Purgatorio: Canto 33

1
2
3

Deus, venerunt gentes,“ alternando
or tre or quattro dolce salmodia,
le donne incominciaro, e lagrimando;
4
5
6

e Bëatrice, sospirosa e pia,
quelle ascoltava sì fatta, che poco
più a la croce si cambiò Maria.
7
8
9

Ma poi che l'altre vergini dier loco
a lei di dir, levata dritta in pè,
rispuose, colorata come foco:
10
11
12

Modicum, et non videbitis me;
et iterum, sorelle mie dilette,
modicum, et vos videbitis me.
13
14
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Poi le si mise innanzi tutte e sette,
e dopo sé, solo accennando, mosse
me e la donna e 'l savio che ristette.
16
17
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Così sen giva; e non credo che fosse
lo decimo suo passo in terra posto,
quando con li occhi li occhi mi percosse;
19
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e con tranquillo aspetto ”Vien più tosto,“
mi disse, ”tanto che, s'io parlo teco,
ad ascoltarmi tu sie ben disposto.“
22
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Sì com' io fui, com' io dovëa, seco,
dissemi: ”Frate, perché non t'attenti
a domandarmi omai venendo meco?“
25
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Come a color che troppo reverenti
dinanzi a suo maggior parlando sono,
che non traggon la voce viva ai denti,
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30

avvenne a me, che sanza intero suono
incominciai: ”Madonna, mia bisogna
voi conoscete, e ciò ch'ad essa è buono.“
31
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33

Ed ella a me: ”Da tema e da vergogna
voglio che tu omai ti disviluppe,
sì che non parli più com' om che sogna.
34
35
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Sappi che 'l vaso che 'l serpente ruppe,
fu e non è; ma chi n'ha colpa, creda
che vendetta di Dio non teme suppe.
37
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Non sarà tutto tempo sanza reda
l'aguglia che lasciò le penne al carro,
per che divenne mostro e poscia preda;
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ch'io veggio certamente, e però il narro,
a darne tempo già stelle propinque,
secure d'ogn' intoppo e d'ogne sbarro,
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nel quale un cinquecento diece e cinque,
messo di Dio, anciderà la fuia
con quel gigante che con lei delinque.
46
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E forse che la mia narrazion buia,
qual Temi e Sfinge, men ti persuade,
perch' a lor modo lo 'ntelletto attuia;
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ma tosto fier li fatti le Naiade,
che solveranno questo enigma forte
sanza danno di pecore o di biade.
52
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Tu nota; e sì come da me son porte,
così queste parole segna a' vivi
del viver ch'è un correre a la morte.
55
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E aggi a mente, quando tu le scrivi,
di non celar qual hai vista la pianta
ch'è or due volte dirubata quivi.
58
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Qualunque ruba quella o quella schianta,
con bestemmia di fatto offende a Dio,
che solo a l'uso suo la creò santa.
61
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Per morder quella, in pena e in disio
cinquemilia anni e più l'anima prima
bramò colui che 'l morso in sé punio.
64
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Dorme lo 'ngegno tuo, se non estima
per singular cagione essere eccelsa
lei tanto e sì travolta ne la cima.
67
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E se stati non fossero acqua d'Elsa
li pensier vani intorno a la tua mente,
e 'l piacer loro un Piramo a la gelsa,
70
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per tante circostanze solamente
la giustizia di Dio, ne l'interdetto,
conosceresti a l'arbor moralmente.
73
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Ma perch' io veggio te ne lo 'ntelletto
fatto di pietra e, impetrato, tinto,
sì che t'abbaglia il lume del mio detto,
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voglio anco, e se non scritto, almen dipinto,
che 'l te ne porti dentro a te per quello
che si reca il bordon di palma cinto.“
79
80
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E io: ”Sì come cera da suggello,
che la figura impressa non trasmuta,
segnato è or da voi lo mio cervello.
82
83
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Ma perché tanto sovra mia veduta
vostra parola disïata vola,
che più la perde quanto più s'aiuta?“
85
86
87

”Perché conoschi,“ disse, ”quella scuola
c'hai seguitata, e veggi sua dottrina
come può seguitar la mia parola;
88
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90

e veggi vostra via da la divina
distar cotanto, quanto si discorda
da terra il ciel che più alto festina.“
91
92
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Ond' io rispuosi lei: ”Non mi ricorda
ch'i' stranïasse me già mai da voi,
né honne coscïenza che rimorda.“
94
95
96

”E se tu ricordar non te ne puoi,“
sorridendo rispuose, ”or ti rammenta
come bevesti di Letè ancoi;
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e se dal fummo foco s'argomenta,
cotesta oblivïon chiaro conchiude
colpa ne la tua voglia altrove attenta.
100
101
102

Veramente oramai saranno nude
le mie parole, quanto converrassi
quelle scovrire a la tua vista rude.“
103
104
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E più corusco e con più lenti passi
teneva il sole il cerchio di merigge,
che qua e là, come li aspetti, fassi,
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quando s'affisser, sì come s'affigge
chi va dinanzi a gente per iscorta
se trova novitate o sue vestigge,
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le sette donne al fin d'un'ombra smorta,
qual sotto foglie verdi e rami nigri
sovra suoi freddi rivi l'alpe porta.
112
113
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Dinanzi ad esse ”Ëufratès e Tigri
veder mi parve uscir d'una fontana,
e, quasi amici, dipartirsi pigri.
115
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“O luce, o gloria de la gente umana,
che acqua è questa che qui si dispiega
da un principio e sé da sé lontana?”
118
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Per cotal priego detto mi fu: “Priega
Matelda che 'l ti dica.” E qui rispuose,
come fa chi da colpa si dislega,
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la bella donna: “Questo e altre cose
dette li son per me; e son sicura
che l'acqua di Letè non gliel nascose.”
124
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E Bëatrice: “Forse maggior cura,
che spesse volte la memoria priva,
fatt' ha la mente sua ne li occhi oscura.
127
128
129

Ma vedi Eünoè che là diriva:
menalo ad esso, e come tu se' usa,
la tramortita sua virtù ravviva.”
130
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132

Come anima gentil, che non fa scusa,
ma fa sua voglia de la voglia altrui
tosto che è per segno fuor dischiusa;
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così, poi che da essa preso fui,
la bella donna mossesi, e a Stazio
donnescamente disse: “Vien con lui.”
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S'io avessi, lettor, più lungo spazio
da scrivere, i' pur cantere' in parte
lo dolce ber che mai non m'avria sazio;
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ma perché piene son tutte le carte
ordite a questa cantica seconda,
non mi lascia più ir lo fren de l'arte.
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Io ritornai da la santissima onda
rifatto sì come piante novelle
rinovellate di novella fronda,
puro e disposto a salire a le stelle.
1
2
3

"Deus venerunt gentes," alternating
  Now three, now four, melodious psalmody
  The maidens in the midst of tears began;

4
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And Beatrice, compassionate and sighing,
  Listened to them with such a countenance,
  That scarce more changed was Mary at the cross.

7
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But when the other virgins place had given
  For her to speak, uprisen to her feet
  With colour as of fire, she made response:

10
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"'Modicum, et non videbitis me;
  Et iterum,' my sisters predilect,
  'Modicum, et vos videbitis me.'"

13
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Then all the seven in front of her she placed;
  And after her, by beckoning only, moved
  Me and the lady and the sage who stayed.

16
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So she moved onward; and I do not think
  That her tenth step was placed upon the ground,
  When with her eyes upon mine eyes she smote,

19
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And with a tranquil aspect, "Come more quickly,"
  To me she said, "that, if I speak with thee,
  To listen to me thou mayst be well placed."

22
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As soon as I was with her as I should be,
  She said to me: "Why, brother, dost thou not
  Venture to question now, in coming with me?"

25
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As unto those who are too reverential,
  Speaking in presence of superiors,
  Who drag no living utterance to their teeth,

28
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It me befell, that without perfect sound
  Began I: "My necessity, Madonna,
  You know, and that which thereunto is good."

31
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And she to me: "Of fear and bashfulness
  Henceforward I will have thee strip thyself,
  So that thou speak no more as one who dreams.

34
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Know that the vessel which the serpent broke
  Was, and is not; but let him who is guilty
  Think that God's vengeance does not fear a sop.

37
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Without an heir shall not for ever be
  The Eagle that left his plumes upon the car,
  Whence it became a monster, then a prey;

40
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For verily I see, and hence narrate it,
  The stars already near to bring the time,
  From every hindrance safe, and every bar,

43
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Within which a Five-hundred, Ten, and Five,
  One sent from God, shall slay the thievish woman
  And that same giant who is sinning with her.

46
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And peradventure my dark utterance,
  Like Themis and the Sphinx, may less persuade thee,
  Since, in their mode, it clouds the intellect;

49
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But soon the facts shall be the Naiades
  Who shall this difficult enigma solve,
  Without destruction of the flocks and harvests.

52
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Note thou; and even as by me are uttered
  These words, so teach them unto those who live
  That life which is a running unto death;

55
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And bear in mind, whene'er thou writest them,
  Not to conceal what thou hast seen the plant,
  That twice already has been pillaged here.

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Whoever pillages or shatters it,
  With blasphemy of deed offendeth God,
  Who made it holy for his use alone.

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For biting that, in pain and in desire
  Five thousand years and more the first-born soul
  Craved Him, who punished in himself the bite.

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Thy genius slumbers, if it deem it not
  For special reason so pre-eminent
  In height, and so inverted in its summit.

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And if thy vain imaginings had not been
  Water of Elsa round about thy mind,
  And Pyramus to the mulberry, their pleasure,

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Thou by so many circumstances only
  The justice of the interdict of God
  Morally in the tree wouldst recognize.

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But since I see thee in thine intellect
  Converted into stone and stained with sin,
  So that the light of my discourse doth daze thee,

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I will too, if not written, at least painted,
  Thou bear it back within thee, for the reason
  That cinct with palm the pilgrim's staff is borne."

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And I: "As by a signet is the wax
  Which does not change the figure stamped upon it,
  My brain is now imprinted by yourself.

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But wherefore so beyond my power of sight
  Soars your desirable discourse, that aye
  The more I strive, so much the more I lose it?"

85
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"That thou mayst recognize," she said, "the school
  Which thou hast followed, and mayst see how far
  Its doctrine follows after my discourse,

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And mayst behold your path from the divine
  Distant as far as separated is
  From earth the heaven that highest hastens on."

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Whence her I answered: "I do not remember
  That ever I estranged myself from you,
  Nor have I conscience of it that reproves me."

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"And if thou art not able to remember,"
  Smiling she answered, "recollect thee now
  That thou this very day hast drunk of Lethe;

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And if from smoke a fire may be inferred,
  Such an oblivion clearly demonstrates
  Some error in thy will elsewhere intent.

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Truly from this time forward shall my words
  Be naked, so far as it is befitting
  To lay them open unto thy rude gaze."

103
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And more coruscant and with slower steps
  The sun was holding the meridian circle,
  Which, with the point of view, shifts here and there

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When halted (as he cometh to a halt,
  Who goes before a squadron as its escort,
  If something new he find upon his way)

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The ladies seven at a dark shadow's edge,
  Such as, beneath green leaves and branches black,
  The Alp upon its frigid border wears.

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In front of them the Tigris and Euphrates
  Methought I saw forth issue from one fountain,
  And slowly part, like friends, from one another.

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"O light, O glory of the human race!
  What stream is this which here unfolds itself
  From out one source, and from itself withdraws?"

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For such a prayer, 'twas said unto me, "Pray
  Matilda that she tell thee;" and here answered,
  As one does who doth free himself from blame,

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The beautiful lady: "This and other things
  Were told to him by me; and sure I am
  The water of Lethe has not hid them from him."

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And Beatrice: "Perhaps a greater care,
  Which oftentimes our memory takes away,
  Has made the vision of his mind obscure.

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But Eunoe behold, that yonder rises;
  Lead him to it, and, as thou art accustomed,
  Revive again the half-dead virtue in him."

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Like gentle soul, that maketh no excuse,
  But makes its own will of another's will
  As soon as by a sign it is disclosed,

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Even so, when she had taken hold of me,
  The beautiful lady moved, and unto Statius
  Said, in her womanly manner, "Come with him."

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If, Reader, I possessed a longer space
  For writing it, I yet would sing in part
  Of the sweet draught that ne'er would satiate me;

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But inasmuch as full are all the leaves
  Made ready for this second canticle,
  The curb of art no farther lets me go.

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From the most holy water I returned
  Regenerate, in the manner of new trees
  That are renewed with a new foliage,
Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars.

Robert Hollander (English, 2000-2007)
1 - 3

The last canto of Purgatorio begins, like those of Inferno and Paradiso, with poetry (see Inf. XXXIV.1 and Par. XXXIII.1-39). In all three cases, the poem cited is in another voice than Dante's. In the first two cases this voice is Latin, first that of Venantius Fortunatus (his hymn of the cross), now that of David (his hymn for the desolation of Jerusalem, Psalm 78 [79], which begins, 'O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance'). Thus do the seven virtues respond to the present culminating moment in the history of the Church Militant. As Benvenuto explains (comm. to these verses), just as the various gentile nations had invaded and oppressed the Holy Land because of the sins of the Jews, so now has God again allowed foreigners, in this case the French, to take possession of holy Church because of the sins of the latter-day 'Romans.'

How much of the Psalm is sung is not discernible, but probably more than the first few words, since we are told that the weeping ladies sing alternating verses. Singleton (comm. to verse 1) suggests that the first eight verses would have been appropriate. Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 1) point out that, beginning with its ninth verse, the Psalm is more optimistic, asking for God's help and hoping for His intervention. For a similar question regarding the singing of a Psalm, see the note to Purgatorio XXX.82-84.

4 - 6

Beatrice's first response to the singing of the Psalm is to join in its sense of desolation. Her sadness is such that even Mary's grief at the foot of the cross for her dead son was only slightly more profound. Mary grieves for the death of Jesus, Beatrice for the desolation of his mystical body, the Church.

7 - 12

The words that Beatrice sings reflect closely Jesus's words to his disciples (John 16:16), 'A little while and you shall not see me; and again a little while and you shall see me, because I go to the Father.' Since the disciples are puzzled by these words, Jesus explains them: Now they may weep, but their sorrow will be turned to joy (John 16:20). The disciples are finally won over, finally believe that Jesus comes from God (John 16:30). Jesus ends his remarks by promising them peace after their tribulation and concludes, 'I have overcome the world' (John 16:33). Thus do these twelve opening verses of the last canto of Purgatorio move from a tragic sense of loss to a celebratory and comic vision of the eventual triumph of Christ and his Church.

Beatrice's words also have a particular and local meaning for Dante, who wept at her death and thought he had lost her forever; she has come back into his life.

13 - 15

This tercet reminds the reader exactly who is present in this scene (see the note to Purg. XXXII.88), Beatrice, her handmaids (the seven virtues), Dante, Matelda, and Statius. Not only is the Church Triumphant no longer in sight, the Church Militant has been dragged off to France.

The way in which Statius is referred to ('the sage who had remained') reminds the reader, yet again, of the absence of Virgil, denied this moment.

