EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 1, 1-6
Darkness gives way to early dawn as Dante and Virgil emerge from the bowels of the Earth, their eyes drawn to the shimmering sky above. Venus trails her light across the constellation Pisces whilst four bright and foreign stars shine over the southern hemisphere. The poets have reached the antipodes of the known world, at the base of a mountain that rises from the sea.
They are on the shores of PURGATORY.
Dante, Virgil, and Cato of Utica at the foot of Mount Purgatory. The four stars shine brightly in the sky. - Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale « Vittorio Emanuele III », XIII.C.1, f. 90r.
The metaphorical boat of poetic craft leaves behind the cruel sea of Hell to chart a course in the calmer waters of Purgatory. - Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 40.3, f. 83r.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 1, 13-18
Dante is awestruck. His eyes traverse the heavens before, absorbing the marvels of Creation, before falling on the outline of a venerable old man with a white beard who is standing beside him. Maintaining a severity befitting the gatekeeper of this place, the man asks the poets wherefore they have come to Purgatory by such an unusual route. Virgil recognizes the man as Cato of Utica, the ancient Roman politician and military leader, and unfolds for him the reason and exceptional character of Dante’s journey.
Ink drawing representing the events of the first cantos of Purgatory and the structure of the mountain. - Florence, Biblioteca Centrale Nazionale, Banco Rari 39, f. 143r.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 1, 40-45
Cato exhorts Dante to cleanse himself of the stains of Hell before beginning his ascent. Virgil leads his charge to the water’s edge and wipes away infernal dust and tears from Dante’s face with morning dew. He then girds Dante’s waist with a reed. It is dawn.
Cato exhorts Dante to cleanse himself of the stains of Hell before beginning his ascent. Virgil leads his charge to the water’s edge and wipes away infernal dust and tears from Dante’s face with morning dew. He then girds Dante’s waist with a reed. It is dawn.
Surprisingly, the first soul Dante and Virgil meet at the base of Mount Purgatory is a pagan man who died by suicide. Cato of Utica, in life, was a fervent defender of Roman republican values and a staunch adversary to Julius Caesar. In 46 BCE, when Caesar’s victory over his opponents became all but assured, Cato opted to commit suicide rather than surrender to Caesar. It is perhaps due to his devotion to freedom -- for which he is nearly a martyr -- that Cato was made guardian of Mount Purgatory.
A boat, light and speedy, appears on the horizon. Skimming the water, it races up to the beach where it runs aground. An angel is at the helm. He blesses each passenger as they disembark, then heads back out to sea.
The newly arrived souls, unsure where to go from here, turn to Dante and Virgil, who are equally uncertain. Dante recognizes one of the souls as his dear friend, Casella; but in rushing forth to embrace him, the poet can only embrace himself: his friend is all spirit, too ethereal to hold. Casella, a singer, chooses to celebrate their happy reunion by lending his voice to one of Dante’s lyrics, Love that speaks within my mind. The sweet melody delights the group, but Cato soon reproaches them for lingering on the shore when they ought to be climbing the mountain. Dante, Virgil, and the newly arrived souls thus begin their ascent.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 2, 28-33
Casella tells Dante that the angelic helmsman boarded his passengers at the mouth of the Tiber, near the seat of the Church of Rome, and guided them across the ocean to the shores of Purgatory. The sea voyage toward salvation is accompanied by song: before disembarking, the souls recite the psalm of liberation, In exitu Isräel de Aegypto.
The angelic helmsman is the mirror image of Charon, who ferries the damned across the Acheron, just as Cato is Purgatory’s counterpart to the infernal judge, Minos. As much in its organization as in the respective roles of its personnel, Purgatory is the inverted image of the chasm of Hell. If the infernal abyss is the eternal and immutable realm of the damned, the purgatorial mount is a transitory space, a way-station rather than a fixed abode. When Cato scolds the group on the beach for lingering to listen to Casella’s song, what he is reproaching is their tardiness, hesitation, and negligence to start moving that have no place in Purgatory.
