• Europa, daughter of King Agenor, borne to the island of Crete on the back of Jupiter, who had taken the shape of a bull. Ovid, Metamorphoses , II , Addison’s Tr. :⁠— “Agenor’s royal daughter, as she played Among the fields, the milk-white bull surveyed, And viewed his spotless body with delight, And at a distance kept him in her sight. At length she plucked the rising flowers, and fed The gentle beast, and fondly stroked his head. ⋮ Till now grown wanton and devoid of fear, Not knowing that she pressed the Thunderer, She placed herself upon his back, and rode O’er fields and meadows, seated on the god. “He gently marched along, and by degrees Left the dry meadow, and approached the seas; Where now he dips his hoofs and wets his thighs, Now plunges in, and carries off the prize.” ↩
• See note 1819 . ↩
• The sun was in Aries, two signs in advance of Gemini, in which Dante then was. ↩
• Donnea again. See note 1811 . ↩
• Purgatorio XXXI 49:⁠— “Never to thee presented art or nature Pleasure so great as the fair limbs wherein I was enclosed, which scattered are in earth.” ↩