A pilgrim undertakes a moral journey up a sacred mountain under the guidance of a learned classical poet, encountering souls who undergo purgation for particular moral failings. The ascent is organized as successive terraces where penances, ritual gestures, and instructive visions correct passions and illuminate the workings of divine justice and mercy. Encounters with angelic figures, prayer for the living, and allegorical tableaux punctuate poetic meditations on repentance, growth, and hope, tracing a gradual movement from contrition and self-knowledge toward readiness for the final ascent into beatitude.