Purgatorio, Canto 18
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
After Virgil finishes his account of love's corrupted order, he watches Dante's face to see whether the answer has satisfied him. Dante's new thirst presses inward, but he fears his questions may burden the guide. Virgil, as true father, reads the timid will and gives him courage to speak. Dante says his sight is quickened in Virgil's light and asks him to show love, to which Virgil has reduced every good action and its contrary. Virgil commands Dante to direct the sharp eyes of intellect toward him and begins by exposing the error of blind self-appointed guides. The mind, created ready to love, moves toward whatever pleases as soon as pleasure wakes it into act. Apprehension draws an intention from a real thing and unfolds it within the soul; if the soul bends toward it, that bending is love, the nature newly bound by pleasure. As fire moves upward by its form toward the place where it endures longest, the captured mind enters desire, a spiritual motion that never rests until the beloved thing gives joy. This reveals the error of those who treat every love as laudable: love's material may seem good, but not every seal is good, even when the wax is good. Dante then asks the deeper question of responsibility: if love is offered from outside and the soul moves with no other foot, how can straight or crooked motion be merit? Virgil answers as far as reason can see, leaving what lies beyond to Beatrice and faith. A substantial form has a specific power known only by its effect, as plant life is known by leaves; the source of first cognitions and first appetites is unknown, like the bee's zeal for honey, and this first willing is neither praised nor blamed. But an innate counseling power must keep the threshold of assent. This is the ground of moral responsibility, gathering and winnowing good and evil loves. Ancient moral philosophers reached this innate freedom and left morality to the world. Even if every love first rises by necessity, the power to restrain it is within the human soul; Beatrice calls this noble virtue free will. The moon, gibbous like a burning bucket and late near midnight, thins the stars while running counter to the heavens along the sun's westering roads. Virgil of Pietola has laid down the burden of Dante's questions, and Dante, having received the plain reasoning, begins to stand in drowsy wandering. Suddenly a great crowd rushes from behind. Like the Bacchic night-rout along Ismenus and Asopus, the slothful run around the terrace, ridden by good will and just love. Two at the front weep out examples of zeal: Mary hastening to the mountain and Caesar striking Marseilles before Spain. The rest cry that time must not be lost through little love, because zeal in doing good greens grace anew. Virgil asks the runners where the opening for ascent is, explaining that Dante is alive and wishes to go up when the sun returns. One spirit answers without stopping: they are too full of will to move, and their justice may look like discourtesy. He identifies himself as Abbot of San Zeno under Barbarossa and foretells grief for the monastery because a corrupt lord has set his ill-born, bodily and mentally damaged son in the true pastor's place. The abbot runs beyond hearing. Virgil points out two souls biting at sloth from behind the crowd. They proclaim the bridle examples: the Israelites who died before their heirs saw Jordan, and the companions of Aeneas who would not endure hardship to the end and chose inglorious life. When the shades are out of sight, new thoughts multiply in Dante until wandering attention closes his eyes and thought changes into dream.
Narrative arc
- Dante's new thirst overcomes his timid silence, and he asks Virgil to show what love is
- Virgil defines love as the soul's inclination toward an apprehended pleasure and rejects the claim that every love is laudable
- Dante asks how merit remains if love is offered from outside, and Virgil explains assent, innate liberty, and free will
- The moon marks the night, Virgil lays down Dante's burden, and drowsiness begins
- The running slothful arrive with Bacchic urgency and cry examples of holy and martial zeal
- Virgil asks for the stair opening, and the Abbot of San Zeno answers while running
- The abbot passes beyond hearing, and the last runners bite at sloth with examples of failed endurance
- Dante's thoughts multiply after the runners vanish, and meditation turns into dream
Central themes
- sloth
- zeal
- free will
- desire awakened
Dante's new thirst overcomes his timid silence, and he asks Virgil to show what love is XVIII.1–15
1Posto avea fine al suo ragionamento
l’alto dottore, e attento guardava
ne la mia vista s’io parea contento;
e io, cui nova sete ancor frugava,
5di fuor tacea, e dentro dicea: ‘Forse
lo troppo dimandar ch’io fo li grava’.
Ma quel padre verace, che s’accorse
del timido voler che non s’apriva,
parlando, di parlare ardir mi porse.
10Ond’ io: «Maestro, il mio veder s’avviva
sì nel tuo lume, ch’io discerno chiaro
quanto la tua ragion parta o descriva.
Però ti prego, dolce padre caro,
che mi dimostri amore, a cui reduci
15ogne buono operare e ’l suo contraro».
1An end had been set to his reasoning
by the high teacher, and attentively he looked
into my sight, to see whether I seemed content;
and I, whom a new thirst still goaded,
5outside was silent, and inside said, 'Perhaps
the too much asking I do burdens him.'
But that true father, who perceived
the timid will that did not open itself,
by speaking offered me daring to speak.
10Then I: 'Master, my sight comes alive
so in your light that I clearly discern
whatever your reason distinguishes or describes.
