Commentary Purg XXXII 4-6

The love that Dante feels now for Beatrice is described in terms that indicate its 'Carthaginian' dimension.  The 'antica rete' (old, familiar net) reminds us of the 'antica fiamma' (ancient flame -- [Purg XXX 48]) that flared in Dido and then in Dante, Dido's words become his own.  Dante's morals may have been cleansed on the mountain, and Lethe may have made him forget his now forgiven sins, but his intellect is surely not working at its highest level.  Having seen Beatrice as God loves her, he still contrives to think she is that pretty girl from Florence.  The poet records her 'holy smile'; the protagonist remembers his earthly feelings.

      The word rete (net) was used in the last canto ([Purg XXXI 63]) to denote the instrument with which a hunter catches birds (as a girl [or girls] caught incautious Dante, according to Beatrice), and may also remind us of the net in which Vulcan caught his adulterous wife Venus in flagrante delicto with Mars, as Allen Tate (Tate.1961.1), p. 103, has suggested.