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ened steel, darts it at Pallas, and thus speaks: See whether ours be not the more penetrating dart. He said; and with a quivering stroke the point pierces through the mid-shield, through so many plates of iron, so many of brass, while the bull's hide so many times encompasses it, and through the corslet's cumbrous folds transfixes his breast with a hideous gash. He in vain wrenches out the reeking weapon from the wound; at one and the same passage the blood and soul issue forth. Down on his wound he falls: over him his armour gave a clang; and in death with bloody jaws he bites the hostile ground."

37. In Alba Longa, built by Ascanius, son of Æneas, on the borders of the Alban Lake. The period of three hundred years is traditionary, not historic.

39. The Horatii and Curatii.

stationed in the vestibule and porticoes obtained credit, or rather favour, as a to announce the death of the tyrant, and strange example of the vicissitudes of to excite a sedition in the capital. But fortune." the indiscretion of an accomplice saved 36. The son of Evander, sent to assist the poor remnant of the days of Justinian. Æneas, and slain by Turnus. Virgil, The conspirators were detected and seized, Eneid, X., Davidson's Tr.: "Turnus, with daggers hidden under their gar-long poising a javelin tipped with sharpments; Marcellus died by his own hand, and Sergius was dragged from the sanctuary. Pressed by remorse, or tempted by the hopes of safety, he accused two officers of the household of Belisarius; and torture forced them to declare that they had acted according to the secret instructions of their patron. Posterity will not hastily believe that a hero who, in the vigour of life, had disdained the fairest offers of ambition and revenge, should stoop to the murder of his prince, whom he could not long expect to survive. His followers were impatient to fly; but flight must have been supported by rebellion, and he had lived enough for nature and for glory. Belisarius appeared before the council with less fear than indignation; after forty years' service, the Emperor had prejudged his guilt; and injustice was sanctified by the presence and authority of the patriarch. The life of Belisarius was graciously spared; but his fortunes were sequestered, and from December to July he was guarded as a prisoner in his own palace. At length his innocence was acknowledged; his freedom and honours were restored; and death, which might be hastened by resentment and grief, rcmoved him from the world about eight months after his deliverance. The name of Belisarius can never die; but instead of the funeral, the monuments, the statues, so justly due to his memory, I only read that his treasures, the spoils of the Goths and Vandals, were immediately confiscated for the Emperor. Some decent portion was reserved, however, for the use of his widow; and as Antonina had much to repent, she devoted the last remains of her life and fortune to the foundation of a convent. Such is the simple and genuine narrative of the fall of Belisarius and the ingratitude of Jus-driven out of Italy by Curius, his army tinian. That he was deprived of his eyes, and reduced by envy to beg his bread,'Give a penny to Belisarius the general!' is a fiction of later times, which has

40. From the rape of the Sabine women, in the days of Romulus, the first of the seven kings of Rome, down to the violence done to Lucretia by Tarquinius Superbus, the last of them.

44. Brennus was the king of the Gauls, who, entering Rome unopposed, found the city deserted, and the Senators seated in their ivory chairs in the Forum, so silent and motionless that his soldiers took them for the statues of gods. He burned the city and laid siege to the Capitol, whither the people had fled for safety, and which was preserved from surprise by the cackling of the sacred geese in the Temple of Juno. Finally Brennus and his army were routed by Camillus, and tradition says that not one escaped.

Pyrrhus was a king of Epirus, who boasted his descent from Achilles, and whom Hannibal called "the greatest of commanders." He was nevertheless

of eighty thousand being routed by thirty thousand Romans; whereupon he said that, "if he had soldiers like the Romans, or if he Romans had him for a general,

he would leave no corner of the earth unseen, and no nation unconquered.'

46. Titus Manlius, surnamed Torquatus, from the collar (torques) which he took from a fallen foe; and Quinctius, surnamed Cincinnatus, or "the curly haired."

47. Three of the Decii, father, son, and grandson, sacrificed their lives in battle at different times for their country. The Fabii also rendered signal services to the state, but are chiefly known in history through one of their number, Quinctius Maximus, surnamed Cunctator, or the Delayer, from whom we have "the Fabian policy."

