The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (13 inch ebook reader .txt) 📕

air,
Yet was not till he came;
So love springs up in noble breasts, and there
Has its appointed space,
As heat in the bright flame finds its allotted place.

“Kindles in noble heart the fire of love,
As hidden virtue in the precious stone;
This virtue comes not from the stars above,
Till round it the ennobling sun has shone;
But when his powerful blaze
Has drawn forth what was vile, the stars impart
Strange virtue in their rays;
And thus when nature doth create the heart
Noble, and pure, and high,
Like virtue from the star, love comes from woman’s eye.”

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Paradiso XIV 40:⁠—

“Its brightness is proportioned to the ardor,
The ardor to the vision, and the vision
Equals what grace it has above its merit.”

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Luke 2:48:⁠—

“And his mother said unto him. Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”

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The contest between Neptune and Minerva for the right of naming Athens, in which Minerva carried the day by the vote of the women. This is one of the subjects which Minerva wrought in her trial of skill with Arachne. Ovid, Metamorphoses, VI:⁠—

“Pallas in figures wrought the heavenly powers,
And Mars’s hill among the Athenian towers.
On lofty thrones twice six celestials sate,
Jove in the midst, and held their warm debate;
The subject weighty, and well known to fame,
From whom the city should receive its name.
Each god by proper features was expressed,
Jove with majestic mien excelled the rest.
His three-forked mace the dewy sea-god shook,
And, looking sternly, smote the ragged rock;
When from the stone leapt forth a sprightly steed,
And Neptune claims the city for the deed.
Herself she blazons, with a glittering spear,
And crested helm that veiled her braided hair,
With shield, and scaly breastplate, implements of war.
Struck with her pointed lance, the teeming earth
Seemed to produce a new, surprising birth;
When from the glebe the pledge of conquest sprung,
A tree pale-green with fairest olives hung.”

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Pisistratus.the tyrant of Athens, who used his power so nobly as to make the people forget the usurpation by which he had attained it. Among his good deeds was the collection and preservation of the Homeric poems, which but for him might have perished. He was also the first to found a public library in Athens. This anecdote is told by Valerius Maximus, Fact. ac Dict., VI I. ↩

The stoning of Stephen. Acts 7:54:⁠—

“They gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven.⁠ ⁠… Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him.⁠ ⁠… And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

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He recognizes it to be a vision, but not false, because it symbolized the truth. ↩

The Third Circle of Purgatory, and the punishment of the Sin of Pride. ↩

Poor, or impoverished of its stars by clouds. The same expression is applied to the Arno, Canto XIV 45, to indicate its want of water. ↩

In the Litany of the Saints:⁠—

“Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.

“Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.

“Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us!”

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Still living the life temporal, where time is measured by the calendar. ↩

Marco Lombardo was a Venetian nobleman, a man of wit and learning and a friend of Dante. “Nearly all that he gained,” says the Ottimo, “he spent in charity.⁠ ⁠… He visited Paris, and, as long as his money lasted, he was esteemed for his valor and courtesy. Afterwards he depended upon those richer than himself, and lived and died honorably.” There are some anecdotes of him in the Cento Novelle Antiche, Nov. 41, 52, hardly worth quoting.

It is doubtful whether the name of Lombardo is a family name, or only indicates that Marco was an Italian, after the fashion then prevalent among the French of calling all Italians Lombards. See Note 848.

Benvenuto says of him that he “was a man of noble mind, but disdainful, and easily moved to anger.”

Buti’s portrait is as follows:⁠—

“This Marco was a Venetian, called Marco Daca; and was a very learned man, and had many political virtues, and was very courteous, giving to poor noblemen all that he gained, and he gained much; for he was a courtier, and was much beloved for his virtue, and much was given him by the nobility; and as he gave to those who were in need, so he lent to all who asked. So that, coming to die, and having much still due to him, he made a will, and among other bequests this, that whoever owed him should not be held to pay the debt, saying, ‘Whoever has, may keep.’ ”

Portarelli thinks that this Marco may be Marco Polo the traveller; but this is inadmissible, as he was still living at the time of Dante’s death. ↩

What Guido del Duca has told him of the corruption of Italy, in Canto XIV. ↩

Ovid, Metamorphoses, X, Ozell’s Tr.:⁠—

“The god upon its leaves
The sad expression of his sorrow weaves,
And to this hour the mournful purple wears
Ai, ai, inscribed in funeral characters.”

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See the article “Cabala,” at the end of Vol. III. ↩

Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, V Prosa 2, Ridpath’s Tr.:⁠—

“ ‘But in this indissoluble chain of causes, can we preserve the liberty of the will? Does