Divine Comedy all parts. "The Divine Comedy" main characters

Often, because of love, actions are committed that go beyond understanding. It is customary for poets, having experienced love, to dedicate their writings to the object of feelings. But if this poet is still a person with a difficult fate and, at the same time, is not devoid of genius, there is a possibility that he is capable of writing one of the greatest works in the world. This was Dante Alighieri. His “Divine Comedy” - a masterpiece of world literature - continues to be interesting to the world 700 years after its creation.

“The Divine Comedy” was created in the second period of the great poet’s life - the period of exile (1302 - 1321). By the time he began work on the Comedy, he was already looking for a haven for soul and body among the cities and states of Italy, and the love of his life, Beatrice, had already fallen asleep for several years (1290), having become a victim of a plague epidemic. Writing was a kind of consolation for Dante in his difficult life. It is unlikely that he then counted on worldwide fame or memory for centuries. But the genius of the author and the value of his poem did not allow him to be forgotten.

Genre and direction

"Comedy" is a special work in the history of world literature. If you look at it in a broad way, it is a poem. In a narrower sense, it is impossible to determine whether it belongs to one of the varieties of this genre. The problem here is that there are no more such works in terms of content. It is impossible to come up with a name that would reflect the meaning of the text. Dante decided to call the work “Comedy” by Giovanni Boccaccio, following the logic of Aristotle’s teaching on drama, where comedy was a work that started out bad and ended well. The epithet “divine” was invented in the 16th century.

In direction, this is a classic work of the Italian Renaissance. Dante's poem is characterized by special national elegance, rich imagery and accuracy. With all this, the poet also does not neglect the sublimity and freedom of thought. All these features were characteristic of the Renaissance poetry of Italy. It is they who form that unique style of Italian poetry of the 13th - 17th centuries.

Composition

Taken as a whole, the core of the poem is the hero's journey. The work consists of three parts, consisting of one hundred songs. The first part is “Hell”. It contains 34 songs, while "Purgatory" and "Paradise" have 33 songs each. The author's choice is not accidental. “Hell” stood out as a place in which there can be no harmony, well, and there are more inhabitants there.

Description of Hell

"Hell" represents nine circles. Sinners are ranked there according to the severity of their fall. Dante took Aristotle's Ethics as the basis for this system. Thus, from the second to the fifth circles they punish for the results of human intemperance:

• in the second circle - for lust;
• in the third - for gluttony;
• in the fourth - for stinginess with wastefulness;
• in the fifth - for anger;

In the sixth and seventh for the consequences of atrocities:

• in the sixth for false teachings
• in the seventh for violence, murder and suicide

In the eighth and ninth for lying and all its derivatives. A worse fate awaits Dante's traitors. According to the logic of modern, and even then, people, the most serious sin is murder. But Aristotle probably believed that a person cannot always control the desire to kill because of bestial nature, while lying is an exclusively conscious matter. Dante apparently followed the same concept.

In Inferno, everyone is Dante's political and personal enemies. Also there he placed all those who were of a different faith, seemed immoral to the poet and simply did not live like a Christian.

Description of Purgatory

"Purgatory" contains seven circles that correspond to the seven sins. The Catholic Church later called them mortal sins (those that can be “prayed away”). In Dante they are arranged from the hardest to the most tolerable. He did this because his path should represent the path of ascent to Paradise.

Description of paradise

“Paradise” is performed in nine circles, named after the main planets of the solar system. Here are Christian martyrs, saints and scientists, participants in the crusades, monks, church fathers, and, of course, Beatrice, who is located not just anywhere, but in the Empyrean - the ninth circle, which is represented in the form of a luminous rose, which can be interpreted as a place where God is. Despite all the Christian orthodoxy of the poem, Dante gives the circles of Paradise the names of the planets, which in meaning correspond to the names of the gods of Roman mythology. For example, the third circle (Venus) is the abode of lovers, and the sixth (Mars) is the place for warriors for the faith.

About what?

Giovanni Boccaccio, when writing a sonnet on behalf of Dante, dedicated to the purpose of the poem, said the following: “To entertain posterity and instruct in the faith.” This is true: “The Divine Comedy” can serve as an instruction in faith, because it is based on Christian teaching and clearly shows what and who will face for disobedience. And, as they say, she can entertain. Considering, for example, the fact that “Paradise” is the most unreadable part of the poem, since all the entertainment that a person loves is described in the previous two chapters, well, or the fact that the work is dedicated to Dante’s love. Moreover, the function that, as Boccaccio said, entertains, can even compete in its importance with the function of edification. After all, the poet, of course, was more of a romantic than a satirist. He wrote about himself and for himself: everyone who prevented him from living is in hell, the poem is for his beloved, and Dante’s companion and mentor, Virgil, is the favorite poet of the great Florentine (it is known that he knew his “Aeneid” by heart).

Dante's image

Dante is the main character of the poem. It is noteworthy that in the entire book his name is not indicated anywhere, except perhaps on the cover. The narration comes from his perspective, and all the other characters call him “you.” The narrator and the author have a lot in common. The "Dark Forest" in which the first one finds himself at the very beginning is the exile of the real Dante from Florence, the moment when he was truly in turmoil. And Virgil from the poem is the writings of a Roman poet that actually existed for the exile. Just as his poetry guided Dante through difficulties here, so in the afterlife Virgil is his “teacher and beloved example.” In the character system, the ancient Roman poet also personifies wisdom. The hero shows himself most well in relation to sinners who offended him personally during his lifetime. He even tells some of them in the poem that they deserve it.

Themes

• The main theme of the poem is love. The poets of the Renaissance began to elevate the earthly woman to heaven, often calling her Madonna. Love, according to Dante, is the cause and beginning of everything. She is the stimulus for writing the poem, the reason for his journey already in the context of the work, and most importantly, the reason for the beginning and existence of the Universe, as is commonly believed in Christian theology.
• Edification is the next theme of the Comedy. Dante, like everyone else in those days, felt a great responsibility for earthly life before the heavenly world. For the reader, he can act as a teacher who gives everyone what they deserve. It is clear that in the context of the poem, the inhabitants of the underworld were located as the author describes them, by the will of the Almighty.
• Policy. Dante's work can safely be called political. The poet always believed in the benefits of the emperor's power and wanted such power for his country. In total, his ideological enemies, as well as the enemies of the empire, like Caesar's murderers, experience the most terrible suffering in hell.
• Strength of mind. Dante often falls into confusion when he finds himself in the afterlife, but Virgil tells him not to do this, not stopping at any danger. However, even under unusual circumstances, the hero shows himself with dignity. He cannot not be afraid at all, since he is a man, but even for a man his fear is insignificant, which is an example of exemplary will. This will did not break either in the face of difficulties in the poet’s real life or in his book adventure.