16 - 18

Those that allegorize the nine steps taken by Beatrice argue that they represent the years between the accession of Pope Clement V in 1305, who agreed to King Philip's desire to move the papacy to France (which he did in 1309), and the deaths of Clement and Philip in 1314, thus possibly allowing the tenth step to point to the advent of the new leader in 1315. About such things there can be little or no certainty, but the hypothesis is attractive. Nonetheless, one should probably be aware that, except for a rather contorted effort by Francesco da Buti (comm. to vv. 16-30), none of the early commentators, generally so fond of allegorizing, offers anything more than a literal reading of the detail. The allegorical reading of the ten steps as ten years is a nineteenth- and twentieth-century discovery, e.g., as it is found in Carroll (comm. to vv. 16-45).

23 - 23

This is the first time Beatrice addresses Dante as 'brother.' (She will do so on only three later occasions: Par. IV.100; Par. VII.58; Par. VII.130). For the importance and distribution of the word frate in the three cantiche, see the note to Purgatorio IV.127. One senses, again, that her desire to rebuke Dante is (temporarily) suspended. But see vv. 85-90.

Beatrice for the first time, and in keeping with the spirit of her citation of John 16:16 in vv. 10-12, turns her attention to the future, and to Dante's future, now that the world's and his own sinful past have been dealt with.

25 - 28

Benvenuto (comm. to vv. 25-30) compares Dante to a student in the presence of his teacher, and indeed this is the opening moment in what might be called Dante's education in theology, which will last for another thirty cantos.

31 - 33

Before she presents her prophecy, Beatrice charges Dante with the responsibility for reporting it precisely, not in the mode of a man who is talking in his sleep. Almost all the commentators take the passage literally and as applying in some general way. But Beatrice's words are very hard on poor Dante, since she makes it clear that, at least in her (infallible) opinion, his actual words, uttered at some previous time, have indeed been correctly characterized in this way. But when? Perhaps the later passage in this canto (vv. 85-90) that is devoted to his previous intellectual meanderings may shed some light on exactly what she means. For now the subject is left unexplored.

The importance of the rebuke, which passes mainly unobserved in the commentaries, is underlined by its difference from a similar rebuke. Mattalia (comm. to verse 33) is alone in thinking of that one (if he draws no conclusion from his notice of it): Purgatorio XV.120-123, when Virgil believes that Dante, beholding an ecstatic vision, is merely drunk or asleep. Now Beatrice reverses the situation: when Dante has considered himself 'awake' and eloquent, he has been, in fact, 'talking in his sleep.'

34 - 36

The language, referring to the destruction of the Church as detailed in the preceding canto, is distinctly reflective of the Apocalypse (Apoc. 17:8, 'The beast that you saw was, and is not'). For clear discussions of the terms 'apocalypticism' and 'millenarianism' and the differences between them, see Richard Emmerson (“The Secret,” American Historical Review 104 [1999]), pp. 1610-13.

The word suppe (here translated 'hindrance' only to make sense in its context) has been variously understood. Many of the early commentators believed it referred to the cakes left on the tomb of a murderer's victim in a Greek custom reborn in Florence; if the murderer came to the tomb and ate of these cakes for nine consecutive days, he would then be safe from the offended family's vengeance (and for that reason the families of the slain person would keep watch over the tomb). See Portirelli (comm. to these verses) for a restatement of this interpretation, which is at least as old as the commentary of Jacopo della Lana. Others think the reference is to the bread soaked in wine on which an oath is sworn between vassal and lord; still others of the offal which the veltro will despise (see Inf. I.103), and which is related to the 'sop' to Cerberus of Aeneid VI.420. None of these 'sops', however, would seem to offer a cause for fear, and are thus difficult to rationalize in this context.

37 - 42

The opening verses of Beatrice's extended prophecy seem clearly to indicate that the one who will come is related to the eagle of empire, i.e., that beneficent Roman empire that had begun so well under Augustus and then had become corrupt. It seems difficult to believe that this, as some maintain, is not an imperial prophecy.

43 - 45

This enigmatic passage has drawn an extraordinary amount of contradictory opinion. For a review of the entire question, see Pietro Mazzamuto, “Cinquecento diece e cinque” (ED.1970.2), pp. 10b-14b. It is also helpful to consult Charles Davis's similar review of the first and similar prophecy in the poem, the veltro (hound) of Inferno I.101 (“veltro” [ED.1976.5], pp. 908a-912b). Most now argue, whether or not they believe that the number, if expressed by the Roman numerals DXV, is an anagram of DUX (or 'leader' [the Roman 'V' and 'U' being equivalent letters]), that the context of the passage makes it apparent that Beatrice is here indicating the advent of a temporal leader, one who will deal with the excesses of the King of France and the delinquent Church. Further, if the canto is taken as having been written before his death in August of 1313, many believe that the prophecy points to Henry VII. Some also believe that if the first reference is to a political leader, it also points beyond him to the second coming of Christ, the final emperor. See Hollander (Allegory in Dante's “Commedia” [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969]), pp. 184-90, and the note to Inferno I.100-105. A standard and useful treatment of the problem remains that of Moore (Studies in Dante, Third Series: Miscellaneous Essays [Oxford: Clarendon, 1968 (1903)]), pp. 253-83.

For a brief history of the ancient Hebrew 'science' of gematria, the fitting of numbers to letters in a schematic way, as it comes into such writers as Dante, see Cherchi (“Isopsefi e profezia,” in his L'alambicco in biblioteca: distillati rari, ed. F. Guardiani & E. Speciale [Ravenna: Longo, 2000], pp. 329-42). He offers an example from a sixteenth-century Italian dialogue (pp. 337-38) that is usefully indicative of the sort of procedure at work in such calculations:


A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
E = 5
F = 6
G = 7
H = 8
I = 9
K = 10
L = 20
M = 30
N = 40
O = 50
P = 60
Q = 70
R = 80
S = 90
T = 100
V = 200
X = 300
Y = 400
Z = 500

If one sets the equivalence of the Latin alphabet to numbers in this way, and if one is willing to play a bit fast and loose with the actual spellings of the names of important personages, one can contrive (find?) the following sort of result:


M A R T I N L U T E R A
30 1 80 100 9 40 20 200 100 5 80 1 = 666

Distinct from numerological studies of Dante's work are those that study his numerical composition. Thomas Hart's mathematical and geometrical studies of the Commedia are of this second kind, and are rich and challenging. See a later one (“'Per misurar lo cerchio' [Par. XXXIII 134] and Archimedes' De mensura circuli: Some Thoughts on Approximations to the Value of Pi,” in Dante e la scienza, ed. P. Boyde and V. Russo [Ravenna: Longo, 1995], pp. 265-335), which picks up strands from his several earlier pieces and serves to summarize his long campaign to bring this sort of analysis to bear on Dante. See also, for a much different kind of numerological study of Dante's texts, Manfred Hardt (Die Zahl in der “Divina Commedia” [Frankfurt: Athenäum, 1973]) and “I numeri nella poetria di Dante,” Studi Danteschi 61 [1989], pp. 1-27). And see G. R. Sarolli, “numero” (ED.1973.4), pp. 87-96, and his monograph on the subject (Analitica della “Divina Commedia” [Bari: Adriatica, 1974]). For bibliography see Corrado Bologna (Il ritorno di Beatrice: Simmetrie dantesche fra “Vita nova,” “petrose” e “Commedia” [Rome: Salerno, 1998]), pp. 120-22. A recent attempt to reformulate Dante's numerology is found in Wilhelm Pötters ('Ella era uno nove': Rapporti geometrici fra la Vita Nova e la Commedia, Letteratura italiana antica 2 [2001], pp. 27-60 and “'La spera che più larga gira': Spazio della poesia e disegno del cosmo,” Letteratura italiana antica 3 [2002], pp. 461-505), reopening the question of Beatrice's 'nineness' in the first study and attempting to measure Dante's cosmos in the second. Insofar as his thesis depends on Beatrice being the sixty-first beautiful woman of Florence recorded in the sirventese described in VN VI (“Ella era uno nove,” p. 36) and on the letters DIL in Par. XVIII.78 being read as 549 (and not 551 – p. 41]), it is in some difficulty. In the first case Beatrice already seems to be indicated as one among the sixty 'belle donne,' the ninth (and not the sixty-first; there is no sixty-first); in the second, there is at least as much reason to believe, if there is any compelling reason to count these letters as numbers in the first place, that DIL = DLI as to believe that it resolves, as Pötters is forced to insist, to DXLIX (DIL as an 'unorthodox' version of DXLIX). Numerological arguments that ask one to surrender that much normal obstinacy (common sense?) possess a limited capacity to sway their judges. For an interesting attempt to approach the problem of overarching structural concerns from the other side, as it were, the possibility of casual explanations for poetic phenomena in the poem, in this instance involving a study of repeating rhyme words in a canto, see Federico Turelli (“Il ruolo della casualità nelle ripetizioni di rima della Commedia,” Letteratura italiana antica 3 [2002], pp. 507-23).

Two studies, completed independently of one another, by Robert Kaske (“Dante's 'DXV' and 'Veltro,'” Traditio 17 [1961], pp. 185-254) and Gian Roberto Sarolli (Prolegomena alla “Divina Commedia” [Florence: Olschki, 1971]), pp. 259-88, link the DXV to the ligated initials of the liturgical formula 'Vere dignum est,' involving the capital letters 'V' and 'D,' joined in such a way that the right-hand stroke of the 'V' and the left-hand one of the 'D' form a capital 'X' (the sign of the cross). Because both of these densely supported presentations tend to overlook the obvious political dimensions of the prophecy in favor of its Christological significance, they have failed to generate a groundswell of support, while they both remain a part of the continuing discussion. For an attempt to show that Dante was referring to a division number in Gratian's Decretals (precisely to Distinction XV (i.e., D[istinction).XV] in Part I), see Richard Kay (“Dante's Razor and Gratian's D.XV,” Dante Studies 97 [1979], pp. 65-95). John Stark (“Once Again, Dante's Five Hundred, Ten and Five,” Romance Quarterly 44 [1997], pp. 99-106) has argued, in a way that is similar to Kay's, for a reference to line numbers within another work, in this case Aeneid I.500, I.10, and I.5. Neither of these two highly ingenious solutions of the enigma has received significant support from other students of the problem.

If it is true, as some argue, that Dante's number represents the number of years between great imperial events, e.g., the years between Charlemagne's coronation on Christmas Day, 800, and the hoped-for victory of Henry VII in 1315, then it seems at least possible that he had in mind as its model one of the most important prophetic passages in the Aeneid (I.260-277), in which the time between Aeneas's war to win new Troy and the establishment of Rome under Romulus is carefully measured out as 333 years. For development of this thesis, see Robert Hollander and Heather Russo (“Purgatorio 33.43: Dante's 515 and Virgil's 333,” Electronic Bulletin of the Dante Society of America [March 2003]).

46 - 51

The general sense of this passage is clear: future events will make plain the terms of the cloudy prophecy, which is compared to those made by Themis (Ovid, Metam. I.375-394) and by the Sphinx. Both of these monstrous females later appear in the same passage in Ovid (Metam. VII.759-765), where their hatred of humans is, as here, described in terms of the loss of human and animal life in the countryside. The key lines in the modern text of Ovid run as follows: 'Carmina Laïades non intellecta priorum / solverat ingeniis...' (The son of Laius [Oedipus] solved the riddles which had baffled the intellects of all before him). We are close to being absolutely sure, however, that the text as Dante knew it substituted 'Naïades' for 'Laïades' and showed a plural form of the verb (solverant). And so Dante believed that it was the Naiads, water nymphs, who had solved the riddle of the Sphinx. This was the cruel monster who cast herself down from her rock, whence she had been killing clueless Thebans, once Oedipus realized that the variously footed creature in her riddle was man (the story that we know from Sophocles' Oedipus, unknown, like nearly all of Greek letters, to Dante).

Dante does not 'nod' often, but this is one of the most egregious errors in the Comedy, even if it has some reasonable excuse behind it. In fact, all of the early commentators accept Dante's reading, thus indicating that their texts also had 'Naiads' where they should have had Laius's son. The better reading had to wait for Nikolaes Heinsius (1620-81), the Dutch Latin poet and scholar, one of the great Renaissance textual editors of the Latin classics. His edition (Florence, 1646) of the Metamorphoses restored the reading Laïades. It is thus only with the commentary of Venturi (comm. to vv. 49-50) that the better reading is made known to the world of Dante's commentators, and even then some of them try to object to it, seeking a way to understand the Naiads as interpreters of prophetic utterance. Fausto Ghisalberti (“L'enigma delle Naiadi,” Studi Danteschi 16 [1932], pp. 105-25) offers a comprehensive discussion of the problem.

52 - 52

Beatrice's use of the verb notare here may remind us of its last use with this sense (setting something down as a text) in Dante's self-description as inspired poet, one who only records what he hears from the 'dictator' (Purg. XXIV.53).

54 - 54

Dante's often admired phrase, describing life as a 'correre alla morte' (race to death) reflects St. Augustine (DcD XIII.10): 'Our time for this life is nothing other than a race to death (cursus ad mortem),' as was perhaps first suggested by Mattalia in 1960 (comm. to this verse) and has become a familiar observation in contemporary commentaries. See also Selene Sarteschi (“Sant'Agostino in Dante e nell'età di Dante,” in her Per la “Commedia” e non per essa soltanto [Rome: Bulzoni, 2002 (1999)]), p. 176.

55 - 57

As her scribe, Dante is instructed by Beatrice not to conceal from his eventual readers the condition of the tree, now robbed of its possessions twice. Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 57) review the divided opinions of the early commentators, who variously believe that the reference is to Adam and the giant, to Adam and the eagle, or to the eagle and the giant. In their view, all three seem plausible glosses. However, it has seemed to others that, since, from Beatrice's words we gather that Dante has witnessed these two devastations (and not that of Adam, which is referred to in a following tercet [vv. 61-63]), it is the first and last attacks upon the tree that are referred to here: its defoliation by the eagle (the imperial persecutions of Purg. XXXII.112-114) and its having the chariot disattached from it by the giant (the removal to Avignon, referred to in Purg. XXXII.158). Such an understanding accords with Michele Barbi (Con Dante e coi suoi interpreti [Florence: Le Monnier, 1941]), pp. 62-63, and opposes Bruno Nardi (Nel mondo di Dante [Rome: Edizioni di “Storia e Letteratura”], 1944), pp. 153-57, who proposed Adam's theft of the fruit in the garden of Eden and the Donation of Constantine as the two thefts. The comment found in Bosco/Reggio offers good reasons for not accepting Nardi's view.

58 - 63

Beatrice's accusation now widens, blaming Adam as the first despoiler of the tree and praising Christ for redeeming him. For the calculation of the length of Adam's life (930 years) and of his punishment in Limbo (4302 years) see Paradiso XXVI.118-120 and the note to that passage. After 25 March the year 1300 is the 6499th year since the creation of Adam. See the note to Inferno I.1.

66 - 66

For the downward-pointing branches of the tree, set at an angle that makes climbing it difficult or impossible, see Purgatorio XXXII.40-42.

