Divine Comedy, Cary's Translation, Complete

v. 92. Argo’s shadow] Quae simul ac rostro ventosnm proscidit aequor, Tortaque remigio spumis incanduit unda, Emersere feri candenti e gurgite vultus Aequoreae monstrum Nereides...

His jaws uplifting from their fell repast, That sinner wip’d them on the hairs o’ th’ head, Which he behind had mangled, then began: “Thy will obeying, I call up afresh Sorrow p...

Ere Nessus yet had reach’d the other bank, We enter’d on a forest, where no track Of steps had worn a way. Not verdant there The foliage, but of dusky hue; not light The boughs...

Mine eyes with such an eager coveting, Were bent to rid them of their ten years’ thirst, No other sense was waking: and e’en they Were fenc’d on either side from heed of aught;...

v. 7. The point.] “To that part of heaven,” as Venturi explains it, “in which the equinoctial circle and the Zodiac intersect each other, where the common motion of the heavens...

Our journey was not slacken’d by our talk, Nor yet our talk by journeying. Still we spake, And urg’d our travel stoutly, like a ship When the wind sits astern. The shadowy forms...

“I know not who he is, but know thus much He comes not singly. Do thou ask of him, For thou art nearer to him, and take heed Accost him gently, so that he may speak.”

The world was in its day of peril dark Wont to believe the dotage of fond love From the fair Cyprian deity, who rolls In her third epicycle, shed on men By stream of potent radi...

Hell’s dunnest gloom, or night unlustrous, dark, Of every planes ’reft, and pall’d in clouds, Did never spread before the sight a veil In thickness like that fog, nor to the sen...

When from their game of dice men separate, He, who hath lost, remains in sadness fix’d, Revolving in his mind, what luckless throws He cast: but meanwhile all the company Go wit...

In the year’s early nonage, when the sun Tempers his tresses in Aquarius’ urn, And now towards equal day the nights recede, When as the rime upon the earth puts on Her dazzling...

“O ye! in chosen fellowship advanc’d To the great supper of the blessed Lamb, Whereon who feeds hath every wish fulfill’d! If to this man through God’s grace be vouchsaf’d Foret...

We reach’d the summit of the scale, and stood Upon the second buttress of that mount Which healeth him who climbs. A cornice there, Like to the former, girdles round the hill; S...

Singing, as if enamour’d, she resum’d And clos’d the song, with “Blessed they whose sins Are cover’d.” Like the wood-nymphs then, that tripp’d Singly across the sylvan shadows,...

Astounded, to the guardian of my steps I turn’d me, like the chill, who always runs Thither for succour, where he trusteth most, And she was like the mother, who her son Beholdi...

The present fray had turn’d my thoughts to muse Upon old Aesop’s fable, where he told What fate unto the mouse and frog befell. For language hath not sounds more like in sense,...

It hath been heretofore my chance to see Horsemen with martial order shifting camp, To onset sallying, or in muster rang’d, Or in retreat sometimes outstretch’d for flight; Ligh...

O slight respect of man’s nobility! I never shall account it marvelous, That our infirm affection here below Thou mov’st to boasting, when I could not choose, E’en in that regio...

Now we had left the angel, who had turn’d To the sixth circle our ascending step, One gash from off my forehead raz’d: while they, Whose wishes tend to justice, shouted forth: “...

Now was the day departing, and the air, Imbrown’d with shadows, from their toils releas’d All animals on earth; and I alone Prepar’d myself the conflict to sustain, Both of sad...

What time resentment burn’d in Juno’s breast For Semele against the Theban blood, As more than once in dire mischance was rued, Such fatal frenzy seiz’d on Athamas, That he his...

Through that celestial forest, whose thick shade With lively greenness the new-springing day Attemper’d, eager now to roam, and search Its limits round, forthwith I left the ban...

It was the hour, when of diurnal heat No reliques chafe the cold beams of the moon, O’erpower’d by earth, or planetary sway Of Saturn; and the geomancer sees His Greater Fortune...

