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seemed so withdrawn,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.
