by Dante
V. Exemplars of Wrath
13–18
apostrophe of the image-receiving capacity of the mind:
19–24
[Procne]
25–30
[Haman]
31–39
[Amata]
VI. The Angel of Mercy
40–45
simile: as a dream is broken when the light awakens a sleeper, so is Dante’s vision interrupted when the light of the angel’s presence strikes his face
46–51
Dante’s “awakening”: the angel’s voice that drove out every desire but that of looking at the speaker
52–54
simile: our vision fails before the sun as Dante’s failed before the angel’s
55–63
Virgil: the angel’s courtesy in allowing them to mount
64–69
the ascent begun, the angel removes Dante’s third P
I. The fourth terrace: the setting
70–80
nightfall; Dante’s exhaustion at the top of the stair
81–84
Dante’s question to Virgil: what sin is purged here?
85–90
Virgil: a love of the good that comes short of its duty
Virgil’s “Digression”
91–139
Virgil’s discourse on love:
91–96
God and we are never without love; love is natural (unerring) or elective; elective love may sin in three ways (wrong object, too little vigor, too much vigor)
97–105
love of God and of his Creation in Him never wrong unless it be any of three loves mentioned above
106–111
love never tries to thwart the lover’s interest: hatred of self or of God thus impossible
112–124
thus the evil we love is directed to our neighbor: for his abasement (Pride); against his exaltation (Envy); from a suffered hurt that leads to a desire for vengeance against him (Wrath)
125–132
love of the good may proceed too slowly (Sloth)
133–139
love of secondary goods may be excessive (three terraces above them: Avarice, Gluttony, Lust)
PURGATORIO XVII
Remember, reader, if ever in the mountains →
you were trapped in fog and could not see
3
except as moles do, through their eyelids,
how, when the strands of mist, humid and dense,
began dispersing, the sun’s disk
6
dimly glimmered through,
then you can readily imagine
how, on my seeing it again, the sun appeared,
9
now on the verge of setting.
Measuring my steps to the trusted steps →
of my master, I came out of that haze
12
to beams already vanished from the shores below.
O imagination, which at times so rob us →
of outward things we pay no heed,
15
though a thousand trumpets sound around us,
who sets you into motion if the senses offer
nothing? A light, formed in the heavens, moves you
18
either of itself or by a will that sends it down.
Of the impious deed of her whose shape was changed → →
into the bird that most delights to sing
21
a picture formed in my imagination.
At this my mind had so withdrawn into itself
there was no impulse from outside
24
that could impinge upon my senses.
Then there rained down into my lofty phantasy →
one fastened to a cross, scornful →
27
and fierce in looks, and in his death.
With him were Ahasuerus, the great king,
Esther, his wife, and Mordecai the just,
30
so upright in his words and deeds.
And when this image broke up of itself, →
just as a bubble does when it floats up
33
above the water from which it takes its form,
in my vision there arose a girl. →
She was weeping bitterly, crying: ‘O Queen,
36
why, in your anger, have you chosen not to be?
‘Not to lose Lavinia have you killed yourself.
Now you have lost me and I am left to mourn
39
your death, mother, before the death of yet another.’
As sleep is broken when a sudden light →
strikes on closed eyes and, broken,
42
flickers before it dies,
so my imaginings grew faint within me
as soon as a light, far brighter
45
than the light we know, struck my face.
I was turning to discover where I was
when a voice said: ‘Here is your ascent,’
48
and drew me away from any other thought.
It raised in me the overwhelming wish—
a wish that cannot rest short of its goal—
51
to behold the one who spoke.
But as before the sun, which weighs upon our eyes,
veiling its form in an excess of light,
54
so, before him, my power of sight fell short.
‘This divine spirit is directing us →
toward the ascent without our even asking,
57
concealed in his own shining.
‘He cares for us as we do for ourselves,
since one who, seeing another’s need, awaits the asking
60
maliciously has set his mind upon refusal.
