by the angel and that the effort will be increasingly lessened as he climbs higher. Dante compares the stairway to the easy ascent from the Rubiconte, a bridge in Florence, up to San Miniato al Monte, overlooking the city.

Second terrace (Envy)

Envy is the sin that "looks with grudging hatred upon other men's gifts and good fortune, taking every opportunity to run them down or deprive them of their happiness".[46] (This in contrast to covetousness, the excessive desire to have things like money.)[29] As one of the envious souls on this terrace says:

"My blood was so afire with envy that,when I had seen a man becoming happy,the lividness in me was plain to see."[47]

On entering the terrace of the envious, Dante and Virgil first hear voices on the air telling stories of generosity, the opposite virtue. There is, as in all the other terraces, an episode from the life of the Virgin Mary; this time, the scene from the Life of the Virgin is the Wedding at Cana, in which she expresses her joy for the newly married couple and encourages Christ to perform his first miracle.[48] There is also Jesus' saying "Love your enemies."[49] A classical story shows the friendship between Orestes and Pylades.[46]

The souls of the envious wear penitential grey cloaks,[46] and their eyes are sewn shut with iron wire, resembling the way a falconer sews shut the eyes of a falcon in order to train it.[46] This results in audible, rather than visual, examples here. Dante and Virgil speak with Sapia Salvani (Canto XIII).

The souls of the envious include Guido del Duca and Rinieri da Calboli. The former speaks bitterly about the ethics of people in towns along the River Arno:

"That river starts its miserable courseamong foul hogs, more fit for acorns thanfor food devised to serve the needs of man.Then, as that stream descends, it comes on cursthat, though their force is feeble, snap and snarl;scornful of them, it swerves its snout away.And, downward, it flows on; and when that ditch,ill-fated and accursed, grows wider, itfinds, more and more, the dogs becoming wolves.Descending then through many dark ravines,it comes on foxes so full of deceitthere is no trap that they cannot defeat."[50]

The voices on the air also include examples of envy. The classical example is Aglauros, who, according to Ovid, was turned to stone because she was jealous of Hermes' love for her older sister Herse. The Biblical example is Cain,[51] mentioned here not for his act of fratricide, but for the jealousy of his younger brother Abel that led to it (Canto XIV).

It is middle afternoon and the poets are walking westward along the terrace with the sun in their faces. A dazzling brightness suddenly smites Dante on the brow, which he supposes is caused by the sun; but when he shades his eyes from it, the new brightness persists, and he is forced to close his eyes. Virgil reminds him that the approach of an angel is still too powerful for his earthly senses but says that this will not always be so. The Angel of Charity, having brushed away another "P" from Dante's brow, invites him to mount to the next terrace. As he is leaving the terrace, the dazzling light of the terrace's angel causes Dante to reveal his scientific knowledge, observing that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection[52] "as theory and experiment will show"[53] (Canto XV).

Third terrace (Wrath)

On the terrace of the wrathful, which the poets reach at 3 PM,[54] examples of meekness (the opposite virtue) are given to Dante as visions in his mind. The scene from the Life of the Virgin in this terrace of purgation is the Finding in the Temple. Whereas most parents would be angry at their child for worrying them, Mary is loving and understanding of Christ's motives behind his three-day disappearance. In a classical example, the wife of Peisistratos wanted a young man executed for embracing their daughter, to which Peisistratos responded: "What shall we do to one who'd injure us / if one who loves us earns our condemnation?"[55] Saint Stephen provides a Biblical example, drawn from Acts 7:54–60[56] (Canto XV):

Next I saw people whom the fire of wrathhad kindled, as they stoned a youth and kepton shouting loudly to each other: "Kill!""Kill!" "Kill!" I saw him now, weighed down by death,sink to the ground, although his eyes were bentalways on Heaven – they were Heaven's gates –Praying to his high Lord, despite the torture,to pardon those who were his persecutors;his look was such that it unlocked compassion.[57]

The souls of the wrathful walk around in blinding acrid smoke, which symbolises the blinding effect of anger:[58]

Darkness of Hell and of a night deprivedof every planet, under meager skies,as overcast by clouds as sky can be,had never served to veil my eyes so thicklynor covered them with such rough-textured stuffas smoke that wrapped us there in Purgatory;my eyes could not endure remaining open ...[59]

The prayer for this terrace is the Agnus Dei: Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis ... dona nobis pacem ("Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us ... grant us peace").

Marco Lombardo discourses with Dante on free will – a relevant topic, since there is no point being angry with someone who has no choice over his actions[58] (Canto XVI). Dante also sees visions with examples of wrath, such as Procne, Haman and Lavinia.[60] When the visions have passed, the Angel of Peace appears to greet them. Again the brightness overpowers Dante's sight, but he hears the angel's invitation to mount to the next terrace and feels a wing brush his forehead, erasing the third "P". Then follows the pronouncing of the beatitude Beati pacifici ("Blessed are the peacemakers"). The poets leave the third terrace just after nightfall[61] (Canto XVII).