Issues

• The fight for the ideal. Dante strived for his goals both in real life and in the poem. Once a political activist, he continues to defend his interests, branding all those who are in opposition to him and do bad things. The author, of course, cannot call himself a saint, but nevertheless he takes responsibility by distributing sinners to their places. The ideal in this matter for him is Christian teaching and his own views.
• Correlation between the earthly and afterlife worlds. Many of those who lived, according to Dante, or according to Christian law, unrighteously, but, for example, for their own pleasure and benefit for themselves, find themselves in the most terrible places in hell. At the same time, in paradise there are martyrs or those who during their lifetime became famous for great and useful deeds. The concept of punishment and reward, developed by Christian theology, exists as a moral guide for most people today.
• Death. When his beloved died, the poet was very sad. His love was not destined to come true and be embodied on earth. “The Divine Comedy” is an attempt to reunite, at least briefly, with a woman who has been lost forever.

Meaning

“The Divine Comedy” fulfills all the functions that the author intended for this work. It is a moral and humanistic ideal for everyone. Reading the “Comedy” evokes many emotions, through which a person learns what is good and what is bad, and experiences purification, the so-called “catharsis,” as Aristotle dubbed this state of mind. Through the suffering experienced in the process of reading the everyday description of hell, a person comprehends divine wisdom. As a result, he treats his actions and thoughts more responsibly, because the justice laid down from above will punish his sins. In a bright and talented manner, the artist of the word, like an icon painter, depicted scenes of reprisals against vices that enlighten the common people, popularizing and chewing on the content of the Holy Scriptures. Dante's audience, of course, is more demanding, because they are literate, wealthy and perspicacious, but, nevertheless, they are not alien to sinfulness. Such people tended to distrust the direct moralizing of preachers and theological works, and here the exquisitely written “Divine Comedy” came to the aid of virtue, which carried the same educational and moral charge, but did it in a secularly sophisticated way. The main idea of ​​the work is expressed in this healing influence on those who are burdened with power and money.

The ideals of love, justice and the strength of the human spirit at all times are the basis of our existence, and in Dante’s work they are glorified and shown in all their significance. “The Divine Comedy” teaches a person to strive for the high destiny with which God has honored him.

Peculiarities

“The Divine Comedy” has the most important aesthetic significance because of the theme of human love that has turned into tragedy and the rich artistic world of the poem. All of the above, together with a special poetic cast and unprecedented functional diversity, make this work one of the most outstanding in world literature.

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At the heart of Dante's poem is humanity's recognition of its sins and ascent to spiritual life and to God. According to the poet, in order to find peace of mind, it is necessary to go through all the circles of hell and renounce blessings, and atone for sins with suffering. Each of the three chapters of the poem includes 33 songs. “Hell”, “Purgatory” and “Paradise” are the eloquent names of the parts that make up the “Divine Comedy”. A summary makes it possible to comprehend the main idea of ​​the poem.

Dante Alighieri created the poem during the years of exile, shortly before his death. It is recognized in world literature as a brilliant creation. The author himself gave it the name “Comedy”. In those days it was customary to call any work that had a happy ending. Boccaccio called it “Divine”, thus giving it the highest rating.

Dante's poem "The Divine Comedy", a summary of which schoolchildren study in the 9th grade, is difficult for modern teenagers to perceive. A detailed analysis of some songs cannot give a complete picture of the work, especially taking into account today’s attitude towards religion and human sins. However, acquaintance, albeit only a review, with Dante’s work is necessary to create a complete understanding of world fiction.

"The Divine Comedy". Summary of the chapter "Hell"

The main character of the work is Dante himself, to whom the shadow of the famous poet Virgil appears with an offer to travel through Dante. At first he doubts, but agrees after Virgil informs him that Beatrice (the author’s beloved, by that time long dead) asked the poet to become his guide. ).

The path of the characters begins in hell. Before entering it there are pitiful souls who during their lifetime did neither good nor evil. Outside the gates flows the Acheron River, through which Charon transports the dead. The heroes are approaching the circles of hell:

Having gone through all the circles of hell, Dante and his companion went up and saw the stars.

"The Divine Comedy". Brief summary of the part "Purgatory"

The main character and his guide end up in purgatory. Here they are met by the guard Cato, who sends them to the sea to wash themselves. The companions go to the water, where Virgil washes the soot of the underworld from Dante’s face. At this time, a boat sails up to the travelers, ruled by an angel. He lands on shore the souls of the dead who did not go to hell. With them, the heroes travel to the mountain of purgatory. On the way, they meet Virgil's fellow countryman, the poet Sordello, who joins them.

Dante falls asleep and in his sleep is transported to the gates of purgatory. Here the angel writes seven letters on the poet’s forehead, indicating the Hero goes through all the circles of purgatory, cleansing himself of sins. After completing each circle, the angel erases the letter of the overcome sin from Dante’s forehead. On the last lap, the poet must pass through the flames of fire. Dante is afraid, but Virgil convinces him. The poet passes the test by fire and goes to heaven, where Beatrice is waiting for him. Virgil falls silent and disappears forever. The beloved washes Dante in the sacred river, and the poet feels strength pouring into his body.

"The Divine Comedy". Brief summary of the part "Paradise"

Beloved ones ascend to heaven. To the surprise of the main character, he was able to take off. Beatrice explained to him that souls not burdened with sins are light. Lovers pass through all the heavenly skies:

• the first sky of the Moon, where the souls of nuns are located;
• the second - Mercury for ambitious righteous people;
• third - Venus, here the souls of the loving rest;
• the fourth - the Sun, intended for sages;
• fifth - Mars, which receives warriors;
• sixth - Jupiter, for just souls;
• the seventh is Saturn, where the souls of contemplators are located;
• the eighth - for the spirits of the great righteous;
• ninth - here are angels and archangels, seraphim and cherubim.

After ascending to the last heaven, the hero sees the Virgin Mary. She is among the shining rays. Dante raises his head up into the bright and blinding light and finds the highest truth. He sees divinity in its trinity.

