North

Africa == land of the Moors, celebrated for the wood called Citrus, for tables of which the Romans gave fabulous prices. l. 61, Demiurge : a worker for the people; so God, as Creator of the world. Mareotic : of the locality of Lake Mareotis, in Egypt. Mareotic wine was very famous; Cæcub an : Cæcubum, a town of Latium. Cæcub us Ager was noted for the excellence and plenty of its wines. l. 82, Pythone : the prieste who gave oracular answers at Delphi, in Greece. l. 83, Lydian king : Lydia was a kingdom of Asia Minor. The king referred to was Crœsus, who interpreted in his own favour the ambiguous answer of the oracle, and was destroyed by following the advice he thought was given to him. l. 115, Nina and Alcamo : Sicilian poets of the period. In the life of Joanna, Queen of Naples, we read of “the Poete Nina, whose love of her art caused her to become enamoured of a poet whom she had never seen. This fortunate bard (who returned her poetical pa ion) was called Dante; but we cannot plead in her excuse that he had anything else in common with the great poet of that name. Nina was the most beautiful woman of the day, and the first female who wrote verse in Italian. She was so engro ed by her pa ion for her lover that she caused herself always to be called ‘The Nina of Dante.’” [S.] “Sismondi only mentions C. d’Alcamo as a Sicilian poet, apparently nearly contemporary with Frederick II. See Ginguené for a full account of Sicilian poetry.” [S.] l. 145, Castellans , governors of castles. l. 146, Suzerains , feudal lords. l. 163, “ Hildebrand of the huge brain mask ”: Pope Gregory VII. He was one of the most famous of the popes, and he lived in the latter part of the eleventh century. l. 174, Mandrake : Mandragora—a plant with a bifurcated root, concerning which many singular superstitions have accumulated. l. 186, “ Three Imperial Crowns ”: the Imperial Crown proper, the German crown, and the Italian or Lombard crown. There seems a little confusion here in the order of the different metals. The Imperial Crown was of gold. The German is always spoken of as the silver crown. The Italian or Lombard crown was known as the iron crown, because one of the nails of Christ’s cro was inserted into its gold frame. ( Encyc. Brit. ) l. 188, Alexander IV. , Pope of Rome (1254-61); Innocent IV. , Pope (1243-54). l. 189, Papal key : the keys of Peter in the papal arms. l. 194, “ The hermit Peter ”: Peter, the Hermit of Amiens, who preached up the first Crusade. l. 195, Claremont == Clermont, a city of France, in which, at a council held in 1095, Pope Urban II. first formally organised the great Crusade. l. 200, Vim merc a to , a town on the Molgova, fourteen miles north-east of Milan. l. 203, “ Mantuan Albert ”: Ble ed Albert founder of the Order of Canons Regular. But it was Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem, who was umpire between Pope and Emperor. l. 204, Saint Francis , of A isi, born 1182; one of the most beautiful characters who ever lived. All living creatures to him were his “brothers and sisters.” l. 205, “ God’s truce ”: “The Pax Ecclesiæ,” or “Treuga Dei”—a suspension of arms, putting a stop to private hostilities within certain periods. The treaty called the “Truce of God” was set on foot in A.D. 999. It was agreed, among other articles, that “churches should be sanctuaries to all sorts of persons, except those who violated this truce; and that from Wednesday till Monday morning no one should offer violence to any one, not even by way of satisfaction for any injustice he had received” (Butler’s Lives of the Saints , sub “St. Odilo,” Jan. 1st.) l. 281, hacqueton : a quilted jacket, worn under a coat of mail. l. 298, trabea : a regal robe. l. 384, thyrsus : a spear wrapped about with ivy, carried at feasts of Bacchus. l. 405, baldric : a richly ornamented belt, pa ing only over one shoulder. l. 453, “ Caliph’s wheel work man ”: an automaton. l. 509, Typhon , a giant. l. 660, Lombard Agilulph : a king of Lombardy, A.D. 601. l. 712, “ changed the spoils of every clime at Venice ”: the great Cathedral of St. Mark’s, Venice, contains columns and ornaments of various kinds, brought from heathen temples in all parts of the Roman world. Pillars from the Temple of Jerusalem, and precious marbles from ancient Roman palaces, combine to make the interior of St. Mark’s one of the strangest and