v. 43. Two things.] The one, the substance of the vow; the other, the compact, or form of it.
v. 48. It was enjoin’d the Israelites.] See Lev. e. xii, and xxvii.
v. 56. Either key.] Purgatory, Canto IX. 108.
v. 86. That region.] As some explain it, the east, according to others the equinoctial line.
v. 124. This sphere.] The planet Mercury, which, being nearest to the sun, is oftenest hidden by that luminary
CANTO VI
v. 1. After that Constantine the eagle turn’d.] Constantine, in transferring the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, carried the eagle, the Imperial ensign, from the west to the east. Aeneas, on the contrary had moved along with the sun’s course, when he passed from Troy to Italy.
v. 5. A hundred years twice told and more.] The Emperor Constantine entered Byzantium in 324, and Justinian began his reign in 527.
v. 6. At Europe’s extreme point.] Constantinople being situated at the extreme of Europe, and on the borders of Asia, near those mountains in the neighbourhood of Troy, from whence the first founders of Rome had emigrated.
v. 13. To clear th’ incumber’d laws.] The code of laws was abridged and reformed by Justinian.