v. 40. Lest th' accursed tribe.] Lest the rebellious angels should exult at seeing those who were neutral. and therefore less guilty, condemned to the same punishment with themselves. v. 50. A flag.] v. 56. This is commonly understood of Celestine the Fifth, who abdicated the papal power in 1294. Venturi mentions a work written by Innocenzio Barcellini, of the Celestine order, and printed in Milan in 1701, in which an attempt is made to put a different interpretation on this passage. v. 70. Through the blear light.] The delighted spirit Virg. En. lib. vi. 2. To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice. Shakesp. Measure for Measure, a. iii. s. 1. v. 104. As fall off the light of autumnal leaves.] Compare Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv. 214. CANTO IV. Virg. En. lib. vi. 309. v. 8. A thund'rous sound.] Milton, P. L. b. viii. 242. Imitated, as Mr. Thyer has remarked, by But long ere our approaching heard v. 50. A puissant one.] Our Saviour. v. 75. Honour the bard Sublime.] Onorate l'altissimo poeta. So Chiabrera, Canz. Eroiche. 32. Onorando l'altissimo poeta. v. 79. Of semblance neither sorrowful nor glad.] She nas to sober ne to glad. Chaucer's Dream. v. 90. The Monarch of sublimest song.] Homer. v. 100. Fitter left untold.] v. 117. Electra.] The daughter of Atlas, and mother of Dardanus, the founder of Troy. See Virg. Æn. b. viii. 134. as referred to by Dante in treatise "De Monarchia," lib. ii. "Electra, scilicet, nata magni nominis regis Atlantis, ut de ambobus testimonium reddit poeta noster in octavo ubi Æneas ad Avandrum sic ait "Dardanus Iliacæ," &c. v. 125. Julia.] The daughter of Julius Cæsar, and wife of Pompey. v. 126. The Soldan fierce.] Saladin, or Salaheddin, the rival of Richard Coeur de Leon. See D'Herbelot, Bibl Orient. and Knolles's Hist. of the Turks, p. 57 to 73; and the Life of Saladin, by Bolao'edin_Ebn Shedad, published by Albert Schultens, with a Latin translation. He is introduced by Petrarch in the Triumph of Fame, c. ii. v. 128. The master of the sapient throng.] Maestro di color che sanno. Aristotle.-Petrarch assigns the first place to Plato. See Triumph of Fame, c. iii. Pulci, in his Morgante Maggiore, c. xviii. says, v. 132. Tu se'il maestro di color che sanno. Democritus, Who sets the world at chance.] Democritus, who maintained the world to have been formed by the fortuitous concourse of atoms. v. 140. Avicen.] See D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. article Sina. He died in 1050. Pulci here again imitates our poet: v. 140. Avicenna quel che il sentimento Averrois che fece il gran comento. Him who made Morg. Mag. c. xxv. That commentary vast, Averroes.] Averroes, called by the Arabians Roschd, translated and commented the works of Aristotle. According to Tiraboschi (Storia della Lett. Ital. t. v. 1. ii. c. ii. sect. 4) he was the source of modern philosophical impiety. The critic quotes some passages from Petrarch (Senil. 1. v. ep. iii. et. Oper. v. ii. p. 1143) to show how strongly such sentiments prevailed in the time of that poet, by whom they were held in horror and detestation. He adds, that this fanatic admirer of Aristotle translated his writings with that felicity, which might be expected from one who did not know a syllable of Greek, and who was therefore compelled to avail himself of the unfaithful Arabic versions. D'Herbelot, on the other hand, informs us, that "Averroes was the first who translated Aristotle from Greek into Arabic, before the Jews had made their translation; and that we had for a long time no other text of Aristotle, except that of the Latin translation, which was made from this Arabic version of this great philosopher (Averroes), who afterwards added to it a very ample commentary, of which Thomas Aquinas, and the other scholastic writers, availed themselves, before the Greek originals of Aristotle and his commentators were known to us iu Europe." According to D'Herbelot, he died in 1198 but Tiraboschi places that event about 1206. CANTO V. v. 5. Grinning with ghastly feature.] Hence Milton : Death v. 46. As cranes.] This simile is imitated by Lorenzo de Medici, in his Ambra, a poem, first published by Mr. Roscoe, in the Appendix to his Life of Lorenzo. Marking the tracts of air, the clamorous cranes Roscoe, v. i. c. v. p. 257. 4to edit. Compare Homer. Il. iii. 3. Virgil. Æneid. 1. x. 264, and Ruccellai, Le Api, 942, and Dante's Purgatory, Canto XXIV. 63. v. 96. The land.] Ravenna. v. 99. Love, that in gentle heart is quickly learnt.] A line taken by Marino, Adone, c. cxli. st. 251. So Boccaccio, in his Filocopo. 