Therefore I beg you, sweet dear father,
that you show me love, to which you reduce
15every good working and its contrary.'
Commentary
The passage continues from Purgatorio XVII: Dante's new thirst, timid will, Virgil as true father, and Dante's request that love be shown as the source of good action and its contrary.
XVIII.1–3 Alto dottore preserves Virgil's elevated rational authority at the start of the free-will lesson.
XVIII.1–3 Alto dottore preserves Virgil's elevated rational authority at the start of the free-will lesson. Line 2: Alto dottore preserves Virgil's elevated rational authority at the start of the free-will lesson.
XVIII.2 Alto dottore preserves Virgil's elevated rational authority at the start of the free-will lesson. Alto dottore preserves Virgil's elevated rational authority at the start of the free-will lesson.
XVIII.4–6 Sete keeps intellectual desire as thirst, continuing the desire field under purgatorial order. Grava keeps the burden motif inside Dante's fear that his questions weigh on Virgil.
XVIII.4–6 Sete keeps intellectual desire as thirst, continuing the desire field under purgatorial order. Line 4: Sete keeps intellectual desire as thirst, continuing the desire field under purgatorial order. Line 6: Grava keeps the burden motif inside Dante's fear that his questions weigh on Virgil.
XVIII.4 Sete keeps intellectual desire as thirst, continuing the desire field under purgatorial order. Sete keeps intellectual desire as thirst, continuing the desire field under purgatorial order.
XVIII.6 Grava keeps the burden motif inside Dante's fear that his questions weigh on Virgil. Grava keeps the burden motif inside Dante's fear that his questions weigh on Virgil.
XVIII.7–9 Virgil is again both teacher and father, but still within reason's limit. Voler anticipates the canto's formal account of will and assent.
XVIII.7–9 Virgil is again both teacher and father, but still within reason's limit. Line 7: Virgil is again both teacher and father, but still within reason's limit. Line 8: Voler anticipates the canto's formal account of will and assent.
XVIII.7 Virgil is again both teacher and father, but still within reason's limit. Virgil is again both teacher and father, but still within reason's limit.
XVIII.8 Voler anticipates the canto's formal account of will and assent. Voler anticipates the canto's formal account of will and assent.
XVIII.10–12 Virgil's lume is rational illumination, coordinated with Marco's moral lume in Purgatorio XVI. Parta o descriva keeps analytic division and exposition together.
XVIII.10–12 Virgil's lume is rational illumination, coordinated with Marco's moral lume in Purgatorio XVI. Line 11: Virgil's lume is rational illumination, coordinated with Marco's moral lume in Purgatorio XVI. Line 12: Parta o descriva keeps analytic division and exposition together.
XVIII.11 Virgil's lume is rational illumination, coordinated with Marco's moral lume in Purgatorio XVI. Virgil's lume is rational illumination, coordinated with Marco's moral lume in Purgatorio XVI.
XVIII.12 Parta o descriva keeps analytic division and exposition together. Parta o descriva keeps analytic division and exposition together.
XVIII.13–15 Reduci marks Virgil's doctrinal reduction of moral action to ordered or disordered love.
XVIII.13–15 Reduci marks Virgil's doctrinal reduction of moral action to ordered or disordered love. Line 14: Reduci marks Virgil's doctrinal reduction of moral action to ordered or disordered love.
XVIII.14 Reduci marks Virgil's doctrinal reduction of moral action to ordered or disordered love. Reduci marks Virgil's doctrinal reduction of moral action to ordered or disordered love.
Virgil defines love as the soul's inclination toward an apprehended pleasure and rejects the claim that every love is laudable XVIII.16–39
16«Drizza», disse, «ver’ me l’agute luci
de lo ’ntelletto, e fieti manifesto
l’error de’ ciechi che si fanno duci.
L’animo, ch’è creato ad amar presto,
20ad ogne cosa è mobile che piace,
tosto che dal piacere in atto è desto.
Vostra apprensiva da esser verace
tragge intenzione, e dentro a voi la spiega,
sì che l’animo ad essa volger face;
25e se, rivolto, inver’ di lei si piega,
quel piegare è amor, quell’ è natura
che per piacer di novo in voi si lega.
Poi, come ’l foco movesi in altura
per la sua forma ch’è nata a salire
30là dove più in sua matera dura,
così l’animo preso entra in disire,
ch’è moto spiritale, e mai non posa
fin che la cosa amata il fa gioire.
Or ti puote apparer quant’ è nascosa
35la veritate a la gente ch’avvera
ciascun amore in sé laudabil cosa;
però che forse appar la sua matera
sempre esser buona, ma non ciascun segno
è buono, ancor che buona sia la cera».
16'Direct,' he said, 'toward me the sharp lights
of the intellect, and manifest to you will become
the error of the blind who make themselves guides.
The mind, which is created ready to love,
20is mobile toward every thing that pleases,
as soon as by pleasure it is awakened into act.