Dante Alighieri 1265-1321
Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) – Poem (1307-1321)
HELL
Halfway through life, I – Dante – got lost in a dense forest. It’s scary, there are wild animals all around – allegories of vices; nowhere to go. And then a ghost appears, who turns out to be the shadow of my beloved ancient Roman poet Virgil. I ask him for help. He promises to take me from here to wander through the afterlife so that I can see Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. I'm ready to follow him.
Yes, but am I capable of such a journey? I became timid and hesitated. Virgil reproached me, telling me that Beatrice herself (my late beloved) came down to him from Heaven to Hell and asked him to be my guide in my wanderings in the afterlife. If so, then you cannot hesitate, you need determination. Guide me, my teacher and mentor!
There is an inscription above the entrance to Hell that takes away all hope from those entering. We entered. Here, right behind the entrance, the pitiful souls of those who did neither good nor evil during their lives groan. Next is the Acheron River, through which the ferocious Charon transports the dead in a boat. We are with them. “But you’re not dead!” - Charon shouts angrily at me. Virgil pacified him. Let's swim. A roar was heard from afar, the wind was blowing, and flames flashed. I lost my senses...
The first circle of Hell is Limbo. Here the souls of unbaptized babies and glorious pagans languish - warriors, sages, poets (including Virgil). They do not suffer, but only grieve that they, as non-Christians, have no place in Paradise. Virgil and I joined the great poets of antiquity, the first of whom was Homer. They walked sedately and talked about unearthly things.
At the descent into the second circle of the underworld, the demon Minos determines which sinner should be cast into which place of Hell. He reacted to me in the same way as Charon, and Virgil pacified him in the same way. We saw the souls of voluptuaries (Cleopatra, Helen the Beautiful, etc.) carried away by a hellish whirlwind. Among them is Francesca, and here she is inseparable from her lover. Immense mutual passion led them to tragic death. With deep compassion for them, I fainted again.
In the third circle, the bestial dog Cerberus rages. He started to bark at us, but Virgil pacified him too. Here the souls of those who sinned with gluttony are lying in the mud, under a heavy downpour. Among them is my fellow countryman, the Florentine Ciacco. We talked about the fate of our hometown. Chacko asked me to remind living people about him when I return to earth.
The demon guarding the fourth circle, where spendthrifts and misers are executed (among the latter there are many clergy - popes, cardinals) - Plutos. Virgil also had to besiege him in order to get rid of him. From the fourth we descended into the fifth circle, where the angry and lazy suffer, mired in the swamps of the Stygian lowland. We approached some tower.
This is a whole fortress, around it there is a vast reservoir, in the canoe there is a rower, the demon Phlegius. After another squabble we sat down with him and sailed. Some sinner tried to cling to the side, I cursed him, and Virgil pushed him away. Before us is the hellish city of Deet. Any dead evil spirits prevent us from entering it. Virgil, leaving me (oh, it’s scary to be alone!), went to find out what was the matter, and returned worried, but hopeful.
And then the hellish furies appeared before us, threatening. A heavenly messenger who suddenly appeared and curbed their anger came to the rescue. We entered Deet. Everywhere there are tombs engulfed in flames, from which the groans of heretics can be heard. We make our way along a narrow road between the tombs.
A mighty figure suddenly emerged from one of the tombs. This is Farinata, my ancestors were his political opponents. In me, having heard my conversation with Virgil, he guessed a fellow countryman by the dialect. He was proud, he seemed to despise the entire abyss of Hell. We argued with him, and then another head poked out from a neighboring tomb: this is the father of my friend Guido! It seemed to him that I was dead and that his son was also dead, and he fell on his face in despair. Farinata, calm him down; Guido is alive!
Near the descent from the sixth circle to the seventh, above the grave of the heretic master Anastasius, Virgil explained to me the structure of the remaining three circles of Hell, tapering downwards (towards the center of the earth), and what sins are punished in which zone of which circle.
The seventh circle is compressed by mountains and is guarded by the half-bull demon Minotaur, who roared menacingly at us. Virgil shouted at him, and we hastened to move away. They saw a stream boiling with blood, in which tyrants and robbers were boiling, and from the shore centaurs were shooting at them with bows. The centaur Nessus became our guide, told us about the executed rapists and helped us ford the boiling river.
All around there are thorny thickets with no greenery. I broke some branch, and black blood flowed from it, and the trunk groaned. It turns out that these bushes are the souls of suicides (violators of their own flesh). They are pecked by the hellish birds Harpies, trampled by the running dead, causing them unbearable pain. One trampled bush asked me to collect the broken branches and return them to him. It turned out that the unfortunate man was my fellow countryman. I complied with his request and we moved on. We see sand, flakes of fire fly down on top of it, scorching sinners who scream and moan - all except one: he lies silent. Who is this? King Kapanei, a proud and gloomy atheist, struck down by the gods for his obstinacy. He is still true to himself: he either remains silent or loudly curses the gods. “You are your own tormentor!” - Virgil shouted over him...
But the souls of new sinners are moving towards us, tormented by fire. Among them I hardly recognized my venerable teacher Brunetto Latini. He is among those who are guilty of same-sex love. We started talking. Brunetto predicted that glory awaits me in the world of the living, but there will also be many hardships that must be resisted. The teacher bequeathed to me to take care of his main work, in which he is alive - “Treasure”.
And three more sinners (same sin) dance in the fire. All Florentines, former respected citizens. I talked to them about the misfortunes of our hometown. They asked me to tell my living fellow countrymen that I saw them. Then Virgil led me to a deep hole in the eighth circle. A hellish beast will bring us down there. He's already climbing towards us from there.
This is the mottled tailed Geryon. While he is preparing to descend, there is still time to look at the last martyrs of the seventh circle - the moneylenders, tossing about in a whirlwind of flaming dust. From their necks hang colorful wallets with different coats of arms. I didn't talk to them. Let's hit the road! We sit down with Virgil astride Geryon and - oh horror! – we are gradually flying into failure, to new torments. We went down. Geryon immediately flew away.
The eighth circle is divided into ten ditches called Zlopazuchi. In the first ditch, pimps and seducers of women are executed, in the second - flatterers. Pimps are brutally scourged by horned demons, flatterers sit in a liquid mass of stinking feces - the stench is unbearable. By the way, one whore was punished here not for fornication, but for flattering her lover, saying that she felt good with him.
The next ditch (third cavity) is lined with stone, mottled with round holes, from which protrude the burning legs of high-ranking clergy who traded in church positions. Their heads and torsos are pinched by the holes in the stone wall. Their successors, when they die, will also kick their flaming legs in their place, completely pushing their predecessors into stone. This is how Pope Orsini explained it to me, at first mistaking me for his successor.
In the fourth sinus, soothsayers, astrologers, and sorceresses suffer. Their necks are twisted so that when they sob, they wet their backsides with their tears, not their chests. I myself burst into tears when I saw such a mockery of people, and Virgil shamed me; It’s a sin to feel sorry for sinners! But he, too, with sympathy, told me about his fellow countrywoman, the soothsayer Manto, after whom Mantua, the homeland of my glorious mentor, was named.
The fifth ditch is filled with boiling tar, into which the Grudge-grabber devils, black, winged, throw bribe-takers and make sure that they do not stick out, otherwise they will hook the sinner and finish him off in the most cruel way. The devils have nicknames: Evil-Tail, Crooked-Winged, etc. We will have to go through part of the further path in their creepy company. They make faces, show their tongues, their boss made a deafening obscene sound with his backside. I've never heard anything like this before! We walk with them along the ditch, the sinners dive into the tar - they hide, and one hesitated, and they immediately pulled him out with hooks, intending to torment him, but first they allowed us to talk with him. The poor fellow, by cunning, lulled the vigilance of the Grudgers and dived back - there was no time to catch him. The irritated devils fought among themselves, two of them fell into the tar. In the confusion, we hastened to leave, but it was not to be! They are flying after us. Virgil, picking me up, barely managed to run across to the sixth bosom, where they are not the masters. Here the hypocrites languish under the weight of lead and gilded clothing. And here is the crucified (nailed to the ground with stakes) Jewish high priest, who insisted on the execution of Christ. He is trampled underfoot by hypocrites weighed down with lead.
