...the thorny stem of the cactus. His moroseness, his party spirit, and his personal vindictiveness are all predicated upon the Inferno, and upon a misapprehension or careless reading even of that. Dante 's zeal was not of that sentimental kind, quickly kindled and as soon quenched, that hovers on the surface of shallow minds, Even as the flame of unctuous things is wont To move upon the outer s...