Your apprehensive power from real being
draws an intention, and unfolds it within you,
so that it makes the mind turn toward it;
25and if, once turned, it bends toward that image,
that bending is love; that is nature
which through pleasure is bound in you anew.
Then, as fire moves upward
by its own form, which is born to rise
30where it endures longest in its matter,
so the captured mind enters into desire,
which is spiritual motion, and never rests
until the loved thing makes it rejoice.
Now it can appear to you how hidden
35truth is from those people who hold
every love a praiseworthy thing in itself;
because perhaps its matter appears
always to be good, but not every seal
is good, though the wax be good.'
Commentary
The translation keeps the scholastic sequence of apprehension, intention, inclination, nature, desire, and the seal/wax warning against calling every love laudable.
XVIII.16–18 The line opposes true guidance to self-appointed blind leadership.
XVIII.16–18 The line opposes true guidance to self-appointed blind leadership. Line 18: The line opposes true guidance to self-appointed blind leadership.
XVIII.18 The line opposes true guidance to self-appointed blind leadership. The line opposes true guidance to self-appointed blind leadership.
XVIII.19–21 Virgil's account begins before moral assent: pleasure awakens the soul's motion.
XVIII.19–21 Virgil's account begins before moral assent: pleasure awakens the soul's motion. Line 21: Virgil's account begins before moral assent: pleasure awakens the soul's motion.
XVIII.21 Virgil's account begins before moral assent: pleasure awakens the soul's motion. Virgil's account begins before moral assent: pleasure awakens the soul's motion.
XVIII.22–24 Apprensiva is kept technical rather than generalized into imagination alone. Intenzione names the inward object/image by which the soul is turned.
XVIII.22–24 Apprensiva is kept technical rather than generalized into imagination alone. Line 22: Apprensiva is kept technical rather than generalized into imagination alone.
XVIII.22 Apprensiva is kept technical rather than generalized into imagination alone. Apprensiva is kept technical rather than generalized into imagination alone.
XVIII.23 Intenzione names the inward object/image by which the soul is turned. Intenzione names the inward object/image by which the soul is turned in the Aristotelian perception-desire sequence.
XVIII.25–27 The translation keeps the repeated binding of nature by pleasure before assent.
XVIII.25–27 The translation keeps the repeated binding of nature by pleasure before assent. Line 27: The translation keeps the repeated binding of nature by pleasure before assent.
XVIII.27 The translation keeps the repeated binding of nature by pleasure before assent. The translation keeps the repeated binding of nature by pleasure before assent.
XVIII.28–30 Forma keeps the scholastic account of a thing's nature and active principle. The fire simile depends on medieval elemental place, not modern physics.
XVIII.28–30 Forma keeps the scholastic account of a thing's nature and active principle. Line 29: Forma keeps the scholastic account of a thing's nature and active principle.
XVIII.29 Forma keeps the scholastic account of a thing's nature and active principle. Forma keeps the scholastic account of a thing's nature and active principle.
XVIII.30 The fire simile depends on medieval elemental place, not modern physics. The fire simile depends on medieval elemental place, not modern physics.
XVIII.31–33 Preso keeps the mind's being seized before desire becomes motion. Rest comes only when desire reaches the beloved object.
XVIII.31–33 Preso keeps the mind's being seized before desire becomes motion. Line 31: Preso keeps the mind's being seized before desire becomes motion. Line 33: Rest comes only when desire reaches the beloved object.
XVIII.31 Preso keeps the mind's being seized before desire becomes motion. Preso keeps the mind's being seized before desire becomes motion.
XVIII.33 Rest comes only when desire reaches the beloved object. Rest comes only when desire reaches the beloved object.
XVIII.34–36 Virgil rejects the ethical error that love as such is self-justifying.
XVIII.34–36 Virgil rejects the ethical error that love as such is self-justifying. Line 36: Virgil rejects the ethical error that love as such is self-justifying.
XVIII.36 Virgil rejects the ethical error that love as such is self-justifying. Virgil rejects the ethical error that love as such is self-justifying.
XVIII.37–39 The seal/wax image distinguishes a good capacity from a deformed impression.
XVIII.37–39 The seal/wax image distinguishes a good capacity from a deformed impression. Line 39: The seal/wax image distinguishes a good capacity from a deformed impression.
XVIII.39 The seal/wax image distinguishes a good capacity from a deformed impression. The seal/wax image distinguishes a good capacity from a deformed impression.
Dante asks how merit remains if love is offered from outside, and Virgil explains assent, innate liberty, and free will XVIII.40–75
40«Le tue parole e ’l mio seguace ingegno»,
rispuos’ io lui, «m’hanno amor discoverto,
ma ciò m’ha fatto di dubbiar più pregno;
ché, s’amore è di fuori a noi offerto
e l’anima non va con altro piede,
45se dritta o torta va, non è suo merto».
Ed elli a me: «Quanto ragion qui vede,
dir ti poss’ io; da indi in là t’aspetta
pur a Beatrice, ch’è opra di fede.
