ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

Following on from my previous posts about the Purgatorio, we continue on from Canto 9…

Canto IX

Dante wakes from a nightmare in which he dreamt he was carried into a blaze by an eagle. In a daze, he remembers Achilles:

when he, asleep, was taken by his mother,
borne in her arms, from Chiron’s care to Skyros
from where the Greeks would lure him finally— (Canto IX, lines 37-29)

But his ‘Comfort’ Virgil, is there to reassure him.  Two hours have passed and now they have progressed from the Antepurgatory to Purgatory.  It was a lady called Lucia (Saint Lucy) who took the sleeping Dante in her arms and brought him here to the gates.  (Dante doesn’t mention how Virgil got there!) They press on…

… there were three steps,
each one a different colour; and I saw
the silent figure on someone on guard.  (Canto IX Lines 76-78).

Musa tells us that this guardian’s naked sword is a symbol of divine authority, reflecting the rays of the sun, the symbol of God. The three steps represent the stages of repentance…:

…the first step, which is white and mirrorlike, stands for self-examination; the second, black, rough step stands for sorrow for sin, or contrition; the third, flaming-red step signifies satisfaction of the sinner’s debt, or penance. (p.105)

Virgil counsels Dante to humbly ask this stern figure of authority to be let in, and in response the angel traces seven Ps (‘peccatum‘ is Latin for sin) on his brow, which Dante must cleanse away once inside, and then produces the keys to the gate:

One key was silver and the other gold;
first he applied the white one, then the yellow—
with that the gate responded to my wish.

‘Whenever either one of these two keys
fails to turn properly inside the lock,’
the angel said, ‘the road ahead stays closed.

One is more precious, but the other needs
wisdom and skill before it will unlock,
for it is that one which unties the knot.

I hold these keys from Peter, who advised:
‘Admit too many, rather than too few,
if they but cast themselves before your feet.’ (Canto IX, Lines 118-129)

Musa has a lot to say about four theories about the significance of the  dream, and then about Dante’s dream of the pagan mythological tale with sensual overtones.  I’ll save that for a re-reading.

The canto concludes with the sound of the gates grinding open to the accompaniment of voices chanting Te Deum Laudamus.

Canto X

As Virgil and Dante enter the first of seven Terraces of the Purgation, they see marble carvings representing humility.  The first, the scene of the Annunciation, is as Musa notes, an example of virtue and these exemplars are always taken from the life of the Virgin Mary.  Second is King David the psalmist dancing in humility before the Lord, and the last is the Emperor Trajan halting his mighty army to listen to a wretched widow’s plea:

The trampled space surrounding him was packed
with knights on horseback—eagles, flying high,
threaded in gold of banners in the wind.

That poor widow amid the mass of shapes
Seemed to be saying: ‘Lord, avenge my son
who has been killed; my heart is cut with grief.’ (Canto X, Lines 79-84)

Trajan demurs, he must do his duty first. But what if he does not return? she wails, to which he replies that it can be done by whoever replaces him.  ‘How can you let another’s virtue take the place of yours?’ she says… to which he replies:

…’Take comfort, for I see I must
perform my duty, now, before I leave:
Justice so wills, and pity holds me here.’ (Canto X, Lines 91-93)

We have a painting of this scene on a panel of a cassone (a chest) in the NGV but it is a common theme in medieval and Renaissance art, and I love the colours in the episode depicted on this 16th century maiolica plate, from Urbino. Blue was an expensive colour in that era, so the plate must have been made for a wealthy patron.  Perhaps one who needed a reminder not to be proud, for this first Terrace of the Purgation is for the Proud. Dante the poet doesn’t mince his words with his exhortation:

O haughty Christians, wretched, sluggish souls,
all you whose inner vision is diseased,
putting your trust in things that pull you back,

do you not understand that we are worms,
each born to form the angelic butterfly,
that flies defenceless to the Final Judge? (Canto X, Lines 121-126)

Musa reminds us that:

The image of the changing of caterpillar into angelic butterfly, one of transformation and flight, is central to the action of the Purgatory. (p.116)

Canto XI

Canto XI begins with the prayer of the Proud, which Christians will recognise as a version of the Lord’s Prayer, which in Musa’s translation is rendered in a beautifully styled Old English:

‘Our Father Who in Heaven dost abide,
not there constrained but dwelling there because
Thou lovest more Thy lofty first effects,

hallowed be Thy name, hallowed Thy Power,
by Thy creatures as it behooves us all
to render thanks for Thy sweet effluence.’ (Canto XI, Lines 1-6).

(I looked this up in Clive James’ translation to see what he made of it… and let’s just say it confirmed my decision to abandon his translation altogether.)

The soul of Omberto Aldobrandesco whose pride ruined his entire family, shows them the opening through which they can ascend.  He would go with them if not prevented by this stone/ that curbs the movement of my haughty neck/ and makes me keep my face bent to the ground.

