Commentary Par XXII 13-15

This sort of righteous indignation is itself a sort of joy, since it involves, as Beatrice says, the celebration of just punishment, visible in the vengeance of God, that Dante will be able to observe on earth before he dies.  This 'minor prophecy' (for another see [Purg XXIII 97-102]) about the punishment of the corrupt clergy resembles the similar promise ([Par XVII 98-99]), made by Cacciaguida, that Dante will witness the just punishment of his Florentine enemies.  How are we to take these 'personal prophecies'?  It is perhaps best to understand that both Cacciaguida's and this one spoken by Beatrice are promissory notes Dante has written to himself.  He surely has in mind the completion of his hope for the political redemption of Florence; once this were accomplished, he was certain that his political enemies and the corrupt clergy who seem to support them (and perhaps often did) would come to a bad end indeed.  But like all successful prophecies, this one had to provide at least some sure results in order to be taken as veracious.  The death of any of Dante's major adversaries, occurring while he was still alive, would indeed seem to make elements of these 'prophecies' correct.  On the religious side of the roster, major deaths that succored Dante's hopes included those of the popes Boniface VIII (1303) and Clement V (1314); in the secular ledger, that of Corso Donati (1308 [see [Purg XXIV 82-90]]).  It may be argued convincingly that, in fact, Dante did not triumph over his enemies; nonetheless, he could, from the vantage point of 1317 or so, count on us to recognize that some of his greatest foes had died, thus preserving, for the moment, the possible happy outcome of this essentially botched prediction.  It comes more as the result of wishful thinking (and the accompanying conviction that his political views were simply correct) than of revelation.