Meditating on the loveliness of humility and the
hatefulness of pride, as suggested by those examples and bearing with
prayer the heavy weights imposed upon them for their humiliation and
penance, the proud experience a transformation of disposition wholly
alien to them in the days of their mortality. Among the souls in this
first terrace is Oderisi, who attained such renown as an illuminator of
manuscripts and a painter of miniatures that he boasted that no one
could surpass him. Now he not only is conscious of his former blatant
pride, but in proof of his change of heart he gives full credit for
superiority to his former pupil and subsequent rival, Franco Bolognese;
"O," asked I him, "art thou not Oderisi,
Agobbio's honor and honor of that art
Which is in Paris called illuminating?
'Brother,' said he, 'more laughing are the leaves
Touched by the brush of Franco Bolognese.
All his the honor now, and mine in part,
In sooth I had not been so courteous
While I was living, for the great desire
Of excellence on which my heart was bent.'"
(XI, 79.)
Dante sees here another spirit, Provenzano Salvani. His rapid advance
from Outer Purgatory to Purgatory was due to the merit of a
self-humiliating act performed in favor of a friend.
Pages:
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181