End of Dante’s canzone entitled Voi che 'ntendendo il terzo ciel movete and beginning of his Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona. - Rime di diversi antichi autori toscani in dieci libri raccolte, Venice, Giovanni Antonio e Fratelli da Sabbio, 1532, p. 38v-39r. McGill Rare Books and Special Collections, PQ4213 A3 1532.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 2, 118-123
The souls of those who died while excommunicated by the Church of Rome proceed with slow and hesitant steps through Ante-Purgatory. Dante and Virgil approach these souls to ask them for directions toward the summit of the mountain. Among them is Manfred, King of Sicily and bastard son of Emperor Frederick II, who asks Dante to bring news of his salvation to his daughter Constance and to ask the young woman to pray for him, as only the prayers of the living can reduce the period of time a soul must serve in penance before leaving Purgatory.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 3, 136-141
As the sun rises, Dante observes his shadow, surprised by the absence of Virgil’s by his side.
His guide informs him that even though souls in the afterlife are visible and can feel the burden of physical suffering, they remain immaterial and thus do not block the sun’s rays. Virgil, just like every other soul in Purgatory, has no shadow. The excommunicated, in turn, recognize in Dante’s shadow the unmistakable sign of a living body.
Dante and Virgil encounter Manfred and the souls of those who died while excommunicated. - La Divina Commedia: novamente illustrata da artisti italiani, Florence, Alinari, 1902-1903, Purgatorio, p. 11. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection générale, PQ 4302 F02 1902.
Following the directions given them by the excommunicated, Dante and Virgil begin to climb the rockface. Reaching a plateau, Virgil reassures his charge that going forward, their ascent to the summit will become continuously easier. A voice interrupts the poet, and Dante recognizes it as Belacqua’s.
In the company of other souls who, like him, repented for their sins only in their final death throes, Belacqua sits in the shade of large boulders. For every year in which he lived in sin, he must spend a year in Ante-Purgatory as he undergoes a contrapasso for his slothfulness.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 4, 85-90
Dante and Virgil converse with Belacqua and the other late repentant souls (engraving by Gustave Doré). - Le Purgatoire de Dante Alighieri avec les dessins de Gustave Doré, Paris, Hachette, 1885, p. 20. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection Étienne-Bartin, BARTIN 4038.
Belacqua explains to Dante that sincere prayers from the living can reduce the time souls must serve in Purgatory before ascending to Paradise. If the penitents seem so interested in Dante, it is because, upon his return to the world of the living, he can bear witness to their presence in Purgatory. Dante thus offers them his services as a messenger, providing the penitents with an opportunity to exhort their still living friends and relatives to pray for them.
Dante and Virgil continue to clamber up the mountain. Reaching a new plateau, they encounter a procession of souls who suffered violent deaths and only reconciled themselves with God on their deathbeds. These souls crowd around Dante, who promises to record their names and their stories.
The poets next speak to a solitary soul to discover which is the best path to continue up the mountain. This soul is Sordello da Goito, a poet from a town not far from Virgil’s native Mantua; finding in Virgil a compatriot, Sordello embraces him. The genuine enthusiasm with which Sordello greets Virgil elicits from Dante a bitter reproach of the divisiveness and discord that tear Italy apart.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 6, 76-84
Excerpt of the speech on Italy and Florence from Purgatory 6. - Cesare Balbo, Vita di Dante, Florence, Le Monnier, 1853, p. 183. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection générale, 851.15 B173v.
Frontispiece of the first book on the Comedy written by Ugo Foscolo (poet represented in the engraving). Preface by Giuseppe Mazzini. - La Commedia di Dante Allighieri illustrata da Ugo Foscolo, vol. 1, London, Rolandi, 1842. McGill Rare Books and Special Collections, OCTAVO-8674.
Dante retells the stories of three of the many souls who accost him amongst those who died violently. The first is of Jacopo del Cassero, an ally of Florence who fought with Dante at the Battle of Campaldino in 1288. The second is of Bonconte da Montefeltro, son of Count Guido who is punished amongst the false counselors in Hell. The third is of Pia of Siena, who was murdered by her husband and is the first female soul to speak with Dante in Purgatory.
Standing apart from the crowd surrounding Dante and Virgil is Sordello, who looks on alone from a distance, haughty and disdainful. He accompanies the two poets a short way, explaining to the travelers that negligent souls such as him must wait before entering Purgatory proper; in the meantime, they are free to wander around Ante-Purgatory. Sordello further informs them that they will not be able to continue their climb between dusk and dawn, when the path to salvation is not lit by divine Grace. At nightfall, they will thus need to pause and wait for sunrise.
