v. 46. Of his spirit and of his offspring.] The procession of the third, and the generation of the second person in the Trinity.
v. 70. Such was the song.] “The song of these spirits was ineffable.
v. 86. No less constrained.] “The rivers might as easily cease to flow towards the sea, as we could deny thee thy request.”
v. 91. I then.] “I was of the Dominican order.”
v. 95. Albert of Cologne.] Albertus Magnus was born at Laugingen, in Thuringia, in 1193, and studied at Paris and at Padua, at the latter of which places he entered into the Dominican order. He then taught theology in various parts of Germany, and particularly at Cologne. Thomas Aquinas was his favourite pupil. In 1260, he reluctantly accepted the bishopric of Ratisbon, and in two years after resigned it, and returned to his cell in Cologne, where the remainder of his life was passed in superintending the school, and in composing his voluminous works on divinity and natural science. He died in 1280. The absurd imputation of his having dealt in the magical art is well known; and his biographers take some pains to clear him of it. Scriptores Ordinis Praedicatorum, by Quetif and Echard, Lut. Par. 1719. fol. t. 1. p. 162.
v. 96. Of Aquinum, Thomas.] Thomas Aquinas, of whom Bucer is reported to have said, “Take but Thomas away, and I will overturn the church of Rome,” and whom Hooker terms “the greatest among the school divines,” (Eccl. Pol. b. 3. 9), was born of noble parents, who anxiously, but vainly, endeavoured to divert him from a life of celibacy and study; and died in 1274, at the age of fourty-seven. Echard and Quetif, ibid. p. 271. See also Purgatory Canto XX. v. 67.
v. 101. Gratian.] “Gratian, a Benedictine monk belonging to the convent of St. Felix and Nabor, at Bologna, and by birth a Tuscan, composed, about the year 1130, for the use of the schools, an abridgment or epitome of canon law, drawn from the letters of the pontiffs, the decrees of councils, and the writings of the ancient doctors.” Maclaine’s Mosheim, v. iii. cent. 12. part 2. c. i. 6.
v. 101. To either forum.] “By reconciling,” as Venturi explains it “the civil with the canon law.”
v. 104. Peter.] “Pietro Lombardo was of obscure origin, nor is the place of his birth in Lombardy ascertained. With a recommendation from the bishop of Lucca to St. Bernard, he went into France to continue his studies, and for that purpose remained some time at Rheims, whence he afterwards proceeded to Paris. Here his reputation was so great that Philip, brother of Louis VII., being chosen bishop of Paris, resigned that dignity to Pietro, whose pupil he had been. He held his bishopric only one year, and died in 1160. His Liber Sententiarum is highly esteemed. It contains a system of scholastic theology, so much more complete than any which had been yet seen, that it may be deemed an original work.” Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett. Ital. t. iii. 1. 4. c. 2.
v. 104. Who with the widow gave.] This alludes to the beginning of the Liber Sententiarum, where Peter says: “Cupiens aliquid de penuria ac tenuitate nostra cum paupercula in gazophylacium domini mittere,” v. 105. The fifth light.] Solomon.