From Peter these
I hold, of him instructed, that I err
Rather in opening than in keeping fast,
So but the suppliant at my feet implore.'
Then of that hallow'd gate he thrust the door,
Exclaiming, 'Enter, but this warning hear:
He forth again departs who looks behind.'"
(IX, 75.)
The allegory back of these words is put forth in clear language by Maria
F. Rossetti. "We need hardly to be told" she writes in her Shadow of
Dante (pp. 112-13) "that the Gate of St. Peter is the Tribunal of
Penance. The triple stair stands revealed as candid Confession mirroring
the whole man, mournful Contrition breaking the hard heart of the gazer
on the Cross, Love all aflame offering up in Satisfaction the lifeblood
of body, soul, and spirit:--the adamantine threshold-seat as the
priceless merits of Christ the Door, Christ the Rock, Christ the sure
Foundation and the precious Corner-Stone. In the Angel of the Gate, as
in the Gospel Angel of Bethesda, is discerned the Confessor; in the
dazzling radiance of his countenance, the exceeding glory of the
ministration of righteousness; in the penitential robe, the sympathetic
meekness whereby, restoring one overtaken in a fault, he considers
himself lest he also be tempted; in the sword, the wholesome severity of
his discipline; in the golden key, his divine authority; in the silver,
the discernment of spirits whereby he denies absolution to the
impenitent, the learning and discretion whereby he directs the
penitent.
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