Commentary Purg XIII 112-123

Sapia's narrative falls into two parts, this first containing the evidence of her former sinfulness, exemplified most savagely in her admission of her joy in witnessing the death of her own people, most probably Provenzan Salvani, her nephew.

      As for Provenzan (a rough Sienese equivalent of the Florentine Farinata [Inf. X]), the man who led the Sienese Ghibellines in their triumph over the Guelphs of Florence at Montaperti in 1260 and the leading Ghibelline soldier of his city, he was captured in the battle of Colle Val d'Elsa, some ten miles northwest of Siena, and decapitated.  According to Giovanni Villani (Cronica VII.31), his head, at the end of a pike, was then marched around the battlefield by his triumphant French and Florentine Guelph enemies.  Since Sapia was also a Ghibelline it is difficult or impossible to know why she was so pleased by his death (most assume that Provenzan is among the 'townsmen' whose death brought her so much pleasure).  Since her sin was envy, it seems clear that Dante wants us to understand that she resented his and/or other townsmen's position and fame, that her involvement was personal, not political.

      While some are of the opinion that Dante's inclusion of these two great Ghibelline figures in purgatory shows an attempt at impartiality, it is probably better to avoid that issue, since by this time in the composition of the poem Dante's overall political sympathies were essentially Ghibelline, or at least imperial and thus in line with Ghibelline ideals, whatever he may have thought of particular Ghibelline individuals.

      Her reference to her age (verse 114) merely places that as post-thirty-five (past the mezzo del cammin di sua vita) and she may have been nearly sixty when she witnessed the battle (from her dead husband's castle near Colle?).  Loosely, the phrase means 'old enough to have known better.'

      Benvenuto paraphrases her prideful address to God as follows: 'whatever God may wish for me henceforth, and even if He do to me his worst, I shall evermore live joyful and die happy' (DDP Benvenuto.Purg.XIII.112-114).  She was like, she now considers, the blackbird in winter who, at a premature spring-like day, thinks the need for help is done.  It is not.