Epic poetry, Italian -- Translations into English; Italian poetry -- To 1400 -- Translations into English
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 archbishopric of York, which was
offered him by Clement IV, but afterwards was prevailed on to accept
the bishopric of Albano and a cardinal’s hat. He was born at Bagnoregio
or Bagnorea, in Tuscany, A.D. 1221, and died in 1274.” Dict. Histor.
par Chaudon et Delandine. Ed. Lyon. 1804.
v. 28. The love.] By an act of mutual courtesy, Buonaventura, a
Franciscan, is made to proclaim the praises of St. Dominic, as Thomas
Aquinas, a Dominican, has celebrated those of St. Francis.
v. 42. In that clime.] Spain.
v. 48. Callaroga.] Between Osma and Aranda, in Old Castile, designated
by the royal coat of arms.
v. 51. The loving minion of the Christian faith.] Dominic was born
April 5, 1170, and died August 6, 1221. His birthplace, Callaroga; his
father and mother’s names, Felix and Joanna, his mother’s dream; his
name of Dominic, given him in consequence of a vision by a noble
matron, who stood sponsor to him, are all told in an anonymous life of
the saint, said to be written in the thirteenth century, and published
by Quetif and Echard, Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum. Par. 1719. fol.
t 1. p. 25. These writers deny his having been an inquisitor, and
indeed the establishment of the inquisition itself before the fourth
Lateran council. Ibid. p. 88.
v. 55. In the mother’s womb.] His mother, when pregnant with him, is
said to have dreamt that she should bring forth a white and black dog,
with a lighted torch in its mouth.
v. 59. The dame.] His godmother’s dream was, that he had one star in
his forehead, and another in the nape of his neck, from which he
communicated light to the east and the west.
v. 73. Felix.] Felix Gusman.
v. 75. As men interpret it.] Grace or gift of the Lord.
v. 77. Ostiense.] A cardinal, who explained the decretals.
v. 77. Taddeo.] A physician, of Florence.
v. 82. The see.] “The apostolic see, which no longer continues its
wonted liberality towards the indigent and deserving; not indeed
through its own fault, as its doctrines are still the same, but through
the fault of the pontiff, who is seated in it.”
v. 85. No dispensation.] Dominic did not ask license to compound for
the use of unjust acquisitions, by dedicating a part of them to pious
purposes.
v. 89. In favour of that seed.] “For that seed of the divine word, from
which have sprung up these four-and-twenty plants, that now environ
thee.”
v. 101. But the track.] “But the rule of St. Francis is already
deserted and the lees of the wine are turned into mouldiness.”
v. 110. Tares.] He adverts to the parable of the taxes and the wheat.
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