Purgatory, Canto 14

The Text of Purgatory Canto 14 (Open PDF)

Summary

DANTE converses with the spirits of two Romagnol noblemen, one of whom — Guido del Duca — speaks bitterly of the various towns upon the banks of the Arno, and recounts the degeneracy that has overtaken the noble families of Romagna. Passing on, the Poets hear voices crying out examples of the sin of Envy

The Prepatory Lecture

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Questions for Reflection

• This canto includes intriguing scenes of naming both self and other. How does envy inhibit our ability to name ourselves and our neighbors? How does charity, once envy is purged, enable us to see, to recognize, and to name self and each other?
• Dante describes himself instead of naming himself (14.16-21). How might we understand this as an indication of Dante’s growth in humility?
•  How does Dante’s pleasant interaction with Guide del Duca and Ranieri da Calboli call us back to Inferno 10? How is this interaction different from that between Farinata and Cavalcante?
• How is Dante using practices of falconry at the end of the canto? What does this tell us about the way Dante understands human desire for God?
• Given Virgil’s imagery of the starry heavens functioning as a lure to draw humanity to God (14.149-151), how does this help us better appreciate the significance of the “starless air” of hell (Inferno 3.23) and the ascent out of hell to “once more see the stars” (Inferno 34.151)?

The Canticle in this Canto

Purgatory, Canto 14 © Jan Hearn

The Images

Lower Purgatory: Love Perverted.  (See below for the general summary of Lower Purgatory.)

Guido del Duca is the image of the grudging type of Envy, which resents joy in other people (ll. 82-4). To the penitent Guido, looking back upon his life, the gay companionship which in the old days filled him with envy and uncharitableness now appears a thing full of happiness, to be wistfully regretted.

Lower Purgatory: Love Perverted: There is no actual existing person or thing that is not, in some degree, a proper object of love. The only wrong object of love is the love of harm, which results when love for object A is perverted into hatred for object B. Since God is the source of all good, to hate Him is a delusion and to harm Him is impossible; neither does anyone really hate or want to harm himself. In practice, therefore, Perverted Love is love of injury to one’s neighbour, springing from the evil fantasy that one can gain good for one’s self from others’ harm.

• Cornice 1: Pride (Superbia) (love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one’s neighbour).
• Cornice 2: Envy (Invidia) (love of one’s own good perverted to the wish to deprive other men of theirs).
• Cornice 3: Wrath (Ira) (love of justice perverted to revenge and spite). Mid-Purgatory: Love Defective
• Cornice 4: Sloth or Accidie (Acedia) (the failure to love any good object in its proper measure, and, especially, to love God actively with all one has and is).

Mark Vernon's Lecture