His happy state alone is unoffended;
Unharassed, and ungalled by toll or tax.
Stanza xlix. lines 5 and 6.
His states escaped the oppression of Charles VIII. of France, when he overran the greater part of Italy.
The just Alphonso, Hippolite the good.
Stanza l. line 4.
Alphonso I. the third Duke of Ferrara, and Cardinal Ippolito his brother, both patrons of Ariosto.
There she (I know not if more justly hight
Mother or stepmother), &c.
Stanza lii. lines 5 and 6.
Meaning Rome.
This shall the Spaniard know, to his dismay.
Stanza liv. line 1.
Alphonso being at variance with the pope and the Venetians, the pope obtained from Ferdinand, King of Naples, some Spanish troops, who took Bastia, which was retaken under the circumstances stated in the text.
Hippolitus, great cardinal of Rome.
Stanza lvi. line 4.
The Ippolito to whom he dedicates his poem.
