So deep the bottom, that to gain a sight, 109 'Twas needful up the bridge to clamber first, And take a survey from its utmost height. To look on me above the rest?" he said: Striking his head, to me he then replied : 115 121 ""Twas flattery plunged me in this place of shame, So that thine eyesight may distinctly reach Who tears herself with filthy nails; and now M Thais, the harlot, who, when Thraso said, 'Will many thanks from thee be now my due ?' Answer'd, 'Oh! wondrous many,'-Having fed Our eyes so far, rest sated with the view." 133 NOTES. Page 156. (Line 1.) The eighth circle was called Malebolgë, i.e., evil cells, and is divided into a number of compartments. (10.) This passage is translated on the authority of Lombardi, supported by Monti, who declares "figura" to be the right reading, instead of " secura. The "for security" in the translation is superfluous. See Monti, Proposta, in Rendere. Page 157. (Line 29.) This year (1300) was famous for what we now call the universal jubilee, invented and celebrated for the first time by Pope Boniface VIII. A report was current in Rome, which spread to the country, that great indulgences would be obtained by those who visited the churches of Rome during the last year of every century. In January and February a prodigious concourse of strangers were seen flying to Rome; and this induced Boniface to issue a bull, granting a full and complete pardon of all their sins to every one who should visit the churches of Rome once every day during the space of fifteen days for strangers, and thirty for the Romans: and this to satisfy the devotion of the people -a devotion most advantageous to the Pope, by reason of the great alms which the strangers spontaneously made to the churches....A crowd of people from all parts of Christen. dom met this present year. It seemed a continual procession, or an army on march through the principal roads of Italy.— Muratori, Ann. 1300, quoted principally from Villani, vol. iv. c. 36. Guglielmo Ventura, author of the Chronicle of Asti, who went to Rome to obtain indulgences this year (1300), relates, that full two million persons attended for the same purpose, and that the crowd was so great, that he frequently saw men and women trodden under foot by each other, and he himself incurred great danger. He adds: "The Pope received from them an immense sum of money, since two priests stood day and night holding rakes in their hands, and raking together money without end. The indulgence was established for every hundredth year by Pope Boniface; but his successors, to satisfy the devotion of the people, and for the gain of the Romans, made alterations, establishing it every twenty-five years, as at this day."-Quoted in Muratori, Annali, A.D. 1300. (30.) During the time of the jubilee, in order to enable the crowds to pass and repass the bridge of St. Angelo with greater ease, Boniface divided it by a partition; so that on one side, all had before them the Castle of Adrian, on the other, Mount Aventine. Page 158. (Line 50.) Venedico Caccianimico was a Bolognese, said to have been bribed to prevail on his sister Ghisola to yield to the desires of Obizzo d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara, making her believe he intended to marry her. Obizzo is mentioned among the tyrants in canto xii. (59.) The city of Bologna, situated between these rivers, is distin guished by a peculiarity of dialect, in using the affirmative Sipa" i " instead of "Sia" or "Si." 66 Page 160. (Line 86.) On his way to Colchos, Jason landed upon the isle of Lemnos, where the women, jealous of their husbands, had, at the instigation of Venus, agreed secretly to put them all to death. Hypsipyle, daughter of Thoas, King of Lemnos, alone broke her promise, and deceived her companions. While they slaughtered their relatives, she contrived to save her father by a pretence of offering sacrifice to Bacchus. She received Jason with the Argonauts, and was seduced by him. He then proceeded to Colchos, where Medea, the king's daughter, enabled him by her incantations to obtain the golden fleece. He carried her from her country, and then abandoned her likewise, on his becoming enamoured of Creusa. (103.) Here we come to the Flatterers, who are placed next to the Seducers in the estimation of Dante, therefore, more despicable, and condemned to a more ignominious punishment. Page 162. (Line 133.) This passage alluded to is in the Eunuchus of Terence, where Thraso, having sent a slave to Thais by the hands of Gnatho, asks the servant on his return, whether Thais had sent him many thanks. "Magnas vero agere [gratias] Thais mihi?" "Ingentes."-Act. iii. Sc. 1. Cicero, quoting this passage, observes,-"Satis erat respondere 'Magnas.' 'Ingentes' inquit. Semper auget assentator id, quod is, cujus ad voluntatem dicitur, vult esse magnum."De Amicitia. Dante represents the dialogue as taking place between Thais and her paramour, without the intervention of the servant Gnatho. CANTO XIX. ARGUMENT. THIRD division of the eighth circle. The Popes, who have been guilty of simony, are fixed in circular holes, with their heads down; their legs only appearing :-the soles of their feet burnt with flames. Pope Nicholas the Third; Boniface the Eighth; and Clement the Fifth. O SIMON Magus! O ye crew abhorr'd, His greedy followers! who for love of gold Now to the bridge adjoining had we come, And stood high o'er the arching precipice Which spans the very centre of the tomb. Wisdom supreme! how great thy skill, declare 1 7 The Heavens-the Earth-and Hell's profound abyss! How just to each thy dispensations are! |