THE WOODS OUTSIDE OF HELL
Dante's poem starts with the introduction of Dante the Pilgrim halfway through his
life (in his thirties) finding himself on the edge of some dark woods. He does not
understand how he arrived there, but feels he may have got there by wandering
from the 'straight path', or 'the path of truth'. Nonetheless, he raises his head from
the dark valley to see a hilltop "shawled in morning rays of light sent from the
planet that leads men straight-ahead on every road". As he climbs the hill, three
beasts block his path; a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. It can be argued that these
beasts represent sins that are blocking Dante's path to righteousness, fraud,
violence, and incontinence respectively.
Fear of the beasts forces Dante to retreat back to the edge of the dark woods. "This
last beast brought my spirit down so... I lost all hope of going up the hill". He is,
however, stopped by a figure that first appears unrecognisable to him. The person
soon presents himself to Virgil, the famous pagan Roman poet. Dante asks Virgil
for assistance to help rid of the beasts so he can pass on to the hilltop of Divine
Light. Yet, Virgil indicates that Dante is to go down another road. Virgil goes on
further to explain that he will help Dante on his path, but that he will have to leave
him once he gets to Purgatory because he was born before Christ and therefore
cannot know of true salvation. [The light and dark imagery that is often repeated
and becomes more abundant in later cantos of Dante's poem. The light represents
reason, truth, righteousness, and goodness. This is seen in the fact that the hill to
'Divine Light' is cloaked in rays of the sun. On the other hand, the dark is often
depicted in times of torment, blindness, and evil. This imagery is seen in the fact
that the path through Hell that Dante must take is dark and the sun does not shine
there.]
The path through the dark woods leads to an archway, which is the true entrance
into Hell. On its high arch are inscribed in dim colours the words:
Through me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.
Justice the founder of my fabric mov'd:
To rear me was the task of power divine,
Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.
Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I endure.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
Passing under the arch one enters Ante-Hell.
ANTE-HELL; THE VESTIBULE
The inscribed arch into Hell cannot be seen behind one once one has passed
through it.
The beginning of Upper Hell, Ante-Hell (also described as "Nowhere") lies outside
the River Acheron, a fast-moving river of ink-black water. The shore of the river is
a shiny mud flat that shades into a flat field of dirt that appears to stretch inland for
about two miles to some low brown hills. The hills run up against a high wall that
stretches off in both directions to the limit of visibility; it is just about possible to
see this wall curving inwards at the limits of visibility. It is hard to tell how large
or far away the wall is, and it is impossible to reach anyway. Invisible biting
insects sting irritatingly. Underfoot, worms write in the soil in an unknown script.
Anyone who has any contact whatsoever with the River Acheron will be trapped
forever in the river, very cold and very uncomfortable, aware and unable to move.
It is the place where those who would make no choices in life, "who lived a life but
lived it with no blame and no praise", are condemned to spend their eternity. This
includes those too self-absorbed to make choices, those who were neither warm
nor cold on important matters, those who were neither believers nor blasphemers.
They run about the hills of Ante-Hell forever having no hope of truly dying,
chasing banners they will never catch, and being stung repeatedly by hornets and
wasps. An example of such a person who refused to make decisions in his life
would be Pontius Pilate, who refused to pass sentence of Christ.
Some people, such as self-absorbed agnostics, end up trapped in a bronze jar in the
Vestibule. These jars, of varying sizes, are scattered about the field of dirt; the
voices of those trapped inside can be faintly heard through the walls of the jars.
A wooden jetty protrudes out into the River Acheron, from which Charon, a tall,
wiry old man with a long white beard and eyes like glowing coals, poles a ferry
across the Acheron to the First Circle of Hell. He will carry everyone who wishes
to cross, but will chastise those who displease him with the pole with which he
propels the ferry (that is, beat them senseless). The ferry is a low punt-like boat
that can hold many more people than it seems it should be able to.
Note that Circles One to Five of Hell are termed 'Incontinence' and include all
wrong action due to the inadequate control of natural appetites or desires.
CIRCLE I - LIMBO - THE UNBAPTIZED, VIRTUOUS PAGANS
The First Circle of Hell consists of green fields and white Mediterranean-style
villas arranged in walled complexes with a squat classical look to them, some quite
large. They are not arranged in any order but the overall effect is pleasing. In the
First Circle the ground is firm, grassy and pleasant. The air is clean and fresh, as at
the top of a mountain (that is, entirely unlike that in the rest of Hell). The First
Circle is encompassed by a "hemisphere of light", representing Reason. As one
travels into the depths of Hell, less and less light is seen.
Limbo is not the horrible place usually associated with the fiery pits of Hell, but
instead the punishment for its residents is the loss of Hope; they must exist in
desire for the glory of God (often a God who they do not believe in), without ever
being able to attain it. The First Circle of Hell is made up of all those shades that
were good people, but lacked the ideology of God's saviour and so must reside
there for eternity. That is, all of the people in Limbo are virtuous and sinless, but
who for the lack of a single ceremony cannot be admitted into Paradise; this
includes everyone who had the misfortune to live before the time of Christ, all nonChristians, the un-baptised, and even infants 'stained' by Original Sin (there is an
abundance of these). Virgil himself is from this circle of Hell, as he was born
before the crucifixion. Dante saw some of the most famous of all Historical shades
to be remembered by our modern society such as Homer, Horace, Ovid, Caesar,
Brutus, Lucretia, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Democritus, Thales, Heraclitus, Euclid,
Hector, Aeneas, Epictatus, Ptolemy, and Hippocrates. Great thinkers, classic poets,
great men, and murderers alike are placed in the same 'punishment' simply because
they do not worship the Christian God. In some interpretations, those in Limbo are
excluded from the beatific vision until Christ's triumphant ascension into Heaven
(the "limbus patrum").
Those who come across from the Vestibule on Charon's ferry do not go into Limbo
as a whole; instead they are let off at one end of a road which twists between high
walls to the Palace of Minos.
The walls hemming in the road can just be climbed, and there are also gates in the
walls, though these are kept locked from the inside. However, anyone who does
gain entry to Limbo from outside is obvious to the inhabitants of Limbo, as they
carry the stench of the rest of Hell with them. On the inner edge of Limbo is
erected the Palace of Minos. This is circled by seven walls and contains seven
gates (according to theologians, seven is the number of perfection, based on the
seven days of creation).
The Palace of Minos is an enormous marble structure, without furniture, lit by
torches in bronze holders. The walls are covered in Minoan-style frescos of bulls,
dolphins and people. The Palace winds on and on, chamber after chamber, with
huge staircases and great pillars inscribed in unreadable languages.
People easily become separated from one another in the Palace, so that, in general,
everyone eventually comes alone to an enormous room open at the far end. This
room gives, through the pillars, a vista down over the depths of Hell - an
enormous, world-sized bowl, with fire and smoke visible far below. On a throne at
the far end, backing onto the view over Hell, sits a Minotaur, Minos, Judge of the
Dead, son of Zeus and Europa, King of Crete, and known for his wisdom and
judicial skills. His purpose is to assign all those that enter Hell to that level of Hell
to which their sins best suit them.
Minos talks to those who come to the Palace, and once he has determined the best
place for them, sends them to the appropriate part of Hell, wrapping them up in his
tail, which extends off and carries the sinner away. The number of times Minos
winds his tail around a person indicates the Circle of Hell they have been relegated
to. Those who come to the Palace from the Vestibule of their own accord do not
have to be judged by Minos (though they may not know that). However, Minos is
unlikely to let them return higher into Hell, but only to let them descend. There is a
set of steps behind his throne which leads down to the Second Circle; once one
starts down these stairs one cannot return upwards - no matter how long one
climbs, one never gets closer to the top.
CIRCLE II - THE LUSTFUL
The steps down from Limbo peter out into a rocky forty-five degree slope, which is
also where the wind begins to rise. The slope ends in the broad ledge of the Second
Circle, where it is pitch dark.
In the second circle are punished those who sinned by excess of sexual passion,
those souls who in life made pleasure their hope, with reason and love of God
second. Since this is the most natural sin and the sin most nearly associated with
love, its punishment is the lightest of all to be found in Hell proper. "The Carnal
are whirled... endlessly through the murky air... by a great gale (symbolic of their
lust)." The punishment for the Lustful is an infernal storm that lashes at them in
darkness with rage and punishment, spinning through the air. The Lustful are
mostly blown about in pairs, but this is not always so. They cry out lamentations
and insults to God as they go. All the great lovers are here - Semiramis, Cleopatra,
Helen, Achilles, Paris, Tristan.
Standing on the ground in the Second Circle are unsuccessful lovers attempting to
be caught up by the winds of passion.
CIRCLE III - THE GLUTTONOUS
A great storm of putrefaction falls incessantly in this circle, a mixture of stinking
snow and freezing rain, which forms into a vile slush underfoot. Everything about
the Circle suggests a gigantic garbage dump. The souls of the Damned Lie in the
icy paste, swollen and obscene, and Cerberus, the ravenous three-headed dog of
Hell, stands guard over them, ripping and tearing them with his claws and teeth.
Those condemned here are the Gluttons. "In life they made no higher use of the
gifts of God than to wallow in food and drink, producers of nothing but garbage
and offal. Here they lie through all eternity, themselves like garbage, half-buried in
the foetid slush, while Cerberus, the guardian, slavers over them as they in life
slavered over their food."
A winding, dangerous trail leads down the precipice to the Fourth Circle.
CIRCLE IV - THE HOARDERS AND THE SPENDTHRIFTS
As one descends the trail into the Fourth Circle, one may meet Plutus, the god of
Wealth. Entering the Fourth Circle, it seems there are "more shades were here than
anywhere else".
In this circle, a flat plain of hard-baked clay, the sinners are divided into two raging
mobs, each soul among them straining madly at a great boulder-like weight,
representing their material wealth in life. The two mobs meet clashing their
weights against one another, one side screaming 'Why hoard?', the other side 'Why
waste?'. After meeting the mobs separate, pushing the great weights apart, and
begin all over again. Upon closer examination it can be seen that these weights are
actually huge faceted diamonds, their surfaces dulled by time.
The mobs consists of the Hoarders and the Wasters, those who, in life, lacked all
moderation in regulating their expenses and so destroyed the light of God within
themselves by thinking of nothing but money. Thus in death their souls are
encumbered by dead weights (mundanity) and one excess serves to punish the
other in a joint effort, one side against the other. The wasters wear the torn and
filthy remnants of the finest clothing from all ages. The hoarders simply wear rags.
Dante points out specific people in this level, but first generalising by finding
"priests, and popes and cardinals, in whom avarice is most likely to prevail."
Destined to be eternally caught between the two groups are people such as Allister
Toomey, who fits both categories (a collector of science fiction pulp and novels, he
hoarded a great literary and historic wealth, refusing to sell any of his collection;
but due to this hoarding, Toomey could not afford to maintain his collection, which
was destroyed by rain, rot, and rats; therefore Toomey's hoarding caused his
wasting). They are regularly smashed by the weights, but this being Hell, always
recover, only to be smashed again...
Working over a chasm in the edge of the Fourth Circle are groups of bridge
builders and destroyers. These are those hoarders and wasters who are obsessed
with development, either stopping it at all costs, or promoting it at all costs. Pipes
in the walls of the chasm gush filth, which ends up in the Styx, below.
CIRCLE V - THE RIVER STYX - THE WRATHFUL AND THE SULLEN
This circle consists of a stinking swamp, mostly hidden by thick fog. The swamp is
only ankle-deep, but slimy and thoroughly unpleasant. There are low-hanging trees
and bushes dotted about. This circle is home to two types of sinner, the wrathful
and the sullen.
Most obviously, in this Circle countless souls attack one another in the foul slime.
These are "the souls of those that anger overcame". These are the Wrathful and the
symbolism of their punishment is obvious. They also have an eternal rage against
themselves due to which they attack and bite their own bodies.
Virgil also points out to Dante certain bubbles rising out of the slime and informs
him that below that mud lie entombed the souls of the Sullen. In life they refused
to welcome the sweet light of the sun (spiritual awakening) and in death they are
buried forever below the stinking waters of the Styx, gargling words of an endless
chant in a grotesque parody of singing a hymn.
At its inner edge the swamp of the Fifth Circle deepens into the River Styx proper,
where the wrathful still fight, under the water, and the sullen too lie there. Large
black towers are spaced along the edge of the swamp. These are ferry terminals.
Red light signals - like flames or lasers - flash from their upper windows to other
towers and the City of Dis, over the river. This signal can summon a ferryman, for
example Phlegyas, to carry people across to Dis, though not without argument.
Phlegyas is a large bearded man with a low gold crown who stands in the stern of
his boat propelling it (much faster than it looks like it should go) with an oar over
the stern. He takes passengers to the other ferry terminal, on the Dis side.
