The Second Circle, or Cornice, where is punished. the sin of Envy ; of which St. Augustine says : "Envy is the hatred of another's felicity ; in respect of superiors, because they are not equal to them ; in respect of inferiors, lest they should be equal to them ; in respect of equals, because they are equal to them. Through envy proceeded the fall of the world, and the death of Christ."
The livid colour of Envy.
The military precision which Virgil faces to the right is Homeric. Biagioli says that Dante expresses it "after his own fashion, that is, entirely new and different from mundane custom.'
Boethius, Cons. Phil., V. Met. 2 :
"Him the Sun, then, rightly call,--
God who sees and lightens all."
John ii. 3 : "And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine."
Examples are first given of the virtue opposite the vice here punished. These are but "airy tongues that syllable men's names;" and it must not be supposed that the persons alluded to are actually passing in the air.
The name of Orestes is here shouted on account of the proverbial friendship between him and Pylades. When Orestes was condemned to death, Pylades tried to take his place, exclaiming, "I am Orestes."
Matthew v.44 "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you."
See Canto XlV. 147.
The next stairway leading from the second to the third circle.
The Litany of All Saints.
Latian for Italian.
A Sienese lady living in banishment at Colle, where from a tower she witnessed the battle between her townsmen and the Florentines. "Sapia hated the Sienese," says Benvenuto, "and placed herself at a window not far from the field 6f battle, waiting the issue with anxiety, and desiring the rout and ruin of her own people. Her desires being verified by the entire discomfiture of the Sienese, and the death of their captain," (Provenzan Salvani, see Canto XI. Note 121,) "exultant and almost beside herself, she lifted her bold face to heaven, and cried, 'Now, O God, do with me what thou wilt, do me all the harm thou canst; now my prayers are answered, and I die content."
Gower, Confes. Amant., II.:--
"Whan I have sene another blithe
Of love and hadde a goodly chere,
Ethna, which brenneth yere by yere,
Was thanne nought so hote as I
Of thilke sore which prively
Mine hertes thought withinne brenneth."
Longfellow (1897), Purg. 13.114
Convito, IV. 23 : "Every effect, in so far as it is effect, receiveth the likeness of its cause, as far as it can retain it. Therefore, inasmuch as our life, as has been said, and likewise that of every living creature here below, is caused by the heavens, and the heavens reveal themselves to all these effects, not in complete circle, but in part thereof, so must its movement needs be above ; and as an arch retains all lives nearly, (and, I say, retains those of men as well as of other living creatures,) ascending and curving, they must be in the similitude of an arch. Returning then to our life, of which it is now question, I say that it proceeds in the image of this arch, ascending and descending."
The warm days near the end of January are still called in Lombardy i giorni della merla, the days of the blackbird ; from an old legend, that once in the sunny weather a blackbird sang, "I fear thee no more; O Lord, for the winteris over."
Peter Pettignano, or Pettinajo, was a holy hermit, who saw visions and wrought miracles at Siena. Forsyth, Italy, 149, describing the festival of the Assumption in that city in 1802, says :--
"The Pope had reserved for this great festival the Beatification of Peter, a Sienese comb-maker, whom the Church had neglected to canonize till now. Poor Peter was honoured with all the solemnity of music, high-mass, and officiating cardinal, a florid panegyric, pictured angels bearing his tools to heaven, and combing their own hair as they soared ; but he received five hundred years ago a greater honour than all, a verse of praise from Dante."
Dante's besetting sin was not envy, but pride.
On the other side of the world.
The vanity of the Sienese is also spoken of Inf. XXIX. 123.
Talamone is a seaport in the Maremma, "many times abandoned by its inhabitants," says the Ottimo, "on account of the malaria. The town is utterly in ruins ; but as the harbour is deep, and would be of great utility if the place were inhabited, the Sienese have spent much money in repairing it many times, and bringing in inhabitants ; it is of little use, for the malaria prevents the increase of population."
Talamone is the ancient Telamon, where Marius landed on his return from Africa.
The Diana is a subterranean river, which the Sienese were in search of for many years to supply the city with water. "They never have been able to find it," says the Ottimo, "and yet they still hope." In Dante's time it was evidently looked upon as an idle dream. To the credit of the Sienese be it said, they persevered, and finally succeeded in obtaining the water so patiently sought for. The Pozzo Diana, or Diana's Well, is still to be seen at the Convent of the Carmen.
The admirals who go to Talamone to superintend the works will lose there more than their hope, namely, their lives.