Soon as the polar light, which never knows Setting nor rising, nor the shadowy veil Of other cloud than sin, fair ornament Of the first heav’n, to duty each one there Safely con...

No longer than what time Latona’s twins Cover’d of Libra and the fleecy star, Together both, girding the’ horizon hang, In even balance from the zenith pois’d, Till from that ve...

Now was the sun so station’d, as when first His early radiance quivers on the heights, Where stream’d his Maker’s blood, while Libra hangs Above Hesperian Ebro, and new fires Me...

All ye, who in small bark have following sail’d, Eager to listen, on the advent’rous track Of my proud keel, that singing cuts its way, Backward return with speed, and your own...

v. 25. One.] Saint Buonaventura, general of the Franciscan order, in which he effected some reformation, and one of the most profound divines of his age. “He refused the archbis...

“The heathen, Lord! are come!” responsive thus, The trinal now, and now the virgin band Quaternion, their sweet psalmody began, Weeping; and Beatrice listen’d, sad And sighing,...

“O Thou!” her words she thus without delay Resuming, turn’d their point on me, to whom They but with lateral edge seem’d harsh before, ‘Say thou, who stand’st beyond the holy st...

“After that Constantine the eagle turn’d Against the motions of the heav’n, that roll’d Consenting with its course, when he of yore, Lavinia’s spouse, was leader of the flight,...

As is that ruin, which Adice’s stream On this side Trento struck, should’ring the wave, Or loos’d by earthquake or for lack of prop; For from the mountain’s summit, whence it mo...

While singly thus along the rim we walk’d, Oft the good master warn’d me: “Look thou well. Avail it that I caution thee.” The sun Now all the western clime irradiate chang’d Fro...

O thou Almighty Father, who dost make The heavens thy dwelling, not in bounds confin’d, But that with love intenser there thou view’st Thy primal effluence, hallow’d be thy name...

As much as ’twixt the third hour’s close and dawn, Appeareth of heav’n’s sphere, that ever whirls As restless as an infant in his play, So much appear’d remaining to the sun Of...

Onward I mov’d: he also onward mov’d, Who led me, coasting still, wherever place Along the rock was vacant, as a man Walks near the battlements on narrow wall. For those on th’...

Noon’s fervid hour perchance six thousand miles From hence is distant; and the shadowy cone Almost to level on our earth declines; When from the midmost of this blue abyss By tu...

Broke the deep slumber in my brain a crash Of heavy thunder, that I shook myself, As one by main force rous’d. Risen upright, My rested eyes I mov’d around, and search’d With fi...

With dazzled eyes, whilst wond’ring I remain’d, Forth of the beamy flame which dazzled me, Issued a breath, that in attention mute Detain’d me; and these words it spake: “’Twere...

Now was the hour that wakens fond desire In men at sea, and melts their thoughtful heart, Who in the morn have bid sweet friends farewell, And pilgrim newly on his road with lov...

Them sudden flight had scatter’d over the plain, Turn’d tow’rds the mountain, whither reason’s voice Drives us; I to my faithful company Adhering, left it not. For how of him De...

“The banners of Hell’s Monarch do come forth Towards us; therefore look,” so spake my guide, “If thou discern him.” As, when breathes a cloud Heavy and dense, or when the shades...

Looking into his first-born with the love, Which breathes from both eternal, the first Might Ineffable, whence eye or mind Can roam, hath in such order all dispos’d, As none may...

Before my sight appear’d, with open wings, The beauteous image, in fruition sweet Gladdening the thronged spirits. Each did seem A little ruby, whereon so intense The sun-beam g...

When he had spoke, the sinner rais’d his hands Pointed in mockery, and cried: “Take them, God! I level them at thee!” From that day forth The serpents were my friends; for round...

If e’er the sacred poem that hath made Both heav’n and earth copartners in its toil, And with lean abstinence, through many a year, Faded my brow, be destin’d to prevail Over th...

O’er better waves to speed her rapid course The light bark of my genius lifts the sail, Well pleas’d to leave so cruel sea behind; And of that second region will I sing, In whic...

