CANTO III
v. 5. Power divine Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.] The three persons of the blessed Trinity. v. 9. all hope abandoned.] Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate. So Berni, Orl. Inn. lib. i. c. 8. st. 53. Lascia pur della vita ogni speranza.
v. 29. Like to the sand.]
Unnumber’d as the sands
Of Barca or Cyrene’s torrid soil
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise
Their lighter wings.
Milton, P. L. ii. 908.
v. 40. Lest th’ accursed tribe.] Lest the rebellious angels should exult at seeing those who were neutral and therefore less guilty, condemned to the same punishment with themselves.
v. 50. A flag.]
All the grisly legions that troop
Under the sooty flag of Acheron
Milton. Comus.
v. 56. Who to base fear Yielding, abjur’d his high estate.] This is commonly understood of Celestine the Fifth, who abdicated the papal power in 1294. Venturi mentions a work written by Innocenzio Barcellini, of the Celestine order, and printed in Milan in 1701, In which an attempt is made to put a different interpretation on this passage.
v. 70. through the blear light.]
Lo fioco lume
So Filicaja, canz. vi. st. 12.
Qual fioco lume.
v. 77. An old man.]
Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat
Terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento
Canities inculta jacet; stant lumina flamma.
Virg. 7. Aen. Iib. vi. 2.
v. 82. In fierce heat and in ice.]
The delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick ribbed ice.
Shakesp. Measure for Measure, a. iii.s.1.
Compare Milton, P. L. b. ii. 600.
v. 92. The livid lake.] Vada livida.
Virg. Aen. Iib. vi. 320
Totius ut Lacus putidaeque paludis
Lividissima, maximeque est profunda vorago.
Catullus. xviii. 10.
v. 102. With eyes of burning coal.]
His looks were dreadful, and his fiery eyes
Like two great beacons glared bright and wide.
Spenser. F.Q. b. vi. c. vii.st. 42
v. 104. As fall off the light of autumnal leaves.]
Quam multa in silvis autumul frigore primo
Lapsa cadunt folia.
Virg. Aen. lib. vi. 309
Compare Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv. 214.