The Divine Comedy: Purgatory
The Divine Comedy: PurgatoryPURGATORYCopyright
The Divine Comedy: Purgatory
Dante Alighieri
PURGATORY
CANTO I. Invocation to the Muses.—Dawn of Easter on the shore
of Purgatory.—The Four Stars.—Cato.—The cleansing of Dante from the
stains of Hell.To run over better waters the little vessel of my genius now
hoists its sails, and leaves behind itself a sea so cruel; and I
will sing of that second realm where the human spirit is purified
and becomes worthy to ascend to heaven.But here let dead poesy rise again, O holy Muses, since yours
I am, and here let Calliope somewhat mount up, accompanying my song
with that sound of which the wretched Picae felt the stroke such
that they despaired of pardon.[1][1] The nine daughters of Pieros, king of Emathia, who,
contending in song with the Muses, were for their presumption
changed to magpies.A sweet color of oriental sapphire, which was gathering in
the serene aspect of the sky, pure even to the first circle,[1]
renewed delight to my eyes soon as I issued forth from the dead air
that had afflicted my eyes and my breast. The fair planet which
incites to love was making all the Orient to smile, veiling the
Fishes that were in her train.[2] I turned me to the right hand,
and fixed my mind upon the other pole, and saw four stars never
seen save by the first people.[3] The heavens appeared to rejoice
in their flamelets. O widowed northern region, since thou art
deprived of beholding these![1] By "the first circle," Dante seems to mean the
horizon.[2] At the spring equinox Venus is in the sign of the Pisces,
which immediately precedes that of Aries, in which is the Sun. The
time indicated is therefore an hour or more before sunrise on
Easter morning, April 10.When I had withdrawn from regarding them, turning me a little
to the other pole, there whence the Wain had already disappeared, I
saw close to me an old man alone, worthy in look of so much
reverence that no son owes more unto his father.[1] He wore a long
beard and mingled with white hair, like his locks, of which a
double list fell upon his breast. The rays of the four holy stars
so adorned his face with light, that I saw him, as if the sun had
been in front.[1] These stars are the symbols of the four Cardinal
Virtues,— Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice,—the virtues
of active life, sufficient to guide men in the right path, but not
to bring them to Paradise. By the first people arc probably meant
Adam and Eve, who from the terrestrial Paradise, on the summit of
the Mount of Purgatory, had seen these stars, visible only from the
Southern hemisphere. According to the geography of the time Asia
and Africa lay north of the equator, so that even to their
inhabitants these stars were invisible. Possibly the meaning is
that these stars, symbolizing the cardinal virtues, had been
visible only in the golden age.This old man, as soon appears, is the younger Cato, and the
office here given to him of warden of the souls in the outer region
of Purgatory was suggested by the position assigned to him by
Virgil in the Aeneid, viii. 670. "Secretosque pios, his dantem jura
Catonem."It has been objected to Virgil's thus putting him in Elysium,
that as a suicide his place was in the Mourning Fields. A similar
objection may be made to Dante's separating him from the other
suicides in the seventh circle of Hell (Canto XIII.). "But," says
Conington, "Virgil did not aim at perfect consistency. It was
enough for him that Cato was one who from his character in life
might be justly conceived of as lawgiver to the dead." So Dante,
using Cato as an allegoric figure, regards him as one who, before
the coming of Christ, practised the virtues which are required to
liberate the soul from sin, and who, as be says in the De Monarchia
(ii. 5), "that he might kindle the love of liberty in the world,
showed how precious it was, by preferring death with liberty to
life without it." This liberty is the type of that spiritual
freedom which Dante is seeking, and which, being the perfect
conformity of the human will to the will of God, is the aim and
fruition of nil redeemed souls.In the region of Purgatory outside the gate, the souls have
not yet attained this freedom; they are on the way to it, and Cato
is allegorically fit to warn and spur them on."Who are ye that counter to the blind stream have fled from
the eternal prison?" said he, moving those venerable plumes. "Who
