• Referring back to Canto VI 92:⁠— “To do vengeance Upon the vengeance of the ancient sin.” ↩
• Milton, Paradise Lost , I 1, the story “Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat.” ↩
• Sincere in the sense of pure. ↩
• Plato, Timaeus , Davis’s Tr. , X :⁠— “Let us declare then on what account the framing Artificer settled the formation of this universe. He was good; and in the good envy is never engendered about anything whatever. Hence, being free from this, he desired that all things should as much as possible resemble himself.” Also Milton, Paradise Lost , I 259:⁠— “The Almighty hath not built Here for his envy.” And again, VIII 491:⁠— “Thou hast fulfilled Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign, Giver of all things fair! but fairest this Of all thy gifts! nor enviest.” ↩