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

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 forcibly for its having been written by James the Elder. Lardner rejects that opinion as absurd; while Benson argues against it, but is well answered by Michaelis, who after all, is obliged to leave the question undecided. See his Introduction to the New Testament, translated by Dr. Marsh, ed. Cambridge, 1793. V. iv. c. 26. -

1, 2, 3.

 

v. 35. As Jesus.] In the transfiguration on Mount Tabor.

 

v. 39. The second flame.] St. James.

 

v. 40. I lifted up.] “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” Ps. Cxxi. 1.

 

v. 59. From Egypt to Jerusalem.] From the lower world to heaven.

 

v. 67. Hope.] This is from the Sentences of Petrus Lombardus.

“Est autem spes virtus, qua spiritualia et aeterna bona speratam, id est, beatitudinem aeternam. Sine meritis enim aliquid sperare non spes, sed praesumptio, dici potest.” Pet. Lomb.

Sent. 1. Iii. Dist. 26. Ed. Bas. 1486. Fol.

 

v. 74. His anthem.] Psalm ix. 10.

 

v. 90. Isaias ] Chap. lxi. 10.

 

v. 94. Thy brother.] St. John in the Revelation, c. vii. 9.

 

v. 101. Winter’s month.] “If a luminary, like that which now appeared, were to shine throughout the month following the winter solstice during which the constellation Cancer appears in the east at the setting of the sun, there would be no interruption to the light, but the whole month would be as a single day.”

 

v. 112. This.] St. John, who reclined on the bosom of our Saviour, and to whose charge Jesus recommended his mother.

 

v. 121. So I.] He looked so earnestly, to descry whether St.

John were present there in body, or in spirit only, having had his doubts raised by that saying of our Saviour’s: “If I will, that he tarry till I come what is that to thee.”

 

v. 127. The two.] Christ and Mary, whom he has described, in the last Canto but one, as rising above his sight CANTO XXVI

 

v. 2. The beamy flame.] St. John.

 

v. 13. Ananias’ hand.] Who, by putting his hand on St. Paul, restored his sight. Acts, c. ix. 17.

 

v. 36. From him.] Some suppose that Plato is here meant, who, in his Banquet, makes Phaedrus say: “Love is confessedly amongst the eldest of beings, and, being the eldest, is the cause to us of the greatest goods ” Plat. Op. t. x. p. 177. Bip. ed. Others have understood it of Aristotle, and others, of the writer who goes by the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, referred to in the twenty-eighth Canto.

 

v. 40. I will make.] Exodus, c. xxxiii. 19.

 

v. 42. At the outset.] John, c. i. 1. &c.

 

v. 51. The eagle of our Lord.] St. John v. 62. The leaves.] Created beings.

 

v. 82. The first living soul.] Adam.

 

v. 107. Parhelion.] Who enlightens and comprehends all things; but is himself enlightened and comprehended by none.

 

v. 117. Whence.] That is, from Limbo. See Hell, Canto II. 53.

Adam says that 5232 years elapsed from his creation to the time of his deliverance, which followed the death of Christ.

 

v. 133. EL] Some read UN, “One,” instead of EL: but the latter of these readings is confirmed by a passage from Dante’s Treatise De Vulg. Eloq. 1. i. cap. 4. “Quod prius vox primi loquentis sonaverit, viro sanae mentis in promptu esse non dubito ipsum fuisse quod Deus est, videlicet El.” St. Isidore in the Origines, 1. vii. c. 1. had said, “Primum apud Hebraeos Dei nomen El dicitur.”

 

v. 135. Use.] From Horace, Ars. Poet. 62.

 

v. 138. All my life.] “I remained in the terrestrial Paradise only tothe seventh hour.” In the Historia Scolastica of Petrus Comestor, it is said of our first parents: Quidam tradunt eos fuisse in Paradiso septem horae.” I. 9. ed. Par. 1513. 4to.

 

CANTO XXVII

 

v. 1. Four torches.] St. Peter, St. James, St. John, and Adam.

 

v. 11. That.] St. Peter’ who looked as the planet Jupiter would, if it assumed the sanguine appearance of liars.

 

v. 20. He.] Boniface VIII.

 

v. 26. such colour.]

Qui color infectis adversi solis ab ietu Nubibus esse solet; aut purpureae Aurorae.

Ovid, Met. 1. iii. 184.

 

v. 37. Of Linus and of Cletus.] Bishops of Rome in the first century.

 

v. 40. Did Sextus, Pius, and Callixtus bleed And Urban.]

The former two, bishops of the same see, in the second; and the others, in the fourth century.

v. 42. No purpose was of ours.] “We did not intend that our successors should take any part in the political divisions among Christians, or that my figure (the seal of St. Peter) should serve as a mark to authorize iniquitous grants and privileges.”

 

v. 51. Wolves.] Compare Milton, P. L. b. xii. 508, &c.

 

v. 53. Cahorsines and Gascons.] He alludes to Jacques d’Ossa, a native of Cahors, who filled the papal chair in 1316, after it had been two years vacant, and assumed the name of John XXII., and to Clement V, a Gascon, of whom see Hell, Canto XIX. 86, and Note.

 

v. 63. The she-goat.] When the sun is in Capricorn.

 

v. 72. From the hour.] Since he had last looked (see Canto XXII.) he