While staying on the fourth terrace, Virgil is able to explain to Dante the organization of Purgatory and its relationship to perverted, deficient, or misdirected love. The three terraces they have seen so far have purged the proud ("he who, through abasement of another, / hopes for supremacy"),[62] the envious ("one who, when he is outdone, / fears his own loss of fame, power, honor, favor; / his sadness loves misfortune for his neighbor."[63]), and the wrathful ("he who, over injury / received, resentful, for revenge grows greedy / and, angrily, seeks out another's harm."[64]). Deficient and misdirected loves are about to follow. Virgil's discourse on love concludes at midnight[65] (Cantos XVII and XVIII).

Fourth terrace (Sloth)

On the fourth terrace we find souls whose sin was that of deficient love – that is, sloth or acedia. Since they had failed in life to act in pursuit of love, here they are engaged in ceaseless activity. The examples of sloth and of zeal, its opposite virtue, are called out by these souls as they run around the terrace. A scene from the life of the Virgin outlined in this terrace is the Visitation, with Mary going "in haste" to visit her cousin Elizabeth. These examples also include episodes from the lives of Julius Caesar and Aeneas.[66] This activity also replaces a verbal prayer for this terrace. Since the formerly slothful are now too busy to converse at length, this section of the poem is a short one.

Allegorically, spiritual laziness and lack of caring lead to sadness,[67] and so the beatitude for this terrace is Beati qui lugent ("Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted," Matthew 5:4)[68] (Canto XVIII and XIX).

Dante's second night's sleep occurs while the poets are on this terrace, and Dante dreams shortly before Tuesday's dawn[69] of a Siren, symbol of disordered or excessive love represented by greed, gluttony and lust. Upon awakening from the dream in the light of the sun, Dante is visited by the Angel of Zeal, who removes another "P" from his brow, and the two poets climb toward the fifth terrace[70] (Canto XIX).

Fifth terrace (Greed)

On the last three terraces are those who sinned by loving good things, but loving them in an excessive or disordered way.

On the fifth terrace, excessive concern for earthly goods – whether in the form of greed, ambition or extravagance – is punished and purified. The avaricious and prodigal lie face-down on the ground, reciting the psalm Adhaesit pavimento anima mea, taken from Psalm 119:25 ("My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word"[71]), which is a prayer expressing the desire to follow God's law. Dante meets the shade of Pope Adrian V, an exemplar of desire for ecclesiastical power and prestige, who directs the poets on their way (Canto XIX).

The scene from the Life of the Virgin, used here to counter the sin of avarice, is the humble birth of Christ. Further down the terrace, Hugh Capet personifies greed for worldly wealth and possessions. He bemoans the way that, in contrast, avarice has motivated the actions of his successors, and "prophesies" events which occurred after the date in which the poem is set, but before the poem was written:

"The other, who once left his ship as prisonerI see him sell his daughter, bargainingas pirates haggle over female slaves.O Avarice, my house is now your captive:it traffics in the flesh of its own childrenwhat more is left for you to do to us?That past and future evil may seem less,I see the fleur-de-lis enter Anagniand, in His vicar, Christ made prisoner.I see Him mocked a second time; I seethe vinegar and gall renewed and Heis slain between two thieves who're still alive.And I see the new Pilate, one so cruelthat, still not sated, he, without decree,carries his greedy sails into the Temple."[72]

These events include Charles II of Naples selling his daughter into marriage to an elderly and disreputable man,[73] and Philip IV of France ("the fleur-de-lis") arresting Pope Boniface VIII in 1303 (a pope destined for Hell, according to the Inferno, but still, in Dante's view, the Vicar of Christ[73]). Dante also refers to the suppression of the Knights Templar at Philip's instigation in 1307, which freed Philip from debts he owed to the order. Following the exemplars of avarice (these are Pygmalion, Midas, Achan, Ananias and Sapphira, Heliodorus, Polymestor, and Crassus), there is a sudden earthquake accompanied by the shouting of Gloria in excelsis Deo. Dante desires to understand the cause of the earthquake, but he does not question Virgil about it (Canto XX).

In a scene that Dante links to the episode where Jesus meets two disciples on the road to Emmaus,[74] Dante and Virgil are overtaken by a shade who eventually reveals himself as the Roman poet Statius, author of the Thebaid.[75] Statius explains the cause of the earthquake: there is a tremor when a soul knows that it is ready to ascend to heaven, which he has just experienced. Dante presents Statius, without obvious or understandable basis, as a convert to Christianity; as a Christian, his guidance will supplement Virgil's.[74] Statius is overjoyed to find himself in the company of Virgil, whose Aeneid he so greatly admired (Canto XXI).

The Angel of Moderation directs the poets to the passage leading to the next region after brushing another "P" from Dante's forehead. Virgil and Statius converse as they ascend toward the next ledge. Statius explains that he was not avaricious but prodigal, but that he "converted" from prodigality by reading Virgil, which directed him to poetry and to God. Statius explains how he was baptized, but he remained a secret Christian – this is the cause of his purgation of Sloth on the previous terrace. Statius asks Virgil to name his fellow poets and figures in Limbo, which he does[76] (Canto XXII).