From the first circle I descended thus Down to the second, which, a lesser space Embracing, so much more of grief contains Provoking bitter moans. There, Minos stands Grinning w...

Who, e’en in words unfetter’d, might at full Tell of the wounds and blood that now I saw, Though he repeated oft the tale? No tongue So vast a theme could equal, speech and thou...

When by sensations of delight or pain, That any of our faculties hath seiz’d, Entire the soul collects herself, it seems She is intent upon that power alone, And thus the error...

Soon as the charity of native land Wrought in my bosom, I the scatter’d leaves Collected, and to him restor’d, who now Was hoarse with utt’rance. To the limit thence We came, wh...

Could I command rough rhimes and hoarse, to suit That hole of sorrow, o’er which ev’ry rock His firm abutment rears, then might the vein Of fancy rise full springing: but not mi...

The teacher ended, and his high discourse Concluding, earnest in my looks inquir’d If I appear’d content; and I, whom still Unsated thirst to hear him urg’d, was mute, Mute outw...

When, disappearing, from our hemisphere, The world’s enlightener vanishes, and day On all sides wasteth, suddenly the sky, Erewhile irradiate only with his beam, Is yet again un...

Florence exult! for thou so mightily Hast thriven, that o’er land and sea thy wings Thou beatest, and thy name spreads over hell! Among the plund’rers such the three I found Thy...

Now by a secret pathway we proceed, Between the walls, that hem the region round, And the tormented souls: my master first, I close behind his steps. “Virtue supreme!” I thus be...

Now the fair consort of Tithonus old, Arisen from her mate’s beloved arms, Look’d palely o’er the eastern cliff: her brow, Lucent with jewels, glitter’d, set in sign Of that chi...

Now came I where the water’s din was heard, As down it fell into the other round, Resounding like the hum of swarming bees: When forth together issu’d from a troop, That pass’d...

His glory, by whose might all things are mov’d, Pierces the universe, and in one part Sheds more resplendence, elsewhere less. In heav’n, That largeliest of his light partakes,...

True love, that ever shows itself as clear In kindness, as loose appetite in wrong, Silenced that lyre harmonious, and still’d The sacred chords, that are by heav’n’s right hand...

Then “Glory to the Father, to the Son, And to the Holy Spirit,” rang aloud Throughout all Paradise, that with the song My spirit reel’d, so passing sweet the strain: And what I...

But Virgil rous’d me: “What yet gazest on? Wherefore doth fasten yet thy sight below Among the maim’d and miserable shades? Thou hast not shewn in any chasm beside This weakness...

Call to remembrance, reader, if thou e’er Hast, on a mountain top, been ta’en by cloud, Through which thou saw’st no better, than the mole Doth through opacous membrane; then, w...

Between two kinds of food, both equally Remote and tempting, first a man might die Of hunger, ere he one could freely choose. E’en so would stand a lamb between the maw Of two f...

The natural thirst, ne’er quench’d but from the well, Whereof the woman of Samaria crav’d, Excited: haste along the cumber’d path, After my guide, impell’d; and pity mov’d My bo...

“Hosanna Sanctus Deus Sabaoth Superillustrans claritate tua Felices ignes horum malahoth!” Thus chanting saw I turn that substance bright With fourfold lustre to its orb again,...

The very tongue, whose keen reproof before Had wounded me, that either cheek was stain’d, Now minister’d my cure. So have I heard, Achilles and his father’s javelin caus’d Pain...

“Lo! the fell monster with the deadly sting! Who passes mountains, breaks through fenced walls And firm embattled spears, and with his filth Taints all the world!” Thus me my gu...

Woe to thee, Simon Magus! woe to you, His wretched followers! who the things of God, Which should be wedded unto goodness, them, Rapacious as ye are, do prostitute For gold and...

Now had I left those spirits, and pursued The steps of my Conductor, when beheld Pointing the finger at me one exclaim’d: “See how it seems as if the light not shone From the le...

