Note 7 — CABINET CYCLOPÆDIA.
Reading edition
"Di varii fiori ad un gran monte passa, Ch' ebber già buono odore, or puzzan forte, Questo era il dono (se però dir lece,) Che Constantino al buon Silvestro fece." Orlando Furioso, canto XXXIV.
Thus translated by Milton:—
"Then pass'd he to a flowery mountain green, Which once smelt sweet, now stinks as odiously This was that gift (if you the truth will have) That Constantine to good Silvester gave."
Dante alludes, with bitterness, to the same unhappy gift, in three lines, which Milton has also translated with more faithfulness than felicity:—
"Ahi! Constantin, di quanto mal fu matre, Non la tua conversion, ma quella dote, Che da te prese il primo ricco patre." —Dell' Inferno, canto XIX.
"Ah Constantine! of how much ill was cause Not thy conversion, but those rich domains, Which the first wealthy pope receiv'd of thee."