The transition was difficult: along a rocky path - into the seventh bosom. Thieves live here, bitten by monstrous poisonous snakes. From these bites they crumble into dust, but are immediately restored to their appearance. Among them is Vanni Fucci, who robbed the sacristy and blamed it on someone else. A rude and blasphemous man: he sent God “to hell”, raising two figs in the air. Immediately the snakes attacked him (I love them for this). Then I watched as a certain snake merged with one of the thieves, after which it took on his appearance and stood on its feet, and the thief crawled away, becoming a reptile. Miracles! You won’t find such metamorphoses in Ovid either,
Rejoice, Florence: these thieves are your offspring! It's a shame... And in the eighth ditch live treacherous advisers. Among them is ULYSSES (Odysseus), his soul is imprisoned in a flame that can speak! So, we heard the story of Ulysses about his death: eager to know the unknown, he sailed with a handful of daredevils to the other side of the world, was shipwrecked and, together with his friends, drowned far from the world inhabited by people,
Another speaking flame, in which the soul of the evil adviser, who did not call himself by name, is hidden, told me about his sin: this adviser helped the Pope in one unrighteous deed - counting on the Pope to forgive him his sin. Heaven is more tolerant of the simple-minded sinner than of those who hope to be saved by repentance. We moved to the ninth ditch, where the sowers of unrest are executed.
Here they are, the instigators of bloody strife and religious unrest. The devil will mutilate them with a heavy sword, cut off their noses and ears, and crush their skulls. Here are Mohammed, and Curio, who encouraged Caesar to civil war, and the beheaded troubadour warrior Bertrand de Born (he carries his head in his hand like a lantern, and she exclaims: “Woe!”).
Then I met my relative, angry with me because his violent death remained unavenged. Then we moved to the tenth ditch, where the alchemists suffer from the eternal itch. One of them was burned for jokingly boasting that he could fly - he became a victim of denunciation. He ended up in Hell not for this, but as an alchemist. Those who pretended to be other people, counterfeiters and liars in general are executed here. Two of them fought among themselves and then argued for a long time (Master Adam, who mixed copper into gold coins, and the ancient Greek Sinon, who deceived the Trojans). Virgil reproached me for the curiosity with which I listened to them.
Our journey through the Sinisters ends. We approached the well leading from the eighth circle of Hell to the ninth. There are ancient giants, titans. Among them were Nimrod, who angrily shouted something to us in an incomprehensible language, and Antaeus, who, at the request of Virgil, lowered us to the bottom of the well on his huge palm, and immediately straightened up.
So, we are at the bottom of the universe, near the center of the globe. In front of us is an icy lake, those who betrayed their loved ones were frozen into it. I accidentally hit one on the head with my foot, he screamed and refused to identify himself. Then I grabbed his hair, and then someone called his name. Scoundrel, now I know who you are, and I will tell people about you! And he: “Lie whatever you want, about me and about others!” And here is an ice pit, in which one dead man gnaws the skull of another. I ask: for what? Looking up from his victim, he answered me. He, Count Ugolino, takes revenge on his former like-minded person who betrayed him, Archbishop Ruggieri, who starved him and his children by imprisoning them in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Their suffering was unbearable, the children died in front of their father’s eyes, he was the last to die. Shame on Pisa! Let's move on. Who is this in front of us? Alberigo? But, as far as I know, he didn’t die, so how did he end up in Hell? It also happens: the villain’s body still lives, but his soul is already in the underworld.
In the center of the earth, the ruler of Hell, Lucifer, frozen in ice, cast down from heaven and hollowed out the abyss of the underworld in his fall, disfigured, three-faced. Judas sticks out of his first mouth, Brutus from the second, Cassius from the third, He chews them and torments them with his claws. The worst of all is the most vile traitor - Judas. A well stretches from Lucifer leading to the surface of the opposite earthly hemisphere. We squeezed through, rose to the surface and saw the stars.
PURGATORY
May the Muses help me sing of the second kingdom! His guard, Elder Cato, greeted us unfriendly: who are they? How dare you come here? Virgil explained and, wanting to appease Cato, spoke warmly of his wife Marcia. What does Marcia have to do with this? Go to the seashore, you need to wash yourself! We are going. Here it is, the distance of the sea. And there is abundant dew in the coastal grasses. With it, Virgil washed away the soot of abandoned Hell from my face.
A boat guided by an angel floats towards us from the distance of the sea. It contains the souls of the deceased who were lucky enough not to go to Hell. They landed, went ashore, and the angel swam away. The shadows of the arrivals crowded around us, and in one I recognized my friend, the singer Cosella. I wanted to hug him, but the shadow is insubstantial - I hugged myself. Cosella, at my request, began to sing about love, everyone listened, but then Cato appeared, shouted at everyone (they weren’t busy!), and we hurried to the mountain of Purgatory.
Virgil was dissatisfied with himself: he gave a reason to yell at himself... Now we need to reconnoiter the upcoming road. Let's see where the arriving shadows will move. And they themselves just noticed that I am not a shadow: I do not let light pass through me. We were surprised. Virgil explained everything to them. “Come with us,” they invited.
So, let's hurry to the foot of the purgatory mountain. But is everyone in a hurry, is everyone so impatient? Over there, near a large stone, there is a group of people who are not in a hurry to climb up: they say, they will have time; climb the one who is itching. Among these sloths I recognized my friend Belakva. It’s nice to see that he, even in life an enemy of all haste, is true to himself.
In the foothills of Purgatory, I had the opportunity to communicate with the shadows of victims of violent death. Many of them were serious sinners, but when they said goodbye to life, they managed to sincerely repent and therefore did not end up in Hell. What a shame for the devil, who has lost his prey! He, however, found a way to get even: not having gained power over the soul of the repentant dead sinner, he violated his murdered body.
Not far from all this we saw the regal and majestic shadow of Sordello. He and Virgil, recognizing each other as fellow-country poets (Mantuans), embraced brotherly. Here is an example for you, Italy, a dirty brothel, where the bonds of brotherhood are completely broken! Especially you, my Florence, are good, you can’t say anything... Wake up, look at yourself...
Sordello agrees to be our guide to Purgatory. It is a great honor for him to help the venerable Virgil. Conversing sedately, we approached a flowering, fragrant valley, where, preparing to spend the night, the shadows of high-ranking persons - European sovereigns - settled down. We watched them from afar, listening to their consonant singing.
The evening hour has come, when desires draw those who have sailed back to their loved ones, and you remember the bitter moment of farewell; when sadness takes hold of the pilgrim and he hears how the distant chime cries bitterly about the irrevocable day... An insidious serpent of temptation crawled into the valley of rest of earthly rulers, but the angels who arrived drove him out.
I lay down on the grass, fell asleep and in a dream was transported to the gates of Purgatory. The angel guarding them inscribed the same letter on my forehead seven times - the first in the word “sin” (seven deadly sins; these letters will be erased one by one from my forehead as I ascend the purgatory mountain). We entered the second kingdom of the afterlife, the gates closed behind us.
The ascent began. We are in the first circle of Purgatory, where the proud atone for their sin. In shame of pride, statues were erected here that embody the idea of ​​high achievement - humility. And here are the shadows of the purifying proud: unbending during life, here they, as punishment for their sin, bend under the weight of the stone blocks piled on them.
“Our Father...” - this prayer was sung by the bent and proud people. Among them is the miniature artist Oderiz, who during his lifetime boasted of his great fame. Now, he says, he realized that there is nothing to boast about: everyone is equal in the face of death - both the old man and the baby who babbled “yum-yum”, and glory comes and goes. The sooner you understand this and find the strength to curb your pride and humble yourself, the better.
Under our feet are bas-reliefs depicting scenes of punished pride: Lucifer and Briareus cast down from heaven, King Saul, Holofernes and others. Our stay in the first circle ends. An angel who appeared erased one of the seven letters from my forehead - as a sign that I had overcome the sin of pride. Virgil smiled at me
We went up to the second round. There are envious people here, they are temporarily blinded, their formerly “envious” eyes do not see anything. Here is a woman who, out of envy, wished harm to her fellow countrymen and rejoiced at their failures... In this circle, after death, I will not be cleansed for long, because I rarely and few envied anyone. But in the past circle of proud people - probably for a long time.
