The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri (bts book recommendations txt) 📗

for had he thoroughly comprehended it, he would not have fallen."

v. 108. The Ethiop.] Matt. c. xii. 41.

v. 112. That volume.] Rev. c. xx. 12.

v. 114. Albert.] Purgatory, Canto VI. v. 98.

v. 116. Prague.] The eagle predicts the devastation of Bohemia by Albert, which happened soon after this time, when that Emperor obtained the kingdom for his eldest son Rodolph. See Coxe's House of Austria, 4to. ed. v. i. part 1. p. 87

v. 117. He.] Philip IV of France, after the battle of Courtrai, 1302, in which the French were defeated by the Flemings, raised the nominal value of the coin. This king died in consequence of his horse being thrown to the ground by a wild boar, in 1314

v. 121. The English and Scot.] He adverts to the disputes between John Baliol and Edward I, the latter of whom is commended in the Purgatory, Canto VII. v. 130.

v. 122. The Spaniard's luxury.] The commentators refer this to Alonzo X of Spain. It seems probable that the allusion is to Ferdinand IV who came to the crown in 1295, and died in 1312, at the age of twenty four, in consequence, as it was supposed, of his extreme intemperance. See Mariana, Hist I. xv. c. 11.

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

v. 125. The halter of Jerusalem.] Charles II of Naples and Jerusalem who was lame. See note to Purgatory, Canto VII. v. 122, and XX. v. 78.

v. 127. He.] Frederick of Sicily son of Peter III of Arragon. Purgatory, Canto VII. v. 117. The isle of fire is Sicily, where was the tomb of Anchises.

v. 133. His uncle.] James, king of Majorca and Minorca, brother to Peter III.

v. 133. His brother.] James II of Arragon, who died in 1327. See Purgatory, Canto VII. v. 117.

v. 135. Of Portugal.] In the time of Dante, Dionysius was king of Portugal. He died in 1328, after a reign of near forty-six years, and does not seem to have deserved the stigma here fastened on him. See Mariana. and 1. xv. c. 18. Perhaps the rebellious son of Dionysius may be alluded to.

v. 136. Norway.] Haquin, king of Norway, is probably meant; who, having given refuge to the murderers of Eric VII king of Denmark, A D. 1288, commenced a war against his successor, Erie VIII, "which continued for nine years, almost to the utter ruin and destruction of both kingdoms." Modern Univ. Hist. v. xxxii p. 215.

v. 136. -Him Of Ratza.] One of the dynasty of the house of Nemagna, which ruled the kingdom of Rassia, or Ratza, in Sclavonia, from 1161 to 1371, and whose history may be found in Mauro Orbino, Regno degli Slavi, Ediz. Pesaro. 1601. Uladislaus appears to have been the sovereign in Dante's time, but the disgraceful forgery adverted to in the text, is not recorded by the historian v. 138. Hungary.] The kingdom of Hungary was about this time disputed by Carobert, son of Charles Martel, and Winceslaus, prince of Bohemia, son of Winceslaus II. See Coxe's House of Austria, vol. i. p. 1. p. 86.

4to edit.

v. 140. Navarre.] Navarre was now under the yoke of France. It soon after (in 1328) followed the advice of Dante and had a monarch of its own. Mariana, 1. xv. c. 19.

v. 141. Mountainous girdle.] The Pyrenees.

v. 143. -Famagosta's streets And Nicosia's.]

Cities in the kingdom of Cyprus, at that time ruled by Henry II a pusillanimous prince. Vertot. Hist. des Chev. de Malte, 1. iii. iv. The meaning appears to be, that the complaints made by those cities of their weak and worthless governor, may be regarded as an earnest of his condemnation at the last doom.

