This looks different enough from the common text, that, for example, of the Florentine edition of 1844. I' mi volsi a Beatrice, e quella udio Pria ch' io parlassi, ed arrisemi un cenno Che fece crescer l' ale al voler mio. Poi cominciai cosi: L' affetto e il senno, Come la prima egualità v' apparse, D' un peso per ciascun di voi si fenno; Perocchè al Sol, che v' allumò ed arse Col caldo e con la luce, en sì iguali, Che tutte simiglianze sono scarse. "I turned to Beatrice, and she heard before I spoke, and smiled on me a sign which added wings to my desire. Then I began thus: Love and wisdom, as soon as the primal Equality has appeared to you, become of one weight in each one of you; since in that Sun, which illuminates and warms you with heat and light, they are so equal, that every comparison falls short." The three other ancient texts are each quite as different from the modern one as that which we have given, nor is the passage one that affords example of unusual variations. It would have been easy to select many others varying much more than this, but our object is to show the general character of these first editions. The second line of the quotation offers a various reading which is supported by the _arrossemi_ of the Jesi edition, and the _arossemi_ of that of Naples, as well as by the text of the comment of Benvenuto da Imola, and some other early authorities. But even were the weight of evidence in its favor far greater than it is, it could never be received in place of the thoroughly Dantesque and exquisite expression, _arrisemi un cenno_, which is found in the Mantua edition. The _napparse_ and the _noi_ of the fifth and sixth lines and the _nallumo_ of the seventh are plainly mistakes of the scribe, puzzled by the somewhat obscure meaning of the passage. Not one of the four editions before us gives us the right pronouns, but they are found in the Bartolinian codex, (as well as many others,) and they are established in the rare Aldine edition of 1502, the chief source of the modern text. In the eighth line, where we now read _en sì iguali_, the four give us _et_ or _e si iguali_, a reading from which it is difficult to extract a meaning, unless, with the Bartolinian, we omit the _che_ in the preceding line, and suppose the _pero chel_ to stand, not for _perocchè al_, but for _perocchè il_,--or, retaining the _che_, read the first words _perocch' è il Sol_, and take the clause as a parenthesis. The meaning, according to the first supposition, would be, "Love and wisdom are of one measure in you, (since the Sun [_sc._ the primal Equality] warmed and enlightened you,) and so equal that," etc. According to the second supposition, we should translate, "Since it [the primal Equality] is the sun which," etc. Benvenuto da Imola gives still a third reading, making the _e si iguali_ into _ee si iguale_, or, in modern orthography, _è sì iguale_; but, as this spoils the rhyme, it may be left out of account.