The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (essential books to read TXT) 📕

v. 126. He of Spain.] “To Pope Adrian V succeeded John XXI a native of Lisbon a man of great genius and extraordinary acquirements, especially in logic and in medicine, as his books, written in the name of Peter of Spain (by which he was known before he became Pope), may testify. His life was not much longer than that of his predecessors, for he was killed at Viterbo, by the falling in of the roof of his chamber, after he had been pontiff only eight months and as many days.

A.D. 1277. Mariana, Hist. de Esp. l. xiv. c. 2.

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

v. 128. Anselmo.] “Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Aosta, about 1034, and studied under Lanfrane at the monastery of Bec, in Normandy, where he afterwards devoted himself to a religious life, in his twenty-seventh year. In three years he was made prior, and then abbot of that monastery! from whence he was taken, in 1093, to succeed to the archbishopric, vacant by the death of Lanfrane. He enjoyed this dignity till his death, in 1109, though it was disturbed by many dissentions with William II and Henry I respecting the immunities and investitures. There is much depth and precisian in his theological works.” Tiraboschi, Stor. della Lett. Ital. t. iii.

1. iv. c. 2. Ibid. c. v. “It is an observation made by many modern writers, that the demonstration of the existence of God, taken from the idea of a Supreme Being, of which Des Cartes is thought to be the author, was so many ages back discovered and brought to light by Anselm. Leibnitz himself makes the remark, vol. v. Oper. p. 570. Edit. Genev. 1768.”

v. 129. Donatus.] Aelius Donatus, the grammarian, in the fourth century, one of the preceptors of St. Jerome.

v. 130. Raban.] “Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mentz, is deservedly placed at the head of the Latin writers of this age.”

Mosheim, v. ii. cent. ix. p. 2 c. 2. 14.

v. 131. Joachim.] Abbot of Flora in Calabria; “whom the multitude revered as a person divinely inspired and equal to the most illustrious prophets of ancient times.” Ibid. v. iii.

cent. xiii. p. 2. c. 2. 33.

v. 134. A peer.] St. Dominic.

CANTO XIII

v. 1. Let him.] “Whoever would conceive the sight that now presented itself to me, must imagine to himself fifteen of the brightest stars in heaven, together with seven stars of Arcturus Major and two of Arcturus Minor, ranged in two circles, one within the other, each resembling the crown of Ariadne, and moving round m opposite directions.”

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

v. 29. That luminary.] Thomas Aquinas.

v. 31. One ear.] “Having solved one of thy questions, I proceed to answer the other. Thou thinkest, then, that Adam and Christ were both endued with all the perfection of which the human nature is capable and therefore wonderest at what has been said concerning Solomon”

v. 48. That.] “Things corruptible and incorruptible, are only emanations from the archetypal idea residing in the Divine mind.”

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

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

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

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

v. 62. Their wax and that which moulds it.] Matter, and the virtue or energy that acts on it.

v. 68. The heav’n.] The influence of the planetary bodies.

v. 77. The clay.] Adam.

v. 88. Who ask’d.] “He did not desire to know the number of the stars, or to pry into the subtleties of metaphysical and mathematical science: but asked for that wisdom which might fit him for his kingly office.”

v. 120. —Parmenides Melissus Bryso.]

For the singular opinions entertained by the two former of these heathen philosophers, see Diogenes Laertius, 1. ix. and Aristot.

de Caelo, 1. iii. c. 1 and Phys. l. i. c. 2. The last is also twice adduced by 2. Aristotle (Anal Post. 1. i. c. 9. and Rhet.

1. iii. c. 2.) as 3. affording instances of false reasoning.

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

v. 124. Scymitars.] A passage in the travels of Bertradon de la Brocquiere, translated by Mr. Johnes, will explain this

allusion, which has given some trouble to the commentators. That traveler, who wrote before Dante, informs us, p. 138, that the wandering Arabs used their scymitars as mirrors.

v. 126. Let not.] “Let not short-sighted mortals presume to decide on the future doom of any man, from a consideration of his present character and actions.”

CANTO XIV

v. 5. Such was the image.] The voice of Thomas Aquinas proceeding, from the circle to the centre and that of Beatrice from the centre to the circle.

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

Thou one two, and three eterne on live That raignest aie in three, two and one Uncircumscript, and all maist circonscrive, v. 81. The goodliest light.] Solomon.

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

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

v. 125. He.] “He who considers that the eyes of Beatrice became more radiant the higher we ascended, must not wonder that I do not except even them as I had not yet beheld them since our entrance into this planet.”

CANTO XV

v. 24. Our greater Muse.] Virgil Aen. 1. vi. 684.

v. 84. I am thy root.] Cacciaguida, father to Alighieri, of whom our Poet was the great-grandson.

v. 89. The mountain.] Purgatory.

v. 92. Florence.] See G. Villani, l. iii. c. 2.

v. 93. Which calls her still.] The public clock being still within the circuit of the ancient walls.

v. 98. When.] When the women were not married at too early an age, and did not expect too large a portion.

