Dante's Purgatorio Cantos XII - XVII, Summary

Canto XII

The pilgrims continue onward in the terrace of pride and Virgil now points out engravings in the ground as if they are walking on a series of flat tombstones.  Unlike the wall reliefs at the beginning of the terrace that showed positive examples of humility, these engravings show negative examples of pride.  Remember that the penitents with the huge boulders on their necks are forced to bend down with their faces up against these images.  I’m sure your notes will identify each of the images, but it’s significant that Dante begins with the image of Lucifer falling from the sky, the original act of pride in the universe.  Also in this section of the canto (l. 25-63) each tercet starts with a specific letter, so that an acrostic is built, spelling “UOM” (the “v” having the flexibility of “u”), which is “man” in Italian.  Here Dante suggests that pride is the elemental sin within humanity, a striving to exceed God.  Upon exiting the terrace, an angel calls Dante forward, and the poet approaches in humility.  The angel brushes his wing across Dante’s forehead, wiping off one of the engraved Ps.  With one less P, Dante feels lighter as he continues upward.

Canto XIII

The pilgrims arrive on the second terrace, that of envy.  There are no images here but Dante hears voices chanting.  The first are the words of the Blessed Mother at the wedding of Cana, “They have no wine.”  The second says, “I am Orestes.”  The third, from the Beatitudes, “Love him who has done you wrong.”  We see then why there are no images but audio voices, almost as if through speakers if Dante could have imagine them, because the penitents of envy have their eyes sewn shut.  They walk around huddled together, helping each other, dependent on each other, as the blind need others for assistance.  Dante is taken back from the pity they instill.  They hear his voice and he speaks to a woman named Sapia, ironically meaning wisdom, which she says she had not.  She tells Dante how she in vengeance took great joy in watching her neighbors, some of which were her relations, at being slaughtered in a battle. She was only saved because toward the end of her life she felt compunction and then a holy man prayed for her soul.  She begs Dante to restore her name with her kin when he goes back.

Canto XIV

Two unidentified penitents overhear Dante and are amazed that he is alive in full flesh.  They ask him who he is and where he is from.  Dante answers circuitously by stating he comes from a place in Tuscany by a river.  They wonder why he doesn’t mention the river’s name and one says it is only fitting that he doesn’t since every city along the river is a place of swine and beasts.  One man identifies himself as Guido del Duca, a political Ghibelline, and he identifies his companion as Rinieri de Calboli, a political Guelph, opponents in life but here aiding each other.  Guido goes on to rant about the political figures and families in Tuscany, both Ghibelline and Guelph and their infighting and concludes with some positive examples.  As they depart, more audio voices are heard, this time of negative examples of envy.  We hear Cain’s words, Cain who was jealous of his brother Abel, and that of the mythological woman Agalauros, who was jealous of her sister’s affair with Mercury.

Canto XV

The pilgrims continue to walk up the mountain with the afternoon sun shining in their eyes when a more intense light moves toward them, an angel coming toward them.  The angel invites them to enter the next stairway, this one less steep, and as they continue they hear another Beatitude sung (“Blessed are the merciful”) and another hymn.  As they walk, Dante asks Virgil what the soul from the last canto meant about things that cannot be shared.  And so, a discussion on the nature of envy ensues.  Canto XV is the first of four cantos—right at the heart of Purgatorio, making it therefore at the center of the entire Divine Comedy—that formulates the theological vision of work.  Here Virgil explains that man focuses on temporal things that are finite, and so sharing makes each portion less, and so envy is the result from lack.  But if man would focus on infinite things—such as love or charity—then the more one shares, the more they increase.  Virgil reveals that a second “P” has been removed from Dante’s forehead.  As they continue, three scenes flash before them like movie snippets.  The first of Mary speaking to Jesus after finding him at the temple; the second of the ancient Athenian Pisistratus, who forgave a young man for grasping his daughter; and the stoning of St. Stephan who forgave his killers.  The pilgrims enter a thick smoke, the terrace of the wrathful. 

