s: Favour with thee."  So I my suit preferr'd:


s: And she, so distant, as appear'd, look'd down,


s: And smil'd; then tow'rds th' eternal fountain turn'd.


s: "That thou at length mayst happily conclude


s: Thy voyage (to which end I was dispatch'd,


s: Let thy upsoaring vision range, at large,


s: This garden through: for so, by ray divine


s: Kindled, thy ken a higher flight shall mount;


s: And from heav'n's queen, whom fervent I adore,


s: All gracious aid befriend us; for that I


s: Am her own faithful Bernard."  Like a wight,


s: Our Veronica, and the while 't is shown,


s: And, all that he hath heard revolving, saith


s: Unto himself in thought:  "And didst thou look


s: E'en thus, O Jesus, my true Lord and God?


s: And was this semblance thine?"  So gaz'd I then


s: Who musing, in the world that peace enjoy'd,


s: Stood lively before me.  "Child of grace!"


s: Thus he began:  "thou shalt not knowledge gain


s: Of this glad being, if thine eyes are held


s: Still in this depth below.  But search around


s: The circles, to the furthest, till thou spy


s: Seated in state, the queen, that of this realm


s: Is sovran."  Straight mine eyes I rais'd; and bright,


s: As, at the birth of morn, the eastern clime


s: Above th' horizon, where the sun declines;


s: To mountain sped, at th' extreme bound, a part


s: Excell'd in lustre all the front oppos'd.


s: And as the glow burns ruddiest o'er the wave,


s: That waits the sloping beam, which Phaeton


s: Ill knew to guide, and on each part the light


s: Diminish'd fades, intensest in the midst;


s: So burn'd the peaceful oriflamb, and slack'd


s: And in that midst their sportive pennons wav'd


s: Thousands of angels; in resplendence each


s: Distinct, and quaint adornment. At their glee


s: And carol, smil'd the Lovely One of heav'n,


s: That joy was in the eyes of all the blest.


s: 'T were all too poor to utter the least part


s: Of that enchantment.  When he saw mine eyes


s: Intent on her, that charm'd him, Bernard gaz'd


s: Freely the sage, though wrapt in musings high,


s: Assum'd the teacher's part, and mild began:


s: "The wound, that Mary clos'd, she open'd first,


s: Meek ancestress of him, who sang the songs


s: Of sore repentance in his sorrowful mood.


s: All, as I name them, down from deaf to leaf,


s: And from the seventh step, successively,


s: Adown the breathing tresses of the flow'r


s: Still doth the file of Hebrew dames proceed.


s: The sacred stairs are sever'd, as the faith


s: In Christ divides them.  On this part, where blooms


s: Such as in Christ, or ere he came, believ'd.


s: On th' other, where an intersected space


s: All they, who look'd to Christ already come.


s: And they who on their stools beneath her sit,


s: This way distinction make: e'en so on his,


s: The mighty Baptist that way marks the line


s: (He who endur'd the desert and the pains


s: Of martyrdom, and for two years of hell,


s: Augustin, Francis, Benedict, and the rest,


s: Thus far from round to round.  So heav'n's decree


s: With faith in either view, past or to come,


s: Learn too, that downward from the step, which cleaves


s: Midway the twain compartments, none there are


s: Who place obtain for merit of their own,


s: But have through others' merit been advanc'd,


s: On set conditions: spirits all releas'd,


s: Ere for themselves they had the power to choose.


s: And, if thou mark and listen to them well,


s: Their childish looks and voice declare as much.


s: "Here, silent as thou art, I know thy doubt;


s: And gladly will I loose the knot, wherein


s: Thy subtle thoughts have bound thee.  From this realm


s: Excluded, chalice no entrance here may find,


s: No more shall hunger, thirst, or sorrow can.


s: Nor is there aught thou seest, that doth not fit,


s: It is not therefore without cause, that these,


s: Are different in their shares of excellence.


s: Our Sovran Lord--that settleth this estate


s: That wish can dare no further--every soul,


s: With grace at pleasure variously endows.


s: And for a proof th' effect may well suffice.


s: And 't is moreover most expressly mark'd


s: In holy scripture, where the twins are said


s: To, have struggled in the womb.  Therefore, as grace


s: And merely in respect to his prime gift,


s: More was not wanting, than the parents' faith,


s: To save them: those first ages past, behoov'd


s: That circumcision in the males should imp


s: The flight of innocent wings:  but since the day


s: Of grace hath come, without baptismal rites


s: In Christ accomplish'd, innocence herself


s: Must linger yet below.  Now raise thy view


s: For, in her splendour only, shalt thou win


s: The pow'r to look on him."  Forthwith I saw


s: Such floods of gladness on her visage shower'd,


s: From holy spirits, winging that profound;


s: Had not so much suspended me with wonder,


s: On earth, now hail'd in heav'n; and on pois'd wing.


s: To whose sweet anthem all the blissful court,


s: From all parts answ'ring, rang: that holier joy


s: Brooded the deep serene.  "Father rever'd:


s: Who deign'st, for me, to quit the pleasant place,


s: Say, who that angel is, that with such glee


s: Beholds our queen, and so enamour'd glows


s: Of her high beauty, that all fire he seems."


s: Of my wise teacher, he, whom Mary's charms


s: Embellish'd, as the sun the morning star;


s: Who thus in answer spake:  "In him are summ'd,


s: And so beseems:  for that he bare the palm


s: Vouchsaf'd to clothe him in terrestrial weeds.


s: Now let thine eyes wait heedful on my words,


s: And note thou of this just and pious realm


s: The chiefest nobles.  Those, highest in bliss,


s: The twain, on each hand next our empress thron'd,


s: Are as it were two roots unto this rose.


s: He to the left, the parent, whose rash taste


s: Proves bitter to his seed; and, on the right,


s: Into whose keeping Christ did give the keys


s: Of this sweet flow'r: near whom behold the seer,


s: That, ere he died, saw all the grievous times


s: Of the fair bride, who with the lance and nails


s: Was won.  And, near unto the other, rests


s: Th' ungrateful nation, fickle and perverse.


s: Where Anna sits, so well content to look


s: On her lov'd daughter, that with moveless eye


s: She chants the loud hosanna:  while, oppos'd


s: To the first father of your mortal kind,


s: When on the edge of ruin clos'd thine eye.


s: "But (for the vision hasteneth so an end)


s: Here break we off, as the good workman doth,


s: That shapes the cloak according to the cloth:


s: And to the primal love our ken shall rise;


s: That thou mayst penetrate the brightness, far


s: As sight can bear thee.  Yet, alas!  in sooth


s: Beating thy pennons, thinking to advance,


s: Thou backward fall'st.  Grace then must first be gain'd;


s: Her grace, whose might can help thee. Thou in prayer


s: Seek her: and, with affection, whilst I sue,


s: Attend, and yield me all thy heart."  He said,


s: Surpassing, as in height, above them all,


s: Term by th' eternal counsel pre-ordain'd,


s: In thee, that its great Maker did not scorn,


s: Himself, in his own work enclos'd to dwell!


s: For in thy womb rekindling shone the love


s: Reveal'd, whose genial influence makes now


s: Art, as the noon-day torch: and art, beneath,


s: So mighty art thou, lady!  and so great,


s: That he who grace desireth, and comes not


s: To thee for aidance, fain would have desire


s: Fly without wings.  Nor only him who asks,


s: Thy bounty succours, but doth freely oft


s: Are all combin'd in thee.  Here kneeleth one,


s: Who of all spirits hath review'd the state,


s: From the world's lowest gap unto this height.


s: Suppliant to thee he kneels, imploring grace


s: For virtue, yet more high to lift his ken


s: Toward the bliss supreme.  And I, who ne'er


s: Than now for him, my prayers to thee prefer,


s: (And pray they be not scant) that thou wouldst drive


s: That on the sovran pleasure he may gaze.


s: Who canst do what thou wilt!  that in him thou


s: Wouldst after all he hath beheld, preserve


s: Affection sound, and human passions quell.


s: Stretch their clasp'd hands, in furtherance of my suit!"


s: The eyes, that heav'n with love and awe regards,


s: Fix'd on the suitor, witness'd, how benign


s: She looks on pious pray'rs: then fasten'd they


s: On th' everlasting light, wherein no eye


s: Of creature, as may well be thought, so far


s: Can travel inward.  I, meanwhile, who drew


s: Near to the limit, where all wishes end,


s: The ardour of my wish (for so behooved),


s: Ended within me. Beck'ning smil'd the sage,


s: That I should look aloft: but, ere he bade,


s: For visual strength, refining more and more,


s: Of sovran light.  Thenceforward, what I saw,


s: Was not for words to speak, nor memory's self


s: To stand against such outrage on her skill.


s: As one, who from a dream awaken'd, straight,


s: All he hath seen forgets; yet still retains


s: E'en such am I: for all the vision dies,


s: As 't were, away; and yet the sense of sweet,


s: That sprang from it, still trickles in my heart.


s: Thus in the sun-thaw is the snow unseal'd;


s: Thus in the winds on flitting leaves was lost


s: (Whose height what reach of mortal thought may soar?)


s: Of what thou then appearedst, give my tongue


s: Power, but to leave one sparkle of thy glory,


s: Unto the race to come, that shall not lose


s: The record sound in this unequal strain.


s: Such keenness from the living ray I met,


s: That, if mine eyes had turn'd away, methinks,


s: O grace!  unenvying of thy boon!  that gav'st


s: On th' everlasting splendour, that I look'd,


s: While sight was unconsum'd, and, in that depth,


s: Saw in one volume clasp'd of love, whatever


s: The whole.  And of such bond methinks I saw


s: Beyond her proper self; and, till I speak,


s: To that emprize, that first made Neptune wonder


s: At Argo's shadow darkening on his flood.


s: With fixed heed, suspense and motionless,


s: Was kindled, as I gaz'd.  It may not be,


s: That one, who looks upon that light, can turn


s: For all the good, that will may covet, there


s: Is summ'd; and all, elsewhere defective found,


s: Complete.  My tongue shall utter now, no more


s: E'en what remembrance keeps, than could the babe's


s: That yet is moisten'd at his mother's breast.


s: Not that the semblance of the living light


s: Was chang'd (that ever as at first remain'd)


s: But that my vision quickening, in that sole


s: Appearance, still new miracles descry'd,


s: And toil'd me with the change.  In that abyss


s: Of radiance, clear and lofty, seem'd methought,


s: Three orbs of triple hue clipt in one bound:


s: And, from another, one reflected seem'd,


s: As rainbow is from rainbow: and the third


s: Seem'd fire, breath'd equally from both.  Oh speech


s: How feeble and how faint art thou, to give


s: Conception birth!  Yet this to what I saw


s: Sole in thyself that dwellst; and of thyself


s: Sole understood, past, present, or to come!


s: Thou smiledst; on that circling, which in thee


s: Seem'd as reflected splendour, while I mus'd;


s: For I therein, methought, in its own hue


s: I therefore por'd upon the view.  As one


s: Who vers'd in geometric lore, would fain


s: Measure the circle; and, though pondering long


s: And deeply, that beginning, which he needs,


s: Finds not; e'en such was I, intent to scan


s: The novel wonder, and trace out the form,


s: How plac'd: but the flight was not for my wing;


s: And in the spleen unfolded what it sought.


s: Here vigour fail'd the tow'ring fantasy:


s: But yet the will roll'd onward, like a wheel


s: That moves the sun in heav'n and all the stars.


s: Verse 12.  Benign Apollo.]  Chaucer has imitated this invention


s: very closely at the beginning of the Third Booke of Fame.


s: v. 15.  Thus for.]  He appears to mean nothing more than that


s: this part of his poem will require a greater exertion of his


s: v. 19.  Marsyas.]  Ovid, Met. 1. vi. fab. 7.  Compare Boccaccio,


s: mio petto entri," &c. - "May he enter my bosom, and let my voice


s: sound like his own, when he made that daring mortal deserve to


s: v. 29.  Caesar, or bard.]  So Petrarch, Son.  Par. Prima.


