Epic poetry, Italian -- Translations into English; Italian poetry -- To 1400 -- Translations into English
v. 136. -Him Of Ratza.] One of the dynasty of the house of Nemagna,
which ruled the kingdom of Rassia, or Ratza, in Sclavonia, from 1161 to
1371, and whose history may be found in Mauro Orbino, Regno degli
Slavi, Ediz. Pesaro. 1601. Uladislaus appears to have been the
sovereign in Dante’s time, but the disgraceful forgery adverted to in
the text, is not recorded by the historian v. 138. Hungary.] The
kingdom of Hungary was about this time disputed by Carobert, son of
Charles Martel, and Winceslaus, prince of Bohemia, son of Winceslaus
II. See Coxe’s House of Austria, vol. i. p. 1. p. 86.
4to edit.
v. 140. Navarre.] Navarre was now under the yoke of France. It soon
after (in 1328) followed the advice of Dante and had a monarch of its
own. Mariana, 1. xv. c. 19.
v. 141. Mountainous girdle.] The Pyrenees.
v. 143. -Famagosta’s streets And Nicosia’s.]
Cities in the kingdom of Cyprus, at that time ruled by Henry II a
pusillanimous prince. Vertot. Hist. des Chev. de Malte, 1. iii. iv. The
meaning appears to be, that the complaints made by those cities of
their weak and worthless governor, may be regarded as an earnest of his
condemnation at the last doom.
CANTO XX
v. 6. Wherein one shines.] The light of the sun, whence he supposes the
other celestial bodies to derive their light
v. 8. The great sign.] The eagle, the Imperial ensign.
v. 34. Who.] David.
v. 39. He.] Trajan. See Purgatory, Canto X. 68.
v. 44. He next.] Hezekiah.
v. 50. The other following.] Constantine. There is no passage in which
Dante’s opinion of the evil; that had arisen from the mixture of the
civil with the ecclesiastical power, is more unequivocally declared.
v. 57. William.] William II, king of Sicily, at the latter part of the
twelfth century He was of the Norman line of sovereigns, and obtained
the appellation of “the Good” and, as the poet says his loss was as
much the subject of regret in his dominions, as the presence of Charles
I of Anjou and Frederick of Arragon, was of sorrow and complaint.
v. 62. Trojan Ripheus.]
Ripheus, justissimus unus
Qui fuit in Teneris, et servantissimus aequi.
Virg. Aen. 1. ii. 4—.
v. 97. This.] Ripheus.
v. 98. That.] Trajan.
v. 103. The prayers,] The prayers of St. Gregory
v. 119. The three nymphs.] Faith, Hope, and Charity. Purgatory, Canto
XXIX. 116. v. 138. The pair.] Ripheus and Trajan.
CANTO XXI
v. 12. The seventh splendour.] The planet Saturn
v. 13. The burning lion’s breast.] The constellation Leo.
v. 21. In equal balance.] “My pleasure was as great in complying with
her will as in beholding her countenance.”
v. 24. Of that lov’d monarch.] Saturn. Compare Hell, Canto XIV. 91.
v. 56. What forbade the smile.] “Because it would have overcome thee.”
v. 61. There aloft.] Where the other souls were.
v. 97. A stony ridge.] The Apennine.
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