“While Hermes piped, and sung, and told his tale, The keeper’s winking eyes began to fail, And drowsy slumber on the lids to creep; Till all the watchman was at length asleep. Then soon the god his voice and song supprest, And with his powerful rod confirmed his rest; Without delay his crooked falchion drew, And at one fatal stroke the keeper slew.”

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The Transfiguration. The passage in the Song of Solomon 2:3, “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons,” is interpreted as referring to Christ; and Dante here calls the Transfiguration the blossoming of that tree. ↩

Matthew 17:5:⁠—