• In the original al sommo smalto , to the highest enamel; referring either to the Terrestrial Paradise, enamelled with flowers, or to the highest heaven enamelled with stars. The azure-stone, pierre d’azur , or lapis lazuli, is perhaps a fair equivalent for the smalto , particularly if the reference be to the sky. ↩
• The valley in Lunigiana, through which runs the Magra, dividing the Genoese and Tuscan territories. Paradiso IX 89:⁠— “The Magra, that with journey short Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese.” ↩
• Currado or Conrad Malaspina, father of Marcello Malaspina, who six years later sheltered Dante in his exile, as foreshadowed in line 136. It was from the convent of the Corvo, overlooking the Gulf of Spezia, in Lunigiana, that Frate Ilario wrote the letter describing Dante’s appearance in the cloister. ↩
• Pope Boniface the Eighth. ↩
• Before the sun shall be seven times in Aries, or before seven years are passed. ↩
• Ecclesiastes 12:11:⁠— “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies.” ↩