s: v. 37.  Through that.]  "Where the four circles, the horizon, the


s: threeintersecting each other so as to form three crosses, as may


s: v. 39.  In happiest constellation.]  Aries.  Some understand the


s: v. 44.  To the left.]  Being in the opposite hemisphere to ours,


s: Beatrice that she may behold the rising sun, turns herself to the


s: v. 47.  As from the first a second beam.]  "Like a reflected


s: sunbeam," which he compares to a pilgrim hastening homewards.


s: v. 58.  As iron that comes boiling from the fire.]  So Milton,


s: E par ch' agginuga un altro sole al cielo.


s: Che sole a sole aggiunse e giorno a giorno.


s: Compare Euripides, Ion. 1550.  [GREEK HERE]


s: v. 71.  If.]  "Thou O divine Spirit, knowest  whether 1 had not


s: risen above my human nature, and were not merely such as thou


s: "The workman hath in his heart a purpose, he carrieth in mind the


s: skill and desire to bring his labour to the best effect, only the


s: Quanto l'acqua comporta un picciol legno


s: v. 46.  E'en as the truth.]  Like a truth that does not need


s: v. 65.  Number1ess lights.]  The fixed stars, which differ both


s: v. 71.  Save one.]  "Except that principle of rarity and


s: denseness which thou hast assigned."  By "formal principles,


s: "principj formali, are meant constituent or essential causes."


s: Milton, in imitation of this passage, introduces the angel


s: arguing with Adam respecting the causes of the spots on the moon.


s: But, as a late French translator of the Paradise well remarks,


s: his reasoning is physical; that of Dante partly metaphysical and


s: v. 111.  Within the heaven.]  According to our Poet's system,


s: there are ten heavens; the seven planets, the eighth spheres


s: containing the fixed stars, the primum mobile, and the empyrean.


s: v. 16.  Delusion.]  "An error the contrary to that of Narcissus,


s: because he mistook a shadow for a substance, I a substance for a


s: v. 50.  Piccarda.]  The sister of Forese whom we have seen in the


s: v. 90.  The Lady.] St. Clare, the foundress of the order called


s: after her She was born of opulent and noble parents at Assisi, in


s: v. 121.  Constance.]  Daughter of Ruggieri, king of Sicily, who,


s: being taken by force out of a monastery where she had professed,


s: was married to the Emperor Henry Vl. and by him was mother to


s: Frederick 11. She was fifty years old or more at the time, and


s: "because it was not credited that she could have a child at that


s: age, she was delivered in a pavilion and it was given out, that


s: any lady, who pleased, was at liberty to see her.  Many came, and


s: Muratori, Rer. It. Script. t. viii.  p. 939; and G. Villani, in


s: The French translator above mentored speaks of her having


s: poisoned her husband.  The death of Henry Vl. is recorded in the


s: Chronicon Siciliae, by an anonymous writer, (Muratori, t. x.) but


s: Ricordano Malaspina even mentions her decease as happening before


s: others, terms him. v. 122.  The second.]  Henry Vl. son of


s: Frederick I was the second emperor of the house of Saab; and his


s: Neseit utro potius ruat, et ruere ardet utroque.


s: Edit. Bip.  "The Creator, when he had framed the universe,


s: distributed to the stars an equal number of souls, appointing to


s: v. 34.  The first circle.]  The empyrean.


s: Raphael, the sociable spirit, that deign'd


s: His marriage with the sev'n times wedded maid,


s: v. 67.  That to the eye of man.]  "That the ways of divine


s: justice are often inscrutable to man, ought rather to be a motive


s: most satisfactory explanation of the passage.


s: v. 82.  Laurence.]  Who suffered martyrdom in the third century.


s: Natus, erit facto pius et sceleratus eodem.


s: v. 107.  Of will.]  "What Piccarda asserts of Constance, that she


s: and without relation to circumstances; and that which I affirm is


s: apparent difference is without any disagreement."


s: v. 119.  That truth.]  The light of divine truth.


s: v. 43.  Two things.]  The one, the substance of the vow; the


s: v. 48.  It was enjoin'd the Israelites.]  See Lev. e. xii, and


s: v. 86.  That region.]  As some explain it, the east, according to


s: v. 124.  This sphere.]  The planet Mercury, which, being nearest


s: to the sun, is oftenest hidden by that luminary


s: v. 1.  After that Constantine the eagle turn'd.]  Constantine,


s: in transferring the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium,


s: carried the eagle, the Imperial ensign, from the west to the


s: east. Aeneas, on the contrary had moved along with the sun's


s: course, when he passed from Troy to Italy.


s: v. 5.  A hundred years twice told and more.]  The Emperor


s: Constantine entered Byzantium in 324, and Justinian began his


s: v. 6.  At Europe's extreme point.]  Constantinople being situated


s: in the neighbourhood of Troy, from whence the first founders of


s: v. 13.  To clear th' incumber'd laws.]  The code of laws was


s: v. 15.  Christ's nature merely human.]  Justinian is said to have


s: taught that in Christ there was but one nature, viz. that of the


s: Maclaine's Mosheim, t. ii.  Cent.  v. p. ii. c. v. 13.


s: v. 16.  Agapete.]  Agapetus, Bishop of Rome, whose Scheda Regia,


s: addressed to the Emperor Justinian, procured him a place among


s: the wisest and most judicious writers of this century."


s: v. 33.  Who pretend its power.]  The Ghibellines.


s: v. 34.  Pallas died.]  See Virgil, Aen.  1. X.


s: v. 39.  The rival three.]  The Horatii and Curiatii.


s: v. 41.  Down.]  "From the rape of the Sabine women to the


s: v. 50.  Arab hordes.]  The Arabians seem to be put for the


s: v. 54.  That hill.]  The city of Fesulae, which was sacked by the


s: v. 56.  Near the hour.]  Near the time of our Saviour's birth.


s: v. 59.  What then it wrought.]  In the following fifteen lines


s: the Poet has comprised the exploits of Julius Caesar.


s: v. 75.  In its next bearer's gripe.] With Augustus Caesar.


s: v. 89.  The third Caesar.]  "Tiberius the third of the Caesars,


s: had it in his power to surpass the glory of all who either


s: preceded or came after him, by destroying the city of .Jerusalem,


s: v. 95.  Vengeance for vengeance ]  This will be afterwards


s: v. 98.  Charlemagne.]  Dante could not be ignorant that the reign


s: spirit of the former emperor is represented, both in this


s: instance and in what follows, as conscious of the events that had


s: v. 104.  The yellow lilies.]  The French ensign.


s: v. 110.  Charles.]  The commentators explain this to mean Charles


s: v. 131.  Romeo's light.]  The story of Romeo is involved in some


s: uncertainty.  The French writers assert the continuance of his


s: ministerial office even after the decease of his soverign


s: Raymond Berenger, count of Provence: and they rest this assertion


s: the contemporary of that prince, having left large possessions


s: behind him, as appears by his will, preserved in the archives of


s: the bishopric of Venice.  There might however have been more than


s: of Palmer in our language.  Nor is it probable that the Italians,


s: such notoriety. According to them, after he had long been a


s: faithful steward to Raymond, when an account was required from


s: him of the revenues whichhe had carefully husbanded, and his


s: master as lavishly disbursed, "He demanded the little mule, the


s: staff, and the scrip, with which he had first entered into the


s: count's service, a stranger pilgrim from the shrine of St. James


s: in Galicia, and parted as he came; nor was it ever known whence


s: he was or wither he went." G. Villani, 1.  vi.  c. 92.


s: v. 135.  Four daughters.]  Of the four daughters of Raymond


s: Berenger, Margaret, the eldest, was married to Louis IX of


s: France; Eleanor; the next, to Henry III, of England; Sancha, the


s: third, to Richard, Henry's brother, and King of the Romans; and


s: the youngest, Beatrice, to Charles I, King of Naples and Sicily,


s: v. 136.  Raymond Berenger.]  This prince, the last of the house


s: of Barcelona, who was count of Provence, died in 1245.  He is in


s: the list of Provencal poets.  See Millot, Hist, Litt des


s: v. 3.  Malahoth.]  A Hebrew word, signifying "kingdoms."


s: v.  4.  That substance bright.]  Justinian.


s: v. 17.  As might have made one blest amid the flames.]


s: So Giusto de' Conti, Bella Mano. "Qual salamandra."


s: v. 23.  That man who was unborn.]  Adam.


s: v. 61.  What distils.]  "That which proceeds immediately from


s: God, and without intervention of secondary causes, in immortal."


s: v. 140.  Our resurrection certain.]  "Venturi appears to mistake


s: the Poet's reasoning, when he observes:  "Wretched for us, if we


s: had not arguments more convincing, and of a higher kind, to


s: assure us of the truth of our resurrection."  It is here


s: intended, I think, that the whole of God's dispensations to man


s: should be considered as a proof of our resurrection.  The


s: conclusion is that as before sin man was immortal,


s: so being restored to the favor of heaven by the expiation made


s: for sin, he necessarily recovers his claim to immortality.


s: There is much in this poem to justify the encomium which the


s: learned Salvini has passed on it, when, in an epistle to Redi,


s: imitating what Horace had said of Homer, that the duties of life


s: might be better learnt from the Grecian bard than from the


s: teachers of the porch or the academy, he says--


s: And dost thou ask, what themes my mind engage?


s: The lonely hours I give to Dante's page;


s: And meet more sacred learning in his lines


s: Than I had gain'd from all the school divines.


s: Studiando io sto lungi da tutti gli nomini


s: v. 4.  Epicycle,]  "In sul dosso di questo cerchio," &c.


s: "Upon the back of this circle, in the heaven of Venus, whereof we


s: revolution of its own: whose circle the astronomers term


s: v. 40.  'O ye whose intellectual ministry.]


s: Voi ch' intendendo il terzo ciel movete. The first line in our


s: Poet" first canzone.  See his Convito, Ibid. p. 40.


s: v. 53.  had the time been more.]  The spirit now speaking is


s: dominions dying in his father's lifetime, he did not succeed.


s: v. 57.  Thou lov'dst me well.]  Charles Martel might have been


s: known to our poet at Florence whither he came to meet his father


s: in 1295, the year of his death.  The retinue and the habiliments


s: of the young monarch are minutely described by G. Villani, who


s: adds, that "he remained more than twenty days in Florence,


s: waiting for his father King Charles and his brothers during which


s: no less love towards them, and he was much in favour with all."


s: v. 73.  The beautiful Trinaeria.]  Sicily, so called from its


s: three promontories, of which Pachynus and Pelorus, here


s: v. 14 'Typhaeus.]  The giant whom Jupiter is fabled to have


s: under the mountain Aetna from whence he vomits forth smoke and


s: v. 77.  Sprang through me from Charles and Rodolph.]  "Sicily


s: would be still ruled by a race of monarchs, descended through me


s: from Charles I and Rodolph I the former my grandfather king of


s: Naples and Sicily; the latter emperor of Germany, my


s: father-in-law; "both celebrated in the Purgatory Canto, Vll.


s: v. 78.  Had not ill lording.]  "If the ill conduct of our


s: governors in Sicily had not excited the resentment and hatred of


s: the people and stimulated them to that dreadful massacre at the


s: Sicilian vespers;" in consequence of which the kingdom fell into


s: v. 81.  My brother's foresight.]  He seems to tax his brother


s: Robert with employing necessitous and greedy Catalonians to


s: v. 99.  How bitter can spring up.]  "How a covetous son can


s: spring from a liberal father."  Yet that father has himself been


s: accused of avarice in the Purgatory Canto XX. v. 78; though his


s: general character was that of a bounteous prince.


s: v. 125.  Consult your teacher.]  Aristole.  [GREEK HERE]


s: De Rep. 1. iii. c. 4. "Since a state is made up of members


s: differing from one another, (for even as an animal, in the first


s: instance, consists of soul and body, and the soul, of reason and


s: desire; and a family, of man and woman, and property of master


s: and slave; in like manner a state consists both of all these and


s: besides these of other dissimilar kinds,)  it necessarily follows


s: v. 137.  Quirinus.]  Romulus, born of so obscure a father, that


s: v. 2.  O fair Clemenza.] Daughter of Charles Martel, and second


s: v. 2.  The treachery.]  He alludes to the occupation of the


s: kingdom of Sicily by Robert, in exclusion of his brother s son


s: Carobert, or Charles. Robert, the rightful heir.  See G. Villani,


s: v. 7.  That saintly light.]  Charles Martel.