So we are not done with the gruesome punishments yet.  Musa notes also that Dante’s body language shares the purgation of the proud:I had my head bent low, to hear his words. (Canto XI Line 73).

Next they meet up with the soul of Oderisi of Gubbio, whose brother now carries on his fame as an artist and who now recognises the empty glory of human talent which passes from one to another, from Cimabue to Giotto who now is all the rage. (The expression ‘all the rage’ IMHO is a rare example of an anachronism in the translation.)

#Digression: BTW I found this super YouTube video about Anachronisms in Art History, intentional and otherwise.  I am going to watch it later and I have put it here so that I don’t lose it.  Plus it is relevant to what C S Lewis says about the way the Medieval Model of the Universe influenced their artworks.

Finally they meet Provensan Salvani, who Musa tells us is the presumptuous dictator of Siena. Salvani was a traitor too, because he abandoned the Ghibelline cause and went over to the Guelphs.  He must have repented just as he died in battle or was murdered by hired killers.

Canto XII

Nimrod defying God, by David Scott (1832)

As they leave these prideful sinners behind, Dante stands straight the way a man should.  There are more marble carvings here: beneath their feet are examples of Pride, quite a few of whom are women.  They include Satan (of course), the giant Briareus, Nimrod, Niobe, Saul (the Hebrew one, not the one who was converted on the road to Damascus), Arachne, Rehoboam, plus depictions of slaying, murder, slaughter, lost battles and the Fall of Troy.

(I would have thought that Niobe was punished enough by having her children killed because of her hubris, but she was a pagan anyway so a deathbed repentance wouldn’t have helped her much.)

BTW Musa’s notes tell us what we who read in translation could not otherwise know:

The first twelve tercets (in Italian) begin respectively with the letters UUUU, OOOO, MMMM, forming an acrostic, which is resumed in the three lines of the thirteenth tercet: uom (the Italian word for ‘man’).  Dante’s obvious message here is that Pride is a sin so common and so basic as to be basically synonymous with man. (p.133)

Virgil tells Dante to lift his head as the angel approaches to remove the first P (i.e. the first sin) from his forehead, and Dante feels a little lighter.  The climbing up the sacred steps is thus easier, especially since it’s accompanied by the haunting music of Beati pauperes spiritu, in a version here by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621):

Canto XIII

Here we are in the Terrace of the Envious, signalled by a disembodied voice crying out examples of Generosity, the virtue opposite to the vice of Envy. These are only fragments of words flying past, but all who read TDC in the medieval era would have recognised them:

The first voice that came flying past us sang
out loud and clear the words Vinum non habent;
then we could hear them echoing behind.

Before the notes had faded quietly
into distance, another voice cried out:
‘I am Orestes!’ And that voice too swept by.

‘Oh,’ I said, Father what voices are these?’
And just as I was asking this, a third
said, passing by: “Love those who do you harm!’ (Canto XIII, Lines 28-36)

Again the first example is from the life of the Virgin Mary, this time at the wedding feast of Cana. This virtue is most perfectly illustrated in this fresco showing Mary tapping Jesus on the shoulder to bring to his attention that the hosts have run out of wine.

Next is Orestes whose friend Pylades had tried to save his friend’s life by taking his identity, and both then tried to save the life of the other.  The third is the gospel commandment to ‘Love thine enemy’.

Sinners here huddle against the cliff reciting the Litany of Saints.

#Digression: Gosh, there are a LOT of saints, though presumably not quite so many as in today’s Litany. They keep adding to them, another nine this year by this latest Pope (see Wikipedia) though I haven’t heard anything about the miracles they’re supposed to have performed — and you’d think we would, wouldn’t you? Maybe I’m not following social media enough.  Perhaps the Pope is on Twitter, which I’m not.

Anyway, the sinners are dressed in loincloths in the colour of stone and ugh! their eyelids have been stitched shut with iron thread. Well might Dante say:

I do not think there is a man on earth
with heart so hard that it would not be pierced
with pity if he saw what I saw then. (Canto XIII, Lines 52-54)

Next, there is a long conversation with Sapìa of Siena… that’s right, a woman!  Musa reminds me that there was only one woman who spoke in Inferno, i.e. Francesca da Rimini in Canto V, but there are two in the Purgatorio, Pia who barely said a word in Canto V and now the comparatively loquacious Sapìa who admits that she enjoyed seeing the defeat of her townsmen at the battle of Colle. This was a battle between the Ghibellines and Guelphs, an example of schadenfreude before the word was invented. This image is from Wikipedia in its series on this conflict but it doesn’t say where the woodcut(?) is held today: The Guelph is carrying the head of Provenzan Salvani on a spear.

Canto XIV

This Canto begins with two nasty fellows sniping about Dante:

‘Who is this roaming round our mountainside
before his soul is given wings by Death—
opening his eyes and closing them at will?’

