Adam’s state of mind, after the fall, is compared by Salandra to a boat tossed by impetuous winds (p. 228):
Qual agitato legno d’Austro, e Noto,
Instabile incostante, non hai pace,
Tu vivi pur . . .
which is thus paraphrased in Milton (ix, 1122):
. . . High winds worse within
Began to rise . . . and shook sore
Their inward state of mind, calm region once
And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent.
Here is a still more palpable adaptation:
... So God ordains:
God is thy law, thou mine.—MILTON (iv, 636)
. . . . Un voler sia d’ entrambi,
E quel’ uno di noi, di Dio sia tutto.—SALANDRA (p. 42).
After the Fall, according to Salandra, vacillò la terra (i), geme (2), e pianse (3), rumoreggiano i tuoni (4), accompagnati da grandini (5), e dense nevi (6), (pp. 138, 142, 218). Milton translates this as follows: Earth trembled from her entrails (1), and nature gave a second groan (2); sky loured and, muttering thunders (4), some sad drops wept (3), the winds, armed with ice and snow (6) and hail (5). (‘Paradise Lost,’ ix, 1000, x. 697).
Here is another translation:
. . . inclino il cielo
Giù ne la terra, e questa al Ciel innalza.—SALANDRA (p. 242).
And Earth be changed to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth.—MILTON (vii, 160).
It is not to my purpose to do Zicari’s work over again, as this would entail a complete translation of his long article (it contains nearly ten thousand words), to which, if the thing is to be done properly, must be appended Salandra’s ‘Adamo,’ in order that his quotations from it can be tested. I will therefore refer to the originals those who wish to go into the subject more fully, warning them, en passant, that they may find the task of verification more troublesome than it seems, owing to a stupid mistake on Zicari’s part. For in his references to Milton, he claims (p. 252) to use an 1818 Venice translation of the ‘Paradise Lost’ by Rolli. Now Rolli’s ‘Paradiso Perduto’ is a well-known work which was issued in many editions in London, Paris, and Italy throughout the eighteenth century. But I cannot trace this particular one of Venice, and application to many of the chief libraries of Italy has convinced me that it does not exist, and that 1818 must be a misprint for some other year. The error would be of no significance if Zicari had referred to Rolli’s ‘Paradiso’ by the usual system of cantos and lines, but he refers to it by pages, and the pagination differs in every one of the editions of Rolli which have passed through my hands. Despite every effort, I have not been able to hit upon the precise one which Zicari had in mind, and if future students are equally unfortunate, I wish them joy of their labours.[[3]]