s: v. 25.  In that part.]  Between Rialto and the Venetian


s: territory, and the sources of the rivers Brenta and Piava is


s: situated a castle called Romano, the birth-place of the famous


s: tyrant Ezzolino or Azzolino, the brother of Cunizza, who is now


s: speaking. The tyrant we have seen in "the river of blood."  Hell,


s: v. 32.  Cunizza.]  The adventures of Cunizza, overcome by the


s: influence of her star, are related by the chronicler Rolandino of


s: She eloped from her first husband, Richard of St. Boniface, in


s: the company of Sordello, (see Purgatory, Canto VI. and VII.  )


s: with whom she is supposed to have cohabited before her marriage:


s: then lived with a soldier of Trevigi, whose wife was living at


s: the same time in the same city, and on his being murdered by her


s: brother the tyrant, was by her brother married to a nobleman of


s: Braganzo, lastly when he also had fallen by the same hand  she,


s: after her brother's death, was again wedded in Verona.


s: v. 37.  This.]  Folco of Genoa, a celebrated Provencal poet,


s: commonly termed Folques of Marseilles, of which place he was


s: perhaps bishop. Many errors of Nostradamus, regarding him, which


s: have been followed by Crescimbeni, Quadrio, and Millot, are


s: detected by the diligence of Tiraboschi.  Mr. Matthias's ed.  v.


s: Canto, that he was of Genoa, and by Petrarch in the Triumph of


s: Love, c. iv.  that he was better known by the appellation he


s: derived from Marseilles, and at last resumed the religious habit.


s: v. 40.  Five times.]  The five hundred years are elapsed: and


s: unless the Provencal MSS. should be brought to light the poetical


s: v. 43 The crowd.]  The people who inhabited the tract of country


s: bounded by the river Tagliamento to the east, and Adice to the


s: v. 45.  The hour is near.]  Cunizza foretells the defeat of


s: v. 48.  One.]  She predicts also the fate of Ricciardo da Camino,


s: (Sile and Cagnano meet) while he was engaged in playing at chess.


s: v. 50.  The web.]  The net or snare into, which he is destined to


s: v. 50.  Feltro.]  The Bishop of Felto having received a number of


s: were reconducted to that city, and the greater part of them there


s: v. 53.  Malta's.]  A tower, either in the citadel of Padua, which


s: midnight murder fed," or (as some say) near a river of the same


s: name, that falls into the lake of Bolsena, in which the Pope was


s: accustomed to imprison such as had been guilty of an irremissible


s: v. 56 This priest.]  The bishop, who, to show himself a zealous


s: partisan of the Pope, had committed the above-mentioned act of


s: v. 58.  We descry.]  "We behold the things that we predict, in


s: v. 76.  Six shadowing wings.]  "Above it stood the seraphims:


s: each one had six wings." Isaiah, c. vi.  2.


s: v. 80.  The valley of waters.]  The Mediterranean sea.


s: v. 82.  Discordant shores.]  Europe and Africa.


s: v. 83.  Meridian.]  Extending to the east, the Mediterranean at


s: last reaches the coast of Palestine, which is on its horizon when


s: Vellutello, "there he has, above his head, his own particular


s: Eora, a river to the west, and Macra, to the east of Genoa, where


s: v. 88.  Begga.]  A place in Africa, nearly opposite to Genoa.


s: v. 89.  Whose haven.]  Alluding to the terrible slaughter of the


s: Genoese made by the Saracens in 936, for which event Vellutello


s: refers to the history of Augustino Giustiniani.


s: v. 91.  This heav'n.]  The planet Venus.


s: v. 120.  With either palm.]  "By the crucifixion of Christ"


s: v. 126.  The cursed flower.]  The coin of Florence, called the


s: v. 130.  The decretals.]  The canon law.


s: v. 134.  The Vatican.]  He alludes either to the death of Pope


s: Boniface VIII. or, as Venturi supposes, to the coming of the


s: Emperor Henry VII. into Italy, or else, according to the yet more


s: from Rome to Avignon, which took place in the pontificate of


s: v. 7.  The point.]  "To that part of heaven," as Venturi explains


s: each other, where the common motion of the heavens from east to


s: west may be said to strike with greatest force against the motion


s: utmost by their respective distance from the poles. Such at least


s: v. 25.  The part.]  The above-mentioned intersection of the


s: v. 30.  Where.]  In which the sun rises every day earlier after


s: v. 45.  Fourth family.]  The inhabitants of the sun, the fourth


s: v. 46.  Of his spirit and of his offspring.]  The procession of


s: the third, and the generation of the second person in the


s: v. 70.  Such was the song.]  "The song of these spirits was


s: v. 86.  No less constrained.]  "The rivers might as easily cease


s: to flow towards the sea, as we could deny thee thy request."


s: v. 91.  I then.]  "I was of the Dominican order."


s: v. 95.  Albert of Cologne.]  Albertus Magnus was born at


s: Laugingen, in Thuringia, in 1193, and studied at Paris and at


s: Padua, at the latter of which places he entered into the


s: Dominican order.  He then taught theology in various parts of


s: Germany, and particularly at Cologne. Thomas Aquinas was his


s: favourite pupil.  In 1260, he reluctantly accepted


s: the bishopric of Ratisbon, and in two years after resigned it,


s: and returned to his cell in Cologne, where the remainder of his


s: life was passed in superintending the school, and in composing


s: his voluminous works on divinity and natural science.  He died in


s: art is well known; and his biographers take some pains to clear


s: v. 96.  Of Aquinum, Thomas.]  Thomas Aquinas, of whom Bucer is


s: reported to have said, "Take but Thomas away, and I will overturn


s: the school divines," (Eccl. Pol. b. 3.  9), was born of noble


s: parents, who anxiously, but vainly, endeavoured to divert him


s: from a life of celibacy and study; and died in 1274, at the age


s: of fourty-seven. Echard and Quetif, ibid. p. 271. See also


s: v. 101.  Gratian.]  "Gratian, a Benedictine monk belonging to the


s: Tuscan, composed, about the year 1130, for the use of the


s: schools, an abridgment or epitome of canon law, drawn from the


s: letters of the pontiffs, the decrees of councils, and the


s: v. 101.  To either forum.]  "By reconciling," as Venturi explains


s: v. 104.  Peter.]  "Pietro Lombardo was of obscure origin, nor is


s: the place of his birth in Lombardy ascertained.  With a


s: recommendation from the bishop of Lucca to St. Bernard, he went


s: into France to continue his studies, and for that purpose


s: remained some time at Rheims, whence he afterwards proceeded to


s: Paris.  Here his reputation was so great that Philip, brother of


s: Louis VII., being chosen bishop of Paris, resigned that dignity


s: to Pietro, whose pupil he had been. He held his bishopric


s: only one year, and died in 1160.  His Liber Sententiarum is


s: highly esteemed.  It contains a system of scholastic theology, so


s: be deemed an original work."  Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett.


s: v. 104.  Who with the widow gave.]  This alludes to the beginning


s: penuria ac tenuitate nostra cum paupercula in gazophylacium


s: v. 112.  That taper's radiance.]  St. Dionysius the Areopagite.


s: "The famous Grecian fanatic, who gave himself out for Dionysius


s: the Areopagite, disciple of St. Paul, and who, under the


s: protection of this venerable name, gave laws and instructions to


s: those that were desirous of raising their souls above all human


s: things in order to unite them to their great source by sublime


s: contemplation, lived most probably in this century (the fourth),


s: though some place him before, others after, the present period."


s: v. 116.  That pleader.]  1n the fifth century, Paulus Orosius,


s: "acquired a considerable degree of reputation by the History he


s: wrote to refute the cavils of the Pagans against Christianity,


s: and by his books against the Pelagians and Priscillianists."


s: Ibid.  v. ii. cent. v. p. 2.  c. 2. 11.  A similar train of


s: argument was pursued by  Augustine, in his book De Civitate Dei.


s: Orosius is classed by Dante, in his treatise De Vulg. Eloq.  I ii


s: altissimas prosas,"--" who have written prose with the greatest


s: v. 119.  The eighth.]  Boetius, whose book De Consolatione


s: Philosophiae excited so much attention during the middle ages,


s: was born, as  Tiraboschi conjectures, about 470.  "In 524 he was


s: cruelly put to death by command of Theodoric, either on real or


s: pretended suspicion of his being engaged in a conspiracy." Della


s: v. 124.  Cieldauro.]  Boetius was buried at Pavia, in the


s: v. 126.  Isidore.]  He was Archbishop of Seville during forty


s: years, and died in 635.  See Mariana, Hist. 1.  vi. c. 7.


s: Mosheim, whose critical opinions in general must be taken with


s: some allowance, observes that "his grammatical theological, and


s: historical productions, discover more learning and pedantry, than


s: v. 127.  Bede.]  Bede, whose virtues obtained him the appellation


s: Sergius I., he preferred passing almost the whole of his life in


s: the seclusion of a monastery.  A catalogue of his numerous


s: writings may be seen in Kippis's Biographia Britannica, v. ii.


s: v. 127.  Richard.]  Richard of St. Victor, a native either of


s: Scotland or Ireland, was canon and prior of the monastery of that


s: Mystics in this century and his treatise, entitled the Mystical


s: Ark, which contains as it were the marrow of this kind of


s: theology, was received with the greatest avidity."  Maclaine's


s: v. 132.  Sigebert.]  "A monk of the abbey of Gemblours who was in


s: v. 131.  The straw-litter'd street.]  The name of a street in


s: v. 136.  The spouse of God.]  The church.


s: O miseras hominum mentes ! O pectora caeca


s: Qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis


s: v. 4.  Aphorisms,]  The study of medicine.


s: v. 17.  'The lustre.]  The spirit of Thomas Aquinas


s: v. 40.  Tupino.]  A rivulet near Assisi, or Ascesi where Francis


s: v. 40.  The wave.]  Chiascio, a stream that rises in a mountain


s: near Agobbio, chosen by St. Ubaldo for the place of his


s: v. 42.  Heat and cold.]  Cold from the snow, and heat from the


s: v. 45.  Yoke.]  Vellutello understands this of the vicinity of


s: the mountain to Nocera and Gualdo; and Venturi (as I have taken


s: it) of the heavy impositions laid on those places by the


s: Perugians. For GIOGO, like the Latin JUGUM, will admit of either


s: This is the east, and Juliet is the sun.


s: v. 55.  Gainst his father's will.]  In opposition to the wishes


s: v. 58.  In his father's sight.]  The spiritual father, or bishop,


s: v. 63.  Amyclas.]  Lucan makes Caesar exclaim, on witnessing the


s: secure poverty of the fisherman Amyclas:


s: Pauperis, angustique lares!  O munera nondum


s: Intellecta deum!  quibus hoc contingere templis,


s: Aut potuit muris, nullo trepidare tumultu,


s: v. 72.  Bernard.]  One of the first followers of the saint.


s: v. 76.  Egidius.]  The third of his disciples, who died in 1262.


s: His work, entitled Verba Aurea, was published in 1534, at Antwerp


s: v. 76.  Sylvester.]  Another of his earliest associates.


s: v. 83.  Pietro Bernardone.]  A man in an humble station of life


s: v. 90.  Honorius.]  His successor Honorius III who granted


s: v. 93.  On the hard rock.]  The mountain Alverna in the Apennine.


s: v. 100.  The last signet.]  Alluding to the stigmata, or marks


s: resembling the wounds of Christ, said to have been found on the


s: v. 127.  The planet from whence they split.]  "The rule of their


s: order, which the Dominicans neglect to observe."


s: v. 1.  The blessed flame.]  Thomas Aquinas


s: v. 12.  That voice.]  The nymph Echo, transformed into the


s: v. 25.  One.]  Saint Buonaventura, general of the Franciscan


s: order, in which he effected some reformation, and one of the most


s: York, which was offered him by Clement IV, but afterwards was


s: prevailed on to accept the bishopric of Albano and a cardinal's


s: hat.  He was born at Bagnoregio or Bagnorea, in Tuscany, A.D.


