The object of the following Prose Translation is to give the real meaning of Dante as literally and brie?y as possible. No single particle has been wittingly left unrepresented in it, for which any equivalent could be discovered; and the few words that have been added are marked in Italics. English readers, it is hoped, will here find a closer, and therefore, with all its defects, a warmer version than any that has hitherto been published for them.