And  this  line  Dante  heard  on  the  lips
of  the  Church  Triumphant,  at  the  open-
ing of  the  Paradise  of  God.»

^neid.  The,  an  epic  by  Heinrich  von
'*-'  Veldeche,  —  a  minnesinger  of  the
twelfth  century  and  one  of  the  earliest
German  poets.  It  is  distinguished  for
the  elegance  of  its  form  and  the  har-
mony of  its  versification.  In  this  poem,
love  (die  Minne)  is  for  the  first  time  in-
troduced as  a  theme.  The  story  follows
the  same  line  as  Virgil's  until  the  hero
comes  to  Latium.  There  it  pauses  to  de-
pict the  love  of  Lavinia  for  ^neas,  and
this  is  its  most  original  and  successful  por-
tion, ^neas  marries  Lavinia,  becomes
king,  and  builds  Alba.  Gawain  I>ouglas
translated  the  ^neid  into  the  Scottish
dialect  in  15 13.  This  vigorous  adaptation
probably  suggested  to  the  Earl  of  Surrey
the  idea  of  turning  the  second  and  fourth
books  into  blank  verse,  the  earliest  exam-
ple of  blank  verse  in  the  language.  Dou-
glas takes  some  strange  Uberties  with  his
author.  He  changes  the  sibyl  into  a  nun,
and  makes  her  admonish  ^neas  to  be
sure  to  say  his  prayers  and  tell  his  beads.
The  English  translations  are  numerous;
Dryden's,  Conington's,  and  notably  Sir
Charles  Bowen's,  being  perhaps  the  best
That  of  William  Morris  is  much  admired
also,  and  in  America  the  versions  of  C.  P.
Cranch  and  of  Prof.  Geo.  H.  Palmer  are
examples  of  good  scholarship  and  good
taste.  The  epic  has  been  often  travestied.
The  first  travesty,  entitled  ^Eneide  de
Virgilio  Travestida,>  appeared  at  Rome  in
1633.  It  was  very  popular  among  the  friv-
olous; but  scholars,  to  whom  ever3rthing
written  by  the  Mantuan  was  sacred,  were
scandalized.  The  <Eneide  Travestie*  of
Scarron  is  a  French  classic.