s: v. 28.  The love.]  By an act of mutual courtesy, Buonaventura,


s: a Franciscan, is made to proclaim the praises of St. Dominic,


s: as Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican, has celebrated those of St.


s: v. 51.  The loving minion of the Christian faith.]  Dominic was


s: born April 5, 1170, and died August 6, 1221.  His birthplace,


s: Callaroga; his father and mother's names, Felix and Joanna, his


s: mother's dream; his name of Dominic, given him in consequence of


s: a vision by a noble matron, who stood sponsor to him, are all


s: told in an anonymous life of the saint, said to be written in the


s: Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum.  Par.  1719. fol. t 1.  p. 25.


s: These writers deny his having been an inquisitor, and indeed the


s: establishment of the inquisition itself before the fourth Lateran


s: v. 55.  In the mother's womb.]  His mother, when pregnant with


s: him, is said to have dreamt that she should bring forth a white


s: and black dog, with a lighted torch in its mouth.


s: v. 59.  The dame.]  His godmother's dream was, that he had one


s: star in his forehead, and another in the nape of his neck, from


s: which he communicated light to the east and the west.


s: v. 75.  As men interpret it.]  Grace or gift of the Lord.


s: v. 77.  Ostiense.]  A cardinal, who explained the decretals.


s: v. 77.  Taddeo.]  A physician, of Florence.


s: v. 82.  The see.]  "The apostolic see, which no longer continues


s: its wonted liberality towards the indigent and deserving; not


s: indeed  through its own fault, as its doctrines are still the


s: same, but through the fault of the pontiff, who is seated in it."


s: v. 85.  No dispensation.]  Dominic did not ask license to


s: compound for the use of unjust acquisitions, by dedicating a part


s: v. 89.  In favour of that seed.]  "For that seed of the divine


s: word, from which have sprung up these four-and-twenty plants,


s: v. 101.  But the track.]  "But the rule of St. Francis is already


s: v. 110.  Tares.]  He adverts to the parable of the taxes and the


s: v. 111.  I question not.]  "Some indeed might be found, who still


s: Casale nor Acquasparta:" of the former of which places was


s: Uberto, one master general, by whom the discipline had been


s: relaxed; and of the latter, Matteo, another, who had enforced it


s: Two among the earliest followers of St. Francis.


s: v. 125.  Hugues of St. Victor.]  A Saxon of the monastery of


s: forty-four.  "A man distinguished by the fecundity of his genius,


s: profane erudition that were known in his time, and who composed


s: several dissertations that are not destitute of merit."


s: I have looked into his writings, and found some reason for


s: born at Troyes, was canon and dean of that church, and afterwards


s: benefices to become a regular canon of St. Victor at Paris, where


s: Scolastica, which I shall have occasion to cite in the Notes to


s: v. 126.  He of Spain.]  "To Pope Adrian V succeeded John XXI a


s: native of Lisbon a man of great genius and extraordinary


s: acquirements, especially in logic and in medicine, as his books,


s: written in the name of Peter of Spain (by which he was known


s: before he became Pope), may testify.  His life was not much


s: longer than that of his predecessors, for he was killed at


s: Viterbo, by the falling in of the roof of his chamber, after he


s: had been pontiff only eight months and as many days.


s: v. 128.  Chrysostom.]  The eloquent patriarch of Constantinople.


s: v. 128.  Anselmo.]  "Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born


s: at Aosta, about 1034, and studied under Lanfrane at the monastery


s: religious life, in his twenty-seventh year.  In three years he


s: was made prior, and then abbot of that monastery!  from whence he


s: the death of Lanfrane. He enjoyed this dignity till his death, in


s: dissentions with William II and Henry I respecting the immunities


s: theological  works." Tiraboschi, Stor.  della Lett. Ital. t. iii.


s: modern writers, that the demonstration of the existence of God,


s: taken from the idea of a Supreme Being, of which Des Cartes is


s: thought to be the author, was so many ages back discovered and


s: brought to light by Anselm.  Leibnitz himself makes


s: v. 129.  Donatus.]  Aelius Donatus, the grammarian, in the fourth


s: deservedly placed at the head of the Latin writers of this age."


s: v. 131.  Joachim.]  Abbot of Flora in Calabria; "whom the


s: multitude revered as a person divinely inspired and equal to the


s: most illustrious prophets of ancient times."  Ibid.  v. iii.


s: v. 1.  Let him.]  "Whoever would conceive the sight that now


s: presented itself to me, must imagine to himself fifteen of the


s: brightest stars in heaven, together with seven stars of Arcturus


s: Major and two of Arcturus Minor, ranged in two circles, one


s: within the other, each resembling the crown of Ariadne, and


s: v. 21.  The Chiava.]  See Hell, Canto XXIX. 45.


s: v. 29.  That luminary.]  Thomas Aquinas.


s: v. 31.  One ear.]  "Having solved one of thy questions, I proceed


s: were both endued with all the perfection of which the human


s: nature is capable and therefore wonderest at what has been said


s: v. 48.  That.]  "Things corruptible and incorruptible, are only


s: emanations from the archetypal idea residing in the Divine mind."


s: v. 52.  His brightness.]  The Word: the Son of God.


s: v. 53.  His love triune with them.]  The Holy Ghost.


s: v. 55.  New existences.]  Angels and human souls.


s: v. 57.  The lowest powers.]  Irrational life and brute matter.


s: v. 62.  Their wax and that which moulds it.]  Matter, and the


s: v. 68.  The heav'n.]  The influence of the planetary bodies.


s: v. 88.  Who ask'd.]  "He did not desire to know the number of the


s: mathematical science: but asked for that wisdom which might fit


s: For the singular opinions entertained by the two former of these


s: heathen philosophers, see Diogenes Laertius, 1. ix. and Aristot.


s: de Caelo, 1. iii. c. 1 and Phys. l. i. c. 2. The last is also


s: twice adduced by 2. Aristotle (Anal Post. 1. i. c. 9. and Rhet.


s: v. 123.  Sabellius, Arius.]  Well-known heretics.


s: v. 124.  Scymitars.] A passage in the travels of


s: Bertradon de la Brocquiere, translated by Mr. Johnes, will


s: allusion, which has given some trouble to the commentators.  That


s: wandering Arabs used their scymitars as mirrors.


s: v. 126.  Let not.]  "Let not short-sighted mortals presume to


s: decide on the future doom of any man, from a consideration of his


s: v. 5.  Such was the image.]  The voice of Thomas Aquinas


s: proceeding, from the circle to the centre and that of Beatrice


s: v. 26.  Him.]  Literally translated by Chaucer, Troilus and


s: Uncircumscript, and all maist circonscrive,


s: v. 78.  To more lofty bliss.]  To the planet Mars.


s: v. 94.  The venerable sign.]  The cross.


s: v. 125.  He.]  "He who considers that the eyes of Beatrice became


s: not except even them as I had not yet beheld them since our


s: v. 84.  I am thy root.]  Cacciaguida, father to Alighieri, of


s: v. 93.  Which calls her still.]  The public clock being still


s: within the circuit of the ancient walls.


s: v. 98.  When.]  When the women were not married at too early an


s: age, and did not expect too large a portion.


s: v. 101.  Void.]  Through the civil wars.


s: v. 102 Sardanapalus.]  The luxurious monarch of Assyria Juvenal


s: is here imitated, who uses his name for an instance of


s: v. 103.  Montemalo ] Either an elevated spot between Rome and


s: Viterbo, or Monte Mario, the site of the villa Mellini,


s: v. 101.  Our suburban turret.]  Uccellatojo, near Florence, from


s: v. 103.  Bellincion Berti.]  Hell, Canto XVI. 38.  nd Notes.


s: There is a curious description of the simple manner in which the


s: earlier Florentines dressed themselves in G. Villani, 1 vi.  c.


s: v. 110.  Of Nerli and of Vecchio.]  Two of the most opulent


s: v. 113.  Each.]  "None fearful either of dying in banishment, or


s: of being deserted by her husband on a scheme of battle in France.


s: v. 120.  A Salterello and Cianghella.]  The latter a shameless


s: woman of the family of Tosa, married to Lito degli Alidosi of


s: Imola: the former Lapo Salterello, a lawyer, with whom Dante was


s: v. 125.  Mary.]  The Virgin was involved in the pains of


s: v. 130 Valdipado.]  Cacciaguida's wife, whose family name was


s: Aldighieri; came from Ferrara, called Val di Pado, from its being


s: v. 131.  Conrad.]  The Emperor Conrad III who died in 1152.


s: v. 136.  Whose people.] The Mahometans, who were left in


s: possession of the Holy Land, through the supineness of the Pope.


s: v. 10.  With greeting.]  The Poet, who had addressed the spirit,


s: not knowing him to be his ancestor, with a plain "Thou," now uses


s: introduced among the Romans in the latter times of the empire.


s: v. 15.  Guinever.]  Beatrice's smile encouraged him to proceed


s: just as the cough of Ginevra's female servant gave her mistress


s: assurance to admit the freedoms of Lancelot.  See Hell, Canto V.


s: v. 23.  The fold.]  Florence, of which John the Baptist was the


s: v. 31.  From the day.]  From the Incarnation to the birth of


s: Cacciaguida, the planet Mars had returned five hundred and


s: fifty-three times to the constellation of Leo, with which it is


s: supposed to have a congenial influence.  His birth may,


s: v. 38.  The last.]  The city was divided into four compartments.


s: The Elisei, the ancestors of Dante, resided near the entrance of


s: that named from the Porta S. Piero, which was the last reached by


s: v. 44.  From Mars.]  "Both in the times of heathenish and of


s: v. 48.  Campi and Certaldo and Fighine.]  Country places near


s: v. 50.  That these people.]  That the inhabitants of the above-


s: mentioned places had not been mixed with the citizens: nor the


s: limits of Florence extended beyond Galluzzo and Trespiano."


s: v. 54.  Aguglione's hind and Signa's.]  Baldo of Aguglione, and


s: v. 56.  Had not the people.]  If Rome had continued in her


s: allegiance to the emperor, and the Guelph and Ghibelline factions


s: v. 61.  Simifonte.]  A castle dismantled by the Florentines.  G.


s: Villani, 1. v. c. 30.  The individual here alluded to is no


s: v. 69.  The blind bull.]  So Chaucer, Troilus and Cresseide. b.


s: For swifter course cometh thing that is of wight


s: When it descendeth than done things light.


s: Compare Aristotle, Ethic.  Nic. l. vi.  c. 13.  [GREEK HERE]


s: v. 72.  Luni, Urbisaglia.]  Cities formerly of importance, but


s: v. 74.  Chiusi and Sinigaglia.]  The same.


s: v. 80.  As the moon.]  "The fortune of us, that are the moon's


s: men doth ebb and flow like the sea."  Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV.


s: v. 86.  The Ughi.]  Whoever is curious to know the habitations of


s: v. 91.  At the poop.]  Many editions read porta, "gate." -The


s: same metaphor is found in Aeschylus, Supp. 356, and is there also


s: v. 99.  The gilded hilt and pommel.]  The symbols of knighthood


s: v. 100.  The column cloth'd with verrey.]  The arms of the Pigli.


s: v. 103.  With them.]  Either the Chiaramontesi, or the Tosinghi


s: one of which had committed a fraud in measuring out the wheat


s: v. 109.  The bullets of bright gold.]  The arms of the Abbati, as


s: v. 110.  The sires of those.]  "Of the Visdomini, the Tosinghi


s: and the Cortigiani, who, being sprung from the founders of the


s: bishopric of Florence are the curators of its revenues, which


s: they do not spare, whenever it becomes vacant."


s: v. 113.  Th' o'erweening brood.]  The Adimari.  This family was


s: so little esteemed, that Ubertino Donato, who had married a


s: daughter of Bellincion Berti, himself indeed derived from the


s: same stock (see Note to Hell Canto XVI. 38.) was offended with


s: his father-in-law, for giving another of his daughters in


s: v. 124.  The gateway.]  Landino refers this to the smallness of


s: the city: Vellutello, with less probability, to the simplicity of


s: v. 127.  The great baron.]  The Marchese Ugo, who resided at


s: Florence as lieutenant of the Emperor Otho III, gave many of the


s: chief families license to bear his arms.  See G. Villani, 1.  iv.