richest Christian churches in the world. So these spoils from many lands, taken from temples devoted to alien worship, have been “changed” to Christian uses in this church. l. 718, “ earth’s reputed consummations ”: that is to say, the noblest works which the world at the time could produce. “The temple at Thebes was the consummate achievement of one age; of another, that of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans; of another, the Par the non at Athens. All these were ‘earth’s reputed consummations.’” l. 719, “ razed a seal ”: Thebes being despoiled like Rome, Athens rifled like Byzant, until St. Mark’s at Venice having razed a seal ( i.e. broken the seal, or, as it were, extracted the nails that fixed the most famous works in the world to their original site) lo! the glittering symbols of the all-purifying Trinity blazed above them: so the “horned and snouted god,” the “cinerary pitcher,” became part of the Christian edifice. l. 719, “ The All-transmuting Triad blazed above ”: that is, they were consecrated by reason of the new faith in the Trinity. The three persons of the Holy Trinity are represented in the mosaics of St. Mark’s Church.” [7] l. 750, Treville or Treviglio: a town in Lombardy, fourteen miles south of Bergamo. l. 751, Cartiglione : is this a misprint for Castiglione? l. 788, writhled == wrinkled. l. 794, pauldron : a defence of armour-plate over the shoulders. l. 909, Gesi or Jesi: a city in the Italian province of Ancona. It was the birthplace of Frederick II. in 1194. l. 943, Valsugan : a town on the Brenta, on the road from Trent to Venice. l. 970 Torriani : a faction of Val sa in a of Lombardy, contending with the Visconti (l. 971): Otho Visconti, Archbishop of Milan (1262), founded the house of Visconti. The Torriani were democrats, the Visconti aristocrats. l. 1065, “ Trent upon Apulia ”: i.e. , Northern upon Southern Italy. l. 1071, Cunizza : called Palma throughout the poem (see p. 123 ). l. 1090, Squarcialupo : not historical. Book VI. —Line 100, jacinth == hyacinth in mineralogy; a name given to several kinds of stone—topaz, etc.; lodestone : magnetic oxide of iron. l. 101, flinders : fragments (of shining metal). l. 142, Cydippe : an A then i an girl who met Acontius at a festival of Artemis. He wrote a promise of marriage from the girl to himself on an apple, and threw it at her feet. The girl read the words aloud, and the oracle told her father she would have to comply with the words she had read. l. 143, Agathon —evidently meant for Acontius in the above story. l. 184, Dularete : not historical. l. 323, “ brakes at balm-shed ”: brake ferns at seed time— i.e. , autumn. l. 387, reate == a waterweed, as water crow-foot. l. 388, gold-sparkling grail : gravel gold-coloured. l. 417, citrine == crystals: a yellow pellucid variety of quartz; “ fierce pyropus-stone ” == a carbuncle of fiery redne . l. 590, King-bird : “The Phœnix travels (in an egg of myrrh) to Helio polis to die.” [S.] l. 614, “ an old fable ,” etc. See Pindar’s, “Fourth Pythian Ode.” l. 630, Hermit-bee —a species of Apidæ; some of the best known of this species are solitary in their habits. The Carpenter-bee ( Xylocopa ) excavates nests and cells in wood; the Mason-bee ( Osmia and Mega chill ) forms nests with particles of sand. l. 677-8, “Henry of Egna,” “Sofia,” “Lady of the Rock,” etc. : Sofia was the “youngest daughter of Eccelin the monk, widow of Henry of Egna, the ‘Lady of the Rock,’ or of the Trentine Pa ” (W. M. Ro etti). l. 698, Campese : a town on the Brenta, near Ba ano. l. 699, Solagna : a village in the province of Vicenza, in the Eastern Alps. l. 787, Valley Rù : in the valley of Enneberg or Gaderthal, on the Eastern Alps. l. 788, San Zeno : the basilica of St. Zeno, an early bishop of Verona. l. 792, raunce , or rance, a bar or rail. l. 799, cushat’s chirre —the ringdove’s coo. l. 802, barrow : a tomb. l. 803, Alberic : brother of Eccelin. He was tortured to death. l. 858, Hesperian fruit : of the Western land (Italy or Spain). The golden apples of the Hesperides probably were oranges. l. 894, “ rifle a musk pod and ’twill ache like yours ”: a freshly-opened musk pod has a most powerful and pungent ammoniacal odour. Musk requires to be smelt in minute quantity. Sordello’s story deals with political troubles and horrors of war, too powerful a dose for reading at one sitting.