‘We should accept so kind an invitation with our feet,
attempting the ascent before it darkens, →
63
for then we cannot, until day returns.’
These were my leader’s words, and we together
turned our footsteps toward a stairway.
66
As soon as I had reached the lowest step
I sensed beside me something like the motion
of a wing that fanned my face. I heard the words: →
69
‘Beati pacifici, those untouched by sinful wrath.’
Already the sun’s last rays before the night →
were slanting up so high above us
72
that stars were showing here and there.
‘O my strength, why do you drain away?’ →
I said, but only to myself,
75
because I felt my legs had lost their power.
We had reached a point at which the stair
ceased rising higher and we stopped,
78
as does a ship that comes to shore.
For a little while I waited to discover →
if my ears could make out sounds in this new circle.
81
Then I turned to my master and I said:
‘Sweet father, tell me, what is the offense →
made clean here in this circle that we’ve reached?
84
If our feet must rest, do not arrest your words.’
And he: ‘A love of good that falls short
of its duty is here restored, here in this place.
87
Here the slackened oar is pulled with greater force.
‘That you may understand more clearly, →
pay close attention. Then you shall pluck
90
some good fruit from our stay.’
‘Neither Creator nor His creature, my dear son, → →
was ever without love, whether natural
93
or of the mind,’ he began, ‘and this you know. →
‘The natural is al
ways without error,
but the other may err in its chosen goal
96
or through excessive or deficient vigor.
‘While it is directed to the primal good, →
knowing moderation in its lesser goals,
99
it cannot be the cause of wrongful pleasure.
‘But when it bends to evil, or pursues the good
with more or less concern than needed,
102
then the creature works against his Maker.
‘From this you surely understand that love →
must be the seed in you of every virtue
105
and of every deed that merits punishment.
‘Now, since love cannot avert its face →
from the welfare of its subject,
108
all creatures are secure against self-hatred,
‘and since no being can conceive itself
as severed, self-existing, from its Author,
111
each creature is cut off from hating Him.
‘It follows, if I’m right in these distinctions, →
that the evil that is loved must be a neighbor’s.
114
Three ways this love takes form within your clay.
‘There is the one, hoping to excel by bringing down
his neighbor, who, for that cause alone, longs
117
that from his greatness his neighbor be brought low.
‘There is the one who fears the loss of power, favor,
honor, fame—should he be bettered by another.
120
This so aggrieves him that he wants to see him fall.
‘And there is the one who thinks himself offended
and hungers after vengeance,
123
and he must then contrive another’s harm.
‘All these three forms of love cause weeping down below. →
Now I would have you consider yet another, →
126
which pursues the good in faulty measure.
‘Everyone can vaguely apprehend some good →
in which the mind may find its peace.
129
With desire, each one strives to reach it.
‘If the love that draws you on is laggard
to know or have that peace, this terrace,
132
after just remorse, torments you for it.
‘There is another good that fails to make men happy, →
for it is not the essence or true source,
135
the root of happiness or its proper fruit.
‘The excessive love which gives itself to that
is mourned above us in three circles.
Exactly how its parts are three I do not say,
139
so that you may consider for yourself.’
OUTLINE: PURGATORIO XVIII
Virgil’s Digression (continued)
1–3
Virgil ceases, thinking he has said enough for Dante
4–6
Dante, though outwardly silent, inwardly longs for more
7–9
Virgil, aware of Dante’s wish, urges him to speak
10–15
Dante asks Virgil for a deeper explanation of love
16–18
Virgil will show the error of the blind who would guide
19–39
Virgil on the mind in love: created to love, it performs its loving as long as it is pleased
40–45
Dante says he has understood (but reveals he has not)
46–48
Virgil can explain only as far as reason can see; beyond that Dante must wait for Beatrice, for such matters concern faith
49–75
Virgil on love and free will
76–81
the moon’s position in the heavens just after midnight
82–87
Dante, now satisfied, is drowsy
III. The penitent slothful
88–90
Dante startled by people coming from behind him
91–96
simile: Bacchic orgies in Thebes and these good souls
97–99
they come on the run, with two in front shouting:
II. Exemplars of Zeal
100
Mary
101–102
Julius Caesar
IV. The speakers (giving satisfaction)
103–105
“Haste, haste” (their form of prayer)
106–111
Virgil: “you who make amends for slow affection, this man is alive and in a hurry, too: where is the opening?”
