• The Second Circle, or Cornice, where is punished the sin of Envy; of which St. Augustine says:⁠— “Envy is the hatred of another’s felicity; in respect of superiors, because they are not equal to them; in respect of inferiors, lest they should be equal to them; in respect of equals, because they are equal to them. Through envy proceeded the fall of the world, and the death of Christ.” ↩
• The livid color of Envy. ↩
• The military precision with which Virgil faces to the right is Homeric. Biagioli says that Dante expresses it “after his own fashion, that is, entirely new and different from mundane custom.” ↩
• Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy , V Met. 2:⁠— “Him the Sun, then, rightly call⁠— God who sees and lightens all.” ↩
• John 2:3:⁠— “And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him. They have no wine.” Examples are first given of the virtue opposite the vice here punished. These are but “airy tongues that syllable men’s names”; and it must not be supposed that the persons alluded to are actually passing in the air. ↩