Here they are, blinded sinners, whose blood was once burned by envy. In the silence, the words of the first envious man, Cain, sounded thunderous: “Whoever meets me will kill me!” In fear, I clung to Virgil, and the wise leader told me bitter words that the highest eternal light is inaccessible to envious people, carried away by earthly lures.
We passed the second circle. The angel appeared to us again, and now only five letters remained on my forehead, which we have to get rid of in the future. We are in the third circle. A cruel vision of human rage flashed before our eyes (the crowd stoned a meek young man). In this circle those possessed by anger are purified.
Even in the darkness of Hell there was no such black darkness as in this circle, where the fury of the angry is subdued. One of them, the Lombardian Marco, got into a conversation with me and expressed the idea that everything that happens in the world cannot be understood as a consequence of the activity of higher heavenly powers: this would mean denying the freedom of human will and absolving man of responsibility for what he has done.
Reader, have you ever wandered in the mountains on a foggy evening, when you can hardly see the sun? That's how we are... I felt the touch of an angel's wing on my forehead - another letter was erased. We ascended to the fourth circle, illuminated by the last ray of sunset. Here the lazy are purified, whose love for good was slow.
Sloths here must run quickly, not allowing any indulgence in their lifetime sin. Let them be inspired by the examples of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, as we know, had to hurry, or Caesar with his amazing efficiency. They ran past us and disappeared. I want to sleep. I sleep and dream...
I dreamed of a disgusting woman who, before my eyes, turned into a beauty, who was immediately put to shame and turned into an even worse ugly woman (here is the imaginary attractiveness of vice!). Another letter disappeared from my forehead: it means I have conquered such a vice as laziness. We rise to the fifth circle - to the misers and spendthrifts.
Stinginess, greed, greed for gold are disgusting vices. Molten gold was once poured down the throat of one obsessed with greed: drink to your health! I feel uncomfortable surrounded by misers, and then there was an earthquake. From what? In my ignorance I don’t know...
It turned out that the shaking of the mountain was caused by rejoicing that one of the souls was purified and ready to ascend: this is the Roman poet Statius, an admirer of Virgil, rejoiced that from now on he will accompany us on the path to the purgatory peak.
Another letter has been erased from my forehead, denoting the sin of stinginess. By the way, was Statius, who languished in the fifth round, stingy? On the contrary, he is wasteful, but these two extremes are punished together. Now we are in the sixth circle, where gluttons are purified. Here it would be good to remember that gluttony was not characteristic of Christian ascetics.
Former gluttons are destined to suffer the pangs of hunger: they are emaciated, skin and bones. Among them I discovered my late friend and fellow countryman Forese. They talked about their own things, scolded Florence, Forese spoke condemningly about the dissolute ladies of this city. I told my friend about Virgil and about my hopes of seeing my beloved Beatrice in the afterlife.
I had a conversation about literature with one of the gluttons, a former poet of the old school. He admitted that my like-minded people, supporters of the “new sweet style,” had achieved much more in love poetry than he himself and the masters close to him. Meanwhile, the penultimate letter has been erased from my forehead, and the path to the highest, seventh circle of Purgatory is open to me.
And I keep remembering the thin, hungry gluttons: how did they get so thin? After all, these are shadows, not bodies, and it would not be fitting for them to starve. Virgil explained: the shadows, although incorporeal, exactly repeat the outlines of the implied bodies (which would become thin without food). Here, in the seventh circle, the voluptuaries scorched by fire are purified. They burn, sing and praise examples of abstinence and chastity.
The voluptuaries, engulfed in flames, were divided into two groups: those who indulged in same-sex love and those who knew no limits in bisexual intercourse. Among the latter are the poets Guido Guinizelli and the Provençal Arnald, who greeted us exquisitely in his dialect.
And now we ourselves need to go through the wall of fire. I was scared, but my mentor said that this was the way to Beatrice (to the Earthly Paradise, located on top of the purgatory mountain). And so the three of us (Statsius with us) go, scorched by the flames. We passed, we moved on, it was getting dark, we stopped to rest, I slept; and when I woke up, Virgil turned to me with the last word of parting words and approval, That’s it, from now on he will be silent...
We are in the Earthly Paradise, in a blooming grove resounding with the chirping of birds. I saw a beautiful donna singing and picking flowers. She said that there was a golden age here, innocence flourished, but then, among these flowers and fruits, the happiness of the first people was destroyed in sin. Hearing this, I looked at Virgil and Statius: both were smiling blissfully.
Oh Eva! It was so good here, you ruined everything with your daring! Living lights float past us, righteous elders in snow-white robes, crowned with roses and lilies, walk under them, and wonderful beauties dance. I couldn't stop looking at this amazing picture. And suddenly I saw her - the one I love. Shocked, I made an involuntary movement, as if trying to press myself closer to Virgil. But he disappeared, my father and savior! I burst into tears. “Dante, Virgil will not return. But you won't have to cry for him. Look at me, it's me, Beatrice! How did you get here?” – she asked angrily. Then a voice asked her why she was so strict with me. She answered that I, seduced by the lure of pleasure, was unfaithful to her after her death. Do I admit my guilt? Oh yes, tears of shame and repentance choke me, I lowered my head. “Raise your beard!” – she said sharply, not ordering him to take his eyes off her. I lost consciousness and woke up immersed in Lethe - a river that grants oblivion of committed sins. Beatrice, look now at the one who is so devoted to you and so longed for you. After a ten-year separation, I looked into her eyes, and my vision was temporarily dimmed by their dazzling brilliance. Having regained my sight, I saw a lot of beauty in the Earthly Paradise, but suddenly all this was replaced by cruel visions: monsters, desecration of sacred things, debauchery.
Beatrice deeply grieved, realizing how much evil was hidden in these visions revealed to us, but expressed confidence that the forces of good would ultimately defeat evil. We approached the Evnoe River, drinking from which strengthens the memory of the good you have done. Statius and I washed ourselves in this river. A sip of her sweetest water poured new strength into me. Now I am pure and worthy to rise to the stars.
PARADISE
From the Earthly Paradise, Beatrice and I will fly together to the Heavenly Paradise, to heights beyond the comprehension of mortals. I didn’t even notice how they took off, looking at the sun. Am I really capable of doing this while still alive? However, Beatrice was not surprised by this: a purified person is spiritual, and a spirit not burdened with sins is lighter than ether.
Friends, let's part here - don't read further: you will disappear in the vastness of the incomprehensible! But if you have an insatiable hunger for spiritual food, then go ahead, follow me! We are in the first sky of Paradise - in the sky of the Moon, which Beatrice called the first star; plunged into its depths, although it is difficult to imagine a force capable of placing one closed body (which I am) into another closed body (the Moon),
In the depths of the Moon we encountered the souls of nuns kidnapped from monasteries and forcibly married off. Not through their own fault, but they did not keep the vow of virginity given during tonsure, and therefore higher heavens are inaccessible to them. Do they regret it? Oh no! To regret would mean to disagree with the highest righteous will.
But still I am perplexed: why are they to blame for submitting to violence? Why don't they rise above the sphere of the Moon? It is not the victim who should be blamed, but the rapist! But Beatrice explained that the victim also bears a certain responsibility for the violence committed against her, if, while resisting, she did not show heroic fortitude.
Failure to fulfill a vow, Beatrice argues, is practically irreparable with good deeds (too many need to be done to atone for guilt). We flew to the second sky of Paradise - to Mercury. The souls of ambitious righteous people live here. These are no longer shadows, unlike the previous inhabitants of the underworld, but lights: they shine and radiate. One of them glowed especially brightly, rejoicing in communicating with me. It turned out that this was the Roman emperor, legislator Justinian. He realizes that being in the sphere of Mercury (and not higher) is the limit for him, for ambitious people, doing good deeds for the sake of their own glory (that is, loving themselves first of all), missed the ray of true love for the deity.
Justinian's light merged with the dance of lights - other righteous souls. I began to think, and the train of my thoughts led me to the question: why did God the Father sacrifice his son? It was possible just like that, by the supreme will, to forgive people for the sin of Adam! Beatrice explained: the highest justice demanded that humanity itself atone for its guilt. It is incapable of this, and it was necessary to impregnate an earthly woman so that the son (Christ), combining the human with the divine, could do this.