67 - 78

For a paraphrase of this somewhat contorted utterance see the Outline of this canto.

67 - 67

The river Elsa in Tuscany, because of its high concentration of minerals, was known for the crusting overlay it would leave on objects immersed in it.

69 - 69

For Pyramus, Thisbe, and the mulberry tree, see the note to Purgatorio XXVII.37-42.

72 - 72

The word 'moralmente' was understood, even in some of the earliest commentators (e.g., Jacopo della Lana [comm. to vv. 67-72]), as having a technical meaning here, i.e., 'con lo senso tropologico' (with the tropological [i.e, third] sense [of fourfold exegesis of the Bible]). Various later commentators are of the same opinion, e.g., Tommaseo (comm. to vv. 70-72), Scartazzini (comm. to this verse), Poletto (comm. to vv. 67-72). (See also Tozer, Torraca, Fallani, Mattalia, Bosco/Reggio.) What this signifies is that the meaning applies now to current history. God's original 'interdiction,' broken by Adam, whose sin was redeemed by the cross on which Christ sacrificed Himself, is now binding on us, as well, even though we are at least potentially saved. Even now we, new Adams, are not meant to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

77 - 78

That is, Dante, bringing back this message, will seem like a pilgrim returned from the Holy Land, his 'staff' decorated with the sign of the distant and holy place to which he has been.

79 - 84

These lines offer a fairly rare instance of a speaker in the poem expressing himself by use of a simile. Dante is saying that what Beatrice tells him seems to be completely clear, but that he really cannot understand what she means.

85 - 90

Beatrice is charging Dante with having attempted to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As some commentators (e.g., the Ottimo [comm. to vv. 79-90], Scartazzini [comm. to vv. 79-102]) have understood, the point here seems to be that Dante turned from theology to philosophy in his effort to do that. The current majority view of the nature of Dante's aberration is well represented by Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 85): Dante had, in the Convivio, set theology to one side in order to study philosophy, a decision he now deplores. For the notion that this fairly common view is incorrect, see John Scott (“Beatrice's Reproaches in Eden: Which 'School' Had Dante Followed?” Dante Studies 109 [1991], pp. 1-23). He argues that Dante's high regard for philosophy does not allow such an interpretation and that the 'school' in question is thus the Guelph and anti-imperial one that Dante had embraced in his political activities as a White Guelph in Florence before the exile. Scott shares with Dronke (Dante's Second Love: The Originality and the Contexts of the “Convivio” [Exeter: Society for Italian Studies, 1997]) an unwillingness to believe that Dante's special relationship with the donna gentile of the Vita nuova and, more to the point, the Lady Philosophy of the Convivio, somehow must be considered as anti-Beatricean. On the testimony of passages such as this, it seems likely that the poet expected us to accept exactly such a view.

94 - 99

Beatrice's response to Dante is worthy of the Inquisition. That he can no longer remember his sins (because he has drunk from Lethe, the river of oblivion) is proof that he had committed them.

97 - 97

Dante's phrasing, 'if from seeing smoke we argue there is fire,' might remind a reader of St. Augustine's discussion of signs in De doctrina christiana (II.i.1): 'A sign is a thing that causes us to think of something beyond the impression the thing itself makes on the senses. Thus, if we see a track, we think of the animal that made the track; if we see smoke, we know that there is a fire that causes it' (translation adapted from that of D. W. Robertson, Jr., italics added). For a similar opinion see Baranski (Dante e i segni [Rome: Liguori, 2000]), pp. 41-42, and Marchesi (“A Rhetoric of Faith: Dante's Poetics in the Transition from De vulgari eloquentia to the Commedia” [Doctoral dissertation, Princeton University, 2002]), chapter 1, note 3.

100 - 102

Not only does Beatrice speak more plainly for the rest of this canto, but the poet does as well, allowing most of his verse to be more immediately understandable than is his custom.

103 - 105

The sun takes 'slower steps' the higher it is above us, moving quickest at dawn and dusk, slowest as it approaches and departs from noon. While the absolute position of the sun is not in doubt, the earthly observer will have a sense of the location of the meridian circle containing it that varies according to that observer's position.

112 - 112

Dante indicates to the reader that he knows very well that the rivers in the garden of Eden in fact (i.e., in Genesis 2:14) include Tigris and Euphrates (and not Lethe and Eunoe, which are here by his invention). See the note to Purgatorio XXVIII.127-132.

119 - 119

While it is only now that we hear Matelda's name, we have observed her actions so long that we may feel that we understand her function. See the notes to Purgatorio XXVIII.1 and 40-42.

For 'reverse-acrostic' readings of 'Matelda' as 'ad letam' (the letters m-a-t-e-l-d-a backward), that is, understanding her as one who leads 'toward the joyous one' (Latin 'laetam,' spelled with an 'e' standing for the dipthong 'ae' in medieval Latin) see Enrico Morpurgo (“Matelda,” Neophilologus 34 [1950]), p. 82, and Jacques Goudet (“Une nommée Matelda...,” Revue des études italiennes 1 [1954], pp. 20-60). For still another such retrogressive anagram, the name read now as the manuscript variant 'Metelda', meaning that she leads one to the river Lethe ('ad Letem'), see Ioli (“Con Matelda nel Maryland: a colloquio con Charles Singleton,” Letture classensi 18 [1989]), p. 160.

121 - 123

Matelda did indeed tell Dante the name of this river (Eunoe) at Purgatorio XXVIII.131. As opposed to his forgetting his sins in Lethe he is now forgetting the promise of that good resolution of his plight, so deeply, we may well imagine, has he been stung by Beatrice's accusations.

128 - 135

Only now, and in less than completely clear terms, do we learn about Matelda's function in the garden, which seems to be to serve as 'baptizer' of the souls as they finish their purification, first in Lethe (as she draws Dante through that river at Purg. XXXI.91-102) and finally in Eunoe. There is a dispute as to whether or not Matelda's role in the garden is Dante-specific (which it has been, from all that we have seen, until now) or 'universal' (see the note to Purg. XXVIII.40-42). Indeed, Gianfranco Contini has argued (Un' idea di Dante [Turin: Einaudi, 1976]), p. 174n., that the verb usa (as you are accustomed) in the present tense should be understood as a past definite (già praticasti [as once you used to]) and thus implies that Matelda had such a role in Dante's earlier life. This is a case of interpreting (or indeed revising) the text in order to create or preserve a desired interpretation. Contini's point would be worth considering except for a single, crucial, and indeed determinative final point, Matelda's last words in the poem, which are addressed to Statius (vv. 134-135): 'Now come with him.' Thus, and only at the very last moment, we learn that Matelda's function in the garden is not limited to ministrations on behalf of Dante alone (i.e., she deals either with all the saved souls who come through here or with some of them). (See Filippo Villani's similar view in Bellomo's edition of his commentary to Inf. I [Expositio seu comentum super “Comedia” Dantis Allegherii (Florence: Le Lettere, 1989)], p. 92, n. 90.) To be sure, Dante alone is mentioned as receiving her ministrations at the river Lethe (Purg. XXXI.91-105). From this later passage, however, we are probably forced to consent to the notion that she there presided over Statius's submersion as well as Dante's, a scene that, like much involving Statius's (and Virgil's) presence in the garden, is allowed to disappear from Dante's page. For this view see Singleton (Journey to Beatrice [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967 (1958)]), p. 181, n. 17.

136 - 141

This seventh and last Purgatorial address to the reader opens a new subject that the poet will share with us, the formal requirements of his poem. If he had more space (another few lines? another canto?), he would tell us what Eunoe tasted like. The early commentators think that he means that he has run out of cantos (i.e., he cannot have a thirty-fourth as he did for Inferno). Tozer (comm. to vv. 139-140) was perhaps the first to think that it was the number of verses in each cantica (4720, 4755, 4758 respectively) that Dante refers to. That is a possible hypothesis, except that we note that he had just completed the longest canto in the entire work in the preceding one (XXXII is 160 lines long), and ostensibly thus had available at least fifteen more lines. Thomas Hart (“'Per misurar lo cerchio' [Par. XXXIII 134] and Archimedes' De mensura circuli: Some Thoughts on Approximations to the Value of Pi,” in Dante e la scienza, ed. P. Boyde and V. Russo [Ravenna: Longo, 1995], pp. 265-335) reviews his copious work that would have us believe, among other things, that all the canto lengths of the poem were decided by Dante early on. (For a rejoinder see the note to Inf. VI.28-32.)

Scartazzini (note to v. 139) was the first commentator (in 1900) included in the DDP to report that the poem contained in all 14,233 verses, noting that his predecessor editors, Blanc and Witte, erred when they reported the number of verses in the Commedia. Roberto Benigni has kindly pointed out that the same may be said of Vittorio Sermonti, in his presentation of/ /Inferno (B. Mondadori, 1966, p. xxxiv) and of Emilio Pasquini (comm. Inferno, Garzanti, 1987, p. lxxvii), both of whom unaccountably give the number of verses in the Commedia as 14,223. See the first words of the note to Inf. I.1.

142 - 145

The phrasing, with all its repeated 'ri' sounds, reminiscent of the resurrective surge at the opening of the cantica (Purg. I.18), underlines the reconstituted innocence of this Adamic being. Scartazzini (comm. to verse 144) suggests that here we should hear a resonance of St. Paul (Ephesians 4:23), 'And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.'

That the three cantiche all end with the word stelle (stars) is no longer a surprise. It is important to attempt to imagine the effect of this repetition on a reader who does not know that it is coming, who is suddenly jarred into realizing the pattern, into realizing the shaping force of divine beauty on this poem.

Purgatorio: Canto 33

1
2
3

Deus, venerunt gentes,“ alternando
or tre or quattro dolce salmodia,
le donne incominciaro, e lagrimando;
4
5
6

e Bëatrice, sospirosa e pia,
quelle ascoltava sì fatta, che poco
più a la croce si cambiò Maria.
7
8
9

Ma poi che l'altre vergini dier loco
a lei di dir, levata dritta in pè,
rispuose, colorata come foco:
10
11
12

Modicum, et non videbitis me;
et iterum, sorelle mie dilette,
modicum, et vos videbitis me.
13
14
15

Poi le si mise innanzi tutte e sette,
e dopo sé, solo accennando, mosse
me e la donna e 'l savio che ristette.
16
17
18

Così sen giva; e non credo che fosse
lo decimo suo passo in terra posto,
quando con li occhi li occhi mi percosse;
19
20
21

e con tranquillo aspetto ”Vien più tosto,“
mi disse, ”tanto che, s'io parlo teco,
ad ascoltarmi tu sie ben disposto.“
22
23
24

Sì com' io fui, com' io dovëa, seco,
dissemi: ”Frate, perché non t'attenti
a domandarmi omai venendo meco?“
25
26
27

Come a color che troppo reverenti
dinanzi a suo maggior parlando sono,
che non traggon la voce viva ai denti,
28
29
30

avvenne a me, che sanza intero suono
incominciai: ”Madonna, mia bisogna
voi conoscete, e ciò ch'ad essa è buono.“
31
32
33

Ed ella a me: ”Da tema e da vergogna
voglio che tu omai ti disviluppe,
sì che non parli più com' om che sogna.
34
35
36

Sappi che 'l vaso che 'l serpente ruppe,
fu e non è; ma chi n'ha colpa, creda
che vendetta di Dio non teme suppe.
37
38
39

Non sarà tutto tempo sanza reda
l'aguglia che lasciò le penne al carro,
per che divenne mostro e poscia preda;
40
41
42

ch'io veggio certamente, e però il narro,
a darne tempo già stelle propinque,
secure d'ogn' intoppo e d'ogne sbarro,
43
44
45

nel quale un cinquecento diece e cinque,
messo di Dio, anciderà la fuia
con quel gigante che con lei delinque.
46
47
48

E forse che la mia narrazion buia,
qual Temi e Sfinge, men ti persuade,
perch' a lor modo lo 'ntelletto attuia;
49
50
51

ma tosto fier li fatti le Naiade,
che solveranno questo enigma forte
sanza danno di pecore o di biade.
52
53
54

Tu nota; e sì come da me son porte,
così queste parole segna a' vivi
del viver ch'è un correre a la morte.
55
56
57

E aggi a mente, quando tu le scrivi,
di non celar qual hai vista la pianta
ch'è or due volte dirubata quivi.
58
59
60

Qualunque ruba quella o quella schianta,
con bestemmia di fatto offende a Dio,
che solo a l'uso suo la creò santa.
61
62
63

Per morder quella, in pena e in disio
cinquemilia anni e più l'anima prima
bramò colui che 'l morso in sé punio.
64
65
66

Dorme lo 'ngegno tuo, se non estima
per singular cagione essere eccelsa
lei tanto e sì travolta ne la cima.
67
68
69

E se stati non fossero acqua d'Elsa
li pensier vani intorno a la tua mente,
e 'l piacer loro un Piramo a la gelsa,
70
71
72

per tante circostanze solamente
la giustizia di Dio, ne l'interdetto,
conosceresti a l'arbor moralmente.
73
74
75

Ma perch' io veggio te ne lo 'ntelletto
fatto di pietra e, impetrato, tinto,
sì che t'abbaglia il lume del mio detto,
76
77
78

voglio anco, e se non scritto, almen dipinto,
che 'l te ne porti dentro a te per quello
che si reca il bordon di palma cinto.“
79
80
81

E io: ”Sì come cera da suggello,
che la figura impressa non trasmuta,
segnato è or da voi lo mio cervello.
82
83
84

Ma perché tanto sovra mia veduta
vostra parola disïata vola,
che più la perde quanto più s'aiuta?“
85
86
87

”Perché conoschi,“ disse, ”quella scuola
c'hai seguitata, e veggi sua dottrina
come può seguitar la mia parola;
88
89
90

e veggi vostra via da la divina
distar cotanto, quanto si discorda
da terra il ciel che più alto festina.“
91
92
93

Ond' io rispuosi lei: ”Non mi ricorda
ch'i' stranïasse me già mai da voi,
né honne coscïenza che rimorda.“
94
95
96

”E se tu ricordar non te ne puoi,“
sorridendo rispuose, ”or ti rammenta
come bevesti di Letè ancoi;
97
98
99

e se dal fummo foco s'argomenta,
cotesta oblivïon chiaro conchiude
colpa ne la tua voglia altrove attenta.
100
101
102

Veramente oramai saranno nude
le mie parole, quanto converrassi
quelle scovrire a la tua vista rude.“
103
104
105

E più corusco e con più lenti passi
teneva il sole il cerchio di merigge,
che qua e là, come li aspetti, fassi,
106
107
108

quando s'affisser, sì come s'affigge
chi va dinanzi a gente per iscorta
se trova novitate o sue vestigge,
109
110
111

le sette donne al fin d'un'ombra smorta,
qual sotto foglie verdi e rami nigri
sovra suoi freddi rivi l'alpe porta.
112
113
114

Dinanzi ad esse ”Ëufratès e Tigri
veder mi parve uscir d'una fontana,
e, quasi amici, dipartirsi pigri.
115
116
117

“O luce, o gloria de la gente umana,
che acqua è questa che qui si dispiega
da un principio e sé da sé lontana?”
118
119
120

Per cotal priego detto mi fu: “Priega
Matelda che 'l ti dica.” E qui rispuose,
come fa chi da colpa si dislega,
121
122
123

la bella donna: “Questo e altre cose
dette li son per me; e son sicura
che l'acqua di Letè non gliel nascose.”
124
125
126

E Bëatrice: “Forse maggior cura,
che spesse volte la memoria priva,
fatt' ha la mente sua ne li occhi oscura.
127
128
129

Ma vedi Eünoè che là diriva:
menalo ad esso, e come tu se' usa,
la tramortita sua virtù ravviva.”
130
131
132

Come anima gentil, che non fa scusa,
ma fa sua voglia de la voglia altrui
tosto che è per segno fuor dischiusa;
133
134
135

così, poi che da essa preso fui,
la bella donna mossesi, e a Stazio
donnescamente disse: “Vien con lui.”
136
137
138

S'io avessi, lettor, più lungo spazio
da scrivere, i' pur cantere' in parte
lo dolce ber che mai non m'avria sazio;
139
140
141

ma perché piene son tutte le carte
ordite a questa cantica seconda,
non mi lascia più ir lo fren de l'arte.
142
143
144
145

Io ritornai da la santissima onda
rifatto sì come piante novelle
rinovellate di novella fronda,
puro e disposto a salire a le stelle.
1
2
3

"Deus venerunt gentes," alternating
  Now three, now four, melodious psalmody
  The maidens in the midst of tears began;

4
5
6

And Beatrice, compassionate and sighing,
  Listened to them with such a countenance,
  That scarce more changed was Mary at the cross.

