.nr LL 6i
.nr PO 1i
.nr VS 24
.PP
In canto II of Dante's
.I "Divine Comedy"
Dante says about his journey through Inferno and to Paradiso, \*Qif I commit
myself to go I fear lest my going be folly\*U 
.I "(Inferno"
II, 34).\**
.FS
Line number will be approximate since I am quoting from Sinclair's English
translation and not from the Italian.
.FE
Dante is not only talking about his actual journey, but also about his
literary journey, the writing of 
.I "The Divine Comedy."
When Dante writes the 
.I "Comedy"
he, in a sense, is writing a prophetic text, politically, religiously, and
personaly.  Because he has definite goals in mind which he wants his work to
achieve Dante is concerned with how it will be interpreted by its readers;
he doesn't want all his effort to be \*Qfolly.\*U Also, because his literary
guide through most of his journey is Virgil, a pagan, Dante is 
concerned with the problems inherent in the interpretation of secular
texts. Throughout the
.I "Divine Comedy,"
and specifically in canto XIII of
.I "Inferno"
and canto XXII of
.I "Purgatorio,"
Dante explores this issue, through allusions to works of Virgil, with a
number of examples of how pagan texts can be interpreted, or
misinterpreted.  He illustrates that although these texts have prophetic
possibilities they are ambiguous, and thus dangerous.  He concludes with a
sense of hope for the success of his own text but shows that the only clear,
unambiguous text is the Gospel.  
.PP
The area of 
.I "Inferno"
XIII is described as a \*Qwood which was not marked by any path\*U
.I "(Inferno"
XIII, 2), where there are barren trees which produce no fruit and have
branches that are \*Qknotted and warped\*U (XIII, 5).  We are reminded of
the dark confusing wood in canto I where things were hard for both Dante and
the reader to understand.  Whatever action takes place here is tainted with
overtones of confusion and barreness.  
.PP
It is in this context that we see the first in a series of allusions to a
pagan text: \*QHere make their nests the loathsome Harpies that drove the
Trojans from the Strophades with dismal pressage of future ill\*U (XIII,
10-2).  This passage alludes to the section of the
.I "Aeneid"
where Aeneas' men are attacked by the Harpies, creatures who are half human
and half bird.  In the
.I "Aeneid,"
Caleano, the leader of the Harpies prophesizes that the Trojans will starve
and they will have to eat their dishes to survive.  The fulfillment of this
prophecy falls short of the fearful image of starvation that it creates.  In
fact, the truth of the fulfillment is that the Trojans, during a great feast,
eat the hard round bread which held their glorious meal.  The prophecy made
the Trojans believe one thing, when in fact the truth is the opposite; much
like hybrid nature of the Harpies themselves.  The point of this allusions
seems to be to show that prophecy can be misguiding, and in a sense
fraudulent.  In this area which is \*Qnot marked by any path\*U we see that
there is the possibility that prophecy will create a false path.
.PP
The next allusion to the 
.I "Aenied"
is to a passage in Book III where Aeneas pulls shrubs from the ground; the
shrubs spew forth blood and one of them speaks.  However, before invoking
this passage Dante yet again creates an atmosphere of confusion.  He hears
voices in the woods but he cannot figure out where they are coming from; he
then says of Virgil, 
.I "\*QI think that he thought I thought"
that all these voices among the trunks came from people who were hiding\*U
(XIII, 25; Italics mine).  It is at this point where the passage in the
.I "Aenied"
is invoked when Virgil says to Dante, \*QIf thou break off any little branch
from one of these trees, all thy present thoughts will prove mistaken\*U
.I "(Inferno"
XIII, 28).  Following Virgil's instruction Dante breaks a twig off of one of
the bushes \*Qand its trunk cried: `Why dost thou tear me?' And when it had
turned dark with blood it began again\*U (XIII, 33).  Virgil then addresses
the bush, \*QIf he could have believed before, wounded soul, what he had
never seen but in my lines, he would not have stretched forth his hand
against thee...but the thing being incredible made me prompt him to the deed
which grieves myself\*U (XIII, 46).  As well as issues of interpretation
Dante is interested in the issues of faith involved in the reading of a
texts.  Virgil thinks that Dante does not connect the situation with his
passage in the 
.I "Aenied"
and therefor instructs him to break the twig so that the truth will be