1. 1. Amore mai non perdonò l'amore a nullo amato. And Pulci, in the Morgante Maggiore, c. iv. E perchè amor mal volontier perdona, Indeed many of the Italian poets have repeated this verse. v. 113. Francesca.] Francesca, daughter of Guido da Polenta, lord of Ravenna, was given by her father in marriage to Lanciotto, son of Malatesta, lord of Rimini, a man of extraordinary courage, but deformed in his person. His brother Paolo, who unhappily possessed those graces which the husband of Francesca wanted, engaged her affections; and being taken in adultery, they were both put to death by the enraged Lanciotto. See Notes to Canto XXVII. v. 43. The whole of this passage is alluded to by Petrarch, in his Triumph of Love, c. iii. v. 118. No greater grief than to remember days Imitated by Marino: Che non ha doglia il misero maggiore, And by Fortiguerra: Adone, c. xiv. st. 100. Ricciardetto, c. xi. st. 83. The original perhaps was in Boëtius de Consol. Philosoph. "In omni adversitate fortunæ infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem et non esse." 1. 2. pr. 4. v. 124. Lancelot.] One of the Knights of the Round Table, and the lover of Ginevra, or Guinever, celebrated in romance. The incident alluded to seems to have made a strong impression on the imagination of Dante, who introduces it again, less happily, in the Paradise, Canto XVI. v. 128. At one point.] Questo quel punto fù, che sol mi vinse. Tasso, Il Torrismondo, a. i. s. 3. So Pulci: v. 136. And like a corpse fell to the ground.] Morgante Maggoire, c. xxii. CANTO VI. v. 1. My sense reviving.] Al tornar della mente, che si chiuse, Dinanzi alla pietà de' duo cognati. Berni has made a sportive application of these lines, in his Orl. Inn. 1. iii. c. viii. st. 1. v. 21. That great worm.] So in Canto XXXIV. Lucifer is called Th' abhorred worm, that boreth through the world. Ariosto has imitated Dante : Ch' al gran verme infernal mette la briglia, Orl. Fur. c. xlvi. st. 76. v. 52. Ciacco.] So called from his inordinate appetite: Ciacco, in Italian, signifying a pig. The real name of this glutton has not been transmitted to us. He is introduced in Boccaccio's Decameron, Giorn. ix. Nov. 8. v. 61. The divided city.] The city of Florence, divided into the Bianchi and Neri factions. v. 65. The wild party from the woods.] So called, because it was headed by Veri de' Cerchi, whose family had lately come into the city from Acone, and the woody country of the Val di Nievole. v. 66. The other.] The opposite party of the Neri, at the head of which was Corso Donati. v. 67. This must fall.] v. 69. The Bianchi. Of one, who under shore Now rests.] Charles of Valois, by whose means the Neri were replaced. v. 73. The just are two in number.] Who these two were, the commentators are not agreed. v. 79. Of Farinata and Tegghiaio.] See Canto X. and Notes, and Canto XVI. and Notes. v. 80. Giacopo.] Giacopo Rusticucci. See Canto XVI. and Notes. v. 81. Arrigo, Mosca.] Of Arrigo, who is said by the commentators to have been of the noble family of the Fifanti, no mention afterwards occurs. Mosca degli Uberti is introduced in Canto XXVIII. v. 108. Consult thy knowledge.] We are referred to the following passage in St. Augustin :-"Cum fiet resurrectio carnis, et bonorum gaudia et malorum tormenta majora erunt. "At the resurrection of the flesh, both the happiness of the good and the torments of the wicked will be increased." CANTO VII. v. 1. Ah me! O Satan! Satan !] Pape Satan, Pape Satan, aleppe. Pape is said by the commentators to be the same as the Latin word papa! "strange!" Of aleppe they do not give a more satisfactory account. See the Life of Benvenuto Cellini, translated by Dr. Nugent, v. ii. b. iii. c. vii. p. 113, where he mentions "having heard the words Paix, paix, Satan! allez, paix! in the court of justice at Paris. I recollected what Dante said, when he with his master Virgil entered the gates of hell for Dante, and Giotto the painter, were together in France, and visited Paris with particular attention, where the court of justice may be considered as hell. Hence it is that Dante, who was likewise perfect master of the French, made use of that expression; and I have often been surprised that it was never understood in that sense." v. 12. The first adulterer proud.] Satan. v. 22. E'en as a billow.] As when two billows in the Irish sowndes Spenser, F. Q. b. iv. c. 1. st. 42. v. 48. Popes and cardinals.] Ariosto, having personified Avarice as a strange and hideous monster, says of her Peggio facea nella Romana corte, Orl. Fur. c. xxvi. st. 32. Worse did she in the court of Rome, for there |