Ogne forma sustanzïal, che setta
50è da matera ed è con lei unita,
specifica vertute ha in sé colletta,
la qual sanza operar non è sentita,
né si dimostra mai che per effetto,
come per verdi fronde in pianta vita.
55Però, là onde vegna lo ’ntelletto
de le prime notizie, omo non sape,
e de’ primi appetibili l’affetto,
che sono in voi sì come studio in ape
di far lo mele; e questa prima voglia
60merto di lode o di biasmo non cape.
Or perché a questa ogn’ altra si raccoglia,
innata v’è la virtù che consiglia,
e de l’assenso de’ tener la soglia.
Quest’ è ’l principio là onde si piglia
65ragion di meritare in voi, secondo
che buoni e rei amori accoglie e viglia.
Color che ragionando andaro al fondo,
s’accorser d’esta innata libertate;
però moralità lasciaro al mondo.
70Onde, poniam che di necessitate
surga ogne amor che dentro a voi s’accende,
di ritenerlo è in voi la podestate.
La nobile virtù Beatrice intende
per lo libero arbitrio, e però guarda
75che l’abbi a mente, s’a parlar ten prende».
40'Your words and my following intellect,'
I answered him, 'have uncovered love to me,
but this has made me more pregnant with doubt;
for, if love is offered to us from outside
and the soul goes with no other foot,
45if it goes straight or crooked, it is not its merit.'
And he to me: 'As much as reason here sees,
I can tell you; from there onward await
only Beatrice, for that is work of faith.
Every substantial form, which set apart
50is from matter and is united with it,
has a specific power collected in itself,
which without operating is not felt,
nor ever shows itself except by effect,
as life in a plant by green leaves.
55Therefore, whence the intellect comes
of the first cognitions, man does not know,
nor the affection for the first desirable things,
which are in you as zeal in the bee
to make honey; and this first willing
60contains no merit of praise or blame.
Now, so that every other may gather to this,
innate in you is the power that counsels,
and must hold the threshold of assent.
This is the principle from which is taken
65the ground of meriting in you, according
as it receives and winnows good and guilty loves.
Those who by reasoning went to the bottom
noticed this innate freedom;
therefore they left morality to the world.
70Therefore, let us suppose that of necessity
every love that is kindled within you rises,
the power to restrain it is in you.
The noble virtue Beatrice understands
as free will, and therefore see
75that you keep it in mind, if she takes to speaking of it.'
Commentary
Dante raises a merit problem and Virgil answers: reason can explain the threshold of assent and the innate liberty that grounds moral responsibility, while Beatrice will carry the matter beyond reason as an act of faith.
XVIII.40–42 Seguace ingegno keeps Dante's intellect as receptive and following, not autonomous. Pregno keeps the generative pressure of doubt rather than mere confusion.
XVIII.40–42 Seguace ingegno keeps Dante's intellect as receptive and following, not autonomous. Line 40: Seguace ingegno keeps Dante's intellect as receptive and following, not autonomous. Line 42: Pregno keeps the generative pressure of doubt rather than mere confusion.
XVIII.40 Seguace ingegno keeps Dante's intellect as receptive and following, not autonomous. Seguace ingegno keeps Dante's intellect as receptive and following, not autonomous.
XVIII.42 Pregno keeps the generative pressure of doubt rather than mere confusion. Pregno keeps the generative pressure of doubt rather than mere confusion.
XVIII.43–45 Dante asks how moral responsibility survives if the soul's first movement is compelled.
XVIII.43–45 Dante asks how moral responsibility survives if the soul's first movement is compelled. Line 45: Dante asks how moral responsibility survives if the soul's first movement is compelled.
XVIII.45 Dante asks how moral responsibility survives if the soul's first movement is compelled. Dante asks how moral responsibility survives if the soul's first movement is compelled.
XVIII.46–48 Virgil explicitly marks the boundary of reason before naming Beatrice and faith. Beatrice will carry the account beyond rational ethics into faith.
XVIII.46–48 Virgil explicitly marks the boundary of reason before naming Beatrice and faith. Line 46: Virgil explicitly marks the boundary of reason before naming Beatrice and faith. Line 48: Beatrice will carry the account beyond rational ethics into faith.
XVIII.46 Virgil explicitly marks the boundary of reason before naming Beatrice and faith. Virgil explicitly marks the boundary of reason before naming Beatrice and faith.
XVIII.48 Beatrice will carry the account beyond rational ethics into faith. Beatrice will carry the account beyond rational ethics into faith.
XVIII.49–51 Forma sustanzial is kept technical for the soul/form argument.
XVIII.49–51 Forma sustanzial is kept technical for the soul/form argument. Line 49: Forma sustanzial is kept technical for the soul/form argument.
XVIII.49 Forma sustanzial is kept technical for the soul/form argument. Forma sustanzial is kept technical for the soul/form argument.
XVIII.52–54 Effect reveals unseen power as leaves reveal plant life.
XVIII.52–54 Effect reveals unseen power as leaves reveal plant life. Line 54: Effect reveals unseen power as leaves reveal plant life.
