Purgatory, Canto 4

The Text of Purgatory Canto 4 (Open PDF)

Summary

The Poets accompany the spirits of the Excommunicate till they reach a steep cranny in the rock-face. Here, quitting their guides, they climb to the Second Terrace of Ante-Purgatory. Virgil explains to Dante why, at the Antipodes, they see the Sun in the North. They meet with a group of the Late-Repentant, one of whom, the lazy Belacqua, tells them of the rule which governs that Terrace.

The Prepatory Lecture

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Questions for Reflection

• This canto opens with an extended meditation on the disruption of attention and the inability of the finite person to attend to all of the data coming through her various faculties. Why might Dante begin the canto with this discussion? Is this simply an extended poetic metaphor or is there a spiritual insight about the nature of the Christian life at play here?
• Why do Dante and Virgil need to rely on the other purgative souls to learn the way? Why does Dante depict Virgil as a far less knowledgeable guide in Purgatory?
• Why is the mountain harder to climb at lower levels than at higher ones (4.88-90)? What insight into the moral life is Dante revealing here?
• Who is Belacqua and why is he so lazy? How can the spiritually lazy enter into heaven?
• How does Belacqua’s situation highlight the importance of the Church’s prayers (4.130-135)?

Purgatory, Canto 4 © Jan Hearn

The Images

The Late-Repentant: (1) The Indolent. The whole of the Second Terrace is occupied by those who, while remaining in the fold of the Church, yet for one reason or another postponed repentance until their last hour (in articulo mortis). Like the Excommunicate, they are punished by a delay, extending in this case for a period equal to the length of their earthly lives. This first and lowest group comprises those who have their own laziness to blame for their procrastination, and who therefore spend their time sitting about, enduring the indolence in which they used to indulge. Like the Excommunicate, they have no prayer allotted to them: even in this they must remain idle.

Mark Vernon's Lecture