Comus
P. 129. [4]. With Midas' ears: i.e. with the ears of an ass; committing: bringing together, setting at variance (Lat. committere). Martial says, 'Cum Juvenale meo cur me committere tentas?' i.e. 'why try to match me with my Juvenal,' i.e. in a poetical contest with him.
P. 129. [5]. exempts: separates, distinguishes; the compound subject 'worth and skill' is logically singular, and takes a singular verb.
P. 129. [11]. story: 'the story of Ariadne, set by him to music,' as explained in a note in 'Choice Psalms,' 1648.
P. 129. [13]. Casella: 'a Florentine musician and friend of Dante, who here ['Purgatorio,' ii. 91 et seq.] speaks to him with so much tenderness and affection as to make us regret that nothing more is known of him.—Longfellow's note.
milder shades: i.e. than those of the Inferno which Dante has just left.
[3]. insphered: in their several spheres.
[7]. pestered: here, as indicated by 'pinfold,' the word means 'clogged'; 'pester' is a shortened form of 'impester.' Fr. empêtrer (OF. empestrer) 'signifies properly to hobble a horse while he feeds afield. Mid. Lat. pastorium, a clog for horses at pasture.'—Brachet's Etymol. Dict. of the French Language, s.v. dépêtrer.
[10]. After this mortal change: 'mortal' I understand to be used here as a noun, the subject of 'change,' a verb in the subjunctive; there is evidently an allusion to 1 Cor. xv. 52-54, in which occur the expressions, 'we shall be changed' and 'this mortal must put on immortality.'
[16]. ambrosial weeds: immortal or heavenly garments, i.e. garments worn by an immortal. Gk. Ἀμβρόσιος, lengthened form of ἄμβροτος, immortal. See v. 83.