Page:Divine Comedy (Longfellow 1867) v1.djvu/359

Rh it to have been this,—he con- sidered the Pope not only a betrayer and seller of Christ, — 'Where gain- ful merchandise is made of Christ throughout the livelong day,' (Parad. 17,) and for that reason put Judas into his centre mouth ; but a traitor and rebel to Cæsar, and therefore placed Brutus and Cassius in the other two mouths ; for the Pope, who was origi- nally no more than Cæsar's vicar, became his enemy, and usurped the capital of his empire, and the supreme authority. His treason to Christ was not discovered by the world in general ; hence the face of Judas is hidden, — 'He that hath his head within, and plies the feet without ' (Inf, 34) ; his treason to Cæsar was open and mani- fest, therefore Brutus and Cassius show their faces."

He adds in a note : " The situation of Judas is the same as that of the Popes who were guilty of simony."

68. The evening of Holy Saturday.

77. Iliad, V. 305 : " With this he struck the hip of ^neas, where the thigh turns on the hip."

95. The canonical day, from sun- rise to sunset, was divided into four equal parts, called in Italian Terza, Sesta, Nona, and Vespro, and varying in length with the change of season. " These hours," says Dante, Convito, III. 6, " are short or long. . . . . ac- cording as day and night increase or diminish." Terza was the first divis- ion after sunrise ; and at the equinox would be from six till nine. Conse- quently mezza terza, or middle tierce, would be half past seven.

114. Jerusalem.

125. The Mountain of Purgatory, rising out of the sea at a point directly opposite Jerusalem, upon the other side of the globe. It is an island in the South Pacific Ocean.

130. This brooklet is Lethe, whose source is on the summit of the Moun- tain of Purgatory, flowing down to mingle with Acheron, Styx, and Phle- gethon, and form Cocytus. 9ce Canto XIV. 136.

138. It will be observed that each of the three divisions of the Divine Comedy ends with the word " Stars," suggesting and symbolizing endless as- piration. At the end of the Inferno Dante " re-beholds the stars"; at the end of the Purgatorio he is " ready to ascend to the stars"; at the end of the Paradiso he feels the power of " that Love which moves the sun and other stars." He is now looking upon the morning stars of Easter Sunday.