v. 136. The spouse of God.] The church. CANTO XI v. 1. O fond anxiety of mortal men.] Lucretius, 1. ii. 14 O miseras hominum mentes ! O pectora caeca Qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis Degitur hoc aevi quodcunque est! v. 4. Aphorisms,] The study of medicine. v. 17. The lustre.] The spirit of Thomas Aquinas v. 29. She.] The church. v. 34. One.] Saint Francis. v. 36. The other.] Saint Dominic. v. 40. Tupino.] A rivulet near Assisi, or Ascesi where Francis was born in 1182. v. 40. The wave.] Chiascio, a stream that rises in a mountain near Agobbio, chosen by St. Ubaldo for the place of his retirement. v. 42. Heat and cold.] Cold from the snow, and heat from the reflection of the sun. v. 45. Yoke.] Vellutello understands this of the vicinity of the mountain to Nocera and Gualdo; and Venturi (as I have taken it) of the heavy impositions laid on those places by the Perugians. For GIOGO, like the Latin JUGUM, will admit of either sense. v. 50. The east.] This is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Shakespeare. v. 55. Gainst his father’s will.] In opposition to the wishes of his natural father v. 58. In his father’s sight.] The spiritual father, or bishop, in whose presence he made a profession of poverty. v. 60. Her first husband.] Christ. v. 63. Amyclas.] Lucan makes Caesar exclaim, on witnessing the secure poverty of the fisherman Amyclas: —O vite tuta facultas Pauperis, angustique lares! O munera nondum Intellecta deum! quibus hoc contingere templis, Aut potuit muris, nullo trepidare tumultu, Caesarea pulsante manu? Lucan Phars. 1. v. 531. v. 72. Bernard.] One of the first followers of the saint. v. 76. Egidius.] The third of his disciples, who died in 1262. His work, entitled Verba Aurea, was published in 1534, at Antwerp See Lucas Waddingus, Annales Ordinis Minoris, p. 5. v. 76. Sylvester.] Another of his earliest associates. v. 83. Pietro Bernardone.] A man in an humble station of life at Assisi. v. 86. Innocent.] Pope Innocent III. v. 90. Honorius.] His successor Honorius III who granted certain privileges to the Franciscans. v. 93. On the hard rock.] The mountain Alverna in the Apennine. v. 100. The last signet.] Alluding to the stigmata, or marks resembling the wounds of Christ, said to have been found on the saint’s body. v. 106. His dearest lady.] Poverty. v. 113. Our Patriarch ] Saint Dominic. v. 316. His flock ] The Dominicans. v. 127. The planet from whence they split.] “The rule of their order, which the Dominicans neglect to observe.” CANTO XII v. 1. The blessed flame.] Thomas Aquinas v. 12. That voice.] The nymph Echo, transformed into the repercussion of the voice.