intra cambra arma oncle ongla intra cambra arma arma oncle verga ongla verga ongla intra cambra oncle verga ongla intra cambra arma oncle verga V. STANZA. VI. STANZA. TORNADA. verga ongla ongla—oncle oncle verga verga—arma intra cambra cambra—intra arma oncle cambra arma ongla intra It will be observed that the second stanza repeats the rhyme-words of the first in this order, 6, 1, 5, 2, 4, 3, and exactly the same relation will be found to obtain between each stanza of the poem and its predecessor. Whether there was some hidden significance in this sequence it is impossible to tell. But one is inclined to suspect that it must have been some such attraction which induced the great Dante to imitate Arnaut Daniel’s device with perfect accuracy. Or was it the pseudo-scientific regularity of the scheme, so fascinating to the mediæval mind, which attracted him? Anyhow, the fact is undeniable that Dante’s poem in question, although infinitely superior, by its poetic beauty, to anything that Arnaut Daniel ever wrote, is, as regards its metrical scheme, an exact copy of the troubadour’s _sestina_. Only in two minor points has Dante dared to deviate from his model, in points, too, which do not materially interfere with the position of the rhyme-words. These are, the length of the opening lines of each stanza, which in Provençal are by one foot shorter than the other verses, while in Italian they are of equal size; and the arrangement of the rhyme-words of the _tornada_. But Dante’s licence in these details makes his strict adherence to the essential idea of the form all the more significant.