[Ἥμισυ γάρ τ' ἀρετῆς ἀποαίνυται εὐρύοπα Ζεύς
᾿Ανέρος, εὗτ᾿ ἅν μιν κατὰ δούλιον ἦμαρἕλῃσιν.
Odyssey, xvii. 322, 323.]
[ [307] {265} Petrarch. [Dante died September 14, 1321, when Petrarch, born July 20, 1304, had entered his eighteenth year.]
[ [308] [Historical events may be thrown into the form of prophecy with some security, but not so the critical opinions of the soi-disani prophet. If Byron had lived half a century later, he might have placed Ariosto and Tasso after and not before Petrarch.]
Was crimsoned with his veins who died to save,
Shall be his glorious argument,——.—[MS, Alternative reading.]
[ [309] {266} [See the Introduction to the Lament of Tasso, ante, [p. 139], and Childe Harold, Canto IV. stanza xxxvi. line 2, Poetical Works, 1899, ii. 355, note 1.]
[ [310] [Alfonso d'Este (II.), Duke of Ferrara, died 1597.]
[ [311] [Compare the opening lines of the Orlando Furioso—
"Le Donne, i Cavalier'! l'arme, gli amori,
Le Cortesie, l'audaci imprese io canto."