Lines 1-6. Dante introduces his theme through metaphor. He imagines his poetic ability as a ship that has moved beyond the deadly waters of Inferno and into the realm of Purgatorio. Importantly, Dante writes in the present tense, describing his poetic task as active, although he will detail his experience in this Cantica in the past tense. In this, Dante borrows from the epic tradition, specifically of Virgil, who transitions from a present-tense voice [“Arms I sing” (line 1)], eventually shifting to a past-tense voice [“There was an ancient city” (line 17)]. The poet is actively creating the reading experience for the reader even though he is describing a past event.
Dante is clear in introducing the subject of this Cantica. He states plainly that he will sing of “that second realm where the / human spirit purges itself and becomes worthy to / ascend to Heaven” (lines 4-6). While the subject of the poem is at the forefront, Dante’s use of the Italian si signifies the active role the souls in purgatory take in their purging. Thus, the reader is also introduced to the theological weight of the freedom of the will to partake in purgatorial cleansing. Therefore, the souls in Purgatory are already distinguished from the souls in Hell, for the ladder maintain no agency in their suffering. They have no will that drives them to their suffering, yet they must suffer it. While the souls in Hell are merely the objects, the souls in Purgatory are simultaneously subjects and objects. They receive suffering, yet they actively choose this suffering. This suggests a loose appropriation of Aristotle’s moral philosophy, in which the philosopher argues that “happiness is activity in accordance with virtue” (1104). Dante will continue to insist on the freedom of the will to ascent to happiness, shown finally to be the contemplation of God.
The souls in Purgatory are in a state of becoming degno, that is, worthy, to enter the realm of Paradiso. Once more, the sense of activity is evoked to introduce what the poet and his guide will encounter in Purgatory. Purgatorial cleaning is a process, imagined in this Cantica by the image of a mountain. The soul is moving toward something.
Lines 7-12. Dante imagines the poetic task before him as first undergoing a resurrection of sorts. He uses the adjective morta to describe poetry, calling on it to resurga, to resurge, to live again. His poetic task reflects his state of spirit, as he has just moved from the depths of Hell to the new life in Purgatory.
Significantly, Dante introduces his autonomy to sing before calling on the assistance of the Muses, yet the rising of his poetry is intricately linked with the Muses. He refers to them as “Holy” (line 7) because they are inspiring him to write about a holy subject. This perhaps also explains why he calls on the Muses now; Dante realizes the task before him, and he recognizes that what he is describing must be brought to life by holiness. The poetry must be inspired by holy inspiration to contemplate the subject before him.
Dante specifically references Calliope, who is the Muse of poetry. She embodies a specific place in poetic inspiration. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, to praise Ceres, “One sang for all of us, Calliope, / Our sister with her flowing hair arrayed / In ivy wreaths” (117). Here, however, she does not sing alone but is called on the accompany the poet (line 10). Despite the humility he seems to display in evoking the Muses, Dante still seems to claim some authority for himself in describing her song as accompanying his. While the Muses are significant to Dante, he also trusts his poetic prowess, much like how he likens himself to the great pagan poets in Limbo (Inferno IV.100-102).
Lines 13-30. After calling on the Muses, Dante immediately describes the entrance to Purgatory. The lines are most significant in distinguishing this new location from what he has previously passed through. Dante mostly wants to depict the beauty of what is before, which will naturally be triumphed by the beauty of Paradise. The movement from Hell continues the imagery he establishes with the resurrection of poetry he has moved from “dead air” (line 17) to pure air.
These lines also contain astrological significance that carries some significance for the poem. Although Dante refrains from naming her, the poet alludes to the influence of Venus, the “lovely planet that strengthens us to love” (line 19). His appropriation here is not that of a perverse eroticism; rather, entering Purgatory under the sign of Venus provides the movement of the will for and toward love[AB1] . As C.S. Lewis argues, “Celestial bodies affect terrestrial bodies, including those of men” (DI 103) in the medieval model of the universe. Dante and other medieval seem most against astrological predictions, determinism, and worship of the planets. However, Dante appears to have no problem incorporating the influence of the Heavens on his world; he is even willing to maintain the planets’ names. Writing on Dante’s use of Venus, he suggests, “Dante makes her sphere the Heaven not, as we might expect from a more obvious poet, of the charitable, but of those, now penitent, who in this life loved greatly and lawlessly” (107). Therefore, Dante describes the influence of Venus at the precise moment of arriving into the realm of the penitent. image
Furthermore, the poet also sees “four stars” (line 23), later identified as representing the four cardinal virtues (Purgatorio XXIX 121-132), a key image for Purgatorio. These stars, Dante tells the reader, were first seen by Adam and Eve, thus suggesting the divine quality the cardinal virtues have, perhaps implying their significance through Purgatory.