ACROSS THE RIVER STYX
The fog begins to clear as one crosses the Styx, and it gets hotter and hotter. The
fog is eventually entirely burned away to reveal, on the other side of the Styx, a
quarter of a mile of hard stinking mud before the walls of the city of Dis. These
walls are like a castle curtain wall, with straight sections and towers, made of hot
iron, some merely hot enough to burn, some glowing red-hot. The eternal fire that
burns within the city serves as the only light in Hell. In one place is a huge gate
through the wall that has been torn off its hinges, where Christ tore the gates down.
Demons guard the walls and the opening where the gate was.
This region is the end of Upper Hell and the beginning of Nether, or Lower, Hell.
Between the Fifth and the Sixth Circles, inside the city of Dis, is the human
bureaucracy of Hell, a vast organisation that wastes everyone's time doing things
that aren't helpful. Bureaucratic minions man posts at small information windows
in the wall. They require multiple copies of huge, complex forms (inconsistent
between copies, and you only get one small pencil to fill them out) before they will
do anything. However, they can be bullied and bluffed... Trying to leap through the
windows will fail; the iron turns red-hot if approached with the intention of doing
so.
Furies will appear if one loiters too long, flapping down from the sky, and call
upon Medusa to turn the loiterers into stone and keep them in Hell forever.
It is possible to get over Dis, by way of gliders or parachutes made in the upper
levels, or perhaps even by bluffing one's way through the city.
CIRCLE VI - THE CITY OF DIS - THE HERETICS
This Circle is "a countryside of pain and anguish", teeming with tombs. "There lie
arch-heretics of every sect, with all their disciples," Virgil tells Dante. Archheretics include those who followed the philosophy of the Epicureans, who taught
that the highest good was temporal happiness and therefore denied the immortality
of the soul and the afterlife.
The circle of the Heretics is divided into two parts:
One part is a plain of flinty ground dotted with the iron tombs of heretics; these are
all hot, varying from simply burning to the touch to red-hot. Each holds a heretic.
Large vat-like pits full of fire are distributed between the tombs; next to each one is
a large iron lid, just big enough to cover the pit. The air is hot and dry.
The other part of Dis is a huge white marble mausoleum, a maze of corridors about
five metres wide and nearly as high. The air inside is cool, despite the heat outside.
Sweet, sprightly, insipid music plays, its volume never changing - nature themes,
melodramatic sweetness, singing violins and the like - never funeral dirges or
sombre tones. In some places within the mausoleum every wall is covered with
square-cut marble slabs each of which has a brass plate listing name, birth date and
date of death, sometimes with an insipid poem. Behind each slab is imprisoned an
unbeliever; rapping on the slab can sometimes summon their shade forth. In other
places the walls are lined with densely-packed niches, each with an urn in it. In yet
others there are short alcoves with huge, ornate tombs in various styles, copies of
the real tombs or crypts of the person imprisoned inside. After a while there one
begins to hear groans, whimpers, rage, curses and so on coming from inside the
tombs where people are trapped.
Some of the corridors of the mausoleum lead back to the iron walls of Dis. There
are the same sort of information windows on the inside as the outside. Other halls
lead to the drop-off into the Seventh Circle.
Inward from the torn-down gate in the wall of Dis is a craggy landslide, which
legend has it was the place where Christ descended into Hell. This also leads down
to the Seventh Circle.
At the edge of the Sixth Circle a disgusting stench arises from below. This is so
strongly offensive that travellers may have to wait to become accustomed to it.
CIRCLE VII - THE VIOLENT
This circle holds those condemned for Brutishness or Bestiality, the morbid states
in which what is naturally repulsive becomes attractive. The guardian of this circle
is the Minotaur, which normally lets no-one pass easily, but who suffers from fits
of rage, during which he can be avoided.
This Circle is divided into three rings, each of which deals with sinners condemned
for different types of violence.
RING I - THE RIVER PHLEGETHON - TYRANTS AND MURDERERS
In the first Ring, which lies directly below the edge of the Sixth Circle, are found
those who were violent to their neighbours in life, whether it be from malice,
homicide, or plundering. It consists entirely of the River Phlegethon (also known
as the River Phlegyas), a river of boiling blood. Its smell is overpowering, fresh
blood and clotted blood, copper bright and polluted foul.
As they wallowed in blood during their lives, so in Hell those condemned here are
immersed in boiling blood forever, the depth of each according to the degree of his
guilt, while fierce centaurs and the damned souls of people who had to be violent
as part of their duty, but who enjoyed it, patrol the banks, ready to shoot with their
arrows and other weapons any sinner who raises himself out of the boiling blood
beyond the limits permitted him. The depth of the blood varies from ankle-deep to
over a person's head. The sinners condemned to the banks wear the uniforms they
wore in life, from all periods of history; their eyes are dull, expressionless and
intent on their task.
The leader of the Centaurs is Chiron, the son of Saturn and Philyra and known for
his wisdom. Nessus, another Centaur, was appointed by Chiron to guide Dante and
Virgil across the river Phlegethon.
The boiling blood in this Ring also has at least one sunken wooden sailing ship
immersed in it. This contains slave traders trapped under the grilles in the deck.
There is also an island, entirely made up of officials who knowingly let criminals
go free. This island is peopled by those who were 'justified' murderers. Those on
the island have to keep the people upon whom they are standing too injured to
fight, otherwise the island will dissolve as its foundations rise up and escape or try
to get up on the island itself, so although they are out of the blood the inhabitants
of the island are not in a happy place.
In one place a stream of the blood leaves the River Phlegethon and flows
downwards through the rest of this Circle towards the drop into the Eighth Circle.
RING II - VIOLENCE AGAINST SELF
In the second Ring of the Seventh Circle are found those who raised a hand against
themselves, such as in suicide, or those who gamble all their wealth away and
weep when they should have rejoiced.
Those who were violent against themselves are eternally destroyed by Harpies in
the Wood of the Suicides, a dark, deathly forest of tangled trees with black leaves.
The souls of the suicides are encased in thorny trees that are constantly torn at by
the odious Harpies, the overseers of these damned. When the Harpies feed upon
them, damaging their leaves and limbs, the wounds bleed. Only as long as the
blood flows are the souls of the trees able to speak. Thus, they who destroyed their
own bodies are denied human form; and just as the supreme expression of their
lives was self destruction, so they are permitted to speak only through that which
tears and destroys them. Only through their own blood do they find voice.
Running through the wood are the Violent Wasters, people who would prove their
wealth in life by destroying their possessions. They are pursued by packs of wild
dogs. If the dogs catch those they chase they tear them apart.
Interspersed throughout the Wood of Suicides are areas of modern wasteland,
filled with all known examples of human pollution. Here are the modern version of
the Violent Wasters, the Polluters. Some are chased by animated bulldozers; some
are condemned to work in slime-belching factories just like those they owned and
profited from in life; some assemble pointless gadgets while others dissemble the
same gadgets and pass the parts back for re-assembly. Parts of these wastelands are
riven by gullies with filthy rubbish-strewn water at the bottom. Some lie in pools
of oil, pecked incessantly by oil-smeared birds. Noxious gases and pollutants waft
across these areas too, up to and including nerve gas. There is a constant sound of
wailing, roaring motors and clanking machines.
The stream of boiling blood from the Phlegethon flows down through this Ring.
RING III - VIOLENCE AGAINST GOD AND NATURE
In the third and final Ring of the Seventh Circle are condemned those who were
violent against God in life, either by cursing God's name or by despising Nature
and God's bounty. Sinners in this Ring include blasphemers, usurers and
sodomites. They are stranded forever on the Plain of Burning Sand where it
constantly rains great burning flakes of fire which vanish when they hit the ground,
but not when they hit the flesh of sinners. This region is also known as The
Abominable Sands. "The symbolism of the burning plain is obviously centred in
sterility... and wrath."
The different sinners condemned to this Ring behave in different ways:
Blasphemers, who were violent against God, are stretched supine and naked upon
the ground under the burning rain. Many shout and curse God.
Sodomites, also naked, must wander forever on those hot sands, or squat with their
arms about themselves.
Usurers, who were in life violent against art, must crouch on the hot sand with
heavy moneybags around their necks. They are dressed in the finery of all ages, but
their identities are concealed. This is a symbol of how they have lost their identity
due to their concern with material goods. However, the colours they wear express
their family shields. Loan Sharks are the modern Usurers, and are also condemned
here.
The stream of boiling blood from the Phlegethon flows through this Ring and over
the edge into the Eighth Circle. It is narrow but fast, its roar somehow different
from that of water, and it is bright scarlet. It falls with a sound of rushing water
into the Abyss.
CIRCLE VIII - MALEBOLGE - THE FRAUDULENT (ORDINARY FRAUD)
This Circle holds those sinners condemned for simple Fraud or Malice, that is,
those who used fraud on others who put their trust in them, and those who used
fraud on those who had no trust invested. These sins (the first class of Fraud)
consist of those evil actions that involve the abuse of the specifically human
attribute of reason. Those who used fraud on others who put their trust in them
include hypocrites, flatters, dabblers in sorcery, falsifiers, thieves and simonists.
This Circle is divided into ten steep-sided Bolgias, Regions, Rings or Ditches, each
perhaps twenty-five metres deep and fifty metres wide, in which the different
classes of the fraudulent are placed. These Rings run all around the Eighth Circle.
Arching bridges, each one about three metres wide, go over each ring, further
down into Hell. They drop steeply at the inner end, each Bolge being about seven
metres lower then the one immediately outside it.
The guardian of the Eighth Circle is Geryon. Geryon is the personification of
Fraud, which can be determined by the fact that the creature has the face of an
honest man, but the body of a serpent; his voice is deep, with a queer buzzing
quality. Geryon can carry people down to the Eighth Circle, but must be
summoned in some manner; throwing a rope down was sufficient for Virgil and
Dante. Once he rises out of the depths, Geryon must be bargained with to carry the
traveller down to the Eighth Circle.
BOLGE I/THE FIRST EVIL DITCH - PANDERERS AND SEDUCERS
"With... honeyed tongue[s] and... dishonest lover's wiles... [they] left [women]
pregnant and forsaken. Such guilt condemns [them] to such punishment..." This
Bolge holds those sinners condemned for pandering to and seducing others in life.
In addition to the more conventional interpretations of panderer and seducer, this
Bolge also contains pimps, movie producers who talked actresses onto their
'casting couch', and emotional rapists.
In life these sinners goaded others on to serve their own foul purposes; so in Hell
they are driven in their turn. As such the Panderers and Seducers make two files,
one along either bank of the Bolge, and are driven at an endless fast walk by
horned demons who hurry them along with great lashes. These demons are black-
skinned, at least ten feet tall, very ugly, and mock the sinners as they whip them
along. The two files are divided by a wall of rock which has occasional gaps in it.
Panderers go in one direction along the Bolge, seducers in the other; those who did
both get to swap from one side to the other now and again.
The horned demons that drive them symbolise the vicious natures of the sinners
themselves, embodiments of their own guilty consciences. Dante may also have
intended the horns of the demons to symbolise cuckoldry and adultery.
BOLGE II/THE SECOND EVIL DITCH - FLATTERERS
In the second ditch are the souls of those who were flatterers in life; this includes
advertisers. In Hell they are sunk in excrement, the true equivalent of their false
flatteries on earth. They have also been physically altered so that excrement comes
out of their mouths whenever they speak.
Steaming from the Bolge comes a foul vapour, which crusts the banks of the Bolge
with a slime that sickens the eyes and hammered at the nose. The sinners in the
Bolge are sunk in the excrement in long lines of people. The river of excrement in
the Bolge seems so large "that [it] seemed to overflow the world's latrines..."
BOLGE III/THE THIRD EVIL DITCH - SIMONIACS
The Simoniacs are "those who corrupt the things of God, by selling Church offices
rather than assigning them according to the rules... As always the punishment is a
symbolic retribution. Just as the Simoniacs made a mock of holy office, so are they
turned upside down in a mockery of the baptismal font; they lay upside down in a
hole filled with oil from which only their feet stick out. Flames engulf their feet,
which twitch frenziedly. The simoniacs include some Popes (including Nicholas
II), as well as the likes of those who run theology diploma mills and New Age
gurus selling enlightenment.
We might suppose that those who mock holy matrimony, will spend eternity in real
chains.
BOLGE IV/THE FOURTH EVIL DITCH - SORCERERS, SOOTHSAYERS
AND FORTUNE TELLERS
Here, the soothsayers, sorcerers and fortune tellers are punished.
