These men, say some of the commentators, were as swords that mutilated and distorted the Scriptures. Others, that in them the features of the Scriptures were distorted, as the features of a man reflected in the grooved or concave surface of a sword. ↩

Names used to indicate any common simpletons and gossips. ↩

In writing this line Dante had evidently in mind the beautiful wise words of St. Francis:⁠—

“What every one is in the eyes of God, that he is, and no more.”

“What every one is in the eyes of God, that he is, and no more.”