XVIII.54 Effect reveals unseen power as leaves reveal plant life. Effect reveals unseen power as leaves reveal plant life.
XVIII.55–57 Prime notizie remains technical as first cognitions or first notions.
XVIII.55–57 Prime notizie remains technical as first cognitions or first notions. Line 56: Prime notizie remains technical as first cognitions or first notions.
XVIII.56 Prime notizie remains technical as first cognitions or first notions. Prime notizie remains technical as first cognitions or first notions.
XVIII.58–60 Studio here is instinctive zeal or impulse, before praise or blame. The first impulse is morally neutral before assent.
XVIII.58–60 Studio here is instinctive zeal or impulse, before praise or blame. Line 58: Studio here is instinctive zeal or impulse, before praise or blame. Line 60: The first impulse is morally neutral before assent.
XVIII.58 Studio here is instinctive zeal or impulse, before praise or blame. Studio here is instinctive zeal or impulse, before praise or blame.
XVIII.60 The first impulse is morally neutral before assent. The first impulse is morally neutral before assent.
XVIII.61–63 This counseling power is the rational faculty that governs assent. Assenso is central: moral responsibility enters at assent, not at the first appetite.
XVIII.61–63 This counseling power is the rational faculty that governs assent. Line 62: This counseling power is the rational faculty that governs assent.
XVIII.62 This counseling power is the rational faculty that governs assent. This counseling power is the rational faculty that governs assent.
XVIII.63 Assenso is central: moral responsibility enters at assent, not at the first appetite. Assenso is central: moral responsibility enters at assent, not at the first appetite.
XVIII.64–66 Accoglie e viglia keeps both reception and discernment of loves.
XVIII.64–66 Accoglie e viglia keeps both reception and discernment of loves. Line 66: Accoglie e viglia keeps both reception and discernment of loves; merit depends on reason sorting desires into good and evil loves.
XVIII.66 Accoglie e viglia keeps both reception and discernment of loves. Accoglie e viglia keeps both reception and discernment of loves.
XVIII.67–69 Virgil honors pagan moral philosophy while keeping its limits visible.
XVIII.67–69 Virgil honors pagan moral philosophy while keeping its limits visible. Line 67: Virgil honors pagan moral philosophy while keeping its limits visible.
XVIII.67 Virgil honors pagan moral philosophy while keeping its limits visible. Virgil honors pagan moral philosophy while keeping its limits visible.
XVIII.70–72 Freedom is framed as power to restrain and govern love, not to create first appetite ex nihilo.
XVIII.70–72 Freedom is framed as power to restrain and govern love, not to create first appetite ex nihilo. Line 72: Freedom is framed as power to restrain and govern love, not to create first appetite ex nihilo.
XVIII.72 Freedom is framed as power to restrain and govern love, not to create first appetite ex nihilo. Freedom is framed as power to restrain and govern love, not to create first appetite ex nihilo.
XVIII.73–75 Libero arbitrio is rendered directly as free will. The instruction points forward to Beatrice's fuller theological correction.
XVIII.73–75 Libero arbitrio is rendered directly as free will. Line 74: Libero arbitrio is rendered directly as free will. Line 75: The instruction points forward to Beatrice's fuller theological correction.
XVIII.74 Libero arbitrio is rendered directly as free will. Libero arbitrio is rendered directly as free will.
XVIII.75 The instruction points forward to Beatrice's fuller theological correction. The instruction points forward to Beatrice's fuller theological correction.
The moon marks the night, Virgil lays down Dante's burden, and drowsiness begins XVIII.76–90
76La luna, quasi a mezza notte tarda,
facea le stelle a noi parer più rade,
fatta com’ un secchion che tuttor arda;
e correa contro ’l ciel per quelle strade
80che ’l sole infiamma allor che quel da Roma
tra ’ Sardi e ’ Corsi il vede quando cade.
E quell’ ombra gentil per cui si noma
Pietola più che villa mantoana,
del mio carcar diposta avea la soma;
85per ch’io, che la ragione aperta e piana
sovra le mie quistioni avea ricolta,
stava com’ om che sonnolento vana.
Ma questa sonnolenza mi fu tolta
subitamente da gente che dopo
90le nostre spalle a noi era già volta.
76The moon, delayed almost to midnight,
made the stars seem fewer to us,
shaped like a bucket that keeps burning;
and it ran counter to the heavens by those roads
80that the sun inflames when one from Rome
sees it falling between Sardinians and Corsicans.
And that gentle shade, through whom is named
Pietola more than as a Mantuan village,
had put down the burden of my loading;
85wherefore I, who had gathered the reasoning
opened and plain above my questions,
was standing like a man who wanders drowsy.
But this sleepiness was taken from me
suddenly by people who behind
90our backs had already come round to us.
Commentary
The passage combines the difficult moon-time reckoning, the gibbous bucket image, the Rome-Sardinia-Corsica westering geometry, and Virgil/Pietola laying down the burden of Dante's questions before drowsiness begins.
