Dante's Divine Comedy

• 1. There is some disagreement among translators and commentators regarding the word ragione in line 3. Esolen and others translate it as “reason,” while Hollander insists that in this context it means “justice,” specifically “divine justice.” Which do you prefer and why?

Since the souls in Purgatory are being purged of their sins to prepare them for entry into Paradise, Hollander’s translation seems to make more sense. As God’s Justice helped to create Hell, so here His justice does the work of Purgatory.

How do Dante’s thoughts in lines 4-6 contrast those describing Virgil in lines 7-9?

Dante reflects on how much he owes to Virgil as a guide while Virgil’s conscience as a guide is pained by his failure in advising Dante to keep moving (rather than pause to listen to Casella sing), thus precipitating Cato’s admonition to attend to the business of climbing Mt. Purgatory.

When Dante turns toward the mountain, he notes its height which Ulysses had reported to be the highest mountain he had ever seen. He also notices his shadow which, because he is not in the mountain’s shadow but in direct sunlight, he sees his own shadow but does not see Virgil’s, a fact that causes him immediate stress, thinking Virgil has left him. What renewed attitude does this observation elicit in Virgil in lines 23-24?

Virgil is back in command and exercising both his role as advisor as well as guide.

How is that same line reminiscent of the words of Christ?

In John 20:27, Christ admonishes Thomas who desires to touch his risen master’s wounds, “be not faithless, but believing.”

Because Virgil will continue as his guide throughout most of this canticle, his second question echoes Christ’s words to the apostles: “behold I am with you all days” (Matthew 28:20)

What explanation does Virgil further offer in lines 28-37?

He explains that the shades cast no shadows.

He asserts that the nature of shades’ airy bodies is not accessible to reason; later in the canticle, however, he seems to have a better understanding, though deferring to Statius.

His assertion on the limits of his understanding leads Virgil, the personification of human reason, to proclaim the utter transcendence of and mystery of God’s power.

His assertion recalls Isaiah 55:8 – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” Paul’s declaration in Romans 11:33 is also echoed: “How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!”

In line 37, in short, Virgil’s “So it is” (quia, in Latin) may be summed up as “Because . . . that’s the way it is.”

Because of the mere fact that things are as they are, humans should not suppose they can know or understand what is beyond them. Even the highest reason, as in Aristotle, Plato, and Virgil himself, falls short of understanding God.

What is the significance of lines 38-39?

As Hollander observes, Dante seems to mean that had people known all, there would have been no need for Christ to come to bring us the final truth of things. The focus here is not moral so much as it is intellectual.

How do lines 40-45 put our understanding of Virgil (as well his understanding of himself) in a very different light from that of Inferno?

Like the other great philosophers and writers in Limbo, Virgil can never understand what reason alone is incapable of understanding. He is not the all-knowing sage which he appeared to be in most of Inferno.

In lines 52-66, what difference do you see in Virgil’s perception of the task they face in contrast to Dante’s?

Because the mountain appears from their perspective to be an insurmountable wall, Virgil who is unfamiliar with the territory seeks the path through reasoning, but Dante who is alert to his surroundings may actually be looking for a path.

This difference emphasizes the usefulness of the body and the senses. (Virgil has no body.)

When Dante advises Virgil to look up, their roles as played out in Inferno are reversed.

• 2. How does the epic simile in lines 79-87 connect the souls it describes to the saved?

The simile compares them to lambs recalls Psalm 23 in which the psalmist compares the faithful to sheep in the care of the Good Shepherd. Isaiah 40:11 carries the same comparison:

He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

Matthew 25:31-33 also carries that image, specifically in regard to salvation:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

They are humble and trusting.

Who is the “foremost” referred to in line 88? Look to line 113 and Esolen’s notes on it.

It is Manfred, an opponent of the expansion of papal power in the temporal affairs of Italy. After he was defeated and lay dead on the battlefield, a Guelph described the discovery of his body by some of his men, one of whom declared, “Alas, alas, the Lamb has been killed, our King, our leader, our Lord, who elected to die with his people rather than to live without them.” Surely, Dante had this declaration in mind in making Manfred the leader of this flock.

How does the flock correct Dante and Virgil’s mistake in direction? (lines 101-102)

They motion them and tell them to go in the opposite direction.

• 3. How does Manfred’s showing Dante his wounds as a way of identifying himself (lines 103-111) parallel actions made by the risen Christ?

Jesus exhibits his wounds to his disciples and later specifically to Thomas to prove that he is the crucified and risen Christ.

Hollander perceives Dante to have derived this exchange from Deiphobus greeting Aeneas in the Underworld who, in contrast, attempts to hide his scars.

What request does Manfred make of Dante? (lines 115-117)

That he find his daughter and tell her the truth. She had certainly heard the official history of the Church that Manfred had died unrepentant and was buried in unhallowed ground as one excommunicated.

He also hopes that his daughter Constance will pray for his soul’s early admission to climb the mountain (lines 142-145)

How is someone excommunicated by the pope able to arrive in Purgatory? (lines 119-123)

He repented of his multitude of sins at the last moments of his life. Christ freely forgives the repentant.

How long do the excommunicated have to wander before they can commence their journey up Mt. Purgatory (lines 139-141)?

30 years for every year of their excommunication