All of those condemned to this Bolge have their heads twisted around on their
necks so that they face backwards, and they have to move ahead by moving
backward. Such famous soothsayers as Amphiarus, Tiresias, Aruns, Manto,
Euryplus, Michael Scot, Guido Bonatti and Asdente are condemned to this Bolge,
along with all "those wretched hags who traded in needle, spindle, shuttle, for
fortune-telling, and cast their spells with image dolls and potions". Another type of
fortune teller found in this Bolge is a teacher who would label any slow reader as
dyslexic, thereby predicting the child's educational future.
BOLGE V/THE FIFTH EVIL DITCH - BARRATORS AND GRAFTERS
In this Bolge the Grafters, those who stole from people who trusted them, or those
who acquired money or gain in unfair and dishonest ways, lie in boiling pitch,
hardly daring to bring their heads above the surface, for fear of the "demons, who
tear them to pieces with claws, pitchforks and grappling hooks" if they see them.
The sticky pitch is symbolic of the sticky fingers of the Grafters. The demons, too,
suggest symbolic possibilities, for they are armed with grappling hooks and are
forever ready to rend and tear all they can get their hands on. Perhaps he who takes
in life, will be forced to give in Hell.
The devils of this Bolge are known as the Malebrache. Their leader is Malacoda.
The other devils are Alichino, Calcabrina, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia, Libicocco,
Draghignazzo, Ciriatto, Graffiacane, Farfarello, and Rubicante. They cannot leave
the fifth Bolge.
The main bridge across this Bolge was knocked down during Christ's descent into
Hell; however, there are alternative bridges that may be used to cross.
BOLGE VI/THE SIXTH EVIL DITCH - HYPOCRITES
In this Bolge are the hypocrites, who are "weighted down by great leaden robes
like cloaks with hoods pulled low covering the eyes, weary and defeated, in pain
they must walk eternally round and round a narrow track. The robes are brilliantly
gilded on the outside and are shaped like a monk's habit, for the hypocrite's
outward appearance shines brightly and passes for holiness, but under that show
lies the terrible weight of his deceit which the soul must bear through all eternity."
If the sinner stops walking their cloak becomes hotter and hotter. These sinners
include the likes of the (first) millennium priests as well as televangelists.
Like those of the fifth Bolge, the bridges across this Bolge were knocked down
during Christ's descent into Hell. The rockslides that remain must be climbed down
and then up to cross this Bolge.
BOLGE VII/THE SEVENTH EVIL DITCH - THIEVES
This Bolge is much wider than the others in this Circle.
The naked and terrified sinners within the Bolge are thieves and the buyers of
stolen goods. They are constantly attacked by snakes. Sometimes when they are
bitten, the shade combusts into flames and then into a heap of ash. Within a few
seconds, the ashes came to form the shade again, confused and in torment. At other
times the bite of the snakes (actually transformed sinners) steal the human form of
the sinner, turning the snake back into a human, while the sinner becomes a snake.
At other times yet, the snakes "curl themselves about the sinners like living coils of
rope, binding each sinner's hands behind his back, and knotting themselves through
his loins. No ivy ever grew about a tree as tightly as that monster wove itself limb
by limb about the sinner's body; they fused like hot wax, and their colours ran
together until neither wretch nor monster appeared what he had been when he
began..."
Cacus the Centaur is the guardian of this Bolge.
BOLGE VIII/THE EIGHTH EVIL DITCH - FRAUDULENT
COUNSELLORS/DECEIVERS
The eighth Bolge is brightly marked due to the flames that burn all around. Virgil
tells Dante that within each of the flames are souls, the souls of those who gave
false counsel, burning eternally. The likes of the man who approved the Dresden
fire-bombing and the man who led the mission are found in this Bolge.
BOLGE IX/THE NINTH EVIL DITCH - SOWERS OF DISCORD, SCANDAL
AND SCHISM
The floor of this Bolge is bloody mud. In it are held those who sowed discord,
scandal and schism in life. "And just as their sin was to rend asunder what God had
meant to be united, so are they hacked and torn through all eternity by a great
demon with a bloody sword. After each mutilation the souls are compelled to drag
their broken bodies around the pit and to return to the demon, for in the course of
the circuit their wounds knit in time to be inflicted anew." Sowers of Discord
include people such as Mohammed, Ali, Henry VIII, Vlad Tepes, lawyers who
goaded people into suits and divorces, people who advocated hatred, and people
who started wars or refused to end them. In addition many here are religious
schismatics - people who fractured the true church for their own gain.
The demon here is huge, twenty feet tall, and stands under one of (indeed, under all
of) the bridges across the Bolge. His 'sword' is the overdeveloped fingernail on his
overdeveloped middle finger, which he uses it like a rapier. He will challenge those
who attempt to cross the bridge, as well as those within the Bolge itself.
BOLGE X/THE TENTH EVIL DITCH - THE FALSIFIERS
In this Bolge, the last of the ten, are held those who falsified in life, the 'Evil
Impersonators', whatever the exact details of that which they falsified. There is a
terrible stench about this Bolge. All of the sinners here are plagued with different
types of illnesses, including leprosy (which creates the circle's terrible stench),
rabies (with the rabid running about biting people), and sexually transmitted
diseases. All of the sinners drag themselves on the ground because they are so
weak that they are unable to walk.
Falsifiers of Metals (including alchemists) are punished with scabs covering the
body which itch with no relief.
Falsifiers of persons are changed into hogs that chase others. "In life they seized
upon the appearance of others, and in death they must run with never a pause,
seizing upon the infernal apparition of these souls, while they in turn are preyed
upon by their own furies."
Falsifiers of coins - counterfeiters - suffer an eternal thirst, cracked tongue and
bloated belly. They can hear and see water a few feet ahead of them, but are unable
to reach it.
The Falsifiers of Words (false witnesses) suffer a continual intense fever, so
intense that their body continually smokes, as if cooking. These falsifiers include
women who would 'roll' unsuspecting, horny men, men who sold quack cures, and
psychiatrists who were egotistical frauds. Many of them are rabid. "Hecuba mourning, wretched, and a slave - having seen Polyxena sacrificed, and
Polydorous dead without a grave; lost and alone, beside an alien sea, began to bark
and growl like a dog in the mad seizure of her misery. But never in Thebes nor
Troy were Furies seen to strike at man or beast in such mad rage as two I saw,
pale, naked, and unclean, who suddenly came running toward us the[m], snapping
their teeth as they ran, like hungry swine let out to feed after a night in the pen."
THE WELL OF GIANTS
After the Bolgias, but still within the Eighth Circle, there is an empty, rocky land
which leads on down into the gloom of Hell. Perhaps it is reserved for brand news
sins, those yet to be invented.
On the far side of this land enormous giants are buried from the navel down in the
ground. They are bound in chains so tightly they can do little more than move their
eyes and snap their teeth (which are the size of medieval shields). The giants are
buried just outside a wall, which is chin-high to them. Its top is flat and the inner
side slopes sufficiently that one can climb up the giants and then slide down from
the wall into the ninth circle. The only problem with this is that it is so cold there
that any exposed flesh will stick to the ice...
The giant Antaeus can be persuaded to carry travellers to the Ninth Circle, known
as the Cocytus. Another of the other giants is Nimrod, the supposed builder of
Babylon, who is forced to blather nonsense for eternity. A third is named
Ephialtes, a giant son of Poseidon from Greek mythology.
CIRCLE IX - COCYTUS - THE TRAITORS
This Circle includes the second class of frauds, those who are traitors by means of
complex or treacherous fraud or malice. The landscape here is the frozen Pool of
Cocytus, and is "more like a sheet of glass than frozen water". The slightest breeze
leeches all the warmth from one, and nothing will help one to shelter from the cold.
The wind whips up to sweep those unworthy back to where they belong in Hell,
leaving the worthy behind.
This Circle is divided into four Regions, based on different kinds of treachery, and
are listed in the order in which one would encounter them when going down into
the very depths of Hell.
CAINA - TRAITORS TO KINDRED
The outermost region of the icy lake of Cocytus is the first division of the circle,
and is named Caina, after Cain, whom performed the first sin of treachery by
killing his brother Abel. Here, the traitors to kin are punished. Their punishment
consists of being frozen in the ice with only their faces above the ice to express
their pain. Sinners held here include Mordred, the nephew of King Arthur who also
attempted to kill him.
ANTENORA - TRAITORS TO THEIR COUNTRY
This region is named Antenora after the Trojan warrior who betrayed his city to the
Greeks. As symbolised by the region's name, this area contains those who were
traitors to their country, city, or political party. Only the heads of the those
imprisoned here project above the ice.
PTOLOMEA - TRAITORS TO THEIR GUESTS OR HOST
Ptolemea is where those who are traitors to guests, hosts or associates are found.
The region was named after the captain of Jericho, Ptolemy, who had Simon, his
father-in-law and two of his sons killed while they dined. Here, the punishment is
more severe due to the fact that the sinners, while being frozen flat on their backs
in the ice, also have their heads facing up with their eyes frozen with their tears.
Shades will tell travellers about the region if they break off the veils of ice over
their eyes.
The sinners in this region actually have bodies that remain in the living world and
continue to live. However, they are possessed by demons. As soon as one commits
a sin against a guest, their shade is sent to this region. An example of such a sinner
is Ser Branca D'Origa, who murdered his father-in-law after serving him dinner.
JUDECCA - TRAITORS TO THEIR BENEFACTORS
In this region those who betrayed their Lords and Masters or their benefactors are
punished by being entirely frozen in the ice, with no part of themselves exposed.
As one moves across this region of the Circle, across the ice a faint object becomes
visible. It is the King of Dis, Lucifer. The Dark Angel is as foul as he once was
fair. He too is frozen in the ice in the centre of Judecca, but with half his chest
above the ice; even the part projecting above the ice is more than a mile tall. He
has bat-like wings.
Lucifer has three faces from which he weeps tears mixed with bloody slaver, a
mockery of the Trinity. The forward-facing face is red, mocking Primal Love with
hatred; one is yellow, parodying Diving Omnipotence with impotence; and one is
black, perverting Highest Wisdom with ignorance. Each of the faces has a mouth
that is stuffed with one of the worst traitors of the world, those who are treacherous
against their benefactors. The first is Judas Iscariot, who was a traitor to Christ for
thirty pieces of silver. He endures the worst punishment by being chewed on by the
red face and being clawed by his bat-like wings. The second is Marcus Brutus,
traitor to Caesar. The black face is chewing him. The third sinner is Caius Cassius
Longinus, who was another member of the conspiracy against Caesar.
THE EXIT FROM HELL
To exit Hell, one must climb down the body of Lucifer, which is covered in shaggy
hair; the ice stops a yard or so from Lucifer himself. If one climbs down for long
enough, one eventually feels as if one is climbing up again. This marks that one is
crossing the centre of the earth, or "the point to which all weight from every part is
drawn". One then makes their way up to a type of hollow tomb, a echoing grotto of
dimly lit grey rock, from the floor of which the hooves of Lucifer project upwards,
upside-down from this perspective. A stream of clear, sweet water runs through
this grotto.
This place serves as the exit of Hell and entrance to Purgatory. Its roof goes up
thousands of miles, tapering gradually until the opening into Purgatory is reached.
This distance must be climbed, and when it is the travellers finally make their way
to the surface, where they come "out to see once more the stars" on the shore at the
base of Mount Purgatory...
The will fails one at night in Purgatory, and one can blindly stray about - usually
downwards. Sleeping unprotected or alone in Purgatory may also cause one to be
tempted by agents of the Devil, such as serpents. This can lead to a rapid descent
down Mount Purgatory...
Those expiating their sins in Purgatory do not eat or drink, and like those
condemned to Hell will heal from any wound or injury. They also do not cast
shadows, being dead as they are.
According to Statius it is entirely possible for sinners to be condemned to different
part of purgatory for their different sins in life, moving upwards from terrace to
terrace until all of their sins are purged.
Although it is part of the world, Purgatory is inviolate to all merely physical forces,
such as those of the weather, fire, ice, and so on. It is also guarded by angels, an
angelic gatekeeper at the entrance to purgatory proper, and angels stationed at the
way up from each terrace of Purgatory to the next (who when Dante travelled
through Purgatory, usually indicated to him and his companions the way up). This
tends to imply that if one somehow came to Purgatory without permission, and
tried to ascend, it would not be long before one was stopped or turned back to ones
proper place by the angels stationed throughout the terraces.
ARRIVING IN PURGATORY, AT ANTE-PURGATORY
Exiting from Hell, one emerges on a flat and reed-grown seashore, with the mass
of Mount Purgatory looming above. If one emerges at night, in the southern sky is
a cross of four particularly noticeable stars that light up the whole sky. These stars
are the symbols of the four Cardinal Virtues, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and
Justice - the virtues of active life, sufficient to guide men in the right path, but not
to bring them to Paradise. According to the geography of the time Asia and Africa
lay north of the equator, so that even to their inhabitants these stars were invisible,
meaning that only Adam and Eve have ever seen these stars, from the terrestrial
Paradise, on the summit of the Mount of Purgatory. Possibly the meaning is that
these stars, symbolising the cardinal virtues, had been visible only in the golden
age.