XVIII.76–78 Secchion is kept as bucket for the gibbous moon image.
XVIII.76–78 Secchion is kept as bucket for the gibbous moon image. Line 78: Secchion is kept as bucket for the gibbous moon image.
XVIII.78 Secchion is kept as bucket for the gibbous moon image. Secchion is kept as bucket for the gibbous moon image.
XVIII.79–81 The moon's counter-motion keeps medieval celestial motion visible. The line follows the Rome-Sardinia-Corsica westering geometry without modernizing it.
XVIII.79–81 The moon's counter-motion keeps medieval celestial motion visible. Line 79: The moon's counter-motion keeps medieval celestial motion visible.
XVIII.79 The moon's counter-motion keeps medieval celestial motion visible. The moon's counter-motion keeps medieval celestial motion visible.
XVIII.81 The line follows the Rome-Sardinia-Corsica westering geometry without modernizing it. The line follows the Rome-Sardinia-Corsica westering geometry without modernizing it; the passage is a technical time marker.
XVIII.82–84 Pietola/Andes identifies Virgil by birthplace and fame. Carcar and soma make Dante's questions a burden Virgil has just carried.
XVIII.82–84 Pietola/Andes identifies Virgil by birthplace and fame. Line 83: Pietola/Andes identifies Virgil by birthplace and fame. Line 84: Carcar and soma make Dante's questions a burden Virgil has just carried.
XVIII.83 Pietola/Andes identifies Virgil by birthplace and fame. Pietola/Andes identifies Virgil by birthplace and fame.
XVIII.84 Carcar and soma make Dante's questions a burden Virgil has just carried. Carcar and soma make Dante's questions a burden Virgil has just carried.
XVIII.85–87 Vana begins the mental wandering that will end in the dream.
XVIII.85–87 Vana begins the mental wandering that will end in the dream. Line 87: Vana begins the mental wandering that will end in the dream.
XVIII.87 Vana begins the mental wandering that will end in the dream. Vana begins the mental wandering that will end in the dream.
The running slothful arrive with Bacchic urgency and cry examples of holy and martial zeal XVIII.91–105
91E quale Ismeno già vide e Asopo
lungo di sè di notte furia e calca,
pur che i Teban di Bacco avesser uopo,
cotal per quel giron suo passo falca,
95per quel ch’io vidi di color, venendo,
cui buon volere e giusto amor cavalca.
Tosto fur sovr’ a noi, perché correndo
si movea tutta quella turba magna;
e due dinanzi gridavan piangendo:
100«Maria corse con fretta a la montagna;
e Cesare, per soggiogare Ilerda,
punse Marsilia e poi corse in Ispagna».
«Ratto, ratto, che ’l tempo non si perda
per poco amor», gridavan li altri appresso,
105«che studio di ben far grazia rinverda».
91And as Ismenus once and Asopus
saw along themselves by night fury and crowding,
whenever the Thebans had need of Bacchus,
just so through that ring their steps cut the curve,
95from what I saw of those coming on,
whom good will and just love ride.
Soon they were upon us, because running
all that great crowd was moving;
and two in front were crying, weeping:
100'Mary ran with haste to the mountain;
and Caesar, to subjugate Ilerda,
struck Marseilles and then ran into Spain.'
'Quick, quick, that time not be lost
through little love,' the others cried after them,
105'for zeal in doing good greens grace anew.'
Commentary
The Bacchic Theban simile and the first two zeal examples, Mary hurrying to the hill country and Caesar rushing from Marseilles to Spain, open the passage.
XVIII.91–93 The Theban rivers introduce the Bacchic comparison for the runners' urgency.
XVIII.91–93 The Theban rivers introduce the Bacchic comparison for the runners' urgency. Line 91: The Theban rivers introduce the Bacchic comparison for the runners' urgency.
XVIII.91 The Theban rivers introduce the Bacchic comparison for the runners' urgency. The Theban rivers introduce the Bacchic comparison for the runners' urgency, with Ovid and Statius behind the Bacchic setting.
XVIII.94–96 Falca suggests a scything or curving motion around the terrace. Cavalca keeps the souls driven by corrected love, an active counterform to sloth.
XVIII.94–96 Falca suggests a scything or curving motion around the terrace. Line 94: Falca suggests a scything or curving motion around the terrace. Line 96: Cavalca keeps the souls driven by corrected love, an active counterform to sloth.
XVIII.94 Falca suggests a scything or curving motion around the terrace. Falca suggests a scything or curving motion around the terrace.
XVIII.96 Cavalca keeps the souls driven by corrected love, an active counterform to sloth. Cavalca keeps the souls driven by corrected love, an active counterform to sloth.
XVIII.100–102 The first zeal example is Mary's haste in the Visitation. The second zeal example is politically and militarily charged, not simply devotional.
XVIII.100–102 The first zeal example is Mary's haste in the Visitation. Lines 101-102 set Caesar's rapid military action beside Mary's holy haste, so zeal is shown in both devotional and civic-historical registers.
