Purgatorio (118 page)

126.
   The phrasing here is reminiscent of that describing both Dante’s errant soul (
Purg.
XVIII.43) and its love for the “stammering woman” (
Purg.
XIX.8 and 13), language depending on the notion of making what is straight crooked, or the obverse.
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128–133.
   Forese is the only penitent to whom Dante names Beatrice, thus perhaps indicating that he was aware, in the period of their shared improper behavior, that Dante was not being loyal to her. Similarly, Forese is, once again uniquely among all penitents (Statius has just gone beyond that state when Dante names Virgil for him [
Purg.
XXI.125]), allowed to hear the name of Virgil from Dante’s lips. That Dante does not here refer to Statius by name might seem to indicate (at least hypothetically) that, while the two men spoke of Virgil in their earthly conversations, they had not discussed Statius.
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1–3.
   The conversation between Forese and Dante continues. We have not heard Virgil’s voice since the fifteenth verse of the last canto. We will not hear it again until the next canto (XXV.17). This is his longest silence since he entered the poem in its first canto (see note to
Inf.
XXX.37–41). He would seem to have been moved aside in response to Dante’s interest in the encounter with Forese and concern with exploring the nature of his own most particular poetic practice, the subject at the core of this canto.
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4.
   For the phrase “things dead twice over” see the Epistle of Jude. The context is worth noting. Jude is declaiming against those who have infiltrated the ranks of the true believers, those “ungodly men” (
homines … impii
—Iudae 4) who are compared to, in succession, the unbelieving Israelites, the fallen angels, the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as those great sinners Cain, Balaam (Numbers 22–25 and 31:16), and Korah (Numbers 16). The presence of these ungodly ones is then portrayed (Iudae 12) as a blemish upon the feasts of Christians gathered in charity. Interlopers, they are described as “feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about by the winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead
(bis mortuae)
, plucked out by the roots.” Several commentators refer to this passage, but only Poletto (1894) does so with some attention to the context, also graciously giving credit to the commentary of Antonio Cesari (Cesa.1824.1) for the earliest citation. The
contrapasso
here is thus more related to gluttony than at first may seem apparent, calling attention to an arid feasting that has no regard for the condition of the soul. These penitents thus purge themselves as though in memory of Jude’s gluttonous “ungodly men.”
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8–9.
   Once again (see note to
Purg.
XXI.103–114) we see that Statius is portrayed as putting off his Christian zeal in order to give himself to affectionate admiration of Virgil.
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10.
   Dante asks after Forese’s sister, Piccarda, whom we shall meet as the first presence of
Paradiso
(see note to
Par.
III.46–49). The Donati family, like others in the poem, is variously dispersed in the afterworld. Later in this canto (verse 84) we will hear of Forese’s brother, Corso, who is destined for hell. In ante-purgatory we met a member of another similarly dispersed family, Buonconte da Montefeltro (
Purg.
V.88), son of the damned Guido (
Inf.
XXVII.67).
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13–15.
   Forese’s touching words of praise for his sister, already joyous in the presence of God in the Empyrean (the Christian version of Mt. Olympus, home of the gods in classical mythology), brought the following misogynist comment from Benvenuto (1380): “And that is great praise, for it is a rare thing to find in the same woman harmony between comely form and chaste behavior.”

Piccarda, who was dragged from her life as a nun into matrimony against her will, eventually puts us in mind of Pia de’ Tolomei (
Purg
. V.133–136), who also was forced into a marriage she did not welcome. And both of them may send our thoughts back to Francesca da Rimini, similarly mistreated (
Inf
. V.100–107). The first three women present in each of the three
cantiche
have this experience in common.
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16–18.
   “Here” surely refers to this terrace (see note to
Purg
. XXII.49–51). Since there is no prohibition against naming names on any other terrace, commentators worry about Forese’s motive in speaking this way. Most currently agree that he is using exaggerated understatement (the trope
litotes
) to make his point: i.e., on this terrace one
must
use names to identify the penitents because they are unrecognizable (as was Forese to Dante at
Purg
. XXIII.43–48) as a result of their emaciation.
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19–20.
   Bonagiunta Orbicciani degli Overardi da Lucca (1220?–1297?), notary and writer of lyric poems, composed mainly in imitation of the Provençal poets. He was involved in polemic against the poetry of Guido Guinizzelli and was attacked by Dante in his treatise on vernacular eloquence (
Dve
I.xiii.1) for writing in a dialectical rather than the lofty (“curial”) vernacular. Some three dozen of his poems survive and a group of these has been re-edited and re-presented by Gianfranco Contini (Cont.1960.1), vol. I, pp. 257–82.
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21–24.
   Simon de Brie, who “married” Holy Church as Pope Martin IV (1281–85), was French. He was not born in Tours, but had served as treasurer of the cathedral of St. Martin in Tours. He briefly served as chancellor of France before becoming a cardinal in 1261. And his French connection was further apparent when Charles of Anjou was instrumental in securing the papacy for him. His gluttonous affection for eels from Lake Bolsena caused him, according to Jacopo della Lana (1324), to have them, still alive, drowned in white wine from Liguria (the town of Vernazza) and then roasted. The commentator also reports that, as pope, coming from meetings dealing with Church business, he would cry out, “O Lord God, how many ills must we bear for Your holy Church! Let us have a drink!” and head for table to console himself.