has guided you? Or who was a lamp to you, issuing forth from the
deep night that ever makes the infernal valley black? Are the laws
of the abyss thus broken? or is a new design changed in heaven
that, being damned, ye come unto my rocks?"My Leader then took hold of me, and with words, and with
hands, and with signs, made my legs and my brow reverent. Then he
answered him, "Of myself I came not; a Lady descended from Heaven,
through whose prayers I succored this man with my company. But
since it is thy will that more of our condition be unfolded to thee
as it truly is, mine cannot be that to thee this be denied. This
man has not seen his last evening, but through his folly was so
near thereto that very little time there was to turn. Even as I
have said, I was sent to him to rescue him, and there was no other
way than this, along which I have set myself. I have shown to him
all the guilty people; and now I intend to show him those spirits
that purge themselves under thy ward. How I have led him, it would
be long to tell thee; from on high descends power that aids me to
conduct him to see thee and to hear thee. Now may it please thee to
approve his coming. He goes seeking liberty, which is so dear, as
he knows who for her refuses life. Thou knowest it, for death for
her sake was not hitter to thee in Utica, where thou didst leave
the garment that on the great day shall he so bright. The eternal
edicts are not violated by us, for this one is alive, and Minos
does not bind me; but I am of the circle where are the chaste eyes
of thy Marcia, who in her look still prays thee, O holy breast,
that for thine own thou hold her. For her love, then, incline
thyself to us; let us go on through thy seven realms.[1] Thanks
unto thee will I carry back to her, if to be mentioned there below
thou deign."[1] The seven circles of Purgatory."Marcia so pleased my eyes while I was on earth," said he
then, "that whatsoever grace she wished from me I did it; now, that
on the other side of the evil stream she dwells, she can no more
move me, by that law which was made when thence I issued forth.[1]
But if a Lady of heaven move and direct thee, as thou sayest, there
is no need of flattery; suffice it fully to thee that for her sake
thou askest me. Go then, and see thou gird this one with a smooth
rush, and that thou wash his face so that thou remove all sully
from it, for it were not befitting to go with eye overcast by any
cloud before the first minister that is of those of Paradise. This
little island, round about at its base, down there yonder where the
wave heats it, bears rushes upon its soft ooze. No plant of other
kind, that might put forth leaf or grow hard, can there have life,
because it yields not to the shocks. Thereafter let not your return
be this way; the Sun which now is rising will show you to take the
mountain by easier ascent."[1] The law that the redeemed cannot be touched by other than
heavenly affections.So he disappeared, and I rose up, without speaking, and drew
me close to my Leader, and turned my eyes to him. He began, "Son,
follow my steps; let us turn back, for this plain slopes that way
to its low limits."The dawn was vanquishing the matin hour which fled before it,
so that from afar I discerned the trembling of the sea. We set
forth over the solitary plain like a man who turns unto the road
which he has lost, and, till he come to it, seems to himself to go
in vain. When we were where the dew contends with the sun, and,
through being in a place where there is shade, is little
dissipated, my Master softly placed both his hands outspread upon
the grass. Whereon I, who perceived his design, stretched toward
him my tear-stained cheeks. Here he wholly uncovered that color of
mine which hell had hidden on me.[1][1] Allegorically, when the soul has entered upon the way of
purification Reason, with the dew of repentance, washes off the
stain of sin, and girds the spirit with humility.We came, then, to the desert shore that never saw navigate
its waters one who afterwards had experience of return. Here he
girt me, even as pleased the other. O marvel! that such as he
plucked the humble plant, it instantly sprang up again there whence
he tore it.[1][1] The goods of the spirit are not diminished by
appropriation.
CANTO II. Sunrise.—The Poets on the shore.—Coming of a boat, guided
by an angel, bearing souls to Purgatory.—Their landing.—Casella and
his song.—Cato hurries the souls to the mountain.
