on.

XXVIII. Adami says in a note: _Questo sonetto e fatto perche
l'intendano pochi; ne io voglio dichiararlo_. Under these circumstances
it is dangerous to attempt an explanation. Yet something may be
hazarded. Line 1: the lady is Italy. Line 3: the stranger races are
Rome's vassals. Line 7: Dinah is again Italy(?). Line 8: Simeon and
Levi are the Princes of Italy and the Papacy. Line 9: Jerusalem
probably stands for Rome. Line 10: Nazareth is the Gospel of Christ,
and Athens is philosophy. Here again Adami warns us: _qui legit
intelligat_. Line 13: a critique of the ruinous policy of calling
strangers in to interfere in Italian affairs.

XXIX. Line 2: Attila is meant. The Venetian Lagoons were the refuge of
the last and best Italians of the Roman age, when the incursions of the
barbarians destroyed the classical civility. Line 12: alludes to the
fixity of the Venetian Constitution and the deliberate caution of
Venetian policy.

XXX. The quatrains describe the old power of Genoa, who conquered Pisa,
abased Venice, planted colonies in the East, and discovered America.
Line 10: throws the blame of Genoese decrepitude upon the nobles.

XXXI. Campanella praises the Poles for their elective monarchy, but
blames them for choosing the scions of royal houses, instead of seeking
out the real kings of men, such as he described in No. XVI.

XXXII. A similar criticism of the Swiss, who played so important and
yet so contemptible a part in the Italian wars of the sixteenth
century. With the terzets compare No. XXV. Line 11: stands thus in the
original--_La croce bianca e'l prato si contende_.

XXXIII. A clever adaptation of the parable of the Samaritan, conceived
and executed in the spirit of a modern poet like A.H. Clough.

XXXIV. Line 4: the hypocritical priest makes profit by preaching for
holiness what is really hurtful to the soul. Lines 5-11 contrast the
acknowledged sinners with the covert and crafty pretenders to virtue.
Line 8: I have ventured to correct the punctuation. D'Ancona reads:

_E poco e il male in cui poco e l'inganno. Ti puoi guardar:_

but I am not sure that I am justified in the sense I put upon the verb
_guardarsi._

XXXV. A similar arraignment of impostors, comparing perfidious priests
with the foulest literary scoundrel of the age, Pietro Aretino. The
first terzet in the original is obscure.

XXXVI. I do not understand the allusion in the last line. The whole
sonnet is directed against hyp