rom vice: such a one while still in the body is in the moral
Purgatory, or in the act of penance in which it purges away its sin; if
separated, it is in the actual Purgatory. Yet even while living in the
body, a soul is already in a manner in Paradise, for it exists in as
great felicity as is possible in this life of misery: separated from the
body, it is in the heavenly Paradise where there is true and perfect
happiness, where it enjoys the vision of God." (Ozanam, Dante, p. 129.)

This testimony as to the subject matter of the Divine Comedy is brought
forth to offset the statements not infrequently made by expositors who
deny or ignore the supernatural that Dante's full thought can be
realized even if the reader rejects the poet's spiritual teaching,
especially his doctrine of the existence of a real Heaven and a real
Hell. It is true that Dante is "such a many-sided genius that he has a
message for almost every person." It is likewise true that an
allegorical interpretation may be adopted with no belief in the
Hereafter and it may open up many fruitful lessons for the reader. That
being granted, one may still ask whether one can ignore Dante's doctrine
of future rewards and punishment and so get full satisfaction from
treating the poet's conception of the Hereafter as a mere allegory.

The allegory presupposes that sin inevitably brings its own penalty.
But in this life virtue does not always bear its own reward nor is evil
always followed by retribution. Dante as the prophet and the preacher of
Christianity would have us understand, as Benvenuto da Imola points out,
that if the moral law is not vindicated in this life it will be in the
Hereafter, for our acts make our eternity. So the poet holds that while
this life according as it shows the soul in sin, in repentance or in
virtue may be considered allegorically Hell, Purgatory or Heaven, before
the Last Judgment a real Hell, a real Purgatory, a real Heaven is the
abode of disembodied spirits according to their demerits or merits and
after the Last Judgment, Purgatory no longer existing, souls will be in
eternal suffering in Hell or in unending joy in Heaven.

It is not to be expected that any reader will believe that Dante's Hell
is a photograph of reality. It is a Hell largely fashioned by poetic
visions and political theories, peopled in a great measure by those who
stand in opposition to the poet's theory of government. It is not, as is
sometimes asserted, a pl