• Dante here refers either to the reforms he expected from the Emperor Henry VII , or to those he as confidently looked for from Can Grande della Scala, the Veltro, or greyhound, of Inferno I 101, who was to slay the she-wolf, and make her “perish in her pain,” and whom he so warmly eulogizes in Canto XVII of the Paradiso. Alas for the vanity of human wishes! Patient Italy has waited more than five centuries for the fulfilment of this prophecy, but at length she has touched the bones of her prophet, and “is revived and stands upon her feet.” ↩
• The Primum Mobile, or Crystalline Heaven, continued. ↩
• Milton, Paradise Lost , IV 505:⁠— “Thus these two, Imparadised in one another’s arms, The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill Of bliss on bliss.” ↩
• That Crystalline Heaven, which Dante calls a volume, or scroll, as in Canto XXIII 112:⁠— “The regal mantle of the volumes all.” ↩
• The light of God, represented as a single point, to indicate its unity and indivisibility. ↩
• Iris, or the rainbow. ↩