# Purgatory Canto  9

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

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> 
> Canto IX
> 
> Argument
> 
>      Dante is carried up the mountain, asleep and dreaming, by Lucia; and, on
> awakening, finds himself, two hours after sunrise, with Virgil, near the gate
> of Purgatory, through which they are admitted by the Angel deputed by St.
> Peter to keep it.
> 
> Now the fair consort of Tithonus old,
> Arisen from her name's beloved arms,
> Look'd palely o'er the eastern cliff; her brow,
> Lucent with jewels, glitter'd, set in sign
> Of that chill animal,[1] who with his train
> Smites fearful nations: and where then we were,
> Two steps of her ascent the night had past;
> And now the third was closing up its wing,[2]
> When I, who had so much of Adam with me,
> Sank down upon the grass, o'ercome with sleep,
> There where all five[3] were seated. In that hour,
> When near the dawn the swallow her sad lay,
> Remembering haply ancient grief,[4] renews;
> And when our minds, more wanderers from the flesh,
> And less by thought restrain'd are, as 't were, full
> Of holy divination in their dreams;
> Then, in a vision, did I seem to view
> A golden - feather'd eagle in the sky,
> With open wings, and hovering for descent;
> And I was in that place, methought, from whence
> Young Ganymede, from his associates 'reft,
> Was snatch'd aloft to the high consistory.
> "Perhaps," thought I within me, "here alone
> He strikes his quarry, and elsewhere disdains
> 
> [1: "Of that chill animal." The scorpion.]
> 
> [2: The third was closing up its wing." The night being divided into
> four watches, I think he may mean that the third was past, and the fourth and
> last was begun, so that there might be some faint glimmering of morning
> twilight; and not merely, as Lombardi supposes, that the third watch was
> drawing toward its close, which would still leave an insurmountable difficulty
> in the first verse.]
> 
> [3: "All five." Virgil, Dante, Sordello, Nino, and Corrado
> Malaspina.]
> 
> [4: "Remembering haply ancient grief." Progne having been changed
> into a swallow after the outrage done her by Tereus.]
> 
> To pounce upon the prey." Therewith, it seem'd,
> A little wheeling in his aery tour,
> Terrible as the lightning, rush'd he down,
> And snatch'd me upward even to the fire.
> There both, I thought, the eagle and myself
> Did burn; and so intense the imagined flames,
> That needs my sleep was broken off. As erst
> Achilles shook himself, and round him roll'd
> His waken'd eyeballs, wondering where he was,
> Whenas his mother had from Chiron fled
> To Scyros, with him sleeping in her arms;
> There whence the Greeks did after sunder him;
> E'en thus I shook me, soon as from my face
> The slumber parted, turning deadly pale,
> Like one ice - struck with dread. Sole at my side
> My comfort stood: and the bright sun was now
> More than two hours aloft: and to the sea
> My looks were turn'd. "Fear not," my master cried,
> "Assured we are at happy point. Thy strength
> Shrink not, but rise dilated. Thou art come
> To Purgatory now. Lo! there the cliff
> That circling bounds it. Lo! the entrance there,
> Where it doth seem disparted. Ere the dawn
> Usher'd the day - light, when thy wearied soul
> Slept in thee, o'er the flowery vale beneath
> A lady came, and thus bespake me: 'I
> Am Lucia.[5] Suffer me to take this man,
> Who slumbers. Easier so his way shall speed.'
> Sordello and the other gentle shapes
> Tarrying, she bare thee up: and, as day shone,
> This summit reach'd: and I pursued her steps.
> Here did she place thee. First, her lovely eyes
> That open entrance show'd me; then at once
> She vanish'd with thy sleep." Like one, whose doubts
> Are chased by certainty, and terror turn'd
> To comfort on discovery of the truth,
> Such was the change in me: and as my guide
> Beheld me fearless, up along the cliff
> He moved, and I behind him, toward the height.
> 
> [5: "Lucia." See Hell, c. ii 97 and Paradise, c. xxxii. 123.]
> 
> Reader! thou markest how my theme doth rise;
> Nor wonder therefore, if more artfully
> I prop the structure. Nearer now we drew,
> Arrived whence, in that part, where first a breach
> As of a wall appear'd, I could descry
> A portal, and three steps beneath, that led
> For inlet there, of different colour each;
> And one who watch'd, but spake not yet a word.