XVIII.100 The first zeal example is Mary's haste in the Visitation. The first zeal example is Mary's haste in the Visitation, a biblical model of prompt love that reverses sloth's delay.
XVIII.102 The second zeal example is politically and militarily charged, not simply devotional. The second zeal example is politically and militarily charged, not simply devotional.
XVIII.103–105 Poco amor names sloth as deficient love, continuing Purgatorio XVII. Rinverda keeps grace as renewed or made green by active zeal.
XVIII.103–105 Poco amor names sloth as deficient love, continuing Purgatorio XVII. Line 104: Poco amor names sloth as deficient love, continuing Purgatorio XVII. Line 105: Rinverda keeps grace as renewed or made green by active zeal.
XVIII.104 Poco amor names sloth as deficient love, continuing Purgatorio XVII. Poco amor names sloth as deficient love, continuing Purgatorio XVII.
XVIII.105 Rinverda keeps grace as renewed or made green by active zeal. Rinverda keeps grace as renewed or made green by active zeal.
Virgil asks for the stair opening, and the Abbot of San Zeno answers while running XVIII.106–126
106«O gente in cui fervore aguto adesso
ricompie forse negligenza e indugio
da voi per tepidezza in ben far messo,
questi che vive, e certo i’ non vi bugio,
110vuole andar sù, pur che ’l sol ne riluca;
però ne dite ond’ è presso il pertugio».
Parole furon queste del mio duca;
e un di quelli spirti disse: «Vieni
di retro a noi, e troverai la buca.
115Noi siam di voglia a muoverci sì pieni,
che restar non potem; però perdona,
se villania nostra giustizia tieni.
Io fui abate in San Zeno a Verona
sotto lo ’mperio del buon Barbarossa,
120di cui dolente ancor Milan ragiona.
E tale ha già l’un piè dentro la fossa,
che tosto piangerà quel monastero,
e tristo fia d’avere avuta possa;
perché suo figlio, mal del corpo intero,
125e de la mente peggio, e che mal nacque,
ha posto in loco di suo pastor vero».
106'O people in whom sharp fervor now
perhaps refills negligence and delay
put by you through lukewarmness in doing good,
this one who lives, and certainly I do not lie to you,
110wishes to go up, provided the sun shines again on us;
therefore tell us where the opening is near.'
These were the words of my guide;
and one of those spirits said, 'Come
behind us, and you will find the gap.
115We are so full of will to move
that we cannot stay; therefore pardon us,
if you hold our justice for discourtesy.
I was abbot in San Zeno at Verona
under the empire of good Barbarossa,
120of whom sorrowing Milan still speaks.
And one already has one foot in the grave
who soon will weep over that monastery,
and will be sad to have had power there;
because his son, ill in his whole body,
125and worse in mind, and ill-born,
he has put in place of its true shepherd.'
Commentary
The translation records the local political and ecclesial pressure without expanding the line beyond Dante's compression.
XVIII.106–108 Negligence, delay, lukewarmness, and doing good define sloth as failed motion toward good.
XVIII.106–108 Negligence, delay, lukewarmness, and doing good define sloth as failed motion toward good. Line 108: Negligence, delay, lukewarmness, and doing good define sloth as failed motion toward good.
XVIII.108 Negligence, delay, lukewarmness, and doing good define sloth as failed motion toward good. Negligence, delay, lukewarmness, and doing good define sloth as failed motion toward good.
XVIII.109–111 Night still blocks ascent; motion upward waits for light.
XVIII.109–111 Night still blocks ascent; motion upward waits for light. Line 110: Night still blocks ascent; motion upward waits for light.
XVIII.110 Night still blocks ascent; motion upward waits for light. Night still blocks ascent; motion upward waits for light.
XVIII.115–117 Voglia and motion mark the purged counterforce to acedia. Their inability to stop is not rudeness but the form of their just purgation.
XVIII.115–117 Voglia and motion mark the purged counterforce to acedia. Line 115: Voglia and motion mark the purged counterforce to acedia. Line 117: Their inability to stop is not rudeness but the form of their just purgation.
XVIII.115 Voglia and motion mark the purged counterforce to acedia. Voglia and motion mark the purged counterforce to acedia.
XVIII.117 Their inability to stop is not rudeness but the form of their just purgation. Their inability to stop is not rudeness but the form of their just purgation.
XVIII.118–120 The political memory of Barbarossa and Milan enters through the running abbot's compressed self-identification.
XVIII.120 The political memory of Barbarossa and Milan enters through the running abbot's compressed self-identification. The political memory of Barbarossa and Milan enters through the running abbot's compressed self-identification.
XVIII.121–123 Possa keeps temporal power as the source of ecclesial abuse.
XVIII.123 Possa keeps temporal power as the source of ecclesial abuse. Possa keeps temporal power as the source of ecclesial abuse.
XVIII.124–126 Mal nacque carries both birth-status and moral/political damage, in the Scala context. The true-pastor language keeps the ecclesial office violation explicit.