Now had the sun reached the horizon whose meridian circle covers
Jerusalem with its highest point; and the night which circles
opposite to it was issuing forth from Ganges with the Scales that
fall from her hand when she exceeds;[1] so that where I was the
white and red cheeks of the beautiful Aurora by too much age were
becoming orange.[1] Purgatory and Jerusalem are antipodal, and in one
direction the Ganges or India was arbitrarily assumed to be their
common horizon. The night is here taken as the point of the Heavens
opposite the sun, and the sun being in Aries, the night is in
Libra. When night exceeds, that is, at the autumnal equinox, when
the night becomes longer than the day, the Scales may be said to
drop from her hand, since the sun enters Libra.We were still alongside the sea, like folk who are thinking
of their road, who go in heart and linger in body; and lo! as, at
approach of the morning, through the dense vapors Mars glows ruddy,
down in the west above the ocean floor, such appeared to me,—so may
I again behold it!—a light along the sea coming so swiftly that no
flight equals its motion. From which when I had a little withdrawn
my eye to ask my Leader, again I saw it, brighter become and
larger. Then on each side of it appeared to me a something, I know
not what, white, and beneath, little by little, another came forth
from it. My Master still said not a word, until the first white
things showed themselves wings; then, When he clearly recognized
the pilot, he cried out, "Mind, mind, thou bend thy knees. Lo! the
Angel of God: fold thy hands; henceforth shalt thou see such
officials. See how he scorns human means, so that he wills not oar,
or other sail than his own wings between such distant shores. See,
how he holds them straight toward heaven, stroking the air with his
eternal feathers that are not changed like mortal
hair."Then, as nearer and nearer toward us came the Bird Divine,
the brighter he appeared; so that near by my eye endured him not,
but I bent it down: and he came on to the shore with a small
vessel, very swift and light so that the water swallowed naught of
it. At the stern stood the Celestial Pilot, such that if but
described he would make blessed; and more than a hundred spirits
sat within. "In exitu Israel de Egypto"[1] they all were singing
together with one voice, with whatso of that psalm is after
written. Then he made the sign of holy cross upon them; whereon
they all threw themselves upon the strand; and he went away swift
as he had come.1 "When Israel went out of Egypt." Psalm cxiv.The crowd which remained there seemed strange to the place,
gazing round about like him who of new things makes essay. On all
sides the Sun, who had with his bright arrows chased from midheaven
the Capricorn,[1] was shooting forth the day, when the new people
raised their brow toward us, saying to us, "If ye know, show us the
way to go unto the mountain." And Virgil answered, "Ye believe,
perchance, that we are acquainted with this place, but we are
pilgrims even as ye are. Just now we came, a little before you, by
another way, which was so rough and difficult that the ascent
henceforth will seem play to us.[1] When Aries, in which the Sun was rising, is on the
horizon, Capricorn is at the zenith.The souls who had become aware concerning me by my breathing,
that I was still alive, marvelling became deadly pale. And as to a
messenger who bears an olive branch the folk press to hear news,
and no one shows himself shy of crowding, so, at the sight of me,
those fortunate souls stopped still, all of them, as if forgetting
to go to make themselves fair.I saw one of them drawing forward to embrace me with so great
affection that it moved me to do the like. O shades empty save in
aspect! Three times behind it I clasped my hands and as oft
returned with them unto my breast. With marvel, I believe, I
painted me; wherefore the shade smiled and drew back, and I,
following it, pressed forward, Gently it said, that I should pause;
then I knew who it was, and I prayed it that to speak with me it
would stop a little. It replied to me, "So as I loved thee in the
mortal body, so loosed from it I love thee; therefore I stop; but
wherefore goest thou?""Casella mine, in order to return another time to this place
where I am, do I make this journey," said I, "but from thee how has
so much time been taken?"[1][1] "How has thy coming hither been delayed so long since thy
death?"And he to me, "No wrong has been done me if he[1] who takes
both when and whom it pleases him ofttimes hath denied to me this
passage; for of a just will[2] his own is made. Truly for three
months he has taken with all peace whoso has wished to enter.
Wherefore I who was now turned to the seashore where the water of
Tiber grows salt was benignantly received by him.[3] To that outlet
has he now turned his wing, because always those assemble there who
towards Acheron do not descend."[1] The Celestial Pilot.[2] That is, of the Divine Will; but there is no explanation
of the motive of the delay.[3] The Tiber is the local symbol of the Church of Rome, from
whose bosom those who die at peace with her pass to Purgatory. The
Jubilee, proclaimed by Boniface VIII., had begun at Christmas,
1299, so that for three months now the Celestial Pilot had received
graciously all who had taken advantage of it to gain remission of
their sins.And I, "If a new law take not from thee memory or practice of
the song of love which was wont to quiet in me all my longings, may
it please thee therewith somewhat to comfort my soul, which coming
hither with its body is so wearied.""Love which in my mind discourseth with me,"[1] began he then
so sweetly that the sweetness still within me sounds.[2] My Master,
and I, and that folk who were with him, appeared so content as if
naught else could touch the mind of any.[1] The first verse of a canzone by Dante; the canzone is the
second of those upon which he comments in his Convito.[2] Every English reader recalls Milton's Sonnet to Mr.
HenryLawes:—"Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to
sing, Met in the milder shades of
purgatory."Nothing is known of Casella beyond what is implied in Dante's
affectionate record of their meeting.We were all fixed and attentive to his notes; and lo! the
venerable old man crying, "What is this, ye laggard spirits? What
negligence, what stay is this? Run to the mountain to strip off the
slough that lets not God be manifest to you."As, when gathering grain or tare, the doves assembled at
their feeding, quiet, without display of their accustomed pride, if
aught appear of which they are afraid, suddenly let the food alone,
because they are assailed by a greater care, so I saw that fresh
troop leave the song, and go towards the hill-side, like one that
goes but knows not where he may come out. Nor was our departure
less speedy.
