The Divine Comedy

Written by: Dante Alighieri

Response by: Gabrielle Moss

Midway in the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood, for the straight way was
lostHow I came there I cannot really tell, I was so full of sleep when I forsook the one true
way.
It is with these words that Dante starts his epic poem, Divine Comedy, and plunges his readers
into a literary pilgrimage through the farthest depths of Hell, up through the terraces of Purgatory
and finally to the summit--the pinnacle of glory known as Paradise. In this masterpiece, Dante
paints an elaborate depiction of the spiritual realm through which the living soul travels. The
creativity of the work has been permanently imprinted on Western imagination.
However, the imagery found in Divine
Comedy is only the beginning of the Dantes
genius. As he explores the worldview of
medieval Christian philosophy, particularly
Thomistic philosophy, it is his delineation of
free-will and its implications for morality in
Purgatorio Canto XVI that resonate most
powerfully with the reader. In this scene,
Dante and his guide Virgil first enter
Purgatory. Their mission is to climb a
mountain with seven terraces where each
terrace is meant to cleanse you of a deadly
sin. While climbing the terrace of wrath they
meet a soul of a man once known as Marco.
Due to the blinding smoke in this terrace,
Dante asks Marco for directions and to hear
his story with the hopes of advising other
men to avoid falling into the same sin. First, Marco argues that the world is blind because you
living ones continue to assign to heaven every cause, as if it were the necessary source of every
motion. In other words, he considers mortals blind for believing that Heaven controls and
preordains everything. He argues that this is foolish because if this were so, then your free will
would be destroyed, and there would be no equity in joy for doing good, in grief for evil. With
this understanding, the entire judgment system of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise would break
down because no one can be blamed nor faulted for their actions. Instead, Marco goes on to say
that heaven sets your appetites in motion - not all your appetites, and that man depends on a
greater power and a better natureoutside the heavens sway. We know this power as God.
And so he rightly concludes that if our present world has gone astray, humansand their ability
to manage or abuse their appetitesare to blame.
Marco then continues this argument by contemplating creation. He argues that God made the
soul simple and unaware, like a child, but also that the soul gravitates towards what gives it joy
since a joyful Maker gave it motion. Since the soul runs after whatever it perceives as good, it
needs a guide or rein to rule its love, and so Marco turns towards discussing the nature of law.
He argues that law is necessary and that a ruler is, too, but then shifts towards criticizing the ruler
of Dantes day the Pope.

The laws exist, but who applies them now?

No one-the shepherd who precedes his flock
can chew the cud but does not have cleft hooves;

and thus the people, who can see their guide

snatch only at that good for which they feel
some greed, would feed on that and seek no further.

Marco accuses the Pope of chewing and contemplating on Scripture, but does not have cleft
hooves in other words, he does not recognize the need for separation of church and state in a
political leader. Marco blames the leaders for setting a bad example for the flock, and laments
how the people have followed suit by following their greed. He concludes that it is misrule that
has caused the world to be malevolent. Rome, which once made the world good, used to
visibly distinguish the worlds path to glory from that of Gods, but Marco concludes that each
has eclipsed the other; now the sword has joined the shepherds crook; the two together must
result in evil. In other words, he argues that the Roman Church has now mixed up two powers
which should be separate, and because of this dilution, the entire society sinks into degeneracy.
Times have changed since Dante wrote this masterpiece. Marco assumes that the people believe
that heaven preordains everything, but nowadays this is not the case. In fact, the opposite seems
to be true people strongly value and praise their sense of free will. Our generation seem to be
the fulfillment of Henleys implied prophecy in his poem Invictus our generation holds
themselves the master of their fate, and captain of their soul. In an ironic twist, then, we have
taken a step forward towards the worldview Marco describes, however, we remain subject to
corrupted spiritual authority. I believe this irony stems from our confusion in defining
spirituality. Nowadays, many quickly equate good works and self-satisfaction to spiritual
wholeness. Anyone whose cultivates this artificial spiritual wholeness is a spiritual leader:
Oprah, Dr. Phil, your yoga instructor and the average human continues on the cycle of pursuing
spirituality for greed, except now we are greedy for self-reliance, a contentment in ourselves. We
desire our own tidy, little bubble instead of seeking actual peace with reality and our existence. It
is interesting that in spite of Marcos words not fitting into this generation, the conclusion
remains the same.