ABSTRACT
This essay looks more deeply into the notion of allegory and attempts to understand its working in one of its most famous examples. It discusses a central idea in Dante's Divine Comedy that human life requires two very different value systems, spoken of by Dante in Purgatorio using the metaphor of “two suns,” both of which are sources of light or sources of authority in their own right. This idea is allegorised further in the role of Dante's two guides, Virgil and Beatrice, and is present very directly in his preoccupation with the dualities of Christianity and Classical thought, Pope and Emperor, and contemplation and activity. In this essay, it is illustrated in some detail by reference to Dante's account of his meeting in Purgatory with the poet Statius. The picture of Statius is an elaborate fiction: Dante presents Statius, a pagan Roman poet, as having secretly converted to Christianity, and having done so inspired by elementary misreadings of the poet Virgil (who lived before Christ and was a supreme poet of the Roman Empire). This surprising and seemingly arbitrary fiction opens a door to reflection on some of the psychological subtleties of Dante's thought.
