say, So that three beasts go under one skin,—­to wit, a cardinal, a harlot, and a horse; for thus I have heard of one whom I knew well, that he carried his mistress to the chase, seated behind him on the croup of his horse or mule, and he himself was in truth ’as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding.’...  And wonder not, Reader, if the author as a poet thus reproach these prelates of the Church; for even great Doctors and Saints have not been able to abstain from rebukes of this sort against such men in the Church.”  Nothing of all this is to be found in the Italian version.

But it is not only in omission that the translator shows his devotion to the Church.  He takes upon himself not infrequently to alter the character of Benvenuto’s narratives by the insertion of phrases or the addition of clauses to which there is nothing corresponding in the original.  The comment on Canto XIX. of the “Inferno” affords several instances of this unfair procedure.  “Among the Cardinals,” says Benvenuto, “was Benedict of Anagni, a man most skilful in managing great affairs and in the rule of the world; who, moreover, sought the highest dignity.”  “Vir astutissimus ad quseque magna negotia et imperia mundi; qui etiam affectabat summam dignitatem.”  This appears in the translation as follows:  “Uomo astutissimo, perito d’ affari, e conoscitore delle altre corti:  affettava un contegno il piu umile, e reservato.”  “A man most astute, skilled in affairs, and acquainted with other courts; he assumed a demeanor the most humble and reserved.”  A little farther on, Benvenuto tells us that many, even after the election of Benedict to the Papacy, reputed Celestine to be still the true and rightful Pope, in spite of his renunciation, because, they said, such a dignity could not be renounced.  To this statement the translator adds, “because it comes directly from God,”—­a clause for the benefit of readers under the pontificate of Pius IX.

In the comment on Canto XIX. of the “Purgatory” occurs the following striking passage:  “Summus Pontificatus, si bene geritur, est summus honor, summum onus, summa servitus, summus labor.  Si vero male, est summum periculum animae, summum malum, summa miseria, summus pudor.  Ergo dubium est ex omni parte negotium.  Ideo bene praefatus Adrianus Papa IV. dicebat, Cathedram Petri spinosam, et Mantum ejus acutissimis per totum consertum aculeis, et tantae gravitatis, ut robustissimos premat et conterat humeros.  Et concludebat, Nonne miseria dignus est qui pro tanta pugnat miseria?”

“The Papacy, if it be well borne, is the chief of honors, of burdens, of servitudes, and of labors; but if ill, it is the chief of perils for the soul, the chief of evils, of miseries, and of shames.  Wherefore, it is throughout a doubtful affair.  And well did the aforesaid Pope Adrian IV. say, that the Chair of Peter was thorny, and his Mantle full of sharpest stings, and so heavy as to weigh down and bruise the stoutest shoulders; and, added he, Does not that man deserve pity, who strives for a woe like this?”