‘Who knows? All I know is he’s not alone.
Why don’t you ask him, you are nearer him:
speak nicely to him so he’ll answer you.’ (Canto XIV Lines 1-6.

Well, ok, these two may perhaps know that a stranger is present because they heard Dante breathing after the exertions of his climb, but how do they know there are two of them?  Does Virgil (who is dead) breathe?  And how can shades with their eyes sewn shut know that Dante is opening and closing his?

Whatever about that, when Dante says he’s from the valley of the Arno, this sparks a tirade about Tuscan infamy, and after they identify themselves as Guido del Duca and Rinier da Calboli, there’s another rant about the degeneracy of Romagna. Let’s not hang about in this canto, suffice to say that voices scream out more examples of envy: Cain, and the Athenian princess Aglauros, turned to stone because she envied Mercury’s love for her sister.  (Unsurprisingly, though there are plenty of paintings of Cain and Abel, I can’t find an image for Aglauros.  How could a painter depict someone turned to stone, eh?)

Canto XV

This canto brings us the shining light of the Angel of Generosity and the singing of the beatitude ‘Blessed are the Merciful’ — and though I couldn’t find a nice classical version of this, I rather like this multilingual version from World Youth Day 2016.

In response to Dante’s query about the rant about the degeneracy of Romagna in the previous canto, Virgil explains the difference between earthly and heavenly possessions. It’s not unlike aspects of Buddhism, which I don’t suppose Dante had ever heard of, though Buddhism originated in India in the 6th century and reliefs celebrating the virtues of the Buddha were carved at Borobodur in Java the 9th century. If Europeans did once know about Buddhism from Alexander the Great’s expedition to India, the church would have suppressed any knowledge of it with the usual burnings at the stake for heresy.

Because you make things of this world your goal,
which are diminished as each shares in them,
Envy pumps hard the bellows for your sighs.

But if your love were for the lofty sphere,
your cravings would aspire for the heights,
and fear of loss would not oppress your heart; (Canto XV, Lines 49-54.)

Now they arrive at the Terrace of Wrath, and as exemplars of mercy, (the opposite of Wrath), Dante experiences visions, sent so that he might learn to let his heart be flooded by the peace that flows eternally from that High Fount. Musa reminds us that on the first terrace, the carvings appeal to the sense of vision; the voices on the second terrace appeal to the sense of hearing, and here on the third terrace, there are inner visions.

Once again, the first enlightening vision is from the life of the Virgin Mary, this time asking Jesus why he stayed behind in the temple and she had thought he was lost.  They had spent a whole day travelling from Jerusalem and then realised that Jesus wasn’t with them.  They went back to Jerusalem, only to find him in discussion with the learned men in the temple.  She doesn’t tick him off for causing such distress as most mothers would, she asks him gently.  I like the way this painting by Carl Bloch (1834-1890) uses that vivid ‘Marian Blue’ (i.e. ultramarine derived from very expensive lapis-lazuli) to put the focus on her, even though we can’t see her face.

The next vision, from classical antiquity, is of Pisistratus (560-527BC) , who was, according to Musa, the benevolent tyrant of Athens, famous for turning away wrath with mercy.  Despite his wife demanding that he avenge his daughter’s honour after an embrace unsanctioned by parental approval, Pisistratus showed mercy instead, with the words ‘If we slay those who love us, what shall we do with those who hate us?’

The last example is of St Stephen (5-34AD), the martyr stoned to death by a mob.  His death is depicted in many paintings but I like this one attributed to Luigi Garzi (1638–1721) because you can clearly see the saint appealing to the angel for mercy for his assailants.

Virgil understands that Dante’s sleepiness is due to the visions, but he now urges Dante to get cracking… and the Canto ends ominously…

Then gradually a cloud of smoke took shape;
slowly it drifted towards us, dark as night;
we were not able to escape its grip:

it took away our sight, and the pure air. (Canto XV, Lines 142-145)

Canto XVI

Blinded by the smoke, Dante is guided by Virgil (who presumably can see, why?) to the music of the Agnus Dei sung by the shades in perfect harmony. Virgil tells him that they are loosening the knot of Wrath — what perfect imagery for the feeling we have when fury subsides and we decide to let anger lapse!

Just think, Dante the poet could not have heard this exquisite version from Mozart’s Requiem — the world had to wait until 1791 for it to be composed, and much longer than that before the magic of recorded music made it available to everyone.

Marco the Lombard approaches and walks with them to the end of the smoke-filled space, while they discuss the corruption of society.  Here Dante engages with the issue of astrology and has Marco decry the influence of the stars on human behaviour and asserts the importance of Free Will.  (See my post about the medieval attitude to astrology in C S Lewis’s The Discarded Image, Chapter 5, Part B for church disapproval of it.) Marco also deplores poor church and state leadership of their era.  Before departing, he asks Dante to tell the world:

… The church of Rome, which fused
two powers into one, has sunk in muck,
defiling both herself and her true role. (Canto XVI, Lines 127-129)

Dante pulls no punches!

