At the end of Canto VIII of the Inferno we read that the devils shut the gates of Dis against Vergil, leaving him—the context suggests—pale with anger. Dante, who had himself turned pale with fear on seeing his leader's change of color, says at the beginning of the next canto: ‘That color which cowardize pinse in (or ‘on′) me, as I saw my leader turn back, the more quickly repressed within him his own new color';1 that is, caused him to dissemble, for Dante's sake, his own evidences of perturbation. “Pinse,” in this context, is interpreted “painted” (Italian “dipinto”) by part of the commentators and translators, and by the rest “pushed forth,” “brought out,” “impressed,” “imprinted,” etc. (among the Italian commentators “spinse,” or “sospinse”). Among the later interpreters there is rather a distinct leaning away from the former explanation: while Scartazzini hesitates, for instance, Vandelli says “spinse,” and Grandgent shifts from “painted” to “pushed forth” between his first and second editions. Perhaps Vittorio Rossi's authoritative voice may be accountable for this; he says: ‘Fuor mi spinse is contrasted to “dentro ristrinse” of verse 3; which seems to me to exclude the more common interpretation: “painted on my countenance.” ‘