Dante’s Purgatorio: The Cantos

Canto I. Prologue.

At the foot of the mountain.
“To travel over better waters,
the little bark of my wit now lifts her sails.”
Poetry; the poet;
Our journey and his journey..
A new mood; new light; new music.

Canto II. The Ship of Souls.

Casella’s song of love.
The ship coming up the Tiber.
The souls like doves.

Canto III. The Excommunicants.

Dante’s shadow;
Virgil’s shadow. Where is it?
Manfred, would-be Emperor (line 112).
Dante being rather generous to Manfred.

Canto IV. Begin the Ascent.

Belacqua who was slothful.
Slow to pursue his own salvation.
Indolence and laziness the mood.

Canto V. Penitents at Last Hour.

Those who waited to the last possible minute.
Buonconte talks of Tuscany.
The Battle of Campaldino.

Canto VI. The Power of Intercession.

Dante’s encounter with Sordello.
Sordello’s impassioned lament over the conditions of Italy.
“Italy enslaved; house of misery; ship without a pilot.”(line 76)

Canto VII. The Valley of the Princes

Greetings of Virgil and Sordello.
Meeting with the princes.

Canto VIII. The Guardian Angels

Nino Visconti and Conrad Malaspina.

Canto IX. The Gate of Purgatory.

Dante approaches the Gate. Three steps.
The seven p’s on his brow.
Peter and the Church and Purgatory.

Canto X. The First Terrace of Purgatory.

Here we begin Purgatory proper.
Here begins cure of roots of sin.
(vs the sins themselves in Inferno)

Canto XI. The First Terrace: Pride

Examples of pride: the Oderisi.
NOTE: Line 94+ interesting in their reference to the painters of the day. “In painting Cimabue thought to hold the field and now Giotto has the cry.”

Canto XII. The First Terrace: Pride

Examples of pride: Saul, Holofernes.
The Ashes of Troy (line 61).

Canto XIII. The Second Terrace: Envy

Examples of kindness.
Sapia (line 109).

Canto XIV. The Second Terrace: Envy

Line 16: The Arno. Rises in Falterona.
Lines 40+: Casentino, Arezzo, Florence.
Guido del Duca.

Canto XV. The Third Terrace: Anger

The purgation of blinding anger.
The angel of mercy.

Canto XVI. Third Terrace: Anger

Marco Lombardo
The purgation of anger. But most important in this canto is Marco Lombardo’s oration on the dignity of man and on human freedom. This canto is central to the whole scheme of ethics in the Divine Comedy and essential to the two succeeding cantos in which Virgil discusses Love.

Canto XVII. The Third Terrace: Anger

Virgil’s Discourse on Love.
This and the next canto contain some of the most important intellectual material for understanding the whole structure of the Divine Comedy. As Virgil explains, the whole of the universe is moved by Love. Love is God’s plan. “Neither Creator nor creature was ever without love” (line 91) And thus the whole of Purgatory is organized in relation to the actions of love in our lives. God is love and the whole of his creation moves with and toward Love. Here the most important theologian is Saint Augustine and his Christian interpretation of Plato. These ideas are explicit in the New Testament and most memorable of all is Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians: 13.

Canto XVIII. The Fourth Terrace: Sloth

Continuation of Virgil’s Discourse on Love.
Examples of sloth and zeal.
The Abbot of San Zeno.(line 118)

Canto XIX. The Fifth Terrace: Avarice.

Purgation of avarice; more churchmen
Pope Adrian V. The only pope that Dante meets in Purgatory. There are many in Inferno!

Canto XX. The Fifth Terrace: Avarice.

Examples of generosity and of avarice.
The canto full of Frenchmen and reveals Dante’s distinct anti-French bias. Hugh Capet and the Capetians.(line 49+)

Canto XXI. The Fifth Terrace: Statius.

