The Shores of Purgatory. The penitents' souls and Casella
The Canto II of Purgatory begins with the Celestial Pilot who ferries the souls of the dead in the grace of God, from the mouth of the Tiber to the beach of Purgatory, from where the penitents will begin their ascent to the mountain. Here Dante meets his friend Casella, a musician that sings to him the renowned verses of a song.
"Even as I loved thee
In mortal body, so I love thee free;
Therefore I stop; but wherefore goest thou?"
[...]
No outrage has been done me,
If he who takes both when and whom he pleases
Has many times denied to me this passage,
For of a righteous will his own is made.
He, sooth to say, for three months past has taken
Whoever wished to enter with all peace;
Whence I, who now had turned unto that shore
Where salt the waters of the Tiber grow,
Benignantly by him have been received.
Unto that outlet now his wing is pointed,
Because for evermore assemble there
Those who tow'rds Acheron do not descend.
[...]
"Love, that within my mind discourses with me".
Purgatory, II, 88–90; 94–105; 112.
