Vieni a veder Montecchi e Cappelletti,
Monaldi e Filippeschi, uom senza cura:
Color gia tristi, e questi con sospetti.
Vien, crudel, vieni, e vedi la pressura
De' tuoi gentili, e cure lor magagne,
E vedrai Santafior com' e oscura [secura?].
Vieni a veder la tua Roma che piagne,
Vedova e sola, e di e notte chiama:
Cesare mio, perche non m' accompagne?
Vieni a veder la gente quanto s' ama;
E se nulla di noi pieta ti move,
A vergognar ti vien della tua fama."
So, too, Canto III., lines 79-84:--
"As sheep come issuing forth from out the fold
By ones, and twos, and threes, and the others stand
Timidly holding down their eyes and nostrils,
And what the foremost does the others do
Huddling themselves against her if she stop,
Simple and quiet, and the wherefore know not." [51]
[51] "Come le pecorelle escon del chiuso
Ad una, a due, a tre, e l' altre stanno
Timidette atterrando l' occhio e il muso;
E cio che fa la prima, e l' altre sanno,
Addossandosi a lei s' ella s' arresta,
Semplici e quete, e lo 'mperche non sanno."
Francesca's exclamation to Dante is thus rendered by Mr. Longfellow:--
"And she to me: There is no greater sorrow
Than to be mindful of the happy time
In misery." [52]
[52] "Ed ella a me: Nessun maggior dolore
Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria."
Inferno, V. 121-123.
This is admirable,--full of the true poetic glow, which would have been
utterly quenched if some Romanic equivalent of dolore had been used
instead of our good Saxon sorrow. [53] So, too, the "Paradiso," Canto
I., line 100:--
"Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh,
Her eyes directed toward me with that look
A mother casts on a delirious child." [54]
[53] Yet admirable as it is, I am not quite sure that Dr.
Parsons, by taking further liberty with the original, has not surpassed
it:--
"And she to me: The mightiest of all woes
Is in the midst of misery to be cursed
With bliss remembered."
[54] "Ond' ella, appresso d'un pio sospiro,
Gli occhi drizzo ver me con quel sembiante,
Che madre fa sopra figlinol deliro."
And, finally, the beginning of the eighth canto of the "Purgatorio":--
"'T was now the hour that turneth back desire
In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart,
The day they've said to their sweet friends farewell;
And the new pilgrim penetrates with love,
If he doth hear from far away a bell
That seemeth to deplore the dying day." [55]
[55] "Era gia l' ora che volge il disio
Ai naviganti, e intenerisce il core
Lo di ch' hen detto ai dolci amici addio;
E che lo nuovo peregrin d' amore
Punge, se ode squilla di lontano,
Che paia il giorno pianger che si more."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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