53. The hill of Fiesole, overlooking Florence, where Dante was born. Fiesole was destroyed by the Romans for giving refuge to Catiline and his fellow conspirators.

55. The birth of Christ. Milton, Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity, 3, 4:

"But he, her fears to cease,

Sent down the meek-eyed Peace:

when Cæsar took from him the kingdom of Egypt, and gave it to Cleopatra.

70. Juba, king of Numidia, who protected Pompey, Cato, and Scipio after the battle of Pharsalia. Being conquered by Cæsar, his realm became a Roman province, of which Sallust the historian was the first governor.

Milton, Sams. Agon., 1695:His cloudless thunder bolted on their heads." "But as an eagle

71. Towards Spain, where some remnants of Pompey's army still remained under his two sons. When these were subdued the civil war was at an end.

73. Octavius Augustus, nephew of Julius Cæsar. At the battle of Philippi he defeated Brutus and Cassius, and established the Empire.

75. On account of the great slaughter made by Augustus in his battles with Mark Antony and his brother Lucius, in the neighbourhood of these cities.

81. Augustus closed the gates of the temple of Janus as a sign of universal

She, crowned with olive-green, came softly peace, in the year of Christ's birth.

sliding

Down through the turning sphere,

His ready harbinger,

86. Tiberius Cæsar.

90. The crucifixion of Christ, in which

With turtle wing the amorous clouds di- the Romans took part in the person of

viding;

And, waving wide her myrtle wand,

Pontius Pilate.

92. The destruction of Jerusalem under

She strikes a universal peace through sea and Titus, which avenged the crucifixion.

land.

"No war or battle's sound

Was heard the world around:

The idle spear and shield were high up
hung;

The hooked chariot stood
Unstained with hostile blood;

The trumpet spake not to the armed throng;
And kings sat still with awful eye,

As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by."

65. Durazzo in Macedonia, and Pharsalia in Thessaly.

66. Gower, Conf. Amant., II. :-

"That one sleeth, and that other sterveth,
But aboven all his prise deserveth
This knightly Romain; where he rode
His dedly swerd no man abode,
Ayen the which was no defence:
Egipte fledde in his presence.'

67. Antandros, a city, and Simois, a river, near Troy, whence came the Roman eagle with Aneas into Italy.

69. It was an evil hour for Ptolemy,

94. When the Church was assailed by the Lombards, who were subdued by Charlemagne.

98. Referring back to line 31 :

"In order that thou see with how great reason Men move against the standard sacrosanct, Both who appropriate and who oppose it."

100. The Golden Lily, or Fleur-de-lis of France. The Guelfs, uniting with the French, opposed the Ghibellines, who had appropriated the imperial standard to their own party purposes.

106. Charles II. of Apulia, son of Charles of Anjou.

III. Change the imperial cagle for the lilies of France.

112. Mercury is the smallest of the planets, with the exception of the Asteroids, being sixteen times smaller than the Earth.

114. Speaking of the planet Mercury, Buti says: "We are now to consider the

effects which Mercury produces upon us in the world below, for which honour and blame are given to the planet; for as Albumasar says in the introduction to his seventh treatise, ninth division, where he treats of the nature of the planets and of their properties, Mercury signifies these twenty-two things among others, namely, desire of knowledge and of seeing secret things; interpretation of the Deity, of oracles and prophecies; foreknowledge of things future; knowledge and profundity of knowledge in profound books; study of wisdom; memory of stories and tales; eloquence with polish of language; subtilty of genius; desire of lordship; appetite of praise and fame; colour and subtilty of speech; subtilty of genius in everything to which man betakes himself; desire of perfection; cunning of hand in all arts; practice of trade; selling, buying, giving, receiving, stealing, cheating; concealing thoughts in the mind; change of habits; youthfulness, lust, abundance, murmurs, lies, false testimony, and many other things as being therein contained. And therefore our author feigns, that those who have been active in the world, and have lived with political and moral virtues, show themselves in the sphere of Mercury, because Mercury exercises such influence, according to the astrologers, as has been shown; but it is in man's free will to follow the good influence and avoid the bad, and hence springs the merit and demerit."

