Canto X
First Terrace; Pride
Scene I
Dante took the steps
without a glance to the rear. He was tempted but the words of the Angel then
had ringed into his ears, and he remained steadfast to go ahead. He looked down
to the steps taken, losing count on the walk he took. The path was hard with the
stone-covered trail looked like a cloven rock in the looks; split in the middle
to resemble that of the split hoofs of the horse. That was not all, for the
steps he took on each time on the rocks, it moved like the waves that retreat
and approach. That made their ascent a trifle slow.
Dante paused and looked
at the step movement. One side will rise while the other recedes. If he takes
the rising ones, he felt it more steady on the balance, and when it resides, he
felt the feeling of falling. He decided to take the steps when it was up and
stood there to let the other side level before he took the next step. It worked
and he was making progress.
It was not a flat walk
but upwards and then down to begin upwards. Dante felt that each time he
stepped up, it was more inclined and steep. He heard the roar of the waves when
he first began his trek and eventually the roar diminished to the stillness of
the steps.
“Poet, step on. I am
behind you. You walk as if you are seasick or worse. Don’t slack.” Dante heard
his companion. He was unsure if Virgil was behind for when he walked past the
gate, he was at the fore.
“Are you ---fine?” Dante
asked.
“Funny you have to ask
that, Poet. Of course, I am fine.: Virgil replied. “If you are wondering how
far had we trekked, my affirmative answer is we did exactly three thousand four
hundred and one steps, at the last step and ---”
“Is the Orb with you?”
Dante asked out of curiosity.
“Yes, it’s inside me. I
doubt the Angel had taken notice of it but I could be mistaken.” Virgil
replied.
“Three thousand steps? I
thought I had done more.” Dante had approached an open clearing. “Could we rest
here?”
“I --- Yes, we can,”
Virgil replied. It was not that he felt the strain on the trek, and felt that
Dante being a program like him should not have felt the strain. It was all in
the thoughts as Cato had explained. He looked at the clearing and noticed it
was not a huge place but adequate to rest over.
“We could be lost.”
Dante voiced up. “It's incomprehensible. One moment we were in the icy snow
land, and facing a structure that held no faces for us to climb, and the next
we are by the ocean and not a speck of snow. Tell me if I am mad.”
“Yes, you are mad.
Dante, shake your oblivion to where we are. We are in Purgatory, the dimension
where we get to cleanse our souls. In Hell, we are told of our sins and punished
for it.” Virgil looked at Dante. “If you recalled when we met ---or rather we
saw Satan, it was icy cold there… despite the flames of Hell, it was cold
there. We left there and in Ante-Purgatory, we were still affected by the icy
cold until we stepped into here.”
“And how what you
explained will make me understand?” Dante looked at Virgil.
“Okay, try to understand
this … Oh, never mind. You were not wedded and won’t appreciate the Hell and
Purgatory that we all go through. So, leave it.”
“What do you mean by
that?” Dante was upset. “I do have ----”
“Pride, Poet. Don’t hold
it too much in you.” Virgil tried to get away from the line of question. “Pride
---"
“Pride goes before
destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18.” Dante quoted
the verse from the Book.
“Pride is the main
reason why people do not believe in and worship God. The temptation to be one's
own God and worship one's self as an idol is very great to the fallen human
race.” Dante explained. “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and
those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
(https://connectusfund.org/proverbs-16-18-meaning-of-pride-comes-before-a-fall)
“Mine was more of my
marriages---twice it was.” Virgil gave his version. “Pride kills the relationship.
It destroyed the intimacy, trust, and the breakdown of peace between me and my
wives. Even after my demise, I held onto my pride until now. I wanted to tell
you that but now I recalled you were never wedded as yet. You may not know the
feelings for you are not weeded---I meant wedded.”
“Enough of pride. Where
are we now?” Dante asked. He saw then
across from where he stood, there was another embarkment which was made of
white marble, but that was not what caught his attention. It was the carvings
on the marble.
“It’s alive---” Dante
muttered.
“What’s alive? We?
Technically, you are but not me.” Virgil cut in.
“I meant to look at the
carvings there. They looked alive. There is Gabriel, the Angel who was one of
the three Angels mentioned in the Book. Gabriel was said to invite souls into Heaven
with the blow of the trumpet when they arrived at the Gates. And St. Peter will
welcome them there”
“Let me see.” Virgil
stepped forth to look. He glanced at the opposite and saw the wavy surface
reflected by the sunlight. He looked at Dante and frowned. “Poet? Are you into
your madness again?”
“Madness is not with me.
I can see it.” To me, Dante then was immersed in the scene. He saw then the
image of Adam and Eve with their heads bowed while they exited from the Garden
of Eden. Gabriel was seen there at the gate at Eden, with his eyes on the pair.
He held the free expression as if there was nothing he could do.
“They are not to be
blamed. It was the sin of pride that Adam felt. Find the serpent. Find the one
named Lucifer.” Dante called out but the image moved to Gabriel facing Mary,
then a young lady and telling her the news of the new son towards her. The
scene was then surrounded by the cries of “Ecce ancilla Dei” (Behold the
handmaiden of the Lord).
