The avaricious and prodigal lie prostrate, their faces turned to the ground, their hands and feet bound. They confess the respective sins for which they are punished and the virtues for which they are rewarded.

Among these souls, Dante meets Pope Adrian V and Hugh Capet, ancestor of the French royal dynasty. Hugh launches an invective against his descendants.

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Purgatory 20, Hugh Capet’s speech. - Commedia di Dante Allighieri con ragionamenti e note di Niccolò Tommaséo, Milan, Pagnoni, 1869, t. 2, p. 276-277. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèques des livres rares et collections spéciales, PQ4302 E69 T661 1869.

We had already left him there behind us
and strove to pick our way
as nimbly as the narrow path allowed,
when I felt the mountain tremble
as though it might collapse, and a chill,
like the chill of death, subdued me.

EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 20, 124-129

An earthquake rattles Mount Purgatory, and the penitent shout a prayer of glory to Heaven: this is the sign that a soul has completely purged itself of sin and may now ascend to Paradise.

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Dante and Virgil with Statius. - Commedia di Dante Allighieri con ragionamenti e note di Niccolò Tommaséo, Milan, Pagnoni, 1869, t. 2, p. 320. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèques des livres rares et collections spéciales, PQ4302 E69 T661 1869.

This newly purified soul approaches the two poets, introducing himself as Publius Papinius Statius, Latin poet and author of the Thebaidand  Achilleid. Statius recounts his origins and his great admiration for Virgil and his works. Dante then reveals to Statius that Virgil is right before him, to Statius’ immeasurable joy.

The three poets head toward the staircase to the sixth terrace together; the angel of justice shows them the way and erases one more 'P' from Dante’s forehead.

Statius is an ancient Roman poet who lived after Virgil and knew the Aeneid well. Like Virgil’s poetry, Statius’ works are part of the medieval literary canon: Dante knows and has studied them.

According to tradition, Statius is not a Christian; Dante, however, presents him as an assiduous reader of Virgil, and of Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue in particular. In the eclogue, Virgil prophesies the birth of a child who will renew the world. Medieval interpretations of the poem read the prophecy as a reference to the birth of Christ. In Dante’s Comedy, Statius credits Virgil and his eclogue for his secret conversion to Christianity: it was from Virgil’s verse that he chose to undergo baptism, and thus due to Virgil that he is now saved. That is why he is in Purgatory, and why he will soon join the blessed in Paradise. The entire “autobiographical” explanation was invented by Dante.

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In John Flaxman’s line drawing, Dante walks a step behind Statius and Virgil, who are deep in conversation. - The Vision or Hell, Purgatory and Paradise of Dante Alighieri, London, New York, Oxford University Press, 1910, p. 194. Université de Montréal, Bibliothèque des livres rares et collections spéciales, PQ 4315 C332.

'Lower down, perhaps, it trembles more or less,
but from the wind concealed in earth
it has never, I know not why, trembled here above.
'Here it trembles when a soul feels it is pure,
ready to rise, to set out on its ascent,
and next there follows that great cry.
Of its purity the will alone gives proof,
and the soul, wholly free to change its convent,
is taken by surprise and allows the will its way.'

EXCERPT OF THE COMEDY: Pg. 21, 55-63

Sixth Terrace
Up to the sixth terrace