7
8
9

But when the other virgins place had given
  For her to speak, uprisen to her feet
  With colour as of fire, she made response:

10
11
12

"'Modicum, et non videbitis me;
  Et iterum,' my sisters predilect,
  'Modicum, et vos videbitis me.'"

13
14
15

Then all the seven in front of her she placed;
  And after her, by beckoning only, moved
  Me and the lady and the sage who stayed.

16
17
18

So she moved onward; and I do not think
  That her tenth step was placed upon the ground,
  When with her eyes upon mine eyes she smote,

19
20
21

And with a tranquil aspect, "Come more quickly,"
  To me she said, "that, if I speak with thee,
  To listen to me thou mayst be well placed."

22
23
24

As soon as I was with her as I should be,
  She said to me: "Why, brother, dost thou not
  Venture to question now, in coming with me?"

25
26
27

As unto those who are too reverential,
  Speaking in presence of superiors,
  Who drag no living utterance to their teeth,

28
29
30

It me befell, that without perfect sound
  Began I: "My necessity, Madonna,
  You know, and that which thereunto is good."

31
32
33

And she to me: "Of fear and bashfulness
  Henceforward I will have thee strip thyself,
  So that thou speak no more as one who dreams.

34
35
36

Know that the vessel which the serpent broke
  Was, and is not; but let him who is guilty
  Think that God's vengeance does not fear a sop.

37
38
39

Without an heir shall not for ever be
  The Eagle that left his plumes upon the car,
  Whence it became a monster, then a prey;

40
41
42

For verily I see, and hence narrate it,
  The stars already near to bring the time,
  From every hindrance safe, and every bar,

43
44
45

Within which a Five-hundred, Ten, and Five,
  One sent from God, shall slay the thievish woman
  And that same giant who is sinning with her.

46
47
48

And peradventure my dark utterance,
  Like Themis and the Sphinx, may less persuade thee,
  Since, in their mode, it clouds the intellect;

49
50
51

But soon the facts shall be the Naiades
  Who shall this difficult enigma solve,
  Without destruction of the flocks and harvests.

52
53
54

Note thou; and even as by me are uttered
  These words, so teach them unto those who live
  That life which is a running unto death;

55
56
57

And bear in mind, whene'er thou writest them,
  Not to conceal what thou hast seen the plant,
  That twice already has been pillaged here.

58
59
60

Whoever pillages or shatters it,
  With blasphemy of deed offendeth God,
  Who made it holy for his use alone.

61
62
63

For biting that, in pain and in desire
  Five thousand years and more the first-born soul
  Craved Him, who punished in himself the bite.

64
65
66

Thy genius slumbers, if it deem it not
  For special reason so pre-eminent
  In height, and so inverted in its summit.

67
68
69

And if thy vain imaginings had not been
  Water of Elsa round about thy mind,
  And Pyramus to the mulberry, their pleasure,

70
71
72

Thou by so many circumstances only
  The justice of the interdict of God
  Morally in the tree wouldst recognize.

73
74
75

But since I see thee in thine intellect
  Converted into stone and stained with sin,
  So that the light of my discourse doth daze thee,

76
77
78

I will too, if not written, at least painted,
  Thou bear it back within thee, for the reason
  That cinct with palm the pilgrim's staff is borne."

79
80
81

And I: "As by a signet is the wax
  Which does not change the figure stamped upon it,
  My brain is now imprinted by yourself.

82
83
84

But wherefore so beyond my power of sight
  Soars your desirable discourse, that aye
  The more I strive, so much the more I lose it?"

85
86
87

"That thou mayst recognize," she said, "the school
  Which thou hast followed, and mayst see how far
  Its doctrine follows after my discourse,

88
89
90

And mayst behold your path from the divine
  Distant as far as separated is
  From earth the heaven that highest hastens on."

91
92
93

Whence her I answered: "I do not remember
  That ever I estranged myself from you,
  Nor have I conscience of it that reproves me."

94
95
96

"And if thou art not able to remember,"
  Smiling she answered, "recollect thee now
  That thou this very day hast drunk of Lethe;

97
98
99

And if from smoke a fire may be inferred,
  Such an oblivion clearly demonstrates
  Some error in thy will elsewhere intent.

100
101
102

Truly from this time forward shall my words
  Be naked, so far as it is befitting
  To lay them open unto thy rude gaze."

103
104
105

And more coruscant and with slower steps
  The sun was holding the meridian circle,
  Which, with the point of view, shifts here and there

106
107
108

When halted (as he cometh to a halt,
  Who goes before a squadron as its escort,
  If something new he find upon his way)

109
110
111

The ladies seven at a dark shadow's edge,
  Such as, beneath green leaves and branches black,
  The Alp upon its frigid border wears.

112
113
114

In front of them the Tigris and Euphrates
  Methought I saw forth issue from one fountain,
  And slowly part, like friends, from one another.

115
116
117

"O light, O glory of the human race!
  What stream is this which here unfolds itself
  From out one source, and from itself withdraws?"

118
119
120

For such a prayer, 'twas said unto me, "Pray
  Matilda that she tell thee;" and here answered,
  As one does who doth free himself from blame,

121
122
123

The beautiful lady: "This and other things
  Were told to him by me; and sure I am
  The water of Lethe has not hid them from him."

124
125
126

And Beatrice: "Perhaps a greater care,
  Which oftentimes our memory takes away,
  Has made the vision of his mind obscure.

127
128
129

But Eunoe behold, that yonder rises;
  Lead him to it, and, as thou art accustomed,
  Revive again the half-dead virtue in him."

130
131
132

Like gentle soul, that maketh no excuse,
  But makes its own will of another's will
  As soon as by a sign it is disclosed,

133
134
135

Even so, when she had taken hold of me,
  The beautiful lady moved, and unto Statius
  Said, in her womanly manner, "Come with him."

136
137
138

If, Reader, I possessed a longer space
  For writing it, I yet would sing in part
  Of the sweet draught that ne'er would satiate me;

139
140
141

But inasmuch as full are all the leaves
  Made ready for this second canticle,
  The curb of art no farther lets me go.

142
143
144
145

From the most holy water I returned
  Regenerate, in the manner of new trees
  That are renewed with a new foliage,
Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars.

Robert Hollander (English, 2000-2007)
1 - 3

The last canto of Purgatorio begins, like those of Inferno and Paradiso, with poetry (see Inf. XXXIV.1 and Par. XXXIII.1-39). In all three cases, the poem cited is in another voice than Dante's. In the first two cases this voice is Latin, first that of Venantius Fortunatus (his hymn of the cross), now that of David (his hymn for the desolation of Jerusalem, Psalm 78 [79], which begins, 'O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance'). Thus do the seven virtues respond to the present culminating moment in the history of the Church Militant. As Benvenuto explains (comm. to these verses), just as the various gentile nations had invaded and oppressed the Holy Land because of the sins of the Jews, so now has God again allowed foreigners, in this case the French, to take possession of holy Church because of the sins of the latter-day 'Romans.'

How much of the Psalm is sung is not discernible, but probably more than the first few words, since we are told that the weeping ladies sing alternating verses. Singleton (comm. to verse 1) suggests that the first eight verses would have been appropriate. Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 1) point out that, beginning with its ninth verse, the Psalm is more optimistic, asking for God's help and hoping for His intervention. For a similar question regarding the singing of a Psalm, see the note to Purgatorio XXX.82-84.

4 - 6

Beatrice's first response to the singing of the Psalm is to join in its sense of desolation. Her sadness is such that even Mary's grief at the foot of the cross for her dead son was only slightly more profound. Mary grieves for the death of Jesus, Beatrice for the desolation of his mystical body, the Church.

7 - 12

The words that Beatrice sings reflect closely Jesus's words to his disciples (John 16:16), 'A little while and you shall not see me; and again a little while and you shall see me, because I go to the Father.' Since the disciples are puzzled by these words, Jesus explains them: Now they may weep, but their sorrow will be turned to joy (John 16:20). The disciples are finally won over, finally believe that Jesus comes from God (John 16:30). Jesus ends his remarks by promising them peace after their tribulation and concludes, 'I have overcome the world' (John 16:33). Thus do these twelve opening verses of the last canto of Purgatorio move from a tragic sense of loss to a celebratory and comic vision of the eventual triumph of Christ and his Church.

Beatrice's words also have a particular and local meaning for Dante, who wept at her death and thought he had lost her forever; she has come back into his life.

13 - 15

This tercet reminds the reader exactly who is present in this scene (see the note to Purg. XXXII.88), Beatrice, her handmaids (the seven virtues), Dante, Matelda, and Statius. Not only is the Church Triumphant no longer in sight, the Church Militant has been dragged off to France.

The way in which Statius is referred to ('the sage who had remained') reminds the reader, yet again, of the absence of Virgil, denied this moment.

16 - 18

Those that allegorize the nine steps taken by Beatrice argue that they represent the years between the accession of Pope Clement V in 1305, who agreed to King Philip's desire to move the papacy to France (which he did in 1309), and the deaths of Clement and Philip in 1314, thus possibly allowing the tenth step to point to the advent of the new leader in 1315. About such things there can be little or no certainty, but the hypothesis is attractive. Nonetheless, one should probably be aware that, except for a rather contorted effort by Francesco da Buti (comm. to vv. 16-30), none of the early commentators, generally so fond of allegorizing, offers anything more than a literal reading of the detail. The allegorical reading of the ten steps as ten years is a nineteenth- and twentieth-century discovery, e.g., as it is found in Carroll (comm. to vv. 16-45).

23 - 23

This is the first time Beatrice addresses Dante as 'brother.' (She will do so on only three later occasions: Par. IV.100; Par. VII.58; Par. VII.130). For the importance and distribution of the word frate in the three cantiche, see the note to Purgatorio IV.127. One senses, again, that her desire to rebuke Dante is (temporarily) suspended. But see vv. 85-90.

Beatrice for the first time, and in keeping with the spirit of her citation of John 16:16 in vv. 10-12, turns her attention to the future, and to Dante's future, now that the world's and his own sinful past have been dealt with.

25 - 28

Benvenuto (comm. to vv. 25-30) compares Dante to a student in the presence of his teacher, and indeed this is the opening moment in what might be called Dante's education in theology, which will last for another thirty cantos.

31 - 33

Before she presents her prophecy, Beatrice charges Dante with the responsibility for reporting it precisely, not in the mode of a man who is talking in his sleep. Almost all the commentators take the passage literally and as applying in some general way. But Beatrice's words are very hard on poor Dante, since she makes it clear that, at least in her (infallible) opinion, his actual words, uttered at some previous time, have indeed been correctly characterized in this way. But when? Perhaps the later passage in this canto (vv. 85-90) that is devoted to his previous intellectual meanderings may shed some light on exactly what she means. For now the subject is left unexplored.

The importance of the rebuke, which passes mainly unobserved in the commentaries, is underlined by its difference from a similar rebuke. Mattalia (comm. to verse 33) is alone in thinking of that one (if he draws no conclusion from his notice of it): Purgatorio XV.120-123, when Virgil believes that Dante, beholding an ecstatic vision, is merely drunk or asleep. Now Beatrice reverses the situation: when Dante has considered himself 'awake' and eloquent, he has been, in fact, 'talking in his sleep.'

34 - 36

The language, referring to the destruction of the Church as detailed in the preceding canto, is distinctly reflective of the Apocalypse (Apoc. 17:8, 'The beast that you saw was, and is not'). For clear discussions of the terms 'apocalypticism' and 'millenarianism' and the differences between them, see Richard Emmerson (“The Secret,” American Historical Review 104 [1999]), pp. 1610-13.

The word suppe (here translated 'hindrance' only to make sense in its context) has been variously understood. Many of the early commentators believed it referred to the cakes left on the tomb of a murderer's victim in a Greek custom reborn in Florence; if the murderer came to the tomb and ate of these cakes for nine consecutive days, he would then be safe from the offended family's vengeance (and for that reason the families of the slain person would keep watch over the tomb). See Portirelli (comm. to these verses) for a restatement of this interpretation, which is at least as old as the commentary of Jacopo della Lana. Others think the reference is to the bread soaked in wine on which an oath is sworn between vassal and lord; still others of the offal which the veltro will despise (see Inf. I.103), and which is related to the 'sop' to Cerberus of Aeneid VI.420. None of these 'sops', however, would seem to offer a cause for fear, and are thus difficult to rationalize in this context.

37 - 42

The opening verses of Beatrice's extended prophecy seem clearly to indicate that the one who will come is related to the eagle of empire, i.e., that beneficent Roman empire that had begun so well under Augustus and then had become corrupt. It seems difficult to believe that this, as some maintain, is not an imperial prophecy.

43 - 45

This enigmatic passage has drawn an extraordinary amount of contradictory opinion. For a review of the entire question, see Pietro Mazzamuto, “Cinquecento diece e cinque” (ED.1970.2), pp. 10b-14b. It is also helpful to consult Charles Davis's similar review of the first and similar prophecy in the poem, the veltro (hound) of Inferno I.101 (“veltro” [ED.1976.5], pp. 908a-912b). Most now argue, whether or not they believe that the number, if expressed by the Roman numerals DXV, is an anagram of DUX (or 'leader' [the Roman 'V' and 'U' being equivalent letters]), that the context of the passage makes it apparent that Beatrice is here indicating the advent of a temporal leader, one who will deal with the excesses of the King of France and the delinquent Church. Further, if the canto is taken as having been written before his death in August of 1313, many believe that the prophecy points to Henry VII. Some also believe that if the first reference is to a political leader, it also points beyond him to the second coming of Christ, the final emperor. See Hollander (Allegory in Dante's “Commedia” [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969]), pp. 184-90, and the note to Inferno I.100-105. A standard and useful treatment of the problem remains that of Moore (Studies in Dante, Third Series: Miscellaneous Essays [Oxford: Clarendon, 1968 (1903)]), pp. 253-83.

