Bacchus

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Bacchus is a pagan deity recalled by Dante in two places in the Commedia. In Purgatorio XVIII, 93, Virgil explains that natural love is so powerful in him that, if the Thebans had needed it, it would have sufficed to make him perform the deeds of Bacchus. In Paradiso XIII, 25, in the Heaven of the Sun, St. Thomas exclaims that up there neither Bacchus nor Paean was sung, but three persons in divine nature: the name of Bacchus is therefore recalled only to exclude pagan songs and affirm the hymn to the Trinity. The notes to Canto XIII of the Paradiso confirm that the entire development of the scene in the Heaven of the Sun is hinged on the Trinitarian theme, expressed by the triple dance and the triple song, in opposition to the songs traditionally dedicated to Bacchus. The figure does not appear as an acting character in Dante's journey, but remains a term of mythological comparison by which to measure the newness of Christian song.