And most beautiful and enlightening of all, one of the souls
tells Dante that the same impulse which brought Christ gladly to the
agony of the Cross throws them upon their sufferings. Forese, speaking
for the gluttonous, says that the mood in which they accept the
penitential pains is one of submission as well as of solace. "And not
only once, while circling this road, is our pain renewed. I say pain and
ought to say solace, for that desire leads us to the tree which led glad
Christ to say, 'Eli,' when He made us free with his blood." (XXIII, 71).
The avaricious confess "so long as it shall be the pleasure of the just
Lord, so long shall we lie here motionless and outstretched" (XIX, 125).
Among the envious, Guida del Duca prays Dante to continue his journey
instead of stopping to interrogate him, for he himself "delights far
more to weep than to talk" (XIV, 125). The slothful in their eagerness
not to interrupt their diligence in penance, by their conversing with
Virgil, entreat him not to ascribe this attitude to discourtesy, "We
are so filled with desire to speed on" they tell the poets "that stay we
cannot, therefore forgive if thou hold our penance for rudeness."
(XVIII, 115).
By such instances and by many others does our poet show the contented
spirit prevailing in Purgatory.
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