Purgatorio (113 page)
Authors: Dante
4–6.
Dante has rarely portrayed his protagonist as being beset by so many distractions. He desperately wants to understand the meaning both of the earthquake and of the song accompanying it; he and Virgil are trying to move ahead as quickly as possible, picking their way among the clutter of the penitents; he continues to feel a sense of grief at their punishment, despite its obvious rightness.
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7–9.
Announced with its solemn biblical stylistic flourish (
Ed ecco
[And lo]), the reminiscence of Luke 24:13–16 (a passage that begins “Et ecce”) reminds the reader of two of Christ’s disciples (Dante’s first commentators at times incorrectly identify them as James and John; it is clear that one of the two is named Cleopas [24:18], while the other is perhaps his wife [24:29], in which case she may well have been known as Mary [John 19:25]), walking on the road to Emmaus when Christ joined them and walked with them, unrecognized.
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10–14.
Statius’s unmistakable resemblance to Christ risen, his figural relation to Jesus, makes him, technically, not a “figure” of Christ but a “fulfillment” of Him, which is theologically awkward. Hollander (Holl.1969.1), pp. 67–70, argues for the technical reference of the word
ombra
(shade) here, grounded in the language of the Christian interpretation of Scripture, discovered, indeed, in this very chapter of Luke’s gospel (24:27), when Jesus teaches his disciples the figural method of understanding the Old Testament. (See the section on allegory in the introduction to
Inferno
. And see Heilbronn [Heil.1977.1], p. 58, for a completely similar view.)
Statius’s first words join him to the tradition of fraternal purgatorial greeting on the part of the penitents we have so far heard addressing Dante: Belacqua (
Purg
. IV.127); Oderisi (
Purg
. XI.82); Sapia (
Purg
. XIII.94); Marco (
Purg
. XVI.65); Adrian (
Purg
. XIX.133). See notes to
Purg
. IV.127 and
Purg
. XIX.133.
For the source of Statius’s greeting, see the words of Christ to his apostles, the second scene of his resurrected life on earth in Luke’s gospel (Luke 24:36): “Pax vobis: ego sum, nolite timere” (Peace unto you: I am, have no fear). In the next verse of Luke the apostles indeed do show fear; and we may remember how fearful Dante was when the earth shook beneath him at the end of the last canto (vv. 128–129; 135).
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14–15.
The nature of the
cenno
(sign) made in response by Virgil has long puzzled the commentators. We can say one thing with something like certainty: Virgil’s gesture is not a spoken one, since he makes some sort of gesture and
then
begins to speak (verse 16). Many early and some later commentators have liked the idea that in response Virgil said “et cum spiritu tuo” (and with your spirit as well), a liturgical reply. Yet it surely seems impossible that Dante would have first presented Virgil as speaking and then immediately afterwards as
beginning to speak
. And so it is clearly preferable to understand that Virgil made some sort of physical gesture. (For clear examples of facial gestures as
cenni
in this very canto, see verse 104, Virgil’s look that calls for silence, and verse 109, Dante’s smile that is a hint.)
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16–18.
Virgil’s wish for Statius is touching, in part because it has been accomplished, since Statius is already substantially one of the blessed, only awaiting a change in his accidental state, which will be accomplished in less than a day. While the poem does not show him there, its givens make it plain that, had Dante chosen to do so, Statius could have been observed seated in the rose in
Paradiso
XXXII; he is there by the time Dante ascends into the heavens at the beginning of the next
cantica
, or so we may assume.
Virgil’s insistence on his own eternal home is a moving reminder of his tragic situation in this comic poem. Statius’s salvation comes closer than anyone else’s in showing how near Virgil himself came to eternal blessedness, as the next canto will make clear. And, once we learn (
Purg
. XXII.67–73) that it was Virgil who was responsible, by means of his fourth
Eclogue
, for the conversion of Statius, we consider these lines with a still more troubled heart.
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19–21.
For Statius’s miscomprehension of Dante’s condition, see the note to the next tercet. The physical reason for it is that, because the travelers are out of the sun’s rays on the far side of the mountain, Dante’s body casts no revealing shadow, and Statius takes Virgil’s confession of his own plight to apply to both of these “shades.”
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22–24.
Virgil’s remarks suggest to Statius that the (remaining three) P’s on Dante’s forehead indicate a special status, namely that he is bound for Glory—just as is Statius. But did Statius have these marks incised on
his
forehead? Had he, they would now all be erased but for this last, which would probably disappear, along with Dante’s, before the beginning of the next canto (see
Purg
. XXII.3, where we learn the angel has wiped Dante’s fifth P from his brow). He would have spent, we will be able to compute from information gleaned from verse 68 and from
Purgatorio
XXII.92–93, as many as 300 years in ante-purgatory and/or on some or all of the first three terraces, since it is 1,204 years since his death in the year 96 and he has had to remain over 400 years on the fourth terrace and over 500 on this one. Thus, had he borne signs on his forehead, these would originally have been as many as five and as few as two. However, there is no reason to believe that he, or any other penitent not here in the flesh, has had his brow incised with P’s. (See the note to
Purg
. IX.112.) For other reasons to believe that only Dante is incised, see Hollander (Holl.2002.1); for an opposing view see Fosca (Fosc.2002.2).
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25–30.