Let him, who would conceive what now I saw, Imagine (and retain the image firm, As mountain rock, the whilst he hears me speak), Of stars fifteen, from midst the ethereal host S...

Thus we from bridge to bridge, with other talk, The which my drama cares not to rehearse, Pass’d on; and to the summit reaching, stood To view another gap, within the round Of M...

In the midway of this our mortal life, I found me in a gloomy wood, astray Gone from the path direct: and e’en to tell It were no easy task, how savage wild That forest, how rob...

That sun, which erst with love my bosom warm’d Had of fair truth unveil’d the sweet aspect, By proof of right, and of the false reproof; And I, to own myself convinc’d and free...

After solution of my doubt, thy Charles, O fair Clemenza, of the treachery spake That must befall his seed: but, “Tell it not,” Said he, “and let the destin’d years come round.”...

Freely the sage, though wrapt in musings high, Assum’d the teacher’s part, and mild began: “The wound, that Mary clos’d, she open’d first, Who sits so beautiful at Mary’s feet....

“Ah me! O Satan! Satan!” loud exclaim’d Plutus, in accent hoarse of wild alarm: And the kind sage, whom no event surpris’d, To comfort me thus spake: “Let not thy fear Harm thee...

Such as the youth, who came to Clymene To certify himself of that reproach, Which had been fasten’d on him, (he whose end Still makes the fathers chary to their sons, E’en such...

After their courteous greetings joyfully Sev’n times exchang’d, Sordello backward drew Exclaiming, “Who are ye?” “Before this mount By spirits worthy of ascent to God Was sought...

“If beyond earthly wont, the flame of love Illume me, so that I o’ercome thy power Of vision, marvel not: but learn the cause In that perfection of the sight, which soon As appr...

Again mine eyes were fix’d on Beatrice, And with mine eyes my soul, that in her looks Found all contentment. Yet no smile she wore And, “Did I smile,” quoth she, “thou wouldst b...

Now upward rose the flame, and still’d its light To speak no more, and now pass’d on with leave From the mild poet gain’d, when following came Another, from whose top a sound co...

On the green leaf mine eyes were fix’d, like his Who throws away his days in idle chase Of the diminutive, when thus I heard The more than father warn me: “Son! our time Asks th...

E’en as the bird, who midst the leafy bower Has, in her nest, sat darkling through the night, With her sweet brood, impatient to descry Their wished looks, and to bring home the...

It was an hour, when he who climbs, had need To walk uncrippled: for the sun had now To Taurus the meridian circle left, And to the Scorpion left the night. As one That makes no...

“O virgin mother, daughter of thy Son, Created beings all in lowliness Surpassing, as in height, above them all, Term by th’ eternal counsel pre-ordain’d, Ennobler of thy nature...

One of the solid margins bears us now Envelop’d in the mist, that from the stream Arising, hovers o’er, and saves from fire Both piers and water. As the Flemings rear Their moun...

In fashion, as a snow-white rose, lay then Before my view the saintly multitude, Which in his own blood Christ espous’d. Meanwhile That other host, that soar aloft to gaze And c...

With equal pace as oxen in the yoke, I with that laden spirit journey’d on Long as the mild instructor suffer’d me; But when he bade me quit him, and proceed (For “here,” said h...

Now in his word, sole, ruminating, joy’d That blessed spirit; and I fed on mine, Tempting the sweet with bitter: she meanwhile, Who led me unto God, admonish’d: “Muse On other t...

There is a place within the depths of hell Call’d Malebolge, all of rock dark-stain’d With hue ferruginous, e’en as the steep That round it circling winds. Right in the midst Of...

Soon as its final word the blessed flame Had rais’d for utterance, straight the holy mill Began to wheel, nor yet had once revolv’d, Or ere another, circling, compass’d it, Moti...

Now had the sun to that horizon reach’d, That covers, with the most exalted point Of its meridian circle, Salem’s walls, And night, that opposite to him her orb Sounds, from the...

