Narcissus mistook his shadow for a substance; Dante, falling into the opposite error, mistakes these substances for shadows. ↩

Your destiny; that is, of yourself and the others with you. ↩

Piccarda was a sister of Forese and Corso Donati, and of Gemma, Dante’s wife. In Purgatorio XXIV 13, Forese says of her:⁠—

“My sister, who, twixt beautiful and good,

I know not which was more, triumphs rejoicing

Already in her crown on high Olympus.”