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1PREFACE. T dious life. I know that I cannot expect any general interest in such work, but I shall be satisfied if it obtain from other students of Dante the favourable opinion which it won from my kindly critic the late Professor Brewer, and I hope it will at least interest my friends as the mature fruit of such literary power as I possess. The only translations of Dante with which I am acquainted are Gary's, Longfellow's, and Wright's. Gary's work is that of a real scholar, but it is impossible to represent the " Divine Gomedy" in Miltonic blank verse. Faithful as is Gary's version, it does not really represent Dante to the English reader. Longfellow's work is even more verbally literal, and equally unlike the original. It is translated verse for verse and in terza rima form, but though it is not true blank verse there is no rhyme, and every one fit to appreciate Dante knows that in his interlinked rhyme, and marvellous melody consists the most exquisite portion of his charm. It is to these that the sweetest portions of the " Purgatory" and the " Paradise" owe their perfect form, which, robbed of such adjuncts, cannot be presented in a foreign language. Of the above three translations Wright's is certainly the best representation of the original poem, for it is in rhyme, and the verse is generally melodious. But the metre is not that of the original ; it is not terza rima, but an ingenious imitation of it, invented by Mr. Wright to avoid the technical difficulty of the triple rhyme. In my opinion Dante cannot be fairly represented to the English reader without his triple rhyme.
2vi PREFACE. The terza rima is a metre perfectly suited for English poetry, and in that metre only can a true representation of the great Florentine's work be presented in English verse. I believe that more than one translation into English terza rima has appeared since I made my own, and that one of them by Mr. Cayley is of more than ordinary excellence. The work never fell into my hands, nor was even known to me by i*epute until I had for many years given up my own Dante studies. I have abstained from seeing his work till my own was through the press, in order to avoid any possibility of assistance by others' labour to my own. Should any similarity be detected anywhere between our translations it can only be the accidental result of two minds having engaged separately in carrying out the same task on the same conditions. In my opinion, fidelity to the original is a translator's first duty, and that I have refused to sacrifice in any attempt at meretricious ornament. I should have wished to present my own translation side by side with the Italian, but have been deterred by the extra cost of printing which such a mode of publication would involve. I believe that the Italian student who will take the trouble to compare my version with Dante's poem, however slight his knowledge of the Italian language may be, will find no difficulty in following the original line by line ; mere paraphrase of foreign poetry is easy, faithful representation is hard. My effort has been to reproduce with exactitude the thoughts, and, where
3PREFACE. vu possible, the words of Dante in verse that may give the English reader some idea of the exquisite harmony of the original. Wherever Dante has written in Latin I have kept the words unchanged : • such lines, if pronounced in the Italian fashion, will generally be found fairly harmonious ; of course with the old English pronunciation they do not make verse at all. Proper names must also be pronounced in Italian to keep the harmony of the verse. For instance, Beatrice must be pronounced as a word of four syllables unless it is spelt Beatrix. I trust to the consideration of a fair critic if in a long poem of nearly five thousand triple rhymes he finds here and there a faulty rhyme which would be inadmissible in a sonnet. I have purposely made use of some archaic words in the reproduction of an Italian poem which is at least half a century older than the works of our Chaucer. The introduction, and the notes which will be found appended to each page, have been written solely with the object of enabling the ordinary reader to comprehend Dante's great poem, the interest of which is often dependent on minute historical details, now little known or forgotten. JAMES INNES MINCHIN. October, 1884. CONTENTS.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1PREFACE. T dious life. I know that I cannot expect any general interest in such work, but I shall be satisfied if it obtain from other students of Dante the favourable opinion which it won from my kindly critic the late Professor Brewer, and I hope it will at least interest my friends as the mature fruit of such literary power as I possess. The only translations of Dante with which I am acquainted are Gary's, Longfellow's, and Wright's. Gary's work is that of a real scholar, but it is impossible to represent the " Divine Gomedy" in Miltonic blank verse. Faithful as is Gary's version, it does not really represent Dante to the English reader. Longfellow's work is even more verbally literal, and equally unlike the original. It is translated verse for verse and in terza rima form, but though it is not true blank verse there is no rhyme, and every one fit to appreciate Dante knows that in his interlinked rhyme, and marvellous melody consists the most exquisite portion of his charm. It is to these that the sweetest portions of the " Purgatory" and the " Paradise" owe their perfect form, which, robbed of such adjuncts, cannot be presented in a foreign language. Of the above three translations Wright's is certainly the best representation of the original poem, for it is in rhyme, and the verse is generally melodious. But the metre is not that of the original ; it is not terza rima, but an ingenious imitation of it, invented by Mr. Wright to avoid the technical difficulty of the triple rhyme. In my opinion Dante cannot be fairly represented to the English reader without his triple rhyme.
2vi PREFACE. The terza rima is a metre perfectly suited for English poetry, and in that metre only can a true representation of the great Florentine's work be presented in English verse. I believe that more than one translation into English terza rima has appeared since I made my own, and that one of them by Mr. Cayley is of more than ordinary excellence. The work never fell into my hands, nor was even known to me by i*epute until I had for many years given up my own Dante studies. I have abstained from seeing his work till my own was through the press, in order to avoid any possibility of assistance by others' labour to my own. Should any similarity be detected anywhere between our translations it can only be the accidental result of two minds having engaged separately in carrying out the same task on the same conditions. In my opinion, fidelity to the original is a translator's first duty, and that I have refused to sacrifice in any attempt at meretricious ornament. I should have wished to present my own translation side by side with the Italian, but have been deterred by the extra cost of printing which such a mode of publication would involve. I believe that the Italian student who will take the trouble to compare my version with Dante's poem, however slight his knowledge of the Italian language may be, will find no difficulty in following the original line by line ; mere paraphrase of foreign poetry is easy, faithful representation is hard. My effort has been to reproduce with exactitude the thoughts, and, where
3PREFACE. vu possible, the words of Dante in verse that may give the English reader some idea of the exquisite harmony of the original. Wherever Dante has written in Latin I have kept the words unchanged : • such lines, if pronounced in the Italian fashion, will generally be found fairly harmonious ; of course with the old English pronunciation they do not make verse at all. Proper names must also be pronounced in Italian to keep the harmony of the verse. For instance, Beatrice must be pronounced as a word of four syllables unless it is spelt Beatrix. I trust to the consideration of a fair critic if in a long poem of nearly five thousand triple rhymes he finds here and there a faulty rhyme which would be inadmissible in a sonnet. I have purposely made use of some archaic words in the reproduction of an Italian poem which is at least half a century older than the works of our Chaucer. The introduction, and the notes which will be found appended to each page, have been written solely with the object of enabling the ordinary reader to comprehend Dante's great poem, the interest of which is often dependent on minute historical details, now little known or forgotten. JAMES INNES MINCHIN. October, 1884. CONTENTS.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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