Commentary Purg XXX 73-75

Verse 73 is problematic, as Singleton (DDP Singleton.Purg.XXX.73) explains clearly: 'Guardaci: Commentators differ in their interpretation of ci here.  It could be the pronoun, in which case Beatrice, in her regal manner, would be using the plural of majesty, speaking as a monarch would, in the first person plural.  This reading is often accompanied by "ben sem, ben sem" in the rest of the verse, continuing such a plural (sem = siamo).  Or ci might be construed as the adverb qui, in which case the rest of the verse is usually given in the reading here adopted.'

        That Beatrice speaks the word ben (here meaning 'really,' but also carrying its root sense, 'good' or 'well') three times in order to echo the triple iteration of 'Virgil' ([Purg XXX 49-51]) and of 'weep' ([Purg XXX 56-57]) was first noted by Tommaseo (DDP Tommaseo.Purg.XXX.73-75).  He does not go on to suggest that the first two sets of repeated words are tinged with loss, while this one is charged with triumph, but he might have.  For the contrastive self-namings of the Siren ([Purg XIX 19]), 'Io son, io son dolce serena,' and of Beatrice, 'Ben son, ben son Beatrice' and of the way both may mirror or mimic the tetragrammaton, the ninth of Isidore of Seville's ten Hebrew names for God, transliterated by him as ia, ia (Etym. VII.i.16), see Hollander (Holl.1969.1), p. 144n.

      Beatrice's anger at wayward Dante, saved by mercies in Heaven that seem hardly to have been predictable, given his behavior, is not difficult to fathom.  But he has survived.  Now, face to face with the beatified woman who has interceded for him, he weeps for Virgil, compounding his failing past behavior by now missing his pagan guide instead of rejoicing in the presence of Beatrice.