Purgatorio

Dante reluctantly leaves Alagia’s uncle behind. As he and Virgil move slowly through a dense crowd of penitents, Dante curses avarice, comparing it to a ravenous wolf. He hears a voice call out to “Sweet Mary,” “good Fabrizio,” and Nicholas, all of whom provide examples of generosity (251). Dante asks the voice to identify itself, promising a reward when Dante returns to life on earth.

The speaker identifies himself as Hugo Capet and describes himself as “the root from which that sick weed grows/that overshadows every Christian land” (252). From humble roots as the son of a Parisian butcher, he rose to power, and his heirs became kings who caused great harm with violence, lies, and plundering. He decries avarice and its consequences. 

Dante and Virgil continue their journey. The mountain begins to tremble, and Virgil tells Dante not to be afraid. He hears voices crying out, “Gloria in excelsis Deo” (Glory to God in the highest) (255). He and Virgil pause, as filled with suspense as “the shepherds who first heard this song” (255). The trembling stops, and Dante and Virgil continue their “holy path” passing the penitents who have returned “to their familiar tears” (255). “[…] Timid, deep in thought” (255), Dante continues on his journey (255).

Like the Samaritan woman, Dante feels a powerful thirst and hurries on his way. As Christ appeared to his disciples, a soul appears on the road ahead. He greets Virgil and Dante with a blessing for God’s peace. Virgil shares his own wish that the soul may find a place in God’s court, a place denied to Virgil. The soul asks who they are, and Virgil explains that he has been “drawn from Hell’s wide throat” (256) to show Dante, who is still alive, the way.

Virgil asks why the mountain trembled. The soul explains that weather does not affect this place. The tremors occur when a purified soul rises. The mountain trembles for joy, signifying the soul’s purification.

Virgil asks the soul who he was in life. He replies that he was Statius, author of the epic poems The Thebaid and the unfinished The Achilleid. Statius reveals that Virgil’s poetry inflamed him, describing it as “my nurse in poetry” (258). He wishes he could have lived during Virgil’s time. Virgil silently communicates to Dante to stay silent, but Dante cannot help but smile. He and Statius make eye contact. Statius asks why Dante smiled. Virgil gives his consent for Dante to reveal his identity. Dante explains that the Virgil who Statius revered is here before him. Status tries to embrace Virgil, but he reminds Statius that they are both spirits.

Dante, Virgil, and Statius ascend to the sixth level, where Dante’s brow loses another P. Virgil notes that pure love inspires answering love; in this way, Statius’s love for Virgil inspires his answering love. Virgil asks Statius how, given his wisdom, he wound up among the penitents guilty of avarice. Statius replies that looks can be deceiving. It may have seemed that Statius had been “grasping in life” (161), but he was guilty of the related sin, prodigality. Fortunately, he repented, so he wasn’t consigned among the prodigal in Hell.

Quoting from Statius’s The Thebaid, Virgil notes that Statius does not sound like a Christian believer, and asks what provoked his conversion. Statius explains that Virgil’s works inspired him to become both a poet and a Christian. The prophecies in Virgil’s poems echoed in the words of preachers Statius heard, and he “took to visiting these men” (262). He began to help them and to look down on pagan religions. He received baptism before he wrote The Thebaid, but hid his conversion out of fear. For this, he spent 400 years repenting on the fourth level.

Statius asks Virgil about the fate of Greek and Roman poets and characters from their poems, and Virgil explains that they are with him in Limbo. Virgil and Statius fall silent and assess their surroundings. They continue to climb, with Dante following and listening to them converse. They find a flowering tree next to a rock wall down which liquid streams. From the tree’s leaves, a voice calls out examples of classical and Biblical restraint, among them the Virgin Mary, ancient Roman women, Daniel from Nebuchadnezzar’s court, and John the Baptist.