You can see Scott-Giles’ visual representation of Purgatory here.

Next week, Purgatorio Cantos 17-23..

 Progress so far:

• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 2013 edition translated by Clive James, with help from Jason M Baxter #1 Getting Started
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 2013 edition translated by Clive James, #2 Introduction, Cantos 1-2
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #3 Cantos 3-8
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #4 Cantos 9-17
• The Divine Comedy by  Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #5. Cantos 18-26
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #6 Inferno, Cantos 27-34
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #7 Purgatory, Introduction
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #8 Purgatory, Cantos 1-8
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #9 Purgatory, Cantos 9-16
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #10 Purgatory, Cantos 17-23
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #11 Purgatory, Cantos 24-29
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #12 Purgatory, Cantos 30-33
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1984 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #13 Paradiso, Cantos 1-8

See also

• Botticelli and the Divine Comedy
• The Discarded Image, An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C S Lewis (1964), Chapter IV
• The women who appear in Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ are finally getting their due, 700 years later

References:

• The Divine Comedy: Translation, Notes and Commentary by Mark Musa,
  • Vol 1, Inferno, 2003 new edition of the 1984 Penguin Classics edition, first published 1971 by Indiana University Press, ISBN 9780142437223
  • Vol 2, Purgatory, 1985 Penguin Classics edition, first published 1981 by Indiana University Press, ISBN: 9780140444421
• The Divine Comedy translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with illustrations by Gustave Doré and an Introduction by Melinda Corey; Barnes and Noble edition 2008, ISBN: 9781435103849
• The Divine Comedy translated and with an Introduction by Clive James, Picador Poetry edition, 2013, ISBN 9781447244219
• A Beginners Guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy by Jason M Baxter, Baker Academic, 2018, ISBN: 9781493413102, Kindle edition  ASIN: B0752RVZ6R
• The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C S Lewis, Kindle edition ASIN B08TCJZP5N
• The Sleepwalkers, by Arthur Koestler, The Danube Edition, Hutchinson, 1968 first published 1959 ISN: 090502515
• The Essential Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett, The Softback Preview, 1999, first published in this translation in 1871, ISBN: 9781582880129
• The Dante Course, a series of lectures presented by Prof. Teodolinda Barolini, Lorenzo da Ponte Professor of Italian at Columbia University, 2015-6 online

Image credits:

• The Justice of Trajan by I, Sailko, CCB BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14788954
• Nimrod by David Scott, 1832: By David Scott – http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=record;id=1861;type=101, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52590249
• The Wedding Feast at Cana, uncredited at https://catholicstand.com/the-sacrament-of-marriage-thoughts-for-the-new-year
• Bitva u Colle – 1269: By Giovanni Villani – http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BATTAGLIA_1269.gif, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34916160
• Mary finding Jesus in the temple: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/immaculate-mary-and-the-finding-in-the-temple
• Stoning of St Stephen, attributed to Garzi: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Garzi_(attr)_Stoning_of_Saint_Stephen.jpg

Following on from my notes from Mark Musa’s Introduction to the Purgatorio… we begin in the second realm, Purgatory.

Canto I

After all the noise and cacophony of the Inferno, this is a quieter, more optimistic place.  Dante feels the poetic impulse stirring:

For better waters, now, the little bark
of my poetic powers hoists its sails,
and leaves behind that cruelest of the seas.

And I shall sing about that second realm
where man’s soul goes to purify itself
and become worthy to ascend to Heaven. (Canto 1, Lines 1-6)

He feels a sense of relief and renewal now that he is free of the deathly atmosphere.  As the dawn breaks, he sees four stars, which allegorically represent the Four Cardinal Virtues of classical philosophy: Prudence, Temperance, Justice and Fortitude.  These virtues were bestowed on the perfect man in Paradise, i.e. Adam, but since the loss of Eden, they are no longer an inevitable part of human nature which is why Dante laments the ‘widowhood’ of the inhabited world.  These stars of the southern hemisphere are not visible in the Northern Hemisphere.

But here in Purgatory these stars light up the face of an ancient man who challenges their right to be there.  He thinks they have escaped from Hell, and he demands to know who guided them here.  Although he isn’t actually named in this Canto, Dante’s readers who knew their classics would have recognised Cato, the eminent Stoic. Virgil cautions Dante to reverence and so he sinks to his knees while Virgil explains that he has authority from Beatrice and that he has brought the living Dante safely through the realm of the Damned in order to save his soul.

Cato gives permission for them to proceed, on condition that all trace of filth has been removed:

….see that you gird his waist
with a smooth reed; take care to bathe his face
till every trace of filth has disappeared

for it would not be fitting that he go
with vision clouded by the mists of Hell,
to face the first of Heaven’s ministers. (Canto I, Lines 94-99)

The canto concludes with the tender image of Virgil using the reed of humility to wipe Dante’s face once buried underneath the dirt of hell. Musa’s Notes tell us that the reed that springs back after being plucked is reminiscent of The Aeneid Book 6 where the Sibyl tells Aeneid that he must carry a golden bough as a kind of passport through the Underworld, and a new bough springs up to replace it afterwards.