People are present by the exit from Hell, mostly those who guide souls up into
Purgatory, and know what it is. One of them is Cato. They will challenge those
who emerge, and if the emergees do not show proper reverence to God, and that
they come here by His will, who knows what may happen?
Along the shore, up the steep slope are shady places where, at dawn, enough dew
remains to wash away the stains of Hell from the emergee.
As dawn rises, an angel comes to the shore. It is at first visible as a bright white
light moving swiftly over the sea, out of the dawn. As it approaches it can be seen
to be standing on a boat, which leaps lightly over the waves, leaving scarcely a
ripple behind it, propelled by the angel's outstretched, motionless wings, with no
sails or oars. The angel is sufficiently glorious that mortal eyes shrink from it.
The boat which the angel pilots carries a hundred souls to purgatory. They sing 'In
exitu Israel de Aegypto' as the boat carries them along. The angel brings its boat to
the shore and disembarks the souls there, blessing each one as they step onto the
shore.
With all of its souls off-loaded, the angel sails away again in search of more souls
to bring here. Similar boatloads of souls arrive on the shores of Purgatory quite
regularly.
The newly arrived souls head up Mount Purgatory, guided and hurried along by the
likes of Cato, into Ante-Purgatory.
THE EXCOMMUNICATE
However, also upon the beach are the souls of those who have died in outside the
Church. Those who died repentant but un-reconciled with the Church must wait
outside of Purgatory proper for thirty times longer than they were outside the
Church, though the prayers of those on Earth can reduce this time somewhat.
Those who have come to Purgatory by means other than an angel's boat will have a
hard time finding a way further up the mountain from here - its lower slopes seem
simply too steep. However, souls here can, with persuasion, reveal the path
upwards, a steep and narrow cleft, so small that both shoulders brush its walls as
one climbs.
THE LETHARGIC
After quite a hard climb, one emerges from the cleft in the rocks onto a terrace, the
first level of Ante-Purgatory. From here Mount Purgatory can be seen looming
above, and the shore can be seen below.
This ledge holds the negligent, those who postponed their repentance to the last
hour, but who did repent before death. There is a band of them waiting on this
ledge. The Lethargic must wait, and pray, for a time equivalent to the time they
spent drifting through unrepentant days before they can be admitted upwards, into
Purgatory proper. Again, the prayers of those on Earth can reduce this time
somewhat. All of those here are lethargic in behaviour, as well as in religious
observance.
The narrow cleft continues upwards from here to the next ledge.
THE UN-ABSOLVED
This ledge holds the spirits of those who had delayed repentance, and met with
death by violence, but died repentant, pardoning and pardoned. Nonetheless, they
must wait, and pray upon this ledge until they are allowed upwards into Purgatory
proper. Mortal visitors will attract large numbers of those here, who wish to be
heard, and absolved.
Again, the cleft continues upwards, but this time also leads around Mount
Purgatory to the right.
THE NEGLIGENT RULERS
The cleft leads around the mountain to a valley cut into its side with the steep bare
height of the mountain above. The path winds down into the valley to the level of
its floor; it takes only three steps - far fewer than would seem necessary - to go
from the side of the valley to its floor. The valley is very lush. "Gold and fine
silver, cochineal and lead, The Indian wood-blue lucid and serene, The freshflaked shining of the emerald green, Would fade defeated from too hard compare
With the bright flowers and spreading verdure there. Not colour only, but their
fragrant scent - Nature to one a thousand odours blent - A large anonymous delight
supplied, Sweetness un-singled, unidentified."
In the midst of the valley a group of souls can be seen singing Salve Regina. These
are the rulers who were virtuous, but negligent of salvation in life, and who must
now wait and pray here until they are admitted to Purgatory proper. These include
the Emperor Rudolph, Ottocar (the father of King Wenceslas), Peter the Third of
Aragon and Henry III of England.
At dusk, all of those in the valley sing a hymn. Also at dusk, a snake comes to the
Valley to tempt those who wait within it, and make them its prey. It always comes
from the unguarded end of the valley, glancing backwards at times, licking and
sleeking its scales "as though assured and leisured for the overthrow of those it
sought".
However, to protect those within from the snake, a pair of Guardian Angels are
assigned to the valley, coming "from Mary's heart", and fly downwards through the
dusk. "Two angels in a single wonder came, and in their hands two swords of
shortened flame, shorn of their points; and their down-planing wings were green,
and all their wind-blown raiment, green as leaves new-born, as when on Earth is
seen the tender break of her returning springs". One settles close above where the
path upwards enters the valley; the other on the opposite side of the valley. No one
can bear to see the eyes of the Angels. They swoop down on and drive away the
snake before it can bother those in the valley - if they did not, those inside (and
elsewhere on the mountain) would be in danger of corruption, and falling, down
the mountain.
Dante rested in the Valley, and dreamed of an eagle. "Then saw I in the far blue
heights of air, with wide-stretched wings, a golden eagle soar: An eagle poised to
swoop. And I was where the friends of Ganymede he left behind stood (so it
seemed) and upward gazed, when he was raped aloft to Heaven's consistory.
'Perhaps,' I thought, 'it soars by custom here disdaining else to strike an earthly
prey.' And, as I thought, it wheeled, and stooped, and came swifter than any bolt,
and yet more dread, and bore me upward in its claws. . . The flame Of Heaven was
round us now. I felt it sear my shrinking flesh, and in that tortured fear perforce I
waked."
A gap in the face of Mount Purgatory leads upwards from the valley.
THE GATE OF PURGATORY; THE ANGELIC
GATEKEEPER
Going upwards again from the valley, one comes to the gate to Purgatory itself. At
first this appears as a simple fissure in the wall of the path, but as one approaches it
becomes clear that it is, in fact, a gateway entrance, with three steps before it that
shine blindingly in three colours. The first is white marble, polished to a mirror
finish. The second is basalt, coloured darker than purple with a rough finish and
two cracks along its length and width forming the sign of the Cross. The third, and
last, is flaming porphyry, brighter red then arterial blood. The gate itself is of solid
banded iron.
In this blinding light sits an angelic gatekeeper, as glorious as the one bringing
souls to the shore of Purgatory. He sits on a granite block, its feet on the third step,
holding a drawn sword, with light reflecting from it like a bright flame, too near to
the light of Heaven for mortal eyes. He wears a dusty-earth coloured robe.
The gatekeeper guards the gate into Purgatory proper well, but will allow those
who are sufficiently devout, and who have a valid reason through. Pleading
devoutly will help in this. When Dante comes to the gate, the gatekeeper inscribes
seven 'P's on his forehead with the point of his sword, one for each mortal sin, and
advises Dante that he does not fail to wash them all off as he ascends.
The gatekeeper has two keys in his robe, one of silver and one of gold. These were
given to him by St Peter, who advised him to err on the side of generosity when
using them. Both are needed to open the gate when used in order, silver then gold.
If the keys do not turn in the lock, then the person's entry to Purgatory is denied, at
least at present.
If the gate does open, which it does with a shrill shriek of un-oiled hinges, the
gatekeeper advises those let in not to look back as they ascend further - those who
do are brought back to ante-Purgatory, perhaps because, in looking back, they
show that they still have some urge for the sins below.
When passing through the gate, one hears a distant 'Te Deum'. The gate clangs shut
behind those who are let in.
Beyond the gate, the way up is narrow and difficult, with the rocks to both sides
being very irregular, the rocks receding back and protruding out at random. This
makes the upward path slow to traverse...
The first three terraces of purgatory expiate the sins which can be considered to
arise from love perverted, that is, sins which arise from the heart of the sinner
being set upon something which is wrong in the eyes of god. Those being purged
here must have their love set upon the right path.
THE FIRST TERRACE - THE PROUD
But eventually one emerges on the first terrace of Purgatory proper. This is a flat
are about six metres wide, with sheer rock rising before and falling away behind.
The bare, flat rock of the first terrace stretches away to left and right.
The rock face ahead has no visible way up to the next terrace, but is of clear white
marble, carved with many wonderful life-like sculptures giving examples of
humility - angels, the Ark of the Covenant on a car drawn by oxen with seven
choirs the carvings of whom seem almost to sing going before it, and many others.
Even the speech of the subjects seems to have been sculpted:
"Upon the fronting rock I gazed. It seemed, our further course to block, it rose
uncleft by fissure, gate or stair. But its own marvel filled mine eyes. Its white clear
marble was with sculptured wealth so well, so richly furnished, Polycletus' art not
only, but the actuality of Nature, might accept the inferior's scorn. I saw an angel
who, I might have sworn, spoke Hail! to her to whom he came to tell the gracious
verdict that reversed our woe, when the long-wept-for peace, by Heaven's decree,
to men was granted; held no more apart by God's refusal of our guilt. For she to
whom he bent, who turned the holy key of Love's high gates, this speech imprinted
showed: Ecce ancilla Dei! Apt as seal on the soft wax. ... Here the marble live
seemed motion, as their car the oxen drew, bearing the sacred ark, which taught the
bane of those who more than seemly service do. Before them moved seven choirs.
My senses warred: 'They sing.' 'They sing not.' With no more accord sight knew
the incense real that scent denied. The humble Psalmist, more and less than king,
danced on before, with garments girded high; While Michal, from a palace window
nigh, looked sombre scorn upon him. I moved to bring before mine eyes the next
bright history that gleamed beyond that leaning queen's contempt. Here rode the
prince for whom Saint Gregory by prayer won Heaven: the saint's high victory
according to the Emperor's worth. Was he, Trajan, outriding seen. Beneath his rein
a woman wept. Around him horsemen rode with stir of trampling hooves beneath.
Above, the golden eagles that his standards showed swayed in the wind, so live the
scene. It seemed, the woman holding to his bridle said: 'Lord, wilt thou venge me
for my dearest dead, My son, for whom I mourn uncomforted?' And he to her: 'My
soon return await.' And she, as one by urgent grief possessed: 'But, Lord, if thou
return not?' 'Then will he True justice deal who takes my vacant state.' 'But will
another's deed be praise for thee, Who hast thyself ignored it?' He thereat: 'Take
comfort, for thy prayers prevail. The plea of justice rules, and pity's call must be as
potent to delay me.' Visible speech so sculptured we beheld, beyond the reach of
earthly art: nor can I clearly tell a thing so different."
Around this terrace slowly move those purging their sins here, each weighed down
and bent over by a heavy burden, praying as they go, for themselves and those on
Earth who are still in danger of Hell.
On the pavement itself, placed where the penitents here cannot help but see them,
bent under their loads as they are, are carvings as wondrous as those on the cliffface, giving examples of the sin of Pride, which is the sin being purged on this
terrace.
"There saw I Lucifer as lightning fall, Heaven's noblest cast from Heaven. The
further side showed where Briareus, raised by equal pride, smitten by celestial
lightning, sprawled supine, by chill death weighted to the earth he spurned.
Thymbraeus I saw. Pallas and Mars I saw yet armed around their father, gazing
down upon the giant's dismembered limbs. I saw Nimrod beneath his toil
bewildered stand, the nations ranged around on either hand who shared his pride in
Shinar. Tears were mine thy seven and seven children, Niobe, slain in their youth
around thy feet to see. And here was Saul, face-fallen, pierced and dead by his own
conquered weapon: rain nor dew Gilboa from that fated moment knew. And
foolish here I saw Arachne too, half-spider now, and mournful to survey the tatters
of the work her hurt had wrought. And Rehoboam, his high threats forgot, now
terrored in his clanging chariot fled the hard pursuit behind him. Forward lay
Vision succeeding vision. Alcmaeon within the lucid pavement made appear his
mother's bright adorning bought too dear. Further, Sennacherib on the temple stone
stretched lifeless, while his murdering sons withdrew. And next Tomyris, who to
Cyrus said: 'With blood that was thy thirst I feed thee full.' And all the pitiless ruin
she caused was shown. Headless beyond, the bold Assyrian bull. Great Holofernes,
sprawled, whom Judith slew, while on its flying rear his army bled. Troy saw I also
there, how piteous low! Blackened and hollowed by its eating fire, and all its pride
degraded."
Around the curve of the first terrace from when one ascends to it one eventually
nears the way up to the second terrace. An angel is stationed there, white-winged
and white-robed, with an unthreatening visage, full of light.
For Dante, he beats his wings across Dante's forehead, erasing one of the 'P's the
gatekeeper placed there and making the others fainter. Dante quickly discovers that
the fewer and fainter the 'P's on his forehead, the easier his ascent.
