Canto XXVIII
Eight Terrace; Garden of
Eden
Scene I
“Hello,
Casella.” Dante greeted her.
“And
hello, Virgil. I was once your love, and now, perhaps your ----- nemesis. It
has not been an easy task to see you in pain in the virtual realm but I knew it
will not hurt you physically, and the pain there was ---- the penalty of our
time together. You were too far away in your heart though I have to thank you for
the lessons you taught me.”
“Casella,
I did love you. It was just ---” Dante approached the lady he once wedded.
“We
were young and you were on ---- no, you were rejected then and needed another.
I was the fool to have believed you. I thought with you was like being with
Adam in the garden of Eden. I worked hard to get your attention and it did but
I should have known, Virgil was never a man of love for another but his
construct.”
“I
did --- I mean we wedded on your request, in a garden-like Eden. We did it with
our friends and it was au-natural as you wanted it to be. You said so yourself;
it will be the vision of God to see two of his creation in the proper
surrounding.” Dante stopped before her. “You are still my Casella.”
“Was
it, Virgil? Even to now, in this virtual realm, you still refused to be the one
you were named but chose Dante. I hated that name. All those times besides
programming and coding, it was reading and researching the ancient texts. You
read Dante on our love trip after the wedding.”
“I
was reading it to you. You told me you liked the ancient text.” Dante looked at
the lady behind the face shield.
“I
never did. I only wanted you then and had to worm my way into your apple. The
ancient texts were like the serpent that made Adam split from Eve.” The lady
turned away and walked to the tree. She plucked the apple there and handed it
to Dante.
“This
is what your apple meant to me. A forbidden fruit.”
“Yet
you wedded me?” Dante looked at her. “Why?”
“As
Adam had wedded Eve, and lived on till a serpent appeared in the garden. An
apple was offered to Eve which she gave to Adam. He took it and found a new
perception of reality.” Casella looked at Dante.
“I
was Eve and you were Adam to me, but we struck reality soon after. Do you know
my chastity was only for you? I was not naïve but devoted to you.”
“As
I did mine ---” Dante reminded her.
“Yes,
you did but not your heart. You are not Jacob. Well, you were but it was
different.” Casella looked to one person who was her lover. “Do you recall the
tale of Leah and Rachel?”
“Leah
was the one gathering flowers and singing. She loves to make flower garlands.
Her sister is Rachel and she likes to sit all day in front of a mirror. Where
Rachel takes delight in seeing, Leah loves to labor. Then came Jacob who loves
Rachel and even works with the father as a servant for seven years to earn her
hand in marriage. On their wedding night, the father substitutes his older
daughter Leah for Rachel and forces Jacob to work seven more years before he’ll
give him Rachel as well. Leah bears Jacob seven children, whereas Rachel only
gives him two. Thus, Leah is often considered an exemplar of the active life,
while Rachel is the paragon for the contemplative life.” The lady told Dante of
the tale of the two ladies from the Book.
“We
were wedded for seven years, but we did not have ---” Dante gave his
explanation.
“We
never did but we birthed seven designs. Statius was the last one. You then left
me back for Beatrice to birth to two more. You had your passion fulfilled but
not mine. Not ours. I might as well be with the one named Jander too
“For
God’s sake, Casella. Stop comparing me to Jander. We are not ---- living that
world. We are not living in a huge estate and devoid of living souls. We are
together ---”
“As
in when we needed the physical copulation? Virgil, that was what it was to you.
You were performing for an audience. I did not need that. I needed loving. Your
love was not into me. It was more of a routine embedded in the coding. You were
mechanical like --- Statius or the ones before it. I taught you to think--- and
failed. Beatrice did better; she did what her two designs did when I failed
with seven. And you have to name it Virgil ----after you as you would have with
your child.”
“I
did ---not know. I am sorry, Casella.” Dante dropped his shoulders in despair. “I
have my ---"
“When
I last saw you here, I did say maybe in our next life journey, we may find real
love. Goodbye, Virgil.” The lady told Dante. “And for all its worth; Await no further word or sign from me:
your will is free, erect, and whole—to act against that will would be to err:
therefore I crown and miter you over yourself." (https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/purgatorio/purgatorio-27/#:~:text=Await%20no%20further%20word%20or,and%20miter%20you%20over%20yourself.%22).
“Casella---: Dante reached with his right hand
towards the lady and found the stream separating them.
“Casella is gone, Virgil. It’s only me that
stands here.” The lady removed the face shield.
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