The next triplet brings out the difference between the two theories even more distinctly:—
"E la percossa pianta tanto puote
Che della sua virtute l'aura impregna,
E quella poi girando intorno scuote."
And the stricken plant has so much power
That with its virtue it impregnates the air,
And that then revolving shakes around.
Thus far Dante.
"And in the shaken plant such power resides,
That it impregnates with its efficacy
The voyaging breeze, upon whose subtle plume
That, wafted, flies abroad."
Thus far Cary.
Cary's first line is a tolerably near approach to the original, although a distinction might be made between the force of power resides in, and power possessed by. The second line falls short of the conciseness of the original by transposing the object of impregnates into the third. This, however, though a blemish, might also be passed over. But what shall we say to the expansion of aura into a full line, and that line so Elizabethan and un-Dantesque as
"The voyaging breeze upon whose subtle plume"?
In this, too, Mr. Cary is faithful to his theory. Mr. Longfellow is equally faithful to his:—
"And so much power the stricken plant possesses,
That with its virtue it impregns the air,
And this, revolving, scatters it around."