The hue, which coward dread on my pale cheeks Imprinted, when I saw my guide turn back, Chas’d that from his which newly they had worn, And inwardly restrain’d it. He, as one Wh...

My theme pursuing, I relate that ere We reach’d the lofty turret’s base, our eyes Its height ascended, where two cressets hung We mark’d, and from afar another light Return the...

“Through me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me among the people lost for aye. Justice the founder of my fabric mov’d: To rear me wa...

O fond anxiety of mortal men! How vain and inconclusive arguments Are those, which make thee beat thy wings below For statues one, and one for aphorisms Was hunting; this the pr...

When we had passed the threshold of the gate (Which the soul’s ill affection doth disuse, Making the crooked seem the straighter path), I heard its closing sound. Had mine eyes...

From centre to the circle, and so back From circle to the centre, water moves In the round chalice, even as the blow Impels it, inwardly, or from without. Such was the image gla...

And now the verse proceeds to torments new, Fit argument of this the twentieth strain Of the first song, whose awful theme records The spirits whelm’d in woe. Earnest I look’d I...

So she who doth imparadise my soul, Had drawn the veil from off our pleasant life, And bar’d the truth of poor mortality; When lo! as one who, in a mirror, spies The shining of...

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...

v. 2. The treachery.] He alludes to the occupation of the kingdom of Sicily by Robert, in exclusion of his brother s son Carobert, or Charles. Robert, the rightful heir. See G....

My sense reviving, that erewhile had droop’d With pity for the kindred shades, whence grief O’ercame me wholly, straight around I see New torments, new tormented souls, which wa...

v. 87. lycurgus.] Statius, Theb. 1. iv. and v. Hypsipile had left her infant charge, the son of Lycurgus, on a bank, where it was destroyed by a serpent, when she went to show t...

Upon the utmost verge of a high bank, By craggy rocks environ’d round, we came, Where woes beneath more cruel yet were stow’d: And here to shun the horrible excess Of fetid exha...

v. 14. Count Ugolino.] “In the year 1288, in the month of July, Pisa was much divided by competitors for the sovereignty; one party, composed of certain of the Guelphi, being he...

v. 14. Of Arezzo him.] Benincasa of Arezzo, eminent for his skill in jurisprudence, who, having condemned to death Turrino da Turrita brother of Ghino di Tacco, for his robberie...

v. 30. Nicholas.] The story of Nicholas is, that an angel having revealed to him that the father of a family was so impoverished as to resolve on exposing the chastity of his th...

v. 1. After that Constantine the eagle turn’d.] Constantine, in transferring the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, carried the eagle, the Imperial ensign, from the west to...

v. 12. Josaphat.] It seems to have been a common opinion among the Jews, as well as among many Christians, that the general judgment will be held in the valley of Josaphat, or J...

v. 72. Fresh emeralds.] Under foot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth with rich inlay Broider’d the ground, more colour’d than with stone Of costliest emblem. Milton, P. L. b. iv....

v. 20. Buonaggiunta.] Buonaggiunta Urbiciani, of Lucca. “There is a canzone by this poet, printed in the collection made by the Giunti, (p. 209,).land a sonnet to Guido Guinicel...

v. 28. Brunetto.] “Ser Brunetto, a Florentine, the secretary or chancellor of the city, and Dante’s preceptor, hath left us a work so little read, that both the subject of it an...

v. 38. Polenta’s eagle.] Guido Novello da Polenta, who bore an eagle for his coat of arms. The name of Polenta was derived from a castle so called in the neighbourhood of Britto...

v. 8. A tongue not us’d To infant babbling.] Ne da lingua, che chiami mamma, o babbo. Dante in his treatise “ De Vulg. Eloq.” speaking of words not admissble in the loftier, or...

v. 10. O Tagliocozzo.] He alludes to tile victory which Charles gained over Conradino, by the sage advice of the Sieur de Valeri, in 1208. G. Villani, l. vii. c. 27.

v. 10. Betwixt Corneto and Cecina’s stream.] A wild and woody tract of country, abounding in deer, goats, and wild boars. Cecina is a river not far to the south of Leghorn, Corn...