Upwards, a neatly-cut but steep and narrow stair is carved into the rock, so narrow
that ones elbows easily touch both sides at once as one ascends to the second
terrace.
THE SECOND TERRACE - THE ENVIOUS
This terrace is very similar to that below, but lacks the carvings, being very bare
and empty, with no apparent penitent.
However, as one walks along the second terrace, one begins to hear the wings of
invisible entities sweeping past, and among other things they call the traveller to
join them "in their courtesy to join the Table of Love" as they fly invisibly past.
On this terrace the sin of Envy is purged. The penitents here sit, dressed in haircloth, along the inner edge of the terrace, so still and so coloured that they are, at
first, very hard to notice. Their eyelids have been sewn closed with threads of iron,
and they resemble blind beggars who constantly sigh and pray to the saints
to be prayed for. They can and will talk to passing travellers, and warns of the
dangers of Envy, though some do not like to relive the memories this stirs...
At this point, Dante is assailed by thunderous flying voices that are a warning to
him to stay on the correct path, in the same way as a bit keeps a horse on the
correct path. It seems that Dante is, at this point, paying to little attention to
Heaven, which he can see above him, and too much to Hell and the Earth below.
As one carries on around the terrace, one comes to face the Sun, which seems very
bright, too bright to be shaded even with ones hands, and which seems to advance
on one.
In fact, and angel is standing in the sunlight at the foot of the way up to the third
terrace. He tells travellers to enter the less steep steps which lead up to the next
terrace. He erases a second 'P' from Dante's forehead.
'Beati Misericordes' accompany one up these stairs.
On the way up, Dante is lectured by Virgil regarding the way in which, the more
people who are accepted into Heaven, the more God likes it, as the larger the
numbers there, the more they reinforce one another's praise and worship, to the
greater glory of God. "The Eternal Good Is both ineffable and infinite. The more
there are who in its rays unite, The more its conflagration heats. The more Of folk
in Heaven whose souls have understood Each other, in the light of Love Divine,
The more of love doth midst and round them shine, As mirrors, each to each,
reflected light Cast to their own advantage."
For half a league or so, Dante has ecstatic visions of forebearance on the stair.
"Here a temple showed, with moving groups about its doors, and one who with a
mother's gesture called: 'My son, why hast thou disregarded? While that we have
sought thee grieving?' ... Then a crowd I saw fired with fierce hate, and voices
shouted: 'Slay!' And in their midst a youth was bound, and they hurled stones on
him from every side, that he sank deathward, but his eyes were gates of prayer
raised to an opening heaven, and from his lips, un-stilled by scourging pains or
life's eclipse, petitions for their pardon came, that so stirred pity to see it."
These are sent to him to aid him by opening his heart to the peace of God.
Higher up the stair, smoke begins to drift across the sun, darkening it more and
more until sight is completely lost and there is no clear air. One stumbles on
blindly.
THE THIRD TERRACE - THE WRATHFUL
Through the smoke, one begins to hear the 'Agnus Dei', "Oh, lamb of God, who
takes all sins away" coming from all sides. These are the voices of the penitent
who are being purged of their Wrath on the third terrace and who are hidden in the
smoke. They ask travellers to be mentioned in the prayers of those who pass.
The way up out of the third terrace lies opposite that up onto the third terrace.
Going onward through the smoke the sun eventually becomes visible again.
Dante sees visions of examples of anger in the clearing smoke. "Born of Light, by
Heavenly Will, Its power descends upon us. She who sings, Impious, in likeness of
the bird which most For sorrow in its song finds ecstasy, First my imagination
held: so still My mind was mirrored on itself that naught Intruded inward to divert
its thought. Next after Philomela came a sight Of one who hung in torment
crucified, Yet haughty and dispiteous while he died, While round him grouped
Ahasuerus stood, Esther, and Mordicai called the Good, Who was of speech
unbending. As will burst A bubble, failing of its watery frame, So passed this
vision. In its place there came A maiden, weeping anguished tears, who said: 'O
Queen, why hast thou made this choice accurst, Wrath-blinded? Not to lose
Lavinia, Thy own life hast thou lost; so losing me. Mine is the grief, the bitter grief
for thee. Oh, Mother, for thy ruin must I weep Much more than for another's.'"
Some of the light which seems to come from the sun in fact comes from an angel,
who guards the stair upward, and who will point it out to travellers. His glory
makes it impossible for mortals to look at him. The angel removed a third 'P' from
Dante's forehead, sweeping his wings over Dante's face to do so, saying "Beati
Pacifici who from evil wrath are free."
The stair upwards from the third terrace is wide enough for two to walk abreast.
The fourth terrace of purgatory expiates the sins which can be considered to
arise from love defective, that is, love which, although directed towards the
correct subjects is too weak to drive the sinner to act as they should. Those being
purged here must have their love strengthened so as to drive them correctly.
THE FOURTH TERRACE - THE SLOTHFUL
On this terrace, those who were slothful in life, who loved the Good but who did
not act to promote it as well as they might have expiate their sins. Their love is
strengthened on this terrace - "the loitering oar resumes its regular stroke."
This terrace is of plain undecorated flinty rock. As one goes along it in search of
the way up to the fifth terrace, a clamourous outcry arises from in the distance.
This comes from a crowd of people running at speed along the terrace, weeping
and crying aloud as they go. "Swiftly they came, and voices cried aloud amid their
weeping. Two in front proclaimed: 'How quickly Mary to the mountain ran!' and:
'Caesar once, Ilerda to subdue, struck at Marseilles, and ere his foemen knew had
entered Spain.' And other of the crowd, jostling behind, cried: 'Hasten! Hasten all!
From insufficient love let love's pursuit not slacken, and the power of grace recruit
from strain to reach it.' ... In the rear they ran, and shouted: 'Those who saw the
seas divide to give them passage, in their sloth they died before the chosen heirs to
Canaan came.' And: 'They who would not, with Anchises' son, toil to the end, they
bought a life of shame with that reluctance.'"
The members of the crowd are quite spread out, but still move quite fast, as a mass,
passing anyone who is merely walking and racing off into the distance. There are
many such crowds, each one racing around the terrace. They are not allowed to
pause in their running through night and day.
Dante was assailed by a dream of a Siren on this terrace, from which he was only
rescued by the intervention of Virgil. "A woman crooked in deformity, squinteyed, and stammering in her speech, with hands Ill-shaped to make caresses, and
her hair it seemed disease had whitened. Such to see was little bliss, but as the light
expands with morn, and the chilled limbs their strength renew which night hath
stiffened, so my gaze on her had power for her transforming. Straight and tall she
rose, and soft swift speech, and eyes of love, she gave, and in her face the warm
blood beat, even as desire would have it. I could not stir mine eyes from that
regard. Her speech was sweet as song, and song became. 'I am,' she sang, 'I am that
siren who the seaman charms in distant ocean. Not to heed would wrong the
fountains of delight. To find my arms I turned Ulysses once. Who once belong to
what I gave them will but seldom go. Such peace I give.' She had not ceased her
song when came another of a different hue, alert to foil her, holy and austere,
'Virgil,' who cried, 'behold, what meet we here?' And he came forward in my
dream, as though he saw this last one only, on the first, rude hands who laid, and
tore her garments through, Opening her before, and showed her belly bare.
Whereat there issued from that womb accursed such stench as waked me."
Progressing further around the terrace, one arrives at the way upwards, at which is
stationed an angel, who invites travellers to 'Come hither' with a voice far beyond
those of mortals in its sweetness and benignity. He has white, swan-like wings,
with which he fans those who ascend the stairway past him. For Dante, he removed
one of the 'P's which had been inscribed on his forehead.
The fifth, sixth and seventh terraces of purgatory expiate the sins which can be
considered to arise from love excessive, that is, love which although directed
towards ends which god considers good is directed towards them too much for
the sinner to gain bliss from them, and also so that the sinner is distracted from
the love of other things of which god approves. Their love must be cooled to a
more sensible level.
THE FIFTH TERRACE - THE AVARICIOUS
The way up to the fifth terrace brings one out onto a place not unlike the other
terraces. This terrace differs from the others in that the ground here is covered with
people lying face-down, sobbing tears and lamentations. In between their tears they
sigh, and speak words such as 'Adhaesit pavimento' and 'Anima mea.'
Those expiating their sins here are both those who were too avaricious in
life, and those who were not avaricious enough. They are those who turned their
eyes to Earth and its goods, separating themselves from God by their own will, by
either desire for earthly things, or too great a rejection of them. Now where, in life,
they did not lift their eyes to Heaven, their avarice holding them from high
pursuits, now they must lie with faces and bodies presses to the Earth until their sin
is cleansed. Those doing so claim that there is no worse punishment in all of
Purgatory.
There are so many people lying on the ground here that one must pick one's way
carefully to avoid treading on them; the easiest way is along the very edge of the
terrace.
When Dante was here, he felt Mount Purgatory shake as if in a mighty earthquake.
When this happened, a cry of 'To God be Glory in Excelsis' rose up from all those
in Purgatory. The mountain quakes in this way when someone at last ends the
expiation of their sins and is freed to ascend, and all of those in Purgatory hail their
release. Dante and Virgil learned this from Statius, the former sinner whose release
caused the shaking of the mountain in the first place.
The way up from the fifth terrace lies to the right of the place where one climbs up
onto the terrace. Another angel stands watch at the entrance of the way up, and
when Dante passed erased another of the 'P's from his forehead. The way up to the
sixth terrace is a steep one.
THE SIXTH TERRACE - THE GLUTTONOUS
In the same way as below, the steps leading up from the sixth terrace lie to the
right of those which lead up to it.
As one goes around the sixth terrace, in the middle of it an apple tree becomes
visible. It branches hold ripe, sweet-smelling applies. In shape it brings to mind an
inverted fir tree, growing broader the higher one goes, making it impossible to
climb. A stream falls from the mountain above onto the tree, drenching all of its
leaves.
Approaching the tree, a voice from out of the branches warns one not to eat of the
fruit of the tree, as if one does, ones food will lack as if it were no food at all.
There is no sign of the source of the voice. The voice will then continue on, giving
examples of the virtue of Temperance. "More did it in her thoughts to Mary seem
that all the wedding should be fitly set and furnished forth than that rich wines
should wet the lips which answer now for you. And they, the Roman matrons of
old time, would stay their thirst with water. Daniel counted naught the price of
food, if wisdom might be bought with the same coin. The earliest age of men had
golden beauty of simplicity: acorns were sweet, and brooks were nectar then. And
so John Baptist in the wilderness ate honey and locusts only - wherefore he, the
greatness of abstention to express, is glorious in the gospel's imagery."
Those on this terrace are expiating the sin of gluttony. As such, they are starved
skeletons, with chalk-white cavernous faces, hollow eyes, skin tight to their bones
and all the other signs of prolonged hunger. To those on this terrace, and indeed
most likely to anyone who is at all hungry, the scent of the apples and the water
falling on the tree is irresistible, and they cannot help but eat and drink of them.
Unfortunately, that is part of their punishment, as in doing so they are left hungrier
and thirstier than before.
A number of those on this ledge are former highly-placed members of the Church,
now paying the price for their indulgences in life. At first reluctant to speak, as
soon as one talks to a traveller, many those here will flock around visitors to speak
to them, and tell their tale.
Continuing on around the terrace, one comes upon a second apple tree, with broadspread fruit-laden branches bending low. This tree is concealed by the curve of the
mountain so that one is close to it when it is first seen. Its fruit, although appearing
to hang low, are in fact held up just too high to reach. There is a crowd of sinners
around the tree, raising appealing hands towards its fruit, until they become
disillusioned and depart.
A voice from the branches of this tree warns passers-by not to come too close, as
the tree is one grown from a seed of the apple tree from which Eve plucked that
fateful apple. "Pass warily, nor come too nigh; a tree there is beyond from which
Eve plucked the knowledge of sad years, and this one from that fatal seed is bred."
Having spoken its warning, the voice from the tree will continue on, speaking of
the dangers of gluttony and the punishments awaiting those who succumb to it.
A thousand paces or so beyond this second tree a voice hails travellers. It comes
from an angel, glowing with a fierce, bright clear red light. He points out the way
up to next terrace.
When Dante passed, a wind smelling of sweet graces and a million flowers
brushed his forehead, as the angel's wings, shedding an ambrosial fragrance, erased
the penultimate 'P' from his forehead.
The staircase up to the seventh terrace is narrow, so that travellers must go in
single file. As Dante ascended he was lectured by Statius on generation, the
infusion of the Soul into the body, and the corporeal semblance of Souls after
death.
THE SEVENTH TERRACE - THE LUSTFUL
One emerges onto the seventh terrace to face a field of tall, clear, flames, held back
from a narrow path along the edge of the terrace by a strong wind rising from
below.
