stis.

From Jupiter to Amor is a descent from sublimity to pathos. In like
manner when Hector's ghost reappears in the ghost of Armida's mother,

Quanto diversa, oime, da quel che pria
Visto altrove (iv. 49),

the reminiscence suggests ideas that are unfavorable to the modern
version.

In his description of battles, the mustering of armies, and military
operations, Tasso neither draws from mediaeval sources nor from
experience, but imitates the battle-pieces of Virgil and Lucan,
sometimes with fine rhetorical effect and sometimes with wearisome
frigidity. The death of Latino and his five sons is both touching in
itself, and a good example of this Virgilian mannerism (ix. 35). The
death of Dudone is justly celebrated as a sample of successful imitation
(iii. 45):

Cade; e gli occhi, ch'appena aprir si ponno,
Dura quiete preme e ferreo sonno.

The wound of Gerniero, on the contrary, illustrates the peril of
seeking after conceits in the inferior manner of the master (ix. 69):

La destra di Gerniero, onde ferita
Ella fu pria, manda recisa al piano;
Tratto anco il ferro, e con tremanti dita
Semiviva nel suol guizza la mano.

The same may be said about the wound of Algazel (ix. 78) and the death
of Ardonio (xx. 39). In the description of the felling of the forest
(iii. 75, 76) and of the mustering of the Egyptian army (xvii. 1-36)
Tasso's Virgilian style attains real grandeur and poetic beauty.

Tasso was nothing if not a learned poet. It would be easy to illustrate
what he has borrowed from Lucretius, or to point out that the pathos of
Clorinda's apparition to Tancredi after death is a debt to Petrarch. It
may, however, suffice here to indicate six phrases taken straight from
Dante; since the _Divine Comedy_ was little studied in Tasso's age, and
his selection of these lines reflects credit on his taste. These are:

Onorate l'altissimo campione! (iii. 73: _Inf._ iv.)

Goffredo intorno gli occhi gravi e tardi (vii. 58: _Inf._. iv.).

a riveder le stelle (iv. 18: _Inf._ xxxiv.).

Ond' e ch'or tanto ardire in voi s'alletti? (ix. 76: _Inf._ ix.)

A guisa di leon quando si posa (x. 56: _Purg._ vi.)

e guardi e passi (xx. 43: _Inf._ in.)

As in the _Rinaldo_, so also in the _Gerusalemme_, Tasso's classical
proclivities betrayed him into violation of the clear Italian language.
Afraid of what is natural and common, he produced