# Purgatory Canto 16

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> 
> Canto XVI
> 
> Argument
> 
>      As they proceed through the mist, they hear the voices of spirits
> praying. Marco Lombardo, one of these, points out to Dante the error of such
> as impute our actions to necessity; explains to him that man is endued with
> free will; and shows that much of human depravity results from the undue
> mixture of spiritual and temporal authority in rulers.
> 
> Hell's dunnest gloom, or night unlustrous, dark,
> Of every planet 'reft, and pall'd in clouds,
> Did never spread before the sight a veil
> In thickness like that fog, nor to the sense
> So palpable and gross. Entering its shade,
> Mine eye endured not with unclosed lids;
> Which marking, near me drew the faithful guide,
> Offering me his shoulder for a stay.
> 
> As the blind man behind his leader walks,
> Lest he should err, or stumble unawares
> On what might harm him or perhaps destroy;
> I journey'd through that bitter air and foul,
> Still listening to my escort's warning voice,
> "Look that from me thou part not." Straight I heard
> Voices, and each one seem'd to pray for peace,
> And for compassion, to the Lamb of God
> That taketh sins away. Their prelude still
> Was "Agnus Dei"; and through all the choir,
> One voice, one measure ran, that perfect seem'd
> The concord of their song. "Are these I hear
> Spirits, O master?" I exclaim'd; and he,
> "Thou aim'st aright: these loose the bonds of wrath."
> 
> "Now who art thou, that through our smoke dost cleave,
> And speak'st of us, as thou thyself e'en yet
> Dividedst time by calends?" So one voice
> Bespake me; whence my master said. "Reply;
> And ask, if upward hence the passage lead."
> 
> "O being! who dost make thee pure, to stand
> Beautiful once more in thy Maker's sight;
> Along with me: and thou shalt hear and wonder."
> Thus, I whereto the spirit answering spake:
> "Long as 'tis lawful for me, shall my steps
> Follow on thine; and since the cloudy smoke
> Forbids the seeing, hearing in its stead
> Shall keep us join'd." I then forthwith began:
> "Yet in my mortal swathing, I ascend
> To higher regions; and am hither come
> Thorough the fearful agony of Hell.
> And, if so largely God hath doled His grace,
> That, clean beside all modern precedent,
> He wills me to behold His kingly state;
> From me conceal not who thou wast, ere death
> Had loosed thee; but instruct me: and instruct
> If rightly to the pass I tend; thy words
> The way directing, as a safe escort."
> 
> "I was of Lombardy, and Marco call'd:[1]
> Not inexperienced of the world, that worth
> I still affected, from which all have turn'd
> The nerveless bow aside. Thy course tends right
> Unto the summit:" and, replying thus,
> He added, "I beseech thee pray for me,
> When thou shalt come aloft." And I to him:
> "Accept my faith for pledge I will perform
> What thou requirest. Yet one doubt remains,
> That wrings me sorely, if I solve it not.
> Singly before it urged me, doubled now
> By thine opinion, when I couple that
> With one elsewhere declared; each strengthening other.
> The world indeed is even so forlorn
> Of all good, as thou speak'st it, and so swarms
> With every evil. Yet, beseech thee, point
> The cause out to me, that myself may see,
> And unto others show it: for in Heaven
> One places it, and one on earth below."
> 
> [1: Venetian gentleman. "Lombardo" both was his surname and denoted
> the country to which he belonged. G. Villani, lib. vii. cap. cxx., terms him
> "a wise and worthy courtier." Benvenuto da Imola, says Landino, relates of
> him, that being imprisoned and not able to pay his ransom, he wrote to his
> friend Riccardo da Camino, lord of Trevigi, who raised a contribution among
> the nobles of Lombardy; of which when Marco was informed, he wrote back with
> much indignation to Riccardo, that he had rather die than remain under
> obligations to so many benefactors. Riccardo then paid the whole out of his
> own purse.]
> 
> Then heaving forth a deep and audible sigh,
> "Brother!" he thus began, "the world is blind;
> And thou in truth comest from it. Ye, who live,
> 
> Do so each cause refer to Heaven above,
> E'en as its motion, of necessity,
> Drew with it all that moves, If this were so,
> Free choice in you were none; nor justice would
> There should be joy for virtue, woe for ill.
> Your movements have their primal bent from Heaven;
> Not all: yet said I all; what then ensues?
> Light have ye still to follow evil or good,
> And of the will free power, which, if it stand
> Firm and unwearied in Heaven's first assay,
> Conquers at last, so it be cherish'd well,
> Triumphant over all. To mightier force,
> To better nature subject, ye abide
> Free, not constrain'd by that which forms in you
> The reasoning mind uninfluenced of the stars.
