[566]. This beast is of course not here referred to, as in the well-known passage at the beginning of the Inferno, as a type of vice, but, as in Inf., xvi. 106, as a desirable prey. The beauty of the panther’s skin, the sweet breath fabulously attributed to it, and so forth, sometimes gave it a wholly favourable place in mediæval fantasy, as in one of the prettiest fragments of Anglo-Saxon verse, the “Panther” of the Exeter Book, where it is a type of Christ.
[567]. Sapid pure: Piget me cunctis, sed pietatem majorem illorum habeo, quicunque in exilio tabescentes, patriam tantum somniando revisunt.
Sapid and venust: Laudabilis discretio Marchionis Estensis et sua magnificentia præparata cunctis illum facit esse dilectum.
Sapid, venust, and excelse: Ejecta maxima parte florum de sinu tuo, Florentia, nequicquam Trinacriam Totila serus adivit.
[568]. As mamma and babbo.
[569]. As dolciada and piacevole.
[570]. As gregia.
[571]. As femina and corpo.
[572]. As amore, donna, virtute.
[573]. As terra, onore, speranza, gravitate, and on to sovramagnificentissimamente.