Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/307

Rh 61. The two rivers between which Bologna is situated. In the Bolognese dialect sipa is used for sì.

72. They cease going round the circles as heretofore, and now go straight forward to the centre of the abyss.

86. For the story of, , and the , see Ovid, Metamorph. VII. Also Chaucer, Legende of Goode Women:—

92. When the women of put to death all the male inhabitants of the island,  concealed her father Thoas, and spared his life. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautics, II., Fawkes's Tr.:—

122. "Allessio Interminelli," says Benvenuto da Imola, "a soldier, a nobleman, and of gentle manners, was of Lucca, and from him descended that tyrant Castruccio who filled all Tuscany with fear, and was lord of Pisa, Lucca, and Pistoja, of whom Dante makes no mention, because he became illustrious after the author's death. Alessio took such delight in flattery, that he could not open his mouth without flattering. He besmeared everybody, even the lowest menials."

The Ottimo says, that in the dialect of Lucca the head "was facetiously called a pumpkin."

133., the famous courtesan of Athens. Terence, The Eunuch, Act III. Sc. 1:—

"Thraso. Did Thaïs really return me many thanks?

"Gnatho. Exceeding thanks.

"Thraso. Was she delighted, say you?'

"Gnatho. Not so much, indeed, at the present itself, as because it was given by you; really, in right earnest, she does exult at that."

136. "The filthiness of some passages," exclaims Landor, Pentameron, p. 15, "would disgrace the drunkenest horse-dealer; and the names of such criminals are recorded by the poet, as would be forgotten by the hangman in six months."

1. The Third Bolgia is devoted to the, so called from , the Sorcerer mentioned in Acts viii. 9, 18. See Par. XXX. Note 147.

Brunetto Latini touches lightly upon them in the Tesoretto, XXI. 259, on account of their high ecclesiastical dignity. His pupil is less reverential in this particular.

Altri per simonia

Si getta in mala via,

E Dio e' Santi offende

E vende le prebende,

E Sante Sagramente,