Daniel

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Daniel, called Danïello in the verse of Purgatorio XXII 146 and Danïel in that of Paradiso XXIX 134, is presented by Dante as the prophet protagonist of the third example of temperance in the terrace of the envious in Purgatory. The note to the verse specifies that, after the occupation of Jerusalem by the king of Babylon, Hebrew women, on Daniel's advice, abstained from wine, contenting themselves with water. The example is introduced by Statius in Purgatory and fits, like the others, into the demonstration of the virtue of temperance opposed to envy (Purg. XXII 142-146). In Paradiso IV 13, Beatrice is likened to Daniel for the way in which she frees Dante from doubts, reassuring him after the example of the lamb between two wolves and the dog between two deer. In Paradiso XXIX 134, Daniel is cited in the treatment of the angelic hierarchies, within the Trinitarian vision of the heaven of the fixed stars.