Dante's Divine Comedy

Canto XV – Second Cornice – The Envious into Third Cornice – Wrath

• 1. How is the beatitude sung in line 38 appropriate to the purgation of envy?

The opposite of envy is love, often expressed in mercy.

Whose question is Dante referring to in lines 44-45?

Guido del Duca’s

• 2. Lines 46-81 contain Virgil’s discourse on the nature of heavenly goods. It is the first of four such discourses, the others appearing in Cantos 16, 17, and 18. How would you describe the purpose of lines 46-48?

Virgil observes that Guido del Duca desires to benefit others. These lines, then, establish the purpose of the Commedia. Dante wants his readers to benefit from reading about the faults of historical and current figures condemned to the Inferno or purged on Mt. Purgatory.

What is the argument put forth in lines 46-57?

The idea comes from Augustine’s City of God. It may be simply stated in this way: Rather than being lessened when shared, goodness grows even more when shared with others.

The love of Heaven is the best antidote to envy.

What is Virgil doing in lines 64-81?

He is developing the theory of blessedness (beatitude) in terms of light.

He says Dante’s mind is dominated by a materialist outlook; therefore, he doesn’t see the light for what it truly is. The truth is that just as the sun imparts light to objects in the world, God gives His grace according to the love he finds in each soul. The sun becomes the active symbol of God.

Lines 73-74 assert that the blessedness of Heaven itself increases as the number of the blessed there increases. Each soul is like a mirror reflecting the light of God on the others there.

In lines 76-79, Virgil explains that if Dante is still unable to understand his explanation, Beatrice will make all clear when he sees her.

• 3. What is the purpose of the visions Dante sees in lines 84-114?

They establish that the virtue needed to quench the sin of wrath is gentleness.

What is the substance of the first vision (lines 88-94)?

Dante sees Mary asking the twelve-year-old Jesus who has been in the temple in Jerusalem since his parents departed for home why he has treated them with so little regard. She does so, it is important to note, gently.

As with the statues in the cornice of the proud and the voices in that of the envious, the first exemplum is drawn from the life of Mary.

What is the substance of the second vision (lines 95-105)?

This vision comes from a story of Pisistratus, the tyrant of Athens, whose wife, her family pride offended, told him to take vengeance on a suitor who passionately embraced their daughter in public. Pisistratus’s reply illustrates gentleness: he asks the question in lines 104-105.

Another example of wrath is included when Pisistratus’ wife alludes to the gods fighting over naming rights for the city of Athens. [Poseidon created a spring, and Athena an olive tree. The gods judged Athena’s gift the more useful, and the city was named Athens after her.]

What is the substance of the third vision (lines 106-114)?

The final vision is of the stoning of Stephen from the Book of Acts. Arrested for heresy and taken before the Sanhedrin, Stephen preaches a long sermon against the pride of Israel. The sermon enrages the crowd who take him outside the city to stone him to death. As he dies, he asks God to forgive them.

• 4. In lines 118-123, Virgil asks why Dante looks like a man struggling with sleep or like someone slightly inebriated. How does Dante respond (lines 124-126)?

He offers to share the visions he has seen with Virgil. However, Virgil assures Dante that “not the most fleeting of your thoughts could ever/be shut to me.” (lines 126-129)

How does Virgil explain the visions to Dante (lines 129-132)?

He explains that the remedy to anger is openness to God’s calming grace.