The Theme in the Work
Pride opens the mountain: it is the first of the seven sins that the angel of the gate writes on the forehead of Dante, and it is the first ledge, where the souls walk bent under blocks of stone. The poem treats it in three moments, and each is a different use of the gaze. In the first, the lesson comes from outside, in images. The wall of the ledge shows humility in carved figures, and the poet, at the end, turns to the readers:
O superbi cristian, miseri lassi, / che, de la vista de la mente infermi, / fidanza avete ne’ retrosi passi, / non v’accorgete voi che noi siam vermi / nati a formar l’angelica farfalla, / che vola a la giustizia sanza schermi?, O proud Christians, wretched and weary, who, sick in the sight of the mind, trust in backward steps, do you not realize that we are worms born to form the angelic butterfly, which flies to justice without shields?
The question shifts from second to first person in its midst: we are worms. In the second moment, pride speaks through the mouth of one who practiced it. Omberto, son of a great Tuscan, says that the ancient blood and the noble deeds of his forebears made him so arrogant that, not thinking of the common mother, he held every man in such disdain that he died of it, as the Sienese know, and as every child in Campagnatico knows:
L’antico sangue e l’opere leggiadre / d’i miei maggior mi fer sì arrogante, / che, non pensando a la comune madre, / ogn’ uomo ebbi in despetto tanto avante, / ch’io ne mori’, come i Sanesi sanno, / e sallo in Campagnatico ogne fante., the ancient blood and the graceful deeds of my forebears made me so arrogant that, not thinking of the common mother, I held every man in such disdain that I died of it, as the Sienese know, and as every child in Campagnatico knows.
Oderisi, the miniaturist, confesses that he would not have been so courteous to his rival while alive, and that he is only there because, though able to sin, he turned to God:
Ben non sare’ io stato sì cortese / mentre ch’io vissi, per lo gran disio / de l’eccellenza ove mio core intese. / Di tal superbia qui si paga il fio; / e ancor non sarei qui, se non fosse / che, possendo peccar, mi volsi a Dio., I would surely not have been so courteous while I lived, out of the great desire for excellence to which my heart was bent. Here the price of such pride is paid; and I would still not be here, if it were not that, being able to sin, I turned to God.
Provenzano Salvani, who ruled in Siena, is the opposite of this: he was spared the wait for having planted himself in the Campo and trembled in every vein to ransom his friend. The third moment is that of the floor. Hell punished pride as identity, and here it is a habit that weight, bending and a doubled sight gradually undo. The floor of the ledge begins with the highest one who fell:
Vedea colui che fu nobil creato / più ch’altra creatura, giù dal cielo / folgoreggiando scender, da l’un lato., I saw him who was created more noble than any other creature, falling from heaven, flashing like lightning, on one side.
and the poet turns the irony against the living, with the order to go on with a lofty face, provided they do not look down:
Or superbite, e via col viso altero, / figliuoli d’Eva, e non chinate il volto / sì che veggiate il vostro mal sentero!, now be proud, and go with a haughty face, sons of Eve, and do not bow your face, so that you may not see your evil path!
The theme closes with the angel who, instead of rebuking, asks, and the question is why a people born to fly falls with so little wind:
A questo invito vegnon molto radi: / o gente umana, per volar sù nata, / perché a poco vento così cadi?»., very few come to this invitation: O human people, born to fly upward, why do you fall with so little wind?
Pride has also a place outside the ledge. In the doctrine of love, it is the first of the three ways of loving the evil of one's neighbor, alongside envy and wrath, which the three lower circlings purge.
Resta, se dividendo bene stimo, / che ’l mal che s’ama è del prossimo; ed esso / amor nasce in tre modi in vostro limo, it remains, if I weigh well by dividing, that the evil that is loved belongs to the neighbor; and that love is born in three ways in your clay.
Who Embodies It
Dante is the one who measures pride in himself, and says so to Oderisi with a phrase about swelling. Lucifer is the highest one who fell, on the floor of Canto XII. Virgil is the guide who orders him to look down, and who smiles when Dante discovers the first erased P.
Where It Appears
- Canto IX: The angel of the gate writes seven P's on Dante's forehead, one for each sin, and the first P to be erased is the one at the end of the ledge that opens after the gate, that of pride.
- Canto X: Dante reads on the marble wall the Annunciation, David's dance and Trajan's justice, and the poet rebukes the proud Christians who trust in backward steps.
- Canto XI: Omberto and Oderisi confess pride, one through lineage and the other through art, and Oderisi teaches that fame is a breath of wind that changes its name.
- Canto XII: Virgil orders Dante to look at the floor of examples of punished pride, from Lucifer to Troy, and, after the angel strikes his forehead with its wings, Dante discovers with his fingers that six P's remain.
- Canto XIII: Dante answers Sapia that his punishment for envy will be short, and that the fear that holds him in suspense is that of the torment below, the ledge of pride.
- Canto XVII: Virgil teaches that pride, envy and wrath are the three ways of love for the evil of one's neighbor, and that each is wept on the lower circlings.
Where the Readings Diverge
Dante's swelling, in Canto XI, supports two readings. On the first, it is the formality of one who thanks a master. On the second, it is a confession that the warning applies to him, and Canto XIII reinforces it when he says he fears the weight below. The text does not say whose the tumor is.
Omberto treats pride as an inheritance: the blood and deeds of his ancestors made him forget the common mother. Two readings: a confession from one who no longer takes pride in his lineage, or still the pleasure of being known by it, because he names his father, his name and the place of his death as one who introduces himself. The poem leaves both.