At the top of the mountain of Purgatory, in the dashing forest of the Earthly Paradise, Dante imagines two rivers: Lethe and Eunoe.
These rivers mark the last phase of the process of atonement and perfection of souls before they ascend to heavenly Paradise. In his poetic invention, Dante moves away from the biblical tradition according to which the hydrography of the Earthly Paradise is composed of four rivers: Fison, Gehon, Tigris, and Euphrates (Gen. 2, 10-14). These are substituted by the Lethe (from Greek λητή, “forget”) whose function recalls the river of the classical Avernus (particularly as Virgil represents it in the Aeneid VI, 705-749), and by the Eunoe, unknown to the tradition, whose name is composed of the first syllable of “Euphrates” and the last word of the Greek locution “εὐ - νούς” (“memory of the good” or “good spirit”).
In the Earthly Paradise, Matelda explains the nature and the origin of these rivers to Dante. Previously, Statius (Purg. 21, 43 ff.) taught him that the mountain of Purgatory is exempt from meteorological phenomena. Consequently, the current remains stable and constant, regulated by the will of God (Purg. 28, 123-125). The poet is thus surprised to hear the rustling of leaves, as if they were rocked by the wind, and to see a stream of clear water flowing, as if it could be affected by rain and evaporation (Purg. 27, 85-87). The sound of the forest, Matelda explains, is generated by the circular movement of the skies that moves the tops of the trees (103-108); and the water that flows into the two rivers of the Earthly Paradise flows from a divine source.
The waters of Lethe provide, to those who bathe there, the forgetting of evil; those of Eunoe, on the other hand, revive the memory of the good achieved during one’s lifetime (Purg. 28, 25-33; 85-87; 121-133; 31, 94-102; 33, 112-145). The properties of the latter river act only after those of the former have produced their effect (“but its water has no effect / until they both are tasted,” Purg. 28, 131-132), for one can only enjoy the reminiscences of good once the memory and remorse of evil have been erased.
After having been immersed in Lethe by Matelda, Dante does not remember the errors which he committed in the past and which are reproached to him by Beatrice; he also seems to have forgotten Matelda’s presentation on the physics of the Earthly Paradise as he marvels at the sight of two streams rising from the same source to “like friends, slowly part from one another,” (Purg. 33, 114). Beatrice invites him to inquire with Matelda, who reminds him that she had already explained it to him (121).
Beatrice exempts Dante from this momentary forgetfulness, caused by the intensity and the heaviness of the last experiences. She then invites Matelda to guide him towards Eunoe, so that she can “revive the powers that are dead in him” (129). The poet tastes the water of this river, which is so sweet that it could never satisfy him. He would like to describe “the sweetness / of the drink” (138), but the space dedicated to the second hymn does not allow it. He therefore limits himself from expressing that he has emerged regenerated from the most holy river, “as are new plants / renewed with new-spring leaves, / pure and prepared to rise up to the stars” (143-145).
Consult the entry of the Enciclopedia Dantesca in Italian.
Entry taken from the Enciclopedia Dantesca published by the Istituto Treccani — Texts revised by the Centre d’études médiévales of the Université de Montréal.
Editing: Gabrielle Hamelin, Martyna Kander.
English translation: Brittany Buscio.