NOTES. Page 208. (Line 1.) See note to last canto, line 140. (7.) Beatrice tells him that the shout he heard was the effect of righteous zeal: "As if she had said, you are in a place where there is nothing to be afraid of, but all is full of safety and holiness."-Ottimo Commento. (10.) See last canto, line 58. Page 209. (Line 13.) Beatrice adds, that if Dante had understood the words uttered in the shout, he would have foreknown the vengeance impending upon the Priests. (28.) St. Benedict. Page 210. (Line 37. He founded a monastery on the side of the Cassine mount, and built an altar there to the true God, in place of an oracle of Apollo. (49.) There were two celebrated Devotees of the name of Maccarius. Romoaldo was a native of Ravenna, and founded the order of Camaldoli, in the tenth century. Page 211. (Line 70.) See note to xxi. 28. (82.) See Inf. xi. 109. St. Benedict inveighs against the clergy for giving to relatives that which was entrusted to them for the poor. Page 212. (Line 91.) Pietro Damiano is here spoken of. See note, canto xxi. 121. (93.) The change from white to dark is thus explained: "Reflect upon the pride, the wealth, and the arrogance to which the clergy are arrived, and you will see that the Christian virtues are changed into the opposite vices."-Costa. (94.) "The sea saw it and fled; Jordan was driven back."-Psalm. cxiv. i.e. "If great miracles were per. formed in the former case, less miracles will not be denied in the present. God will preserve his saints against a corrupt and tyrannical priesthood." Page 213. (Line 112.) The poet apostrophizes the Gemini, under whose influence he supposed himself born, when the sun was in that constellation. (123.) i.e. "The attempt to describe the empyrean, and the Holy Trinity."-Lombardi. (125.) By the "last abode of bliss" is meant the sight of God. Page 214. (Line 135.) “This is in order to point out the necessity of detaching oneself from earthly things in order to enjoy the delights of Paradise.”—Lombardi. "Returning to the humble concerns of the present world, and all his engagements among perishing things, man feels their unsatisfying character, and learns to pass through them under the habitual impression that this is not his rest, nor here his portion." Abercrombie. Harmony of Christian Faith and Practice. Dante seems to have had Boethius in view : "Quicunque solam, mente præcipiti, petit, Latè patentes ætheris cernat plagas, Arctumque terrarum situm." (141.) See canto ii, 60. (142.) His vision was so sharpened that he was able to look upon the Sun,-Hyperion being fabled to be the father of the Sun. Maia and Dione were respectively the mothers] of Mercury and Venus, and their names are here used as synonymous for those planets. (145.) Jupiter is described as betwixt Mars and Saturn, his son and father. CANTO XXIII. ARGUMENT. DANTE beholds the triumph of Christ, attended by an infinite number of Saints. E'EN as the bird that resting in the nest Of her sweet brood, the sheltering boughs among, While all things are enwrapt in night's dark vest,— Now eager to behold the looks she loves, And to find food for her impatient young Upright her eyes unto that part directing 7 So that I, seeing her thus fondly bent, Was like to one, who with desiring eye Hopes somewhat new, and rests in hope content. But little was the interval that came Betwixt the expectance and reality, Since heaven anon was wrapt in brighter flame: Of Christ triumphant; and the plenteous store And eyes so full of joyousness she wore, Words would in vain their heavenly lustre trace. As when the moon is at the full and clear, Diana smiles the eternal Nymphs among, 13 19 25 Who paint the heavens through every part-so here I saw high o'er ten thousand Lamps divine A single Sun, that lit up all the throng, As doth our sun the stars that round him shine: Shone the translucent Substance on mine eyes, 31 Here is the Wisdom, here the Power, that bade Fire from thick cloud, by force ethereal riven ; My mind expanding wander'd far astray, And what then happen'd cannot now record. "Open thine eyes, and view me :-thou hast seen Objects so brilliant that thine eyesight may Sustain my smile, which else too bright had been." I was like one who doth in part retain The impression of a vision pass'd away, 37 43 49 55 Rich through the sweetness of their milk have made, Not to the thousandth part would be portray'd The sacred beauty of that smile divine Which with delight the holy look array'd: |