Symbols

The mountain and the rush of humility The mountain of Purgatory rises from an island on the hemisphere opposite that of Jerusalem, and the rush is the only plant the island allows on the edge of the shore. Both images open the canticle. The mountain is a road measured by weight and not by ground:... The seven P's on the forehead The seven P's are the letters that the gatekeeper angel writes with the point of his sword on Dante's forehead when he reaches the gate of the mountain, in Canto IX of Purgatory, one for each sin the mountain will wash away. Dante throws himself at the... The serpent of the vale of the princes At the end of the day, the souls of the flowering vale of Ante-Purgatory rise to sing, and at the hour when night draws near a serpent enters through the only unprotected side of the small hollow. It comes among the grass and the flowers, turning its head now... The stones of pride The first ledge of the mountain is of stone, and the stone comes in three forms. The white marble wall on the inner side, carved with such art that neither Polyclitus nor nature would be ashamed, bears the figures of humility: the Annunciation, David before... The wall of fire The last torment of the mountain is a fire. The edge of the ledge of lust gives off flames, and a wind blows from the ground upward and reflects and drives them back, so that the pilgrims must go along the free side, one at a time, with the fire on one side... Lethe and Eunoe At the top of the mountain, in the Earthly Paradise, the stream that keeps Dante from going further comes from a single spring that opens into two beds, and each bed bears a name. The Lethe descends on one side with the virtue of taking away the memory of... The chariot, the griffin and the procession In the Earthly Paradise, a flash runs through the whole forest and a sweet melody runs through the luminous air. Seven trees of gold, which distance made seem so, are in truth candelabra, which leave behind them the air painted in seven bands in the colors of...