The fundamental idea of this passage is the explanation of the sound of the forest, and this idea Cary has preserved. But has he preserved it in its force and simplicity and Dantesque directness? We will not dwell upon the rendering of _altezza_ by _summit_, although a little more care would have preserved the exact word of the original. But we may with good reason object to the expansion of Dante's three lines into four. We may with equal reason object to "which on every side To visitation of the impassive air Is open," as a correct rendering of "che tutta è disciolta Nell'aer vivo,"-- which is all detached In the living air. "To visitation of the impassive air," is a sonorous verse; but it is not Dante's verse, unless _all detached_ means _on every side is open to visitation_, and _impassive air_ means _living air_. _Beneath its sway_, also, is not Dante's; nor can we accept _umbrageous wood_, with its unmeaning epithet, for _the wood because it is thick_, an explanation of the phenomenon which had excited Dante's wonder. Here, then, we have Cary's theory, the preservation of the fundamental idea, but the free introduction of such accessory ideas as convenience may suggest, whether in the form of epithet or of paraphrase. Mr. Longfellow's translation of this passage may also be accepted as the exposition of his theory:-- "Upon this height that all is disengaged In living ether, doth this motion strike, And make the forest sound, for it is dense." We have here the three lines of the original, and in the order of the original; we have the exact words of the original, _disciolta_ meaning _disengaged_ as well as _detached_, and therefore the ideas of the original without modification or change. The passage is not a remarkable one in form, although a very important one in the description of which it forms a part. The sonorous second line of Mr. Cary's version is singularly false to the movement, as well as to the thought, of the original. Mr. Longfellow's lines have the metric character of Dante's precise and direct description. The next triplet brings out the difference between the two theories even more distinctly:-- "E la percossa pianta tanto puote Che della sua virtute l'aura impregna, E quella poi girando intorno scuote." And the stricken plant has so much power That with its virtue it impregnates the air, And that then revolving shakes around. Thus far Dante. "And in the shaken plant such power resides, That it impregnates with its efficacy The voyaging breeze, upon whose subtle plume _That_, wafted, flies abroad." Thus far Cary.