[291] _Cf._ E. Blochet, _Les sources orientales de la Divine Comédie_, Paris, 1901, p. 193: “Ce qui distingue surtout la _Divine Comédie_ de toutes les autres formes de la Legende de l’ Ascension, ce qui la rende même supérieure aux livres religieux de toutes les epoques et de tous les pays, c’est que le poête a su décrire aussi completement le bonheur éternel du Paradis que les tortures infinies du Malebolge.” [292] E.g. in the Motalizite Sect (see _Encycl. Brit._ vol. xvi, p. 592). [293] 149ᵇ _sqq._ [294] 146ᵇ-149ᵃ. [295] _Studies in Dante_, Series II. [296] 146ᵇ. [297] 147ᵃ. [298] 148ᵃ. [299] 148ᵇ. [300] 43ᵃ. [301] _Inf._ xiv. 85 _sqq._; xxxiv. 130. [302] _Inf._ ix. 85. [303] _Inf._ ix. 66 and 76 _sqq._ [304] 149ᵇ. [305] 150ᵃ. [306] _Barn._ 113ᵃ, _cf._ _Inf._ xxxii. 22 _sqq._ [307] _Barn._ 63ᵃ: Dante, _Inf._ iii. 103. [308] In 23ᵃ, 81ᵃ, 225ᵇ. It is characteristic of the MS. that the three passages furnish as many different spellings of the last word: _bugiari_, _bugiardi_ and _buggiardi_! Cf. _Inf._ i. 72. [309] _Inf._ i. 47; _Barn._ 62ᵇ. [310] 85ᵇ and 87ᵃ. [311] A little earlier (76ᵇ) he has what seems to be a quotation from memory of Lev. xxvi. 11, 12; the Law of the Jubilee is to be found, of course, in the chapter immediately preceding. [312] _Antiquorum habet_ (Coqueline, iii. 94). [313] E.g. Cron. Astense (Muratori, R. S. I., tom. xi. p. 192): Jacobus Cardinalis (in Raynald, tom. iv. sub an. 1300): Villani, viii. 36. [314] Another point that might have been adduced is the counsel “habbandonare il perchè,” _Barn._ 95ᵇ; _cf._ _Purg._ iii. 37. [315] _Inf._ iv. 67 _sqq._ Here, standing apart, but near the heroes and heroines of ancient Rome, Dante places the Moslem champion Saladin (_ib._ 129). [316] _Inf._ xxviii. 35. [317] Prof. N. Tamassia, _S. Francesco d’ Assisi e la sua Leggenda_, p. 88. [318] Including (38ᵇ) a striking statement of the impossibility of penitence (and therefore of absolution) to one meditating fresh sin: _cf._ Dante, _Inf._ xxvii. 118 _sq._ [319] Introduction to Oxford Edition, p. xxxiv. [320] _La Escatologia musulmana en la “Divina Commedia.”_ Discorso leído en el acto de su recepción, par D. Miguel Asín Palacios ... Madrid, Estanislao Maestre, 1919. [321] _Les sources Orientales de la Divina Comédie._ Paris, E. Blochet. Paris, Maisonneuve, 1901. [322] _Koran_, chap. xvii. (xv.) init. “Praise be unto him who transported his servant by night, from the sacred temple of Mecca to the further temple of Jerusalem, the circuit of which we have blessed, that we might shew him some of our signs; for God is he who heareth and seeth.” (Sale’s translation). On this passage a most elaborate story was built up by subsequent legend-makers. [323] Ireland is undoubtedly the focus in Europe of legends _Persian_ in origin. Appropriate to our subject are not only the St. Brendan Legend, but also the Purgatory of St. Patrick and the Descent of St. Paul. Blochet, _op. cit._, p. 117 _sqq._