Not only did this gluttonous pope support French political designs in Italy, he was the man who promoted Benedetto Caetani to the rank of cardinal, thus greatly facilitating his eventual elevation as Pope Boniface VIII (a promotion that Dante could not have regarded with equanimity, given his personal sufferings at the hands of this pope [see note to
Inf
. XIX.52–53]). In the light of such things, why did Dante decide that Martin was among the saved? Trucchi (1936) suggests that, as the successor to the nepotistic and venal Nicholas III (see
Inf
. XIX. 69–72), Martin put an end, for a time, to the practice of simony in the papacy. It is for that reason, in his opinion, that Dante overlooked his other flagrant sins to save him.
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26–27.
   The act of naming being particularly necessary on this terrace (see note to vv. 16–18), it brings pleasure (Dante again employs
litotes
: it does not cause scowls) to those who are named and thus may hope for relieving prayer from the world, once Dante returns to it. It hardly needs to be pointed out that many of the sinners in hell were less pleased at being recognized.
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29.
   “Ubaldino degli Ubaldini of La Pila (castle in the Mugello, or upper valley of the Sieve, tributary of the Arno, north of Florence), member of the powerful Ghibelline family of that name. Ubaldino, who was one of those who voted for the destruction of Florence (
Inf
. X.92), and was a member of the Consiglio Generale, after the battle of Montaperti (Sept. 4, 1260), was brother of the famous Cardinal Ottaviano degli Ubaldini (
Inf
. X.120), uncle of Ugolino d’Azzo (
Purg
. XIV.105), and father of the Archbishop Ruggieri of Pisa (
Inf
. XXXIII.14); he died in 1291”
(T)
.
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29–30.
   Bonifazio has been “identified by modern commentators with Bonifazio dei Fieschi of Genoa, Archbishop of Ravenna, 1274–1295…. The ancient pastoral staff of the Archbishops of Ravenna, which is still preserved, bears at the top an ornament shaped like a chess ‘rook’ [rather than the conventional curved crosier], hence the term
rocco
used by Dante. Bonifazio … is known to have been immensely wealthy, but there is no record of his having been addicted to gluttony”
(T)
.

While some debate whether or not the reference to the archbishop’s pastoral care is meant to be taken ironically, it seems difficult, in light of the descriptions of the other penitent gluttons, to take it any other way. The flock he is envisioned as leading would seem to be less the faithful of Ravenna than his guests to dinner.
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31–33.
   “Marchese (or Marchesino) degli Orgogliosi of Forlì…was Podestà of Faenza in 1296”
(T)
. Embellishing an incident he probably first heard from his teacher, Benvenuto da Imola, John of Serravalle (1416) recounts it this way: “One day [Marchese] asked of his servant, ‘What do the people say of me? What is my reputation among them?’ And the servant answered, ‘O my lord, they say that you are noble and wise,’ etc. And so he spoke again to his servant, saying, ‘Now tell me the truth, what do they really say?’ In reply the servant said, ‘Since you wish it, I will tell you the truth; people say you are a great drinker of wine.’ At which [Marchese] responded, ‘These people speak truthfully; but they really ought to add that I am always thirsty—and that is a fact, for I thirst continually.’ ” Bonagiunta was also a lover of the grape, according to Benvenuto (1380), who characterized him as “a deft contriver of rhymes and a ready imbiber of wines.”
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34–36.
   Dante’s attention was drawn to Bonagiunta da Lucca because, he says, Bonagiunta seemed to know him. We may reflect that Dante the poet’s interest in Bonagiunta centered on his desire to stage, clued by the utterance of this lesser poet, his own
ars poetica
, as we shall shortly understand. Including Dante, the interaction among those speaking or being noticed in this canto involves two poets, two religious figures, and two politicians. And then there are the two classical poets who are not even mentioned once in this very “modern” canto (it is notable that Pope Martin, dead only fifteen years, is the senior ghost among the five gluttons in this group).
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37–39.
   For Dante’s use of the verb
mormorare
(murmur), see the note to
Purgatorio
X.100–102. This passage has long been problematic. Does Bonagiunta refer to his fellow Lucchesi in an unfavorable way, calling them
gentucca
or
gentuccia
(a deprecating way of referring to his people, or
gente
)? Or is he mentioning a kindly woman of that name who will be welcoming to Dante when, in his exile, he will come to Lucca? In this case he would be referring to the
femmina
referred to in vv. 43–45. Beginning with Francesco da Buti (1385), who states that Gentucca was the name of a woman from Rossimpelo, most commentators believe that the reference is to someone who was benevolent to Dante in Lucca during a stay there. We have, however, no confirming evidence for this sojourn in Lucca (see Michele Messina, “Lucca,”
ED
III [1971]), which, if it took place, probably did so in 1308–9, and certainly no hard facts establishing her identity. Nonetheless, this remains the best hypothesis. Still others have attempted to make a case for Gentucca as a woman with whom Dante had some sort of sexual liaison, an interpretation that seems venturesome at best. On the entire question see Giorgio Varanini, “Gentucca,”
ED
III (1971).
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40–42.
   Dante encourages Bonagiunta, for whom speech is made difficult by the pain he feels in his mouth, the orifice by which he offended in gluttony, to speak more plainly.
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43–48.
   If this woman is, as some contemporary students of the question suggest, Gentucca di Ciucchino Morla, she was the wife of Buonaccorso Fondora. In that case she wore the black wimple, worn by wives, not the white, reserved for widows. Nino Visconti’s widow, Giovanna, according to him, made the mistake of remarrying badly, putting off the white wimple (
Purg.
VIII.74). However, we cannot be sure whether Bonagiunta is referring to an as yet unmarried woman, or to a married one whose husband, soon to die, is still alive. In any case, this woman will make Lucca seem pleasant to Dante, no matter how others may blame it (as Dante himself had done in
Inf.
XXI.40–42).
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