[Footnote 94: _Perduta_, in the sense of that _pecunia sit tibi in perditionem_, (Acts viii. 20,) absolute condemnation. _Uemo perduto_ in Italian is the _ruptus disruptusque_ of Cicero, a "gone" man, beyond all hope of moral recovery.] To wit: Through me you go into the doleful city; through me you go into eternal grief; through me you go among the lost people. Justice moved my lofty Builder; Divine Power made me; and the supreme Wisdom and the first Love. Ere me were no things created--unless eternal, and I eternal last; relinquish all hope, you who enter. Now compare with Parsons's: "Through me you reach the City of Despair: Through me eternal wretchedness ye find: Through me among perdition's tribe ye fare. Justice inspired my lofty Founder's mind: Power, Love, and Wisdom--Heavenly First Most High-- Created me. Before me naught had been Save things eternal--and eterne am I: Leave ye all hope, O ye who enter in!" Can any translation be more literal? Can it be more faithful? We have tried to find fault with it, but gave it up in despair; yea, the more we strain our critical eye, the more perfectly does the original beauty appear reflected in the translation. It is not the reflection of the mirror; it is the reflection of the sun's light on the moon's face. To economize room, we shall give no more text: we will only add a lineal translation by way of note, presuming on the reader for his trust in our knowledge of both languages, and in our honesty. The long extract we are going to make is, perhaps, the noblest specimen of descriptive poetry in the Italian language. It is, however, founded on a historical mistake, inasmuch as Ugolino was starved to death not by Archbishop Ruggieri, but by Guido da Montefeltro, Lord of Pisa. The true account runs thus: Ugolino dei Gherardeschi, Count of Donovatico, and a Guelf, had, with the connivance of the archbishop, made himself master of Pisa. But having put to death a nephew of Ruggieri, and sold some castles to the Florentines, that prelate, at the head of an infuriated mob, and aided by Gualandi, Sismondi, and Lanfranchi, three powerful leaders, attacked the count in his own palace, and made him prisoner with his two sons Gaddo and Uguccione, and three nephews, Ugolino Brigata, Arrigo, and Anselmuccio. Thus bound, they were all thrown into the donjons of the Tower at the Three Roads. Montefeltro, having meanwhile got the power into his own hands, forbade any food to be administered to his prisoner rival, whereby Ugolino and the rest died of hunger. Dante, (_Inferno_, c. xxxii. and xxxiii.,) admitted to the ninth circle, or bolgia, on entering that part of it which was called Antenora, witnessed the horrible punishment of the traitor and of the murderer: [Transcriber's note: Rendering 1]