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

the act was committed per cupidigia di guadagnare, for love of gain; and says also:⁠—

“The king of France and his children had afterwards much shame and adversity, both on account of this sin and on account of the seizure of Pope Boniface.”

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What he was saying of the Virgin Mary, line 19. ↩

The brother of Dido and murderer of her husband. Aeneid, I 350: “He, impious and blinded with the love of gold, having taken Sichrcus by surprise, secretly assassinates him before the altar, regardless of his sister’s great affection.” ↩

The Phrygian king, who, for his hospitality to Silenus, was endowed by Bacchus with the fatal power of turning all he touched to gold. The most laughable thing about him was his wearing ass’s ears, as a punishment for preferring the music of Pan to that of Apollo.

Ovid, XI, Croxall’s Tr.:⁠—

“Pan tuned the pipe, and with his rural song
Pleased the low taste of all the vulgar throng;
Such songs a vulgar judgment mostly please:
Midas was there, and Midas judged with these.”

See also Hawthorne’s story of “The Golden Touch” in his Wonder-Book. ↩

Joshua 7:21:⁠—

“When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst oi my tent, and the silver under it.”

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Acts 5:1, 2:⁠—

“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”

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The hoof-beats of the miraculous horse in the Temple of Jerusalem, when Heliodorus, the treasurer of King Sclcucus, went there to remove the treasure. 2 Maccabees 3:25:⁠—

“For there appeared unto them an horse with a terrible rider upon him, and adorned with a very fair covering, and he ran fiercely, and smote at Heliodorus with his forefeet, and it seemed that he that sat upon the horse had complete harness of gold.”

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Aeneid, III 49, Davidson’s Tr.:⁠—

“This Polydore unhappy Priam had formerly sent in secrecy, with a great weight of gold, to be brought up by the king of Thrace, when he now began to distrust the arms of Troy, and saw the city with close siege blocked up. He, [Polymnestor,] as soon as the power of the Trojans was crushed, and their fortune gone, espousing Agamemnon’s interest and victorious arms, breaks every sacred bond, assassinates Polydore, and by violence possesses his gold. Cursed thirst of gold, to what dost thou not drive the hearts of men!”

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Lucinius Crassus, surnamed the Rich. He was Consul with Pompey, and on one occasion displayed his vast wealth by giving an entertainment to the populace, at which the guests were so numerous that they occupied ten thousand tables. He was slain in a battle with the Parthians, and his head was sent to the Parthian king, Hyrodes, who had molten gold poured down its throat. Plutarch does not mention this circumstance in his Life of Crassus, but says:⁠—

“When the head of Crassus was brought to the door, the tables were just taken away, and one Jason, a tragic actor of the town of Tralles, was singing the scene in the Bacchac of Euripides concerning Agave. He was receiving much applause, when Sillaces coming to the room, and having made obeisance to the king, threw down the head of Crassus into the midst of the company. The Parthians receiving it with joy and acclamations, Sillaces, by the king’s command, was made to sit down, while Jason handed over the costume of Pentheus to one of the dancers in the chorus, and taking up the head of Crassus, and acting the part of a bacchante in her frenzy, in a rapturous, impassioned manner, sang the lyric passages,

‘We’ve hunted down a mighty chase to-day,
And from the mountain bring the noble prey.’ ”

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This is in answer to Dante’s question, line 35:⁠—

“And why only
Thou dost renew these praises well deserved?”

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The occasion of this quaking of the mountain is given. Canto XXI 58:⁠—

“It trembles here, whenever any soul
Feels itself pure, so that it soars, or moves
To mount aloft, and such a cry attends it.”

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An island in the Aegean Sea, in the centre of the Cyclades. It was thrown up by an earthquake, in order to receive Latona, when she gave birth to Apollo and Diana⁠—the Sun and the Moon. ↩

Luke 2:13, 14:⁠—

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

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Gower, Confessio Amantis, III 5:⁠—

“When Goddes sone also was bore,
He sent his aungel down therfore,
Whom the shepherdes herden singe:
Pees to the men of welwillinge
In erthe be amonge us here.”

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This canto is devoted to the interview with the poet Statius, whose release from punishment was announced by the earthquake and the outcry at the end of the last canto. ↩

John 4:14, 15:⁠—

“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst.⁠ ⁠… The woman saith unto him. Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.”

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Luke 24:13⁠–⁠15:⁠—

“And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communcd together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with