fred and his (Manfred's) son. Other commentators say they were certain members of the Order of Frati Gaudenti. In 1300, the date of the poem, Alberigo was still living. 120. A Rowland for an Oliver. 124. This division of Cocytus, the Lake of Lamentation, is called Ptolomæa from Ptolomeus, 1 Maccabees xvi. 11, where the captain of Jericho inviteth Simon and two of his sons into his castle, and there treacherously murdereth them"; for "when Simon and his sons had drunk largely, Ptolomee and his men rose up, and took their weapons, and came upon Simon into the banqueting-place, and slew him, and his two sons, and certain of his servants." Or perhaps from Ptolemy, who murdered Pompey after the battle of Pharsalia. 126. Of the three Fates, Clotho held the distaff, Lachesis spun the thread, and Atropos cut it. Odyssey, XI.: "After him I perceived the might of Hercules, an image; for he himself amongst the immortal gods is delighted with banquets, and has the fair-legged Hebe, daughter of mighty Jove, and golden-sandalled Juno." 137. Ser Branco d' Oria was a Genoese, and a member of the celebrated Doria family of that city. Nevertheless he murdered at table his father-inlaw, Michel Zanche, who is mentioned Canto XXII. 88. 151. This vituperation of the Genoese reminds one of the bitter Tuscan proverb against them: "Sea without fish; mountains without trees; men without faith; and women without shame." 154. Friar Alberigo. CANTO XXXIV. 1. The fourth and last division of the Ninth Circle, the Judecca,— "the smallest circle, at the point Of all the Universe, where Dis is seated." The first line, "The banners of the king of Hell come forth," is a parody of the first line of a Latin hymn of the sixth century, sung in the churches during Passion week, and written by Fortunatus, an Italian by birth, but who died Bishop of Poitiers in 600. The first stanza of this hymn is, "Vexilla regis prodeunt, Fulget crucis mysterium, Quo carne carnis conditor, Suspensus est patibulo." See Königsfeld, Lateinische Hymnen und Gesänge aus dem Mittelalter, 64. 18. Milton, Parad. Lost, V. 708:"His countenance as the morning star, that guides The starry flock." 28. Compare Milton's descriptions of Satan, Parad. Lost, I. 192, 589, II. 636, IV. 985 "Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate, By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, So stretched out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay Chained on the burning lake." "He, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent, Looks through the horizontal misty air, moon, In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds "As when far off at sea a fleet descried Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds Close sailing from Bengala or the isles Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring Their spicy drugs: they on the trading flood Far off the flying fiend." "On the other side, Satan, alarmed, 38. The Ottimo and Benvenuto both interpret the three faces as symboliz ing Ignorance, Hatred, and Impotence. Others interpret them as signifying the three quarters of the then known world, Europe, Asia, and Africa. 45. Ethiopia; the region about the Cataracts of the Nile. 48. Milton, Parad. Lost, II. 527: "At last his sail-broad vans He spreads for flight, and in the surging smoke . Uplifted spurns the ground." 55. Landor in his Pentameron, 527, makes Petrarca say: "This is atrocious, not terrific nor grand. Alighieri is grand by his lights, not by his shadows; by his human affections, not by his infernal. As the minutest sands are the labors of some profound sea, or the spoils of some vast mountain, in like manner his horrid wastes and wearying minutenesses are the chafings of a turbulent spirit, grasping the loftiest things, and penetrating the deepest, and moving and moaning on the earth in loneliness and sadness." 62. Gabriele Rossetti, Spirito Antipapale, I. 75, Miss Ward's Tr., says: "The three spirits, who hang from the mouths of his Satan, are Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. The poet's reason for selecting those names has never yet been satisfactorily accounted for; but we have no hesitation in pronoun cing it to have been this, he considered the Pope not only a betrayer and seller of Christ, - Where gainful merchandise is made of Christ throughout the livelong day,' (Parad. 17,) and for that reason put Judas into his centre mouth; but a traitor and rebel to Cæsar, and therefore placed Brutus and Cassius in the other two mouths; for the Pope, who was originally no more than Cæsar's vicar, became his enemy, and usurped the capital of his empire, and the supreme authority. His treason to Christ was not discovered by the world in general; hence the face of Judas is hidden, He that hath his head within, and plies the feet without' (Inf. 34); his treason to Cæsar was open and manifest, therefore Brutus and Cassius show their faces." He adds in a note: "The situation of Judas is the same as that of the Popes who were guilty of simony." 68. The evening of Holy Saturday. 77. Iliad, V. 305 : "With this he struck the hip of Æneas, where the thigh turns on the hip." 95. The canonical day, from sunrise to sunset, was divided into four equal parts, called in Italian Terza, Sesta, Nona, and Vespro, and varying 125. The Mountain of Purgatory, rising out of the sea at a point directly opposite Jerusalem, upon the other side of the globe. It is an island in the South Pacific Ocean. 130. This brooklet is Lethe, whose source is on the summit of the Mountain of Purgatory, flowing down to mingle with Acheron, Styx, and Phlegethon, and form Cocytus. See Canto XIV. 136. 138. It will be observed that each of the three divisions of the Divine Comedy ends with the word "Stars," suggesting and symbolizing endless aspiration. At the end of the Inferno Dante "re-beholds the stars"; at the end of the Purgatorio he is "ready to ascend to the stars"; at the end of the Paradiso he feels the power of "that Love which moves the sun and other stars." He is now looking upon the morning stars of Easter Sunday. |