Commentary Purg XXXI 91-102

Dante's immersion in Lethe, supervised by Matelda, marks his final satisfaction of his confessor's demands on him.  As we will see ([Purg XXXIII 91-99]), his forgetting that he ever transgressed against Beatrice's instruction will be used by her as proof that he had indeed done so.  Here we understand that the act of forgetting is an act of atonement, and is rewarded with absolution, indicated by the Latin song he hears as he completes his crossing of Lethe.

      As for Dante's drinking of the waters, it has a Virgilian source, according to Pietro di Dante (DDP Pietro1.Purg.XXXI.94-102) and, among the moderns, Mattalia (DDP Mattalia.Purg.XXXI.102): in Lethe's waters the souls 'longa oblivia potant' (drink in long forgetfulness [Aen. VI.715]).  As we shall see at Eunoe ([Purg XXXIII 138]), the ingestion of the waters of these two rivers is essential to the accomplishment of (here) leaving one's sins in oblivion and (there) securing in memory all the good things accomplished in one's mortal life.

      Does Statius also drink of these waters?  And does Matelda have oversight for his crossing of Lethe as well as Dante's?  See C.Purg.XXXIII.128-135.

      The Ottimo (DDP Ottimo.Purg.XXXI.97-99) identifies the phrase 'Asperges me...' (Purge me [with hyssop, that I may be purified; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow]) as deriving from 'the penitential Psalm' (50:9 [51:7]) and goes on to report that the phrase is repeated in the rite of absolution when the priest blesses the confessed sinner with holy water.  We have less certain information about who it is that sings the words.  Among those commentators who venture an opinion, most assume it is the angels who sing, but it could be the (still unnamed) Matelda (as Porena [DDP Porena.Purg.XXXI.98] admits, even though he prefers the angels).  Since the angels have served as singers before ([Purg XXX 19], [Purg XXX 21], [Purg XXX 83-84]), the most reasonable hypothesis seems to be that it is they who sing now, as well.

      Chiamenti's reading of vv. 92-96 (Chia.1999.2), p. 211n., would seem to suggest that the contact here between Matelda and Dante is of a sexual nature, a reading that does not exactly command immediate assent.