Canto II

Still standing by the edge of the water, Dante sees a light moving at high speed towards them.  It’s an angel, propelling a boat with only the power of his wings.  Again Virgil tells Dante to fall to his knees in respect:

Closer and closer to our shore he came,
brighter and brighter shone the bird of God,
until I could no longer bear the light,

and bowed my head. He steered straight to the shore,
his boat so swift and light upon the wave,
it left no sign of truly sailing there;

and the celestial pilot stood astern
with blessedness inscribed upon his face.
More than a hundred souls were in his ship. (Canto II, Lines 37-45)

An angel running a sort of shuttle service!

Singing a melody, the souls disembark, and the angel disappears swiftly, as he had come. The song is Amor che ne la mente mi gagiona:

The souls wander about, not knowing where to go, and they ask for directions from Virgil and Dante. Virgil explains that they are pilgrims too, and then they suddenly notice that Dante is alive. One of them turns out to be Dante’s friend Casella, and Musa tells us that he was a musician and a singer who may have set Dante’s canzone to music.  The souls forget themselves and their purpose and were deeply lost in joy when Casella accedes to Dante’s request:

I said, ‘Pray sing, and give a little rest
to my poor soul which, burdened by my flesh,
has climbed this far and is exhausted now.” (Canto II, lines 109-111)

The song brings Cato back again, to castigate them all for their laziness, and sends them on their way.  Musa points out that it wasn’t unreasonable for them to delay because they didn’t know where to go and anyway, they can’t begin their purgation until God wills it.

But Dante evidently found it fitting that the newly arrived souls hear words that would shake them to their depths, and he chose Cato to deliver them — this pagan soul of harshly uncompromising, impatient idealism, who took his own life rather than compromise. (p.27)

Canto III

The crowd of souls sets off, with Dante and Virgil behind them.  Dante suddenly becomes alarmed because while he has a shadow, Virgil does not, and this gives rise to Virgil’s explanation that although he can feel pain, heat and cold, a shade casts no shadow.  This is the will of the Creator, and Dante should be content with not understanding everything because he has only a human mind.

At the foot of the mountain, they are not sure which way to go, and so they approach a slow-moving crowd of souls, who are likened to sheep following a leader in ignorance. One of these reveals himself as Manfred, the grandson of the Empress Constance, who sinned but repented at life’s end — but still faces a 30-year wait in Purgatory!

Canto IV

The first lines of this canto seem eminently quotable:

When any of our senses is aroused
to intensity of pleasure or of pain,
the soul gives itself up to that one sense,

oblivious to all its other powers.
This fact serves to refute the false belief
that in our bodies more than one soul burns.

And so it is when we see or hear
something which wholly captivates the soul,
we easily can lose all sense of time. (Canto IV, Lines 1-9)

That’s certainly true when we are reading a captivating book!

BTW Musa’s notes remind us that Lines 5 and 6 refuting the idea of having more than one soul is Dante the Poet-philosopher rebutting Aristotle’s idea of multiple souls, which was consolidated by Thomas Aquinas who said that the soul is a unity endowed with three faculties.  And although that significance had passed me by entirely when I read it, I now remember what C S Lewis wrote about the Medieval Mind and how bookish it was and how they reverenced ancient thinkers because their ideas were written in a book. (This was why Ptolemy’s daft theory of the universe was ‘set in stone’, when plainly, it didn’t mesh with their observations.)  Well, here, it seems to me, Dante is challenging not just ideas he doesn’t agree with, he’s also challenging the whole idea of sacrosanct texts.

Anyway…

It’s an arduous climb upwards  in the heat, squeezing through a small gap in the rock on hands and feet, to find themselves on an open plain. Still, Virgil urges Dante onwards when he quails at the sight of the heights they still have to climb.  When they finally sit down for a breather, Dante is perturbed by the sight of the sun on their left, so Virgil explains the geography of Purgatory — which made me think that Dante probably appreciated the opportunity to rest a little longer as much as the explanation. And indeed, Dante then asks the adult poetic version of ‘Are we there yet?’

‘But would you kindly tell me, if you please,
how much more climbing we must do: this peak
soars higher than my eyes can see.’ (Canto VI, lines 85-87)

To which Virgil replies:

‘This mount is not like the others: at the start
it is most difficult to climb, but then,
the more one climbs the easier it becomes;

And when the slope feels gentle to the point
that climbing up would be as effortless
as floating down a river in a boat —

well then, you have arrived at the road’s end,
and there you can expect, at last, to rest. (Canto IV, Lines 88-95)

These comforting words are interrupted by the laconic voice of Belacqua, mocking Virgil’s rather long explanations.  Musa’s notes tells us that Belacqua was a Florentine lute-maker and friend of Dante’s.  He was notorious for his laziness, and it was his habit of procrastination which landed him in the Antepurgatory with the Souls of the Indolent because he left his repentance till the end.  And even now *yawn* he’s in no hurry to say the prayers which would shorten his time there.

