[876] _Land, as of yore, etc._: On the fall of Lucifer from the southern sky all the dry land of that hemisphere fled before him under the ocean and took refuge in the other; that is, as much land emerged in the northern hemisphere as sank in the southern. But the ground in the direct line of his descent to the centre of the earth heaped itself up into the Mount of Purgatory--the only dry land left in the southern hemisphere. The Inferno was then also hollowed out; and, as Mount Calvary is exactly antipodal to Purgatory, we may understand that on the fall of the first rebels the Mount of Reconciliation for the human race, which is also that of Purification, rose out of the very realms of darkness and sin.--But, as Todeschini points out, the question here arises of whether the Inferno was not created before the earth. At _Parad_. vii. 124, the earth, with the air and fire and water, is described as 'corruptible and lasting short while;' but the Inferno is to endure for aye, and was made before all that is not eternal (_Inf._ iii. 8). [877] _Belzebub_: Called in the Gospel the prince of the devils. It may be worth mentioning here that Dante sees in Purgatory (_Purg._ viii. 99) a serpent which he says may be that which tempted Eve. The identification of the great tempter with Satan is a Miltonic, or at any rate a comparatively modern idea. [878] _The sepulchre_: The Inferno, tomb of Satan and all the wicked. [879] _A brook_: Some make this to be the same as Lethe, one of the rivers of the Earthly Paradise. It certainly descends from the Mount of Purgatory. [880] _The stars_: Each of the three divisions of the Comedy closes with 'the stars.' These, as appears from _Purg._ i. are the stars of dawn. It was after sunrise when they began their ascent to the surface of the earth, and so nearly twenty-four hours have been spent on the journey--the time it took them to descend through Inferno. It is now the morning of Easter Sunday--that is, of the true anniversary of the Resurrection although not of the day observed that year by the Church. See _Inf._ xxi. 112. INDEX OF PROPER NAMES AND PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS OF THE INFERNO. Abati, Bocca degli, xxxii. 106. ---- Buoso, xxv. 140. Abbagliato, xxix. 132. Abel, iv. 56. Abraham, iv. 58. Absalom, xxviii. 137. Accorso, Francis d', xv. 110. Acheron, iii. 78, xiv. 116. Achilles, v. 65, xii. 71, xxvi. 62, xxxi. 4. Acquacheta, xvi. 97. Acre, xxvii. 89. Adam, iii. 115, iv. 55. ---- Master, xxx. 61, etc. Adige, xii. 5. Ægina, xxix. 58. Æneas, ii. 32, iv. 122, xxvi. 93. Æsop, xxiii. 4. Agnello Brunelleschi, xxv. 68. Ahithophel, xxviii. 138. Alardo, xxviii. 18. Alberigo, Friar, xxxiii. 118. Alberto of Siena, xxix. 110. ---- degli Alberti, xxxii. 57. Alchemists, xxix. 43, etc. Aldobrandi, Tegghiaio, vi. 79, xvi. 42. Alecto, ix. 47. Alexander, Count of Romena, xxx. 77. ---- degli Alberti, xxxii. 55. ---- xii. 107, xiv. 31.