seeking to make a complete list of them. I may be allowed, however, to refer to what may be more properly designated as verbal resemblances in the references to Nature. The detailed description of a storm in Purg., v. 113 and ff., finds a counterpart in several passages of Vergil and Ovid; but there seems to be something more than mere coincidence in the resemblance between the lines:

'La pioggia cadde; ed a' fossati venne
Di lei ciò che la terra non sofferse'

and Vergil's:

(Purg., v. 119-120),

'... Implentur fossae et cava flumina crescunt.'

So the lines in Inf., ii. I ff., where the approach of night brings the hour of rest for men and animals :

'Lo giorno se n'andava, e l'aer bruno

Toglieva gli animai, che sono in terra,
Dalle fatiche loro . . .'

(Inf., ii. 1-3),

recall similar lines in Vergil:

'Cetera per terras omnis animalia somno
Laxabant curas et corda oblita laborum'

and:

(Æn., ix. 222-223);

Nox erat et terris animalia somnus habebat.'
(Æn., iii. 147.)

The phenomenon of the stars fading at the approach of dawn is common enough, and we need not be surprised to find parallels to the Divina Commedia, Par., xxx. 7 and ff., not only in Vergil (Æn., iii. 521), but also in Lucan (ii. 72), Ariosto (xxxvii. 86), and Tasso (xviii. 12).1

Some of the most famous of Dante's pictures, although in large part made original by his own genius, are evidently reminiscences of Vergil. This is especially true of the exquisite figure of the doves in the Inf., v. 82-84, whose prototype is Æn., v. 213-217; and also of the famous metaphor of the souls preparing to enter Charon's boat (Inf., iii. 112-114, reproducing the same idea as that in the En., vi. 309-312).

1 Cf. Magistretti, Il Fuoco e la Luce nella Divina Commedia. Firenze, 1888.

But Dante owes suggestions for metaphors taken from Nature to other Latin writers. Although his references to Horace are few, we find a repetition of the latter's famous figure of woods and leaves (Ars Poet., 60-62) in

'Chè l'uso de' mortali è come fronda

In ramo, che sen va, ed altra viene.'
(Par., xxvi. 137-138.)

In similar manner we find several metaphors of Nature which are evidently suggested by Ovid. As already noted, the direct and indirect references to this poet in all of Dante's works amount to about an hundred. For his mythology Dante is chiefly indebted to him, and nearly all the allusions to Cerberus, Phoenix, and the gods and goddesses can be traced to the Metamorphoses. Portions of the beautiful scene in Purg., xxviii. 40 and ff., may have been suggested by the story of Proserpina in Met., v. 388 ff. Cf. especially the lines :

'Una Donna soletta, che si gía

Cantando ed iscegliendo fior da fiore'

with

(xxviii. 40-41),

Quo dum Proserpina luco

Ludit, et aut violas aut candida lilia carpit.'

(v. 391-392.)

The words primaver and perpetuum ver, which are found in these passages, may be taken as indicating some connection between the two.

It is probable that Dante also had Ovid in mind when he tells us how the Earth looked when seen from the starry sphere:

'L'aiuola..

Tutta m'apparve da' colli alle foci. '1

(Par., xxii. 151-153.)

In the Metamorphoses there are several similar passages,-chief among which is that where unlucky Phaethon is described :

'... Medio est altissima caelo,

Unde mare et terras ipsi mihi saepe videre.'
(Met., ii. 64-65.)

So also the scene where Perseus flies through

the sky and

'Despectat terras totumque supervolat orbem'

and the line:

(Met., iv. 624),

'Quae freta, quas terras sub se vidisset ab alto.

(Met., iv. 788.)

The various scenes of the transformation of

1 Cf. also Par., xxvii. 79 and ff.

snakes into men, and vice versa, are imitated from Ovid.

A very interesting verbal resemblance is seen in the line in which the dim light of the eighth circle is described, as

"... Men che notte e men che giorno'

with which compare:

(Inf., xxxi. 10);

'Quod tu nec tenebras nec posses dicere lucem.'

(Met., iv. 400.)

I have already compared the famous figure of the leaves in the Inferno to Vergil, but a similar figure is also seen in:

'Non citius frondes autumni frigore tactas

Iamque male haerentes alta rapit arbore ventus,
Quam sunt membra viri manibus direpta nefandis.'

(Met., iii. 729-731.)

So, too, of a falling star we find :

'Di prima notte mai fender sereno'

(Purg., v. 38);

whilst Phaethon falls :

'... Ut interdum de caelo stella sereno."

(Met., ii. 321.)

1 This is a very common metaphor; cf.

'Quam solet aethereo lampas decurrere sulco' (Lucan, x.); '. . . And with the setting sun

and also:

Dropt from the Zenith like a falling star.'

(Milton, Par. Lost, i. 744-745.)

For other parallels see Magistretti, l. c., pp. 300-301.