Lines 31-39. Marcus Porcius Cato is the Pilgrim’s first experience of holiness. The poet bases the figure of Cato on Lucan’s Pharsalia, specifically focusing on Cato’s commitment to the republic. Dante has elsewhere referred to Cato as the “guardian of freedom” (Monarchy 43) because Cato “preferred to die a free man rather than remain alive without freedom” (Monarchy 43). Dante’s treatment of Cato is striking because he has committed the punishable sin of suicide, as Dante depicts previously in Inferno XIII. Cato is also pagan, representing the philosophy of stoicism. Reference is made within the text to Cato’s philosophical convictions when Virgil evokes his memory of Marcia, the woman Cato divorced yet arranged for her a new marriage. This exchange between Virgil and Cato is significant for its theological purpose, yet I will return to it in a subsequent discussion.
Durling notes that Cato’s description reflects the four cardinal virtues. Dante sees the “rays of the four holy lights” (line 37) that adorn his face. The cardinal virtues are distinguished from the three theological virtues that Aquinas defines—faith, hope, and charity. Thus, Cato’s virtuosity is representative of the zenith of pagan virtue—those defined by Aristotle in the Ethics. The cardinal virtues are prudence, courage, justice, and temperance. Dante seems to imply that Cato achieves the highest status a pagan can. He guards the entrance to Purgatory chiefly because Purgatory is concerned with the cardinal virtues. The souls in Purgatory suffer from either a deficiency or an excess of love. Their purging is to the end of moderation, the mean that Aristotle describes.
Dante finds Cato praiseworthy because Cato advocates for freedom and Cato’s suicide is linked with this appeal to freedom. Cato is virtuous because he does not surrender a fundamental aspect of his humanity, i.e., his freedom to choose. John A. Scott writes, “Cato’s suicide was an act both of supreme self-sacrifice, offered up for the common good, and a symbol of the true freedom promised to humanity under the Christian dispensation” (74). He advocates for liberty. Dante sees Cato as a figure who was unwilling to continue after the upheaval of a republican state. In this sense, Cato also represents the body politic; he is virtuous because he chooses to go with the ideal society. For Aristotle, freedom is also fundamental to morality. As he writes, “[M]oral virtue is a state of character concerned with choice, and choice is deliberate desire” (1023). Cato introduces the reader to one of Purgatorio’s chief themes: the movement of the will toward God. Cato’s will is moved by his love for the state. He sacrifices his life for the sake of the state. In this sense, Cato parallels the souls in Purgatory who must freely choose to suffer out of their love for God. Therefore, Cato is the boundary between the pagan and the Christian world.
Cato’s status in Purgatory carries theological implications that must be noted. Because he is a pagan who has attained salvation, Dante suggests something of the nature of salvation and sin. Although all humanity suffers due to Original Sin—the doctrine that Adam’s fall affects the entirety of humanity, leaving all guilty before God—Dante suggests the virtuous life can result in salvation, even if it lacks the full salvific power that Christian revelation provides. Dante envisions a less Augustinian notion of salvation by opting for a Thomist understanding, which suggests that God’s grace extends to the virtuous who never receive the light of revelation. Naturally, these souls can only get so far, yet Dante will provide more examples of virtuous pagans in Purgatory who are destined for Paradise. This theological movement is accounted for by the influence of Aristotle on scholastic theology.
Lines 40-48. The substance of Cato’s speech is the disparity between Hell and Purgatory. Cato is disturbed by the appearance of the Pilgrim and Virgil because the laws that govern the universe (God’s laws) do not permit the souls of Hell to enter Purgatory. “Can the laws of the abyss be broken” (line 46), suggesting that no soul in Hell can move beyond Hell. This speaks volumes about geographic spaces. The souls in Hell are punished eternally; there is no hope for them. They cannot move beyond where they have been placed. They are unworthy to enter Purgatory, to become cleansed.
Cato’s question implies the uniqueness of Dante’s journey. He has not seen the likes of this passing before. Thus, Dante subversively claims an authoritative position once again. No one has been permitted to pass from Hell to Purgatory, thus no one can describe the passage save Dante.
