Purgatorio

The seven ladies, which Dante compares to the seven brightest stars of the Ursa Minor constellation, stop, and the 24 elders turn in the direction of the chariot. One of them cries out, “Veni, sponsa, de Libano” (Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse) (299); the others sing the verse with him three times. One hundred angels appear above the chariot. They recite, “Benedictus qui venis” (Blessed is he who comes) and “date lilia plenis” (give me lilies with full hands) (299). The angels release a “cloud of feathers” (300) that surrounds the chariot. From this cloud emerges Beatrice, garlanded in an olive crown and wearing a white veil, red dress, and green robe.

Sensing “the ancient power of what love was” (300), Dante trembles at the sight of her and turns to Virgil in awe, but Virgil is gone. Though Dante is inclined to weep, Beatrice tells him not to, adding, “A different sword cut, first, must make you weep” (300). Proud and stern as a mother looking at her son, Beatrice announces herself to Dante and asks what right he “had to venture to this mount” (301) since all are happy here. Dante drops his eyes, catches sight of his reflection in the river, and feels ashamed. The angels sing a fragment of Psalm 31, which Dante hears as an expression of pity for him. Imagining the angels asking Beatrice why she is being so hard on Dante, he begins to weep.

Addressing the angels, Beatrice says that Dante must grasp what she has to tell him, “to balance all his grief and guilt” (302). When she was alive, she tried to lead him on the path to truth, but after she died, he “yielded to another’s glance” (302). She tried to bring him back through dreams but failed. The only way to save him was to bring him here. Before he can pass through Lethe, though, Dante must repent.