• Convito , III 14:⁠— “The first agent, that is, God, sends his influence into some things by means of direct rays, and into others by means of reflected splendor. Hence into the Intelligences the divine light rays out immediately; in others it is reflected from these Intelligences first illuminated. But as mention is here made of light and splendor, in order to a perfect understanding, I will show the difference of these words, according to Avicenna. I say, the custom of the philosophers is to call the Heaven light , in reference to its existence in its fountainhead; to call it ray , in reference to its passing from the fountainhead to the first body, in which it is arrested; to call it splendor , in reference to its reflection upon some other part illuminated.” ↩
• If men lived isolated from each other, and not in communities. ↩
• Aristotle, whom Dante in the Convito , III 5, calls “that glorious philosopher to whom Nature most laid open her secrets”; and in Inferno IV 131, “the master of those who know.” ↩
• The Jurist, the Warrior, the Priest, and the Artisan are here typified in Solon, Xerxes, Melchisedec, and Daedalus. ↩