Page 33 - GALIET EXILE: Dante IV+

Galiet & Galiet
pilgrimage. To expiate his sins he journeys alive through the three realms of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Self abandons self- assertion and enters a sphere where fundamental perceptions are reshaped, where self, in an unfolding process, will see itself in a new light. It is the world of power yielding to the world of humility; it is waging a spiritual and quill’s war between Caesar’s wealth and spiritual wealth and be reminded, once more, of Jesus’ words, “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” 3⁄4 (“Ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ”). [Matthew 22:21].
Fire.
I am made such by God's grace that your affliction does not touch,
nor can these fires assail me.
(Beatrice to Dante: Inf. 2, 91-93)
Before Dante ascends to Eden and to the Spheres of Paradiso and sees the two blessed rings of fire, he has to face the supreme test of courage in his rite of passage. Exercising his free will, he has to cross the terrifying Wall of Fire (Pur. 17). It is appropriate that this challenge of challenges occur before his ascension to the lunar sphere. Aristotle arranges the four classical elements concentrically forming a sub-lunar sphere between earth and the moon.11 This facing of that which destroys and tempers, this courageous feat of the soul to overcome the fire-squad of his exile by literarily going through it, by writing about it, to face his greatest fear, death, it is to end his exile and to mark the beginnings of his homecoming. It is as if Dante had to experience the scorching fires of Inferno, at once, to strengthen his once fragile spirit and flesh so as to burn
11 Aristotle. The Basic Works of Aristotle. Metaphysics. Ed. Richard McKeon. New York: The Modern Library, 2001.
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