We flew to the third sky - to Venus, where the souls of the loving are blissful, shining in the fiery depths of this star. One of these spirit-lights is the Hungarian king Charles Martel, who, speaking to me, expressed the idea that a person can realize his abilities only by acting in a field that meets the needs of his nature: it is bad if a born warrior becomes a priest...
Sweet is the radiance of other loving souls. How much blissful light and heavenly laughter there is here! And below (in Hell) the shadows grew sad and gloomy... One of the lights spoke to me (troubadour Folko) - he condemned the church authorities, selfish popes and cardinals. Florence is the city of the devil. But nothing, he believes, will get better soon.
The fourth star is the Sun, the abode of the sages. Here shines the spirit of the great theologian Thomas Aquinas. He greeted me joyfully and showed me other sages. Their consonant singing reminded me of a church gospel.
Thomas told me about Francis of Assisi, the second (after Christ) wife of Poverty. It was following his example that the monks, including his closest disciples, began to walk barefoot. He lived a holy life and died - a naked man on bare ground - in the bosom of Poverty.
Not only I, but also the lights - the spirits of the sages - listened to Thomas's speech, stopping singing and twirling in the dance. Then Franciscan Bonaventure took the floor. In response to the praise given to his teacher by the Dominican Thomas, he glorified Thomas’s teacher, Dominic, a farmer and servant of Christ. Who now continued his work? There are no worthy ones.
And again Thomas took the floor. He talks about the great merits of King Solomon: he asked God for intelligence and wisdom - not to solve theological issues, but to intelligently rule the people, that is, royal wisdom, which was granted to him. People, do not judge each other hastily! This one is busy with a good deed, the other with an evil one, but what if the first one falls and the second one rises?
What will happen to the inhabitants of the Sun on the day of judgment, when the spirits take on flesh? They are so bright and spiritual that it is difficult to imagine them materialized. Our stay here is over, we have flown to the fifth heaven - to Mars, where the sparkling spirits of warriors for the faith are arranged in the shape of a cross and a sweet hymn sounds.
One of the lights forming this marvelous cross, without going beyond its limits, moved downward, closer to me. This is the spirit of my valiant great-great-grandfather, the warrior Kachchagvida. He greeted me and praised the glorious time in which he lived on earth and which - alas! – has passed, replaced by worse times.
I am proud of my ancestor, my origin (it turns out that you can experience such a feeling not only on the vain earth, but also in Paradise!). Cacciaguida told me about himself and about his ancestors, born in Florence, whose coat of arms - a white lily - is now stained with blood.
I want to find out from him, the clairvoyant, about my future fate. What lies ahead for me? He replied that I would be expelled from Florence, in joyless wanderings I would learn the bitterness of other people's bread and the steepness of other people's stairs. To my credit, I will not associate with unclean political groups, but I will become my own party. In the end, my opponents will be put to shame, and triumph will await me.
Cacciaguida and Beatrice encouraged me. Your stay on Mars is over. Now - from the fifth heaven to the sixth, from red Mars to white Jupiter, where the souls of the just soar. Their lights form letters, letters - first into a call for justice, and then into the figure of an eagle, a symbol of the just imperial power, unknown, sinful, tormented earth, but established in heaven.
This majestic eagle entered into conversation with me. He calls himself “I”, but I hear “we” (fair power is collegial!). He understands what I myself cannot understand: why is Paradise open only to Christians? What is wrong with a virtuous Hindu who does not know Christ at all? I still don’t understand. And it’s true,” the eagle admits, “that a bad Christian is worse than a good Persian or Ethiopian,
The eagle personifies the idea of ​​justice, and its main thing is not its claws or beak, but its all-seeing eye, composed of the most worthy light-spirits. The pupil is the soul of the king and psalmist David, the souls of pre-Christian righteous people shine in the eyelashes (and didn’t I just mistakenly talk about Paradise “only for Christians”? This is how to give vent to doubts!).
We ascended to the seventh heaven - to Saturn. This is the abode of contemplatives. Beatrice became even more beautiful and brighter. She didn’t smile at me - otherwise she would have completely incinerated and blinded me. The blessed spirits of the contemplators were silent and did not sing - otherwise they would have deafened me. The sacred luminary, theologian Pietro Damiano, told me about this.
The spirit of Benedict, after whom one of the monastic orders is named, angrily condemned modern self-interested monks. After listening to him, we rushed to the eighth heaven, to the constellation Gemini, under which I was born, saw the sun for the first time and breathed the air of Tuscany. From its height I looked down, and my gaze, passing through the seven heavenly spheres we had visited, fell on the ridiculously small globe of the earth, this handful of dust with all its rivers and mountain steeps.
Thousands of lights burn in the eighth sky - these are the triumphant spirits of the great righteous. Intoxicated by them, my vision intensified, and now even Beatrice’s smile will not blind me. She smiled wonderfully at me and again prompted me to turn my gaze to the luminous spirits who sang a hymn to the Queen of Heaven - the Holy Virgin Mary.
Beatrice asked the apostles to talk to me. How far have I penetrated into the mysteries of sacred truths? The Apostle Peter asked me about the essence of faith. My answer: faith is an argument for the invisible; mortals cannot see with their own eyes what is revealed here in Paradise, but may they believe in a miracle without having visual evidence of its truth. Peter was pleased with my answer.
Will I, the author of the sacred poem, see my homeland? Will I be crowned with laurels where I was baptized? The Apostle James asked me a question about the essence of hope. My answer: hope is the expectation of future deserved and God-given glory. Delighted, Jacob was illuminated.
Next up is the question of love. The Apostle John asked it to me. In answering, I did not forget to say that love turns us to God, to the word of truth. Everyone rejoiced. The exam (what is Faith, Hope, Love?) was successfully completed. I saw the radiant soul of our forefather Adam, who lived briefly in the Earthly Paradise, expelled from there to earth; after the death of one who languished in Limbo for a long time; then moved here.
Four lights glow before me: three apostles and Adam. Suddenly Peter turned purple and exclaimed: “My earthly throne has been captured, my throne, my throne!” Peter hates his successor, the Pope. And it’s time for us to part with the eighth heaven and ascend to the ninth, supreme and crystal. With unearthly joy, laughing, Beatrice threw me into a rapidly rotating sphere and ascended herself.
The first thing I saw in the sphere of the ninth heaven was a dazzling point, a symbol of the deity. Lights revolve around her - nine concentric angelic circles. Those closest to the deity and therefore smaller are seraphim and cherubim, the most distant and extensive are archangels and simply angels. On earth we are accustomed to thinking that the great is greater than the small, but here, as you can see, the opposite is true.
Angels, Beatrice told me, are the same age as the universe. Their rapid rotation is the source of all the movement that occurs in the Universe. Those who hastened to fall away from their host were cast into Hell, and those who remained are still ecstatically circling in Paradise, and they do not need to think, want, remember: they are completely satisfied!
Ascension to the Empyrean - the highest region of the Universe - is the last. I again looked at the one whose growing beauty in Paradise lifted me from heights to heights. Pure light surrounds us. There are sparkles and flowers everywhere - these are angels and blessed souls. They merge into a kind of shining river, and then take the form of a huge paradise rose.
Contemplating the rose and comprehending the general plan of Paradise, I wanted to ask Beatrice about something, but I saw not her, but a clear-eyed old man in white. He pointed upward. I looked - she was shining in an unattainable height, and I called out to her: “O donna, who left a mark in Hell, granting me help! In everything I see, I recognize your goodness. I followed you from slavery to freedom. Keep me safe in the future, so that my spirit, worthy of you, will be freed from the flesh!” She looked at me with a smile and turned to the eternal shrine. All.
The old man in white is Saint Bernard. From now on he is my mentor. We continue to contemplate the rose of the Empyrean. The souls of virgin babies also shine in it. This is understandable, but why were there souls of babies here and there in Hell - they couldn’t be vicious, unlike these? God knows best what potentials - good or bad - are inherent in which infant soul. So Bernard explained and began to pray.
Bernard prayed to the Virgin Mary for me - to help me. Then he gave me a sign to look up. Looking closely, I see the supreme and brightest light. At the same time, he did not go blind, but gained the highest truth. I contemplate the deity in his luminous trinity. And I am drawn to him by Love, which moves both the sun and the stars.

