y, as Zens The Dove of a em een was the nte the оп ted 139 133 to those who do not give sincere and upright advice to others, I am more anxious than ever not to abuse to so bad a purpose those talents, whatever they may be, which Nature, or rather Providence, has conferred on me." "It is probable that this declaration was the result of real feeling in the mind of Dante, whose political character would have given great weight to any opinion or party he had espoused, and to whom indigence and exile might have offered strong temptations to deviate from that line of conduct which a strict sense of duty prescribed."-Cary. Page 226. (Line 54.) The enmity of the two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, is represented to have been so inveterate that the fire, which consumed their bodies on the same funeral pile, refused to unite, and divided itself into two distinct flames.-Statius, Theb. xii. 430; Lucan, i. 145. (57.) As Ulysses and Diomed were in their life time associated in deeds of treachery and violence, so are they now united in suffering and torment. (60.) To the invention of the wooden horse was owing the fate of Troy; and that fate was the cause of Æneas' voyage and settlement in Italy. See Æn. vi. 515. Page 227. (Line 61.) Ulysses is punished for the deceit he used towards Achilles, to induce him to join the Grecians in the siege of Troy; telling him the prediction of the oracle, that without his aid Troy could not be taken, but suppressing that part which foretold his death as a consequence. Achilles abandoned Deidamia to go to the wars; aud her grief is represented here to have been so great as to have continued even after death. (63.) The misery of Ulysses and Diomed is increased by the remembrance of their deceitful expedition by night, when they slew the guards of the temple, and carried off the Palladium. (65) The similarity of Dante and Shak speare here is remarkable," Assai ten priego, e repriego, che'l priego vaglia mille." I can no other answer make than thanks, And thanks, and ever thanks."-Twelfth Night. iii. 3. (75.) Either because Dante was a Roman, descended from their enemies the Trojans, or because he was as yet a person unknown to fame. (83.) Meaning Ulysses. Page 228. (Line 93.) So named from Æneas's nurse. "Tu quoque litoribus nostris, Æneia nutrix, Eternam moriens famam, Caieta, dedisti."-Æn. vii. 1. Page 229. (Line 112.) "O socii, neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum, O passi graviora, dabit Deus his quoque finem."-En. i. 198. "O fortes, pejoraque passi 66 Mecum sæpe viri."-Horace. Carm. vii. 30. (116.) Gibraltar, called the pillar of Hercules, line 108, was supposed to be the limit of the habitable world. That Ulysses perished in an attempt to pass the Straits is an opinion taken from Pliny, and adopted by Tasso. (119.) "Be ye not like to horse and mule," &c.-Psalm xxxii. 9. And Hamlet. act iv., "What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep, and feed?-a beast ;-no more." (125.) The idea is from Virgil's " remigium alarum," En. vi. and Lucan's "Remigio oblitæ remorum vela remittunt."-B. vi. Thus Æschylus. “ πτερυγων έρετμοῖσιν ἐρεσσόμενοι.”—Agamemnon. First Chorus, And Homer. “ Οὐδ ̓ ἐνήρε ̓ ἐρετμὰ, τά τε πτερὰ νηυσὶ πέλονται.”—Od. λ. 124. Page 230. (Line 139.) From Virgil. Æn. i. 116. "Ast illam ter fluctus ibidem Torquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat æquore vortex." CANTO XXVII. ARGUMENT. COUNT Guido di Montefeltro, another evil counsellor, holds a Now rose the flame with calm and upright spire, Since the sweet poet granted its desire, Our eyes attracted to its curling height. 1 As the Sicilian bull (which roar'd of old First with his shrieks, as justly came to pass, 7 Whose cruel hand had wrought the monstrous mould) Rebellow'd loudly with the sufferer's cry, So that, all fashion'd as it was of brass, 13 66 U I 20 In mode like this-no way or outlet found The miserable words that first did flow Their summits-quivering, as the tongue below These words broke forth: "O thou, to whom I speak, Grieve not to pause and hold discourse, I pray; Thou seest it grieves not me, though wrapt in flame. If to this glooming world thou hast of late Been hurried downward from fair Italy, That land belov'd, whence all my crimes I date Say, if Romagna is at peace or war? For 'mid the hills that 'twixt Urbino lie And those whence Tiber springs, my birth I draw." Still was I bending down to hear the flame, When suddenly mine escort touch'd my side, Saying: "Speak thou, for he from Latium came." 25 31 T "Devoid of war within her tyrant's breast Romagna is not now, nor e'er hath been; There broods Polenta's eagle, so that e'en And with the Frenchman's blood the soil embrued, 37 43 Whose hands, with slaughter stain'd, Montagna rued, Pierce with their teeth, and suck the prey they hold. There, where Santerno and Lamone glide, The Lion of the snowy field commands, Who, each returning autumn, changes side. But who thou art, I prithee, tell me now; Be not more niggard then the rest ;—so may Thy name on earth uphold a lofty brow." 49 55 |