Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription
Document Title: La Pia
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Date of Composition: 1880
Type of Manuscript: holograph fair copy (pencil)
The full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.
![Image of page [1]](http://www.rossettiarchive.org/img/thumbs_small/19-1880.s207.lasnerms.jpg)
Dante meets Pia de' Tolommei among
the souls suffering purgatory through
having died a violent death & therefore
without absolution. She had been done
to death by a cruel husband who
confined her causelessly in a fortress in
the Maremma where she pined and died
of malaria, or, as some say, with the
help of [?poison?]. [?] the words to Dante
which her spirit speaks to Dante even
thus:—
the souls suffering purgatory through
having died a violent death & therefore
without absolution. She had been done
to death by a cruel husband who
confined her causelessly in a fortress in
the Maremma where she pined and died
of malaria, or, as some say, with the
help of [?poison?]. [?] the words to Dante
which her spirit speaks to Dante even
thus:—
- “Ah! when on earth thy voice again is heard
- And there from the long road hast rested thee,”
- (After the second spirit said the third,)
- “Remember me who am La Pia: me
- From Siena sprung & by Maremma dead:
- This in his inmost heart well knoweth he
- With whose fair jewel I was ringed and wed.”