Canto XVI

The smoky air is darker than any night that Dante has experienced.  He walks as a blind man holding on to Virgil as a guide.  They can hear penitent souls chanting the Agnus Dei and other hymns.  A soul hears them and they can hear the soul, but they cannot see each other.  Dante asks for directions and the soul says he will go with him as far as he is allowed.  His name is Marco, the Lombard, and Dante asks him why the world is filled with evil that seems to be divinely fixed.  Marco explains the “world is blind” when it attributes the cause of evil to the divine.  Man, he explains, is given free will and from that freedom evil is chosen causing the world to go askew.  Then, because men choose evil, laws and morals need to be established, and two institutions need to work in harmony to create a better world.  One is the secular state to uphold earthly justice and the other the Papacy to show man the way to salvation.  It is the failure of the Papacy and secular governments to rule properly in their spheres that makes the world so degenerated.  Marco mentions several leaders who had the ability to bring the church/state functions into balance, especially “the good Gherardo,” who Dante does not know.

Canto XVII

The pilgrims start coming out of the fog and see that it is evening.  Images of negative examples of anger are seen.  They see Procne murdering her son, Haman’s anger at Mordecai from the Old Testament Book of Esther, and Amata upon Lavinia’s betrothal to Aeneas.  The images are dissolved by a great flash of light, the angel again striking his face and directing the pilgrims up the stairs.  They have reached the terrace of sloth and quite intentionally planned, Dante the pilgrim is overcome with great fatigue.  They rest here while Virgil explains the nature of love and how it emanating from God configures the whole universe.  Man is proper when he loves God and other things in proper measure.  Human sin, then he explains, is an error of love in three categorical ways.  The first is an error to love the proper things, either love of self (pride), love of other’s possessions (envy), or love of vengeance (wrath).  These are healed in the three terraces below them that they have just passed.  The second is not loving with enough zeal, sloth, the terrace they are about to enter.  The third is excessive love of proper things taken out of measure, for instance earthly possessions (avarice), appetites (gluttony), and love (lust).  Those will be healed in the terraces above.

Matthew Monday: Ninth Birthday

Saturday was Matthew’s ninth birthday.  We had a little party in the form of a BBQ at the house.  My wife put candles on two cakes and Matthew blew them out before I even had a chance to snap a picture.  This is the only picture I got.  After some of the cake was cut u.  You can see Matthew already has it in his mouth.  Silly boy.

That pitch back up against the wall was one of his gifts.  My little baby is growing so fast.  He will start fourth grade this week.

Matthew Monday: My Little Pitcher

We went to our third minor league ball game of this year Saturday night, and the fourth when you include one major league game.  The minor league games were at the Brooklyn Cyclones ball park and the one major league game was down in Baltimore.

Matthew has become skilled at getting a baseball.  He watches the players warm up before the game and as they head to the dugout he asks for a ball.  How can a ball player refuse to give a ball to a kid?  Not easily.  Matthew now claims he’s gotten a ball in four straight games.  Saturday night some young prospect for the Brooklyn Cyclones, Manny Rodriguez, tossed him this ball. 

Another thing we did at the ball park was try the pitching velocity radar.  It measures how fast you can throw.  Here’s a video clip of Matthew.  The highest he registers is 41 mph.

Not bad for an eight year old.  His father was only able to do 47 mph.  

Literature in the News: St. Augustine On Why We Read

This is not really a news item but an essay I came across on why we read and thought it would interest my readers.  The essay comes from the website, The Catholic Thing, and the essay is by Aaron Urbanczyk, who I have never heard of before.  Mr. Urbanczyk laments the demise of reading great books, even at a university level. 

Teaching the great texts has diminished at an astonishing rate for numerous reasons, but two in particular stand out.  For many professional educators, reading is increasingly oriented toward the marketplace and getting a job.  Furthermore, humanistic learning has been dismantled by postmodern critiques, which maintain that texts are unstable, non-signifying, and without reference to truth.

I haven’t kept up with what goes on in literature departments at universities, but when I was going to college, many professors were already watering down their reading lists in the name of diversity.  There are only so many books one can assign for class, and if you have to spread the coursework to include recent works that have not met the test of time, then you can see how a coursework gets watered down.  He continues:

At universities, the great texts are often deconstructed along lines of race, class, gender, or sexual orientation.  After several decades of such ideological demolition, students and parents have reasonably concluded that the humanities are badly politicized and irrelevant, and en masse have migrated to more sensible, practical majors.

