But inasmuch as his genius labored beneath the superincumbent weight of precedents and deferences, the poet's nature was strained to the uttermost and his nervous elasticity was overtaxed.

No sooner had he poured forth freely what flowed freely from his soul, than he returned on it with scrupulous analysis.

The product of his spirit stood before him as a thing to be submitted to opinion, as a substance subject to the test of all those pedantries and fears.

We cannot wonder that the subsequent conflict perplexed his reason and sterilized his creative faculty to such an extent that he spent the second half of his life in attempting to undo the great work of his prime.

The _Gerusalemme Conquistata_ and the _Sette Giornate_ are thus the splendid triumph achieved by the feebler over the stronger portions of his nature, the golden tribute paid by his genius to the evil genius of the age controlling him.