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You are currently reading: Summary of The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

8TH GRADE

ALIGHIERI DANTE

THE DIVINE COMEDY

Hell

The main character of the poem, the poet Dante himself, finds himself in the forest, where he meets a leopard, a lion and a she-wolf (allegories of human vices). Beatrice sends him the Roman poet Virgil as his guide.

Songs two - three

On the gate the hero sees the inscription:

“Through me they go to the city of severe torment,

Through me they go to torment and chains,

Through me they pass between generations of inveterate ones.

Right judgment led the creator of my buildings:

The relics brought me together, which will give birth to everything,

The Highest Wisdom and Persholubov.

Only after me the world began to open its gates.

Nothing lasts forever, but I am for all ages.

Abandon hope, everyone who enters here.”

The poets entered and saw the rejoicing souls of those who lived only for themselves. Charon, the carrier of the souls of the dead, did not want to take Dante, but Virgil agreed.

Songs four - six

In the first circle of Hell (Limbo) they saw unbaptized babies and virtuous non-Christians (Homer, Horace, Ovid).

In the second circle, Minos uses his tail to indicate the extent of torment for violators of marital fidelity (Cleopatra, Helen, Semiramis). Here Dante hears the love story of Francesca and Paolo, who kissed only in the garden while reading books about love. Dante sympathizes with Francesca's soul.

The entrance to the third circle is guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus. The souls of gluttons are punished here.

<...>Having considered myself gluttony,

That Chvakalo was teased by all his acquaintances, -

And here I am, getting wet in the rain, poor fellow.<...>

Songs seven - nine

In the fourth circle, Pluto blocked the entrance to the misers and burnt-outs.

In the sixth circle there were heretics, rapists, liars and atheists.

Songs tenth - twelfth

The entrance to the seventh circle was blocked by three centaurs, who did not allow souls to leave the river filled with boiling blood.

Songs thirteen - sixteen

The seventh circle was divided into three zones: tyrants, suicides, robbers.

Songs seventeenth - thirty

The eighth circle is described, where the tailed Geryon helped the poets get through. In ten ditches here they kept seducers, flatterers, holy merchants, soothsayers, bribe-takers, hypocrites, thieves, crafty advisers, instigators of discord and counterfeiters of metals, people, money and words.

They were beaten with whips, kept in kali, bitten by snakes, and punished with a heavy sword.

Songs thirty-one - thirty-four

In the well that connected the eighth circle with the last, ninth circle of Hell, giants suffered. In the first belt of the ninth circle there were traitors to relatives (Cain), in the second belt there were traitors to the homeland (Antenora), in the third - traitors to friends (Tolomea), and in the fourth - traitors to benefactors (Giudecca). These souls were in the three mouths of Lucifer (Judas, Brutus and Cassius).

Thus, the travelers found themselves in the center of the Universe and rose to the Southern globe.

Purgatory

Songs one - nine

Purgatory was in the middle of the ocean, on top of which was the Earthly Paradise.

A pre-purgatory is described, where the souls of those irreconcilable with the church (King Manfred of Sicily), careless people and those who did not die a natural death end up. Before the first circle of Purgatory, Dante has a dream: an eagle in the sky wants to take his soul. Then Lucia appears behind him and shows him the entrance to Purgatory.

Songs ten - twenty-seven

The seven circles of Purgatory are described.

The first circle is the pompous (Niobe laughed at Latona that she had only two children. For this, Niobe’s seven daughters and seven sons were killed).

The second circle is the envious, who were given examples of generosity.

The third circle - the angry (Marco) are purified by the example of meekness.

The fourth circle is lazy.

Fifth circle - stingy. The poets heard the tremors of the mountain when a soul is taken to heaven.

The sixth circle - gluttons receive examples of restraint, and in the seventh circle - lustful people receive examples of purity (Virgin Mary).

Before entering the earthly Paradise, Virgil says goodbye and advises taking the crown and miter on the forehead as signs of power.”

Songs twenty-eighth - thirty-third

The Earthly Paradise is described. Dante passes through the Divine Forest, two rivers: Lethe carries away mentions of sins, and Evnoe gives memories of good deeds. Biblical images passed before him. Beatrice appeared, noting that “he succumbed to the vanity of the earth.” She instructed him to convey what he saw to people, because their path was moving away from God.

