Purgatorio (86 page)

106–117.
   The final four tercets of the poet’s apostrophe of Albert all begin with mocking appeals to him to come to Italy (Albert was alive at the imagined date of the poem, 1300) to see “the garden of the empire laid waste.”
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106–108.
   These first four names offer evidence of pandemic civil strife, exemplified by the Montecchi (Ghibellines) and the Guelph Cappelletti (Shakespeare’s Montagues and Capulets), two political factions of the city of Cremona, still bearing the names of their founding families but no longer remaining family units (see Singleton’s note to verse 106).

The Filippeschi, a Ghibelline family of Orvieto, were in continual combat with the Guelph Monaldeschi. The former, encouraged by Henry’s presence in Italy, attempted to vanquish the Monaldeschi but failed and were themselves banished from Orvieto in 1312.
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109–111.
   “Santafiora, county in the Sienese Maremma, which from Cent. IX down to 1300 belonged to the powerful Ghibelline family of the Aldobrandeschi, who thence took their title of Counts of Santafiora. It was formerly an imperial fief, but at the time Dante wrote it was in the hands of the Guelfs of Siena”
(T)
. We meet one of the counts of Santafiora, Omberto Aldobrandesco, in
Purgatorio
XI.55–72.

The language here reflects the Bible, as commentators since Daniello (1568) have noted, Jesus’s words foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 21:23), “For there shall be great distress
(pressura)
in the land.”
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112–114.
   Dante’s view of Rome’s desire to have an emperor in the saddle is obviously at odds with the typical Guelph view.
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115–117.
   Albert’s “people” are the Italians, bereft of their true leader; he would be shamed were he to hear what they say of him for abandoning them.
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118–123.
   The name “Jove” occurs variously in the poem, nine times in all, but here alone does it refer
only
to the Christian God (God is referred to as Jupiter in
Inf.
XXXI.45 in a similar usage). Although the poet realizes that his questioning of divine justice is out of bounds, he persists in it.

