Dante – Parting from Virgil and Beatrice 

 

    What is the world worth? I have read Dante almost once a year since I left college and several times while in college. I have a definite love-hate relationship to his great work (how I wish I could read it in its original language!). Many scenes disturb me; here three are relevant: Cato’s rebuke of the souls gathered at Purgatory for enjoying beautiful music that reminded them of the best of their earthly lives; Beatrice’s rebuke of Dante for his tears at the departing of his beloved guide and mentor, Virgil; and the negation of Dante and Beatrice’s earthly (erotic) love in the presence of the Divine. Here are my paraphrases of the relevant parts.

 

i.          Dante and Virgil have just passed through Hell. They are come to a part of the Earth uninhabited by human beings. Before them the towering mountain of Purgatory. Dante must wash himself and do other purification rituals. They meet a gathering of soul newly departed from the earth, souls that are saved but that must endure the purifications of Purgatory to be fit to enter Heaven. There Dante, still a living man, encounters a musician and poet, Casella) whose work he has loved. There before all these souls meeting one another in amazement, he asked his friend for some music. It beauty affects all present, both with its beauty but above all with its memory of the sweetest aspects of the earthly life the souls have just been deprived of. A very beautiful and moving scene. Then the old Roman puritan, Cato, severely chastises them for rather dwelling in the sweet memory of life on earth rather than fanatically racing to the mountain to begin their purification and ascent to Heaven, the implication being that compared to Heaven (the contemplation of God) all earthly pleasures and joys count for nothing. This scene has always left a bad taste in my mouth. (Purgatorio, Canto II, 115-133)

 

ii.         Virgil and Dante have ascended to the top of Mount Purgatory, where they behold a vision of Earthly Paradise and a Heavenly pageant that foretells of the blessed realm to come. One of the most moving aspects of the Comedy has been the portrayal of Dante’s relationship to Virgil. On the one hand, we always read that Virgil, a Stoic and the greatest poet of Rome, is limited by the human horizon, by human Reason, Virtue, and indeed poetry at its best – which of course falls short of the truths and states of being only made possible through Christian revelation and the grace of God’s intervention into the world He created. But Dante relationship to Virgil has been that of a loving son and student to a gracious, wise, and loving father and mentor. There is a tremendous bond of love and affection. And, to make a symbolic point about how far human reason can take the soul, Virgil, atop the Mountain of Purgatory in the vision of Earthly Paradise, disappears as the Christ (or Mary) figure of Beatrice appears (his very earthly love in life) and Virgil just disappears without a trace. Understandably, Dante is distraught and weeps. Any decent human being would show understanding and comfort him. Not the Beatrice who has torn herself away from the beatific vision of God to save Dante’s soul. She is pitiless, and gently but firmly scolds him for weeping over Virgil with such bliss waiting for him. Again the point being all earthly loves pail to insignificance in comparison with the vision of God – the sole purpose of our creation in Dante’s cosmos. (Purgatorio, Canto XXX, 49-81)

 

iii.        Now the relationship with Beatrice is without a trace of earthly love. Yet Beatrice was basically his girlfriend, one who in this poem actually takes on the role of Christ or Mary – what a tribute to a girlfriend! What a testimony to the power of sexualized love! But all that means nothing to Beatrice, who is a soul in bliss, completely without any connection to earthly life at all except for the pity shown Dante – well, at least something! She scolds Dante for anything that indicates a love for anything having to do with his life on earth. And having achieved her purpose, joyfully takes her place in the beatific vision, giving Dante a smile before her soul is absorbed in the divine high that is the vision of God. To me, I think of souls who have joined a sect, the way a person just disappears, the way nothing in their previous life matters at all – the love for the family, lovers, art, or whatever. And how can it? Beatrice’s parents may be in Hell, and the torments of those in Hell are part of the joy of the beatific vision in Dante’s (and Aquinas’) theology. Having achieved bliss himself, it is clear to Dante that everything that gives earthly life meaning has become nothing now. He is never going to look back at Beatrice. (Paradisio, Cantos XXX and XXXI)

 

        In all these scenes, my heart is on the side of earthly life, as much as I typically suffer from it. I keep thinking of the words of my respected intellectual and spiritual opponent, Nietzsche: ‘be true to the earth.’ A theology that requires me to disown the Creation, to see the gift of life as nothing but a stepping stone to a greater bliss in the face of which all earthly loves are as nothing – no. I get it: earthly loves cannot have an absolute value; there are things I cannot do even for the love of my children, much less out of self-love (e.g. murder another child to save my own). But what kind of father would I be if my sole purpose in raising my children would be to merge their ego, bliss, and existence into my greater existence? A tyrant. Is God to be thought less than a mere human father? I feel rather grateful to my Creator for the gifts of love I have known is this life, loves that are good in themselves and not mere steps to be trod and forgotten on the way to Heaven. A picture of a God that gets off by having his creatures erase their own limited existence in perpetual adoration of their Creator, who actually doesn't need them – sounds more like a human fantasy to me, a kind of narcissism in theology run completely amok.