CANTO XX

v. 6. Wherein one shines.] The light of the sun, whence he supposes the other celestial bodies to derive their light

v. 8. The great sign.] The eagle, the Imperial ensign.

v. 34. Who.] David.

v. 39. He.] Trajan. See Purgatory, Canto X. 68.

v. 44. He next.] Hezekiah.

v. 50. 'The other following.] Constantine. There is no passage in which Dante's opinion of the evil; that had arisen from the mixture of the civil with the ecclesiastical power, is more unequivocally declared.

v. 57. William.] William II, king of Sicily, at the latter part of the twelfth century He was of the Norman line of sovereigns, and obtained the appellation of "the Good" and, as the poet says his loss was as much the subject of regret in his dominions, as the presence of Charles I of Anjou and Frederick of Arragon, was of sorrow and complaint.

v. 62. Trojan Ripheus.]
Ripheus, justissimus unus
Qui fuit in Teneris, et servantissimus aequi.
Virg. Aen. 1. ii. 4—.

v. 97. This.] Ripheus.

v. 98. That.] Trajan.

v. 103. The prayers,] The prayers of St. Gregory

v. 119. The three nymphs.] Faith, Hope, and Charity. Purgatory, Canto XXIX. 116. v. 138. The pair.] Ripheus and Trajan.

CANTO XXI

v. 12. The seventh splendour.] The planet Saturn

v. 13. The burning lion's breast.] The constellation Leo.

v. 21. In equal balance.] "My pleasure was as great in complying with her will as in beholding her countenance."

v. 24. Of that lov'd monarch.] Saturn. Compare Hell, Canto XIV. 91.

v. 56. What forbade the smile.] "Because it would have overcome thee."

v. 61. There aloft.] Where the other souls were.

v. 97. A stony ridge.] The Apennine.

v. 112. Pietro Damiano.] "S. Pietro Damiano obtained a great and well-merited reputation, by the pains he took to correct the abuses among the clergy. Ravenna is supposed to have been the place of his birth, about 1007. He was employed in several important missions, and rewarded by Stephen IX with the dignity of cardinal, and the bishopric of Ostia, to which, however, he preferred his former retreat in the monastery of Fonte Aveliana, and prevailed on Alexander II to permit him to retire thither. Yet he did not long continue in this seclusion, before he was sent on other embassies. He died at Faenza in 1072. His letters throw much light on the obscure history of these times. Besides them, he has left several treatises on sacred and ecclesiastical subjects. His eloquence is worthy of a better age." Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett Ital. t. iii. 1. iv. c. 2.

v. 114. Beside the Adriatic.] At Ravenna. Some editions have FU instead of FUI, according to which reading, Pietro distinguishes himself from another Pietro, who was termed "Peccator," the sinner.

v. 117. The hat.] The cardinal's hat.

v. 118. Cephas.] St. Peter.

v. 119 The Holy Spirit's vessel.] St. Paul. See Hell, Canto II. 30.

v. 130. Round this.] Round the spirit of Pietro Damiano.

CANTO XXII

v. 14. The vengeance.] Beatrice, it is supposed, intimates the approaching fate of Boniface VIII. See Purgatory, Canto XX. 86.

v. 36. Cassino.] A castle in the Terra di Lavoro.

v. 38. I it was.] "A new order of monks, which in a manner absorbed all the others that were established in the west, was instituted, A.D. 529, by Benedict of Nursis, a man of piety and reputation for the age he lived in." Maclaine's Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. v. ii. cent. vi. p. 2. ch. 2 - 6.

v. 48. Macarius.] There are two of this name enumerated by Mosheim among the Greek theologians of the fourth century, v. i. cent. iv p. 11 ch. 2 - 9. In the following chapter, 10, it is said, "Macarius, an Egyptian monk, undoubtedly deserves the first rank among the practical matters of this time, as his works displayed, some few things excepted, the brightest and most lovely portraiture of sanctity and virtue."

v. 48. Romoaldo.] S. Romoaldo, a native of Ravenna, and the founder of the order of Camaldoli, died in 1027. He was the author of a commentary on the Psalms.

v. 70. The patriarch Jacob.] So Milton, P. L. b. iii. 510:
The stairs were such, as whereon Jacob saw
Angels ascending and descending, bands
Of guardians bright.

v. 107. The sign.] The constellation of Gemini.

v. 130. This globe.] So Chaucer, Troilus and Cresseide, b. v,

And down from thence fast he gan avise
This little spot of earth, that with the sea
Embraced is, and fully gan despite
This wretched world.