> If then the present race of mankind err,
> Seek in yourselves the cause, and find it there;
> Herein thou shalt confess me no false spy.
> 
> "Forth from His plastic hand, who charm'd beholds
> Her image ere she yet exist, the soul
> Comes like a babe, that wantons sportively,
> Weeping and laughing in its wayward moods;
> As artless, and as ignorant of aught,
> Save that her Maker being one who dwells
> With gladness ever, willingly she turns
> To whate'er yields her joy. Of some slight good
> The flavour soon she tastes; and, snared by that,
> With fondness she pursues it; if no guide
> Recall, no rein direct her wandering course.
> Hence it behoved, the law should be a curb;
> A sovereign hence behoved, whose piercing view
> Might mark at least the fortress[2] and main tower
> Of the true city. Laws indeed there are:
> But who is he observes them? None; not he,
> Who goes before, the shepherd of the flock,
> 
> [2: Justice, the most necessary virtue in the chief magistrate, as
> the commentators for the most part explain it. See also Dante's De Monarchia,
> book I. Yet Lombardi understands the law here spoken of to be the law of God;
> "the sovereign," a spiritual ruler, and "the true city," the society of true
> believers; so that "the fortress," according to him, denotes the principal
> parts of Christian duty.]
> 
> Who[3] chews the cud but doth not cleave the hoof.
> Therefore the multitude, who see their guide
> Strike at the very good they covet most,
> Feed there and look no further. Thus the cause
> Is not corrupted nature in yourselves,
> But ill - conducting, that hath turn'd the world
> To evil. Rome, that turn'd it unto good,
> Was wont to boast two suns,[4] whose several beams
> Cast light on either way, the world's and God's.
> One since hath quench'd the other; and the sword
> Is grafted on the crook; and, so conjoin'd,
> Each must perforce decline to worse, unawed
> By fear of other. If thou doubt me, mark
> The blade: each herb is judged of by its seed.
> That land,[5] through which Adice and the Po
> Their waters roll, was once the residence
> Of courtesy and valour, ere the day[6]
> That frown'd on Frederick; now secure may pass
> Those limits, whosoe'er hath left, for shame,
> To talk with good men, or come near their haunts.
> Three aged ones are still found there, in whom
> The old time chides the new: these deem it long
> Ere God restore them to a better world:
> The good Gherardo,[7] of Palazzo he,
> Conrad;[8] and Guido of Castello,[9] named
> In Gallic phrase more fitly the plain Lombard.
> On this at last conclude. The Church of Rome,
> Mixing two governments that ill assort,
> Hath miss'd her footing, fallen into the mire,
> And there herself and burden much defiled."
> 
> [3: "Who." He compares the Pope, on account of the union of the
> temporal with the spiritual power in his person, to an unclean beast in the
> Levitical law. "The camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the
> hoof." Levit. vi. 4.]
> 
> [4: The Emperor and Bishop of Rome.]
> 
> [5: "The land." Lombardy.]
> 
> [6: Before the Emperor Frederick II was defeated at Parma, in 1248.]
> 
> [7: Gherardo da Camino, of Trevigi. He is honorably mentioned in our
> Poet's Convito, p. 173. "Let us suppose that Gherardo da Camino had been the
> grandson of the meanest hind that ever drank of the Sile or the Cagnano, and
> that his grandfather was not yet forgotten; who will dare to say that Gherardo
> da Camino was a mean man, and who will not agree with me in calling him
> noble?"]
> 
> [8: Currado da Palazzo of Brescia.]
> 
> [9: Of Reggio. All the Italians were called Lombards by the French.]
> 
> "O Marco!" I replied, "thine arguments
> Convince me: and the cause I now discern,
> Why of the heritage no portion came
> To Levi's offspring. But resolve me this:
> Who that Gherardo is, that as thou say'st
> Is left a sample of the perish'd race,
> And for rebuke to this untoward age?"
> 
> "Either thy words," said he, "deceive, or else
> Are meant to try me; that thou, speaking Tuscan,
> Appear'st not to have heard of good Gherardo;
> The sole addition that, by which I know him;
> Unless I borrow'd from his daughter Gaia[10]
> Another name to grace him. God be with you.
> I bear you company no more. Behold
> The dawn with white ray glimmering through the mist.
> I must away - the angel comes - ere he
> Appear." He said, and would not hear me more.
> 
> [10: "His daughter Gaia." A lady equally admired for her modesty, the
> beauty of her person, and the excellency of her talents. Gaia may perhaps lay
> claim to the praise of having been the first among the Italian ladies, by whom
> the vernacular poetry was cultivated.]
>
> — *Purgatory Canto 16*