Purgatorio
Purgatorio is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and preceding the Paradiso; it was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegorical telling of the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil—except for the last four cantos, at which point Beatrice takes over as Dante's guide. Allegorically, Purgatorio represents the penitent Christian life. In describing the climb Dante discusses the nature of sin, examples of vice and virtue, as well as moral issues in politics and in the Church. The poem posits the theory that all sins arise from love—either perverted love directed towards others' harm, or deficient love, or the disordered or excessive love of good things.
Overview of Purgatory
Dante portrays Purgatory as an island-mountain in the Southern Hemisphere. This realm is divided into three parts. The bottom slopes of Mount Purgatory have been designated as "Ante-Purgatory" by commentators. Purgatory proper consists of seven levels or terraces of suffering and spiritual growth, associated with the seven deadly sins. Finally, the Earthly Paradise is located at the top of the mountain.Passage of time
As described in the Inferno, the first twenty-four hours of Dante's journey took place on earth and started on the evening of Maundy Thursday, 24 March 1300, and the next full day was spent exploring the depths of Hell with Virgil as a guide. Dante and Virgil spent the next day ascending from Hell to see the stars. They arrive at the shore of the Mountain of Purgatory—the only land in the Southern Hemisphere—at 6 am on Easter Sunday, which is 6 pm on Sunday in Jerusalem, since the two points are antipodal. Dante describes Hell as existing underneath Jerusalem, having been created by the impact of Lucifer's fall; the Mountain of Purgatory was created by a displacement of rock caused by the same event. The Purgatorio picks up where the Inferno left off, describing Dante's three-and-one-quarter-day trip up the mountain that ends with Dante in the Earthly Paradise at the time of noon on Wednesday, 30 March.Prayer
Prayer is a dominant theme in Purgatorio. Many of the souls Dante meets are depicted in prayer, with multiple liturgical references to psalms and hymns throughout the terraces. Prayers by the living on behalf of the souls also play a large role in the cantica, with some souls the pilgrim meets along the way requesting prayers from living relatives and even from the pilgrim himself. Dante learns from Manfred of Sicily in Ante-Purgatory that, in Purgatory, prayers from others work by shortening the wait that souls have to endure before entering Purgatory proper and by accelerating the rate at which souls ascend Mount Purgatory. One soul, Forese Donati, has gotten through Ante-Purgatory and the majority of the terraces only five years after his death, because of the prayers of his wife, Nella, on Earth. Forese's case, especially when compared to that of Statius, who has spent over 500 years on Mount Purgatory, shows the power of prayer to aid souls after death. Dante receives eleven distinct requests for prayer from individual souls in Purgatory, with most of the requests coming from souls in Ante-Purgatory and with the frequency of requests decreasing as he progresses through Purgatory.Ante-Purgatory
Ante-Purgatory is the region below the entrance into Purgatory proper and houses two main categories of souls whose penitent Christian life was delayed or deficient: the excommunicate and the late-repentant. This transitional space parallels similar sections found in the Inferno and in the Paradiso.This region is therefore characterised by a lingering attachment to earthly life and affairs, so that the crowds of souls whom Dante and Virgil meet here all marvel at Dante's body in the flesh. As Statius will later explain, Ante-Purgatory is also the only area of Mount Purgatory that is subjected to terrestrial meteorology.
Shore of the island (Cantos I–II)
In Purgatorio I.4–9, with the sun rising on Easter Sunday, Dante announces his intention to describe Purgatory by invoking the mythical Muses, as he did in Canto II of the Inferno:
Now I shall sing the second kingdom
there where the soul of man is cleansed,
made worthy to ascend to Heaven.
Here from the dead let poetry rise up,
O sacred Muses, since I am yours.
Here let Calliope arise...
At the shores of Purgatory, Dante and Virgil meet Cato, a pagan who was placed by God as the general guardian of the approach to the mountain. The Purgatorio demonstrates the medieval knowledge of a spherical Earth, with Dante referencing the different stars visible in the Southern Hemisphere, the altered position of the sun, and the various time zones of the Earth. For instance, at the start of Canto II, the reader learns that it is dawn in Purgatory; Dante conveys this concept by explaining that it is sunset at Jerusalem, midnight over India on the River Ganges, and noon over Spain. The journey is conceived as taking place during the vernal equinox, when the days and nights are of the same length.
By now the sun was crossing the horizon
of the meridian whose highest point
covers Jerusalem; and from the Ganges,
night, circling opposite the sun, was moving
together with the Scales that, when the length
of dark defeats the day, desert night's hands;
so that, above the shore that I had reached,
the fair Aurora's white and scarlet cheeks
were, as Aurora aged, becoming orange.