Paradise

Songs one - nine

Dante entered Paradise and I first came to the Misyatsev sky, where there were spirits that broke their vows (blueberries who were forcibly married off).

Third heaven - Venus - the spirits of the loving.

Songs ten - twentieth

The Sun sky is assigned to the spirits of scientists (Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus).

<...>Everything that I die or does not become dead is only a glimpse of the thought that the Lord in his love gives her birth.<...>

The Martian sky shone with a cross of military spirits.

The sixth heaven - Jupiter - the heavenly eagle speaks of the need for faith for salvation.

Song twenty-one - thirty-three

The seventh heaven - Saturn - the spirits of contemplators solve the problem of the destiny of fate in advance, the decline of monasteries.

The eighth heaven - the Starry Heaven - gave Dante a picture of the triumph of Christ. The poet gave answers to the apostles Peter and James about faith and hope, and to the apostle John about love. All the priest's love is directed towards God.

In the ninth, Crystalline, heaven, the author observed heavenly beauty and earthly ugliness, the harmony of the heavenly hierarchy.

Beatrice continues to talk about the decline of the church and false preachers.

The tenth, flaming sky is the light of God's grace in the form of a rose with petals of blessed souls.

Beatrice returns "to the third bench in the highest circle."

Dante says prayers in ecstasy.

The poem ends with the praise of all-conquering heavenly love.

According to the monk Gilarius, Dante began to write his poem in Latin. The first three verses were:

Ultima regna canam, fluido contermina mundo,

Spiritibus quae lata patent, quae praemia solvuut

Pro meritis cuicunque suis (data lege tonantis). -

"In dimidio dierum meorum vadam adportas infori." Vulgat. Biblia.

In the middle of the and. roads, i.e., at the 35th year of life, - the age that Dante in his Convito calls the pinnacle of human life. By all accounts, Dante was born in 1265: therefore, he was 35 years old in 1300; but, moreover, from the XXI canto of Hell it is clear that Dante assumes the beginning of his pilgrimage in 1300, during the jubilee declared by Pope Boniface VIII, on Holy Week on Good Friday - the year in which he was 35 years old, although his poem was written much later; therefore, all incidents that happened later than this year are given as predictions.

Dark forest, according to the usual interpretation of almost all commentators, it means human life in general, and in relation to the poet - his own life in particular, that is, a life full of delusions, overwhelmed by passions. Others, by the name of forest, mean the political state of Florence at that time (which Dante calls trista selva, Clean XIV, 64), and, combining all the symbols of this mystical song into one, give it political meaning. For example: as Count Perticari (Apolog. di Dante. Vol. II, p. 2: fec. 38: 386 della Proposta) explains this song: in 1300, in the 35th year of his life, Dante, elected prior of Florence, was soon convinced of the troubles , intrigues and frenzies of parties, that the true path to the public good is lost, and that he himself is in dark forest disasters and exiles. When he tried to climb hills, the pinnacle of state happiness, he was presented with insurmountable obstacles from his native city (Leopard with a motley skin), pride and ambition of the French king Philip the Fair and his brother Charles of Valois (Leo) and the self-interest and ambitious plans of Pope Boniface VIII (She-wolf). Then, indulging in his poetic passion and placing all his hope in the military talents of Charlemagne, Lord of Verona ( Dog), he wrote his poem, where, with the assistance of spiritual contemplation (donna gentile) heavenly enlightenment (Luchia) and theology ( Beatrice), guided by reason, human wisdom, personified in poetry (Virgil), he goes through places of punishment, purification and reward, thus punishing vices, consoling and correcting weaknesses and rewarding virtue by immersion in the contemplation of the highest good. From this it is clear that the ultimate goal of the poem is to call a vicious nation, torn apart by strife, to political, moral and religious unity.

Dante escaped this life, full of passions and delusions, especially the discord of the party, into which he had to plunge as the ruler of Florence; but this life was so terrible that the memory of it again gives birth to horror in him.

In the original: “It (the forest) is so bitter that death is a little more painful.” – The eternally bitter world (Io mondo senia fine amaro) is hell (Paradise XVII. 112). “Just as material death destroys our earthly existence, so moral death deprives us of clear consciousness, the free manifestation of our will, and therefore moral death is slightly better than material death itself.” Streckfuss.

Dream means, on the one hand, human weakness, darkening of the inner light, lack of self-knowledge, in a word - sleep of the spirit; on the other hand, sleep is a transition to the spiritual world (See Ada III, 136).

Hill, according to the explanation of most commentators, it means virtue, according to others, ascent to the highest good. In the original, Dante awakens at the foot of a hill; base of the hill- the beginning of salvation, that minute when a saving doubt arises in our soul, the fatal thought that the path along which we have followed until this moment is false.

The limits of the vale. The vale is a temporary area of ​​life, which we usually call the vale of tears and disasters. From the XX Song of Hell, Art. 127–130, it is clear that in this vale the flickering of the month served as the poet’s guiding light. The month signifies the faint light of human wisdom. You save.

The planet that leads people on a straight path is the sun, which, according to the Ptolemaic system, belongs to the planets. The sun here has not only the meaning of a material luminary, but, in contrast to the month (philosophy), it is complete, direct knowledge, divine inspiration. You save.

Even a glimpse of divine knowledge is already able to reduce in us partly the false fear of the earthly vale; but it completely disappears only when we are completely filled with the fear of the Lord, like Beatrice (Ada II, 82–93). You save.

When climbing, the leg on which we rely is always lower. “Ascending from the lower to the higher, we move forward slowly, only step by step, only then, as we firmly and truly stand on the lower: spiritual ascent is subject to the same laws as physical.” Streckfuss.

Leopard (uncia, leuncia, lynx, catus pardus Oken), according to the interpretation of ancient commentators, means voluptuousness, Leo - pride or lust for power, She-Wolf - self-interest and stinginess; others, especially the newest ones, see Florence and the Guelphs in Leo, France and especially Charles Valois in Leo, the Pope or the Roman Curia in She-Wolf, and, according to this, give the entire first song a purely political meaning. According to Kannegiesser's explanation, Leopard, Leo and She-Wolf mean three degrees of sensuality, moral corruption of people: Leopard is awakening sensuality, as indicated by its speed and agility, motley skin and persistence; The lion is a sensuality that has already awakened, prevailing and not hidden, demanding satisfaction: therefore he is depicted with a majestic (in the original: raised) head, hungry, angry to the point that the air around him shudders; finally, the She-Wolf is the image of those who have completely given themselves over to sin, which is why it is said that she has already been the poison of life for many, and therefore she completely deprives Dante of peace and constantly drives him more and more into the vale of moral death.

In this terzina the time of the poet’s journey is determined. It, as stated above, began on Good Friday in Holy Week, or March 25: therefore, around the spring equinox. However, Philalethes, based on the XXI canto of Hell, believes that Dante began his journey on April 4. – Divine love, according to Dante, there is a reason for the movement of celestial bodies. – A crowd of stars denotes the constellation Aries, into which the sun enters at this time.