# Purgatory Canto 18

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-22 — 1 clipping.*

---

> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Purgatory Canto 17  Next: Purgatory Canto 19  
> 
> Canto XVIII
> 
> Argument
> 
>      Virgil discourses further concerning the nature of love. Then a multitude
> of spirits rush by; two of whom, in van of the rest, record instances of zeal
> and fervent affection, and another, who was Abbot of San Zeno in Verona,
> declares himself to Virgil and Dante; and lastly follow other spirits,
> shouting forth memorable examples of the sin for which they suffer. The Poet,
> pursuing his meditations, falls into a dreamy slumber.
> 
> The teacher ended, and his high discourse
> Concluding, earnest in my looks inquired
> If I appear'd content; and I, whom still
> Unsated thirst to hear him urged, was mute,
> Mute outwardly, yet inwardly I said:
> "Perchance my too much questioning offends."
> But he, true father, mark'd the secret wish
> By diffidence restrain'd; and, speaking, gave
> Me boldness thus to speak: "Master! my sight
> Gathers so lively virtue from thy beams,
> That all, thy words convey, distinct is seen.
> Wherefore I pray thee, father, whom this heart
> Holds dearest, thou wouldst deign by proof t' unfold
> That love, from which, as from their source, thou bring'st
> All good deeds and their opposite." He then:
> "To what I now disclose be thy clear ken
> Directed; and thou plainly shalt behold
> How much those blind have err'd, who make themselves
> The guides of men. The soul, created apt
> To love, moves versatile which way soe'er
> Aught pleasing prompts her, soon as she is waked
> By pleasure into act. Of substance true
> Your apprehension forms its counterfeit;
> And, in you the ideal shape presenting,
> Attracts the soul's regard. If she, thus drawn,
> Incline toward it; love is that inclining,
> And a new nature knit by pleasure in ye.
> Then, as the fire points up, and mounting seeks
> His birth - place and his lasting seat, e'en thus
> Enters the captive soul into desire,
> Which is a spiritual motion, that ne'er rests
> Before enjoyment of the thing it loves.
> Enough to show thee, how the truth from those
> Is hidden, who aver all love a thing
> Praiseworthy in itself; although perhaps
> Its matter seem still good. Yet if the wax
> Be good, it follows not the impression must."
> 
> "What love is," I return'd, "thy words, O guide!
> And my own docile mind, reveal. Yet thence
> New doubts have sprung. For, from without, if love
> Be offered to us, and the spirit knows
> No other footing; tend she right or wrong,
> Is no desert of hers." He answering thus:
> "What reason here discovers, I have power
> To show thee: that which lies beyond, expect
> From Beatrice, faith not reason's task.
> Spirit, substantial form, with matter join'd,
> Not in confusion mix'd, hath in itself
> Specific virtue of that union born,
> Which is not felt except it work, nor proved
> But through effect, as vegetable life
> By the green leaf. From whence his intellect
> Deduced its primal notices of things,
> Man therefore knows not, or his appetites
> Their first affections; such in you, as zeal
> In bees to gather honey; at the first,
> Volition, meriting nor blame nor praise.
> But o'er each lower faculty supreme,
> That, as she list, are summon'd to her bar,
> Ye have that virtue[1] in you, whose just voice
> Uttereth counsel, and whose word should keep
> The threshold of assent. Here is the source,
> Whence cause of merit in you is derived;
> E'en as the affections, good or ill, she takes,
> Or severs, winnow'd as the chaff. Those men,[2]
> Who, reasoning, went to depth profoundest, mark'd
> That innate freedom; and were thence induced
> To leave their moral teaching to the world.
> Grant then, that from necessity arise
> All love that glows within you; to dismiss
> Or harbour it, the power is in yourselves.
> Remember, Beatrice, in her style,
> Denominates free choice by eminence
> The noble virtue; if in talk with thee
> She touch upon that theme." The moon, well nigh
> To midnight hour belated, made the stars
> Appear to wink and fade; and her broad disk
> Seem'd like a crag on fire, as up the vault[3]
> That course she journey'd, which the sun then warms