s: sold all his possessions in Germany, and founded seven abbeys, in


s: v. 130.  One.]  Giano della Bella, belonging to one of the


s: families thus distinguished, who no longer retained his place


s: among the nobility, and had yet added to his arms a bordure or.


s: See Macchiavelli, 1st.  Fior. 1. ii. p. 86.  Ediz.  Giolito.


s: Two families in the compartment of the city called Borgo.


s: v. 135.  The house.]  Of Amidei.  See Notes to Canto XXVIII. of


s: v. 142.  To Ema.]  "It had been well for the city, if thy


s: ancestor had been drowned in the Ema, when he crossed that stream


s: v. 144.  On that maim'd stone.]  See Hell, Canto XIII. 144. Near


s: the remains of the statue of Mars.  Buondelmonti was slain, as if


s: v. 150.  The lily.]  "The arms of Florence had never hung


s: reversed on the spear of her enemies, in token of her defeat; nor


s: v. 1.  The youth.]  Phaeton, who came to his mother Clymene, to


s: inquire of her if he were indeed the son of Apollo.  See Ovid,


s: v. 6.  That saintly lamp.]  Cacciaguida.


s: v. 12.  To own thy thirst.]  "That thou mayst obtain from others


s: a solution of any doubt that may occur to thee."


s: v. 15.  Thou seest as clear.]  "Thou beholdest future events,


s: with the same clearness of evidence, that we discern the simplest


s: v. 38.  Contingency.]  "The evidence with which we see the future


s: future than does the image, reflected in the sight by a ship


s: sailing down a stream, necessitate the motion of the vessel."


s: v. 43.  From thence.]  "From the eternal sight; the view of the


s: v. 49.  There.]  At Rome, where the expulsion of Dante's party


s: from Florence was then plotting, in 1300.


s: v. 65.  Theirs.]  "They shall be ashamed of the part they have


s: v. 69.  The great Lombard.]  Either Alberto della Scala, or


s: Bartolommeo his eldest son.  Their coat of arms was a ladder and


s: v. 75.  That mortal.]  Can Grande della Scala, born under the


s: influence of Mars, but at this time only nine years old


s: v. 80.  Great Harry.]  The Emperor Henry VII.


s: v. 127.  The cry thou raisest.]  "Thou shalt stigmatize the


s: faults of those who are most eminent and powerful."


s: v. 3.  Temp'ring the sweet with bitter.]


s: Chewing the end of sweet and bitter fancy.


s: v. 26.  On this fifth lodgment of the tree.]  Mars, the fifth ot


s: v. 37.  The great Maccabee.]  Judas Maccabeus.


s: v. 39.  Charlemagne.]  L. Pulci commends Dante for placing


s: v. 43.  William and Renard.]  Probably not, as the commentators


s: have imagined, William II of Orange, and his kinsman Raimbaud,


s: two of the crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon, (Maimbourg, Hist.


s: two more celebrated heroes in the age of Charlemagne.  The


s: former, William l. of Orange, supposed to have been the founder


s: of the present illustrious family of that name, died about 808,


s: according to Joseph de la Piser, Tableau de l'Hist. des Princes


s: et Principante d'Orange. Our countryman, Ordericus Vitalis,


s: professes to give his true life, which had been misrepresented in


s: authentica."  Eccl.  Hist.  in Duchesne, Hist.  Normann Script.


s: p.  508. The latter is better known by having been celebrated by


s: v. 46.  Robert Guiscard.]  See Hell, Canto XXVIII. v. 12.


s: v. 81.  The characters.]  Diligite justitiam qui judicatis


s: terrarm. "Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth "


s: v. 116.  That once more.]  "That he may again drive out those who


s: v. 124.  Taking the bread away.]  "Excommunication, or the


s: interdiction of the Eucharist, is now employed as a weapon of


s: v. 126.  That writest but to cancel.]  "And thou, Pope Boniface,


s: who writest thy ecclesiastical censures for no other purpose than


s: v. 130.  To him.]  The coin of Florence was stamped with the


s: v. 38.  Who turn'd his compass.]  Compare Proverbs, c. viii.  27.


s: v. 42.  The Word]  "The divine nature still remained


s: incomprehensible. Of this Lucifer was a proof; for had he


s: thoroughly comprehended it, he would not have fallen."


s: v. 116.  Prague.]  The eagle predicts the devastation of Bohemia


s: by Albert, which happened soon after this time, when that Emperor


s: v. 117.  He.]  Philip IV of France, after the battle of Courtrai,


s: the nominal value of the coin.  This king died in consequence of


s: v. 121.  The English and Scot.]  He adverts to the disputes


s: between John Baliol and Edward I, the latter of whom is commended


s: v. 122.  The Spaniard's luxury.]  The commentators refer this to


s: Alonzo X of Spain.  It seems probable that the allusion is to


s: Ferdinand IV who came to the crown in 1295, and died in 1312, at


s: the age of twenty four, in consequence, as it was supposed, of


s: v. 123.  The Bohemian.]  Winceslaus II.  Purgatory, Canto VII. v.


s: v. 125.  The halter of Jerusalem.]  Charles II of Naples and


s: Jerusalem who was lame.  See note to Purgatory, Canto VII.  v.


s: Purgatory, Canto VII.  v. 117.  The isle of fire is Sicily, where


s: v. 133.  His uncle.]  James, king of Majorca and Minorca, brother


s: v. 133.  His brother.]  James II of Arragon, who died in 1327.


s: v. 135.  Of Portugal.]  In the time of Dante, Dionysius was king


s: of Portugal.  He died in 1328, after a reign of near forty-six


s: years, and does not seem to have deserved the stigma here


s: fastened on him. See Mariana. and 1. xv. c. 18.  Perhaps the


s: rebellious son of Dionysius may be alluded to.


s: v. 136.  Norway.]  Haquin, king of Norway, is probably meant;


s: who, having given refuge to the murderers of Eric VII king of


s: Denmark, A D. 1288, commenced a war against his successor, Erie


s: VIII, "which continued for nine years, almost to the utter ruin


s: and destruction of both kingdoms."  Modern Univ. Hist. v. xxxii


s: One of the dynasty of the house of Nemagna, which ruled the


s: kingdom of Rassia, or Ratza, in Sclavonia, from 1161 to 1371, and


s: Ediz. Pesaro. 1601. Uladislaus appears to have been the sovereign


s: text, is not recorded by the historian v. 138.  Hungary.]  The


s: kingdom of Hungary was about this time disputed by Carobert, son


s: of Charles Martel, and Winceslaus, prince of Bohemia, son of


s: Winceslaus II.  See Coxe's House of Austria, vol. i. p. 1. p. 86.


s: v. 140.  Navarre.]  Navarre was now under the yoke of France.


s: It soon after (in 1328) followed the advice of Dante and had a


s: monarch of its own.  Mariana, 1.  xv. c. 19.


s: v. 141.  Mountainous girdle.]  The Pyrenees.


s: Cities in the kingdom of Cyprus, at that time ruled by Henry II a


s: cities of their weak and worthless governor, may be regarded as


s: an earnest of his condemnation at the last doom.


s: v. 6.  Wherein one shines.]  The light of the sun, whence he


s: supposes the other celestial bodies to derive their light


s: v. 8.  The great sign.]  The eagle, the Imperial ensign.


s: v. 50.  'The other following.]  Constantine.  There is no passage


s: mixture of the civil with the ecclesiastical power, is more


s: v. 57.  William.]  William II, king of Sicily, at the latter part


s: and obtained the appellation of "the Good" and, as the poet says


s: his loss was as much the subject of regret in his dominions, as


s: the presence of Charles I of Anjou and Frederick of Arragon, was


s: Qui fuit in Teneris, et servantissimus aequi.


s: v. 103.  The prayers,] The prayers of St. Gregory


s: v. 119.  The three nymphs.]  Faith, Hope, and Charity. Purgatory,


s: v. 138.  The pair.]  Ripheus and Trajan.


s: v. 12.  The seventh splendour.]  The planet Saturn


s: v. 13.  The burning lion's breast.]  The constellation Leo.


s: v. 21.  In equal balance.]  "My pleasure was as great in


s: with her will as in beholding her countenance."


s: v. 24.  Of that lov'd monarch.]  Saturn.  Compare Hell, Canto


s: v. 56.  What forbade the smile.]  "Because it would have overcome


s: v. 61.  There aloft.]  Where the other souls were.


s: v. 112.  Pietro Damiano.]  "S. Pietro Damiano obtained a great


s: and well-merited reputation, by the pains he took to correct the


s: abuses among the clergy.  Ravenna is supposed to have been the


s: place of his birth, about 1007.  He was employed in several


s: important missions, and rewarded by Stephen IX with the dignity


s: of cardinal, and the bishopric of Ostia, to which, however, he


s: preferred his former retreat in the monastery of Fonte Aveliana,


s: and prevailed on Alexander II to permit him to retire thither.


s: Yet he did not long continue in this seclusion, before he was


s: sent on other embassies.  He died at Faenza in 1072.  His


s: letters throw much light on the obscure history of these times.


s: Besides them, he has left several treatises on sacred and


s: ecclesiastical subjects. His eloquence is worthy of a better


s: age."  Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett Ital. t. iii.  1. iv. c. 2.


s: v. 114.  Beside the Adriatic.]  At Ravenna.  Some editions have


s: FU instead of FUI, according to which reading, Pietro


s: distinguishes  himself from another Pietro, who was termed


s: v. 119 The Holy Spirit's vessel.]  St. Paul. See Hell, Canto II.


s: v. 130.  Round this.]  Round the spirit of Pietro Damiano.


s: v. 14.  The vengeance.]  Beatrice, it is supposed, intimates the


s: approaching fate of Boniface VIII.  See Purgatory, Canto XX.  86.


s: v. 36.  Cassino.]  A castle in the Terra di Lavoro.


s: v. 38.  I it was.]  "A new order of monks, which in a manner


s: absorbed all the others that were established in the west, was


s: instituted, A.D.  529, by Benedict of Nursis, a man of piety and


s: reputation for the age he  lived in."  Maclaine's Mosheim,


s: v. 48.  Macarius.]  There are two of this name enumerated by


s: Mosheim among the Greek theologians of the fourth century, v. i.


s: cent. iv p. 11 ch. 2 - 9.  In the following chapter, 10, it is


s: displayed, some few things excepted, the brightest and most


s: lovely portraiture of sanctity and virtue."


s: v. 48.  Romoaldo.]  S. Romoaldo, a native of Ravenna, and the


s: founder of the order of Camaldoli, died in 1027.  He was the


s: The stairs were such, as whereon Jacob saw


s: v. 107.  The sign.]  The constellation of Gemini.


s: v. 130. This globe.]  So Chaucer, Troilus and Cresseide, b. v,


s: This little spot of earth, that with the sea


s: Compare Cicero, Somn. Scip.  "Jam ipsa terra ita mihi parva visa


s: v. 140.  Maia and Dione.]  The planets Mercury and Venus.


s: v. 11.  That region.]  Towards the south, where the course of the


s: v. 26.  Th' eternal nymphs.]  The stars.


s: v. 84.  Thou didst exalt thy glory.]  The diving light retired


s: upwards, to render the eyes of Dante more capable of enduring the


s: v. 86.  The name of that fair flower.]  The name of the Virgin.


s: v. 98.  That lyre.]  By synecdoche, the lyre is put for the angel


s: v. 99.  The goodliest sapphire.]  The Virgin


s: v. 126.  Those rich-laden coffers.]  Those spirits who, having


s: sown the seed of good works on earth, now contain the fruit of


s: v. 129.  In the Babylonian exile.]  During their abode in this


s: v. 133.  He.]  St. Peter, with the other holy men of the Old and


s: v. 28.  Such folds.]  Pindar has the same bold image:


s: On which Hayne strangely remarks:  Ad ambitus stropharum vldetur


s: v. 82.  Current.]  "The answer thou hast made is right; but let


s: me know if thy inward persuasion is conformable to thy


s: v. 91.  The ancient bond and new.]  The Old and New Testament.


