The Inferno . Neri ; then Florence Pr°Ph«c^renovates her people and her laws. Mars brings from Valdimagra a fiery vapour,which is wrapt in turbid clouds, and withangry and impetuous storm [a battle] shall be [fought] on Piceno8 field ;whence it suddenly shall rend the mist, so thatevery Bianco shall be wounded by it. And Ihave said this [so that] it [may] grieve thee. 272 NOTES 1-3. When the sun is in Aquarius, betweenJanuary 21st and February 21st, he is more in evidencein proportion as the days and nights become more andmore equal, This is the usual explanation of theseverses. But there
The Inferno . Neri ; then Florence Pr°Ph«c^renovates her people and her laws. Mars brings from Valdimagra a fiery vapour,which is wrapt in turbid clouds, and withangry and impetuous storm [a battle] shall be [fought] on Piceno8 field ;whence it suddenly shall rend the mist, so thatevery Bianco shall be wounded by it. And Ihave said this [so that] it [may] grieve thee. 272 NOTES 1-3. When the sun is in Aquarius, betweenJanuary 21st and February 21st, he is more in evidencein proportion as the days and nights become more andmore equal, This is the usual explanation of theseverses. But there is much to be said for Butlersinterpretation (based on the Ottimo) which takes nottias the point of the heavens opposite the sun (cf. Purg,ii. 4), and mezzo dì as « the south : when the nightsare already passing away to the south, the sun is, ofcourse, proceeding northwards. 4-6. Hoar-frost melts sooner than snow. 34, 35 and 40. The following diagram (taken fromScartazzini) will make these verses clear :. 8590 The serpents in these verses were suggested CANTO XXIV 273 by Lucan (Pharj. ix, 708,/^., and 805). The countryreferred to in v, 90 is Arabia. 93. The heliotrope (a stone) was credited with thepower of making its wearer invisible. 107-111. The peculiarities of the phoenix are alludedto by many classical and medieval writers ; Dantesimmediate source was evidently Ovid, Mctam. xv. 392,TC-ii 2-117. Dante would appear to be describing anepileptic fit. 137-139. In 1293 Vanni Fucci, a Black of Pistoia,robbed the treasure of San Jacopo in the Church ofSan Zeno, together with two accomplices. The realculprits remained undetected for a year; but in themeantime, a certain Rampino de Foresi was suspectedof the theft and detained in prison. 143-150. The Bianchi, having assisted in the ex-pulsion of the Neri from Pistoia (May 1301), werethemselves driven from Florence in November 1301,when Charles of Valois entered the city. For sometime Pistoia remained the stronghold of the Whit
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