XXXIV/3 As with Canto XXXIII/1, an early error was pressed into late service with advantage. In the original edition, the lithograph of Canto 1/2 shows the three beasts which give the identity to the main divisions of sin and therefore act as the initial emblems of the three levels of Hell. A whole edition of this lithograph was originally printed on the wrong side of the paper and the job had to be done again. Since they represent in this heraldic form the announcements of the depths to come it seemed pertinent to recapitulate them as the banners (their already pennant-like form already hinted at such a use) that precede Satan. The Canto starts with the Latin, in a parody of a VIth Century Holy Week hymn, VEXILLA REGIS PRODEUNT INFERNO. Wanting to leave this as it stood I felt obliged to give a translation somewhere, originally intending to make it the second line. Put over the pennants however, the words serve a double function of translating the text, and, by a gradual and systematic revealing of the meaning via letters of increasing size, show the relentless advance of the Devil's flags. The stencils I have used are those zinc packing-case stencils that I have employed throughout the book, and indeed (they are now well-worn friends) throughout my working life. XXXI -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.