revealed.  However it is not that Dante doesn't see the connection to Virgil's
text, it is that he doesn't have 
.I "faith"
in it.  The Trojans accepted Calaeno's prophecy and were lead down the wrong
path; Dante realizes the dangers in readily accepting texts but by breaking
the twig Dante is testing the truth of the text.
.PP
The above mentioned passage from the
.I "Aenied"
is alluded to again in canto XXII of
.I "Purgatorio,"
and once again the issues connected to faith and interpretation are
rehearsed, but in a different light.  We are now in Purgatory so things are
not shadowed so much by negativity.  Here Dante and Virgil are in the
company of Statius, a poet who lived in the 1st century after the birth of
Christ and was converted to Christianity, as he later tells us, by reading a
text of Virgil's.  When Dante and Virgil meet up with Statius, in the
previous canto, he has just been freed from the Fifth Terrace where souls do
penance for avarice, as well as prodigality.  Although we are not in such a
dark and confused area as Inferno we see that confusion still exists here in
an exchange between Virgil and Statius.  Virgil thinks that because Statius
was in the fifth Terrace he was guilty of avarice but Statius  explains 
that he was guilty of just the opposite sin, prodigality.  He then tells
Virgil that he corrected his prodigal ways after reading a passage from the 
.I "Aenied,"
the same passage in Book III that was alluded to in 
.I "Inferno"
XIII.  Statius says, \*QI corrected my ways when I understood the lines
where, as if enraged by human nature, thou didst cry: `To what, O cursed
hunger for gold, dost thou not drive the appetite of mortals?'\*U
.I "(Purgatorio"
XXII, 37).  Just as Virgil \*Qmisreads\*U Statius, Statius
.B  "misreads"
Virgil. In the 
.I "Aenied"
Virgil meant those lines were as a warning against avarice whereas Statius
interprets them as a warning against prodigality.  Statius, unlike Dante,
has faith in Virgil's text but he completely reverses its meaning.  Here we
have an illustration of the inherent ambiguity of secular texts; the aim of
the text is unclear and having faith in it can lead to an unintented
result.  It is important to realize, however, that this misinterpretation
lead Statius on a path to salvation.
.PP
As was mentioned before, Statius' conversion to Christianity was also due
to the lines he read in another of Virgil's works, his fourth 
.I "Eclogue,"
\*QThe age turns new again; justice comes back and the primal years of men,
and a new race descends from heaven\*U (XXII, 70).  Statius saw that
Virgil's lines \*Qwere so in accord with the new preachers [of the true
faith]\*U (XXII, 79) that he started spending time with them and then, after
seeing their good deeds, he \*Qdespised all other sects\*U (XXII, 87);
again we see the ambiguities of secular texts and prophecies.  Virgil's
intent in these lines was not a Christian one, yet it could be interpreted
in that way.  Statius had faith in the text, and again, through
misinterpretation, or rather
.I "his own"
interpretation, this faith leads him towards salvation.  He says of Virgil,
\*QThou didst like him that goes by night and carries the light behind him
and does not help himself but makes wise those that follow\*U (XXII, 67).
There is something ironic in these lines; St. Paul uses this image for the
Jews to symbolize how Scripture predicted the coming of Christ.  The irony
lies in the fact that instead of Statius' conversion coming through faith in
Scripture it comes from his love and faith in Virgil.  It seems to me, from
the way Statius speaks, that his acceptance of Christ was more an affect of
his love and faith in Virgil than from a real Christian conviction; it
seems, in a sense, in-authentic.  It is perhaps for this reason, as well as
for fear, as Statius says, that he was lukewarm in his Christian faith.
.PP
My reason for choosing the two cantos that I did comes from the fact that
they are connected by the same issues.  Further support is given to the
connection of these cantos by the fact that they are linked by allusions to
the same passage in the 
.I "Aenied."
What Dante has shown through these cantos is the ambiguity in secular
texts.  The texts seems to have no meaning within themselves, rather they
have possibilities of many meanings depending on the reader.  The fate of
the reader is much like the fate of the suicides in 
.I "Inferno"
XIII: \*QIt falls in to the wood [with no paths], not in a place chosen for
it but where fortune flings it\*U
.I "(Inferno"