s: In the next Canto, St. James is called "Barone."  So in


s: Boccaccio, G. vi. N. 10, we find "Baron Messer Santo Antonio."


s: v. 124.  As to outstrip.]  Venturi insists that the Poet has


s: here, "made a slip;" for that John came first to the sepulchre,


s: though Peter was the first to enter it.  But let Dante have leave


s: Monarchia:  "Dicit etiam Johannes ipsum (scilicet Petrum)


s: introiisse SUBITO, cum venit in monumentum, videns allum


s: discipulum cunctantem ad ostium." Opere de Dante, Ven. 1793. T.


s: v. 6.  The fair sheep-fold.]  Florence, whence he was banished.


s: v. 13.  For its sake.]  For the sake of that faith.


s: v. 20.  Galicia throng'd with visitants.] See Mariana, Hist. 1.


s: v. 13.  "En el tiempo," &c.  "At the time that the sepulchre of


s: the apostle St. James was discovered, the devotion for that place


s: foreign nations. Multitudes from all parts of the world came to


s: visit it.  Many others were deterred by the difficulty for the


s: journey, by the roughness and barrenness of those parts, and by


s: the incursions of the Moors, who made captives many of the


s: pilgrims.  The canons of St. Eloy afterwards (the precise time is


s: many places, along the whole read, which reached as far as to


s: France, hospitals for the reception of the pilgrims."


s: v. 31.  Who.]  The Epistle of St. James is here attributed to the


s: Galicia.  Which of the two was the author of it is yet doubtful.


s: The learned and candid Michaelis contends very forcibly for its


s: having been written by James the Elder.  Lardner rejects that


s: opinion as absurd; while Benson argues against it, but is well


s: answered by Michaelis, who after all, is obliged to leave the


s: question undecided.  See his Introduction to the New Testament,


s: translated by Dr. Marsh, ed.  Cambridge, 1793.  V. iv. c.  26.  -


s: v. 35.  As Jesus.]  In the transfiguration on Mount Tabor.


s: v. 40.  I lifted up.]  "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,


s: from whence cometh my help."  Ps.  Cxxi.  1.


s: v. 67.  Hope.]  This is from the Sentences of Petrus Lombardus.


s: "Est autem spes virtus, qua spiritualia et aeterna bona speratam,


s: sperare non spes, sed praesumptio, dici potest."  Pet. Lomb.


s: v. 94.  Thy brother.]  St. John in the Revelation, c. vii.  9.


s: v. 101.  Winter's month.]  "If a luminary, like that which now


s: appeared, were to shine throughout the month following the winter


s: east at the setting of the sun, there would be no interruption to


s: v. 112.  This.]  St. John, who reclined on the bosom of our


s: Saviour, and to whose charge Jesus recommended his mother.


s: v. 121.  So I.]  He looked so earnestly, to descry whether St.


s: John were present there in body, or in spirit only, having had


s: his doubts raised  by that saying of our Saviour's:  "If I will,


s: that he tarry till I come  what is that to thee."


s: v. 127.  The two.]  Christ and Mary, whom he has described, in


s: the last Canto but one, as rising above his sight


s: v. 13.  Ananias' hand.]  Who, by putting his hand on St. Paul,


s: v. 36.  From him.]  Some suppose that Plato is here meant, who,


s: in his Banquet, makes Phaedrus say:  "Love is confessedly amongst


s: of the greatest goods " Plat. Op. t. x. p. 177.  Bip.  ed. Others


s: goes by the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, referred to in the


s: v. 51.  The eagle of our Lord.]  St. John


s: v. 107.  Parhelion.]  Who enlightens and comprehends all things;


s: but is himself enlightened and comprehended by none.


s: v. 117.  Whence.]  That is, from Limbo.  See Hell, Canto II.  53.


s: of his deliverance, which followed the death of Christ.


s: v. 133.  EL]  Some read UN, "One," instead of EL:  but the latter


s: sonaverit, viro sanae mentis in promptu esse non dubito ipsum


s: fuisse quod Deus est, videlicet El."  St. Isidore in the


s: Origines, 1.  vii. c. 1. had said, "Primum apud Hebraeos Dei


s: v. 138.  All my life.]  "I remained in the terrestrial Paradise


s: only tothe seventh hour."  In the Historia Scolastica of Petrus


s: Comestor, it is said of our first parents:  Quidam tradunt eos


s: fuisse in Paradiso septem horae."  I. 9. ed. Par. 1513. 4to.


s: v.  1.  Four torches.]  St. Peter, St. James, St. John, and Adam.


s: v. 11.  That.]  St. Peter' who looked as the planet Jupiter


s: would, if it assumed the sanguine appearance of liars.


s: Qui color infectis adversi solis ab ietu


s: Nubibus esse solet; aut purpureae Aurorae.


s: v. 37.  Of Linus and of Cletus.]  Bishops of Rome in the first


s: v. 40.  Did Sextus, Pius, and Callixtus bleed


s: The former two, bishops of the same see, in the second; and the


s: v. 42.  No purpose was of ours.]  "We did not intend that our


s: successors should take any part in the political divisions among


s: Christians, or that my figure (the seal of St. Peter) should


s: serve as a mark to authorize iniquitous grants and privileges."


s: v. 53.  Cahorsines and Gascons.]  He alludes to Jacques d'Ossa, a


s: had been two years vacant, and assumed the name of John XXII.,


s: and to Clement V, a Gascon, of whom see Hell, Canto XIX. 86, and


s: v. 63.  The she-goat.]  When the sun is in Capricorn.


s: v. 72.  From the hour.]  Since he had last looked (see Canto


s: to the eastern horizon, the half of our hemisphere, and a quarter


s: v. 78.  The shore.]  Phoenicia, where Europa, the daughter of


s: Agenor mounted on the back of Jupiter, in his shape of a bull.


s: v. 80.  The sun.]  Dante was in the constellation Gemini, and the


s: constellations, and the whole of Taurus, between them.


s: v. 93.  The fair nest of Leda.]  "From the Gemini;" thus called,


s: because Leda was the mother of the twins, Castor and Pollux


s: v. 112.  Time's roots.]  "Here," says Beatrice, "are the roots,


s: from whence time springs: for the parts, into which it is


s: divided, the other heavens must be considered."  And she then


s: breaks out into an exclamation on the degeneracy of human nature,


s: v. 126.  The fair child of him.]  So she calls human nature.


s: Pindar by a more easy figure, terms the day, "child of the sun."


s: v. 129.  None.]  Because, as has been before said, the shepherds


s: v. 131.  Before the date.]  "Before many ages are past, before


s: those fractions, which are drops in the reckoning of every year,


s: shall amount to so large a portion of time, that January shall be


s: short time," as we say familiarly, such a thing will happen


s: before a thousand years are over when we mean, it will happen


s: v. 135.  Fortune shall be fain.]  The commentators in general


s: suppose that our Poet here augurs that great reform, which he


s: vainly hoped would follow on the arrival of the Emperor Henry


s: della Scala: and, when we consider that this Canto was not


s: finished till after the death of  Henry, as appears from the


s: mention that is made of John XXII, it cannot be denied but the


s: v. 36.  Heav'n, and all nature, hangs upon that point.]  [GREEK


s: Aristot. Metaph. 1. xii. c. 7.  "From that beginning depend


s: v. 43.  Such diff'rence.]  The material world and the


s: intelligential (the copy and the pattern) appear to Dante to


s: differ in this respect, that the orbits of the latter are more


s: swift, the nearer they are to the centre, whereas the contrary is


s: more ample the body is, the greater is the good of which itis


s: capable supposing all the parts to be equally perfect. But in the


s: powerful, the more they approximate to the central point, which


s: is God.  Thus the first circle, that of the seraphim, corresponds


s: cherubim, to the eighth sphere, or heaven of fixed stars; the


s: third, or circle of thrones, to the seventh sphere, or planet of


s: Saturn; and in like manner throughout the two other trines of


s: v. 70.  The sturdy north.]  Compare Homer, II. b. v. 524.


s: v. 82.  In number.]  The sparkles exceeded the number which would


s: the first we reckoned one, for the next, two; for the third,


s: four; and so went on doubling to the end of the account.


s: v. 106.  Fearless of bruising from the nightly ram.]  Not


s: injured, like the productions of our spring, by the influence of


s: autumn, when the constellation Aries rises at sunset.


s: Thrones, domination's, princedoms, virtues, powers.


s: v. 119.  Dionysius.]  The Areopagite, in his book De Caelesti


s: v. 124.  Gregory.]  Gregory the Great.  "Novem vero angelorum


s: ordines diximus, quia videlicet esse, testante sacro eloquio,


s: scimus: Angelos, archangelos, virtutes, potestates, principatus,


s: dominationae, thronos, cherubin atque seraphin."  Divi Gregorii,


s: v. 126.  He had learnt.]  Dionysius, he says, had learnt from St.


s: referred to, which goes under his name, was the production of a


s: v. 1.  No longer.]  As short a space, as the sun and moon are in


s: changing hemispheres, when they are opposite to one another, the


s: one under the sign of Aries, and the other under that of Libra,


s: and both hang for a moment, noised as it were in the hand of the


s: v. 22.  For, not in process of before or aft.]  There was neither


s: v. 30.  His threefold operation.]  He seems to mean that


s: spiritual beings, brute matter, and the intermediate part of the


s: creation, which participates both of spirit and matter, were


s: v. 38.  On Jerome's pages.]  St. Jerome had described the angels


s: as created before the rest of the universe: an opinion which


s: Thomas  Aquinas controverted; and the latter, as Dante thinks,


s: v. 111.  Of Bindi and of Lapi.]  Common names of men at Florence


s: v. 112.  The sheep.]  So Milton, Lycidas.


s: The hungry sheep look up and are not fed,


s: But, swoln with wind and the rank mist they draw,


s: v. 121.  The preacher.] Thus Cowper, Task, b.  ii.


s: To court a grin, when you should woo a soul, &c.


s: On the sale of these blessings, the brothers of St. Anthony


s: supported themselves and their paramours.  From behind the swine


s: of St. Anthony, our Poet levels a blow at the object of his


s: inveterate enmity, Boniface VIII, from whom, "in 1297, they


s: obtained the dignity and privileges of an independent


s: congregation."  See Mosheim's Eccles. History in Dr. Maclaine's


s: v. 140.  Daniel.]  "Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and


s: ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him."  Dan. c. vii.


s: v. 1.  Six thousand miles.]  He compares the vanishing of the


s: vision to the fading away of the stars at dawn, when it is


s: noon-day six thousand miles off, and the shadow, formed by the


s: earth over the part of it inhabited by the Poet, is about to


s: v. 13.  Engirt.]  " ppearing to be encompassed by these angelic


s: bands, which are in reality encompassed by it."


s: Hence perhaps Milton, P. L. b. viii. 491.


s: v. 39.  Forth.]  From the ninth sphere to the empyrean, which is


s: v. 44.  Either mighty host.]  Of angels, that remained faithful,


s: and of beatified souls, the latter in that form which they will


s: v. 61.  Light flowing.]  "And he showed me a pure river of water


s: of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God


s: Thus Shakespeare calls the eyelids "penthouse lids." Macbeth, a,


s: That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd


s: For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade, But all sunshine.


s: v. 135.  Of the great Harry.]  The Emperor Henry VII, who died in


s: v. 141.  He.]  Pope Clement V. See Canto XXVII.  53.


s: v. 145.  Alagna's priest.]  Pope Boniface VIII.  Hell, Canto XIX.


s: v. 29.  Helice.]  Callisto, and her son Arcas, changed into the


s: constellations of the Greater Bear and Arctophylax, or Bootes.


s: v. 93.  Bernard.]  St. Bernard, the venerable abbot of Clairvaux,


s: "chefs~d'oeuvres de sentiment et de force."  Abrege Chron. de


s: l'Hist.  de Fr. 1145. They have even been preferred to al1 the


s: productions of the ancients, and the author has been termed the


s: last of the fathers of the church. It is uncertain whether they


s: were not delivered originally in the French tongue.


