This
point of seeing natural causes for the unexplainable phenomenon of
Heaven and especially of relying upon the testimony of the senses is
soon brought out by Beatrice reproving Dante for thinking that the
spirits whom he now sees are only reflections of the human face:
"Marvel thou not," she said to me, "because
I smile at this thy puerile conceit,
Since on the truth it trusts not yet its foot,
But turns thee, as 'tis wont, on emptiness.
True substances are these which thou beholdest,
Here relegate for breaking of some vow.
Therefore speak with them, listen and believe."
(III, 25.)
So directed, the poet gazes again upon the faint forms appearing like
reflections seen in a plate of glass or in a dark, shallow pool. These,
the first spirits he meets, are apparitions in human form. In the other
spheres all that he will see of the souls will be the light which
envelopes them and which seemingly is identified with them, but here he
sees beautiful women divinely glorious even in their dim outline, who as
nuns had violated their vow of perpetual chastity. In the Inferno the
poet, to lead the reprobate soul to speak to him, promised earthly
fame; in Purgatorio there was the offer of intercessory prayer, here in
the first Heaven there is only an appeal to the charity which inflames
the spirit.
Pages:
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233