v. 30. Before whose eyes.] Amphiaraus, one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes. He is said to have been swallowed up by an opening of the earth. See Lidgate’s Storie of Thebe...

v. 117. Electra.] The daughter of Atlas, and mother of Dardanus the founder of Troy. See Virg. Aen. b. viii. 134. as referred to by Dante in treatise “De Monarchia,” lib. ii. “E...

v. 4. Epicycle,] “In sul dosso di questo cerchio,” &c. Convito di Dante, Opere, t. i. p. 48, ed. Ven. 1793. “Upon the back of this circle, in the heaven of Venus, whereof we are...

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...

v. 19. Marsyas.] Ovid, Met. 1. vi. fab. 7. Compare Boccaccio, II Filocopo, 1. 5. p. 25. v. ii. Ediz. Fir. 1723. “Egli nel mio petto entri,” &c. - “May he enter my bosom, and let...

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...

v. 11. Haste, that mars all decency of act. Aristotle in his Physiog iii. reekons it among the “the signs of an impudent man,” that he is “quick in his motions.” Compare Sophoel...

v. 36. He arriv’d.] Our Saviour, who, according to Dante, when he ascended from hell, carried with him the souls of the patriarchs, and other just men, out of the first circle....

v. 38. Gualdrada.] Gualdrada was the daughter of Bellincione Berti, of whom mention is made in the Paradise, Canto XV, and XVI. He was of the family of Ravignani, a branch of th...

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.

v. 5. Aesop’s fable.] The fable of the frog, who offered to carry the mouse across a ditch, with the intention of drowning him when both were carried off by a kite. It is not am...

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...

v. 9. Shall feel what Prato.] The poet prognosticates the calamities which were soon to befal his native city, and which he says, even her nearest neighbor, Prato, would wish he...

v. 61. Thy grandson.] Fulcieri de’ Calboli, grandson of Rinieri de’ Calboli, who is here spoken to. The atrocities predicted came to pass in 1302. See G. Villani, 1. viii c. 59

v. 1. In the year’s early nonage.] “At the latter part of January, when the sun enters into Aquarius, and the equinox is drawing near, when the hoar-frosts in the morning often...

v. 58. I was of Latinum.] Omberto, the son of Guglielino Aldobrandeseo, Count of Santafiore, in the territory of Sienna His arrogance provoked his countrymen to such a pitch of...

v. 36. Hope not to scare God’s vengeance with a sop.] “Let not him who hath occasioned the destruction of the church, that vessel which the serpent brake, hope to appease the an...

v. 6. A wind-mill.] The author of the Caliph Vathek, in the notes to that tale, justly observes, that it is more than probable that Don Quixote’s mistake of the wind-mills for g...

v. 45. Yoke.] Vellutello understands this of the vicinity of the mountain to Nocera and Gualdo; and Venturi (as I have taken it) of the heavy impositions laid on those places by...

v. 46. I was of Lombardy, and Marco call’d.] A Venetian gentleman. “Lombardo” both was his surname and denoted the country to which he belonged. G. Villani, 1. vii. c. 120, term...

v. 21. The bird, that most Delights itself in song.] I cannot think with Vellutello, that the swallow is here meant. Dante probably alludes to the story of Philomela, as it is f...

v. 18. Saint John’s fair dome.] The apertures in the rock were of the same dimensions as the fonts of St. John the Baptist at Florence, one of which, Dante says he had broken, t...

v. 79. Ten paces.] For an explanation of the allegorical meaning of this mysterious procession, Venturi refers those “who would see in the dark” to the commentaries of Landino,...

v. 43. Such diff’rence.] The material world and the intelligential (the copy and the pattern) appear to Dante to differ in this respect, that the orbits of the latter are more s...

