of his compoſition; and the inverſion, "Dies illa, dies iræ" is the play upon words to which an imitator alone would reſort.
II.
The author of the firſt tranſlation given in this volume, in a preface to his work, ſays:
"A production univerſally acknowledged to have no ſuperior of its class ſhould be as literally rendered as the ſtructure of the language into which it is tranſlated will admit. Moreover, no tranſlation can be complete which does not conform to the original in its rhythmic quantities. The muſic of the Dies Iræ is as old as the hymn, if not older; and with thoſe who are familiar with both, they are inſeparably connected in thought. To ſatisfy the exactions of ſuch minds, the cadences muſt be the ſame."
In this endeavor the author has ſo well ſucceeded, that when this verſion is compared ſtanza by ſtanza with the original, it will be found to be in the ſame trochaic meaſure, in the