Virgil says nothing in reply. We can almost imagine him shrugging his shoulders as if to say, what is the point of arguing with this fellow?  He sets off again, with Dante behind him.

Canto V

Once again Virgil has to chastise Dante because he has let his attention lapse.  The Souls of the Indolent below them are transfixed by Dante’s shadow, and Dante has turned around to see what the to-do is about.  It’s such a human response, but Virgil has no time for it:

‘What is it that has caught your interest so
and makes you lag behind?’ my master asked.
“What do you care, if they are whispering?

Keep up with me and let the people talk!
Be like a solid tower whose brave height
remains unmoved by all the winds that blow:

the man who lets his thoughts be turned aside
by one thing or another, will lose sight
of his true goal, his mind sapped of its strength.’ (Canto V, Lines 13-18.)

Oh, so true.  All that time I waste looking at dog videos on Facebook!

The fascination with Dante’s shadow, however, brings a new crowd of souls eager to learn how a living man has made his way there. In contrast to the Indolent, they dash about.  They beseech him to take news of their progress back to earth and to ask for prayers to be said on their behalf, but Dante doesn’t recognise anybody. Men tell their stories of murder and the battlefield, but it is Pia whose speech is startling.  She is a rarity: a woman speaking!

Musa notes that the speed of this canto reflects the hasty repentances that were made in the face of a violent death. Musa also notes the contrast between the verbose Francesca in Inferno V, lines 97-99, and Pia’s brevity which shows her to be well bred, gentle, and considerate as she asks the Pilgrim to remember her only after he has rested from his long journey. 

Canto VI

But now a whole horde of souls converges on Dante, and he does know these ones. Dante likens the pressure on the pilgrim to a game of dice where the losers hang about in hope of a handout from the winner.

He keeps on going, listening to them all;
the ones who get a handout do not push,
and this is his protection from the crowd.

I was that man caught in a begging throng,
turning my face toward one and then the next,
buying my way out with my promises. (Canto VI, Lines 7-12)

Dante asks Virgil if there really is a power in prayers said by the living on earth for the souls in Purgatory.  Virgil’s answer suggests that if it were that simple, the penitents would quickly be on their way to Heaven.  For a proper answer, he says, Dante must wait for Beatrice who will appear on the mountain top.

Once again, Virgil who seems less confident about their path now, seeks advice about which way to go from a man alone on the mountain.  He is Sordello and his appearance gives Dante the poet the opportunity to have a bit of a rant about the evil and corruption of Italy.  We need not linger over that.

Canto VII

Sordello is impressed that the shade he has embraced is the eminent Virgil and he offers to be their guide. He warns, however, that no one can climb the mountain at night; this curfew is because the dark shadows makes one’s will impotent.  So he leads them to a ledge above the Valley of Princes, where a whole host of Negligent Rulers (including Henry the Fat of Navarre!) are singing Salve Regina. I think this is the one:

This is a lovely contrast to the raucous racket in the Inferno. 

Canto VIII

More singing introduces this canto.  One of the penitents stands up and sings Te lucis ante, that is usually sung at Compline in a monastery.  Musa tells us that it’s a prayer for protection from temptation, especially in the form of evil dreams.  It’s performed here by the King’s Singers:

The serenity of this moment is broken by the arrival of two Angels with flaming swords, sent to guard the Souls against the serpent which Sordello says is due to appear. (Musa’s Notes also tell us that the snake, BTW, is the coat of arms of the Milanese branch of the Visconti family.)

Dante is panicked but Sordello guides them to the valley below where the noble shades are. The sky is lit up by three brilliant torches which take the place of the four bright stars, and Musa’s Notes tell us that these torches represent the theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity. They also signify here that Dante is about to leave the Antepurgatory.

The serpent arrives, but is given short thrift by two holy falcons, and then Dante is approached by Malaspina who makes a prophecy about Dante’s exile.

You can see Scott-Giles’ visual representation of Purgatory here.

Next week, Purgatorio Cantos 9-16.