CANTO III. Ante-Purgatory.—Souls of those who have died in
contumacy of the Church.— Manfred.
Inasmuch as the sudden flight had scattered them over the plain,
turned to the mount whereto reason spurs us, I drew me close to my
trusty companion. And how should I without him have run? Who would
have drawn me up over the mountain? He seemed to me of his own self
remorseful. O conscience, upright and stainless, how bitter a sting
to thee is little fault!When his feet left the haste that takes the seemliness from
every act, my mind, which at first had been restrained, let loose
its attention, as though eager, and I turned my face unto the hill
that towards the heaven rises highest from the sea. The sun, which
behind was flaming ruddy, was broken in front of me by the figure
that the staying of its rays upon me formed. When I saw the ground
darkened only in front of me, I turned me to my side with fear of
being abandoned: and my Comfort, wholly turning to me, began to
say, "Why dost thou still distrust? Dost thou not believe me with
thee, and that I guide thee? It is now evening there where the body
is buried within which I cast a shadow; Naples holds it, and from
Brundusium it is taken; if now in front of me there is no shadow,
marvel not more than at the heavens of which one hinders not the
other's radiance. To suffer torments, both hot and cold, bodies
like this the Power ordains, which wills not that how it acts be
revealed to us. Mad is he who hopes that our reason can traverse
the infinite way which One Substance in Three Persons holds. Be
content, human race, with the quia;[1]; for if ye had been able to
see everything, need had not been for Mary to hear child: and ye
have seen desiring fruitlessly men such [2] that their desire would
have been quieted, which is given them eternally for a grief. I
speak of Aristotle and of Plato, and of many others;" and here he
bowed his front, and said no more, and remained
disturbed.[1] Quic is used here, as often in mediaeval Latin, for quod.
The meaning is, Be content to know that the thing is, seek not to
know WHY or HOW—propter quid—it is as it is.[2] If human knowledge sufficed.We had come, meanwhile, to the foot of the mountain; here we
found the rock so steep, that there the legs would be agile in
vain. Between Lerici and Turbia[1] the most deserted, the most
secluded way is a stair easy and open, compared with that. "Now who
knows on which hand the hillside slopes," said my Master, staying
his step, "so that he can ascend who goeth without
wings?"[1] Lerici on the Gulf of Spezzia, and Turbia, just above
Monaco, are at the two ends of the Riviera; between them the
mountains rise steeply from the shore, along which in Dante's time
there was no road.And while he was holding his face low, questioning his mind
about the road, and I was looking up around the rock, on the left
hand appeared to me a company of souls who were moving their feet
towards us, and seemed not, so slowly were they coming. "Lift,"
said I to the Master, "thine eyes, lo! on this side who will give
us counsel, if thou from thyself canst not have it." He looked at
them, and with air of relief, answered, "Let us go thither, for
they come slowly, and do thou confirm thy hope, sweet
son.That people was still as far, I mean after a thousand steps
of ours, as a good thrower would cast with his hand, when they all
pressed up to the hard masses of the high bank, and stood still and
close, as one who goes in doubt stops to look.[1] "O ye who have
made good ends, O spirits already elect," Virgil began, "by that
peace which I believe is awaited by you all, tell us, where the
mountain lies so that the going up is possible; for to lose time is
most displeasing to him who knows most."[1] They stopped, surprised, at seeing Virgil and Dante
advancing to the left, against the rule in Purgatory, where the
course is always to the right, symbolizing progress in good. In
Hell the contrary rule holds.As the sheep come forth from the fold by ones, and twos, and
threes, and the others stand timid, holding eye and muzzle to the
ground; and what the first does the others also do, huddling
themselves to her if she stop, silly and quiet, and wherefore know
not; so I saw then moving to approach, the head of that fortunate
flock, modest in face and dignified in gait.When those in front saw the light broken on the ground at my
right side, so that the shadow fell from me on the cliff, they
stopped, and drew somewhat back; and all the rest who were coming
behind, not knowing why, did just the same. "Without your asking, I
confess to you that this is a human body which you see, whereby the
light of the sun on the ground is cleft. Marvel not thereat, but
believe that not without power that comes from heaven he seeks to
surmount this wall." Thus the Master:and that worthy people said,
"Turn, enter in advance, then;" with the backs of their hands
making sign. And one of them began, "Whoever thou art, turn thy
face as thou thus goest; consider if in the world thou didst ever
