20 Prologue i-il 



this is furnished by a comparison of Par. 14. 112-7*' with Lucre- 

 tius 2. 1 1 5-1 21. The former reads***: 



Cosi si veggion qui diritte e torte, 

 Veloci e tarde, rinnovando vista, 

 Lc minuzie dci corpi lunghe e corte, 



Movers! per lo raggio, onde si lista 

 Tal volta I'omhra, che per sua difesa 

 La gente con ingegno ed arte acquista/* 



The passage of Lucretius runs : 



Conteniplator enim, cum soils lumina cumque 

 Inserti fundunt radii per opaca domorum : 

 Multa minuta, modis multis, per inane videbis 

 Corpora mlsceri radiorum lumine in ipso, 

 Et, velut seterno certamine, proelia pugnas 

 Edere, turmatim certantia nee dare pausam, 

 Concilia et dissidiis exercita crebris.*^" 



*^ First suggested by I. C. Wright, in his translation (1840). Moore 

 seems to suppose (Studies in Dante i. 295) that the discovery was made 

 by Butler. 



^ Correspondences are indicated by italics. Their number and closeness 

 may be estimated by a comparison with the following sentence from 

 Isidore of Seville (13. 2. i), which employs the same general figure:' 

 'Hi per inane totius mundi irrequietis motibus volitare, et hue atque illuc 

 ferri dicuntur, sicut tenuissimi pulveres qui infusis per fenestras radiis 

 solis videntur.' 



*° Thus translated by Butler : 'Thus are seen here, straight and twisted, 

 swift and slow, changing appearance, the particles of bodies, long and 

 short, to move through the ray wherewith at times the shade is bordered 

 which folk acquire with art and wit for their protection.' Aud thus by 

 Wicksteed : 'So we see here, straight, twisted, swift, or slow, changing 

 appearance, long or short, the motes of bodies moving through the ray 

 which doth sometimes streak the shade which folk with skill and art 

 contrive for their defense.' 



Longfellow comments : 'Mr. Cary here quotes Chaucer, PVife of Bath's 

 Tale [12] : 



As thikke as motes in the sonnebeme. 



And Milton, Pcnseroso 8 : 



As thick and numberless 

 As the gay motes that people the sunbeam.' 



^ Munro translates : 'Observe, whenever the rays are let in, and pour 

 the sunlight through the dark chambers of houses: you will see many 

 minute bodies, in many ways, through the apparent void, mingle in the 

 midst of the light of the rays, and, as in never-ending conflict, skirmish 



