330 On Oc and Oyl. satisfied. Indeed, without prejudice to Trissino's other merits, it is impossible to give him credit for a work, which in knowledge of the ancient literature, and still more in point of intelligence, far exceeded the compass of his abihties and acquirements. The controversy, or rather the doubt, lasted yet for some time ; but the best Italian critics have long since decided that the treatise belongs to the great Florentine poet. Among others see Muzio (in his Varchmo) who as- serted this even in 1570, before the original was printed, Fontanini (Eloqii. ItaL libro 2), and Scip. Maffei, in his preface to the new edition of Trissino'^s works. CorbineUi's edition, which was published at Paris, was long the only one, and hence the Latin text was extremely rare, for which rea- son it was annexed to the translation in the new edition of Trissino 1729 : but without Corbinelli's valuable Itahan notes on the first book, which MafFei had meant to have also reprinted. Now in this work (lib. i. cap. 8) Dante, singularly enough, determines the diversity of nations and their lan- guages, according to their affirmative particles. In his great poem indeed he characterizes Italy in the same way, as the land where the si is heard, and one of its districts as that in which men say sipa^. Strange as it may appear that he should have selected these particles for his purpose, though in fact they are subject to less alteration than other words, one cannot but be struck with surprize and admiration, at finding that his piercing intellect had already recognized the truth, that language is the criterion of national descent. In the abovequoted passage of his Latin work, he gives a general division of the European nations, as after the con- fusion of language they either moved westward to occupy our quarter of the globe for the first time, or having origi- nally sprung from it returned to theil- ancient seats, a point ^ Iiifern. 33. 80 : Ahi Pisa, vituperio deUe genti Del bel paese la, dove i si suona. and 18. 00 lingue apprese A dicer sipa tra Savena e'l Reno. These two rivulets bound the city of Bologna and a part of its territory. According to the commentators and the Delia Crusca Dictionary the Bolognese use or did use sipci for si : Fernou on the other hand explain^, it by i>ia.