Compare Cicero, Somn. Scip. "Jam ipsa terra ita mihi parva visa est." &c. Lucan, Phar 1. ix. 11; and Tasso, G. L. c. xiv. st, 9, 10, 11.

v. 140. Maia and Dione.] The planets Mercury and Venus.

CANTO XXIII

v. 11. That region.] Towards the south, where the course of the sun appears less rapid, than, when he is in the east or the west.

v. 26. Trivia.] A name of Diana.

v. 26. Th' eternal nymphs.] The stars.

v. 36. The Might.] Our Saviour

v. 71. The rose.] The Virgin Mary.

v. 73. The lilies.] The apostles.

v. 84. Thou didst exalt thy glory.] The diving light retired upwards, to render the eyes of Dante more capable of enduring the spectacle which now presented itself.

v. 86. The name of that fair flower.] The name of the Virgin.

v. 92. A cresset.] The angel Gabriel.

v. 98. That lyre.] By synecdoche, the lyre is put for the angel

v. 99. The goodliest sapphire.] The Virgin

v. 126. Those rich-laden coffers.] Those spirits who, having sown the seed of good works on earth, now contain the fruit of their pious endeavours.

v. 129. In the Babylonian exile.] During their abode in this world.

v. 133. He.] St. Peter, with the other holy men of the Old and New testament.

CANTO XXIV

v. 28. Such folds.] Pindar has the same bold image: [GREEK HERE?] On which Hayne strangely remarks: Ad ambitus stropharum vldetur

v. 65. Faith.] Hebrews, c. xi. 1. So Marino, in one of his sonnets, which calls Divozioni:

Fede e sustanza di sperate cose,
E delle non visioili argomento.

v. 82. Current.] "The answer thou hast made is right; but let me know if thy inward persuasion is conformable to thy profession."

v. 91. The ancient bond and new.] The Old and New Testament.

v. 114. That Worthy.] Quel Baron. In the next Canto, St. James is called "Barone." So in Boccaccio, G. vi. N. 10, we find "Baron Messer Santo Antonio." v. 124. As to outstrip.] Venturi insists that the Poet has here, "made a slip;" for that John came first to the sepulchre, though Peter was the first to enter it. But let Dante have leave to explain his own meaning, in a passage from his third book De Monarchia: "Dicit etiam Johannes ipsum (scilicet Petrum) introiisse SUBITO, cum venit in monumentum, videns allum discipulum cunctantem ad ostium." Opere de Dante, Ven. 1793. T. ii. P. 146.

CANTO XXV

v. 6. The fair sheep-fold.] Florence, whence he was banished.

v. 13. For its sake.] For the sake of that faith.

v. 20. Galicia throng'd with visitants.] See Mariana, Hist. 1. xi.

v. 13. "En el tiempo," &c. "At the time that the sepulchre of the apostle St. James was discovered, the devotion for that place extended itself not only over all Spain, but even round about to foreign nations. Multitudes from all parts of the world came to visit it. Many others were deterred by the difficulty for the journey, by the roughness and barrenness of those parts, and by the incursions of the Moors, who made captives many of the pilgrims. The canons of St. Eloy afterwards (the precise time is not known), with a desire of remedying these evils, built, in many places, along the whole read, which reached as far as to France, hospitals for the reception of the pilgrims."

v. 31. Who.] The Epistle of St. James is here attributed to the elder apostle of that name, whose shrine was at Compostella, in Galicia. Which of the two was the author of it is yet doubtful. The learned and candid Michaelis contends very