Milton, Lycidas, 70 :—

"Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise,

(That last infirmity of noble mind,)

To scorn delights, and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears
And slits the thin-spun life. 'But not the
praise,'

Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling

ears:

Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,
Nor in the glistering foil

Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies;
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes,
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove:
As he pronounces lastly on each deed,
Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed.""
121. Piccarda, Canto III. 70, says:
Brother, our will is quieted by virtue

Of charity, that makes us wish alone
For what we have, nor gives us thirst for

niore.

128. Villani, VI. Ch. 90, relates the story of Romeo (in Italian Roméo) as follows, though it will be observed that he uses the word romeo not as a proper, but as a common noun, in its sense of pilgrim: "There arrived at his court a pilgrim, who was returning from St. James; and hearing of the goodness of Count Raymond, he tarried in his court, and was so wise and worthy, and found such favour with the Count, that he made him master and director of all things. He was always clad in a decent and clerical habit, and in a short time, by his dexterity and wisdom, increased the income of his lord threefold, maintaining always a grand and honourable court.

Four daughters had the Count, and no son. By the wisdom and address of the good pilgrim, he first married the eldest to the good King Louis of France by means of money, saying to the Count, Let me manage this, and do not be troubled at the cost; for if thou marry the first well, on account of this relation. ship thou wilt marry all the others better, and at less cost.' And so it came to pass; for straightway the King of England, in order to be brother-in-law of the King of France, took the second for a small sum of money; then his brother, being elected King of the Romans, took the third; and the fourth still remaining to be married, the good pilgrim said, With this one I want thee to have a brave son, who shall be thy heir;' and so he did. Finding Charles, Count of Anjou, brother of King Louis of France, he said, 'Give her to this man, for he will be the best man in the world;' prophesying concerning him, and so it was done. Then it came to pass through envy, which spoils every good thing, that the barons of Provence accused the good pilgrim of having badly managed the treasury of the Count, and had him called to a reckoning. The noble pilgrim said: "Count, I have served thee a long time, and brought thee from low to high estate, and for this, through false counsel of thy folk, thou art little grateful. have lived modestly on thy bounty. came to thy court a poor pilgrim, and Have my mule and my staff and scrip given back to me as when I came, and I ask no further wages.' The Count

would not have him go; but on no account would he remain; and he departed as he had come, and never was it known whence he came, nor whither he went. Many thought that his was a sainted soul.'

142. Lord Bacon says in his Essay on Adversity: "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New, which carrieth the greater benediction and the clearer revelation of God's favour. Yet, even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath laboured more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon."

CANTO VII.

1. "Hosanna, holy God of Sabaoth, illuminating with thy brightness the happy fires of these realms."

Dante is still in the planet Mercury, which receives from the sun six times more light and heat than the earth.

5. By Substance is here meant spirit, or angel; the word having the sense of Subsistence. See Canto XIII. Note 58.

7. The rapidity of the motion of the flying spirits is beautifully expressed in these lines.

10. Namely, the doubt in his mind. 14. Bice, or Beatrice.

might not appear outwardly, as Statius the poet relates of Theban (Edipus, when he says, that in eternal night he hid his shame accursed. She shows herself in the mouth, as colour behind glass. And what is laughter but a coruscation of the delight of the soul, that is, a light appearing outwardly, as it exists within? And therefore it behoveth man to show his soul in moderate joy, to laugh moderately with dignified severity, and with slight motion of the arms; so that the Lady who then shows herself, as has been said, may appear modest, and not dissolute. Hence the Book of the Four Cardinal Virtues commands us, 'Let thy laughter be without cachinnation, that is to say, without cackling like a hen.' Ah, wonderful laughter of my Lady, that never was perceived but by the eye!"

20. Referring back to Canto VI. "To do vengeance

92

Upon the vengeance of the ancient sin."
27. Milton, Par. Lost, I. I, the
story

"Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful seat.'

36. Sincere in the sense of pure.

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65. Plato, Timæus, Davis's Tr., X. : "Let us declare then on what account the framing Artificer settled the formaHe was good; tion of this universe. and in the good envy is never engendered about anything whatever. Hence, being free from this, he desired that all things should as much as possible resemble himself.”

