J  Bcnedilta  coUi,  et  seq. :  Compare  Lukt  xi,  27  :  "  Blessed  is
the  womb  that  hare  thee,  and  the  paps  that  thou  has  sucked."
Gelli  remarks  ol  1(1  Ic  s'  incinse,  i.e.  "  became  pregnant  of  thee,"
that  the  word  indgnerc,  though  in  his  time  obsolete,  was  in
general  use  in  the  time  of  Danle.  This  is  noteworthy,  for
Gelli  wrote  in  1555.  during  the  cultivated  age  of  Leo  X,  and
yet  at  the  present  day  it  is  as  common  lo  hear  the  expression
uNii  donna  incinta  for  a  pregnant  woman  in  Italy,  as  tt  is  to  hear
of  vne  femme  tnceintc  in  France.
Canto  VIII.       Reaiiinf(s  on  the  Inferno.
271


Then  stretched  he  forth  both  hands  unto  the  boat :
whereupon  the  watchful  Master  thrust  him  back,
saying ;  "  Away  there  with  the  other  dogs."  Then
threw  he  his  arms  about  my  neck,  he  kissed  my
face,  and  said  :  "  Disdainful  Soul,  blessed  is  she
that  conceived  thee  !

It  is  ver>'  larely  that  Virgil  addresses  any  shade
whom  Dante  has  addressed  first,  and  vice  versd.  I  can
only  recall  one  other  instance,  where  (/»/.  xxiii)  both
Poets  converse  with  Catalano,  the  Frale  Godente."

Benvenuto  here  relates  the  story  of  FilJppo's  cruel
vengeance  against  Biondello  for  playing  a  practical
joke  upon  him,  which  we  noticed  in  Canto  vi,  and
he  comments  upon  it  in  his  quaint  Latin  as  follows:
Ad propositum  ergo  vide,  qualiUr  Filippus  Argenti  pro
una  vana  buffa  dtstratiavit  crudcttSer  vHem  homuncionem
per  lutitin  cum  furore.  Ideo  bene  nttnc  dislraliatur  vHiler,
ut  cants  rabidus  ab  aliis  canibtts  per  triste  coenum  in-
female.     (Benvenuto,  Vol.  i.  p.  287).