Finally, Cato seems to assert his authority over the entrance. He refers to the space as “my cliffs” (line 48). This authority will be challenged by Virgil’s speech when he tells Cato, “[F]rom on high descends a power that helps me” (line 68). These positions of authority suggest the hierarchical structure of Purgatory and the Heavens, both explicitly shown in the geography of Purgatory as a mountain, yet implicitly shown by Cato’s allowing the pair to pass. Once more, Purgatory is distinguished from Hell. There is no hierarchy in Hell, and the entire journey is a descent. Now, the poet sees the hierarchy as he ascends, eventually experiencing the beatific vision, the Love that moves all (Paradiso XXXIII.145).
Lines 49-109. Virgil’s speech is a reasonable explanation of the pair’s passing and reminds the reader why Dante is on this journey. Virgil points to the fact that Dante has not died, yet also suggests that “not much / time remained” (lines 59-60) for Dante’s repentance. The reader is thus reminded that Dante’s journey was initiated by the intercession of Beatrice and Mary, as described in Inferno II.49-75. Virgil provides Cato with a divine purpose for their passing, one which comes from a power much more holy than Cato’s status.
Virgil also appeals to Cato’s defining virtuous behavior his love for freedom. This implies the purpose of Purgatory as itself a path to freedom, for Dante “seeks freedom” (line 71). Virgil appeals to Cato’s sense of ethical behavior, the uprightness that has led to his salvation. He asks that Cato would sympathize with Dante, who seeks the same salvation. Virgil specifically references Cato’s virtuous action toward the Roman’s former wife, who he loved but divorced for his commitment to stoicism.
Despite Virgil’s correct allusion, his mention of Marcia shows his lack of understanding, thus suggesting Virgil’s own displacement in Purgatory. He is corrected by Cato, for Cato tells him that his will is not moved by Marcia any longer. In fact, Marcia cannot move Cato “according to the law that / was made” (lines 89-90) when he first arrived. Durling suggests that this is a reference to the New Covenant, under which the spirits in Purgatory and Paradise are moved by their love for Christ. Because Virgil has not been ushered into the New Covenant, he does not understand Cato’s spiritual position. Virgil’s attempt to convince Cato to let the pair pass for the sake of Marcia is unconvincing. It is a higher love that now stirs Cato’s movement.
Although Cato’s directions are given to Virgil, his instructions are for the benefit of Dante. He does not tell Virgil to be cleansed before entering Heaven perhaps because he recognizes that Virgil will not go that far. He instructs the Guide:
Go then, and see that you gird this man with a
smooth rush and wash his face so as to remove all
grime;
for it would not be fitting, were his eye
shadowed by any cloud, to go before the first
minister, who is one of those from Paradise. (lines 94-99)
Virgil and Dante’s tasks are set before them. Dante must undergo a purging before entering Earthly Paradise. Virgil must see to it that this occurs. Cato’s disappearance is a final reminder of his status. The suddenness by which he moves is suggestive of his otherworldliness, as a sense of transcendence beyond the normal capability of a person. He appears as a reminder of the disparity between Hell and Purgatory, and he speaks of the disparity between Purgatory and Paradise, preparing the Pilgrim and the Guide for what lay ahead.
Lines 112-120. With Cato’s commission in mind, Dante turns again to Virgil, his guide, who addresses him with the endearing figiuol, translated by Durling as “son.” Before the passage into Purgatory truly occurs, there is a descent, which Robert Hollander suggests is a metaphor for a movement toward humility, a view which is consistent with Dante’s status as a son to Virgil. This, alongside the descriptive imagery of the dawn against the water ushers the reader and the poet into the purgatorial journey Dante will soon experience.
As the journey begins, reference is made once more to Dante’s initial experience in Inferno I; Dante’s Commedia begins in the middle of an action, and the Pilgrim finds himself lost in a wood, suggesting he has strayed from the correct path. In Inferno I, Dante is seeking passage into Purgatory. Now he has found the correct path. Here is an obvious poetic parallel that Dante will continue to establish in Purgatory and Paradise. Dante’s cohesive interest is on display in these references.
Lines 121-137. The Poet provides a clear instance in which the despair of Hell is attested. There seems a great burden on both Dante and Virgil, which lifted, creates this tender moment in which Virgil cleans Dante’s face, as Cato commands him. As the Poet remarks, “Hell had / hidden” (lines 128-129) his human, natural face. Dante undergoes a rite that hearkens to the sacrament of baptism. It seems that Virgil is not qualified to impart the sacrament; thus, the image only functions as a reminder.
Cleansed from the despair and depravity of Hell, Dante and Virgil see the sea before the mountain. There is reference made to Ulysses’ last voyage from Inferno XXVI to suggest finally the inability to come to these shores by work alone. The God of Dante’s universe requires something greater, not merely heroic prowess.