Chapter 8: The Three Virtues
I have not found the traditional images of Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance in the Dante illustrations. Nevertheless, they play a significant role in Dante's personal journey of conversion and sanctification. In the Inferno (4:107), they appear as 3 of the 7 walls surrounding the Castle of Knowledge. At the deepest level of the Inferno, Dante is advised to arm himself with Fortitude before facing Lucifer/Satan (Inferno 34:21).
At the beginning of the Purgatorio (1:23-24) Dante observes 4 stars symbolizing the cardinal virtues (Schnapp 1993). There are 7 terraces on Mount Purgatory, corresponding to the seven deadly sins. As Virgil and Dante leave each terrace, they are guided to the next by an angel representing the corresponding virtue. The angel of Justice leads them from the terrace of the avaricious (Purgatorio 22:1-5). The angel of Temperance (Purgatorio 24:136-154) leads them upward from the terrace of the gluttonous. Fortitude does not appear in a similar role.
In the Paradisio, the three virtues are given particular prominence as they correspond to three of the planetary spheres through which Dante and Beatrice pass. The souls that reside in the planetary sphere are exemplars of the corresponding virtue. The students of astrological correspondences will be interested to known that Justice = Jupiter, Fortitude = Mars, and Temperance = Saturn (Dinsmore 1901).
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