 Progress so far:

• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 2013 edition translated by Clive James, with help from Jason M Baxter #1 Getting Started
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 2013 edition translated by Clive James, #2 Introduction, Cantos 1-2
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #3 Cantos 3-8
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #4 Cantos 9-17
• The Divine Comedy by  Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #5. Cantos 18-26
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #6 Inferno, Cantos 27-34
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #7 Purgatory, Introduction
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #8 Purgatory, Cantos 1-8
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #9 Purgatory, Cantos 9-16
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #10 Purgatory, Cantos 17-23
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #11 Purgatory, Cantos 24-29
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #12 Purgatory, Cantos 30-33
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1984 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #13 Paradiso, Cantos 1-8

See also

• Botticelli and the Divine Comedy
• The Discarded Image, An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C S Lewis (1964), Chapter IV
• The women who appear in Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ are finally getting their due, 700 years later

References:

• The Divine Comedy: Translation, Notes and Commentary by Mark Musa,
  • Vol 1, Inferno, 2003 new edition of the 1984 Penguin Classics edition, first published 1971 by Indiana University Press, ISBN 9780142437223
  • Vol 2, Purgatory, 1985 Penguin Classics edition, first published 1981 by Indiana University Press, ISBN: 9780140444421
• The Divine Comedy translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with illustrations by Gustave Doré and an Introduction by Melinda Corey; Barnes and Noble edition 2008, ISBN: 9781435103849
• The Divine Comedy translated and with an Introduction by Clive James, Picador Poetry edition, 2013, ISBN 9781447244219
• A Beginners Guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy by Jason M Baxter, Baker Academic, 2018, ISBN: 9781493413102, Kindle edition  ASIN: B0752RVZ6R
• The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C S Lewis, Kindle edition ASIN B08TCJZP5N
• The Sleepwalkers, by Arthur Koestler, The Danube Edition, Hutchinson, 1968 first published 1959 ISN: 090502515
• The Essential Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett, The Softback Preview, 1999, first published in this translation in 1871, ISBN: 9781582880129
• The Dante Course, a series of lectures presented by Prof. Teodolinda Barolini, Lorenzo da Ponte Professor of Italian at Columbia University, 2015-6 online

Image credits:

• Virgil, Dante and Cato, by Gustave Doré https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Chant-1-Dante–Virgil–and-Cato-of-Utica/01CF0D2CF879905B2D6E1FA2D9963CB9

Here we are in the Purgatorio!

This the book description for Volume 2 of Mark Musa’s translation:

In the second volume of his definitive translation of The Divine Comedy, Mark Musa again brings his poetic sensitivity and skill as a translator and annotator to the difficult task of making Dante’s masterpiece vital for English-speaking readers. In Purgatory, Dante contemplates the origins of sin as he struggles up the terraces of Mount Purgatory on his arduous journey toward God. In Musa’s fine idiomatic translation – complete with prose introductions, bibliography, and glossary – Dante becomes the universal poet: sublime, grim, intellectual, simple, humorous, tender, and ecstatic.

I can’t resist quoting how Musa portrays the context of Dante’s epic:

Dante, portrait by Giotto

When Dante began writing his masterpiece, Duccio and Giotto’s paintings were on the walls of churches and homes, Gothic architecture was at its peak, the troubadours had left a hefty canon of lyric poetry behind them, the Romance of the Rose had been written, and scholastic philosophy was at its high point, while the conflict between church and temporal power was nearing its final stages. (p.ix)

This 1493 woodcut of Florence, from Hartmann Schedel‘s Nuremberg Chronicle is later than Dante’s lifespan (1265-1321), but (even though he was not writing in Florence, he was in exile), you get the idea of the physical environment that shaped him.  Musa gives us the intellectual and cultural context.

Key points to note from the Introduction:

Moral structure

• It’s the state of the soul — at peace with God, or not — at the moment of death that determines salvation or damnation for eternity.
• In the Inferno the Damned are placed according to their sins, but in Purgatory, they are grouped according to the tendencies that were the cause of their sins. 
• The Inferno is eternal, but Purgatory is temporary.
• Penance is not retributive, it is remedial.  It is not punishment, it is a corrective measure, a discipline imposed in order to help one fight the old habit of one’s sin or the residual tendency to sin. 

Structure

• The island-mountain of Purgatory consists of
  1. Earthly Paradise, at the very top, for those cleansed of their sin;
  2. The middle layer, Purgatory Proper, with a gate guarded by an angel, is for those willing to begin their purgation. Seven terraces represent the seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice (and Prodigality), Glutton and Lust.
  3. The Antepurgatory is the lowest part, for those not ready to start their purgation.  These souls are the ‘Late Repentants’ because they kept putting off their repentance.
• The ‘geology’ [my term, not Musa’s] of the mountain of Purgatory suggests to me that even though his grasp of the structure of Earth was Ptolemean, Dante knew something about how volcanoes form landscapes:
  • It rose in the middle of Earth’s southern hemisphere opposite Jerusalem;
  • It was created when Lucifer fell from Heaven down to the centre of the earth, and the displaced material rushed upward to create the mountain, i.e. Musa estimates that it’s about 3000 miles high.

