Commentary Par XXXIII 28-33

The first notice of a possible Virgilian source here is found in Gabriele (DDP Gabriele.Par.XXXIII.31-32).  Tasso's notes to the poem (DDP Tasso.Par.XXXIII.31) have a non-specified Virgilian source in mind, but very likely the same one as Gabriele.  Tommaseo (DDP Tommaseo.Par.XXXIII.31-33) is unhesitating in his identification of the source.  Campi (DDP Campi.Par.XXXIII.31-33) and Tozer (DDP Tozer.Par.XXXIII.31-32) also point to this passage in the Aeneid.  Toward the close of his long note, Carroll (DDP Carroll.Par.XXXIII.1-39) takes fuller notice of Aeneid. II.604-606.  It may be worth a moment's consideration of this not exactly obvious 'citation.'  Among the moderns, Mattalia (DDP Mattalia.Par.XXXIII.31-32) and Aversano (Aver.2000.2, p. 175) are among the few who cite Virgil's text here.  See Aen II.602-606; 622-623: Venus will tear away the clouds that keep Aeneas from seeing that it is neither Helen nor Paris, but the gods who are destroying Troy:

divum inclementia, divum,

has evertit opes sternitque a culmine Troiam.

aspice (namque amnem, quae nunc obducta tuenti

mortalis hebetat visus tibi et umida circum

caligat, nubem eripiam....       

apparent dirae facies inimicaque Troiae

numina magna deum.       

[the gods, the relentless gods, overturn this

wealth and make Troy topple from her pinnacle.

Behold, for all the cloud, which now, drawn

over thy sight, dulls thy mortal vision and with

dark pall enshrouds thee, I will tear away....

Dread shapes came to view -- mighty powers

divine, warring against Troy. (Tr. H.R. Fairclough)]

Vellutello (DDP Vellutello.Par.XXXIII.28-33), Daniello (DDP Daniello.Par.XXXIII.28-33), and, more recently, Singleton (DDP Singleton.Par.XXXIII.28-33), as well as Chiavacci Leonardi (Chia.1997.1), p. 911, all have another choice, Boethius (Consolatio III.m9.25-28):

Dissice terrenae nebulas et pondera molis

Atque tuo splendore mica!  Tu namque serenum,

Tu requies tranquilla piis, te cernere finis,

Principium, vector, dux, semita, terminus idem.

[Cast off the earthly weight wherewith I am opprest,

Shine as Thou art most bright, Thou only calm and rest

To pious men whose end is to behold Thy ray,

Who their beginning art, their guide, their bound, and way. (tr. in Singleton)]

It is interesting to find Daniello divagating from his teacher's (Gabriele's) view of this problem.

If we believe that the Virgilian passage is being alluded to, the parallels are fairly inviting.  Where Venus removes the shield of invisibility from the gods so that Aeneas may see his true enemies for what they are, Mary takes the cloud of his mortality away from Dante so that he may see his friend, God, as He is.