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...

v. 28. Who reads the name.] “He, who pretends to distinguish the letters which form OMO in the features of the human face, “might easily have traced out the M on their emaciated...

v. 1. The teacher ended.] Compare Plato, Protagoras, v. iii. p. 123. Bip. edit. [GREEK HERE] Apoll. Rhod. 1. i. 513, and Milton, P. L. b. viii. 1. The angel ended, &c.

v. 51. The good king Thibault.] “Thibault I. king of Navarre, died on the 8th of June, 1233, as much to be commended for the desire he showed of aiding the war in the Holy Land,...

v. 9. Two fix’d a gaze.] The allegorical interpretation of Vellutello whether it be considered as justly terrible from the text or not, conveys so useful a lesson, that it deser...

v. 39. Charlemagne.] L. Pulci commends Dante for placing Charlemagne and Orlando here: Io mi confido ancor molto qui a Dante Che non sanza cagion nel ciel su misse Carlo ed Orla...

v. 5. Power divine Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.] The three persons of the blessed Trinity. v. 9. all hope abandoned.] Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate. So Berni, Or...

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 B...

v. 26. Geri of Bello.] A kinsman of the Poet’s, who was murdered by one of the Sacchetti family. His being placed here, may be considered as a proof that Dante was more impartia...

v. 76. From thence I came.] Giacopo del Cassero, a citizen of Fano who having spoken ill of Azzo da Este, Marquis of Ferrara, was by his orders put to death. Giacopo, was overta...

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,...

v. 1. The very tongue.] Vulnus in Herculeo quae quondam fecerat hoste Vulneris auxilium Pellas hasta fuit. Ovid, Rem. Amor. 47. The same allusion was made by Bernard de Ventadou...

Verse 1. In the midway.] That the era of the Poem is intended by these words to be fixed to the thirty fifth year of the poet’s age, A.D. 1300, will appear more plainly in Canto...

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 papae! “strange!” Of aleppe they do not give a mo...

v. 1. No longer.] As short a space, as the sun and moon are in changing hemispheres, when they are opposite to one another, the one under the sign of Aries, and the other under...

v. 127. As florets.] This simile is well translated by Chaucer— But right as floures through the cold of night Iclosed, stoupen in her stalkes lowe, Redressen hem agen the sunne...

v. 1. Six thousand miles.] He compares the vanishing of the vision to the fading away of the stars at dawn, when it is noon-day six thousand miles off, and the shadow, formed by...

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 th...

v. 18. A golden-feathered eagle. ] Chaucer, in the house of Fame at the conclusion of the first book and beginning of the second, represents himself carried up by the “grim pawe...

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 p...

v. 23. Erictho.] Erictho, a Thessalian sorceress, according to Lucan, Pharsal. l. vi. was employed by Sextus, son of Pompey the Great, to conjure up a spirit, who should inform...

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 hav...

v. 90. The Lady.] St. Clare, the foundress of the order called after her She was born of opulent and noble parents at Assisi, in 1193, and died in 1253. See Biogr. Univ. t. 1. p...

v. 69. Trajan the Emperor. For this story, Landino refers to two writers, whom he calls “Heunando,” of France, by whom he means Elinand, a monk and chronicler, in the reign of P...

v. 18. Phlegyas.] Phlegyas, who was so incensed against Apollo for having violated his daughter Coronis, that he set fire to the temple of that deity, by whose vengeance he was...

v. 1. When.] It must be owned the beginning of this Canto is somewhat obscure. Bellutello refers, for an elucidation of it, to the reasoning of Statius in the twenty-fifth canto...

v. 140. Our resurrection certain.] “Venturi appears to mistake the Poet’s reasoning, when he observes: “Wretched for us, if we had not arguments more convincing, and of a higher...

v. 1. The youth.] Phaeton, who came to his mother Clymene, to inquire of her if he were indeed the son of Apollo. See Ovid, Met. 1. i. ad finem.

