• Ariadne, whose crown was, at her death, changed by Bacchus into a constellation. Ovid, Metamorphoses , VIII , Croxall’s Tr. :⁠— “And bids her crown among the stars be placed, With an eternal constellation graced. The golden circlet mounts; and, as it flies, Its diamonds twinkle in the distant skies; There, in their pristine form, the gemmy rays Between Alcides and the dragon blaze.” Chaucer, Legende of Good Women :⁠— “And in the sygne of Taurus men may se The stones of hire corowne shyne clere.” And Spenser, Faerie Queene , VI x 13:⁠— “Looke! how the crowne which Ariadne wore Upon her yvory forehead that same day That Theseus her unto his bridale bore, When the bold Centaures made that bloudy fray With the fierce Lapithes which did them dismay, Being now placed in the firmament, Through the bright heaven doth her beams display, And is unto the starres an ornament, Which round about her move in order excellent.” ↩
• The Chiana empties into the Arno near Arezzo. In Dante’s time it was a sluggish stream, stagnating in the marshes of Valdichiana. See note 440 . ↩
• The Primum Mobile. ↩
• St. Thomas Aquinas, who had related the life of St. Francis. ↩