In this Canto Dante introduces another guide in the person of Publius Papinius Statius (45-96 AD) who now augments the leadership of Virgil as an example of Christian Rome (as opposed to Virgil’s pagan Rome). Statius was author of an epic called The Thebaid which was enormously popular in the Middle Ages. He is not very interesting, but now he tags along. Sometimes you can’t even remember that he is there, but he pops up again. He is not one of Dante’s great literary achievements.

Canto XXII. The Sixth Terrace: Gluttony.

Statius talks about himself and Virgil.
A reminder of Virgil’s famous Fourth Eclogue in which he seems to prophesy the coming of Jesus Christ,(line 70).

Canto XXIII. The Sixth Terrace: Gluttony

Forese Donati.
This encounter with Forese Donati is a very important glimpse into the personal life of Dante in Florence which becomes more interesting later when Dante meets Beatrice and she accuses him of falling into sin. Forese was Dante’s best friend and in this their encounter we get the idea that they were pals in the pursuit of vice (line 115). It is ONLY with Forese that Dante talks about Beatrice thus we can all understand that this meeting with Forese is very important. And soon Dante will meet Beatrice herself.

Canto XXIV. The Sixth Terrace: Gluttony

The Dolce Stil Nuovo.
The encounter with Forese Donati continues. Here the two continue to talk about poetry and Florence. The Dolce Stil Nuovo, the Sweet New Style, was the new poetry of Courtly Love of which Dante was a master.

Canto XXV. The Seventh Terrace: Lust.

Here on the Seventh Terrace lust is purged.
Statius delivers a discourse on the soul that sounds a little like a Scholastic philosopher who expounds ideas that are Aristotelian and Thomistic.

Canto XXVI. The Seventh Terrace: Lust.

Here Dante meets individuals guilty of excessive love, i.e.. lust. Among those he encounters are two poets with whom Dante continues the discussion of poetry that began earlier. This canto shows Dante’s intense concern with poetry and his own poetic achievements.
Guido Guinicelli and Arnaut of Provence.

Canto XXVII. Beyond the Terraces:

And Into the Fire.
Dante’s journey up the mountain now takes him into the Fires of Purgation. At line 127 we hear the last speech of Virgil who will soon disappear from the poem.

Canto XXVIII. The Earthly Paradise:

Another Dark Wood.
Dante returns to another dark wood, but this one is welcoming and rich and green and beautiful. This is the original paradise unwounded by Adam and Eve’s sin. Here is this Wood Dante will meet Matilda across the cool fresh stream. Matilda will lead him forward to the next revelation.

Canto XXIX. Pageant of Divine Revelation.

Matilda leads Dante to the Pageant that now unfolds as if on a stage across the river. There he sees the great Cart of the Church Triumphant roll into view, accompanied by the parade of Old Testament prophets, New Testament evangelists, and other saints.

Canto XXX. Beatrice

Cantos XXX-XXXI are the great cantos of Beatrice. The cart rolls to a stop and revealed atop the cart is Beatrice. (Canto 30, line 30). And suddenly Dante feels the old love’s great power.(line 39). Suddenly he looks and Virgil is gone. He is devastated. Now Beatrice confronts him with his own moment of Judgement.

Canto XXXI. Dante’s Confession.

Dante breaks down under the stress of his confrontation with his old love. He collapses in tears and confesses that false pleasures turned his steps away from the good and the true that Beatrice had inspired. Canto 31 is intensely personal, private, confessional. Beatrice takes him: “Hold me. Hold me.” And bathes him and refreshes him. Like a mother with a child.

Canto XXXII.Pageant of Divine Revelation:

The Pageant: Law and History.
The cart tied to the tree.
The disasters to the cart (the church).
The Church and the Empire.
Beatrice and the Cart.

Canto XXXIII. Dante Reaches the Summit.

The prophecy of Beatrice. Dante purified. Dante now ready to mount to the stars. Beatrice leads him higher. He would tell us more but . . . oops. . . he runs out of paper!