[6] Among the letters ascribed to Dante is one, much noted, in reply to a letter from a friend in Florence, in regard to terms of absolution on which he might secure his re-admission to Florence. It is of very doubtful authenticity. It has no external evidence to support it, and the internal evidence of its rhetorical form and sentimental tone is all against it. It belongs in the same class with the famous letter of Fra Ilario, and like that, seems not unlikely to have been an invention of Boccaccio's.
[7] Literally, "who by the sweetness of its glory put exile behind our back."
[8] The sun,—a planet according to the Ptolemaic astronomy.
[9] It was a common belief that the spring was the season of the creation.
[10] These three beasts typify the division of sins into those of incontinence, of violence, and of fraud.
[11] Who he was and What should result.
[12] In Limbo, neither in hell nor in heaven.
[13] The heaven of the Moon, the nearest to Earth of the nine concentric Heavens.
[14] The type of illuminating grace.
[15] It was Galahaut who, in the Romance, prevailed on Guinevere to give a kiss to Lancelot.