Their name on earth
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E quelli a me: « L’ onrata nominanza che di lor suona sù ne la tua vita, grazïa acquista in ciel che sì li avanza».
And he to me: ‘The honored renown that sounds of them up in your world wins them grace in heaven that so advances them.’
Virgil answers: the honored fame that sounds of them in Dante's world above wins them grace in heaven that so advances them.
Virgil's answer is subtle. Their earthly fame — <i>l’onrata nominanza</i> — is not just a reward but a cause: because their names still resound in the living world, they win a measure of <i>grazïa</i>, grace, in heaven that raises them above the rest of Limbo.
It is a very medieval idea, and a very poetic one: that being remembered rightly on earth has weight in the order above. For a poem so concerned with fame, it is nearly a statement of faith — the good name preserves something of the soul.
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