In marked contrast to Charon's ferry across the Acheron in the Inferno, Christian souls are escorted by an angel pilot from their gathering place somewhere near Ostia, the seaport of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber, through the Pillars of Hercules across the seas to the Mountain of Purgatory. The souls arrive singing In exitu Israel de Aegypto. In his Letter to Cangrande, Dante explains that this reference to Israel leaving Egypt refers both to the redemption of Christ and to "the conversion of the soul from the sorrow and misery of sin to the state of grace". Dante recognises his friend Casella among the souls there.
The Excommunicate
The poets begin to climb in the early hours of morning. On the lower slopes, Dante and Virgil first encounter the excommunicate, who are detained at the base of the cliff for a period thirty times as long as their period of contumacy. The excommunicate include Manfred of Sicily. Manfred explains that prayer from those currently alive and in the grace of God may reduce the amount of time a soul spends in purgatory. The meeting with Manfred is over by about 9 AM..The Late-Repentant
The Late-Repentant include those too lazy or too preoccupied to repent, those who repented at the last minute without formally receiving last rites, as a result of violent deaths, and the Negligent Rulers. These souls will be admitted to Purgatory thanks to their genuine repentance, but must wait outside for an amount of time equal to their lives on earth. The lazy include Belacqua, whom Dante is relieved to discover here, rather than in Hell. The meeting with Belacqua is over by noon.Those not receiving last rites include Pia de' Tolomei of Siena, who was murdered by her husband, Nello della Pietra of the Maremma :
"may you remember me, who am La Pia;
Siena made, Maremma unmade me:
he who, when we were wed, gave me his pledge
and then, as nuptial ring, his gem, knows that".
Also in this category is the troubadour Sordello who, like Virgil, is from Mantua. When Sordello discovers the great poet's identity, he bows down to him in honour. This helps keep Virgil in the foreground of the poem, since Virgil is less qualified as a guide here than he was in Hell. As a resident of Purgatory, Sordello is able to explain the Rule of the Mountain: that after sunset souls are incapable of climbing any further. Allegorically, the sun represents God, meaning that progress in the penitent Christian life can only be made through Divine Grace. Virgil's conversation with Sordello ends as the sun is moving downward, that is, after 3 PM.
It is sunset, so Dante and his companions stop for the night in the beautiful Valley of the Princes where they meet persons whose preoccupation with public and private duties hampered their spiritual progress, particularly deceased monarchs such as Rudolph, Ottokar, Philip the Bold, and Henry III. John Ciardi writes that these Negligent Rulers are "elevated above their negligent subjects because their special duties made it difficult for them to think about the welfare of their own souls". Dante also speaks with the souls of contemporary Italian statesmen Currado Malaspina and Nino Visconti, the latter being a personal friend whom Dante rejoices at not having found among the damned.
As night approaches, the souls sing the Compline hymns Salve Regina and Te lucis ante terminum. Dante's beautiful description of evening in this valley was the inspiration for a similar passage in Byron's Don Juan:
| Purgatorio, Canto VIII, 1–6 | Don Juan, Canto 3, CVIII, 1–6 |
| 'twas now the hour that turneth back desire In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart, The day they've said to their sweet friends farewell, And the new pilgrim penetrates with love, If he doth hear from far away a bell That seemeth to deplore the dying day, | Soft hour! which wakes the wish and melts the heart Of those who sail the seas, on the first day When they from their sweet friends are torn apart; Or fills with love the pilgrim on his way As the far bell of vesper makes him start, Seeming to weep the dying day's decay; |
Dante falls asleep at 8:30 PM; his dream takes place just before the dawn of Easter Monday, one where a golden eagle sweeps him up into the sky. Awakening just after 8 AM, Dante finds that he has been carried up to the gate of Purgatory proper. Here there are three steps, representative of the tripartite Sacrament of Penance. The first is of white marble so polished it is reflective like a mirror, representing a candid, self-reflective confession and purity of the penitent's true self. The next step is dark and cracked, representing the sorrow and broken-heartedness of contrition. It has also been noted that the dark colour is the colour of mourning and the crack is in the shape of a Christian cross. The last step is blood red, symbolising the burning Love that ends a good confession, the blood of Christ, and the restoration of true life..
The gate of Purgatory, Peter's Gate, is guarded by an angel bearing a naked sword, his countenance too bright for Dante's sight to sustain. In reply to the angel's challenge, Virgil declares that a lady by the name of Lucia brought them there and directed them to the gate. On Virgil's advice, Dante mounts the steps and pleads humbly for admission by the angel, who uses the point of his sword to draw the letter "P" seven times on Dante's forehead, bidding him "take heed that thou wash / These wounds, when thou shalt be within." With the passage of each terrace and the corresponding purgation of his soul that the pilgrim receives, one of the "P"s will be erased by the angel granting passage to the next terrace. The angel at Peter's Gate uses two keys, silver and gold, to open the gate - both are necessary for redemption and salvation. As the poets are about to enter, they are warned not to look back.