Sixth terrace (Gluttony)

It is between 10 and 11 AM,[77] and the three poets begin to circle the sixth terrace where the gluttonous are purged, and more generally, those who over-emphasised food, drink, and bodily comforts.[78] In a scene reminiscent of the punishment of Tantalus, they are starved in the presence of trees whose fruit is forever out of reach.[78] The examples here are given by voices in the trees. The Virgin Mary, who shared her Son's gifts with others at the Wedding at Cana, and John the Baptist, who only lived on locusts and honey (Matthew 3:4[79]), is an example of the virtue of temperance.[78] A classical example of the opposite vice of gluttony is the drunkenness of the Centaurs that led to the Battle of Centaurs and Lapiths.[78]

The prayer for this terrace is Labia mea Domine (Psalm 51:15: "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise"[80]). These are the opening words from the daily Liturgy of the Hours,[81] which is also the source of prayers for the fifth and seventh terraces (Cantos XXII through XXIV).

Here Dante also meets his friend Forese Donati and his poetic predecessor Bonagiunta Orbicciani. Bonagiunta has kind words for Dante's earlier work La Vita Nuova, describing its technique as the dolce stil novo ("sweet new style").[82] He quotes the line "Ladies that have intelligence of love,"[83] written in praise of Beatrice, whom he will meet later in the Purgatorio:

Ladies that have intelligence of Love,I of my lady wish with you to speak;Not that I can believe to end her praise,But to discourse that I may ease my mind.I say that when I think upon her worth,So sweet doth Love make himself feel to me,That if I then should lose not hardihood,Speaking, I should enamour all mankind.[84]

Dante is now greeted by the Angel of Temperance, whose brightness is like the red glow of molten metal or glass. Showing the passage up the mountain, the angel removes another "P" from Dante's brow with a puff of his wing, and he pronounces the beatitude in paraphrase: "Blessed are they who are so illumined by grace that the love of food does not kindle their desires beyond what is fitting" (Canto XXIV). It is 2:00 PM when the three poets leave the sixth terrace and begin their ascent to the seventh terrace, meaning that they have spent four hours among the Gluttonous.[85] During the climb, Dante wonders how it is possible for bodiless souls to have the gaunt appearance of the souls being starved here. In explaining, Statius discourses on the nature of the soul and its relationship to the body (Canto XXV).

Seventh terrace (Lust)

The terrace of lust, the final terrace of Purgatory and the final vice of excessive love, has an immense wall of flame through which every soul must pass (Canto XXV). As a prayer, they sing the hymn Summae Deus clementiae ("God of Supreme Clemency") from the Liturgy of the Hours.[86] Souls repenting of misdirected sexual desire call out in praise of chastity, such as Diana's, and of marital fidelity.

Two groups of souls run through the flames calling out examples of lust (Sodom and Gomorrah by the homosexual and Pasiphaë by the heterosexual). The homosexuals run counter to the sun, from west to east, symbolizing their sins against nature and God, while the heterosexuals run from east to west, with the sun.[87] Dante's depiction of homosexuals as souls capable of salvation is particularly lenient for the time period and is often omitted from later illustrations of Purgatorio.[87] In addition, this depiction marks a massive departure from Inferno, where Dante represents sodomy as sin of violence instead of one of excessive love.[88]

When they meet, the two groups exchange a brief kiss of greeting and a sign of peace before the homosexuals continue and the heterosexuals approach the pilgrim.[89] The pilgrim prays for both groups' ascent into heaven and stops to speak to Guido Guinizelli, who explains the nature of the vice purged on this terrace and calls the sodomites those who "committed the offense for which Caesar ... once heard himself reproached as 'Queen'", alluding to Julius Caesar's alleged same-sex relationships.[90]

Shortly before sunset, the poets are greeted by the Angel of Chastity, who instructs them to pass through the wall of fire. By reminding Dante that Beatrice can be found in the Earthly Paradise on the other side, Virgil finally persuades Dante to pass through the intense fire. After the poets pass through the flame, the sun sets and they lie down to sleep on the steps between the final terrace and the Earthly Paradise.[91] On these steps, just before the dawn of Wednesday morning, Dante has his third dream: a vision of Leah and Rachel. They are symbols of the active (non-monastic) and contemplative (monastic) Christian lives, both of which are important.[92]

... in my dream, I seemed to see a womanboth young and fair; along a plain she gatheredflowers, and even as she sang, she said:"Whoever asks my name, know that I'm Leah,and I apply my lovely hands to fashiona garland of the flowers I have gathered.To find delight within this mirror Iadorn myself; whereas my sister Rachelnever deserts her mirror; there she sitsall day; she longs to see her fair eyes gazing,as I, to see my hands adorning, long:she is content with seeing, I with labor."[93]

Dante awakens with the dawn,[94] and the poets continue up the rest of the ascent until they come in sight of the Earthly Paradise (Canto XXVII).