Commentary Par XVI 13-15

This tercet returns to a scene that had been focal to the pivotal moment in the adulterous passion between Francesca and Paolo in Inferno V, the kiss exchanged by Lancelot and Guinevere in the twelfth-century Old French prose romance Lancelot du lac.  See Galeotto.  Umberto Carpi (Carp.2004.1), vol. I, pp. 24-25 and 256, refines the general appreciation of the reference, pointing out (and crediting Pietro Beltrami for the observation leading to his insight) that Guinevere's handmaid did not cough when the queen and Lancelot kissed, but before that, when she revealed to her admirer that she was aware of his name and of his lofty lineage.  Her words cause the lady-in-waiting to cough as a way of informing Lancelot that she finally knows his identity and nobility of blood.  Thus Beatrice, hearing Dante's response to his own genealogical distinction, the voi with which he addresses his ancestor, smiles in knowing response to that.  That she does so as a warning against such pride seems clear, even if some commentators insist on a friendlier, less critical attitude at this height in the heavens.