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.
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