Throughout their journey together, Dante has relied upon Virgil to explain things to him. Almost nothing was left without some inquiry of Virgil. Graciously, the poet would elucidate the pilgrim on everything asked of him, from the punishments of Hell’s rings to the histories of people to the reason for their journey and direction. Without Virgil, Dante would most certainly have remained lost in more ways than just in the dark forest.
However, upon entering Purgatory, a change begins to take place in their relationship. Now, Virgil is no longer the authority. He says just before they enter the ring of the slothful, “I’ll tell you everything that reason sees; / beyond that, wait for Beatrice still, for faith / Must do the work,” as a preface before answering one of Dante’s questions about love (18.47-49). It struck me as an interesting turning point in their relationship. Rather than simply giving an answer as had been his custom before, Virgil states that he can only explain so much and must leave the rest to Beatrice.
Here, for me, Virgil becomes a symbol for what can be learned by reason and Beatrice is what can be learned by faith. Virgil, though a virtuous pagan, is still a pagan. He has not received the divine gift of salvation and thus can only discover what can be found reasonably about love. However, Beatrice, having received and believed the true faith, can fathom the nature of love in a deeper and better way. No matter how hard Virgil may desire to know or how hard he tries to delve, his understanding will always be limited by its dissociation from faith, which is why he acknowledges his own short comings and points Dante to look beyond the wisdom reasonable Virgil can give towards the fuller wisdom faithful Beatrice will give.
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