Page 36 - GALIET EXILE: Dante IV+

Galiet & Galiet
the exile, likens his ordeals to that of an Odyssean naufragate, who surviving ‘perilous waves’ after his shipwreck, safely swims to shore. Through Inferno’s vast vortex, Dante rides the waves of cruel, tempestuous seas, rippled with terrifying whirlpools akin to Charybdis (Inf. 5, 28-30). Similes abound of ships that ‘cannot set sail’ (Inf. 21, 7-13) and that are stuck, unmoved, despite their instinctual nature to ride waters. Mainmasts ‘snap’ and sails ‘fall in tangles’ (Inf. 7, 13-16). Visions suffice of sea voyages whose success depends on horrific sacrifices. Agamemnon’s daughter, Iphigenia, is sacrificed in exchange for smooth sailing winds against Clytemnestra’s tears. There are images too of ships setting sail to unnatural signs (Inf. 22, 4-7), of dangerous seas and the necessity to heed warnings to protect ships (Inf. 22, 19-21). Many verses also warn of hubris. They sing of the importance of knowing when to lower ‘one’s sail’ and ‘coil one’s rope’ as wise signs of temperance and knowing one’s limitations (Inf. 27, 79-81). They sing, too, of vast, cruel seas tossed by stormy heavens and conflicting and furious winds where it is wisest to shun the beckoning of the siren’s song and the sea (Inf. 15, 4-6). Perhaps Dante sees his allegorical voyage as that Ulyssean ship that though surviving most perils, sinks just minutes before mooring in its final port of his cherished destination: the illustrious Florence of his heart, the peaceful Florence of by-gone days (Inf. 26, 136-142). Even Satan’s six wings are compared to massive ‘sails’ (Inf. 34, 46-48), as grand, perhaps, as the suffering sails of his being and as frozen and paralyzed as Satan in his journey as exile.
Yet in Purgatorio’s hymns of passage, nautical cruelty fades away, and longing and wit, hoists Dante’s sail (Pur. 1, 1-3). The seawaters are smooth, pure and virgin; no homebound Odysseus has ever crossed them (Pur. 1, 130-132). The grand ‘sails’ of Satan have been replaced by Angelic wings that need neither ‘sails’ nor ‘oars’
• 36 •