Virgile, à l’ aide d’une herbe magique, purifie le Dante des taches dont l’enfer l’avait souillé

Flaxman’s second plate from canto 1 depicts the moment in which Virgil bestows upon Dante the “slender reed” appointed by Cato to “gird him” for the ascent of the purgatorial mountain (1.94-95). The grace with which Dante bends toward Virgil suggests both the suppleness of a reed which bends and the humility to be required for the spiritual ascent. The “herbe magique” in Réveil's title refers not only to the purifying quality of the reed but also to miracle at the end of the canto, when the reed “pluck’d” by Virgil is immediately replaced with another (1.134-36).

Melville draws on Dante in Pierre when Lucy is able to outlast a “parting maternal malediction” with the inner strength of “the weakest reed” in resisting “the utmost tempest” (NN P 329).