112–120
Abbot of San Zeno: “follow after us and forgive us our apparent rudeness”
121–126
shame of the Scaligeri in contemporary Verona
127–129
Dante’s reaction as the Abbot disappears on the run
V. Exemplars of Sloth
130–132
Virgil calls Dante’s attention to two who bring up the rear, crying out exempla:
133–138
Hebrews (who died in the Exodus)
Trojans (who died in Sicily)
139–145
once the penitents are out of sight, Dante has a new thought, soon followed by many others; as these jumble together, he transmutes his thoughts to dream
PURGATORIO XVIII
My lofty teacher, having brought →
his discourse to its end, now studied →
3
my face to see if I seemed satisfied,
while I, spurred on by yet another thirst, →
kept silent, rehearsing in my mind the thought:
6
‘Perhaps I trouble him with all these questions.’
But that true father, mindful
of the timid wish that I did not declare, →
9
spoke and gave me courage to speak out.
Therefore I said: ‘Master, your light so quickens
my mental sight that I discern in full
12
your argument’s distinctions and its thesis.
‘And thus I pray, dear, gentle father, →
that you expound this love, from which you say
15
each good deed and its opposite derive.’
‘Direct on me your intellect’s keen eyes,’
he said, ‘and the error of the blind →
18
who set themselves as guides will be revealed.
‘The mind, disposed to love at its creation, →
is readily moved toward anything that pleases
21
as soon as by that pleasure it is roused to act.
‘From real forms your perception draws →
an image it unfolds within you
24
so that the mind considers it,
‘and if the mind, so turned, inclines to it,
that inclination is a natural love,
27
which beauty binds in you at once.
‘Then, as fire, born to rise, →
moves upward in its essence,
30
to where its matter lives the longest,
‘just so the mind, thus seized, achieves desire,
a movement of the spirit never resting
33
as long as it enjoys the thing it loves.
‘Now you see how hidden is the truth →
from those who hold that every love
36
is in itself deserving praise,
‘perhaps because such love seems always good.
But every seal is not a good one,
39
even if imprinted in good wax.’
‘Your words and my responding wit,’ I said, →
‘have made love’s nature clear to me,
42
&n
bsp; but that has left me even more perplexed.
‘For if love is offered from outside us
and if the soul moves on no other foot,
45
it has no merit in going straight or crooked.’
And he to me: ‘As far as reason may see in this, →
I can tell you. To go farther you must look
48
to Beatrice, for it depends on faith alone.
‘Every substantial form that is at once distinct → →
from matter and is, as well, united with it,
51
contains its own defining disposition.
‘This is not perceived except in operation,
nor ever demonstrated except by its effect, as,
54
in a plant, the force of life by its green leaves.
‘In consequence, where we derive our knowledge
of first principles and the inclination
57
to universal objects of desire, no one knows.
‘These are innate in you just like the zeal in bees
for making honey, and this primal inclination
60
admits no positing of praise or blame.
‘That to this will all others may conform →
there is innate in you the faculty that counsels
63
and ought to guard the threshold of assent.
‘This is the principle in which is found
the measure of your merit, as it welcomes
66
and then winnows good from guilty loves.
‘Those who in their reasoning reached the root →
recognized this innate freedom
69
and thus bequeathed their ethics to the world.
‘Let us posit as a given: every love →
that’s kindled in you arises of necessity.
72