s: That the part he acts in the present Poem should be assigned to


s: him. appears somewhat remarkable, when we consider that he


s: severely censured the new festival established in honour of the


s: Immaculate Conception of the virgin, and opposed the doctrine


s: itself with the greatest vigour, as it supposed her being


s: honoured with a privilegewhich belonged to Christ Alone Dr.


s: v. 95.  Our Veronica ] The holy handkerchief, then preserved at


s: Rome, on which the countenance of our Saviour was supposed to


s: v. 119.  Oriflamb.]  Menage on this word quotes the Roman des


s: v. 8.  Ancestress.]  Ruth, the ancestress of David.


s: v. 89.  One moment.]  "A moment seems to me more tedious, than


s: five-and-twenty ages would have appeared to the Argonauts, when


s: Quae simul ac rostro ventosnm proscidit aequor,


s: v. 109.  Three orbs of triple hue, clipt in one bound.]  The


s: v. 118.  That circling.]  The second of the circles, "Light of


s: Light," in which he dimly beheld the mystery of the incarnation.


s: In the years 1805 and 1806, I published the first part of the


s: following translation, with the text of the original.  Since that


s: Italian, have made their appearance in this country.  It is not


s: necessary that I should add a third: and I am induced to hope


s: that the Poem, even in the present version of it, may not be


s: without interest for the mere English reader.


s: The translation of the second and third parts, "The Purgatory"


s: and "The Paradise," was begun long before the first, and as early


s: exertions that have been thus employed, I do not regard those


s: hours as the least happy of my  life, during which (to use the


s: eloquent language of Mr. Coleridge) "my individual recollections


s: have been suspended, and lulled to sleep amid the music of nobler


s: me with one of the sublimest efforts of the human invention.


s: To those, who shall be at the trouble of examining into the


s: degree of accuracy with which the task has been executed, I may


s: be allowed to suggest, that their judgment should not be formed


s: on a comparison with any single text of my Author; since, in more


s: of a variety of readings and interpretations, presented by


s: In one or two of those editions is to be found the title of "The


s: Vision," which I have adopted, as more conformable to the genius


s: of our language than that of "The Divine Comedy."  Dante himself,


s: because the style was of the middle kind:  and in the next,


s: because the story (if story it may be called) ends happily.


s: Instead of a Life of my Author, I have subjoined, in


s: chronological order, a view not only of the principal events


s: which befell him, but of the chief public occurrences that


s: happened in his time:  concerning both of which the reader may


s: obtain further information, by turning to the passages referred


s: Of his own ancestry he speaks in the Paradise, Canto XV. and XVI.


s: In the same year, Manfredi, king of Naples and Sicily, is


s: defeated and slain by Charles of Anjou.  Hell, C. XXVIII. 13.


s: Guido Novello of Polenta obtains the sovereignty of Ravenna.


s: differences at Florence.  H. C. XXIII. 104.


s: Gianni de' Soldanieri heads the populace in that city.  H. C.


s: Guittone d'Arezzo, the poet, dies.  Purg. C. XXIV. 56.


s: Thomas Aquinas dies.  Purg. C. XX. 67.  and Par. C. X. 96.


s: Guido Guinicelli, the poet, dies.  Purg. C. XI. 96. and C. XXVI.


s: Dante studies at the universities of Bologna and Padua.


s: The French defeated by the people of Forli.  H. C. XXVII. 41.


s: Tribaldello de' Manfredi betrays the city of Faenza.  H. C.


s: de Lauria, admiral to Peter III. of Arragon.  Purg. C. XX. 78.


s: Charles I.  king of Naples, dies.  Purg. C. VII. 111.


s: Philip III.  of France, and Peter III.  of Arragon, die. Purg. C.


s: Henry II. king of Cyprus, comes to the throne.  Par. C. XIX. 144.


s: Count Ugolino de' Gherardeschi dies of famine.  H. C. XXXIII. 14.


s: Florentines defeat the people of Arezzo, June 11. Purg. C. V. 90.


s: He serves in the war waged by the Florentines upon the Pisans,


s: and is present at the surrender of Caprona in the autumn.  H. C.


s: By this marriage he had five sons and a daughter.


s: Can Grande della Scala is born, March 9.  H. C. I. 98. Purg. C.


s: The renegade Christians assist the Saracens to recover St. John


s: The Emperor Rodolph dies.  Purg. C. VI. 104. and VII. 91.


s: Alonzo III.  of Arragon dies, and is succeeded by James II.


s: Charles Martel, king of Hungary, visits Florence, Par.  C. VIII.


s: Frederick, son of Peter III. of Arragon, becomes king of Sicily.


s: This is the year in which he supposes himself to see his Vision.


s: He is chosen chief magistrate, or first of the Priors of


s: Florence; and continues in office from June 15 to August 15.


s: Cimabue, the painter, dies.  Purg. C. XI. 93.


s: Guido Cavalcanti, the most beloved of our Poet's friends, dies.


s: by his fellow-citizens in the sum of 8000 lire, and condemned to


s: March 10.  He is sentenced, if taken, to be burned.


s: Fulcieri de' Calboli commits great atrocities on certain of the


s: Carlino de' Pazzi betrays the castle di Piano Travigne, in


s: Valdarno, to the Florentines.  H. C. XXXII. 67.


s: The French vanquished in the battle of Courtrai. Purg. C. XX. 47.


s: The other exiles appoint Dante one of a council of twelve, under


s: He appears to have been much dissatisfied with his colleagues.


s: May.  The bridge over the Arno breaks down during a


s: representation of the infernal torments exhibited on that river.


s: July 20.  Petrarch, whose father had been banished two years


s: before from Florence, is born at Arezzo.


s: A conflagration happens at Florence.  H. C. XXVI. 9.


s: Dolcino, the fanatic, is burned.  H. C. XXVIII. 53.


s: Corso Donati, Dante's political enemy, slain.  Purg. C. XXIV. 81.


s: Scala.  Par. C. XVII. 69.  He wanders, about this time, over


s: various parts of Italy.  See his Convito.  He is at Paris twice;


s: and, as one of the early commentators reports, at Oxford.


s: He takes refuge at Ravenna with Guido Novello da Polenta.


s: Philip IV.  of France dies.  Purg. C. VII. 108. and Par. C. XIX.


s: Ferdinand IV.  of Spain, dies.  Par.  C.  XIX.  122.


s: Giacopo da Carrara defeated by Can Grande.  Par. C. IX. 45.


s: conducting with the Venetians, for his patron Guido Novello da


s: His obsequies are sumptuously performed at Ravenna by Guido, who


s: I've quench'd my lamp, I struck it in that start


s: Which every limb convulsed, I heard it fall--


s: The crash blent with my sleep, I saw depart


s: Its light, even as I woke, on yonder wall;


s: Over against my bed, there shone a gleam


s: Strange, faint, and mingling also with my dream.


s: How far is night advanced, and when will day


s: Retinge the dusk and livid air with bloom,


s: And fill this void with warm, creative ray?


s: Would I could sleep again till, clear and red,


s: Morning shall on the mountain-tops be spread!


s: I'd call my women, but to break their sleep,


s: They've wrought all day, and well-earn'd slumbers steep


s: Their labours in forgetfulness, I trust;


s: Let me my feverish watch with patience bear,


s: Thankful that none with me its sufferings share.


s: Yet, oh, for light! one ray would tranquillize


s: My nerves, my pulses, more than effort can;


s: I'll draw my curtain and consult the skies:


s: These trembling stars at dead of night look wan,


s: Wild, restless, strange, yet cannot be more drear


s: Than this my couch, shared by a nameless fear.


s: All black--one great cloud, drawn from east to west,


s: Conceals the heavens, but there are lights below;


s: I see men station'd there, and gleaming spears;


s: A sound, too, from afar, invades my ears.


s: Dull, measured strokes of axe and hammer ring


s: From street to street, not loud, but through the night


s: Distinctly heard--and some strange spectral thing


s: Is now uprear'd--and, fix'd against the light


s: Of the pale lamps, defined upon that sky,


s: It stands up like a column, straight and high.


s: While Romans watch; and when the dawn shall shine


s: Pilate, to judge the victim, will appear--


s: And on that cross the spotless Christ must die.


s: Dreams, then, are true--for thus my vision ran;


s: The gods have chosen me to reveal their plan,


s: I, slumbering, heard and saw; awake I know,


s: Christ's coming death, and Pilate's life of woe.


s: I do not weep for Pilate--who could prove


s: Regret for him whose cold and crushing sway


s: No prayer can soften, no appeal can move:


s: Who tramples hearts as others trample clay,


s: Yet with a faltering, an uncertain tread,


s: That might stir up reprisal in the dead.


s: Forced to sit by his side and see his deeds;


s: Forced to behold that visage, hour by hour,


s: In whose gaunt lines the abhorrent gazer reads


s: A triple lust of gold, and blood, and power;


s: A soul whom motives fierce, yet abject, urge--


s: Rome's servile slave, and Judah's tyrant scourge.


s: I, who so long my fetter'd hands have wrung;


s: I, who for grief have wept my eyesight dim;


s: Because, while life for me was bright and young,


s: He robb'd my youth--he quench'd my life's fair ray--


s: He crush'd my mind, and did my freedom slay.


s: And at this hour-although I be his wife--


s: Less, for I know his household privacy--


s: And, by the gods, my soul abhors his mien!


s: Has he not sought my presence, dyed in blood--


s: Innocent, righteous blood, shed shamelessly?


s: And have I not his red salute withstood?


s: Ay, when, as erst, he plunged all Galilee


s: In dark bereavement--in affliction sore,


s: Mingling their very offerings with their gore.


s: Then came he--in his eyes a serpent-smile,


s: Upon his lips some false, endearing word,


s: And through the streets of Salem clang'd the while


s: His slaughtering, hacking, sacrilegious sword--


s: Trembled with ire--I did not fear to show.


s: Jesus--whom they in mock'ry call their king--


s: To have, by this grim power, their vengeance wrought;


s: By this mean reptile, innocence to sting.


s: Oh! could I but the purposed doom avert,


s: And shield the blameless head from cruel hurt!


s: Omens will shake his soul, like autumn leaf;


s: Could he this night's appalling vision hear,


s: This just man's bonds were loosed, his life were safe,


s: Unless that bitter priesthood should prevail,


s: And make even terror to their malice quail.


s: Yet if I tell the dream--but let me pause.


s: What dream? Erewhile the characters were clear,


s: Graved on my brain--at once some unknown cause


s: Has dimm'd and razed the thoughts, which now appear,


s: Like a vague remnant of some by-past scene;--


s: Not what will be, but what, long since, has been.


s: I suffer'd many things--I heard foretold


s: A dreadful doom for Pilate,--lingering woes,


s: In far, barbarian climes, where mountains cold


s: There he and grisly wolves prowl'd side by side,


s: There he lived famish'd--there, methought, he died;


s: I saw the snow around him, stain'd with gore;


s: And, lo! my cheek is wet--mine eyes run o'er;


s: I weep for mortal suffering, mortal guilt,


s: I weep the impious deed, the blood self-spilt.


s: More I recall not, yet the vision spread


s: And still the illumined name of Jesus shed


s: A light, a clearness, through the unfolding gloom--


s: And still I saw that sign, which now I see,


s: What is this Hebrew Christ?-to me unknown


s: His lineage--doctrine--mission; yet how clear


s: Is God-like goodness in his actions shown,


s: How straight and stainless is his life's career!


s: Suffices not the inquiring mind to stay;


s: The searching soul demands a purer light


s: Ashamed of sculptured gods, Religion turns


s: To where the unseen Jehovah's altar burns.


s: Our faith is rotten, all our rites defiled,


s: Our temples sullied, and, methinks, this man,


s: With his new ordinance, so wise and mild,


s: Is come, even as He says, the chaff to fan


s: And sever from the wheat; but will his faith


s: Survive the terrors of to-morrow's death?