see me?" I turned me toward him, and looked at him fixedly: blond
he was, and beautiful, and of gentle aspect, but a blow had divided
one of his eyebrows.When I had humbly disclaimed having ever seen him, he said,
"Now look!" and he showed me a wound at the top of his breast. Then
he said, smiling, "I am Manfred,[1] grandson of the Empress
Constance; wherefore I pray thee, that when thou returnest, thou go
to my beautiful daughter,[2] mother of the honor of Sicily and of
Aragon, and tell to her the truth if aught else be told. After I
had my body broken by two mortal stabs, I rendered myself, weeping,
to Him who pardons willingly. Horrible were my sins, but the
Infinite Goodness has such wide arms that it takes whatever turns
to it. If the Pastor of Cosenza,[3] who was set on the hunt of me
by Clement, had then rightly read this page in God, the bones of my
body would still be at the head of the bridge near Benevento, under
the guard of the heavy cairn. Now the rain bathes them, and the
wind moves them forth from the kingdom, almost along the Verde,
whither he transferred them with extinguished light.[4] By their
[5] malediction the Eternal Love is not so lost that it cannot
return, while hope hath speck of green. True is it, that whoso dies
in contumacy of Holy Church, though he repent him at the end, needs
must stay outside[6] upon this bank thirtyfold the whole time that
he has been in his presumption,[7] if such decree become not
shorter through good prayers. See now if thou canst make me glad,
revealing to my good Constance how thou hast seen me, and also this
prohibition,[8] for here through those on earth much is
gained."[1] The natural son of the Emperor Frederick II. He was born
in 1231; in 1258 he was crowned King of Sicily. In 1263 Charles of
Anjou was called by Pope Urban IV. to contend against him, and in
1266 Manfred was killed at the battle of Benevento.[2] Constance, the daughter of Manfred, was married to Peter
of Aragon. She had three sons, Alphonso, James, and Frederick.
Alphonso succeeded his father in Aragon, and James in Sicily, but
after the death of Alphonso James became King of Aragon. and
Frederick King of Sicily. Manfred naturally speaks favorably of
them, but Dante himself thought ill of James and Frederick. See
Canto VII., towards the end.[3] The Archbishop of Cosenza, at command of the Pope,
Clement IV., took the body of Manfred from his grave near
Benevento, and threw it unburied, as the body of one
excommunicated, on the bank of the Verde.[4] Not with candles burning as in proper funeral
rites.[5] That is, of Pope or Bishop.[6] Outside the gate of Purgatory.[7] This seems to be a doctrine peculiar to Dante. The value
of the prayers of the good on earth in shortening the period of
suffering of the souls in Purgatory is more than once referred to
by him, as well as the virtue of the intercession of the souls in
Purgatory for the benefit of the living. [8] The prohibition of
entering within Purgatory.
CANTO IV. Ante-Purgatory.—Ascent to a shelf of the mountain.—The
negligent, who postponed repentance to the last
hour.—Belacqua.
When through delights, or through pains which some power of ours
may experience, the soul is all concentrated thereon, it seems that
to no other faculty it may attend; and this is counter to the error
which believes that one soul above another is kindled in us.[1] And
therefore, when a thing is heard or seen, which may hold the soul
intently turned to it, the time passes, and the man observes it
not: for one faculty is that which listens, and another is that
which keeps the soul entire; the latter is as it were bound, and
the former is loosed.[1] Were it true that, as according to the Platonists, there
were more than one soul in man, he might give attention to two
things at once. But when one faculty is free and called into
activity, the rest of the soul is as it were bound in
inaction.Of this had I true experience, hearing that spirit and
wondering; for full fifty degrees had the sun ascended,[1] and I
had not noticed it, when we came where those souls all together
cried out to us, "Here is what you ask."[1] It was now about nine o'clock A. M.A larger opening the man of the farm often hedges up with a
forkful of his thorns, when the grape grows dark, than was the
passage through which my Leader and I behind ascended alone, when
the troop departed from us. One goes to Sanleo, and descends to
Noli, one mounts up Bismantova[1] to its peak, with only the feet;
but here it behoves that one fly, I mean with the swift wings and
with the feathers of great desire, behind that guide who gave me
hope and made a light for me. We ascended in through the broken
rock, and on each side the border pressed on us, and the ground
beneath required both feet and hands.[1] These all are places difficult of access.When we were upon the upper edge of the high bank on the open
slope, "My Master," said I, "what way shall we take?" And he to me,
"Let no step of thine fall back, always win up the mountain behind
me, till some sage guide appear for us."