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

See whether ours be not the more penetrating dart. He said; and with a quivering stroke the point pierces through the mid-shield, through so many plates of iron, so many of brass, while the bull’s hide so many times encompasses it, and through the corselet’s cumbrous folds transfixes his breast with a hideous gash. He in vain wrenches out the reeking weapon from the wound; at one and the same passage the blood and soul issue forth. Down on his wound he falls: over him his armor gave a clang; and in death with bloody jaws he bites the hostile ground.”

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In Alba Longa, built by Ascanius, son of Aeneas, on the borders of the Alban Lake. The period of three hundred years is traditionary, not historic. ↩

The Horatii and Curatii. ↩

From the rape of the Sabine women, in the days of Romulus, the first of the seven kings of Rome, down to the violence done to Lucretia by Tarquinius Superbus, the last of them. ↩

Brennus was the king of the Gauls, who, entering Rome unopposed, found the city deserted, and the Senators seated in their ivory chairs in the Forum, so silent and motionless that his soldiers took them for the statues of gods. He burned the city and laid siege to the Capitol, whither the people had fled for safety, and which was preserved from surprise by the cackling of the sacred geese in the Temple of Juno. Finally Brennus and his army were routed by Camillus, and tradition says that not one escaped.

Pyrrhus was a king of Epirus, who boasted his descent from Achilles, and whom Hannibal called “the greatest of commanders.” He was nevertheless driven out of Italy by Curius, his army of eightythousand being routed by thirty thousand Romans; whereupon he said that, “if he had soldiers like the Romans, or if the Romans had him for a general, he would leave no corner of the earth unseen, and no nation unconquered.” ↩

Titus Manlius, surnamed Torquatus, from the collar (torques) which he took from a fallen foe; and Quinctius, surnamed Cincinnatus, or “the curly-haired.” ↩

Three of the Decii, father, son, and grandson, sacrificed their lives in battle at different times for their country. The Fabii also rendered signal services to the state, but are chiefly known in history through one of their number, Quinctius Maximus, surnamed Cunctator, or the Delayer, from whom we have “the Fabian policy.” ↩

The hill of Fiesole, overlooking Florence, where Dante was born. Fiesole was destroyed by the Romans for giving refuge to Cataline and his fellow conspirators. ↩

The birth of Christ. Milton, “Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” 3, 4:⁠—

“But he, her fears to cease,
Sent down the meek-eyed Peace:
She, crowned with olive-green, came softly sliding
Down through the turning sphere,
His ready harbinger,
With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing;
And, waving wide her myrtle wand,
She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.

“No war or battle’s sound
Was heard the world around:
The idle spear and shield were high up hung;
The hooked chariot stood
Unstained with hostile blood;
The trumpet spake not to the arméd throng;
And kings sat still with awful eye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.”

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Durazzo in Macedonia, and Pharsalia in Thessaly. ↩

Gower, Confessio Amantis, II:⁠—

“That one sleeth, and that other sterveth,
But aboven all his prise deserveth
This knightly Romain; where he rode
His dedly swerd no man abode,
Ayen the which was no defence:
Egipte fledde in his presence.”

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Antandros, a city, and Simois, a river, near Troy, whence came the Roman eagle with Aeneas into Italy. ↩

It was an evil hour for Ptolemy, when Caesar took from him the kingdom of Egypt, and gave it to Cleopatra. ↩

Juba, king of Numidia, who protected Pompey, Cato, and Scipio after the battle of Pharsalia. Being conquered by Cassar, his realm became a Roman province, of which Sallust the historian was the first governor.

Milton, Sams. Agon., 1695:⁠—

“But as an eagle
His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads.”

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Towards Spain, where some remnants of Pompey’s army still remained under his two sons. When these were subdued the civil war was at an end. ↩

Octavius Augustus, nephew of Julius Caesar. At the battle of Philippi he defeated Brutus and Cassius, and established the Empire. ↩

On account of the great slaughter made by Augustus in his battles with Mark Antony and his brother Lucius, in the neighborhood of these cities. ↩

Augustus closed the gates of the temple of Janus as a sign of universal peace, in the year of Christ’s birth. ↩

Tiberius Caesar. ↩

The crucifixion of Christ, in which the Romans took part in the person of Pontius Pilate. ↩

The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, which avenged the crucifixion. ↩

When the Church was assailed by the Lombards, who were subdued by Charlemagne. ↩

Referring back to line 31:⁠—

“In order that thou see with how great reason
Men move against the standard sacrosanct,
Both who appropriate and who oppose it.”

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The Golden Lily, or Fleur-de-lis of France. The Guelfs, uniting with the French, opposed the Ghibellines, who had appropriated the imperial standard to their own party purposes. ↩

Charles II of Apulia, son of Charles of Anjou. ↩

Change the imperial eagle for the lilies of France. ↩

Mercury is the smallest of the planets, with the exception of the Asteroids, being sixteen times smaller than the Earth. ↩

Speaking of the planet Mercury, Buti says:⁠—

“We are now to consider