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Come and behold Montecchi and Cappelletti,
Monaldi and Filippeschi, careless man!
Those sad already, and these doubt-depressed!

Come, cruel one! come and behold the oppression
Of thy nobility, and cure their wounds,
And thou shalt see how safe [?] is Santafiore.

Come and behold thy Rome that is lamenting,
Widowed, alone, and day and night exclaims
‘My Caesar, why hast thou forsaken me?’

Come and behold how loving are the people;
And if for us no pity moveth thee,
Come and be made ashamed of thy renown.” [16]

[Footnote 16:
“O Alberto Tedesco, che abbandoni
Costei ch’ e fatta indomita e selvaggia,
E dovresti inforcar li suoi arcioni,]

Giusto gindizio dalle stelle caggia
Sopra il tuo sangue, e sia nuovo ed aperto,
Tal che il tuo successor temenza n’ aggia:
Cheavete tu e il tuo padre sofferto,
Per cupidigia di costa distretti,
Che il giardin dell’ imperio sia diserto.

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.” [17]

[Footnote 17:
“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.” [18]

[Footnote 18:
“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. [19] 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.” [20]

[Footnote 19:
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.”]

[Footnote 20:
“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.” [21]