Venturi supposes that Dante might have mistaken the meaning of the word sacra, and construed it “holy,” instead of “cursed.” But I see no necessity for having recourse to so imp...

v. 29. E’en thus the Romans.] In the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII., to remedy the inconvenience occasioned by the press of people who were passing over the bridge of St. Angelo...

v. 11. Birds of chattering note.] For the fable of the daughters of Pierus, who challenged the muses to sing, and were by them changed into magpies, see Ovid, Met. 1. v. fab. 5.

v. 1. Now had the sun.] Dante was now antipodal to Jerusalem, so that while the sun was setting with respect to that place which he supposes to be the middle of the inhabited ea...

v. 33. The scourge.] “The chastisement of envy consists in hearing examples of the opposite virtue, charity. As a curb and restraint on this vice, you will presently hear very d...

v. 93. Bernard.] St. Bernard, the venerable abbot of Clairvaux, and the great promoter of the second crusade, who died A.D. 1153, in his sixty-third year. His sermons are called...

v. 9. Pope Anastasius.] The commentators are not agreed concerning the identity of the person, who is here mentioned as a follower of the heretical Photinus. By some he is suppo...

v. 24. Plato.] [GREEK HERE] Plato Timaeus v. ix. p. 326. Edit. Bip. “The Creator, when he had framed the universe, distributed to the stars an equal number of souls, appointing...

v. 37. One of Santa Zita’s elders.] The elders or chief magistrates of Lucca, where Santa Zita was held in especial veneration. The name of this sinner is supposed to have been...

v. 4. The geomancer.] The geomancers, says Landino, when they divined, drew a figure consisting of sixteen marks, named from so many stars which constitute the end of Aquarius a...

v. 133. Sev’n times the tired sun.] “The sun shall not enter into the constellation of Aries seven times more, before thou shalt have still better cause for the good opinion tho...

v. 33. Schicchi.] Gianni Schicci, who was of the family of Cavalcanti, possessed such a faculty of moulding his features to the resemblance of others, that he was employed by Si...

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,...

With such a grace, The giants that attempted to scale heaven When they lay dead on the Phlegren plain Mars did appear to Jove. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Prophetess, a. 2. s. 3.

Spenser, F. Q. b. ii. c. ix. st. 29. See Virg. Aen. 1. viii. 416. and Berni. Orl. Inn 1. i. c. xvi. st. 21. It would be endless to refer to parallel passages in the Greek writers.

v. 14. The feather’d quiristers] Imitated by Boccaccio, Fiammetta, 1. iv. “Odi i queruli uccelli,” &c. —“Hear the querulous birds plaining with sweet songs, and the boughs tremb...

v. 71. Save one.] “Except that principle of rarity and denseness which thou hast assigned.” By “formal principles, “principj formali, are meant constituent or essential causes.”...

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.]...

v. 110. Priscian.] There is no reason to believe, as the commentators observe that the grammarian of this name was stained with the vice imputed to him; and we must therefore su...

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....

v. 66. -More wise Than thou, has erred.] Averroes is said to be here meant. Venturi refers to his commentary on Aristotle, De Anim 1. iii. c. 5. for the opinion that there is on...

v. 90. The land whereon no shadow falls.] “When the wind blows, from off Africa, where, at the time of the equinox, bodies being under the equator cast little or no shadow; or,...

v.8. In that long war.] The war of Hannibal in Italy. “When Mago brought news of his victories to Carthage, in order to make his successes more easily credited, he commanded the...

v. 101. How shall we those requite.] The answer of Pisistratus the tyrant to his wife, when she urged him to inflict the punishment of death on a young man, who, inflamed with l...

v. 71. The beard.] “I perceived, that when she desired me to raise my beard, instead of telling me to lift up my head, a severe reflection was implied on my want of that wisdom...

v. 89. From Tolosa.] Dante, as many others have done, confounds Statius the poet, who was a Neapolitan, with a rhetorician of the same name, who was of Tolosa, or Thoulouse. Thu...

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...

v. 53. A pouch.] A purse, whereon the armorial bearings of each were emblazoned. According to Landino, our poet implies that the usurer can pretend to no other honour, than such...

v. 102. I am Leah.] By Leah is understood the active life, as Rachel figures the contemplative. The divinity is the mirror in which the latter looks. Michel Angelo has made thes...