[439] Apparently Laodicea (hod. Eskihissar) in Anatolia, from which a traveller, taking the direct land route, would necessarily pass Antioch (hod. Antakhia) on his way to Jerusalem.
[440] i.e. arrectus est penis ejus.
[442] i.e. fortune.
[443] Cattajo. This word is usually translated Cathay, i.e. China; but semble Boccaccio meant rather the Dalmatian province of Cattaro, which would better answer the description in the text, Nathan's estate being described as adjoining a highway leading from the Ponant (or Western shores of the Mediterranean) to the Levant (or Eastern shores), e.g. the road from Cattaro on the Adriatic to Salonica on the Ægean. Cathay (China) seems, from the circumstances of the case, out of the question, as is also the Italian town called Cattaio, near Padua.
[444] i.e. to show the most extravagant hospitality.
[445] Or as we should say, "After much beating about the bush."
[446] i.e. jealousies.
[447] i.e. all sections of the given theme.
[448] Lit. accident (accidente).