There is a sound of voices from out of the fire, singing hymns, 'Summae' and 'Deus
Clementiae', and those expiating their sins here can be seen moving in the fire,
burning as they chant. They also cry of the virtues of husbands and wives, the
obligations of marriage, and repeat their hymns again. Those on this terrace are
expiating the sin of lust, having their excessive passion burned away in fire.
There are, in fact, two groups of sinners in the fire, one stationary, one moving
around the terrace. When the two groups meet, their members kiss shortly and
move on without pausing, as they turn away crying "Sodom and Gomorrah!" and
"Pasiphae in a cow incarnate lay that she might draw the bull her lust to sate!" The
moving group are those who committed unnatural acts of lust (those who cry
'Sodom and Gomorrah!') while the stationary are those who sinned no less, but by
simply lusting too much, rather than wrongly.
Around the terrace, one comes upon the angel who guards the way up to the
Earthly Paradise, as glorious as all the others. He sings "Beati mundi corde" in a
voice with such an intensity of life that no human voice can compete with it. The
angel tells travellers that they may not ascend unless they submit themselves to the
fire - the way up lies on the inner edge of the terrace, through the flames, towards
the chanting which comes from the other side. "O ye spirits purified, you may not
enter by this stair except the fire hath licked you. Through its flames ascend,
heeding the chant beyond." This angel removed the last 'P' from Dante's forehead.
Dante was very dubious about this, but was assured by Virgil that the fire was of a
spiritual nature, and would not harm him physically. And indeed, this is the case.
The fire does not burn the body, but it is nonetheless very painful. "After them I
went, but when I felt that cleansing heat's intensity, I would have flung myself in
boiling glass to quench the burning."
A chant is heard from the other side as one makes one's way through the flames.
"Venite, benedicti Patris," it says. It from a blinding white glow which is present at
the bottom of the steep ascent to the Earthly Paradise, where one emerges from the
flames. It encourages those who emerge to carry on upwards while there is light to
do so.
The ascent, though steep, runs straight between the rock faces to either side, and
lies so that the light of the setting sun illuminates it along its whole length until the
sun is entirely set.
Dante, Virgil and Statius slept on the stairs rather than ascend all the way to the
Earthly Paradise after emerging from the flames. While he slept, Dante dreamed. "I
dreamed a dame I saw youthful and fair. Amid a field of flowers she pluckt, and
wandered singing. This she sang: 'Tell him who asks my name that Leah am I.
With my fair hands a garland wreath I weave, my mirror and myself to satisfy. But
Rachel at her glass from morn to eve sits ever. Fain her own sweet eyes is she to
worship: better with my hands to me it seems to twist my crown; for diversely my
pleasure is to do, and hers to see.'"
And carrying on up the stairs, one emerges in the Earthly Paradise...
THE EARTHLY PARADISE
The very top of Mount Purgatory is a flat, circular land. This land is the Garden of
Eden, from which Adam and Eve were exiled so long ago.
The Earthly Paradise is like a beautiful lush garden, the place where human life
began, before the Fall. The sun shines, the sky is blue, grass and shrubs grow,
flowers bloom. None of them show any signs of disease or death, as if carefully
tended. The trees are beautiful. Everything smells fresh, fragrant and lovely. The
breeze sings gently through the trees, accompanied by a great deal of birdsong,
strong enough to be pleasant, but not so strong as to be annoying. It is very easy to
walk through the place, though there are no obvious paths. In some places there are
meadows, the lush grass dotted with many beautiful flowers. It seems a place of
eternal peace. All of the living things there are eternal, made so by God, and
inclement conditions never trouble the place.
Dante encountered a beautiful damsel, Matilda, picking flowers in one such
meadow, singing as she went. She explained to Dante about the Garden, its
creation and maintenance, and the two clear, beautiful streams which flow through
it. The first (the one by which Dante finds her) is the Lethe, which empties the
minds of those who drink of it of all cancelled sins. The second one, the Eunoe,
when drunk enhances ones recollection of the good which one has accomplished.
The Lethe must be drunk of before the Eunoe, though. The water in the two
streams flows eternally.
THE MYSTIC PROCESSION
As Dante walked with Matilda, on the other side of the Lethe to where he was (the
same side as Matilda), a bright white light burst through the woods all around
them, as fierce and sudden as lightning, but constant. A sweet melody came
through the light, at which point Dante felt reproach at Eve for causing all of this
glory to be lost to mankind. The melody became an articulate chanting - voices
singing 'Hosanna'.
The light proved to come from seven candles, their flames so pure and steady that
they could be confused with golden masts, leaving long rainbow trails through the
air behind them. They moved of themselves, unsupported.
Behind them came twenty-four Elders, prophets and evangelists, robed in a white
which shines beyond the whites seen on Earth come, going two-by-two, garlanded
with lilies. In unison they sing "Of Adam's daughters blest be thou, and ever blest
thy beauties".
Following the Elders came four six-winged angels, moving in a square formation,
their wings crowded with eyes, each one crowned with a garland of green leaves,
like the angels seen by Ezekiel and John. In the square delineated by the angels
moves a two-wheeled chariot, drawn by a griffin whose high-raised wings (raised
up too high for Dante to see their tips) pass through the rainbow trails left by the
candles, but do not break them. The bird-like forelimbs of the griffin are golden;
the rest of it is white and vermilion red. The chariot it drew is beautiful, but simple
in construction. To the right of the chariot three damsels (actually nymphs) danced
a whirling dance, the first glowing as red as the heart of fire, the second glowing an
emerald green, the third a white as pure as the new-drifted snow. On the left of the
chariot another four nymphs dance, all draped in purple. The leader of the purpledressed nymphs has three eyes.
After the chariot and its attendants came two more elders, wearing different
clothing to those who went before, sober and grave of mien. One held a caduceus,
the other a bright and naked blade, seeming to be so keen that even though he is
out of its reach it inspires fear in Dante. One is a healer; the other is not.
Next came four more Elders in humbler clothes, and behind them an old man with
undimmed eyes, but who is blinded by an inward dream.
Lastly come seven garbed in the same style as those following the candles but
rather than being garlanded in lilies, these are garlanded in fire-red roses and other
scarlet flowers so that they seem crowned in fire.
This Mystic Procession symbolises the Triumph of the Church.
When the chariot was level with Dante, the entire procession halted at the sound of
a crack of thunder, and all of those in it gathered around the chariot and sang,
crying "Come, spouse to Lebanon", "Benedictus gui Venis" and "Menibus o date
lilla plenis", scattering flowers over the chariot as they did so, so that it en-globed
in a cloud of petals.
A woman appeared out of the cloud of flowers, crowned with olive branches, from
which a white veil hung, wearing a green mantle over a flame-red gown. This is
Beatrice, Dante's new guide.
It was at this point that Dante noticed that although Statius was present, Virgil had
disappeared, his work in escorting Dante here completed. Virgil being unable to go
any further towards Heaven, or see any further ahead, he had departed. It is not
entirely clear what becomes of Virgil after this; presumably he returns to Limbo, in
Hell...
Dante recognises Beatrice from when she was alive on Earth, and cannot help but
stare. She reproves him for this rudeness. Those in the procession sing "In te
Domine speravi", and Dante weeps in anguish at the shame of this. Members of the
procession ask Beatrice why Dante is being chastised, and she tells them that it is
because he spurned her in life, and fell so far that only his seeing Hell could save
him, and that Dante himself requires repentance before he can enter Heaven.
Hearing this, Dante eventually admits his sin, and his error, confessing all.
By now the procession has ceased strewing flowers over Beatrice, and Dante is
almost hypnotised by her, suddenly finding himself immersed in the stream (the
Lethe) up to his neck. Beatrice baptises him in the stream, and he drinks of it
before emerging on the far side (where the procession is) and being embraced by
the purple-clad nymphs (who are Beatrice's handmaids), one after another, before
they lead him to Beatrice who is now standing by the griffin, un-veiled. He sees the
griffin reflected in her eyes as the other three nymphs dance around him to an
angelic choir.
Statius has accompanied Dante across the stream and to the chariot.
Then the procession turned, wheeling rightwards to face the sun, and moving off,
with Dante and Statius in tow, everyone moving in time to the angelic choir.
Three bow-shots later, the procession halts at the base of a huge tree, bare of fruit,
flower or foliage, which looms huge overhead. This is the apple tree from which
Eve plucked the fatal fruit, so long ago. Dante is told that anyone who strips the
Tree of its leaves or fruit is committing blasphemy against God by doing so.
Upon arrival, everyone in the procession cries out to the griffin. "Blessed art thou,
O Grifon, that thy beak rends not the rind of this accursed tree. For sweet although
the tasted wood may be, bitter its tortures in the belly's bound", and the griffin
draws the pole of the chariot to the tree, and binds it there, saying "So is preserved
all seed of righteousness". When it does this, the tree bursts into life again, leaves
and flowers appearing all over it, accompanied by a heavenly tune which entranced
Dante into sleep.
Dante woke to find Matilda bending over him. Of the procession, only Beatrice,
the chariot and the seven nymphs remain, the other having risen up into heaven
while Dante slept. Beatrice tells him to write of what has been revealed to him on
his journeys when he returns to Earth.
At this point an eagle stooped from the skies down at the tree, tearing its bark with
its claws and shredding swathes of foliage, its wings smiting the holy chariot
before it returned to the sky.
Then a starved vixen crawled out the undergrowth and towards the chariot, but was
driven off by the scourging words of Beatrice, and fled back into the undergrowth.
With the vixen fled, the eagle struck again, at the chariot this time, leaving feathers
scattered over its floor, and a voice from Heaven came, saying "O ship of mine!
What evil cargo weights thy hold!". Dante saw a scorpion rise from between the
two wheels of the chariot, boring through its floor with its sting, then wrenching
out a part of the floor and wandering about with it, as if with a trophy.
The chariot, however, immediately regenerated itself by sprouting a covering of
feathers, like those which the eagle shed onto it, before growing seven heads, three
along the chariot pole, and one at each corner of the chariot body. The lead head on
the pole was horned like a bull, while the four at the corners of the body each have
a single horn.
In the car then appeared a harlot, then a fierce giant, rising up as if to keep her for
himself, and they embraced for a while, though the eyes of the harlot roved onto
Dante they did so. When the giant noticed this, he whipped the harlot from head
top toe and freed the monster which was the chariot from the tree and raced off
through the woods with it, and out of sight.
With the chariot gone, the seven nymphs sing around Beatrice, sighing and pitiful,
and, with the nymphs before her, and Dante, Statius and Matilda behind she leads
them off through the woods, saying "Modicum et vos videbitis me", inviting Dante
closer so that he may better hear what she has to say and then, before long, chiding
him for asking no questions of her, telling him to reject his shame and fear and to
speak as one fully awake, rather that somewhat enmeshed in dreams. And so Dante
is told about the chariot (God's vessel, though it endures no more), the creatures
and what it all means. Beatrice also speaks a prophesy concerning one who shall
restore the Roman Empire. "Thou knowest the chariot which the scorpion tore was
once God's vessel, but endures no more; but let him well believe whose guilt is
this: God's vengeance will not spare that deed amiss for eaten sops above the
victim's grave. The eagle who with plumage strewed the car, making it monstrous
first, and then to prey, will not be heirless always. This I say, who see its certain
coming. Stars too high for human hindrance or assault decree That very near from
now the time shall see five hundred, ten, and five, God's ministry, the two who
sinned, both giant and harlot, slay."
After a time Dante is led to a place where two streams emerge from a single spring
- the source of the Eunoe.
And with Dante and Statius both having drunk from the Eunoe, partaking of its
indescribable, almost addictive sweetness, they are purified and ready to ascend
to Heaven...
Perhaps the Eunoe is the last test before entering Heaven, and those who are not
worthy do become addicted to its waters, and cannot leave its banks until
they are worthy...
THE ASCENT TO HEAVEN; THE SPHERE OF FIRE
Beatrice stares up at the noonday sun, and Dante does likewise for as long as he is
able. When he drops his gaze it seems to him as if a second sun is illuminating
everything. Dante finds that he and Beatrice have ascended to a sphere of celestial
fire.
They continue to ascend, and Dante feels himself to be pure light, pure spirit, and
draws himself towards God with this feeling. Beatrice tells him that he is now
rising up faster than lightning strikes down. She states that everything seeks its
own level and that the flame (of the Sun) seeks the Moon and is the heart of things
that die. The natural urge of men's souls is to rise to Heaven, but they can kill this
urge by sin and false joys - it is their not rising which is un-natural. 'The natural
deathless thirst in Heaven to be - the aspiration all from birth may claim - impelled
us upward with the speed of light wellnigh as fast to rise as eyes could see into the
luminous vault's immensity, the while I on Beatrice gazed, and she gazed upward.'