For a brief history of the ancient Hebrew 'science' of gematria, the fitting of numbers to letters in a schematic way, as it comes into such writers as Dante, see Cherchi (“Isopsefi e profezia,” in his L'alambicco in biblioteca: distillati rari, ed. F. Guardiani & E. Speciale [Ravenna: Longo, 2000], pp. 329-42). He offers an example from a sixteenth-century Italian dialogue (pp. 337-38) that is usefully indicative of the sort of procedure at work in such calculations:


A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
E = 5
F = 6
G = 7
H = 8
I = 9
K = 10
L = 20
M = 30
N = 40
O = 50
P = 60
Q = 70
R = 80
S = 90
T = 100
V = 200
X = 300
Y = 400
Z = 500

If one sets the equivalence of the Latin alphabet to numbers in this way, and if one is willing to play a bit fast and loose with the actual spellings of the names of important personages, one can contrive (find?) the following sort of result:


M A R T I N L U T E R A
30 1 80 100 9 40 20 200 100 5 80 1 = 666

Distinct from numerological studies of Dante's work are those that study his numerical composition. Thomas Hart's mathematical and geometrical studies of the Commedia are of this second kind, and are rich and challenging. See a later one (“'Per misurar lo cerchio' [Par. XXXIII 134] and Archimedes' De mensura circuli: Some Thoughts on Approximations to the Value of Pi,” in Dante e la scienza, ed. P. Boyde and V. Russo [Ravenna: Longo, 1995], pp. 265-335), which picks up strands from his several earlier pieces and serves to summarize his long campaign to bring this sort of analysis to bear on Dante. See also, for a much different kind of numerological study of Dante's texts, Manfred Hardt (Die Zahl in der “Divina Commedia” [Frankfurt: Athenäum, 1973]) and “I numeri nella poetria di Dante,” Studi Danteschi 61 [1989], pp. 1-27). And see G. R. Sarolli, “numero” (ED.1973.4), pp. 87-96, and his monograph on the subject (Analitica della “Divina Commedia” [Bari: Adriatica, 1974]). For bibliography see Corrado Bologna (Il ritorno di Beatrice: Simmetrie dantesche fra “Vita nova,” “petrose” e “Commedia” [Rome: Salerno, 1998]), pp. 120-22. A recent attempt to reformulate Dante's numerology is found in Wilhelm Pötters ('Ella era uno nove': Rapporti geometrici fra la Vita Nova e la Commedia, Letteratura italiana antica 2 [2001], pp. 27-60 and “'La spera che più larga gira': Spazio della poesia e disegno del cosmo,” Letteratura italiana antica 3 [2002], pp. 461-505), reopening the question of Beatrice's 'nineness' in the first study and attempting to measure Dante's cosmos in the second. Insofar as his thesis depends on Beatrice being the sixty-first beautiful woman of Florence recorded in the sirventese described in VN VI (“Ella era uno nove,” p. 36) and on the letters DIL in Par. XVIII.78 being read as 549 (and not 551 – p. 41]), it is in some difficulty. In the first case Beatrice already seems to be indicated as one among the sixty 'belle donne,' the ninth (and not the sixty-first; there is no sixty-first); in the second, there is at least as much reason to believe, if there is any compelling reason to count these letters as numbers in the first place, that DIL = DLI as to believe that it resolves, as Pötters is forced to insist, to DXLIX (DIL as an 'unorthodox' version of DXLIX). Numerological arguments that ask one to surrender that much normal obstinacy (common sense?) possess a limited capacity to sway their judges. For an interesting attempt to approach the problem of overarching structural concerns from the other side, as it were, the possibility of casual explanations for poetic phenomena in the poem, in this instance involving a study of repeating rhyme words in a canto, see Federico Turelli (“Il ruolo della casualità nelle ripetizioni di rima della Commedia,” Letteratura italiana antica 3 [2002], pp. 507-23).

Two studies, completed independently of one another, by Robert Kaske (“Dante's 'DXV' and 'Veltro,'” Traditio 17 [1961], pp. 185-254) and Gian Roberto Sarolli (Prolegomena alla “Divina Commedia” [Florence: Olschki, 1971]), pp. 259-88, link the DXV to the ligated initials of the liturgical formula 'Vere dignum est,' involving the capital letters 'V' and 'D,' joined in such a way that the right-hand stroke of the 'V' and the left-hand one of the 'D' form a capital 'X' (the sign of the cross). Because both of these densely supported presentations tend to overlook the obvious political dimensions of the prophecy in favor of its Christological significance, they have failed to generate a groundswell of support, while they both remain a part of the continuing discussion. For an attempt to show that Dante was referring to a division number in Gratian's Decretals (precisely to Distinction XV (i.e., D[istinction).XV] in Part I), see Richard Kay (“Dante's Razor and Gratian's D.XV,” Dante Studies 97 [1979], pp. 65-95). John Stark (“Once Again, Dante's Five Hundred, Ten and Five,” Romance Quarterly 44 [1997], pp. 99-106) has argued, in a way that is similar to Kay's, for a reference to line numbers within another work, in this case Aeneid I.500, I.10, and I.5. Neither of these two highly ingenious solutions of the enigma has received significant support from other students of the problem.

If it is true, as some argue, that Dante's number represents the number of years between great imperial events, e.g., the years between Charlemagne's coronation on Christmas Day, 800, and the hoped-for victory of Henry VII in 1315, then it seems at least possible that he had in mind as its model one of the most important prophetic passages in the Aeneid (I.260-277), in which the time between Aeneas's war to win new Troy and the establishment of Rome under Romulus is carefully measured out as 333 years. For development of this thesis, see Robert Hollander and Heather Russo (“Purgatorio 33.43: Dante's 515 and Virgil's 333,” Electronic Bulletin of the Dante Society of America [March 2003]).

46 - 51

The general sense of this passage is clear: future events will make plain the terms of the cloudy prophecy, which is compared to those made by Themis (Ovid, Metam. I.375-394) and by the Sphinx. Both of these monstrous females later appear in the same passage in Ovid (Metam. VII.759-765), where their hatred of humans is, as here, described in terms of the loss of human and animal life in the countryside. The key lines in the modern text of Ovid run as follows: 'Carmina Laïades non intellecta priorum / solverat ingeniis...' (The son of Laius [Oedipus] solved the riddles which had baffled the intellects of all before him). We are close to being absolutely sure, however, that the text as Dante knew it substituted 'Naïades' for 'Laïades' and showed a plural form of the verb (solverant). And so Dante believed that it was the Naiads, water nymphs, who had solved the riddle of the Sphinx. This was the cruel monster who cast herself down from her rock, whence she had been killing clueless Thebans, once Oedipus realized that the variously footed creature in her riddle was man (the story that we know from Sophocles' Oedipus, unknown, like nearly all of Greek letters, to Dante).

Dante does not 'nod' often, but this is one of the most egregious errors in the Comedy, even if it has some reasonable excuse behind it. In fact, all of the early commentators accept Dante's reading, thus indicating that their texts also had 'Naiads' where they should have had Laius's son. The better reading had to wait for Nikolaes Heinsius (1620-81), the Dutch Latin poet and scholar, one of the great Renaissance textual editors of the Latin classics. His edition (Florence, 1646) of the Metamorphoses restored the reading Laïades. It is thus only with the commentary of Venturi (comm. to vv. 49-50) that the better reading is made known to the world of Dante's commentators, and even then some of them try to object to it, seeking a way to understand the Naiads as interpreters of prophetic utterance. Fausto Ghisalberti (“L'enigma delle Naiadi,” Studi Danteschi 16 [1932], pp. 105-25) offers a comprehensive discussion of the problem.

52 - 52

Beatrice's use of the verb notare here may remind us of its last use with this sense (setting something down as a text) in Dante's self-description as inspired poet, one who only records what he hears from the 'dictator' (Purg. XXIV.53).

54 - 54

Dante's often admired phrase, describing life as a 'correre alla morte' (race to death) reflects St. Augustine (DcD XIII.10): 'Our time for this life is nothing other than a race to death (cursus ad mortem),' as was perhaps first suggested by Mattalia in 1960 (comm. to this verse) and has become a familiar observation in contemporary commentaries. See also Selene Sarteschi (“Sant'Agostino in Dante e nell'età di Dante,” in her Per la “Commedia” e non per essa soltanto [Rome: Bulzoni, 2002 (1999)]), p. 176.

55 - 57

As her scribe, Dante is instructed by Beatrice not to conceal from his eventual readers the condition of the tree, now robbed of its possessions twice. Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 57) review the divided opinions of the early commentators, who variously believe that the reference is to Adam and the giant, to Adam and the eagle, or to the eagle and the giant. In their view, all three seem plausible glosses. However, it has seemed to others that, since, from Beatrice's words we gather that Dante has witnessed these two devastations (and not that of Adam, which is referred to in a following tercet [vv. 61-63]), it is the first and last attacks upon the tree that are referred to here: its defoliation by the eagle (the imperial persecutions of Purg. XXXII.112-114) and its having the chariot disattached from it by the giant (the removal to Avignon, referred to in Purg. XXXII.158). Such an understanding accords with Michele Barbi (Con Dante e coi suoi interpreti [Florence: Le Monnier, 1941]), pp. 62-63, and opposes Bruno Nardi (Nel mondo di Dante [Rome: Edizioni di “Storia e Letteratura”], 1944), pp. 153-57, who proposed Adam's theft of the fruit in the garden of Eden and the Donation of Constantine as the two thefts. The comment found in Bosco/Reggio offers good reasons for not accepting Nardi's view.

58 - 63

Beatrice's accusation now widens, blaming Adam as the first despoiler of the tree and praising Christ for redeeming him. For the calculation of the length of Adam's life (930 years) and of his punishment in Limbo (4302 years) see Paradiso XXVI.118-120 and the note to that passage. After 25 March the year 1300 is the 6499th year since the creation of Adam. See the note to Inferno I.1.

66 - 66

For the downward-pointing branches of the tree, set at an angle that makes climbing it difficult or impossible, see Purgatorio XXXII.40-42.

67 - 78

For a paraphrase of this somewhat contorted utterance see the Outline of this canto.

67 - 67

The river Elsa in Tuscany, because of its high concentration of minerals, was known for the crusting overlay it would leave on objects immersed in it.

69 - 69

For Pyramus, Thisbe, and the mulberry tree, see the note to Purgatorio XXVII.37-42.

72 - 72

The word 'moralmente' was understood, even in some of the earliest commentators (e.g., Jacopo della Lana [comm. to vv. 67-72]), as having a technical meaning here, i.e., 'con lo senso tropologico' (with the tropological [i.e, third] sense [of fourfold exegesis of the Bible]). Various later commentators are of the same opinion, e.g., Tommaseo (comm. to vv. 70-72), Scartazzini (comm. to this verse), Poletto (comm. to vv. 67-72). (See also Tozer, Torraca, Fallani, Mattalia, Bosco/Reggio.) What this signifies is that the meaning applies now to current history. God's original 'interdiction,' broken by Adam, whose sin was redeemed by the cross on which Christ sacrificed Himself, is now binding on us, as well, even though we are at least potentially saved. Even now we, new Adams, are not meant to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

77 - 78

That is, Dante, bringing back this message, will seem like a pilgrim returned from the Holy Land, his 'staff' decorated with the sign of the distant and holy place to which he has been.

79 - 84

These lines offer a fairly rare instance of a speaker in the poem expressing himself by use of a simile. Dante is saying that what Beatrice tells him seems to be completely clear, but that he really cannot understand what she means.

85 - 90

Beatrice is charging Dante with having attempted to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As some commentators (e.g., the Ottimo [comm. to vv. 79-90], Scartazzini [comm. to vv. 79-102]) have understood, the point here seems to be that Dante turned from theology to philosophy in his effort to do that. The current majority view of the nature of Dante's aberration is well represented by Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 85): Dante had, in the Convivio, set theology to one side in order to study philosophy, a decision he now deplores. For the notion that this fairly common view is incorrect, see John Scott (“Beatrice's Reproaches in Eden: Which 'School' Had Dante Followed?” Dante Studies 109 [1991], pp. 1-23). He argues that Dante's high regard for philosophy does not allow such an interpretation and that the 'school' in question is thus the Guelph and anti-imperial one that Dante had embraced in his political activities as a White Guelph in Florence before the exile. Scott shares with Dronke (Dante's Second Love: The Originality and the Contexts of the “Convivio” [Exeter: Society for Italian Studies, 1997]) an unwillingness to believe that Dante's special relationship with the donna gentile of the Vita nuova and, more to the point, the Lady Philosophy of the Convivio, somehow must be considered as anti-Beatricean. On the testimony of passages such as this, it seems likely that the poet expected us to accept exactly such a view.

94 - 99

Beatrice's response to Dante is worthy of the Inquisition. That he can no longer remember his sins (because he has drunk from Lethe, the river of oblivion) is proof that he had committed them.

97 - 97

Dante's phrasing, 'if from seeing smoke we argue there is fire,' might remind a reader of St. Augustine's discussion of signs in De doctrina christiana (II.i.1): 'A sign is a thing that causes us to think of something beyond the impression the thing itself makes on the senses. Thus, if we see a track, we think of the animal that made the track; if we see smoke, we know that there is a fire that causes it' (translation adapted from that of D. W. Robertson, Jr., italics added). For a similar opinion see Baranski (Dante e i segni [Rome: Liguori, 2000]), pp. 41-42, and Marchesi (“A Rhetoric of Faith: Dante's Poetics in the Transition from De vulgari eloquentia to the Commedia” [Doctoral dissertation, Princeton University, 2002]), chapter 1, note 3.

100 - 102

Not only does Beatrice speak more plainly for the rest of this canto, but the poet does as well, allowing most of his verse to be more immediately understandable than is his custom.

103 - 105

The sun takes 'slower steps' the higher it is above us, moving quickest at dawn and dusk, slowest as it approaches and departs from noon. While the absolute position of the sun is not in doubt, the earthly observer will have a sense of the location of the meridian circle containing it that varies according to that observer's position.

112 - 112

Dante indicates to the reader that he knows very well that the rivers in the garden of Eden in fact (i.e., in Genesis 2:14) include Tigris and Euphrates (and not Lethe and Eunoe, which are here by his invention). See the note to Purgatorio XXVIII.127-132.

119 - 119

While it is only now that we hear Matelda's name, we have observed her actions so long that we may feel that we understand her function. See the notes to Purgatorio XXVIII.1 and 40-42.

