human
Purgatorio,
gpt
Io vidi già nel cominciar del giorno La parte oriental tutta rosata, E l'altro ciel di bel sereno adorno.
human
Oft have I seen, at the approach of day, The orient sky all stained with roseate hues, And the other heaven with light serene adorned.
gpt
Ere now have I beheld, as day began, The eastern hemisphere all tinged with rose, And the other heaven with fair serene adorned;
human
than by
gpt
but the difference is not important, as any one old enough to describe a daybreak has undoubtedly seen more than one. The difference between
human
and
gpt
is important, since the last moment of the approach coincides with the first moment of the beginning. In the second line,
human
is both more literally and more tersely rendered by
gpt
than by the more awkward expression
human
unless it be claimed that
gpt
does not sufficiently recognize the earth as seen in the view; to which it may justly be replied that the word
human
if applied only to the earth, equally omits the sky, and the two defects balance each other.
gpt
Tinged with rose is undoubtedly a briefer expression for the untranslatable
human
than
gpt
would be. The last line of the three finds an identical rendering in the two versions, and while
human
is more literally rendered by
gpt
than by
human
yet the earlier phrase has the advantage of being better English, serene being there used as an adjective only, whereas in the later translation it is used as a noun, a practice generally regarded as obsolete in the dictionaries. Even where the word is thus employed, they tell us, it does not describe the morning light, but indicates, like the French word
gpt
an evening dampness; as where Daniel says,
human
The fogs and the serene offend us.