Yes, that was already going on some twenty years ago when I was in graduate school.  So what are we missing out?  Urbanczyk finds the answer in At. Augustine of Hippo.

But why should we study the great texts? St. Augustine of Hippo provides a coherent rationale.  The often touted reasons these days for reading great texts – being “well rounded,” or articulate, or culturally “sensitive” – Augustine regards as either irrelevant or a deception. For Augustine, we read great texts for one purpose:  to become wise.  Reading for any reason other than the sapiential motive is trivial.  The Confessions offers his clearest articulation of this view; he argues there that wisdom should lead to personal transformation – a matter of life and death.

The answer is for wisdom.  The classics have demonstrated in a time tested way that their message provides truth.  I’m just going to provide one more quote:

Human beings don’t read simply for information, rhetorical skill, know-how – our real reasons are deeper. Near the end of Confessions, Augustine exclaims, “Let me confess to you [Lord] what I find in your book.” This prayer is an interpretive key to Augustine’s autobiography.  Reading great texts over many years cultivated in Augustine the habit of wisdom, which equipped him to read the one book – the Word of God – which, read well, is the transformation and salvation of the soul.

You can read the rest of his very insightful essay, here.  

I hope here at this blog I am distilling some of the wisdom from the great books for you.

Comments to Dante's Purgatorio, Cantos VI to XI

One thing that should be pointed out is the thematic interconnectedness of cantos six, seven, and eight, all which contain Sordello as a supporting character.  In canto six Virgil and Dante stumble upon Sordello who is sitting solitary.  That he is solitary is odd and perhaps ironic given the theme of civic responsibility that is at the core of these three cantos but I do not think it was an accident as almost nothing in the Comedia is an accident.  Virgil approaches him for directions:

He did not speak to us

but let us approach, watching us

as would a couching lion.

Nevertheless, Virgil drew up closer,

asking him to point us to the best ascent.

To this request he gave no answer

but asked about our country and condition.

My gentle guide began: 'Mantua--'

-and the shade, who had seemed so withdrawn,

leaped toward him from his place, saying:

'O Mantuan, I am Sordello of your city.'

And the two of them embraced.  (VI. 67-75)

That he is compared to a lion suggests magnanimity, as most of the commentators note, but I think it also suggests a certain pride of place.  Notice he doesn’t answer Virgil’s question but returns with a question of his own on a completely different subject.  He asks from where they come, and not in respect to their journey as almost all ask, but from what country.  He asks about the homeland because he is fixated on people’s homelands, and, as we will see, his own.  Before Virgil is even able to finish the sentence—all he is able to get out is the name of his city, “Mantua”—and Sordello springs up and embraces him in an almost wild Italian burst of emotion, “O Mantuan, I am Sordello of your city.” 

Who is this Sordello?  He is a troubadour poet having died a just few years after the time Dante was born.  He wrote of love as most troubadour poets but he also wrote of government and leadership, and I think that is why he is noted here.  What’s interesting is that if you look at the details of his life he did not spend most of it in his home city of which he is so proud.  He lived in Provence and other Italian cities, but Dante has him here portray the role of a patriot. 

Then Dante the author goes onto his invective about Italian politics, contrasting the despicable infighting within each city-state and between the city states with Sordello’s simple love of one’s country.

Ah, Italy enslaved, abode of misery,

pilotless ship in a fierce tempest tossed,

no mistress over provinces but a harlot!

How eager was that noble soul,

only at the sweet name of his city,

to welcome there his fellow citizen!

Now your inhabitants are never free from war,

and those enclosed within a single wall and moat

are gnawing on each other.  (VI. 74-84)

Here patriotism is portrayed as love of fellow citizen, and Dante honors it.  It is not supercilious of others or exclusionary, but just as one has a special bond with one’s family members it is normal to have a special bond with one’s fellow countrymen.  I won’t get into the details of Dante’s invective; just let it suffice that wretched infighting is a result of political selfishness, zealously taking advantage of other city’s problems, the interference of the papacy into secular matters, the lack of Justice, and a lack of a centralizing authority to create a unified country.  In fact the one centralized authority that exists, the Holy Roman emperor, is situated outside Italy, has his own infighting to deal with in the German city-states, and has little interest in Italian problems.

