felix hominum

Lenten series: Dante's Purgatorio; pt 2: on the shores of Mt Purgatory

"The subject of the work", wrote Dante in his letter to Can Grande del Scala, "if taken literally, is the state of the souls after death; but if taken allegorically, its subject is how man by the exercise of his free will justly merits reward or punishment."  Here at the beginning of the Purgatorio, the two poets (Dante and Virgil) have emerged from the Inferno, where each punishment was simply an expression of the sinful self-will of the one condemned.  The road which is before them is one of purgation of the will - of turning the will away from the slavery to habit and sin, and introducing it to true freedom. 

At the beginning of their journey they meet Cato, the guardian of Purgatory, so to speak.  Virgil assents to Cato's demand for information:  how did these two escape from Hell and come to these shores?

"Not on my behalf
have I come here; a lady sent from Heaven
asked me to guide this man along his way.

But since it is your will that we reveal
the circumstances of our presence here,
how can my will deny yours what it asks?" (I.52 ff)

It is worth noting the contrast with the Inferno:  rather than "self will" we have the desire to put the will of another first.  It is only by grace (the lady sent from Heaven) that Dante has emerged from knowledge of sin to this place of repentance and purification.  One of the great themes of purgatory is freedom;  only the soul which is purged of sin is truly free.  The human will (contrary to what we may think) is actually in bondage.  A life of merely "doing what I want" results in less, not more, freedom.  And so we have the figure of Cato, Roman statesman, whom Virgil addresses with this theme:

May it please you to welcome him - he goes
in search of freedom, and how dear that is,
the man who gives up life for it well knows.

You know, you found death sweet in Utica
for freedom's sake; there you put off that robe
which will be radiant on the Great Day  (I.70 ff)

The images in this canto are of light and the colour of a new dawn.  In Dante's elaborate system of astronomy, it is to be understood that the day is April 10 - the dawn of Easter day.  The canto gives us a picture of the "tender tint of orient sapphire" (as the sky lightens) and we are told that "the rising sun will show you where to climb" (108). 

lenten series: Dante's Purgatorio; pt 1

   Per correr miglior acque alza le vele                        1    To run its course through smoother water
                            
omai la navicella del mio ingegno,                              2    the small bark of my wit now hoists its sail,
                             
che lascia dietro a sé mar sì crudele;                          3    leaving that cruel sea behind.
                             
    e canterò di quel secondo regno                             4    Now I shall sing the second kingdom,
                             
dove l'umano spirito si purga                                      5    there where the soul of man is cleansed,
                             
e di salire al ciel diventa degno.                                  6    made worthy to ascend to Heaven.
                            
    Ma qui la morta poesì resurga,                                7    Here from the dead let poetry rise up,
                             
o sante Muse, poi che vostro sono;                             8    O sacred Muses, since I am yours.
                             
e qui Calïopè alquanto surga,                                      9    Here let Calliope arise
                             
    seguitando il mio canto con quel suono                  10    to accompany my song with those same chords
                             
di cui le Piche misere sentiro                                      11    whose force so struck the miserable magpies    

lo colpo tal, che disperar perdono.                             12    that, hearing it, they lost all hope of pardon.

"The joys of heaven are for most of us, in our present condition, an acquired taste" C.S. Lewis.

Lewis, I think, sums up what may be the essence of Dante's vision of "purgatory".  When we left Dante last spring, he had just finished his course through the Inferno and was emerging again from the underworld.  This year's lenten blogging text will be Dante's Purgatorio.  Over the next 6 weeks we will join him in the next stage of his pilgrimage, through this "second kingdom" - the ascent of Mount Purgatory.  Out goal is one with Dante himself in the poem - to be "made worthy to ascend to Heaven".  To that end, I propose that we follow much the same course as we did with the Inferno:  to read the poem as a spiritual guide and commentary on the life of the soul.  And as Lent is a season of self-examination, I plan to use the poem as a guide in reflecting upon sin and grace, hope and holiness, ascent and pilgrimage.  So eat up your Shrove Tuesday pancakes, & prepare to be purged of gluttony!

As is my wont, I will mostly be reading along with the poet.  Secondary works will be invoked from time to time, but the great writers are meant to be read.  And no, my Italian is not that good, so we will be sticking with English.  The above is from the Princeton Dante Project (an invaluable resource).  There are several English translations available (I haven't decided which one to use, but will probably end up with the Penguin, as it is most easily available for those who wish to read along with me.

So do not give up "all hope of pardon", we have left the "cruel sea" of the Inferno behind us.  And let us begin the "light burden" of Lent.