CANTO XV
v. 24. Our greater Muse.] Virgil Aen. 1. vi. 684. v. 84. I am thy root.] Cacciaguida, father to Alighieri, of whom our Poet was the great-grandson.
v. 89. The mountain.] Purgatory.
v. 92. Florence.] See G. Villani, l. iii. c. 2.
v. 93. Which calls her still.] The public clock being still within the circuit of the ancient walls.
v. 98. When.] When the women were not married at too early an age, and did not expect too large a portion.
v. 101. Void.] Through the civil wars.
v. 102 Sardanapalus.] The luxurious monarch of Assyria Juvenal is here imitated, who uses his name for an instance of effeminacy. Sat.
v. 103. Montemalo ] Either an elevated spot between Rome and Viterbo, or Monte Mario, the site of the villa Mellini, commanding a view of Rome.
v. 101. Our suburban turret.] Uccellatojo, near Florence, from whence that city was discovered.
v. 103. Bellincion Berti.] Hell, Canto XVI. 38. nd Notes. There is a curious description of the simple manner in which the earlier Florentines dressed themselves in G. Villani, 1 vi. c. 71.
v. 110. Of Nerli and of Vecchio.] Two of the most opulent families in Florence.
v. 113. Each.] “None fearful either of dying in banishment, or of being deserted by her husband on a scheme of battle in France.
v. 120. A Salterello and Cianghella.] The latter a shameless woman of the family of Tosa, married to Lito degli Alidosi of Imola: the former Lapo Salterello, a lawyer, with whom Dante was at variance.
v. 125. Mary.] The Virgin was involved in the pains of child-birth Purgatory, Canto XX. 21.
v. 130 Valdipado.] Cacciaguida’s wife, whose family name was Aldighieri; came from Ferrara, called Val di Pado, from its being watered by the Po.
v. 131. Conrad.] The Emperor Conrad III who died in 1152. See G. Villani, 1. iv. 34.
v. 136. Whose people.] The Mahometans, who were left in possession of the Holy Land, through the supineness of the Pope.