All of this happens before Sordello even knows he is speaking with the great Latin poet Virgil.  Once he learns of it, Sordello who is a poet himself falls to the ground in reverence.  It is interesting that Dante delays this exchange between the two into the seventh Canto.  If you remember from my overview during Inferno, there are three main themes to the Commedia.  (1) The formation of Dante’s soul to be in harmony with God, achieved through the love of Beatrice.  (2) The understanding of a proper political order, which is delineated best by the exactness of God’s justice in the afterlife.  (3) The formation of a poetic work to reflect the beauty of God and His creation.  Sordello, both political figure and poet, inherently addresses themes two and three.  He takes the pilgrims into the Valley of the Princes, as it is sometimes called, and points out many of those rulers and administrators who in life were too busy with their governmental duties.  So civic responsibility is qualified here.  Yes, we have an obligation to our fellow citizens to support and govern properly, but it cannot be at the expense of shirking our duties to God.  There needs to be a balance.

And then in Canto VIII we meet specific rulers and administrators that Dante is familiar with.  The good judge, Nino Visconti.  (Side note: I always associate Judge Nino with the Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, who I believe was called Nino by friends.) Like many of the other penitents in purgatory, he asks to have his family pray for him back on earth, but we also get this description:

'The viper that leads the Milanese afield

will hardly ornament her tomb as handsomely

as the cock of Gallura would have done.'

He spoke these words, his face stamped

with a look of righteous indignation

that burns with proper measure in the heart. (VIII.79-84)

Notice his face is “stamped with righteous indignation,” a metaphor of stamping coins, which adds to the civic overtones of the character, and though indignant his heart burns with “proper measure,” the sort of balance of a good judge.  It should be noted that Judge Nino is the grandson of Count Ugolino who we met in hell eating on the brains of Bishop Ruggiere, and of course there is an implied contrast to Ugalino as a political conspirator and Nino as an honest judge.  And finally to cap off this sequence from Canto VI through VIII we come Corrado Malaspina, who their short exchange Dante exuberantly praises him and his family.

Oh,' I said to him, 'never have I been there,

in your country. But where do men dwell,

anywhere in Europe, that it is not renowned?

'The fame that crowns your house with honor

proclaims alike its lords and lands--

even those who have not been there know them,

'and, as I hope to go above, I swear to you

your honored race does not disgrace

the glory of its purse and of its sword.

'No matter how a wicked chief may warp the world,

privileged both by nature and by custom,

your race alone goes straight and scorns the evil path.'  (VIII.121-132)

High honor indeed.  So in these three cantos, Dante starts with simple patriotism, rants against the despicable Italian politics of his day, and ends with noble examples of how political figures should administer.

***

Here are some thoughts on Cantos IX through XI. 

The entrance into purgatory proper occurs in the tenth canto, which parallels the entrance into the City of Dis in the tenth canto of Inferno.  This again speaks to the high degree of integration within the work. 

In Canto IX, when the pilgrims approach purgatory’s gate, they climb three steps, hewn out of various stones.  I find the symbolism of these steps utterly fascinating.  First off, they are the same as the three steps that led to the altar in most pre-Vatican II church arrangements.  What do the three steps signify?  I can’t find an answer to that but the logical one would be the Trinity.  So Dante uses the same three steps to approach purgatory and as we see with the angel holding the keys, this is essentially the entrance to heaven.  So what else can these steps signify in Dante?  Hope, faith, and charity.  Hell, purgatory, heaven.  The first step is clear white, reflecting his image.  Some can consider this signifying sin but white is also innocence.  The second is dark and cracked, perhaps suggesting the man’s broken state.  The third is blood red signifying Christ’s redemption.  You can probably think of other things it can signify.  It’s a powerful image.

Each of the terraces will have a similar format in that there will be three images that are to work into the penitent’s soul as conditioning for holiness.   The one exception is the terrace of envy where the penitents are incapable of seeing, so there images are replaced with audio.  I should have been more specific in my summary.  The image from the New Testament is always from the live of the Blessed Mother.  Here in the terrace of pride is the image of the Annunciation, where she humbly accepts God’s will. 