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

v. 102 Sardanapalus.] The luxurious monarch of Assyria Juvenal is here imitated, who uses his name for an instance of effeminacy. Sat.

v. 103. Montemalo ] Either an elevated spot between Rome and Viterbo, or Monte Mario, the site of the villa Mellini, commanding a view of Rome.

v. 101. Our suburban turret.] Uccellatojo, near Florence, from whence that city was discovered.

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

There is a curious description of the simple manner in which the earlier Florentines dressed themselves in G. Villani, 1 vi. c.

71.

v. 110. Of Nerli and of Vecchio.] Two of the most opulent families in Florence.

v. 113. Each.] “None fearful either of dying in banishment, or of being deserted by her husband on a scheme of battle in France.

v. 120. A Salterello and Cianghella.] The latter a shameless woman of the family of Tosa, married to Lito degli Alidosi of Imola: the former Lapo Salterello, a lawyer, with whom Dante was at variance.

v. 125. Mary.] The Virgin was involved in the pains of child-birth Purgatory, Canto XX. 21.

v. 130 Valdipado.] Cacciaguida’s wife, whose family name was Aldighieri; came from Ferrara, called Val di Pado, from its being watered by the Po.

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

See G. Villani, 1. iv. 34.

v. 136. Whose people.] The Mahometans, who were left in possession of the Holy Land, through the supineness of the Pope.

CANTO XVI

v. 10. With greeting.] The Poet, who had addressed the spirit, not knowing him to be his ancestor, with a plain “Thou,” now uses more ceremony, and calls him “You,” according to a custom introduced among the Romans in the latter times of the empire.

v. 15. Guinever.] Beatrice’s smile encouraged him to proceed just as the cough of Ginevra’s female servant gave her mistress assurance to admit the freedoms of Lancelot. See Hell, Canto V.

124.

v. 23. The fold.] Florence, of which John the Baptist was the patron saint.

v. 31. From the day.] From the Incarnation to the birth of Cacciaguida, the planet Mars had returned five hundred and fifty-three times to the constellation of Leo, with which it is supposed to have a congenial influence. His birth may, therefore, be placed about 1106.

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

The Elisei, the ancestors of Dante, resided near the entrance of that named from the Porta S. Piero, which was the last reached by the competitor in the annual race at Florence. See G. Villani, 1. iv. c. 10.

v. 44. From Mars.] “Both in the times of heathenish and of Christianity.” Hell, Canto XIII. 144.

v. 48. Campi and Certaldo and Fighine.] Country places near Florence.

v. 50. That these people.] That the inhabitants of the above-mentioned places had not been mixed with the citizens: nor the limits of Florence extended beyond Galluzzo and Trespiano.”

v. 54. Aguglione’s hind and Signa’s.] Baldo of Aguglione, and Bonifazio of Signa.

v. 56. Had not the people.] If Rome had continued in her allegiance to the emperor, and the Guelph and Ghibelline factions had thus been prevented, Florence would not have been polluted by a race of upstarts, nor lost the most respectable of her ancient families.

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

Villani, 1. v. c. 30. The individual here alluded to is no longer known.

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

2.

For swifter course cometh thing that is of wight When it descendeth than done things light.

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

v. 72. Luni, Urbisaglia.] Cities formerly of importance, but then fallen to decay.

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

v. 80. As the moon.] “The fortune of us, that are the moon’s men doth ebb and flow like the sea.” Shakespeare, 1 Henry IV.

a. i. s. 2.

v. 86. The Ughi.] Whoever is curious to know the habitations of these and the other ancient Florentines, may consult G. Villani, l. iv.

v. 91. At the poop.] Many editions read porta, “gate.” -The same metaphor is found in Aeschylus, Supp. 356, and is there also scarce understood by the critics. [GREEK HERE] Respect these wreaths, that crown your city’s poop.

v. 99. The gilded hilt and pommel.] The symbols of knighthood v. 100. The column cloth’d with verrey.] The arms of the Pigli.

v. 103. With them.] Either the Chiaramontesi, or the Tosinghi one of which had committed a fraud in measuring out the wheat from the public granary. See Purgatory, Canto XII. 99

v. 109. The bullets of bright gold.] The arms of the Abbati, as it is conjectured.

v. 110. The sires of those.] “Of the Visdomini, the Tosinghi and the Cortigiani, who, being sprung from the founders of the bishopric of Florence are the curators of its revenues, which they do not spare, whenever it becomes vacant.”

v. 113. Th’ o’erweening brood.] The Adimari. This family was so little esteemed, that Ubertino Donato, who had married a daughter of Bellincion Berti, himself indeed derived from the same stock (see Note to Hell Canto XVI. 38.) was offended with his father-in-law, for giving another of his daughters in marriage to one of them.

v. 124. The gateway.] Landino refers this to the smallness of the city: Vellutello, with less probability, to the simplicity