The circumlocution describes Lachesis, the second of the three Fates of classical mythology. “At the birth of every mortal, Clotho, the spinning fate, was supposed to wind upon the distaff of Lachesis, the alotting fate, a certain amount of yarn; the duration of the life of the individual being the length of time occupied in spinning the thread, which, when complete, was severed by Atropos, the inevitable fate”
(T)
. For Atropos, see
Inferno
XXXIII.126. This is Virgil’s long-winded way of saying that Dante was still in the body when he was summoned to guide him through the afterworld. For Dante’s likely dependence upon Statius for the names of the three Fates see Ettore Paratore, “Stazio,”
ED
V (1976), pp. 422b–423a.
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33.
What exactly Virgil means by his
scola
(teaching of Dante) has been a matter of some debate, featuring predictable allegorizations, e.g., Virgil as reason, Statius as moral philosophy, Beatrice as theology. None of these has the merit of being immediately (or eventually?) convincing. The last time we have heard the word was at
Inferno
IV.94, where the poet referred to the group of poets
(la bella scola)
headed by Homer, and perhaps, “reading Dante by Dante,” we should keep this simplest explanation in clear view. Virgil, informed by all that a pagan poet can know, will guide Dante as best he can. Once we reach the question of the nature of the human soul, in Canto XXV, he will give way to Statius, who, as a Christian, understands things about the nature of the human soul’s relationship to divinity of which Virgil is simply ignorant. There is no reason to believe, one might add, that Beatrice could not have instructed Dante about this question, or that Statius could not have told him anything that Beatrice will reveal in
Paradiso
. All saved Christians, in this poem, are capable of knowing all things in God. The rewards of Heaven are not only affective, but intellectual.
We should also be aware of Beatrice’s use of the same word,
scola
, in
Purgatorio
XXXIII.85 to denigrate Dante’s own nearly disastrous adventures in what she seems to consider his overbold philosophizing.
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34–39.
At last Virgil asks Statius the two questions that have so vexed Dante; for a third time the importance of the salvation of Statius is underlined. See notes to
Purgatorio
XX.145–151 and to vv. 4–6 of this canto.
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40–60.
Statius first establishes the meteorology of the mountain. There is no “weather” encountered above the upper limit of ante-purgatory, but below that limit there is. Up here the only celestial force having any effect is the direct influence of the heavens.
Thaumas’s daughter is Iris, for classical poets the personification of the rainbow, appearing variously above the earth and not in one fixed place.
The wind hidden inside the earth (verse 56, first referred to as “dry vapor” in verse 52) refers to what Dante, in keeping with one medieval view (see
Inf
. III.130–136), believed to be the cause of earthquakes. Statius’s point is that there are no natural earthquakes on the upper reaches of the mountain, but that there are “supernatural” ones. This one, accompanying the completion of Statius’s penance and marking his liberation from sin, may remind us of the earthquake that greeted Dante’s “supernatural” descent into the underworld at the conclusion of
Inferno
III, itself perhaps also meant to remind the reader of the earthquake at the Crucifixion (referred to at some length by Virgil in
Inf
. XII.31–45). These three earthquakes, all caused by Christ-centered spiritual events, would clearly seem to be related.
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61–66.
The self-judging quality of the penitents is here made plain. We saw the same phenomenon among the damned in the confessions that they offered to Minos (see note to
Inf
. V.8).
Words for “will” and “willing” occur five times in nine lines (61–69), the densest block of
volere
and
volontà
found in the poem. In
Paradiso
III the examples of Piccarda and Costanza will afford the opportunity to study the divergence between the absolute will, always striving toward the good, and the conditional (i.e., “conditioned”) will, which, when guided by desires for lesser goods, chooses unwisely. Here Dante plays the changes on that basic understanding of the will’s role. In purgatory the conditional will does not elect the lesser good, but instead desires to repent its former movement in that direction. This is a “rule” of purgatory that has no precedent in Christian lore, since Dante’s purgatory is so much his own invention; nonetheless, it makes intuitive sense. It is thus that the poet suggests that his reader understand why a penitent, while naturally desiring to cease the act of penance, simultaneously feels a still stronger and countering desire to complete it, as is made clear here.
For a soul to “change its convent,” in this context, means for it to move from purgatory to paradise.
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67–72.
His use of the first person here is the first instance of an autobiographical bent on the speaker’s part, but his self-identification still awaits. He only now formally concludes his response to Dante’s insistent and paired questions, first alluded to in the last canto (XX.145–151); in a gesture typical of purgatorial brotherhood, his next thought is for his fellow penitents (cf. Virgil’s similar wish at vv. 16–18). (For Statius’s various sins and the time spent purging them on the mountain, see notes to vv. 22–24 and to
Purg
. XXII.92–93.)
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73–75.
After telling us three times how eagerly he wanted to know more about these strange signs on the mountain (see note to vv. 34–39), the poet now once again underlines their importance. The singular importance of the salvation of Statius is insisted on in such a way as to let us understand that what matters is not only the importance of the finishing of purgation for any soul, but Statius’s astounding role in Dante’s poem, which will gradually become more clear as the two cantos devoted to him continue to unfold their mysteries.
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78.
Tommaseo (1837) rightly suggests that
congaudere
(rejoice) is a biblical word; further precision was offered by Campi (1888), citing I Corinthians 12:26: “sive gloriatur unum membrum, congaudent omnia membra” (if a single member glories, then all members rejoice along with it). St. Paul is developing the analogy between parts of the human body and the individual members of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.
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