The spiritual structure 

• Purgatory is the passageway to Heaven, and pure souls progress through it without needing purgation, so Dante will witness three categories of the Saved arriving by boat along the Tiber:
  • Those destined for immediate entry to Heaven (hardly any);
  • Those proceeding straight to their purgation (most of them);
  • Those who have to wait in the Antepurgatory (presumed to be a minority because they only get six cantos).
• The arrival of Cato, guardian of Purgatory, corresponds to Virgil’s sudden appearance in the Inferno. His role is not really clear. In The Aeneid he’s a lawgiver, in TDC he’s like a policeman on the beat;
• The newly arrived souls are surprised to see Virgil and Dante already there, and are intrigued to see that Dante is alive. The songs that are sung have significance and so does poetry, more about that later.
• Musa suggests that there are some troubling discrepancies to watch out for:
  • The homogeneity of each group of souls doesn’t mean they all share the same fate;
  • Dante delays in addressing the issue of how long a Late Repentant has to wait;
  • Dante omits to explain how The Pilgrim gets to know facts he’s never been told;
  • Unclear organisation of the Late Repentant Souls who seem to just wander about.
• Purgatory Proper is utterly unlike Earth: there are no colours, nor atmosphere.  It’s neatly organised, and ritualistic but it’s tranquil, serene and mostly silent except for quiet music and singing.
• Frequent discussions about Love and Free Will take place because love is the source of all actions but there are two kinds:
  1. Love that is instinctive, a natural desire to return to God, which can never be wrong.
  2. Love that involves Free Will, and since we are human, it can lead to choosing evil.
     • The first three Deadly Sins involve choosing through Free Will to harm a neighbour: Pride, Envy and Wrath;
     • Sloth is also a choice of Free Will, it is the insufficiency of love for true good or God;
     • Exercising Free Will to choose excessive love for secondary goods results in Avarice, Gluttony and Lust.
• In different ways, mostly symbolically, Dante the Pilgrim ‘participates’ in the purgation of these sins, just as he ‘participated’ in the sins on his journey in Hell.
• There are three dreams which connect the three parts of Purgatory. They are prophetic, involve female figures and are to some degree erotic, and each dream occurs in a canto connected to the number nine: Canto IX (9), XIX (19), and XXVII (27÷3=9).
• Virgil will depart in the concluding cantos of Purgatorio and Beatrice will arrive, signifying the Final Advent of Christ, and it will end with the word ‘stars’, just as Inferno did.

You can see Scott-Giles’ visual representation of Purgatory here.

Ok, onward!

 Progress so far:

• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 2013 edition translated by Clive James, with help from Jason M Baxter #1 Getting Started
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 2013 edition translated by Clive James, #2 Introduction, Cantos 1-2
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #3 Cantos 3-8
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #4 Cantos 9-17
• The Divine Comedy by  Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #5. Cantos 18-26
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1971 translation by Mark Musa, 2003 Penguin Edition, #6 Inferno, Cantos 27-34
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #7 Purgatory, Introduction
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #8 Purgatory, Cantos 1-8
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #9 Purgatory, Cantos 9-16
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #10 Purgatory, Cantos 17-23
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #11 Purgatory, Cantos 24-29
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1981 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #12 Purgatory, Cantos 30-33
• The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1308-1321), 1984 translation by Mark Musa, 1985 Penguin Edition, #13 Paradiso, Cantos 1-8

See also

• Botticelli and the Divine Comedy
• The Discarded Image, An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C S Lewis (1964), Chapter IV
• The women who appear in Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ are finally getting their due, 700 years later

References:

• The Divine Comedy: Translation, Notes and Commentary by Mark Musa,
  • Vol 1, Inferno, 2003 new edition of the 1984 Penguin Classics edition, first published 1971 by Indiana University Press, ISBN 9780142437223
  • Vol 2, Purgatory, 1985 Penguin Classics edition, first published 1981 by Indiana University Press, ISBN: 9780140444421.  The cover illustration is by William Blake (1757-1827): ‘The Harlot and the Giant’ make an appearance in Canto 32.
• The Divine Comedy translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with illustrations by Gustave Doré and an Introduction by Melinda Corey; Barnes and Noble edition 2008, ISBN: 9781435103849
• The Divine Comedy translated and with an Introduction by Clive James, Picador Poetry edition, 2013, ISBN 9781447244219
• A Beginners Guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy by Jason M Baxter, Baker Academic, 2018, ISBN: 9781493413102, Kindle edition  ASIN: B0752RVZ6R
• The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C S Lewis, Kindle edition ASIN B08TCJZP5N
• The Sleepwalkers, by Arthur Koestler, The Danube Edition, Hutchinson, 1968 first published 1959 ISN: 090502515
• The Essential Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett, The Softback Preview, 1999, first published in this translation in 1871, ISBN: 9781582880129
• The Dante Course, a series of lectures presented by Prof. Teodolinda Barolini, Lorenzo da Ponte Professor of Italian at Columbia University, 2015-6 online

Image credits:

• Profile of Dante Alighieri,  Giotto di Bondone: By Giotto – http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Dante_house.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=867466
• 1493 woodcut of Florence from Hartmann Schedel‘s Nuremberg Chronicle By Michel Wolgemut, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (Text: Hartmann Schedel) – Self-scanned, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=882205