Purgatory, Canto 18

The Sayers Text of Purgatory Canto 18 (Open PDF)

A Prose translation of Canto 18 (by David Bruce)

Summary

IN answer to a question from Dante, Virgil proceeds to his Second Discourse on Love and on Free Will. By the time he has finished, the gibbous Moon is high in the sky and putting out the stars. Dante is just dozing of when he is roused by the noisy approach of the spirits of the Slothful, who run continually around the Cornice crying aloud the examples of Zeal and Sloth which form the Whip and Bridle for their meditation. The spirit of the Abbot of San Zeno, as he rushes by, calls out directions for the Poets’ journey and tells them about his convent. Presently, Dante falls asleep.

The Prepatory Lecture

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Questions for Reflection

• Pay particular attention to Virgil’s description of how love works in lines 19-39. Is all loving innocent? When does love become a moral issue?
• How does Virgil narrate the relationship between desire and reason in lines 57-72?
• What virtue counters the vice of sloth? In light of this virtue, is sloth something more morally and spiritually dangerous than laziness?

The Canticle in this Canto

Purgatory, Canto 18 © Jan Hearn

The Images

Middle Purgatory: Love Defective.  

The Penance of Sloth: Ceaseless Activity: The sin which in English is commonly called Sloth, and in Latin accidia (or more correctly acedia), is insidious, and assumes such Protean shapes that it is rather difficult to define. It is not merely idleness of mind and laziness of body: it is that whole poisoning of the will which, beginning with indifference and an attitude of “I couldn’t care less”, extends to the deliberate refusal of joy and culminates in morbid introspection and despair. One form of it which appeals very strongly to some modern minds is that acquiescence in evil and error which readily disguises itself as “Tolerance”; another is that refusal to be moved by the contemplation of the good and beautiful which is known as “Disillusionment”, and sometimes as “knowledge of the world”; yet another is that withdrawal into an “ivory tower” of Isolation which is the peculiar temptation of the artist and the contemplative, and is popularly called “Escapism”.

​The penance assigned to it takes the form of the practice of the opposite virtue: an active Zeal. Note that on this Cornice alone no verbal Prayer is provided for the penitents: for them, “to labour is to pray”.

Mark Vernon's Lecture