Dante VII Canto XXIII Scene IV

 Canto XXIII

Sizth Terrace; Time stream

Scene IV

“How --- I never knew you to hold any faith? We had spoken but God was never in you.” Dante was baffled. He thought he knew the officer who used foul words on them or the enemies he faced but never had he shown forgiveness in his tone to anyone.

“God was in me. As I shared with you the fear I had as a young recruit, I filled my pants with the substance that I won’t mention to polite people; they do get scared very easily. I did to my healer and was told to squat more often.”

“You had served long and hard.” Dante looked at the other.

“Six long years of risking my life in the last war, and many more in the other wars, and finally I met you. We were like kins …. How did I die and I did know it then?” Stefan asked.

“You ----were taken by the beast with wings,” Dante replied. “It was in the forest. You were ---dead.”

“So, I am dead. I cannot remember it. I thought I will be missed by no one; and not even the squad but apparently, I am not. I am here in Purgatory like yourself. We are in Purgatory, right? I was in Hell. Bloody hot place not of the heat but the reception by those demons. Not myself complaining but other souls told me so. I must have run through Hell. I was always a survivor when I was alive, or till I died. Well, I am to Heaven soon. “

“Sergeant” Dante addressed the other by the rank. “You are ---”

Dante bit his lips then. He saw the Sergeant died, and it can’t be that he was alive here. He did not want to reveal the realm there and changed the subject.

“You never told me of your faith.” Dante looked to the other. “Nor that you knew ----”

“Never did to anyone I knew. I am by the Book, as a man, and as a soldier. I called on God every time, I am in battle. Selfish huh? You may be right. Most of us are when in times of needs, we look to our heart, and hope to see some miracle.”

“I did see the tree back there; withered; not my way to die that old age way. I had passed it many times but around it. The Tree took away those who drink at the pond. I knew my way and avoided it but the walks we took made us return there. We may dwindle in the numbers but more will join us. I stayed clear and then the tree withered. I was to pass it by and then meet you.”

“It was indeed a blessing, for my love, Nella blessed her soul prayed for me. UI knew she does for every time I return home, she will say ‘Thank God you are well’.”

“Nella taught me to be a learned man; she read me the books and made me recite them as if I was a reader. Me? I am the last soul to read anything except the Book, and that was also in the silence of the night then.”

“But you read?” Dante looked at Stefan. “And you never tell me.”

“Yes, I did and inside my heart, I kept it. I told her the only book I read was the Book and nothing much of the others. She did recite me Shakespeare but I am a glutton for her love; it was akin to reading me Arabian Nights as long as I get to bed her.” Stefan smiled. “Nothing be blessed than that woman who shared my life. Blessed her soul for her prayers must have offered me penance for my soul to speed me here or maybe I am a man with a good soul. I am laden with sins of all sorts, you know.”

“You were, Stefan Bicci. I know of you well despite our short time. You did share some of the younger tales. I have the words to describe you.”

 Bicci novel, figliuol di non so cui

(s’i’ non ne domandasse monna Tessa),

giù per la gola tanta roba hai messa

ch’a forza ti convien tòrre l’altrui. 

(Bicci novel, 1-4)

 

 Young Bicci, son of I don’t know who

(short of asking my lady Tessa),

you’ve stuffed so much down your gorge

that you’re driven to take from others.

(trans. Foster-Boyde)

“I borrowed those passages from Dante to speak of you, and your love Nella or was it, Tessa, you left on a cold bed too many times, while you risked your life as a soldier. And took what was there but I doubt you seek God in your words before.” Dante added on.

“Alas, the life of mine was not to be a farmer nor father to the family or a lover with a heart, but a casual acquaintance in the passing.” Stefan smiled. “For my living life, I was a bastard, my father unknown; I was told by my mother he was a Bicci though hence my last name untold.”

“Since birth, without a father, I have my mother telling me to take everything for myself; no one will give you any. Take it all. I did and even my love was selfish, for I am the thief of greed. I am not like you, learned one but I do say my prayers nightly. Like you, I may be virtuous in the heart and mind. But unlike you in some other ways, I am --- or rather I heard you are a virgin, and that is not a rarity but an ancient totem of time lost.”

“And your foul soul arrived here sooner than others. Indeed, we are in the wrong realm.” Dante sighed. “You should be in Ante-Purgatory instead of here. Ante-Purgatory is the place where time is restored for time because the time of waiting on the lower slopes of the mountain is compensation for the time that was wasted or wrongly spent on earth.”

“Aye but I am here side by side with a virtuous soul. Dante, how did you die?” Stefan asked.
Dante could not find the reply to tell the Sergeant for he was confused in him. He was at the end of Purgatory and yet he disbelieved his task.

“Sergeant, how long did you say you were in Hell? And…” Dante moved the subject.

“Quite some time, I guess. In this place or earlier at Hell, I hardly know the day from the night. All I could recall was the walking; needlessly or risked being whipped. I was in the third level; gluttony it was and then moved on to the upper levels. There was no rest and ---- time was not measured here. It could be years or more. I am not sure.”

“You ---died ---” Dante hesitated in his words. He could not say that Stefan died not long ago. He was unsure of how long he was in Hell. Or Purgatory. It looked like days or it could be years. Time stream in the virtual world was un-measured. It was like reading a passage or a book; though it was written hundreds of years ago if that passage matters to the reader, it may feel current. Nostradamus wrote of his visions in riddles and over the passing the generations, many used that as the guide to present moments. Nothing was attested to be real but predictive words were linked to the possibility. Even to the present age, Nostradamus riddles are still being studied. Maybe time travel back to the past will appease the believers if they do meet Nostradamus then.

“I know I died and was here for ages, and I did tell you I was sped on my track by my lover who is before the altar praying for my penance. I did skip some of the levels and --- what is it called here--- terraces.” (Adapted from https://davidbruceblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/25/dantes-purgatory-canto-23-retelling/).

“When did you die?” The Sergeant posed the question again.

“I --- It was sometime back. I am not sure when but it was sometime back. I then met ---- Virgil and we have moved past the levels and --- he is my guide.”

“He does look alike Junior Officer Glauca Meniere. He assigned us the orb if you recall.” It was then the Sergeant saw the group he was with had stopped in front.

“They want to meet you.”