It is not clear what happens to Statius from this point onwards; it is probably safe
to assume that he ascends into Heaven separately from Dante and Beatrice.
THE HEAVEN OF THE MOON
As one ascends, one arrives at the first of the levels of Heaven, that closest to the
Earth - the Heaven of the Moon. 'It seemed a cloud enclosed us, shining, dense,
with polished surface firm that, diamond-bright, was dazzling in the sun's reflected
light. We passed within the eternal pearl, as sinks a ray of sunlight in the stream,
which drinks the light, land is not opened: cleft and whole. If I were body or
unsubstanced soul I know not.' This is not unlike being inside a dazzlingly bright
cloud.
When there, Beatrice explains the dark marks seen upon the face of the Moon to
Dante. Beatrice points out that they cannot be caused by variance in the density or
transparency of the Moon, as otherwise eclipses would not be as they are. She tells
Dante that they are a visible sign of the diverse states and essences distributed
throughout the Heavens.
The Heaven of the Moon is the slowest moving of the Heavens, being the furthest
from the Primum Mobile.
As this point Dante is surrounded by the blessed of this Heaven. 'As translucent
glass, or shallow water where the light will pass clear to the bottom, mirrors those
who gaze. Faint as a white pearl on as white a brow, so there were many faces
round me now eager for speech'. They appear as if made of, or glowing with,
moonlight, and can fade in and out of sight at will, as a stone sinks into dark
waters. They are relegated here, to the lowest Heaven, for the failure of their vows
of chastity in life, even if not by their own fault, such as those who were victims of
rape.
Dante wordlessly questions Beatrice as to why those blessed are placed in a lower
Heaven because of things which, in life, they could not control. She explains that
all of the blessed are equally high in Heaven, and close to God, but differ in what
part of the Eternal Inspiriation they are aware of. Those visible in each Sphere of
Heaven are not contained in that Sphere, but appear to be there because they claim
that particular celestial eminence.
As for their apparently being punished for things beyond their control, Beatrice
points out that this is because they bent to that violence, by lack of will, rather than
resisting unto death, and that this is important because Free Will is God's greatest
gift to man. She tells Dante that the Old and New testaments are man's guide
within the care of the Church, but that people should also beware of 'evil
shepherds' and not be led astray by them - to be 'men, not sheep'.
Following this, with Beatrice, Dante almost instantly ascends to the second sphere
of Heaven.
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
As soon as one arrives at the Heaven of Mercury one is surrounded by hundreds of
spirits of the Blessed, each one casting an affluent glow. The spirits in this Heaven
glow with the light of the sun, and are clothed in the same light. They are pleased
to see visitors, as they see them as people by whom their loves are magnified. They
can come and go almost instantly, flying like swift sparks.
The spirit of the Emperor Justinian tells Dante that 'this small low star on which we
meet contains good spirits passionate in pursuit of fame and honour of earthly life,
and hence desires may swerve so far that strength which love requires is somewhat
lessened for its mounting rays. But yet no less we give to God the praise, no less
perceive that our deserts and gains are justly measured in the perfect scale. For in
us the live justice doth prevail, and malice may not warp affections here.'
That is, those here are those who gave service in life, but whose service was
somewhat marred by ambition.
Following the departure of the spirits of this Heaven, Beatrice lectures Dante on
the fall of Man, and God's scheme for his redemption, and then, as quickly as
before, Dante and Beatrice ascend to the third sphere of Heaven.
THE HEAVEN OF VENUS
Dante does not know where he is going until he arrives at the Heaven of Venus. It
is the most beautiful place he has ever been. The souls in this Heaven glow and
dance like the flame of a torch, at varying speeds, some faster than the lightning.
As they go, they sing hosannas in voices so beautiful that anyone hearing them will
long to hear them for ever after.
Those in this Heaven are the spirits of lovers, but those whose love was marred by
wantonness.
From this Heaven, the glory of the Sun, in the next Heaven, is visible.
Some of those in this Heaven are unhappy with the avarice and corruption of the
Papal court.
THE HEAVEN OF THE SUN
Again, one travels instantly up from the Heaven of Venus to the Heaven of the
Sun.
The Heaven of the Sun glows with a glorious light. 'Round us bent a glowing
girdle, living, conquering, that more than all it showed could sweetly sing, making
itself a circling crown, and we its centre.'
Each of the spirits here is an ardent sun in their own right, glowing with the light of
love. They dance and whirl about, and will circle around visitors such as Dante to
inform them of what lies in this Heaven. They can also see the thoughts of visitors.
Different groups of spirits may speak to visitors as they pass through this Heaven.
Thomas Aquinas is one of the spirits here, who consist of wise religious men,
doctors of the Church and teachers.
From here one ascends rather more slowly to the Heaven of Mars.
THE HEAVEN OF MARS
As one approaches Mars itself, one can see that on its face is a huge white
Christian cross with the figure of Christ upon it, which gleams as if with moving
specks of white light. Up from the specks of light comes a sublime hymn that can
easily entrance the listener, whose theme is 'Arise and Vanquish'. 'From arm to
arm, from crest to base, thereon there moved innumerable specks of light, as the
cool darkness men in daylight make may be transthrust by one invading ray,
wherein the motes unnumbered whirl and play. So in continual interchange did
they motelike their interlacing dances break and join and alter. Crossing swift or
slow, from short to long, the specks unnumbered go. And as sweet music turned to
harmony of many cords of viol or harp may chime sweetly to one who doth not
understand the notes they render, so a strain sublime entranced me from those
myriad notes, although I could not follow their triumphant hymn.'
Each of the specks of light is a spirit, the souls of the soldiery of Christ, or, as a
voice from the cross puts it 'In this fifth circle of the Eternal Tree of which no fruit
shall fail, no leaf be shed, which from its summit with full life is fed, are spirits
which before to Heaven they came were of such eminence of earthly fame as must
the more exalt the loftiest song'. One or more of the spirits here will rise to greet
the visitor, leaving the cross and yet remaining on it. 'As down the tranquil night's
unclouded sky a light may dart and draw the following eye, as though some star its
station changed (yet not leaving a vacant place among the stars, nor where it goes
itself establishing), so from its place upon that cross there shot a star toward me,
yet which did not leave the cross's foot, but, gem to, scarf, thereon like glowing fire
in alabaster shone.'
The colour of the glow of the spirits of this Heaven can change from white to a
topaz colour, which glows more as the spirit is spoken to.
For Dante, Beatrice has him gaze at the cross, and a voice from it has him gaze on
the Cross's horns. As the voice names some of the spirits there, they flash along it,
like lightning flashing along a cloud. The spirits in this Heaven include Joshua,
Maccabee, Orlando, Charlemagne, William, Rinaldo, Robert Guiscard, Duke
Godfrey and many others.
From this Heaven, one instantly arises to the Heaven of Jupiter, the light changing
from the red of Mars to the white of Jupiter as one goes.
THE HEAVEN OF JUPITER
In this Heaven the spirits again glow with light, and wheel in ordered flight
through the wide white star of Jupiter, singing as they go the Song of the Just. Each
flight moves so as to form a golden letter on the face of the Heaven, and chants the
Latin words and phrases which these letters, collected together, shape, such as
'Diligite Justitiam' and 'Qui Judicatis Terram'. When a word is formed, the spirits
pause for a while before moving on to form new words and phrases in the Heaven.
The spirits here are the just, Princes who have loved righteousness, and people who
were once Pagans who are now in bliss.
THE EAGLE
As Dante watches the spirits of Jupiter gradually form a gigantic eagle, its wings
outspread, on the face of Jupiter. It is a 'myriad entity woven of praises of the will
divine'. The eagle then speaks to him in the voice of all the spirits which form it of
the mysteries of Divine justice, comparing the depths of divine justice to the depths
of the sea, which, although man cannot see them, they are still there. It then speaks
of the necessity of Faith for salvation, and of the sins of certain kings across
Europe and the Middle East. Having spoken the eagle closes its beak, and the
spirits making it up each glow brighter than any star and sing the Song of the Just
again. As Dante puts it 'Music they were, but not as notes that blew, but rather
thoughts of God, the flute-holes through'. The eagle then speaks again of faith,
salvation and predestination.
From here one again arises instantly to the next Heaven, the Heaven of Saturn.
Presumably the spirits here unmake the eagle and go back to their shaping of
words on Jupiter once Dante is gone...
THE HEAVEN OF SATURN
Upon arriving at the crystal sphere of the seventh Heaven, Dante is immediately
faced with a great golden ladder. 'In that great crystal which doth bear the name of
the earth's ruler through that golden age when every evil left the temperate land, I
saw a ladder. To so great a height it rose that not my eager straining sight could
follow, coloured like reflected gold; and on its steps were splendours manifold,
ascending and descending. Countless they, numerous as though upon those golden
bars the emptied depth of Heaven had poured its stars. As jackdaws, when the day
begins to break, lift their chilled wings, and rise in flocks that make straight
outward, or a wheeling course prefer, so seemed that sparkling host, that made its
flight in groups which on their chosen steps would light.'
The ladder is filled with the spirits of this Heaven, 'gloriously flashing their
message of pure love'. They are lucent spheres of beautiful light, who each enhance
the light of the others, and who can whirl as they speak and ascend and descend the
ladder. Those here are those who had given themselves to devout contemplation in
life, and who practised temperance. This includes St Benedict.
A spirit on the lowest rung of the ladder named Damien's Peter speaks to Dante of
this Heaven, and those here. He also condemns the luxury in which modern
prelates of the Church live, and he and Dante speak of predestination. As they do
so the other spirits on the ladder begin to change their motion. 'As thus he spoke
those other flames, that shone upon the higher steps, began to whirl and brighten,
and descend from rung to rung. And every motion that they made thereon
enhanced their beauty.'
Grouping around Damien's Peter, they send a cry 'unto the heights of Heaven',
which ascends as a deep articulate thunder, beyond Dante's comprehension, and
which stupefies him. Beatrice comforts him, telling him that everything is holy
here in Heaven. She tells him that 'in that cry you lacked the wit to hear, the
vengeance you shall see before you die thundered aloft through Heaven its
meaning clear. The sword of wrath, which smites and sundereth, will haste or
hinder not to deal its death, though those whose wrong it vengeth think it slow, and
those who fear its dreadful edge to know think it too instant in its fall.'
After conversing with the spirits here, as though a whirlwind blows the spirits all
sweep upward, carrying Beatrice and Dante with them. 'Believe that flight of mine
was over ere a hand which feels the flame could be snatched backward. In that
space I came to reach the high sign of the Heavenly wheel which follows Taurus.
O most glorious stars! Impregnated with virtues luminous! All that I am, or have of
genius, or much or little, from your lights derives. With you was rising, and with
you would set, that ardent heart which sires all mortal lives when first I breathed
the air of Tuscany and then, when largesse was bestowed on me to enter the high
sphere in which you wheel, I found your region mine. Oh, give me now, devoutly I
entreat thee, equal power to the hard passage that I take!'
Beatrice speaks to him as they rise, telling him that as he is so near 'the ultimate
blessedness, that you should seek approach with eyesight clear and most awareness
of the glories here; and therefore, ere to more ascent we go, I charge thee to look
backward. Look below; and see how wide a realm, and how complete, already
have I placed beneath your feet. For then the exultance of your heart will be of
equal mood to meet Christ's chivalry triumphant in its height celestial, when
through the ether on your sight it breaks.'
So Dante looks back towards the Earth, seeing the sun and all the planets in their
crystal spheres with the globe of the Earth laid out within them all. 'Then looked I
downward through the seven spheres. How mean, how paltry our proud earth
appears seen from that height! I needs must smile to see its meagre aspect. O sound
choice that takes its value at the least! How truly they are upright called who raise
their eyes away. I saw Latona's daughter,' (Artemis, the Moon) 'shining now
without those shadows which to earth she turns, making me doubtful of her
density; sustained the aspect of Hyperion's son;' (Helios, the sun) 'and saw the
daughter fair of Dione,' (Aphrodite, Venus) 'and Maia's son,' (Hermes, Mercury) 'in
his vicinity their courses take; I saw Jove's temperate fire between his hot son and
his chillier sire; observed their various orbits; all I learned, their size, their
swiftness, and the distant vast that parts them on their paths. And far below the
map of Earth was spread: the hills I know: the winding rivers. All that threshing
floor for which we strive so hard, to lose at last. So from the Eternal Twins my
glance I cast on all we had passed to that far height attain, and turned it to her
beauteous eyes again.'
And with that, one arrives at the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.
THE HEAVEN OF THE FIXED STARS
As soon as he arrives in this Heaven, Dante is presented with a procession of the
Triumph of Christ.