> When they of Rome behold him at his set
> Betwixt Sardinia and the Corsic isle.
> And now the weight, that hung upon my thought,
> Was lighten'd by the aid of that clear spirit,
> Who raiseth Andes[4] above Mantua's name.
> I therefore, when my questions had obtain'd
> Solution plain and ample, stood as one
> Musing in dreamy slumber; but not long
> Slumber'd; for suddenly a multitude,
> The steep already turning from behind,
> 
> [1: "That virtue." Reason.]
> 
> [2: "Those men." The great moral philosophers among the heathen.]
> 
> [3: "Up the vault." The moon passed with a motion opposite to that of
> the heavens, through the constellation of the Scorpion, in which the sun is,
> when to those who are in Rome he appears to set between the isles of Corsica
> and Sardinia.]
> 
> [4: "Andes." Andes, now Pietola, made more famous than Mantua, near
> which it is situated, by having been the birthplace of Virgil.]
> 
> Rush'd on. With fury and like random rout,
> As echoing on their shores at midnight heard
> Ismenus and Asopus,[5] for his Thebes
> If Bacchus' help were needed; so came these
> Tumultuous, curving each his rapid step,
> By eagerness impell'd of holy love.
> 
> [5: "Ismenus and Asopus." Rivers near Thebes.]
> 
> Soon they o'ertook us; with such swiftness moved
> The mighty crowd. Two spirits at their head
> Cried, weeping, "Blessed Mary[6] sought with haste
> The hilly region. Caesar,[7] to subdue
> Ilerda, darted in Marseilles his sting,
> And flew to Spain." - "Oh, tarry not: away!"
> The others shouted; "let not time be lost
> Through slackness of affection. Hearty zeal
> To serve reanimates celestial grace."
> 
> [6: And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with
> haste, into a city of Judah; and entered into the house of Zacharias and
> saluted Elisabeth." - Luke i. 39.]
> 
> [7: Caesar left Brutus to complete the siege of Marseilles, and
> hastened on to the attack of Afranius and Petreius, the generals of Pompey, at
> Ilerda (Lerida) in Spain.]
> 
> "O ye! in whom intenser fervency
> Haply supplies, where lukewarm erst ye fail'd,
> Slow or neglectful, to absolve your part
> Of good and virtuous; this man, who yet lives,
> (Credit my tale, though strange,) desires to ascend,
> So morning rise to light us. Therefore say
> Which hand leads nearest to the rifted rock."
> 
> So spake my guide; to whom a shade return'd:
> "Come after us, and thou shalt find the cleft.
> We may not linger: such resistless will
> Speeds our unwearied course. Vouchsafe us then
> Thy pardon, if our duty seem to thee
> Discourteous rudeness. In Verona I
> Was Abbot[8] of San Zeno, when the hand
> Of Barbarossa grasp'd imperial sway,
> That name ne'er utter'd without tears in Milan.
> And there is he,[9] hath one foot in his grave,
> 
> [8: Alberto, Abbot of San Zeno in Verona, when Frederick I was
> Emperor, by whom Milan was besieged and reduced to ashes, in 1162.]
> 
> [9: "There is he." Alberto della Scala, Lord of Verona, who had made
> his natural son Abbot of San Zeno.]
> 
> Who for that monastery ere long shall weep,
> Ruing his power misused: for that his son,
> Of body ill compact, and worse in mind,
> And born in evil, he hath set in place
> Of its true pastor." Whether more he spake,
> Or here was mute, I know not: he had sped
> E'en now so far beyond us. Yet thus much
> I heard, and in remembrance treasured it.
> 
> He then, who never fail'd me at my need,
> Cried, "Hither turn. Lo! two with sharp remorse
> Chiding their sin." In rear of all the troop
> These shouted: "First they died,[10] to whom the sea
> Open'd, or ever Jordan saw his heirs:
> And they,[11] who with Aeneas to the end
> Endured not suffering, for their portion chose
> Life without glory." Soon as they had fled
> Past reach of sight, new thought within me rose
> By others follow'd fast, and each unlike
> Its fellow: till led on from thought to thought,
> And pleasured with the fleeting train, mine eye
> Was closed, and meditation changed to dream.
> 
> [10: "First they died." The Israelites, who on account of their
> disobedience died before reaching the promised land.]
> 
> [11: "And they." Those Trojans, who wearied with their voyage, chose
> rather to remain in Sicily with Acestes than accompany Aeneas to Italy.]
>
> — *Purgatory Canto 18*