“‘I’m’ she sang, ‘I’m the sweet-voiced Siren skilled to enchant mariners in mid ocean, so with pleasing magic is my utterance filled”
. . . . .
the siren provides an illustration of Virgil’s words above regarding the attraction of an external object to the mind. The woman is herself ugly, but Dante instinctively perceives her song as beautiful and accordingly desires her. In this way, the soul is projecting an image that it loves—it’s not truly loving another person. An angel erases another “P” and blesses Dante. As they ascend, Dante sees figures stretched prostrate on the ground, sighing, “My soul cleaves to the dust.” The prayer of these penitents is from Psalm 119, and indeed they literally cleave to the dust—the penance for coveting, or an excessive desire for worldly things. Dante even uses a pope adrian as an example, showing his readiness to criticize spiritual authorities whose actions he deplores. Pope Adrian explains that the souls doing penance in this way—Purgatory’s harshest—are guilty of avarice, or covetousness. Because they never looked toward Heaven while living, these souls are forced to remain earthbound here.