v. 127. The two.] Christ and Mary, whom he has described, in the last Canto but one, as rising above his sight

CANTO XXVI

v. 2. The beamy flame.] St. John.

v. 13. Ananias’ hand.] Who, by putting his hand on St. Paul, restored his sight. Acts, c. ix. 17.

v. 36. From him.] Some suppose that Plato is here meant, who, in his Banquet, makes Phaedrus say: “Love is confessedly amongst the eldest of beings, and, being the eldest, is the cause to us of the greatest goods “ Plat. Op. t. x. p. 177. Bip. ed. Others have understood it of Aristotle, and others, of the writer who goes by the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, referred to in the twenty-eighth Canto.

v. 40. I will make.] Exodus, c. xxxiii. 19.

v. 42. At the outset.] John, c. i. 1. &c.

v. 51. The eagle of our Lord.] St. John

v. 62. The leaves.] Created beings.

v. 82. The first living soul.] Adam.