Poster designed by Costantino Giovanni to advertise the “victory bonds” through which Italy funded its military efforts in World War I. - Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, Collection d’affiches de guerre.
Sordello leads Dante and Virgil to a flower-filled valley carved out of the side of the mountain. Here the rulers who neglected their duties to God because they were too busy governing their dominions await their time to enter Purgatory-proper.
In the drawings in the bottom margin, Sordello leads Dante and Virgil to the Valley of Negligent Rulers where they witness the angels’ nightly battle with the serpent. - Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale « Vittorio Emanuele III », XIII.C.4, f. 31v-32r.
At sunset, the souls of the negligent rulers unite in a chorus of liturgical singing. Three stars brighten the night sky as if it were day as a serpent makes a sudden appearance in the valley, only to be chased away by two angels bearing flaming swords. This scene, an allegory of Good triumphing over Evil, is re-enacted every evening. Night falls, and Dante falls asleep.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 8, 100-105
In the valley, Sordello draws Dante’s attention to the souls of many rulers of the later thirteenth century. Among them, the poets stop to speak with Nino Visconti, noble judge of Gallura and Podestà of Pisa, and Corrado Malaspina. Dante sings the praises of the Malaspina family, underlining their military virtue and generosity. Corrado prophesies that, in a few years, his family’s liberal ways will be of personal benefit to Dante. The souls of Purgatory being graced with the knowledge of future events, Corrado foretells that Dante will be exiled from Florence and that he will live out some of that exile in the Malaspina household.
Purgatory 7 and the beginning of Purgatory 8, with a handwritten note that reads, "exquisite opening, says Macaulay". - Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, London, Routledge, 1867, p. 270-271. McGill Rare Books and Special Collections, PQ4315 L7 1867.
The sleeping Dante dreams that he is hoisted into the skies by a majestic golden eagle. Upon reaching the Sphere of fire, both he and the eagle are engulfed in flame. The vision awakens Dante, who finds himself safe and sound by Virgil’s side. Virgil informs Dante that Saint Lucy in fact descended from Heaven shortly after dawn to transport Dante higher up the mountain, thus helping him reach the next step in his journey more expediently.
In the historiated initial D that opens Purgatory IX, Dante and Virgil stand before the door to Purgatory and its guardian angel. - Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Banco Rari 39, f. 182v.
The two poets continue on their way and soon arrive at the Door to Purgatory. An angel, seated with a sword in hand, guards the threshold.
The angel grants the poets permission to cross into Purgatory-proper and invites them to climb the three steps leading to the door. He then carves seven ‘P’s upon Dante’s forehead with his sword, one for each peccatum(sin) that is purged on the mountain. Without so much as a backward glance, Dante and Virgil enter Purgatory.
EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 9, 109-114
From the very beginning, Saint Lucy has played an active role in Dante’s journey: it is she who, in Heaven, begged the Virgin Mary to alert Beatrice that Dante was in peril. Thanks to this intervention, Beatrice descended to Limbo and requested Virgil’s help to save Dante, who was lost in the Dark Wood. In Purgatory, Saint Lucy carries the sleeping poet up to the entrance to Purgatory proper, thus helping him ascend the mountain more quickly. Her help, both physical and symbolic, turns Lucy into an allegory for divine Grace.
The Door to Purgatory separates the negligent in Ante-Purgatory from the seven terraces of Purgatory proper. Dante and Virgil’s passage across this threshold resembles a liturgical penance ritual.
The guardian angel questions Virgil on the motives of the poets’ journey and consents to their passage through the Door. The poets climb three steps on their way to the Door: the first is of marble so white it reflects Dante perfectly; the second of cracked black stone; and the third of red porphyry. Each step corresponds to one part of the sacrament: contrition, confession, and penance. Dante thrice strikes his breast, then kneels and begs for forgiveness. The angel carves seven ‘P’s on his forehead, then takes the two keys Saint Peter had given him, one silver and one gold, and opens the heavy door that seems to be made of diamond.
The angel warns the poets that they must not turn back: the saved soul must instead proceed dauntlessly on the divine journey towards Paradise.