Purgatorio

Virgil and Dante arrive at a second ledge. With no signs or souls to ask for guidance, Virgil resolves to follow the sun’s path to avoid delay. As he asks the sun to guide them, he and Dante hear voices calling out examples of generosity and love. One cries out “Look, they have no wine!” (217). Another declares himself Orestes, and a third says, “Love those by whom you suffer harm” (217).

Virgil draws Dante’s attention to a group of souls ahead who are praying to Mary, Michael, and Saint Peter. Dante feels pity for them and weeps when he realizes they are wearing hair shirts, leaning against each other like blind beggars, with eyes sewn shut like those of a sparrow hawk. Their tears squeeze through their sutures to “rinse and bathe their cheeks” (218). Virgil realizes Dante wants to speak to them and tells him to keep it brief and “to the point” (218).

Dante asks the souls if any of them are Italian. A voice replies that they are “now all citizens of one true place” (218). However, in life, a soul replies, she was Sapia of Siena.