On the sixth terrace are purged the gluttonous, and more generally, those who over-emphasised food, drink, and bodily comforts. In a scene reminiscent of the punishment of Tantalus, they are starved in the presence of trees whose fruit is forever out of reach. The examples here are given by voices in the trees. The Virgin Mary, who shared her Son's gifts with others at the Wedding at Cana, and John the Baptist, who lived on locusts and honey (Matthew 3:4), is an example of the virtue of temperance;. A classical example of the opposite vice of gluttony is the drunkenness of the Centaurs that led to the Battle of Centaurs and Lapiths.
The prayer for this terrace is Labia mea Domine (Psalm 51:15: "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise") These are the opening words from the daily Liturgy of the Hours. (the prayers for the fifth and seventh terraces are also taken from the Liturgy of the Hours) (Cantos XXII through XXIV).
Here Dante also meets his friend Forese Donati and his poetic predecessor Bonagiunta Orbicciani. Bonagiunta has kind words for Dante's earlier poem, La Vita Nuova, describing it as the sweet new style, and quoting the line "Ladies that have intelligence of love," written in praise of Beatrice, who he will meet later in the Purgatorio:
"Ladies that have intelligence of Love, I of my lady wish with you to speak; Not that I can believe to end her praise, But to discourse that I may ease my mind. I say that when I think upon her worth, So sweet doth Love make himself feel to me, That if I then should lose not hardihood, Speaking, I should enamour all mankind."
Climbing to the seventh terrace, Dante wonders how it is possible for bodiless souls to have the gaunt appearance of the souls being starved here. In explaining, Statius discourses on the nature of the soul and its relationship to the body (Canto XXV).
The prayer for this terrace is Labia mea Domine (Psalm 51:15: "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise") These are the opening words from the daily Liturgy of the Hours. (the prayers for the fifth and seventh terraces are also taken from the Liturgy of the Hours) (Cantos XXII through XXIV).
Here Dante also meets his friend Forese Donati and his poetic predecessor Bonagiunta Orbicciani. Bonagiunta has kind words for Dante's earlier poem, La Vita Nuova, describing it as the sweet new style, and quoting the line "Ladies that have intelligence of love," written in praise of Beatrice, who he will meet later in the Purgatorio:
"Ladies that have intelligence of Love,
I of my lady wish with you to speak;
Not that I can believe to end her praise,
But to discourse that I may ease my mind.
I say that when I think upon her worth,
So sweet doth Love make himself feel to me,
That if I then should lose not hardihood,
Speaking, I should enamour all mankind."
Climbing to the seventh terrace, Dante wonders how it is possible for bodiless souls to have the gaunt appearance of the souls being starved here. In explaining, Statius discourses on the nature of the soul and its relationship to the body (Canto XXV).