For 'reverse-acrostic' readings of 'Matelda' as 'ad letam' (the letters m-a-t-e-l-d-a backward), that is, understanding her as one who leads 'toward the joyous one' (Latin 'laetam,' spelled with an 'e' standing for the dipthong 'ae' in medieval Latin) see Enrico Morpurgo (“Matelda,” Neophilologus 34 [1950]), p. 82, and Jacques Goudet (“Une nommée Matelda...,” Revue des études italiennes 1 [1954], pp. 20-60). For still another such retrogressive anagram, the name read now as the manuscript variant 'Metelda', meaning that she leads one to the river Lethe ('ad Letem'), see Ioli (“Con Matelda nel Maryland: a colloquio con Charles Singleton,” Letture classensi 18 [1989]), p. 160.

121 - 123

Matelda did indeed tell Dante the name of this river (Eunoe) at Purgatorio XXVIII.131. As opposed to his forgetting his sins in Lethe he is now forgetting the promise of that good resolution of his plight, so deeply, we may well imagine, has he been stung by Beatrice's accusations.

128 - 135

Only now, and in less than completely clear terms, do we learn about Matelda's function in the garden, which seems to be to serve as 'baptizer' of the souls as they finish their purification, first in Lethe (as she draws Dante through that river at Purg. XXXI.91-102) and finally in Eunoe. There is a dispute as to whether or not Matelda's role in the garden is Dante-specific (which it has been, from all that we have seen, until now) or 'universal' (see the note to Purg. XXVIII.40-42). Indeed, Gianfranco Contini has argued (Un' idea di Dante [Turin: Einaudi, 1976]), p. 174n., that the verb usa (as you are accustomed) in the present tense should be understood as a past definite (già praticasti [as once you used to]) and thus implies that Matelda had such a role in Dante's earlier life. This is a case of interpreting (or indeed revising) the text in order to create or preserve a desired interpretation. Contini's point would be worth considering except for a single, crucial, and indeed determinative final point, Matelda's last words in the poem, which are addressed to Statius (vv. 134-135): 'Now come with him.' Thus, and only at the very last moment, we learn that Matelda's function in the garden is not limited to ministrations on behalf of Dante alone (i.e., she deals either with all the saved souls who come through here or with some of them). (See Filippo Villani's similar view in Bellomo's edition of his commentary to Inf. I [Expositio seu comentum super “Comedia” Dantis Allegherii (Florence: Le Lettere, 1989)], p. 92, n. 90.) To be sure, Dante alone is mentioned as receiving her ministrations at the river Lethe (Purg. XXXI.91-105). From this later passage, however, we are probably forced to consent to the notion that she there presided over Statius's submersion as well as Dante's, a scene that, like much involving Statius's (and Virgil's) presence in the garden, is allowed to disappear from Dante's page. For this view see Singleton (Journey to Beatrice [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967 (1958)]), p. 181, n. 17.

136 - 141

This seventh and last Purgatorial address to the reader opens a new subject that the poet will share with us, the formal requirements of his poem. If he had more space (another few lines? another canto?), he would tell us what Eunoe tasted like. The early commentators think that he means that he has run out of cantos (i.e., he cannot have a thirty-fourth as he did for Inferno). Tozer (comm. to vv. 139-140) was perhaps the first to think that it was the number of verses in each cantica (4720, 4755, 4758 respectively) that Dante refers to. That is a possible hypothesis, except that we note that he had just completed the longest canto in the entire work in the preceding one (XXXII is 160 lines long), and ostensibly thus had available at least fifteen more lines. Thomas Hart (“'Per misurar lo cerchio' [Par. XXXIII 134] and Archimedes' De mensura circuli: Some Thoughts on Approximations to the Value of Pi,” in Dante e la scienza, ed. P. Boyde and V. Russo [Ravenna: Longo, 1995], pp. 265-335) reviews his copious work that would have us believe, among other things, that all the canto lengths of the poem were decided by Dante early on. (For a rejoinder see the note to Inf. VI.28-32.)

Scartazzini (note to v. 139) was the first commentator (in 1900) included in the DDP to report that the poem contained in all 14,233 verses, noting that his predecessor editors, Blanc and Witte, erred when they reported the number of verses in the Commedia. Roberto Benigni has kindly pointed out that the same may be said of Vittorio Sermonti, in his presentation of/ /Inferno (B. Mondadori, 1966, p. xxxiv) and of Emilio Pasquini (comm. Inferno, Garzanti, 1987, p. lxxvii), both of whom unaccountably give the number of verses in the Commedia as 14,223. See the first words of the note to Inf. I.1.

142 - 145

The phrasing, with all its repeated 'ri' sounds, reminiscent of the resurrective surge at the opening of the cantica (Purg. I.18), underlines the reconstituted innocence of this Adamic being. Scartazzini (comm. to verse 144) suggests that here we should hear a resonance of St. Paul (Ephesians 4:23), 'And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.'

That the three cantiche all end with the word stelle (stars) is no longer a surprise. It is important to attempt to imagine the effect of this repetition on a reader who does not know that it is coming, who is suddenly jarred into realizing the pattern, into realizing the shaping force of divine beauty on this poem.

Purgatorio: Canto 33

1
2
3

Deus, venerunt gentes,“ alternando
or tre or quattro dolce salmodia,
le donne incominciaro, e lagrimando;
4
5
6

e Bëatrice, sospirosa e pia,
quelle ascoltava sì fatta, che poco
più a la croce si cambiò Maria.
7
8
9

Ma poi che l'altre vergini dier loco
a lei di dir, levata dritta in pè,
rispuose, colorata come foco:
10
11
12

Modicum, et non videbitis me;
et iterum, sorelle mie dilette,
modicum, et vos videbitis me.
13
14
15

Poi le si mise innanzi tutte e sette,
e dopo sé, solo accennando, mosse
me e la donna e 'l savio che ristette.
16
17
18

Così sen giva; e non credo che fosse
lo decimo suo passo in terra posto,
quando con li occhi li occhi mi percosse;
19
20
21

e con tranquillo aspetto ”Vien più tosto,“
mi disse, ”tanto che, s'io parlo teco,
ad ascoltarmi tu sie ben disposto.“
22
23
24

Sì com' io fui, com' io dovëa, seco,
dissemi: ”Frate, perché non t'attenti
a domandarmi omai venendo meco?“
25
26
27

Come a color che troppo reverenti
dinanzi a suo maggior parlando sono,
che non traggon la voce viva ai denti,
28
29
30

avvenne a me, che sanza intero suono
incominciai: ”Madonna, mia bisogna
voi conoscete, e ciò ch'ad essa è buono.“
31
32
33

Ed ella a me: ”Da tema e da vergogna
voglio che tu omai ti disviluppe,
sì che non parli più com' om che sogna.
34
35
36

Sappi che 'l vaso che 'l serpente ruppe,
fu e non è; ma chi n'ha colpa, creda
che vendetta di Dio non teme suppe.
37
38
39

Non sarà tutto tempo sanza reda
l'aguglia che lasciò le penne al carro,
per che divenne mostro e poscia preda;
40
41
42

ch'io veggio certamente, e però il narro,
a darne tempo già stelle propinque,
secure d'ogn' intoppo e d'ogne sbarro,
43
44
45

nel quale un cinquecento diece e cinque,
messo di Dio, anciderà la fuia
con quel gigante che con lei delinque.
46
47
48

E forse che la mia narrazion buia,
qual Temi e Sfinge, men ti persuade,
perch' a lor modo lo 'ntelletto attuia;
49
50
51

ma tosto fier li fatti le Naiade,
che solveranno questo enigma forte
sanza danno di pecore o di biade.
52
53
54

Tu nota; e sì come da me son porte,
così queste parole segna a' vivi
del viver ch'è un correre a la morte.
55
56
57

E aggi a mente, quando tu le scrivi,
di non celar qual hai vista la pianta
ch'è or due volte dirubata quivi.
58
59
60

Qualunque ruba quella o quella schianta,
con bestemmia di fatto offende a Dio,
che solo a l'uso suo la creò santa.
61
62
63

Per morder quella, in pena e in disio
cinquemilia anni e più l'anima prima
bramò colui che 'l morso in sé punio.
64
65
66

Dorme lo 'ngegno tuo, se non estima
per singular cagione essere eccelsa
lei tanto e sì travolta ne la cima.
67
68
69

E se stati non fossero acqua d'Elsa
li pensier vani intorno a la tua mente,
e 'l piacer loro un Piramo a la gelsa,
70
71
72

per tante circostanze solamente
la giustizia di Dio, ne l'interdetto,
conosceresti a l'arbor moralmente.
73
74
75

Ma perch' io veggio te ne lo 'ntelletto
fatto di pietra e, impetrato, tinto,
sì che t'abbaglia il lume del mio detto,
76
77
78

voglio anco, e se non scritto, almen dipinto,
che 'l te ne porti dentro a te per quello
che si reca il bordon di palma cinto.“
79
80
81

E io: ”Sì come cera da suggello,
che la figura impressa non trasmuta,
segnato è or da voi lo mio cervello.
82
83
84

Ma perché tanto sovra mia veduta
vostra parola disïata vola,
che più la perde quanto più s'aiuta?“
85
86
87

”Perché conoschi,“ disse, ”quella scuola
c'hai seguitata, e veggi sua dottrina
come può seguitar la mia parola;
88
89
90

e veggi vostra via da la divina
distar cotanto, quanto si discorda
da terra il ciel che più alto festina.“
91
92
93

Ond' io rispuosi lei: ”Non mi ricorda
ch'i' stranïasse me già mai da voi,
né honne coscïenza che rimorda.“
94
95
96

”E se tu ricordar non te ne puoi,“
sorridendo rispuose, ”or ti rammenta
come bevesti di Letè ancoi;
97
98
99

e se dal fummo foco s'argomenta,
cotesta oblivïon chiaro conchiude
colpa ne la tua voglia altrove attenta.
100
101
102

Veramente oramai saranno nude
le mie parole, quanto converrassi
quelle scovrire a la tua vista rude.“
103
104
105

E più corusco e con più lenti passi
teneva il sole il cerchio di merigge,
che qua e là, come li aspetti, fassi,
106
107
108

quando s'affisser, sì come s'affigge
chi va dinanzi a gente per iscorta
se trova novitate o sue vestigge,
109
110
111

le sette donne al fin d'un'ombra smorta,
qual sotto foglie verdi e rami nigri
sovra suoi freddi rivi l'alpe porta.
112
113
114

Dinanzi ad esse ”Ëufratès e Tigri
veder mi parve uscir d'una fontana,
e, quasi amici, dipartirsi pigri.
115
116
117

“O luce, o gloria de la gente umana,
che acqua è questa che qui si dispiega
da un principio e sé da sé lontana?”
118
119
120

Per cotal priego detto mi fu: “Priega
Matelda che 'l ti dica.” E qui rispuose,
come fa chi da colpa si dislega,
121
122
123

la bella donna: “Questo e altre cose
dette li son per me; e son sicura
che l'acqua di Letè non gliel nascose.”
124
125
126

E Bëatrice: “Forse maggior cura,
che spesse volte la memoria priva,
fatt' ha la mente sua ne li occhi oscura.
127
128
129

Ma vedi Eünoè che là diriva:
menalo ad esso, e come tu se' usa,
la tramortita sua virtù ravviva.”
130
131
132

Come anima gentil, che non fa scusa,
ma fa sua voglia de la voglia altrui
tosto che è per segno fuor dischiusa;
133
134
135

così, poi che da essa preso fui,
la bella donna mossesi, e a Stazio
donnescamente disse: “Vien con lui.”
136
137
138

S'io avessi, lettor, più lungo spazio
da scrivere, i' pur cantere' in parte
lo dolce ber che mai non m'avria sazio;
139
140
141

ma perché piene son tutte le carte
ordite a questa cantica seconda,
non mi lascia più ir lo fren de l'arte.
142
143
144
145

Io ritornai da la santissima onda
rifatto sì come piante novelle
rinovellate di novella fronda,
puro e disposto a salire a le stelle.
1
2
3

"Deus venerunt gentes," alternating
  Now three, now four, melodious psalmody
  The maidens in the midst of tears began;

4
5
6

And Beatrice, compassionate and sighing,
  Listened to them with such a countenance,
  That scarce more changed was Mary at the cross.

7
8
9

But when the other virgins place had given
  For her to speak, uprisen to her feet
  With colour as of fire, she made response:

10
11
12

"'Modicum, et non videbitis me;
  Et iterum,' my sisters predilect,
  'Modicum, et vos videbitis me.'"

13
14
15

Then all the seven in front of her she placed;
  And after her, by beckoning only, moved
  Me and the lady and the sage who stayed.

16
17
18

So she moved onward; and I do not think
  That her tenth step was placed upon the ground,
  When with her eyes upon mine eyes she smote,

19
20
21

And with a tranquil aspect, "Come more quickly,"
  To me she said, "that, if I speak with thee,
  To listen to me thou mayst be well placed."

22
23
24

As soon as I was with her as I should be,
  She said to me: "Why, brother, dost thou not
  Venture to question now, in coming with me?"

25
26
27

As unto those who are too reverential,
  Speaking in presence of superiors,
  Who drag no living utterance to their teeth,

28
29
30

It me befell, that without perfect sound
  Began I: "My necessity, Madonna,
  You know, and that which thereunto is good."

31
32
33

And she to me: "Of fear and bashfulness
  Henceforward I will have thee strip thyself,
  So that thou speak no more as one who dreams.

34
35
36

Know that the vessel which the serpent broke
  Was, and is not; but let him who is guilty
  Think that God's vengeance does not fear a sop.

37
38
39

Without an heir shall not for ever be
  The Eagle that left his plumes upon the car,
  Whence it became a monster, then a prey;

40
41
42

For verily I see, and hence narrate it,
  The stars already near to bring the time,
  From every hindrance safe, and every bar,

43
44
45

Within which a Five-hundred, Ten, and Five,
  One sent from God, shall slay the thievish woman
  And that same giant who is sinning with her.

46
47
48

And peradventure my dark utterance,
  Like Themis and the Sphinx, may less persuade thee,
  Since, in their mode, it clouds the intellect;

49
50
51

But soon the facts shall be the Naiades
  Who shall this difficult enigma solve,
  Without destruction of the flocks and harvests.

52
53
54

Note thou; and even as by me are uttered
  These words, so teach them unto those who live
  That life which is a running unto death;

55
56
57

And bear in mind, whene'er thou writest them,
  Not to conceal what thou hast seen the plant,
  That twice already has been pillaged here.

58
59
60

Whoever pillages or shatters it,
  With blasphemy of deed offendeth God,
  Who made it holy for his use alone.

61
62
63

For biting that, in pain and in desire
  Five thousand years and more the first-born soul
  Craved Him, who punished in himself the bite.

64
65
66

Thy genius slumbers, if it deem it not
  For special reason so pre-eminent
  In height, and so inverted in its summit.

67
68
69

And if thy vain imaginings had not been
  Water of Elsa round about thy mind,
  And Pyramus to the mulberry, their pleasure,

70
71
72

Thou by so many circumstances only
  The justice of the interdict of God
  Morally in the tree wouldst recognize.

73
74
75

But since I see thee in thine intellect
  Converted into stone and stained with sin,
  So that the light of my discourse doth daze thee,

76
77
78

I will too, if not written, at least painted,
  Thou bear it back within thee, for the reason
  That cinct with palm the pilgrim's staff is borne."