XIII, 97).  Because of the multiplicity of meanings embodied in secular
texts the faithful reader risks being \*Qflung\*Q down a random path of
interpretation.  Sometimes this path will lead towards something good but it
has the possibility of leading the reader astray into the dark wood.  In
order to protect himself the reader must, like Dante, test an betray the text.
However, Statius' reading was also a sort of betrayal; although he had faith
in the text as he saw it he betrayed its intended meaning.  We see that Dante
believes that in reading secular texts, with faith or without, it is
impossible not to do injury to them.  In addition, because of the
multiplicity of their meanings it is very easy to be lead down the wrong
path, and thus they are dangerous.  So what is safe?  Dante shows us in the
last section of 
.I "Purgatorio"
XXII.
.PP
After Statius finishes talking about his life he asks Virgil about other
pagan poets that he has read.  At this point the two of them go into a
discusion of ancient writers, invoking images of Limbo.  They seem to be
getting nourishment from each other and from their talking of the old
poets.  It is as this point that they come across the tree \*Qwith fruits
that smelled sweet and good\*U (XXII, 132).  A voice from the tree then
address Virgil and Statius, the \*Qtwo Poets\*U (XXII, 139), \*QOf this food
you shall have want.\**\*U
.FS
This translation is from Singleton.  The Sinclair translation reads \*QYou
may not eat of this food\*U (XXII, 141).  I use the former translation for
this line because it fits better into my argument.
.FE
Through its speech the tree shows that the \*Qfood\*U is the food of the
desert Prophets.  The Prophets, as opposed to the poets who were
\*Qsuckled\*U (XXII, 102) by the Muses (rehearsing the notion that the pagan
writers are like infants), gain nourishment from the desert.  The tree
describes the desert age as a Golden Age which, \*Qwith hunger it made
acorns savoury and with thirst made nectar of every brook\*U (XXII, 148).
In their lacking the Prophets found goodness; they found the fertile tree in
the desert which Virgil and Statius lack.  The tree here is opposite from
the \*Qknotted and warped\*U trees of 
.I "Inferno"
XIII which have no fruit.  There we begin with a barren desert-like
landscape and images of confusion, ambiguity, and lack of direction.  Here
we end with an image of a fertile desert giving rise to a text that is
clear: \*QHoney and locusts were the viands which nourished the Baptist in
the dessert, for which he is glorious and as great as by the Gospel he is
declared to you\*U (XXII, 151).  Unlike any other texts, the Gospel and
Scripture have only one meaning and purpose which is forever connected to
the texts themselves.  If one has faith the signs and the goals of these
privileged texts are clear, and there can never be any danger of being lead
astray.
.PP
I believe there is evidence to show that even though, as Dante says, \*QI am
not Aeneas; I am not Paul\*U
.I "(Inferno"
II, 32) there is a good chance that his literary journey will not be
\*Qfolly\*U (II, 35).  It seems that Dante sees himself as being somewhere
between Aeneas and Paul.  Although he does get \*Qunderstanding in making
verse\*U
.I "(Purgatorio"
XXII, 128) he doesn't put faith in Virgil, like Statius does, because of his
love and enthusiasm for him.  Rather, he constantly tests and revises
Virgil; he recognizes the dangers that Statius does not: \*Ostensibly, the
literary act is not an aesthetic enclosure but a veritable reenactment of
Exodus\*U (p. 223, Mazzotta,
.I "Dante, Poet of The Desert)."
Perhaps Dante achieves this Exodus both through his actual exile and through
the conscious separation that he has to pagan texts.  Finally the tree, the
symbol of prophetic fertility in exile only tells the \*Qtwo Poets\*U that
they have want of its food; it seems that Dante is well fed.
.bp
.nr VS 12
.nf

.I "An Early Morning Image"
(or what happens when your mind is filled with Dante)

It's not a constant pitch or sound
The intonations go up and down
Interrupted by the harsh \*QChkaah's\*U and \*QThaah's\*U
And all the rest.

As a fish sleeps
With its eyes open and sees
The lure moving back and forth
Up and down through the water
Then pounces,

So my sleeping mind is
Lured from rest by the whispers
Breaking the air, up and down
It bites
Sinking its teeth into the words
Greedy for the meaning.
It can't help it.

And now for lack of sound
My mind goes 'round in circles
Feeds itself with verse
When it should be sleeping.