CANTO XX
v. 11. Revers’d.] Compare Spenser, F. Q. b. i. c. viii. st. 31
v. 30. Before whose eyes.] Amphiaraus, one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes. He is said to have been swallowed up by an opening of the earth. See Lidgate’s Storie of Thebes, Part III where it is told how the “Bishop Amphiaraus” fell down to hell. And thus the devill for his outrages, Like his desert payed him his wages. A different reason for his being doomed thus to perish is assigned by Pindar. [GREEK HERE] Nem ix.
For thee, Amphiaraus, earth,
By Jove’s all-riving thunder cleft
Her mighty bosom open’d wide,
Thee and thy plunging steeds to hide,
Or ever on thy back the spear
Of Periclymenus impress’d
A wound to shame thy warlike breast
For struck with panic fear
The gods’ own children flee.
v. 37. Tiresias.]
Duo magnorum viridi coeuntia sylva
Corpora serpentum baculi violaverat ictu, &c.
Ovid. Met. iii.
v. 43. Aruns.] Aruns is said to have dwelt in the mountains of Luni (from whence that territory is still called Lunigiana), above Carrara, celebrated for its marble. Lucan. Phars. l. i. 575. So Boccaccio in the Fiammetta, l. iii. “Quale Arunte,” &c.
“Like Aruns, who amidst the white marbles of Luni, contemplated the celestial bodies and their motions.”
v. 50. Manto.] The daughter of Tiresias of Thebes, a city dedicated to Bacchus. From Manto Mantua, the country of Virgil derives its name. The Poet proceeds to describe the situation of that place.
v. 61. Between the vale.] The lake Benacus, now called the Lago di Garda, though here said to lie between Garda, Val Camonica, and the Apennine, is, however, very distant from the latter two
v. 63. There is a spot.] Prato di Fame, where the dioceses of Trento, Verona, and Brescia met.
v. 69. Peschiera.] A garrison situated to the south of the lake, where it empties itself and forms the Mincius.
v. 94. Casalodi’s madness.] Alberto da Casalodi, who had got possession of Mantua, was persuaded by Pinamonte Buonacossi, that he might ingratiate himself with the people by banishing to their
own castles the nobles, who were obnoxious to them. No sooner was this done, than Pinamonte put himself at the head of the populace, drove out Casalodi and his adherents, and obtained the sovereignty for himself.
v. 111. So sings my tragic strain.]
Suspensi Eurypilum scitatum oracula Phoebi
Mittimus.
Virg. Aeneid. ii. 14.
v. 115. Michael Scot.] Sir Michael Scott, of Balwearie, astrologer to the Emperor Frederick II. lived in the thirteenth century. For further particulars relating to this singular man, see Warton’s History of English Poetry, vol. i. diss. ii. and sect. ix. p 292, and the Notes to Mr. Scott’s “Lay of the Last Minstrel,” a poem in which a happy use is made of the traditions that are still current in North Britain concerning him. He is mentioned by G. Villani. Hist. l. x. c. cv. and cxli. and l. xii. c. xviii. and by Boccaccio, Dec. Giorn. viii. Nov. 9.
v. 116. Guido Bonatti.] An astrologer of Forli, on whose skill Guido da Montefeltro, lord of that place, so much relied, that he is reported never to have gone into battle, except in the hour recommended to him as fortunate by Bonatti.
Landino and Vellutello, speak of a book, which he composed on the subject of his art.
v. 116. Asdente.] A shoemaker at Parma, who deserted his business to practice the arts of divination.
v. 123. Cain with fork of thorns.] By Cain and the thorns, or what is still vulgarly called the Man in the Moon, the Poet denotes that luminary. The same superstition is alluded to in the Paradise, Canto II. 52. The curious reader may consult Brand on Popular Antiquities, 4to. 1813. vol. ii. p. 476.