“Dante, wake up.” Virgil's
voice rang out inside Dante but he ignored it for the next scene; King David
watched by Michael scornfully from the window.
“He was a man after My
Own heart.” 1 Samuel 13:14 Acts 13:22.).” Dante muttered out. He had read that
David had committed adultery with the wife of his General. He recalled the
General to go home when he discovered his illicit lover was with his child. The
General ignored the command and David gave the other command to kill the
General. God knew and confronted David on his sin and the latter repented.
(Psalm 51).
“I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in Your sight,
[…]
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness.”
“Who was after your heart, Poet?” Virgil held
Dante by the shoulders. “Wake yourself up, Poet. You are disillusioned there.”
“Virgil, I saw what is here. Pride it was.”
Dante called out. “Adam could have told God that he was misled but pride took
his soul to be banished. Gabriel saw it but one can only redeem one’s pride by
thyself. As God showed David his sin and he repented.”
“God is forgiving, Virgil. We have to open our
hearts towards him.” Dante looked across. “It’s all there.”
“Poet, I saw nothing.” Virgil snapped at Dante.
“That’s because you are a construct and devoid
of the soul,” Dante replied. He saw then the hurt expression in Virgil and
offered bis apology.
“I did not mean that. I am sorry.” Dante spoke.
Virgil turned away and then looked across.
“You may not be wrong. I am a construct and
devoid of any soul unlike you or many of them here. I may not see the images
that you did. There may be triggers in the program to work on the souls. It may
be the Doctor’s method of giving false hope.” Virgil saw then was still the
wavy whiteness there.
“Like Satan, Virgil. Perhaps, the souls of the
dead seek the place of redemption and that could be the weakness that Satan
desired.” Dante added on. “The Doctor is incarnate of the Devil.”
“Bless me Poet for you are becoming closer to
God with those thoughts but we are in a program made by a mad Doctor. Stay with
me, Poet.” Virgil voiced out to Dante.
“You are losing focus here, Poet,” Virgil added
on.
“Am I, Virgil? You could not see what I could.
I am not mad either. I believe there is a divine guide here.” Dante defended
his visions. “Pride is a sin. Where are we now? The First Terrace in Purgatory,
right? It fits in with Pride. I am guided by the hands of the Angels.”
“Poet….” Virgil held back his words. He looked
at Dante. Once a moment he was affirmative that this was a construct of the
likeness of Purgatory to torment the ones held there, and then his mind slipped
to the dimension of what was construe from his Faith. He may be the victim here
than the savior.
“Poet, let us move on. We hold a task to find
Beatrice.” Virgil reconnected to their main task when they took the journey to
Hell.
“Yes---- Yes, we will.” Dante took his breaths
and then stood up before he faced Virgil.
“I meant it when I said I was sorry.”
“None taken. I am after all a construct.”
Virgil smiled with a tone of sarcasm. “We have a task to complete and it will
be done.”
“Ave--- Beatrice.” Dante smiled. It was then Virgil
heard then the group of penitents approaching.
“They could tell us
where we are and where to go,” Virgil told Dante on the approaching group. When
they embarked on the task, their journey in Hell was without any map or trail
but the words of the trapped souls there. As they were then in Purgatory, they
will need the guidance of the souls there. Dante turned to look and felt the
pain in his heart.
“Thou task be not
diverted from thy good purpose, through hearing how God wills that the debt is
paid. Heed not the form of the suffering; think on what follows; that at the
worst, beyond the Great Judgment it cannot go.” Dante offered his prayer. There
was nothing he could do there, as he was not able to do in Hell. He had to go
with it. His thoughts were disturbed by Virgil then.
“Poet, that which I see
moving towards us does not seem to me to be persons, but what I know not, I am
so loss at looking.” The group approaching was seen bearing the weight of the
slab of stone on their shoulders; stooped to the ground with each step taken.
“Virgil,” Dante
continued his stare at the group approaching. “I had said my prayers for them.
I thought we will have left that in Hell but Purgatory remains. The heavy
condition of their torment bows them to earth so that my own eyes at first had
contention with it.”
“But look fixedly
there,” Dante motioned to the sight of the lower half of the group. “Their
frames bent beneath those stones, already thou canst discern how each is
stricken.”
“A sad sight indeed…”
Virgil then saw the trees from the forest, in words parallel to the sight.
“We are worms born to
form the angelic butterfly.” Dante voiced out. “Our souls come here bare and
defenseless to judgment for its God’s words that will be the call.”
“As the worms, we are
imperfect at infancy, but we do become butterflies on our emergence…” Virgil
added his comment.
“But our sins are
measured when we were infants, and our debt is paid here. Or was in Hell. Let
us approach them to hear their pleas.” Dante approached the group with his
steps towards them will be a lesser step of the hardship of them towards him.
No comments:
Post a Comment