79
80
81

And I: "As by a signet is the wax
  Which does not change the figure stamped upon it,
  My brain is now imprinted by yourself.

82
83
84

But wherefore so beyond my power of sight
  Soars your desirable discourse, that aye
  The more I strive, so much the more I lose it?"

85
86
87

"That thou mayst recognize," she said, "the school
  Which thou hast followed, and mayst see how far
  Its doctrine follows after my discourse,

88
89
90

And mayst behold your path from the divine
  Distant as far as separated is
  From earth the heaven that highest hastens on."

91
92
93

Whence her I answered: "I do not remember
  That ever I estranged myself from you,
  Nor have I conscience of it that reproves me."

94
95
96

"And if thou art not able to remember,"
  Smiling she answered, "recollect thee now
  That thou this very day hast drunk of Lethe;

97
98
99

And if from smoke a fire may be inferred,
  Such an oblivion clearly demonstrates
  Some error in thy will elsewhere intent.

100
101
102

Truly from this time forward shall my words
  Be naked, so far as it is befitting
  To lay them open unto thy rude gaze."

103
104
105

And more coruscant and with slower steps
  The sun was holding the meridian circle,
  Which, with the point of view, shifts here and there

106
107
108

When halted (as he cometh to a halt,
  Who goes before a squadron as its escort,
  If something new he find upon his way)

109
110
111

The ladies seven at a dark shadow's edge,
  Such as, beneath green leaves and branches black,
  The Alp upon its frigid border wears.

112
113
114

In front of them the Tigris and Euphrates
  Methought I saw forth issue from one fountain,
  And slowly part, like friends, from one another.

115
116
117

"O light, O glory of the human race!
  What stream is this which here unfolds itself
  From out one source, and from itself withdraws?"

118
119
120

For such a prayer, 'twas said unto me, "Pray
  Matilda that she tell thee;" and here answered,
  As one does who doth free himself from blame,

121
122
123

The beautiful lady: "This and other things
  Were told to him by me; and sure I am
  The water of Lethe has not hid them from him."

124
125
126

And Beatrice: "Perhaps a greater care,
  Which oftentimes our memory takes away,
  Has made the vision of his mind obscure.

127
128
129

But Eunoe behold, that yonder rises;
  Lead him to it, and, as thou art accustomed,
  Revive again the half-dead virtue in him."

130
131
132

Like gentle soul, that maketh no excuse,
  But makes its own will of another's will
  As soon as by a sign it is disclosed,

133
134
135

Even so, when she had taken hold of me,
  The beautiful lady moved, and unto Statius
  Said, in her womanly manner, "Come with him."

136
137
138

If, Reader, I possessed a longer space
  For writing it, I yet would sing in part
  Of the sweet draught that ne'er would satiate me;

139
140
141

But inasmuch as full are all the leaves
  Made ready for this second canticle,
  The curb of art no farther lets me go.

142
143
144
145

From the most holy water I returned
  Regenerate, in the manner of new trees
  That are renewed with a new foliage,
Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars.

Robert Hollander (English, 2000-2007)
1 - 3

The last canto of Purgatorio begins, like those of Inferno and Paradiso, with poetry (see Inf. XXXIV.1 and Par. XXXIII.1-39). In all three cases, the poem cited is in another voice than Dante's. In the first two cases this voice is Latin, first that of Venantius Fortunatus (his hymn of the cross), now that of David (his hymn for the desolation of Jerusalem, Psalm 78 [79], which begins, 'O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance'). Thus do the seven virtues respond to the present culminating moment in the history of the Church Militant. As Benvenuto explains (comm. to these verses), just as the various gentile nations had invaded and oppressed the Holy Land because of the sins of the Jews, so now has God again allowed foreigners, in this case the French, to take possession of holy Church because of the sins of the latter-day 'Romans.'

How much of the Psalm is sung is not discernible, but probably more than the first few words, since we are told that the weeping ladies sing alternating verses. Singleton (comm. to verse 1) suggests that the first eight verses would have been appropriate. Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 1) point out that, beginning with its ninth verse, the Psalm is more optimistic, asking for God's help and hoping for His intervention. For a similar question regarding the singing of a Psalm, see the note to Purgatorio XXX.82-84.

4 - 6

Beatrice's first response to the singing of the Psalm is to join in its sense of desolation. Her sadness is such that even Mary's grief at the foot of the cross for her dead son was only slightly more profound. Mary grieves for the death of Jesus, Beatrice for the desolation of his mystical body, the Church.

7 - 12

The words that Beatrice sings reflect closely Jesus's words to his disciples (John 16:16), 'A little while and you shall not see me; and again a little while and you shall see me, because I go to the Father.' Since the disciples are puzzled by these words, Jesus explains them: Now they may weep, but their sorrow will be turned to joy (John 16:20). The disciples are finally won over, finally believe that Jesus comes from God (John 16:30). Jesus ends his remarks by promising them peace after their tribulation and concludes, 'I have overcome the world' (John 16:33). Thus do these twelve opening verses of the last canto of Purgatorio move from a tragic sense of loss to a celebratory and comic vision of the eventual triumph of Christ and his Church.

Beatrice's words also have a particular and local meaning for Dante, who wept at her death and thought he had lost her forever; she has come back into his life.

13 - 15

This tercet reminds the reader exactly who is present in this scene (see the note to Purg. XXXII.88), Beatrice, her handmaids (the seven virtues), Dante, Matelda, and Statius. Not only is the Church Triumphant no longer in sight, the Church Militant has been dragged off to France.

The way in which Statius is referred to ('the sage who had remained') reminds the reader, yet again, of the absence of Virgil, denied this moment.

16 - 18

Those that allegorize the nine steps taken by Beatrice argue that they represent the years between the accession of Pope Clement V in 1305, who agreed to King Philip's desire to move the papacy to France (which he did in 1309), and the deaths of Clement and Philip in 1314, thus possibly allowing the tenth step to point to the advent of the new leader in 1315. About such things there can be little or no certainty, but the hypothesis is attractive. Nonetheless, one should probably be aware that, except for a rather contorted effort by Francesco da Buti (comm. to vv. 16-30), none of the early commentators, generally so fond of allegorizing, offers anything more than a literal reading of the detail. The allegorical reading of the ten steps as ten years is a nineteenth- and twentieth-century discovery, e.g., as it is found in Carroll (comm. to vv. 16-45).

23 - 23

This is the first time Beatrice addresses Dante as 'brother.' (She will do so on only three later occasions: Par. IV.100; Par. VII.58; Par. VII.130). For the importance and distribution of the word frate in the three cantiche, see the note to Purgatorio IV.127. One senses, again, that her desire to rebuke Dante is (temporarily) suspended. But see vv. 85-90.

Beatrice for the first time, and in keeping with the spirit of her citation of John 16:16 in vv. 10-12, turns her attention to the future, and to Dante's future, now that the world's and his own sinful past have been dealt with.

25 - 28

Benvenuto (comm. to vv. 25-30) compares Dante to a student in the presence of his teacher, and indeed this is the opening moment in what might be called Dante's education in theology, which will last for another thirty cantos.

31 - 33

Before she presents her prophecy, Beatrice charges Dante with the responsibility for reporting it precisely, not in the mode of a man who is talking in his sleep. Almost all the commentators take the passage literally and as applying in some general way. But Beatrice's words are very hard on poor Dante, since she makes it clear that, at least in her (infallible) opinion, his actual words, uttered at some previous time, have indeed been correctly characterized in this way. But when? Perhaps the later passage in this canto (vv. 85-90) that is devoted to his previous intellectual meanderings may shed some light on exactly what she means. For now the subject is left unexplored.

The importance of the rebuke, which passes mainly unobserved in the commentaries, is underlined by its difference from a similar rebuke. Mattalia (comm. to verse 33) is alone in thinking of that one (if he draws no conclusion from his notice of it): Purgatorio XV.120-123, when Virgil believes that Dante, beholding an ecstatic vision, is merely drunk or asleep. Now Beatrice reverses the situation: when Dante has considered himself 'awake' and eloquent, he has been, in fact, 'talking in his sleep.'

34 - 36

The language, referring to the destruction of the Church as detailed in the preceding canto, is distinctly reflective of the Apocalypse (Apoc. 17:8, 'The beast that you saw was, and is not'). For clear discussions of the terms 'apocalypticism' and 'millenarianism' and the differences between them, see Richard Emmerson (“The Secret,” American Historical Review 104 [1999]), pp. 1610-13.

The word suppe (here translated 'hindrance' only to make sense in its context) has been variously understood. Many of the early commentators believed it referred to the cakes left on the tomb of a murderer's victim in a Greek custom reborn in Florence; if the murderer came to the tomb and ate of these cakes for nine consecutive days, he would then be safe from the offended family's vengeance (and for that reason the families of the slain person would keep watch over the tomb). See Portirelli (comm. to these verses) for a restatement of this interpretation, which is at least as old as the commentary of Jacopo della Lana. Others think the reference is to the bread soaked in wine on which an oath is sworn between vassal and lord; still others of the offal which the veltro will despise (see Inf. I.103), and which is related to the 'sop' to Cerberus of Aeneid VI.420. None of these 'sops', however, would seem to offer a cause for fear, and are thus difficult to rationalize in this context.

37 - 42

The opening verses of Beatrice's extended prophecy seem clearly to indicate that the one who will come is related to the eagle of empire, i.e., that beneficent Roman empire that had begun so well under Augustus and then had become corrupt. It seems difficult to believe that this, as some maintain, is not an imperial prophecy.

43 - 45

This enigmatic passage has drawn an extraordinary amount of contradictory opinion. For a review of the entire question, see Pietro Mazzamuto, “Cinquecento diece e cinque” (ED.1970.2), pp. 10b-14b. It is also helpful to consult Charles Davis's similar review of the first and similar prophecy in the poem, the veltro (hound) of Inferno I.101 (“veltro” [ED.1976.5], pp. 908a-912b). Most now argue, whether or not they believe that the number, if expressed by the Roman numerals DXV, is an anagram of DUX (or 'leader' [the Roman 'V' and 'U' being equivalent letters]), that the context of the passage makes it apparent that Beatrice is here indicating the advent of a temporal leader, one who will deal with the excesses of the King of France and the delinquent Church. Further, if the canto is taken as having been written before his death in August of 1313, many believe that the prophecy points to Henry VII. Some also believe that if the first reference is to a political leader, it also points beyond him to the second coming of Christ, the final emperor. See Hollander (Allegory in Dante's “Commedia” [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969]), pp. 184-90, and the note to Inferno I.100-105. A standard and useful treatment of the problem remains that of Moore (Studies in Dante, Third Series: Miscellaneous Essays [Oxford: Clarendon, 1968 (1903)]), pp. 253-83.

For a brief history of the ancient Hebrew 'science' of gematria, the fitting of numbers to letters in a schematic way, as it comes into such writers as Dante, see Cherchi (“Isopsefi e profezia,” in his L'alambicco in biblioteca: distillati rari, ed. F. Guardiani & E. Speciale [Ravenna: Longo, 2000], pp. 329-42). He offers an example from a sixteenth-century Italian dialogue (pp. 337-38) that is usefully indicative of the sort of procedure at work in such calculations:


A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
E = 5
F = 6
G = 7
H = 8
I = 9
K = 10
L = 20
M = 30
N = 40
O = 50
P = 60
Q = 70
R = 80
S = 90
T = 100
V = 200
X = 300
Y = 400
Z = 500

If one sets the equivalence of the Latin alphabet to numbers in this way, and if one is willing to play a bit fast and loose with the actual spellings of the names of important personages, one can contrive (find?) the following sort of result:


M A R T I N L U T E R A
30 1 80 100 9 40 20 200 100 5 80 1 = 666

Distinct from numerological studies of Dante's work are those that study his numerical composition. Thomas Hart's mathematical and geometrical studies of the Commedia are of this second kind, and are rich and challenging. See a later one (“'Per misurar lo cerchio' [Par. XXXIII 134] and Archimedes' De mensura circuli: Some Thoughts on Approximations to the Value of Pi,” in Dante e la scienza, ed. P. Boyde and V. Russo [Ravenna: Longo, 1995], pp. 265-335), which picks up strands from his several earlier pieces and serves to summarize his long campaign to bring this sort of analysis to bear on Dante. See also, for a much different kind of numerological study of Dante's texts, Manfred Hardt (Die Zahl in der “Divina Commedia” [Frankfurt: Athenäum, 1973]) and “I numeri nella poetria di Dante,” Studi Danteschi 61 [1989], pp. 1-27). And see G. R. Sarolli, “numero” (ED.1973.4), pp. 87-96, and his monograph on the subject (Analitica della “Divina Commedia” [Bari: Adriatica, 1974]). For bibliography see Corrado Bologna (Il ritorno di Beatrice: Simmetrie dantesche fra “Vita nova,” “petrose” e “Commedia” [Rome: Salerno, 1998]), pp. 120-22. A recent attempt to reformulate Dante's numerology is found in Wilhelm Pötters ('Ella era uno nove': Rapporti geometrici fra la Vita Nova e la Commedia, Letteratura italiana antica 2 [2001], pp. 27-60 and “'La spera che più larga gira': Spazio della poesia e disegno del cosmo,” Letteratura italiana antica 3 [2002], pp. 461-505), reopening the question of Beatrice's 'nineness' in the first study and attempting to measure Dante's cosmos in the second. Insofar as his thesis depends on Beatrice being the sixty-first beautiful woman of Florence recorded in the sirventese described in VN VI (“Ella era uno nove,” p. 36) and on the letters DIL in Par. XVIII.78 being read as 549 (and not 551 – p. 41]), it is in some difficulty. In the first case Beatrice already seems to be indicated as one among the sixty 'belle donne,' the ninth (and not the sixty-first; there is no sixty-first); in the second, there is at least as much reason to believe, if there is any compelling reason to count these letters as numbers in the first place, that DIL = DLI as to believe that it resolves, as Pötters is forced to insist, to DXLIX (DIL as an 'unorthodox' version of DXLIX). Numerological arguments that ask one to surrender that much normal obstinacy (common sense?) possess a limited capacity to sway their judges. For an interesting attempt to approach the problem of overarching structural concerns from the other side, as it were, the possibility of casual explanations for poetic phenomena in the poem, in this instance involving a study of repeating rhyme words in a canto, see Federico Turelli (“Il ruolo della casualità nelle ripetizioni di rima della Commedia,” Letteratura italiana antica 3 [2002], pp. 507-23).

