from time
to time up to the year 1776, it carried the title of 'La Favola di
Orfeo,' and was not divided into acts. Frequent stage-directions
sufficed, as in the case of Florentine 'Sacre Rappresentazioni,' for
the indication of the scenes. In this earliest redaction of the
'Orfeo' the chorus of the Dryads, the part of Mnesillus, the lyrical
speeches of Proserpine and Pluto, and the first lyric of the Maenads
are either omitted or represented by passages in _ottava rima_. In the
year 1776 the Padre Ireneo Affo printed at Venice a new version of
'Orfeo, Tragedia di Messer Angelo Poliziano,' collated by him from two
MSS. This play is divided into five acts, severally entitled
'Pastoricus,' 'Nymphas Habet,' 'Heroicus,' 'Necromanticus,' and
'Bacchanalis.' The stage-directions are given partly in Latin, partly
in Italian; and instead of the 'Announcement of the Feast' by Mercury,
a prologue consisting of two octave stanzas is appended. A Latin
Sapphic ode in praise of the Cardinal Gonzaga, which was interpolated
in the first version, is omitted, and certain changes are made in the
last soliloquy of Orpheus. There is little doubt, I think, that the
second version, first given to the press by the Padre Affo, was
Poliziano's own recension of his earlier composition. I have therefore
followed it in the main, except that I have not thought it necessary
to observe the somewhat pedantic division into acts, and have
preferred to use the original 'Announcement of the Feast,' which
proves the integral connection between this ancient secular play and
the Florentine Mystery or 'Sacra Rappresentazione.' The last soliloquy
of Orpheus, again, has been freely translated by me from both versions
for reasons which will be obvious to students of the original. I have
yet to make a remark upon one detail of my translation. In line 390
(part of the first lyric of the Maenads) the Italian gives us:--

Spezzata come il fabbro il cribro spezza.

This means literally: 'Riven as a blacksmith rives a sieve or
boulter.' Now sieves are made in Tuscany of a plate of iron, pierced
with holes; and the image would therefore be familiar to an Italian. I
have, however, preferred to translate thus:--

Riven as woodmen fir-trees rive,

instead of giving:--

Riven as blacksmiths boulters rive,

because I thought that the second and faithful version would be
unintelligible as well as unpoetical for English readers.

* * * *