Page 40 - GALIET EXILE: Dante IV+

Galiet & Galiet
fate of Lot’s wife, who in looking back, turned to a salt pillar. Or he would vanish like Eurydice, whose backward glance, forbade forever her union with her beloved Orpheus, hurling her back, once more, to that Labyrinth of labyrinths, the dark confines of Hades of no return, thereby silencing him, whom all nature loved, forever.
3⁄4 The Hototogisu 3⁄4
To endure what he has to endure, Dante’s steadfast spirit must remain ‘on his feet’ and yet learn to also leap beyond the limits of reason. For faith as long as ‘it maintains a thread of green,’ will assure his return to eternal love (Pur. 1, 133-135). Dante, necessary and imprescindible image, thus endlessly journeys, seeking, questioning and asking for that understanding that disentangles self from error’s mighty web (Inf. 34, 102).
Just as Geryon symbolizes man’s theological exile and Gryphon man’s rebirth and homecoming, exile freezes and mummifies, return purifies. In Purgatorio 16, (31-33), Dante will learn to share, in his exile, the sentiments of Lombardo. Just as Lombardo is a creature who purifies himself to return in beauty to his creator, Dante’s three-fold journey will also bring him to the infinite radiance and mirror of God after being purified first in Lethe and then Eunoe. Lombardo encourages no digressions. Dante must strive through the straight path as he learns from Lombardo why the world is sterile and pregnant with vice. Dante must never forget that the heavens are his first mover and that free will, his inner
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