Dante Alighiere, PURGATORIO, Canto I

Illustration by Salvador Dali
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The Poet describes the delight he experienced at issuing a little before dawn from the infernal regions, into the pure air that surrounds the isle of purgatory; and then relates how, turning to the right, he beheld four stars never seen before but by our first parents, and met on his left the shade of Cato of Utica, who, having warned him and Virgil what is needful to be done before they proceed on their way through purgatory; disappears; and the two Poets go towards the shore, where Virgil cleanses Dante's face with the dew; and girds him with a reed, as Cato had commanded.