God’s plan for Italy, in any case, arises from his divine counsel, which is beyond our knowing: see Psalm 35:7 [36:6]: “Iudicia tua abyssus multa” (Your judgments like the great deep), a citation first offered by Benvenuto da Imola.
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124–126.
   Lacking an emperor, Italy is governed by local tyrants, while every yokel who joins a political party fancies himself the “new Marcellus.” But which Marcellus? The debate continues. As Singleton points out, there were three contemporaneous Roman consuls named Marcellus and, among these, the most likely to be referred to here is Marcus Claudius Marcellus, consul in 51
B
.
C
., and renowned for his hatred of Julius Caesar. It is possibly he to whom Lucan refers in
De bello civili
(I.313): “Marcellusque loquax et, nomina vana, Catones” (Marcellus, that man of words, and Cato, that empty name). This identification, which is supported by the majority of commentators (and given a magisterial first exposition by Benvenuto da Imola) and which apparently makes excellent sense in a context that certainly seems to inveigh against hostility to the emperor, is at least problematic: Lucan’s words are part of Julius Caesar’s infamous first speech to his troops, when he counsels their march on Rome (see note to
Inf.
XXVI.112–113), and they also ridicule Cato the Younger, surely Dante’s greatest classical hero. In fact, the Lucanian Caesar unites Marcellus, Cato, and Pompey as three of his great enemies. Dante probably would have felt that anyone claimed as an enemy by Julius, about to destroy the Roman republic, was his friend. It would be strange for Dante to lend himself to Julius’s view of these men, even if he defends the Caesarean inviolability of the eventual emperor and condemns Brutus and Cassius for murdering him. In any case, it is perhaps wise to consider other alternatives. An early tradition held that the text read “Metellus” (see
Purg.
IX.138) and not “Marcellus,” but this possibility is no longer seriously considered. One other Marcus Claudius Marcellus, however, is worthy of consideration. He was consul in 222
B
.
C
., successful in skirmishes against the great Hannibal, conqueror of Syracuse, welcomed back to Rome and referred to as “the Sword of Rome,” the best known of all Romans of that name, and indeed mentioned in the
Aeneid
(VI.855) as one of Rome’s greatest warriors, presented in the parade of heroes described by Anchises as preceding that latter-day Marcellus, the Emperor Augustus’s adopted and very mortal son. Vellutello (1544) and Tommaseo (1837) both think of the earlier Marcus Claudius as the Marcellus most likely to be mentioned here. One potential advantage of this solution is that it broadens the base of Dante’s political scorn: if the Marcellus is Lucan’s, then only Guelph bumpkins, hating the emperor, are indicated; if Virgil’s, then all enthusiastic amateurs, of whatever party, who think of themselves as great men.
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127–129.
   The fifth and final apostrophe is, naturally, of Florence herself, and is, naturally, dripping with sarcasm, reminiscent of the earlier apostrophe that opens
Inferno
XXVI, in which the city is asked to rejoice in her renown for having produced so many thieves who now disport themselves in hell. For the supposedly “digressive” nature of Dante’s remarks, see note to vv. 73–75.
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135.
   The Florentine who shouts “I’ll take it on
my
shoulders” is not expressing his respect for civic virtue so much as masking his intention to promote himself to “where the action is” under the guise of humble service.
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139–147.
   Dante’s sardonic streak is rarely more evident than in this passage, in which the founding Western civic entities in Greece are seen by contemporary Florentines as pale and vapid precursors of their great city’s version of political excellence. The Florentines are so good at governance, it seems, that they eschew any form of stability for rapid change, whether in their laws, coins, civic offices, political customs, and even citizenship, this last probably a reference to the sort of political act that banished the White Guelphs (including Dante) in 1302.
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148–151.
   The obvious sarcasm of the preceding seven tercets in “praise” of Florence now yields to a devastating image of the city as wealthy invalid wife, which is possibly derived from Augustine’s
Confessions
(VI.16), as was perhaps first noted by Grandgent (1909). As Augustine nears conversion, at the very end of the sixth book, his soul still struggles to escape from God, to be free for “better” things; he describes its inner state as follows: “Whichever way it turned, on front or back or sides, it lay on a bed that was hard, for in you alone the soul can rest.”
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1–3.
   The “digression” that fills almost exactly half of the last canto now yields to the continuance of the narrative that had related the embrace between the two Mantuan poets at
Purgatorio
VI.75. The formulation “a third time and a fourth” is, as has often been noted, Virgilian; since Scartazzini (1900) the reference is noted as being potentially triple:
Aeneid
I.94; IV.589;
Georgics
I.410. And Virgil, having been buffeted so unkindly in these early cantos of
Purgatorio
, is about to have his innings. Sordello asks about the provenance of both these travelers; once Virgil identifies himself, the contemporary Mantuan poet completely loses track of Dante. But the ancient Mantuan poet does so as well. In all his discussion with Sordello (VI.67–VIII.45) he never once refers to Dante as the reason for his own journey—as we have become accustomed to his doing (see
Purg
. I.52–69; III.94–99; V.31–33). It will only be in the next canto (VIII.62) that Sordello will understand that Dante is a living man.
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4–6.
   The reference to the redemption of sinners wrought by the Crucifixion seals Virgil’s sense of his own doom, his bones buried (19
B
.
C
.) during the rule of Augustus (63
B
.
C
.–
A
.
D
. 14), whose reign coincided with the birth of Jesus.
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7.
   This is the sole occasion on which Virgil names himself in the
Commedia
(his name occurs thirty-one other times), thus answering in part Sordello’s questions at
Purgatorio
VI.70, concerning the homeland and identity of these two travelers, one of which Virgil had already answered (“Mantua” at VI.72).
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8.
   To be without faith is to lack what is absolutely necessary in order to “win” salvation. The Anonimo Fiorentino cites St. Paul: “without faith it is impossible to be pleasing to God” (Hebrews 11:6), a passage explaining that Enoch was taken up alive into heaven because of his faith—as will be Dante soon, and as Virgil was not.
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9–13.
   The simile, another instance of what Tozer calls “similes drawn from mental experience” (see note to
Inf
. XXX.136–141), investigates the enormous pleasure of Sordello at meeting Virgil, a scene that will be reformulated for the meeting of Statius and Virgil in
Purgatorio
XXI.124–136. Sordello’s humility in lowering his brows (“e poi chinò le ciglia”) is verbally reminiscent, if antithetically, of Farinata’s pride (
Inf.
X.35: “s’ergea col petto e con la fronte” [was rising, lifting chest and brow]) and Satan’s effrontery (
Inf.
XXXIV.35: “contra ’l suo fattore alzò le ciglia” [raised his brows against his Creator]). But it may also remind us of Virgil’s own lowered brows when he is so filled with shame at his failure to believe in Christ to come (
Purg.
III.44: “e qui chinò la fronte”).
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15.
   A small squall of disagreement disturbs the sea of commentary on this verse: does Sordello embrace Virgil just beneath his armpits? at the level of his thighs? at his knees? while lying prostrate at his feet? All four of these solutions continue to be put forward into the late twentieth century, while many commentators have been content to suggest that it is impossible to know exactly where this embrace is aimed. Vandelli (1929) supports the most popular hypothesis: Sordello bends his knees slightly so as to embrace Virgil under his arms, where the figure of lesser authority embraces his superior.
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16–18.
   Virgil, apostrophized by Sordello both as foremost among all Latin poets and as his greatest townsman, is here cast as the founder of all Romance poetry. The precise meaning of
lingua nostra
(our language) has been debated (see Mazzoni’s summary of the debate [Mazz.1977.2], p. 164), and includes a wide range of possibilities: all human vernacular; Latin alone; all poetry, vernacular and Latin; and vernacular that is specifically developed from Latin. This last seems the most acceptable reading, making Latin the “mother tongue” of the Romance vernacular poets, as would also seem to be the case at
Purgatorio
XXI.94–99.
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21.
   Since Virgil has already (verse 8) confessed that he has “lost heaven,” Sordello must assume that he is in hell. For a reading that sees the implicit rebuke to Virgil in Sordello’s reference to his hellish situation see Picone (Pico.1998.1), pp. 65–66.
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22–24.
   Virgil’s rejoinder rather surprisingly makes no reference to any reason for his being chosen for this journey; it is thus not surprising that Sordello believes his task is to guide Virgil, selected by God, to see these sacred precincts. Dante has become, temporarily, supernumerary.
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25–27.
   In
Purgatorio
XXI.18, Virgil will make clear to Statius that he must return to hell. Here it is also clear that he considers Limbo his final resting place, but he says as much in ways that invite speculation as to his possible salvation, since he claims now to know God and to have been aided by Him in coming this far. The absence of reference to Virgil’s guidance of Dante allows Sordello to believe better of his townsman than the facts warrant.
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