17. Convito, III. 8: "And in these
two places I say these pleasures appear,
saying, In her eyes and in her sweet
smile; which two places by a beautiful
similitude may be called balconies of
the Lady who inhabits the edifice of
the body, that is, the Soul; since here,
although as if veiled, she often shows
herself. She shows herself in the eyes
so manifestly, that he who looks care-
fully can recognize her present passion. And again, VIII. 491 :—
Hence, inasmuch as six passions are
peculiar to the human soul, of which
the Philosopher makes mention in his
Rhetoric, that is, grace, zeal, mercy,
envy, love, and shame, with none of
these can the Soul be impassioned, with-
out its semblance coming to the window
of the eyes, unless it be kept within by
great effort. Hence one of old plucked
out his eyes, so that his inward shame

Also Milton, Par. Lost, I. 259:--
"The Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy."

"Thou hast fulfilled

Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,
Giver of all things fair! but fairest this
Of all thy gifts! nor enviest."

67. Dante here discriminates between the direct or immediate inspirations of God, and those influences that come indirectly through the stars. In the Convito, VII. 3, he says: "The good

ness of God is received in one manner by disembodied substances, that is, by the Angels (who are without material grossness, and as it were diaphanous on account of the purity of their form), and in another manner by the human soul, which, though in one part it is free from matter, in another is impeded by it; (as a man who is wholly in the water, except his head, of whom it cannot be said he is wholly in the water nor wholly out of it;) and in another manner by the animals, whose soul is all absorbed in matter, but somewhat ennobled; and in another manner by the metals, and in another by the earth; because it is the most material, and therefore the most remote from and the most inappropriate for the first most simple and noble virtue, which is solely intellectual, that is, God."

And in Canto XXIX. 136 :

"The primal light, that all irradiates,

By modes as many is received therein,
As are the splendours wherewith it is mated."

76. Convito, VII. 3: "Between the angelic nature, which is an intellectual thing, and the human soul there is no step, but they are both almost continuous in the order of gradation. Thus we are to suppose and firmly to believe, that a man may be so noble, and of such lofty condition, that he shall be almost an angel."

130. The Angels, and the Heavens, and the human soul, being immediately inspired by God, are immutable and indestructible. But the elements and the souls of brutes and plants are controlled by the stars, and are mutable and perish

able.

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CANTO VIII.

1. The ascent to the Third Heaven, or that of Venus, where are seen the

spirits of Lovers. Of this Heaven Dante says, Convito, II. 14:—

"The Heaven of Venus may be compared to Rhetoric for two properties; the first is the brightness of its aspect, which is most sweet to look upon, more than any other star; the second is its appearance, now in the morning, now in the evening. And these two properties sciences, for that is principally its intenare in Rhetoric, the sweetest of all the tion. It appears in the morning when the rhetorician speaks before the face of his audience; it appears in the evening, that is, retrograde, when the letter in part remote speaks for the rhetorician." For the influences of Venus, see Canto IX. Note 33.

2. In the days of "the false and lying gods,” when the world was in peril of damnation for misbelief. Cypria, or Cyprigna, was a title of Venus, from the place of her birth, Cyprus.

Venus, the third planet, was its sup3. The third Epicycle, or that of posed motion from west to east, while the whole heavens were swept onward from east to west by the motion of the Primum Mobile.

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In the Convito, II. 4, Dante says: Upon the back of this circle (the Equatorial) in the Heaven of Venus, of which we are now treating, is a little Sphere, which revolves of itself in this heaven, and whose orbit the astrologers this heaven moves and revolves with its call Epicycle." And again, II. 7: "All Epicycle from east to west, once every natural day; but whether this movement be by any Intelligence, or by the sweep of the Primum Mobile, God knoweth; in me it would be presumptuous to judge.'

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Milton, Par. Lost, VIII. 72:

"From man or angel the great Architect
Did wisely to conceal, and not divulge
His secrets to be scanned by them who ought
Rather admire; or, if they list to try
Conjecture, He his fabric of the heavens
Hath left to their disputes; perhaps to move
His laughter at their quaint opinions wide
Hereafter, when they come to model heaven
And calculate the stars; now they will wield

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