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At the summit of Mount Purgatory is the Earthly Paradise or Garden of Eden. Allegorically, it represents the state of innocence that existed before Adam and Eve fell from grace – the state which Dante's journey up Mount Purgatory has been recapturing. Here Dante meets Matilda, a woman whose literal and allegorical identity "is perhaps the most tantalizing problem in the Comedy." Critics up to the early twentieth century have connected her with the historical Matilda of Tuscany, but others suggested a connection with the dream of Leah in Canto XXVII. However, Matilda clearly prepares Dante for his meeting with Beatrice, the woman to whom (historically) Dante dedicated his previous poetry, the woman at whose request (in the story) Virgil was commissioned to bring Dante on his journey, and the woman who (allegorically) symbolizes the path to God (Canto XXVIII).

With Matilda, Dante witnesses a procession which forms an allegory within the allegory, somewhat like Shakespeare's play within a play. It has a very different style from the Purgatorio as a whole, having the form of a masque, where the characters are walking symbols rather than real people. The procession consists of (Canto XXIX):

Dante and Matilda (formerly called Dante and Beatrice) by John William Waterhouse, 1915.
 * "Twenty-four elders" (a reference to Revelation 4:4), representing the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, as classified by Jerome
 * "Four animals" with "six wings as plumage" (a reference to Revelation 4:6–8), a traditional representation of the four Evangelists
 * "A chariot triumphal on two wheels," bearing Beatrice, which is drawn by…
 * A griffin, representing the conjoined divinity and humanity of Christ
 * "Three circling women" coloured red, green, and white, representing the three theological virtues: Love, Hope, and Faith, respectively
 * "Four other women" dressed in purple, representing the four cardinal virtues: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude
 * "Two elders, different in their dress," representing the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline epistles
 * "Four of humble aspect," representing the general epistles
 * "When all the rest had passed, a lone old man," representing the Book of Revelation

Canto XXX portrays the seamless transition between Virgil's departure and Beatrice's arrival. Virgil finally exiting Dante's pilgrimage signifies the departure from the pursuit of non-Christian philosophy and humanities, moving onto the "primal love," the love of God. "But Virgil had deprived us of himself,

Virgil, the gentlest father, Virgil, he

to whom I gave my self for my salvation;

and even all our ancient mother lost

was not enough to keep my cheeks, though washed

with dew, from darkening again with tears." Dante's farewell to Virgil, with the threefold repetition of Virgil's name, echoes a passage from Virgil's own Georgics: The bare voice and death-cold tongue, with fleeting breath,

called Eurydice - ah, hapless Eurydice! "Eurydice" the

banks re-echoed, all adown the stream. After Virgil's departure, Beatrice begins to admonish Dante, accusing him of straying from the path of virtue she had laid before him after her departure from life on earth. She demands a confession out of the pilgrim, making this his own first confession in the whole comedy: "'O you who are beyond the sacred river,'

turning toward me the point of her speech, whose

mere edge had seemed sharp to me,

she began again, continuing without delay: 'say,

say if this is true: so great an accusation your

confession must be joined.'" It is not until after more admonitions from Beatrice and a heartfelt confession from Dante, that Dante is washed in the River Lethe, which erases the memory of past sin (Canto XXXI), and sees an allegory of Biblical and Church history. This allegory includes a denunciation of the corrupt papacy of the time: a harlot (the papacy) is dragged away with the chariot (the Church) by a giant (the French monarchy, which under King Philip IV engineered the move of the Papal Seat to Avignon in 1309) (Canto XXXII): "Just like a fortress set on a steep slope,

securely seated there, ungirt, a whore,

whose eyes were quick to rove, appeared to me;

and I saw at her side, erect, a giant,

who seemed to serve as her custodian;

and they again, again embraced each other." It is noon as the events observed in the Earthly Paradise come to a close. Finally, Dante drinks from the River Eunoë, which restores good memories, and prepares him for his ascent to Heaven (described in the Paradiso, the final cantica). As with the other two parts of the Divine Comedy, the Purgatorio ends on the word "stars" (Canto XXXIII): "From that most holy wave I now returned

to Beatrice; remade, as new trees are

renewed when they bring forth new boughs, I was pure and prepared to climb unto the stars."