> As more and more mine eye did stretch its view,
> I mark'd him seated on the highest step,
> In visage such, as past my power to bear.
> Grasp'd in his hand, a naked sword glanced back
> The rays so toward me, that I oft in vain
> My sight directed. "Speak, from whence ye stand;"
> He cried: "What would ye? Where is your escort?
> Take heed your coming upward harm ye not."
> 
> "A heavenly dame, not skill - less of these things,"
> Replied the instructor, "told us, even now,
> 'Pass that way: here the gate is.'" - "And may she,
> Befriending, prosper your ascent," resumed
> The courteous keeper of the gate: "Come then
> Before our steps." We straightway thither came.
> 
> The lowest stair[6] was marble white, so smooth
> And polish'd, that therein my mirror'd form
> Distinct I saw. The next of hue more dark
> Than sablest grain, a rough and singed block,
> Crack'd lengthwise and across. The third, that lay
> Massy above, seem'd porphyry, that flamed
> Red as the life - blood spouting from a vein.
> On this God's angel either foot sustain'd,
> Upon the threshold seated, which appear'd
> A rock of diamond. Up the trinal steps
> My leader cheerly drew me. "Ask," said he,
> "With humble heart, that he unbar the bolt."
> 
> [6: The white step suggests the conscience of the penitent reflecting
> his offences; the burnt and cracked one, his contrition on their account; the
> porphyry, the fervor with which he resolves on the future pursuit of piety and
> virtue.]
> 
> Piously at his holy feet devolved
> I cast me, praying him for pity's sake
> That he would open to me; but first fell
> 
> Thrice on my bosom prostrate. Seven times[7]
> The letter, that denotes the inward stain,
> He, on my forehead, with the blunted point
> Of his drawn sword, inscribed. And "Look," he cried,
> "When enter'd, that thou wash these scars away."
> 
> [7: "Seven times." Seven P's, to denote the seven sins (Peccata) of
> which he was to be cleansed in his passage through Purgatory.]
> 
> Ashes, or earth ta'en dry out of the ground,
> Were of one colour with the robe he wore.
> From underneath that vestment forth he drew
> Two keys,[8] of metal twain: the one was gold,
> Its fellow silver. With the pallid first,
> And next the burnish'd he so ply'd the gate,
> As to content me well. "Whenever one
> Faileth of these, that in the key - hole straight
> It turn not, to this alley then expect
> Access in vain." Such were the words he spake.
> "One is more precious:[9] but the other needs
> Skill and sagacity, large share of eaeh,
> Ere its good task to disengage the knot
> Be worthily perform'd. From Peter these
> I hold, of him instructed that I err
> Rather in opening, than in keeping fast;
> So but the suppliant at my feet implore."
> 
> [8: "Two keys." Lombardi remarks that painters have usually drawn St.
> Peter with two keys, the one of gold and the other of silver; but that Niccolo
> Alemanni, in his Dissertation de Parietinis Lateranensibus, produces instances
> of his being represented with one key, and with three. We have here, however,
> not St. Peter, but an angel deputed by him.]
> 
> [9: The golden key denotes the divine authority by which the priest
> absolves the sinners; the silver, the learning and judgment requisite for the
> due discharge of that office.]
> 
> Then of that hallow'd gate he thrust the door,
> Exclaiming, "Enter, but this warning hear:
> He forth again departs who looks behind."
> 
> As in the hinges of that sacred ward
> The swivels turn'd, sonorous metal strong,
> Harsh was the grating; nor so surlily
> Roar'd the Tarpeian, when by force bereft
> Of good Metellus, thenceforth from his loss
> To leanness doom'd. Attentively I turn'd,
> Listening the thunder that first issued forth;
> And "We praise thee, O God," methought I heard,
> 
> In accents blended with sweet melody.
> The strains came o'er mine ear, e'en as the sound
> Of choral voices, that in solemn chant
> With organ[10] mingle, and now high and clear
> Come swelling, now float indistinct away.
> 
> [10: "Organ." Organs were used in Italy as early as in the sixth
> century. If I remember rightly there is a passage in the Emperor Julian's
> writings, which shows that the organ was not unknown in his time.]
>
> — *Purgatory Canto  9*