Previous
Canto 15
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Purgatorio, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Purgatory and the Heavenward Journey
Love, Sin, and God
Free Will
Spiritual Power vs. Earthly Power
Time
Summary
Analysis
Virgil guides Dante through the enveloping smoke of the third level of lower Purgatory. They hear souls singing “Lamb of God.” Out of the smoke, one voice asks Dante if he is still among the living; Dante acknowledges that he is. He asks the soul, who identifies himself as a Lombard named Marco, to explain why the world is so filled with wrongdoing—is the cause in “the stars” or elsewhere?
The smoke on this level of Purgatory symbolizes the way that wrath, or anger, tends to obscure a person’s judgment. Souls stained by this sin must endure literal blindness as a means of purging the sin. As Dante talks with various souls, he has more and more questions about the nature of human sin. Here, he asks Marco about the cause of sin and if it’s in “the stars,” meaning if it simply the result of humans’ natural inclinations.
Themes
Marco Lombardo replies that, although people tend to believe that everything’s caused by the stars, this isn’t true—if it were, that would destroy the freedom of the human will, and it wouldn’t be fair for souls to be either rewarded or punished. “The stars” might initiate human behavior, but humans are given “light” to discern between good and bad, and “free will” which, when shaped well, can guide behavior accordingly.
Marco Lombardo, a soul doing penance for anger, rejects the idea that people’s behavior is determined by something outside of them. Natural influences might be present, but people also possess a God-given ability to make their own choices, so they can, in fact, be held accountable for their behavior.
Themes
Marco Lombardo further explains that simple, untrained souls tend to chase any pleasure as far as they can, unless they are curbed by some external power, such as a king, ideally a virtuous one. However, there’s no such ruler today—the “shepherd […] has not split hooves.” That being the case, people behave no more virtuously than their ruler does. In other words, poor governance is another reason for the present state of the world.
According to Lombardo, human behavior, while a matter of individual choice, isn’t strictly individualistic. Government also has a significant shaping influence. The reference to “split hooves” is from the Old Testament Book of Leviticus, which Dante allegorically interprets to refer to the pope’s ability to distinguish between secular power and sacred power. Because the pope doesn’t do this and instead is power-hungry, it’s no surprise that people behave in the same corrupt way.
Themes
Marco Lombardo goes on to explain that, once, Rome differentiated between earthly and heavenly power. But then, “one sun […] snuffed the other out,” and sword and shepherd’s crook are now joined. When these two forms of power are connected by force, nothing good follows. Dante wants to question Lombardo further, but Lombardo must turn back, seeing the angel in the distance.
Lombardo’s comments reveal a significant aspect of Dante’s political outlook. Dante believes that the fusing of spiritual and earthly power results in a wealthy, power-hungry Church and a poorly governed state that imperils its citizens earthly and spiritual welfare.
Themes
Get the entire Purgatorio LitChart as a printable PDF.
