Dante and Virgil pick their way carefully among the prostrated souls, avoiding stepping on them. A lone voice rises from the crowd, crying out examples of poverty and generosity — Mary, who laid her child in a manger; Fabricius, the Roman consul who refused all bribes; St. Nicholas, who secretly gave gold dowries to poor girls so they need not sell themselves. The voice belongs to Hugh Capet, founder of the Capetian dynasty that ruled France — speaking in the pre-dawn hour when souls are most fervent.
Hugh Capet is one of Purgatorio's longest and most sustained political passages. He identifies himself as the root of a poisonous tree whose fruit has spread rot across Christendom. He then catalogues his dynasty's crimes with the methodical bitterness of a man who has had centuries to think about them: Charles of Anjou poisoning Thomas Aquinas (alleged); Charles of Valois marching into Florence under the guise of peace and destroying it; Charles II of Anjou selling his daughter for money. And then — reaching contemporary history — Philip IV of France, "the new Pilate," arresting Pope Boniface VIII at Anagni in 1303, dishonoring his anointed person. The new Pilate raises his hand against Christ's vicar. These crimes are spoken not with political detachment but with the anguish of an ancestor watching his line corrupt everything he once built.
Then the mountain shakes — a tremendous earthquake throughout Purgatory. All the souls cry out Gloria in excelsis Deo — "Glory to God in the highest." Dante is terrified and clings to Virgil. The earthquake lasts until the Gloria fades. The cause is mysterious and will be explained in the next canto.