answers better to Dante's ideal of a righteous Emperor than to the character of a partisan leader like Uguccione della Faggiuola, or an ambitious prince like Can Grande. [176] _Camilla, etc._: All persons of the _Æneid_. [177] _Envy_: That of Satan. [178] _Thou hadst best, etc._: As will be seen from the next Canto, Virgil has been sent to the relief of Dante; but how that is to be wrought out is left to his own judgment. He might secure a partial deliverance for his ward by conducting him up the Delectable Mount--the peaceful heights familiar to himself, and which are to be won by the practice of natural piety. He chooses the other course, of guiding Dante through the regions of the future state, where the pilgrim's trust in the Divine government will be strengthened by what he sees, and his soul acquire a larger peace. [179] _A soul_: Beatrice. [180] _The Emperor_: The attribution of this title to God is significant of Dante's lofty conception of the Empire. [181] _'Gainst his laws, etc._: Virgil was a rebel only in the sense of being ignorant of the Christian revelation (_Inf._ iv. 37). [182] _Saint Peter's gate_: Virgil has not mentioned Saint Peter. Dante names him as if to proclaim that it is as a Christian, though under heathen guidance, that he makes the pilgrimage. Here the gate seems to be spoken of as if it formed the entrance to Paradise, as it was popularly believed to do, and as if it were at that point Virgil would cease to guide him. But they are to find it nearer at hand, and after it has been passed Virgil is to act as guide through Purgatory. CANTO II.