The word in the original is abbelliva , which Dante here uses in the sense of the Provençal, abellis , of Purgatorio XXVI 140. He uses the word in the same sense in Convito , II 7:⁠—

“In all speech the speaker is chiefly bent on persuasion, that is, on pleasing the audience,

all’ abbellire dell’ audienza

, which is the source of all other persuasions.”