On the terrace of the wrathful, examples of meekness, the opposite virtue, are given to Dante as visions in his mind. The scene from the Life of the Virgin in this terrace of purgation is the Finding in the Temple. Whereas most parents would be angry at their child for worrying them, Mary is loving and understanding of Christ's motives behind his three day disappearance. In a classical example, the wife of Peisistratos wanted a young man executed for embracing their daughter, to which Peisistratos responded: "What shall we do to one who'd injure us / if one who loves us earns our condemnation?" Saint Stephen provides a Biblical example, drawn from Acts 7:54–60 (Canto XV):
Next I saw people whom the fire of wrath had kindled, as they stoned a youth and kept on shouting loudly to each other: Kill!
Kill! Kill! I saw him now, weighed down by death, sink to the ground, although his eyes were bent always on Heaven: they were Heaven's gates,
Praying to his high Lord, despite the torture, to pardon those who were his persecutors; his look was such that it unlocked compassion."
The souls of the wrathful walk around in acrid smoke, which symbolises the blinding effect of anger:
Darkness of Hell and of a night deprived of every planet, under meager skies, as overcast by clouds as sky can be,
had never served to veil my eyes so thickly nor covered them with such rough-textured stuff as smoke that wrapped us there in Purgatory;
my eyes could not endure remaining open;
Marco Lombardo discourses with Dante on free will – a relevant topic, since there is no point being angry with someone who has no choice over his actions (Canto XVI). Dante also sees visions with examples of wrath, such as Haman and Lavinia. The prayer for this terrace is the Agnus Dei: "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.. dona nobis pacem." ("Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.. grant us peace.") (Canto XVII).
At this point Virgil is able to explain to Dante the organization of Purgatory and its relationship to perverted, deficient, or misdirected love. The three terraces they have seen so far have purged the proud ("he who, through abasement of another, / hopes for supremacy"), the envious ("one who, when he is outdone, / fears his own loss of fame, power, honor, favor; / his sadness loves misfortune for his neighbor."), and the wrathful ("he who, over injury / received, resentful, for revenge grows greedy / and, angrily, seeks out another's harm."). Deficient and misdirected loves are about to follow (Cantos XVII and XVIII).
Next I saw people whom the fire of wrath
had kindled, as they stoned a youth and kept
on shouting loudly to each other: Kill!
Kill! Kill! I saw him now, weighed down by death,
sink to the ground, although his eyes were bent
always on Heaven: they were Heaven's gates,
Praying to his high Lord, despite the torture,
to pardon those who were his persecutors;
his look was such that it unlocked compassion."
The souls of the wrathful walk around in acrid smoke, which symbolises the blinding effect of anger:
Darkness of Hell and of a night deprived
of every planet, under meager skies,
as overcast by clouds as sky can be,
had never served to veil my eyes so thickly
nor covered them with such rough-textured stuff
as smoke that wrapped us there in Purgatory;
my eyes could not endure remaining open;
Marco Lombardo discourses with Dante on free will – a relevant topic, since there is no point being angry with someone who has no choice over his actions (Canto XVI). Dante also sees visions with examples of wrath, such as Haman and Lavinia. The prayer for this terrace is the Agnus Dei: "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.. dona nobis pacem." ("Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.. grant us peace.") (Canto XVII).
At this point Virgil is able to explain to Dante the organization of Purgatory and its relationship to perverted, deficient, or misdirected love. The three terraces they have seen so far have purged the proud ("he who, through abasement of another, / hopes for supremacy"), the envious ("one who, when he is outdone, / fears his own loss of fame, power, honor, favor; / his sadness loves misfortune for his neighbor."), and the wrathful ("he who, over injury / received, resentful, for revenge grows greedy / and, angrily, seeks out another's harm."). Deficient and misdirected loves are about to follow (Cantos XVII and XVIII).