XVIII.124–126 Mal nacque carries both birth-status and moral/political damage, in the Scala context. Line 126: The true-pastor language keeps the ecclesial office violation explicit.
XVIII.125 Mal nacque carries both birth-status and moral/political damage, in the Scala context. Mal nacque carries both birth-status and moral/political damage, in the Scala context.
XVIII.126 The true-pastor language keeps the ecclesial office violation explicit. The true-pastor language keeps the ecclesial office violation explicit.
The abbot passes beyond hearing, and the last runners bite at sloth with examples of failed endurance XVIII.127–138
127Io non so se più disse o s’ei si tacque,
tant’ era già di là da noi trascorso;
ma questo intesi, e ritener mi piacque.
130E quei che m’era ad ogne uopo soccorso
disse: «Volgiti qua: vedine due
venir dando a l’accidïa di morso».
Di retro a tutti dicean: «Prima fue
morta la gente a cui il mar s’aperse,
135che vedesse Iordan le rede sue.
E quella che l’affanno non sofferse
fino a la fine col figlio d’Anchise,
sé stessa a vita sanza gloria offerse».
127I do not know if he said more or if he fell silent,
so far beyond us had he already run;
but this I understood, and it pleased me to retain it.
130And he who had been aid to me in every need
said: 'Turn here: see two of them
coming, giving a bite to sloth.'
Behind all the rest they were saying: 'First was
dead the people for whom the sea opened
135before Jordan saw its heirs.
And those who did not bear the labor
to the end with Anchises' son,
offered themselves to life without glory.'
Commentary
The two bridle examples against sloth are the Israelites who died before the Jordan crossing and Aeneas's companions who abandoned the hard journey for an inglorious life.
XVIII.127–129 The speed of purgation leaves the political note fragmentary but memorable.
XVIII.127–129 The speed of purgation leaves the political note fragmentary but memorable. Line 129: The speed of purgation leaves the political note fragmentary but memorable.
XVIII.129 The speed of purgation leaves the political note fragmentary but memorable. The speed of purgation leaves the political note fragmentary but memorable.
XVIII.130–132 Accidia is the technical acedia/sloth term; the bite image makes these examples a bridle.
XVIII.132 Accidia is the technical acedia/sloth term; the bite image makes these examples a bridle. Accidia is the technical acedia/sloth term; the bite image makes these examples a bridle, with remorse figured as pressure from behind.
XVIII.133–135 The first bridle example is the Exodus generation that died before entering the promised land.
XVIII.133–135 The first bridle example is the Exodus generation that died before entering the promised land. Line 134: The first bridle example is the Exodus generation that died before entering the promised land; it bites at sloth as failed endurance in a divinely guided journey.
XVIII.134 The first bridle example is the Exodus generation that died before entering the promised land. The first bridle example is the Exodus generation that died before entering the promised land.
XVIII.136–138 The second bridle example is the group from the Aeneid who remained behind rather than endure the journey with Aeneas. Failure to endure becomes an inglorious self-offering.
XVIII.136–138 The second bridle example is the group from the Aeneid who remained behind rather than endure the journey with Aeneas. Line 137: The second bridle example is the group from the Aeneid who remained behind rather than endure the journey with Aeneas. Line 138: Failure to endure becomes an inglorious self-offering, opposed to the terrace's compulsory zeal.
XVIII.137 The second bridle example is the group from the Aeneid who remained behind rather than endure the journey with Aeneas. The second bridle example is the group from the Aeneid who remained behind rather than endure the journey with Aeneas.
XVIII.138 Failure to endure becomes an inglorious self-offering. Failure to endure becomes an inglorious self-offering.
Dante's thoughts multiply after the runners vanish, and meditation turns into dream XVIII.139–145
139Poi quando fuor da noi tanto divise
140quell’ ombre, che veder più non potiersi,
novo pensiero dentro a me si mise,
del qual più altri nacquero e diversi;
e tanto d’uno in altro vaneggiai,
che li occhi per vaghezza ricopersi,
145e ’l pensamento in sogno trasmutai.
139Then when those shades were so divided
140from us that they could no longer be seen,
a new thought set itself within me,
from which many others and different were born;
and so from one into another I wandered,
that my eyes through wandering desire closed over,
145and thought into dream I transmuted.
Commentary
The canto closes with an inward drift: the running shades vanish, thought produces further thought, wandering attention closes Dante's eyes, and meditation becomes dream.
XVIII.142–144 Vaneggiai recalls the earlier drowsy wandering and prepares the dream. Vaghezza holds wandering, desire, and dreamy attraction together.
XVIII.142–144 Vaneggiai recalls the earlier drowsy wandering and prepares the dream. Line 143: Vaneggiai recalls the earlier drowsy wandering and prepares the dream.
XVIII.143 Vaneggiai recalls the earlier drowsy wandering and prepares the dream. Vaneggiai recalls the earlier drowsy wandering and prepares the dream.
XVIII.144 Vaghezza holds wandering, desire, and dreamy attraction together. Vaghezza holds wandering, desire, and dreamy attraction together.