s: Rise in my soul--it dawns with dawning day;


s: Lo! on the Temple's roof--on Moriah's slope


s: Appears at length that clear and crimson ray


s: Which I so wished for when shut in by night;


s: Oh, opening skies, I hail, I bless pour light!


s: Part, clouds and shadows! Glorious Sun appear!


s: Part, mental gloom!  Come insight from on high!


s: Dusk dawn in heaven still strives with daylight clear


s: The longing soul doth still uncertain sigh.


s: Oh! to behold the truth--that sun divine,


s: This day, Time travails with a mighty birth;


s: This day, Truth stoops from heaven and visits earth;


s: Ere night descends I shall more surely know


s: What guide to follow, in what path to go;


s: The oracle of God--the sole--true God--to hear.


s: Arranging long-locked drawers and shelves


s: What a strange task we've set ourselves!


s: How strange this mass of ancient treasures,


s: These volumes, clasped with costly stone,


s: These fans of leaves from Indian trees--


s: These crimson shells, from Indian seas--


s: Once, doubtless, deemed such precious things;


s: Nor light, nor warmth, the rooms discover--


s: Through the green moss can force its way.


s: The thick leaves where their cradles lie,


s: Some shape that should be well in heaven,


s: Lest doubtful shade, or moonbeam trembling,


s: Shone in her eyes more clear than mirth.


s: These grim oak walls even then were grim;


s: Her soft, and curled, and floating hair,


s: She loved such scenes, and as she gazed,


s: The book-shelves were her darling treasure,


s: Nor would she leave that hill till night


s: And transient strength and ardour stirred,


s: The world, the pleasures, she could prize;


s: In youth's first search for mental light,


s: Task that a giant's strength might strain;


s: And silent still, she straight assembled


s: The wrecks of strength her soul retained;


s: The unconquered mind, to quail, disdained.


s: She crossed the sea--now lone she wanders


s: Like all on whom have beat, unsheltered,


s: The bitter blasts that blight the heart.


s: And oh! full oft, quite spent and weary,


s: Will shade with grey her soft, dark hair;


s: Then comes the day that knows no morrow,


s: Touch not that ring; 'twas his, the sire


s: And heaven did curse--they found him laid,


s: Death's axe, self-wielded, struck his root,


s: You know the spot, where three black trees,


s: 'Tis thy own hearth thou sitt'st beside,


s: Which from their lids ran blinding fast,


s: Thy step would err from Britain's shore.


s: "Distance and suffering," didst thou say?


s: Thanks, William, thanks! thy love has joy,


s: Sayst thou, that where we lodge each night,


s: And strenuous love--like mine for thee--


s: Of rocks, on Bretagne's dangerous coast,


s: All, elsewhere, gleamed the Gallic sword,


s: England's wild flowers are fair to view,


s: acted in France during the last year of the Consulate.]


s: Her steps, now fast, now lingering slow,


s: Forth pass her wandering, faltering feet;


s: Their straight black boughs stretched o'er her head;


s: And trickling through her fingers white,


s: Hours long, days long, a constant weight--


s: Ere long, with deep-drawn, trembling sigh,


s: Stone-deaf, and blank, and wholly blind;


s: There must I sleep, there wake and dwell


s: Her voice the stagnant midnight stirred.


s: Hope, which, on earth, shines never clear,


s: "Will he find bliss, which here he dreamed?


s: Knowledge, which, if o'er life it beamed,


s: "Will he find love without lust's leaven,


s: "Then, glancing back on Time's brief woes,


s: And when all troubled burns life's flame,


s: "The tear which, welling from the heart,


s: And makes each nerve, in torture, start,


s: A thrilling clasp, which seemed so near,


s: Filled full, with purple light was glowing,


s: And Faith, which watched it, sparkling high


s: No, sparkling still, and redly flashing,


s: Drained, drop by drop, the generous juice.


s: "Yet whence that wondrous change of feeling,


s: "Nor wherefore, friendship's forms forgetting,


s: Nor spoke of grief, nor fond regretting,


s: His course, for distant regions bending,


s: Though lightning-struck, I must live on;


s: "Still strong and young, and warm with vigour,


s: Though scathed, I long shall greenly grow;


s: "Whence, then, this vain and barren dreaming


s: When, lorn and loveless, life will languish,


s: "New scenes, new language, skies less clouded,


s: Strange, foreign towns, astir, and crowded,


s: Stamped deep on vision, heart, and brain.


s: "And we might meet--time may have changed him;


s: The secret influence which estranged him;


s: "False thought--false hope--in scorn be banished!


s: Recall not, then, the dreams scarce vanished;


s: O'er these, my natal woods, shall smile,


s: Where flowers and orchard-trees were fenced


s: Where ladies, doubtless, cheered the hearth


s: They rather lulled the heart than roused


s: And, calm in conscience, whole in heart.


s: He starts--the tree shakes with his tremor,


s: With shaking hand, he lifts the latchet,


s: What touched, transfixed, appalled, his soul?--


s: His wife, with pleased and peaceful eye,


s: His fireside chair shakes with the start


s: His mind would hold with desperate clutch


s: Noise, tumult strange, and darkness dim,


s: Oh! whence its source, and what its mission?


s: The stunning roar, the wind's wild chase,


s: And straight before, the pale corpse lay,


s: So near, he could have touched the spray


s: Not death's fixed calm could rase the trace


s: Good night! good night! the prattlers said,


s: Though, haply, great has been his crime:


s: The clocks are hushed--there's not a light


s: His cloak the traveller scarce defends--


s: But, moving slow, it faced him straight,


s: Then first did Gilbert's strength abate,


s: If the shower will make the roses bloom,


s: Her long curls, drooping, shade the light,


s: Their leaves and blossoms shade the room


s: At last, through all its wild wave's strife,


s: One loved voice, through surge and blast


s: You've never smiled nor turned your head;


s: "Come hither, Jane, look down the field;


s: The path, the hedge, are both concealed,


s: I've swept the hearth, and placed your chair.


s: Lapsed among moors, ere life's first prime


s: And then, this strange, coarse world around


s: The hearth-fire quenched, the vacant chair;


s: Where look for peace?  When cease to mourn?


s: When, some great task of suffering done,


s: I've worked and studied, longed and grieved,


s: To toil, to think, to long, to grieve,--


s: Then Love thus crowned with sweet reward,


s: These, then, are thine oaths of passion?


s: Having vanquished, thou wouldst leave me!


s: The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,


s: While, lost in Fame's or Wealth's illusion,


s: When, soft as birds their pinions closing,


s: Then in our souls there seems to languish


s: And thoughts that once wrung groans of anguish


s: And feelings, once as strong as passions,


s: Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations,


s: When, through the mist of years receding,


s: And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,


s: Till checked by death's congealing power,


s: When we've left each friend and brother,


s: Then shall heart with warm heart meeting,


s: 'Twas not a grey, bare head, like thine,


s: And, did I need that, thou shouldst tell


s: And, did I need that thou shouldst taunt


s: Not Death shall shake, nor Priestcraft break


s: He calls--I come--my pulse scarce beats,


s: Then up she sprang--but fell back, dead,


s: From flower to flower, unwearied, flying,


s: 'Tis she that from each transient pleasure


s: 'Tis she that finds, in summer, treasure


s: And when Youth's summer day is vanished,


s: Her stores, with hoarded sweets replenished,


s: Plough, vessel, plough the British main,


s: Where altered life, fast-following change,


s: Shall stir, turn, dig, the spirit's soil;


s: Fresh roots shall plant, fresh seed shall sow,


s: Cleared of the weeds that fill it now,--


s: I grasp the plough, there's no returning,


s: What--when I saw it, axe-struck, perish--


s: 'Twas a long fight, hard fought, but won,


s: When my heart most for thy heart burned;


s: There, the weak, trampled by the strong,


s: There pagan-priests, whose creed is Wrong,


s: In childhood, read Christ's written word,


s: For all weak, sorrowing, trembling things,


s: I--schooled from childhood in such lore--


s: Their drooped heads to the kindling scene,


s: The man's deep moan--the martyr's prayer.


s: Though such blood-drops should fall from me


s: More strength to work--more skill to save.


s: Cut short my course--still o'er my grave,


s: Made me shrink from the righteous strife?


s: Even when the last pang thrills my breast,


s: I think of deep glens, blocked with snow;


s: Through the long nights of angry weather,


s: Or, with strained ear, to catch the shock,


s: But this world's life has much to dread,


s: The grave is drear, but they are not there;


s: "Well hast thou spoken, sweet, trustful child!


s: Thy fervent hope, through storm and foam,


s: All through the night, your glorious eyes


s: And, with a full heart's thankful sighs,


s: Thought followed thought, star followed star,


s: While one sweet influence, near and far,


s: And scorch with fire the tranquil cheek,


s: Blood-red, he rose, and, arrow-straight,


s: My lids closed down, yet through their veil


s: Oh, stars, and dreams, and gentle night;


s: Let me sleep through his blinding reign,


s: No threatened hell, with quenchless fires,


s: But, where they joined their triple flood


s: The glad deep sparkled wide and bright--


s: I've watched and sought my life-time long;


s: Sought him in heaven, hell, earth, and air,


s: This sentient soul, this living breath--


s: Cold in the earth--and the deep snow piled above thee,


s: Far, far, removed, cold in the dreary grave!


s: Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,


s: Severed at last by Time's all-severing wave?


s: Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover


s: Over the mountains, on that northern shore,


s: Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover


s: Cold in the earth--and fifteen wild Decembers,


s: From those brown hills, have melted into spring:


s: Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers


s: After such years of change and suffering!


s: Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,


s: While the world's tide is bearing me along;


s: Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!


s: No later light has lightened up my heaven,


s: All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,


s: All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.


s: But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,


s: And even Despair was powerless to destroy;


s: Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,


s: Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.


s: Then did I check the tears of useless passion--


s: Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;


s: Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten


s: Down to that tomb already more than mine.


s: And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,


s: Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;


s: Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,


s: Paled, at length, the sweet sun setting;


s: But they wept not, but they changed not,


s: Troubled still, and still they ranged not--


s: They thought their hearts could ne'er recall


s: They thought the tide of grief would flow


s: Well, let them fight for honour's breath,


s: And, if their eyes should watch and weep


s: Before their hearts went wandering wrong,--


s: Poor slaves, subdued by passions strong,


s: Nay, smile to hear Death's billows rave--


s: Reckless of the lives wasting there away;


s: "Draw the ponderous bars! open, Warder stern!"


s: He dared not say me nay--the hinges harshly turn.


s: "Our guests are darkly lodged," I whisper'd, gazing through


s: The vault, whose grated eye showed heaven more gray than blue;


s: (This was when glad Spring laughed in awaking pride;)


s: "Ay, darkly lodged enough!" returned my sullen guide.


s: Then, God forgive my youth; forgive my careless tongue;


s: I scoffed, as the chill chains on the damp flagstones rung:


s: "Confined in triple walls, art thou so much to fear,


s: That we must bind thee down and clench thy fetters here?"


s: The captive raised her face; it was as soft and mild


s: As sculptured marble saint, or slumbering unwean'd child;


s: It was so soft and mild, it was so sweet and fair,


s: Pain could not trace a line, nor grief a shadow there!


s: The captive raised her hand and pressed it to her brow;


s: "I have been struck," she said, "and I am suffering now;


s: Yet these are little worth, your bolts and irons strong;


s: And, were they forged in steel, they could not hold me long."


s: Hoarse laughed the jailor grim:  "Shall I be won to hear;


s: Dost think, fond, dreaming wretch, that I shall grant thy prayer?


s: Ah! sooner might the sun thaw down these granite stones.


s: "My master's voice is low, his aspect bland and kind,


s: But hard as hardest flint the soul that lurks behind;


s: And I am rough and rude, yet not more rough to see


s: Than is the hidden ghost that has its home in me."


s: About her lips there played a smile of almost scorn,


s: "My friend," she gently said, "you have not heard me mourn;


s: When you my kindred's lives, MY lost life, can restore,


s: Then may I weep and sue,--but never, friend, before!


s: "Still, let my tyrants know, I am not doomed to wear


s: Year after year in gloom, and desolate despair;


s: A messenger of Hope comes every night to me,


s: And offers for short life, eternal liberty.