Commentary Par XVI 1-9

Dante, in the course of celebrating his noble birthright, uses the occasion to condemn any such self-aggrandizing sentiments.  The appeal of noble bloodlines is so great, the poet explains, that he took pride in his ancestry even now in the heavens, where he assuredly should have known better.  For a meditation on the problematical nature of Dante's ideas about nobility, see Borsellino (Bors.1995.1), pp. 39-41.

Boethius (Cons. III.6[pr]) proclaims the emptiness of a noble name in a passage also probably echoed by Dante in Convivio (Conv.IV.xx.5).  See also Monarchia (Mon.II.iii.4), words that sound much like Francesco da Buti's gloss to these verses, citing Boethius in distinguishing nobility of soul from 'corporeal' nobility (i.e., that established by bloodline).

Where at the close of Canto XIV Dante claims that he was not wrong in not praising Beatrice there, here he states that it was wrong indeed to feel himself glorified in his ancestry.