Two studies, completed independently of one another, by Robert Kaske (“Dante's 'DXV' and 'Veltro,'” Traditio 17 [1961], pp. 185-254) and Gian Roberto Sarolli (Prolegomena alla “Divina Commedia” [Florence: Olschki, 1971]), pp. 259-88, link the DXV to the ligated initials of the liturgical formula 'Vere dignum est,' involving the capital letters 'V' and 'D,' joined in such a way that the right-hand stroke of the 'V' and the left-hand one of the 'D' form a capital 'X' (the sign of the cross). Because both of these densely supported presentations tend to overlook the obvious political dimensions of the prophecy in favor of its Christological significance, they have failed to generate a groundswell of support, while they both remain a part of the continuing discussion. For an attempt to show that Dante was referring to a division number in Gratian's Decretals (precisely to Distinction XV (i.e., D[istinction).XV] in Part I), see Richard Kay (“Dante's Razor and Gratian's D.XV,” Dante Studies 97 [1979], pp. 65-95). John Stark (“Once Again, Dante's Five Hundred, Ten and Five,” Romance Quarterly 44 [1997], pp. 99-106) has argued, in a way that is similar to Kay's, for a reference to line numbers within another work, in this case Aeneid I.500, I.10, and I.5. Neither of these two highly ingenious solutions of the enigma has received significant support from other students of the problem.

If it is true, as some argue, that Dante's number represents the number of years between great imperial events, e.g., the years between Charlemagne's coronation on Christmas Day, 800, and the hoped-for victory of Henry VII in 1315, then it seems at least possible that he had in mind as its model one of the most important prophetic passages in the Aeneid (I.260-277), in which the time between Aeneas's war to win new Troy and the establishment of Rome under Romulus is carefully measured out as 333 years. For development of this thesis, see Robert Hollander and Heather Russo (“Purgatorio 33.43: Dante's 515 and Virgil's 333,” Electronic Bulletin of the Dante Society of America [March 2003]).

46 - 51

The general sense of this passage is clear: future events will make plain the terms of the cloudy prophecy, which is compared to those made by Themis (Ovid, Metam. I.375-394) and by the Sphinx. Both of these monstrous females later appear in the same passage in Ovid (Metam. VII.759-765), where their hatred of humans is, as here, described in terms of the loss of human and animal life in the countryside. The key lines in the modern text of Ovid run as follows: 'Carmina Laïades non intellecta priorum / solverat ingeniis...' (The son of Laius [Oedipus] solved the riddles which had baffled the intellects of all before him). We are close to being absolutely sure, however, that the text as Dante knew it substituted 'Naïades' for 'Laïades' and showed a plural form of the verb (solverant). And so Dante believed that it was the Naiads, water nymphs, who had solved the riddle of the Sphinx. This was the cruel monster who cast herself down from her rock, whence she had been killing clueless Thebans, once Oedipus realized that the variously footed creature in her riddle was man (the story that we know from Sophocles' Oedipus, unknown, like nearly all of Greek letters, to Dante).

Dante does not 'nod' often, but this is one of the most egregious errors in the Comedy, even if it has some reasonable excuse behind it. In fact, all of the early commentators accept Dante's reading, thus indicating that their texts also had 'Naiads' where they should have had Laius's son. The better reading had to wait for Nikolaes Heinsius (1620-81), the Dutch Latin poet and scholar, one of the great Renaissance textual editors of the Latin classics. His edition (Florence, 1646) of the Metamorphoses restored the reading Laïades. It is thus only with the commentary of Venturi (comm. to vv. 49-50) that the better reading is made known to the world of Dante's commentators, and even then some of them try to object to it, seeking a way to understand the Naiads as interpreters of prophetic utterance. Fausto Ghisalberti (“L'enigma delle Naiadi,” Studi Danteschi 16 [1932], pp. 105-25) offers a comprehensive discussion of the problem.

52 - 52

Beatrice's use of the verb notare here may remind us of its last use with this sense (setting something down as a text) in Dante's self-description as inspired poet, one who only records what he hears from the 'dictator' (Purg. XXIV.53).

54 - 54

Dante's often admired phrase, describing life as a 'correre alla morte' (race to death) reflects St. Augustine (DcD XIII.10): 'Our time for this life is nothing other than a race to death (cursus ad mortem),' as was perhaps first suggested by Mattalia in 1960 (comm. to this verse) and has become a familiar observation in contemporary commentaries. See also Selene Sarteschi (“Sant'Agostino in Dante e nell'età di Dante,” in her Per la “Commedia” e non per essa soltanto [Rome: Bulzoni, 2002 (1999)]), p. 176.

55 - 57

As her scribe, Dante is instructed by Beatrice not to conceal from his eventual readers the condition of the tree, now robbed of its possessions twice. Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 57) review the divided opinions of the early commentators, who variously believe that the reference is to Adam and the giant, to Adam and the eagle, or to the eagle and the giant. In their view, all three seem plausible glosses. However, it has seemed to others that, since, from Beatrice's words we gather that Dante has witnessed these two devastations (and not that of Adam, which is referred to in a following tercet [vv. 61-63]), it is the first and last attacks upon the tree that are referred to here: its defoliation by the eagle (the imperial persecutions of Purg. XXXII.112-114) and its having the chariot disattached from it by the giant (the removal to Avignon, referred to in Purg. XXXII.158). Such an understanding accords with Michele Barbi (Con Dante e coi suoi interpreti [Florence: Le Monnier, 1941]), pp. 62-63, and opposes Bruno Nardi (Nel mondo di Dante [Rome: Edizioni di “Storia e Letteratura”], 1944), pp. 153-57, who proposed Adam's theft of the fruit in the garden of Eden and the Donation of Constantine as the two thefts. The comment found in Bosco/Reggio offers good reasons for not accepting Nardi's view.

58 - 63

Beatrice's accusation now widens, blaming Adam as the first despoiler of the tree and praising Christ for redeeming him. For the calculation of the length of Adam's life (930 years) and of his punishment in Limbo (4302 years) see Paradiso XXVI.118-120 and the note to that passage. After 25 March the year 1300 is the 6499th year since the creation of Adam. See the note to Inferno I.1.

66 - 66

For the downward-pointing branches of the tree, set at an angle that makes climbing it difficult or impossible, see Purgatorio XXXII.40-42.

67 - 78

For a paraphrase of this somewhat contorted utterance see the Outline of this canto.

67 - 67

The river Elsa in Tuscany, because of its high concentration of minerals, was known for the crusting overlay it would leave on objects immersed in it.

69 - 69

For Pyramus, Thisbe, and the mulberry tree, see the note to Purgatorio XXVII.37-42.

72 - 72

The word 'moralmente' was understood, even in some of the earliest commentators (e.g., Jacopo della Lana [comm. to vv. 67-72]), as having a technical meaning here, i.e., 'con lo senso tropologico' (with the tropological [i.e, third] sense [of fourfold exegesis of the Bible]). Various later commentators are of the same opinion, e.g., Tommaseo (comm. to vv. 70-72), Scartazzini (comm. to this verse), Poletto (comm. to vv. 67-72). (See also Tozer, Torraca, Fallani, Mattalia, Bosco/Reggio.) What this signifies is that the meaning applies now to current history. God's original 'interdiction,' broken by Adam, whose sin was redeemed by the cross on which Christ sacrificed Himself, is now binding on us, as well, even though we are at least potentially saved. Even now we, new Adams, are not meant to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

77 - 78

That is, Dante, bringing back this message, will seem like a pilgrim returned from the Holy Land, his 'staff' decorated with the sign of the distant and holy place to which he has been.

79 - 84

These lines offer a fairly rare instance of a speaker in the poem expressing himself by use of a simile. Dante is saying that what Beatrice tells him seems to be completely clear, but that he really cannot understand what she means.

85 - 90

Beatrice is charging Dante with having attempted to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As some commentators (e.g., the Ottimo [comm. to vv. 79-90], Scartazzini [comm. to vv. 79-102]) have understood, the point here seems to be that Dante turned from theology to philosophy in his effort to do that. The current majority view of the nature of Dante's aberration is well represented by Bosco/Reggio (comm. to verse 85): Dante had, in the Convivio, set theology to one side in order to study philosophy, a decision he now deplores. For the notion that this fairly common view is incorrect, see John Scott (“Beatrice's Reproaches in Eden: Which 'School' Had Dante Followed?” Dante Studies 109 [1991], pp. 1-23). He argues that Dante's high regard for philosophy does not allow such an interpretation and that the 'school' in question is thus the Guelph and anti-imperial one that Dante had embraced in his political activities as a White Guelph in Florence before the exile. Scott shares with Dronke (Dante's Second Love: The Originality and the Contexts of the “Convivio” [Exeter: Society for Italian Studies, 1997]) an unwillingness to believe that Dante's special relationship with the donna gentile of the Vita nuova and, more to the point, the Lady Philosophy of the Convivio, somehow must be considered as anti-Beatricean. On the testimony of passages such as this, it seems likely that the poet expected us to accept exactly such a view.

94 - 99

Beatrice's response to Dante is worthy of the Inquisition. That he can no longer remember his sins (because he has drunk from Lethe, the river of oblivion) is proof that he had committed them.

97 - 97

Dante's phrasing, 'if from seeing smoke we argue there is fire,' might remind a reader of St. Augustine's discussion of signs in De doctrina christiana (II.i.1): 'A sign is a thing that causes us to think of something beyond the impression the thing itself makes on the senses. Thus, if we see a track, we think of the animal that made the track; if we see smoke, we know that there is a fire that causes it' (translation adapted from that of D. W. Robertson, Jr., italics added). For a similar opinion see Baranski (Dante e i segni [Rome: Liguori, 2000]), pp. 41-42, and Marchesi (“A Rhetoric of Faith: Dante's Poetics in the Transition from De vulgari eloquentia to the Commedia” [Doctoral dissertation, Princeton University, 2002]), chapter 1, note 3.

100 - 102

Not only does Beatrice speak more plainly for the rest of this canto, but the poet does as well, allowing most of his verse to be more immediately understandable than is his custom.

103 - 105

The sun takes 'slower steps' the higher it is above us, moving quickest at dawn and dusk, slowest as it approaches and departs from noon. While the absolute position of the sun is not in doubt, the earthly observer will have a sense of the location of the meridian circle containing it that varies according to that observer's position.

112 - 112

Dante indicates to the reader that he knows very well that the rivers in the garden of Eden in fact (i.e., in Genesis 2:14) include Tigris and Euphrates (and not Lethe and Eunoe, which are here by his invention). See the note to Purgatorio XXVIII.127-132.

119 - 119

While it is only now that we hear Matelda's name, we have observed her actions so long that we may feel that we understand her function. See the notes to Purgatorio XXVIII.1 and 40-42.

For 'reverse-acrostic' readings of 'Matelda' as 'ad letam' (the letters m-a-t-e-l-d-a backward), that is, understanding her as one who leads 'toward the joyous one' (Latin 'laetam,' spelled with an 'e' standing for the dipthong 'ae' in medieval Latin) see Enrico Morpurgo (“Matelda,” Neophilologus 34 [1950]), p. 82, and Jacques Goudet (“Une nommée Matelda...,” Revue des études italiennes 1 [1954], pp. 20-60). For still another such retrogressive anagram, the name read now as the manuscript variant 'Metelda', meaning that she leads one to the river Lethe ('ad Letem'), see Ioli (“Con Matelda nel Maryland: a colloquio con Charles Singleton,” Letture classensi 18 [1989]), p. 160.

121 - 123

Matelda did indeed tell Dante the name of this river (Eunoe) at Purgatorio XXVIII.131. As opposed to his forgetting his sins in Lethe he is now forgetting the promise of that good resolution of his plight, so deeply, we may well imagine, has he been stung by Beatrice's accusations.

128 - 135

Only now, and in less than completely clear terms, do we learn about Matelda's function in the garden, which seems to be to serve as 'baptizer' of the souls as they finish their purification, first in Lethe (as she draws Dante through that river at Purg. XXXI.91-102) and finally in Eunoe. There is a dispute as to whether or not Matelda's role in the garden is Dante-specific (which it has been, from all that we have seen, until now) or 'universal' (see the note to Purg. XXVIII.40-42). Indeed, Gianfranco Contini has argued (Un' idea di Dante [Turin: Einaudi, 1976]), p. 174n., that the verb usa (as you are accustomed) in the present tense should be understood as a past definite (già praticasti [as once you used to]) and thus implies that Matelda had such a role in Dante's earlier life. This is a case of interpreting (or indeed revising) the text in order to create or preserve a desired interpretation. Contini's point would be worth considering except for a single, crucial, and indeed determinative final point, Matelda's last words in the poem, which are addressed to Statius (vv. 134-135): 'Now come with him.' Thus, and only at the very last moment, we learn that Matelda's function in the garden is not limited to ministrations on behalf of Dante alone (i.e., she deals either with all the saved souls who come through here or with some of them). (See Filippo Villani's similar view in Bellomo's edition of his commentary to Inf. I [Expositio seu comentum super “Comedia” Dantis Allegherii (Florence: Le Lettere, 1989)], p. 92, n. 90.) To be sure, Dante alone is mentioned as receiving her ministrations at the river Lethe (Purg. XXXI.91-105). From this later passage, however, we are probably forced to consent to the notion that she there presided over Statius's submersion as well as Dante's, a scene that, like much involving Statius's (and Virgil's) presence in the garden, is allowed to disappear from Dante's page. For this view see Singleton (Journey to Beatrice [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967 (1958)]), p. 181, n. 17.

136 - 141

This seventh and last Purgatorial address to the reader opens a new subject that the poet will share with us, the formal requirements of his poem. If he had more space (another few lines? another canto?), he would tell us what Eunoe tasted like. The early commentators think that he means that he has run out of cantos (i.e., he cannot have a thirty-fourth as he did for Inferno). Tozer (comm. to vv. 139-140) was perhaps the first to think that it was the number of verses in each cantica (4720, 4755, 4758 respectively) that Dante refers to. That is a possible hypothesis, except that we note that he had just completed the longest canto in the entire work in the preceding one (XXXII is 160 lines long), and ostensibly thus had available at least fifteen more lines. Thomas Hart (“'Per misurar lo cerchio' [Par. XXXIII 134] and Archimedes' De mensura circuli: Some Thoughts on Approximations to the Value of Pi,” in Dante e la scienza, ed. P. Boyde and V. Russo [Ravenna: Longo, 1995], pp. 265-335) reviews his copious work that would have us believe, among other things, that all the canto lengths of the poem were decided by Dante early on. (For a rejoinder see the note to Inf. VI.28-32.)

Scartazzini (note to v. 139) was the first commentator (in 1900) included in the DDP to report that the poem contained in all 14,233 verses, noting that his predecessor editors, Blanc and Witte, erred when they reported the number of verses in the Commedia. Roberto Benigni has kindly pointed out that the same may be said of Vittorio Sermonti, in his presentation of/ /Inferno (B. Mondadori, 1966, p. xxxiv) and of Emilio Pasquini (comm. Inferno, Garzanti, 1987, p. lxxvii), both of whom unaccountably give the number of verses in the Commedia as 14,223. See the first words of the note to Inf. I.1.

142 - 145

The phrasing, with all its repeated 'ri' sounds, reminiscent of the resurrective surge at the opening of the cantica (Purg. I.18), underlines the reconstituted innocence of this Adamic being. Scartazzini (comm. to verse 144) suggests that here we should hear a resonance of St. Paul (Ephesians 4:23), 'And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.'

That the three cantiche all end with the word stelle (stars) is no longer a surprise. It is important to attempt to imagine the effect of this repetition on a reader who does not know that it is coming, who is suddenly jarred into realizing the pattern, into realizing the shaping force of divine beauty on this poem.