The image from the secular world is a well-known story from the life of the emperor Trajan.  Preparing to go to fight his Dacian War, he is stopped by a widow whose son has been murder and she appeals to him to bring the murderer to justice.  He tries to put her off, but she says in her grief, what if you don’t return.  Trajan is supposed to have said, “My duty [must] be perform'd, ere I move hence: So justice wills; and pity bids me stay.”  The emperor at a moment of historical consequence, he is moved to compassion to fix an injustice of an almost insignificant person.  Dante considers Trajan the ideal ruler, so ideal that he is the only pagan that will be in heaven, as we will eventually see.

That the artist Oderisi, artist of miniature illuminations, is the penitent Dante meets in the terrace of pride is wonderfully ironic.  If an artist working in the smallest of scales can have such exuberant pride, what do artists working in large scale feel?  Or for Dante, who is writing an epic covering the full scope of Goad and man, life and after life, sin and redemption, what exuberance of pride must he overcome?   Pride is probably the sin that I personally feel is embedded in me the most.  As an engineer, one accomplishes many things, creating things from scratch.  Over time one’s ego gets inflated.  Many times I have pictured myself in this terrace.  I humbly pray that I can overcome my sin.  

Gosnell, the Movie Trailer

I almost never bring up politics on this blog, but I don’t care if this is political or not.  Abortion isn’t political for me.  It is an evil that must be overturned.  That the unborn child in the womb is a living, innocent, human being with all the civil rights of any human being is a truth. The right to life is fundamental.  I am unabashedly pro-life.

Kermit Gosnell was one of the most prolific abortionist in history, a killer of not only those in the womb but also that had come out of the cervix and where he duly snipped their necks as if it were a toe nail.  He pushed the abortion procedures so aggressively he damaged women and many died under his hands.  He is considered the one of the infamous mass murderers to ever be put on trial.

And he was convicted and for many years tried to cobble together funds to make a movie.  Of course the movie industry hindered it in every way.  In all it took five years to film it and get it to the public.  Well, the movie is finally coming out and will be in theaters in October.  It’s called, Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer.  First, here is an interview with Phelim McAleer, one of the producers, with Catherine Hadro at EWTN’s Pro-Life Weekly show..

You can also read an interview with the husband and wife producing team, Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney at the political news site, The Stream.  Josh Shepherd is the interviewer.  Here’s a couple of excerpts. 

The Stream: What surprised you most as you began to research this case?

Phelim McAleer: I was there for part of this trial. As a journalist, I’ve gone undercover to report on the troubles and wars of eastern Europe, Indonesia and Vietnam. This was by far the most shocking story I’d ever heard of or seen. For the media to decide it wasn’t worth covering, that was shocking.

We discovered the extent of the cover-up and the knowledge that existed in the community. That was eye-opening. Bureaucrats looked the other way for political reasons. Then heroic police detectives instigated this whole investigation. As a reporter, it’s everything you dream of in terms of a compelling story.

And

The Stream: How did you land Dean Cain as the film’s lead, among other stars?

Ann McElhinney: Our casting director was very good and did several casting calls. Dean Cain came on quite early and was enthusiastic about the story. He actually knew the story in advance, which was unlike a lot of the actors.

Finally here is the trailer.

Catherine Hardo mentions that some 30,000 donated to get the film made.  I am proud to say that I am one of those 30,000.  Seeing this come to fruition with the trailer brought tears to my eyes.  If you are pro-life, please make a statement and go see this film. Let's make it a record number of viewers. That will tell the abortion industry something.

Personal Note: St. Louis Airport

Speaking of pictures, I was on a business trip through St. Louis last week and came across this gender neutral bathroom in the airport. 

Have you ever seen anything like that?  I had to do a double take.  My first thought was, how many dogs actually pass through the airport to justify a doggy bathroom?  But then I read the sign carefully and its primary purpose is for service animals, which I imagine can be quite a bit with all the explosives and smuggling going on.  Still it’s funny and if you look at the second picture you can see one is suppose to clean up after the dog.

Since I’m at it, here are a few more pictures from that trip.  I took these two from the window seat on the plane.  That’s the great Mississippi River as we come in for a landing.  

Pictures don't do the river justice, though.

Finally I had a great view of the airport from my last night’s hotel.  Snapped a really nice sunset from my window.