“We all, of old, were slain by violence, and went on sinning up to our last hour”
. . . . .
Dante refers to a passage in Virgil’s Aeneid, in which Aeneas hears a warning that prayer cannot alter the gods’ decree. It’s important to remember that Virgil predated Jesus and Christianity; he now argues that the prayer of a living Christian, motivated by love, can fulfill the demands of justice for a penitent soul in Purgatory. The brief mention of Beatrice spurs Dante to commit to the journey with greater fervor, which speaks to his deep and enduring love for her. (Beatrice was a real person in Dante’s life; they met in their youth, and Dante loved her and pined for her from afar all his life.)