Canto
XXIV
The
now group of four continue walking on the terrace of gluttony, Virgil and
Statius coupled, Dante and Forese coupled.
Dante asks Forese about his sister Piccarda, and he tells him she is now
in paradise. Forese goes on to point out
a few other souls, the Troubadour poet Bonagiunta of Lucca, Pope Martin IV, who
had an obsession with eating eel, the Ghibelline Ubaldin da la Pile, who was
father to Archbishop Ruggieri (who we famously met having his brains eaten
in
Inferno 33), Archbishop Bonafazio,
and a Marchese who was known for his drinking.
But it is the poet Bonagiunta that has Dante’s interest. He asks Bonagiunta to speak to him, and the
poet first mentions a woman, Gentucca, from his home town of Lucca. He goes on to ask of Dante’s new poetic
style. Bonagiunta has heard of Dante
writing on the nature of love, wherever it may lead. But it is now time to break away from the
terrace and all the souls bound to it must move on. The three pilgrims now together again reach
another tree, the tree from which Eva ate.
A voice proclaims the negative examples of gluttony, the centaurs, known
for their drunkenness, and the Hebrew soldiers who were excluded from Gideon’s
army because they drank like dogs.
Finally they meet the angel of this terrace who wipes away the sixth “p”
off Dante’s forehead.
Canto
XXV
The
three poets now move on toward the next terrace but in the in-between discuss
the nature of the body and soul. Dante
asks how a soul devoid of body could grow emaciated in that terrace of the
gluttony. Virgil starts to answer but
turns to Statius to provide it. Statius,
rather than answer directly, expounds on the entire process of how the body and
soul are formed. He explains how the
essence of the male blood is formed and mixed with the essence of the female
blood to form a new being with its own animal soul. At this point God breathes into the being an
additional soul, the spirit, which blends with what is there to form a single
soul. When the being dies, he carries
both elements of the soul, but the physical one can undergo transformation
through the purgatorial penances while the spirit waits for the perfected
physical soul to reconstitute herself.
The finally come to the last terrace where a wall of fire stands before
them with just a tiny edge for the ledge.
They hear a hymn of clemency being sung and the penitents crying out
Virgin Mary's words, "I know not man" and of the Roman goddess of
chastity, Diana. They have come to the
terrace of lust.
Canto
XXVI
Walking
single along the edge, Virgil cautions Dante to be careful. The sun, now low on the horizon, cast Dante's
shadow onto the wall of fire making the flames change shade. The penitents walking by are amazed by this
and one particular soul asks Dante how this could be. Before Dante responds he notices one group of
penitents passing another group, each giving a platonic kiss to a passing
person. After each kiss, one group would
shout out "Sodom and Gomorrah" and the other would shout out
Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos who lusted after a bull. The souls gather around Dante to hear him
explain, and he tells them that he is still alive. Dante asks of the significance of the groups
kissing, and the soul who first approached him again speaks. He explains that the group shouting
"Sodom" are homosexuals, and he and the others are heterosexuals,
both groups trying to cure themselves of their beastly sexual appetites. The soul introduces himself as Guido
Guinzzelli. Dante is astonished because
he knew of Guinizzelli's poetry, and considers him another father figure. Guinizzelli humbly points out another soul
close by, who was even a "better craftsman," Arnaut Daniel, the
Provencal Troubadour who wrote in his mother tongue. As Guinizzelli fades into the fire, Arnaut
steps up and for the only time in the entire Divine Comedy speaks in a language
other than Italian and asks in his Provencal to pray for him. He too then fades into the fire.
Canto
XXVII
The
pilgrims reach an end where they can go no more. In front was a wall of flame. An angel could be seen inside the fire and invites
them to enter. All that go on must be
“bitten” by this fire. But Dante
freezes. He is in fear the fire will
consume him like the burning of bodies he had once seen. Virgil implores him. The fire may torment but it will not cause
death. He implores Dante to test it with
his hand, with his sleeve, but no amount of reason can undo the panic Dante
feels. Then Virgil appeals to his desire
to see Beatrice, who will be on the other side of the flame. With the name of Beatrice, Dante begins to
soften. Virgil then steps in, and Dante
follows, and Virgil to keep Dante encouraged says, “I can almost see her
eyes.” With hymns being sung, the
dazzling light of the fire blinds Dante.
When they come out, the night has set and they settle down on a step to
sleep. He dreams of a woman who tells
him she is Leah and that her sister Rachel never leaves a mirror where she is
fixated on her own eyes. When they
awake, they continue to the very top most step of purgatory, and there Virgil
tells him he can go no further. Dante
can stay there until the one with the “fair eyes” arrives.
Canto
XXVIII
Dante
now on top of the purgatorial mountain, where a forest is before him, wanders
about exploring. The softest, gentlest
breeze caresses him, and about him small birds sing "songs of
joy." Lost in the forest, echoing
that very first canto from Inferno where he had lost his way, he stumbles upon
a stream with the purest water he has ever seen. Across the bank and among the blossoms, he
notices a pretty lady singing. He calls
out to her to come closer so he can make out her song. The lady, who we will eventually learn her
name as Matelda, turns towards him and approaches the stream so that now Dante
can understand her song. She says she is
there to answer all his questions, and she goes on to explain how this was the
earthly paradise given to Adam and Eve.
Matelda explains the breeze comes from heaven above, the abundant
verdure, and of the fecundity of the holy ground. She reveals that there are two rivers, this
one beside them called Lethe, and has the power to wipe away memories of sin,
and another on the other side of the wood, Eunoe, that has the power to return
all memories of good to consciousness.
No comments:
Post a Comment