THE TRIUMPH OF CHRIST
When he arrives, the Heaven is dark, but quickly a faint light grows golden,
brightening the sky. This marks the drawing nigh of the 'Squadrons of the Rule of
Christ', and of Christ Himself. As the curtain of pure light draws nearer, it seems
like the bright light of a full Moon, though everyone seeing it knows that it is the
light of Christ. He has all the souls who were true to him on Earth around him, vast
hosts of them, all formless and merged into a single clear translucent flame. 'For
each soul was not, in its Master's sight, substantial seeming, but reflected light, and
He the Substance.'
Through the curtain of light, one can see Christ Himself, but the light is so bright
that one must turn away. Beatrice tells Dante that what he sees is 'the path God's
suffering paved with fire, and Christ comes down it'. The mortal soul cannot look
upon Christ as he approaches without having their mind refuse, and give way
under the pressure. Dante gets around this by seeing 'the Banquet of the Lord of
Heaven' reflected in Beatrice. He sees 'splendours in a space I might not share, and
yet could know them'. This inspires Dante to prayer.
The light of Christ grows a garden around him, of lilies, for His life, and roses, for
His blood.
As Dante prays, lifting his heart to God, a response comes down to Beatrice.
'Down from midHeaven, through all its splendours, came separate intense, a tiny
orb of flame, that when it reached her, ringed her round complete, a crown of light,
pulsating. Song most sweet were discords of the storm, to that great lyre that
sounded, as their Queen was throned in fire. O, sapphire, that the brightest Heavens
contain, central! O, song that hymns thy, deathless reign! Clear through the
breathless, waiting hosts, it said: "I am the Angelic love. The light that led the
waiting world to God. The Uncreate Fire. Who sheltered in her womb the World's
Desire I compass ever, height on height to tread. O Lady, follow where thy Christ
hath led! The highest, holiest, inmost sphere shall be Diviner, flowering all its hope
in thee."'
As the song ceases, the circling lights return Beatrice's praise in a sweet silence,
before they lengthen upwards with a chant of 'Regina caelis rose'.
These lights are some of the spirits of this Heaven. Beatrice speaks to them and
they become each become a golden-red radiant sphere, spinning on its axis.
Together they dance in perfect harmony.
The spirits here are all vicars of Christ, who have done His will in life.
One of the spirits of this Heaven, a sphere of light of the greatest beauty, is St.
Peter. He examines Dante concerning Faith, and approves his answer with a
triumphant cry through the Heaven of 'Deus Laudmus'. Following this, he is
examined on Hope by St. James, who also approves his answer with a cry of
delight from Heaven, and a clarion cry of 'sperent in te' from the spirits there which
is accompanied by a glorious flash of white light. Lastly, St. John appears, the light
emanating from him so bright that it blinds Dante (though not permanently). He
examines Dante concerning Love. Again, Dante passes the examination, and the
most sweet strain Dante has yet heard sounds through Heaven. A strong light
strikes him and by it, Beatrice restores his sight, making it, in fact, better than
before.
It can be assumed that a similar set of examinations would be applied to any other
mortals who travel so far in Heaven...
With his sight restored, Dante sees that Adam has joined the three saints. He tells
Dante that he lived from nine hundred and thirty years on Earth, and was four
thousand, three hundred and two years in the same place as Virgil (presumably
Limbo) before spending a short time in the Earthly Paradise and ascending into
Heaven.
As he watches, Dante sees the four spirits change to a crimson hue as Saint Peter
also denounces his degenerate successors upon the Papal throne. Then they rise up
into the air. 'As we see the frozen vapours in white flakes to fall when the Sun feels
the Goat's extended horn, so through the ether rose, like flakes of fire, those lights
triumphant. Not could sight aspire so high to follow.'
As he watches the four spirits rise, Beatrice points out to Dante how far they
themselves have risen. He sees the Earth below him again as they rise to the
Crystalline Heaven.
THE CRYSTALLINE HEAVEN, OR PRIMUM MOBILE
This is the ninth and last of the material Heavens, called the Crystalline because it
is transparent and invisible, or the Primum Mobile because from its infinite speed
the other lower Heavens take their slower motions.
Beatrice talks to Dante about the nature of this Heaven. 'All reality Round its fixed
centre moves; but in this height where God is all the love and all the light, where is
no otherwhere, no where can be. Love graspeth all in one including zone of
mystery only to its Maker known. What language can define infinity? Five is the
half of ten, but that to see the limit of the ten must first be seen. Here is no limit of
space; and naught hath been, nor will be, ended or commenced. Behold the roots of
Time's full-leaved but fading Tree!' She also rebukes the covetousness of mortals.
In this Heaven Dante sees a bright point of light directly overhead surrounded by
nine concentric rings of fire, the innermost very small, and spinning very fast, the
outermost huge and spinning slowly. At the point of light everything begins, and
everything concludes, Beatrice tells Dante. As she speaks, each of the rings sends
forth innumerable lights which dance within its circle, sounding hosannas as they
go. She continues to explain that they each ring is one of the Angelic Orders,
around God, in the centre:
'The inmost circles have revealed to thee the Seraphim and Cherubim. So fast they
spin around that central source that they shall share its verity the most they may.
And as their vision is sublime, so far they gain their purpose.
'Those their course beside, the loves that round the next swift circle ride, are
named the Throne, because they brought to be completion of the primal ternary.
And you should know that their delightings are according as their sights can
penetrate the truth which quietens every intellect. From which we can perceive the
blissful state is founded on the sight of God direct, from which love followeth in its
course. The sight is merit in itself, which grace begets, and the desire for holiness;
and so from grade to grade doth the sweet process go.
'The second ternary which flowereth thus in this eternal spring, where never night
sees Aries trample, doth perpetually unite in its hosannas, which it sets in three
accordant strains of melody, as the three orders of its gladness are. For here are
three ranks of divinity; thus ordered - Dominations, Virtues, Powers.
'The third, last ternary consists of these: first Principalities, Archangels next, and,
last and outmost, Angels flame and sing. All these gaze upward, being so drawn,
and draw from downward with a might as victoring.'
Beatrice then talks of the creation and nature of the angels, before denouncing
modern preachers on Earth.
As she speaks, she and Dante ascend to the Empyrean, rising towards the centre of
the rings of angels, into the bright point of light, the rings of light fading as they go
into that blinding light.
THE EMPYREAN
This is the highest Heaven, outside of time and space. It is the Heaven of God's
immediate presence and the only real home of the angels and the redeemed, whose
blessedness consists of their eternal vision of Him.
'Behold, from out the Heaven of greatest space passed have we to the sphere where
light is all; light intellectual by pervading love impregnated: pure love of holiness
impregnated with bliss, which bliss transcends all separate sweetness. Here your
eyes shall see the twofold chivalry of Paradise; and those who from an earthly
conflict rise in the same aspect as their forms shall be before the throne of
judgement,' says Beatrice as she and Dante enter the Empyrean.
At this point a bright light swathes Dante so that he cannot see. From within
himself he summons a power to conquer all that he had been, and is able to see
again. 'There I saw Light like a river in its molten glow That golden flowed
between two banks aflower With spring's fresh miracle. From out the stream Came
leaping sparks that in the blossoms fed, Rubies in cups of sunlight. Each would
seem To sate itself with fragrance, and return As others outward leaped that joy to
learn.'
Dante bends to taste from the stream, and as his eyes meet its flow, he sees the
stream change to a golden rose, and sees through 'the previous beauty of the sparks
and flowers, lo, the two courts of Heaven were manifest! But where are words their
wonder to declare? A light transcending every light is there by which His creatures
their Creator see, where only in that sight their peace may be.'
Up through the petals of the Rose of Paradise are the ranked thrones of the saints,
with the Blessed Virgin at the peak. The boundary of the top petals of the open
Rose contains a point even more radiant than the general golden glow of the
Empyrean with 'over it a thousand angels making festival hovered and sang and
sported; every one distinct in art and function, separately a thought of God created.'
At that point sits the Blessed Virgin, the sight of whom fills Dante with deepest
joy, the 'deliciousness for which the victor saints of Heaven are glad.'
Beatrice points out to Dante an empty throne set in the Rose, which is designated
for Henry VII. 'As a hill images itself in some clear lake, as though upon its own
rich verdancy to gaze, so in that light, around that eminence, round and around in
thousand ranks I saw the conquering saints of God. And if so low, so large the
light, the concourse, nearly viewed, judge what must be the outmost amplitude of
the wide petals of that golden Rose. But not the great breadth nor the ample height
could give denial to mine eager sight of the full sweep of that ranged ecstasy. For,
where God is, nor near nor far can be, nor Nature's laws have any meaning there.
Within the yellow of the eternal Rose Beatrice drew me, while its petals spread
wide open to that sun which round it shed an everlasting spring, the while its praise
continual perfume gave.'
Those in the Empyrean, within the Rose of Paradise, are 'the ranks of Christ's great
chivalry, which with His blood, a sacred spouse, He won'. The many saints there
do not obstruct the light from above. They constantly sing hosannas.
Over them fly Angels who, 'while they fly, do sing His glory whom continually
they serve, and by that service magnify'. They descend into the Rose of Paradise
and drink the love of God there before ascending back into the sky. 'Their faces
were of lively flame: alight their wings with lustrous gold: the rest so white that
dull in contrast were the whitest snow. And as within the flower they ministered
with fanning wings the ranks of saints along, passion they gave and peace alike to
know; for in the bliss of that most holy state passion is peace, and peace is
passionate.'
At this point, Beatrice goes from Dante while he is gazing around, and ascends to
her throne, which is in the third circle below the Blessed Virgin. Saint Bernard,
who has been assigned to Dante to ensure that he 'mightst complete a perfect
progress' points her out to Dante. 'Seated high, the living everlasting light divine
crowning her brows with its reflected rays, I saw her, far from any reach of mine.
Far as from darkness of the deepest sea the thunders of the utmost Heaven may be,
I saw her inaccessible'. Dante prays to her, thanking her for what she has done, and
she smiles down on him in response.
St Bernard describes the ranks and orders of the Rose to Dante. At Mary's feet, the
only inhabitant of the second rank, sits Eve. In addition to Beatrice, the third rank
contains Rachel. 'After these, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and beyond the Moabite
maid who was the ancestress of him who sinned and sang, and in the stress of
penitence misereri mei cried.'
'Petal by petal, rank by rank,' St Bernard tells Dante of the 'illustrious names of old,
half-circling down the Rose's rounded cup,' until he reaches the seventh rank which
contains the 'unnumbered names, but ancient all, a tale of Hebrew dames and
others who, before Christ's victory, looked forward, and believed the light to be.'
On the other side of the Rose, separated from them by a cleft between petals, 'are
those who loved the Christ their eyes had seen, or looked with faith upon a
backward day.' Because of this every petal is filled on the first side, but there are
many vacant seats on the other 'waiting those who yet shall rise triumphant.'
On a throne at an equal level to that of Mary sits St John. Beneath him sit Saints
Francis, Benedict and Augustus, with, below them, the 'conquering Christian
saints'.
Close to Mary sit the patricians of the Court of Heaven. On Mary's left hand sits
Adam, on her right sits St Peter. Beside him sits St John, and beside Adam sits
Moses. Next to Peter sits Anna, Mary's mother, so entranced by her daughter that
she does not sing hosannas. Beyond Anna sits Lucia. Note that some of the saints
here are also present in, or perhaps visit, the lower Heavens too...
In a third division of the Rose are enthroned those 'who come to God unmerited
either by deeds or faith, their lives too soon expiring', that is, the children, who
remain children in Heaven forever. He tells Dante that 'in the first ages innocence
alone secured salvation to the child of those who were themselves devout. A later
day allowed male children such release if they were circumcised and sinless. After
that the period of full grace full rite required of Christian baptism, that the innocent
wings should gather power to soar.' So that, now, only baptised Christian children
will find their way to the Empyrean.
When Dante has seen all this, St Bernard begins a prayer to the Virgin, asking her
to complete Dante's journey, so that what he has seen does not lose its power on
him. She looks down at him, then up, and the Light of God shines down on Dante,
giving him the Beatific Vision and the Ultimate Salvation. 'But what I saw therein
no words could tell, no human memory from God's citadel retire with plunder of its
wondrous store. As he who dreamed, and can recall no more, nor that from his
encumbered mind dismiss, so toiled am I. I know no more than this: I dreamed. I
waked. I know the sweetness yet, though the deep source my yearning thoughts
forget.' 'This I know: Had mine eyes wavered from that sacred glow I had been
irretrievably lost. Therefore, aware of peril, did I strive the more the weight of
infinite value to sustain.' 'As I gazed, it seemed that form was on that painted light
pictured in human semblance. There I raised Eyes tranced and raptured by that
wondrous sight.'
And so, with his journey complete, Dante returns to Earth...