In the use of sources, there is a fairly heavy line that separates acceptable appropriation of the work of one's predecessors from plagiarism. Whether Charles Singleton crossed that line with regard to earlier prose translations of the Purgatorio, those by Thomas Okey (1901 [Dent, "The Temple Classics"], 11th reprint, 1962) and John D. Sinclair (1939 [The Bodley Head]; reprinted Oxford, 1948), others shall eventually decide. (The decision to limit this brief investigation to the second cantica will be explained shortly.) However, there is some sense among English-speaking Dantists that Singleton did not offer what is expected by way of acknowledgment of his predecessors when he published his English version of the poem now more than three decades ago (Princeton University Press, 1970-75). In fact, it is the working hypothesis of many of us who teach Dante making use of an English text alongside the Italian that Singleton's "translation" is perhaps very little his, if no one has studied the situation carefully and reported the results.

Dispassionate examination of the following evidentiary material should probably leave little doubt in anyone's mind of the possible extent of Singleton's unannounced and specific debt to Okey and to Sinclair. Singleton has not so much translated these parts of Purgatorio into English as he has imported the work of his British precursors without declaring it at Customs. And one wonders at the deep slumber of so many of these functionaries, nodding off at the reviewer's bench, when Singleton's Comedy was published. This brief study began as an examination only of the reliance of Singleton on Sinclair. However, even a casual glance at Okey's text was enough to reveal that the source of most of Singleton's divergences from Sinclair in Purgatorio is nearly certainly the work of Okey. And it should also be noted that the presence of Okey's work may be seen behind a good deal of Sinclair's own version of the second cantica, a contention supported by examination of the table of citations that follows. Naturally, this is also probably true (but beyond the scope of these brief remarks) of the "Temple Classics" Inferno and Paradiso, if the cast of characters is a bit different: Inferno, translated by J.A. Carlyle, first published in 1900; Paradiso, translated by P.H. Wicksteed, first published in 1899. Sinclair's preface to his Inferno (1939) has this to say about his practice as user of the work of his (unidentified) predecessors: "I have found suggestions for interpretation in some of the current English versions and have borrowed an occasional phrase from one or other of them" (p. 9). This remark downplays the extent of his "borrowing" considerably, as comparison of the two texts quickly and amply reveals. Singleton is a bit more guileful and grandiloquent (Inferno, "Note on the Italian Text and Translation," p. 372):

"Every 'new' prose translation of the Comedy is doomed to display a coincidence of phraseology with other translations at every turn, and it would be a mistake to seek to avoid this and try to make one's effort strictly 'original.' Indeed it would be a mistake, I think, not to let the efforts of one's predecessors contribute to one's own. Let me clearly acknowledge, therefore, that I have constantly kept before me a considerable number of other English prose translations, and that I have let these efforts of others serve as my silent 'readers,' so to say, who constantly suggested to me ways of improving my own. Thus [...] I have incurred a great debt which, regretfully, cannot be acknowledged in any detail."

Indeed, there is a great debt to previous Dantists, but nearly all of it (for the second cantica at least) might have been acknowledged in two words, "Okey" and "Sinclair." (It is somehow not surprising to find that neither of their names appears at any point in Singleton's commentary to the Comedy either.) Can anyone really believe that there ever existed the putative draft of a Singleton translation that was revised in response to the author's careful sifting of his so very many and so very helpful "silent 'readers'"? The evidence would rather suggest that the writer started with two texts and cobbled together what was then produced with some fanfare as the next great American translation (after the justly celebrated first Yankee effort by Longfellow). Perhaps the earliest printed notice of some of this unsettling behavior is found in Tibor Wlassics' endpaper in Lectura Dantis [virginiana] 4 (1989), p. 111, where Singleton's text is characterized, in passing, and in Wlassics' customarily mordant phrasing, as "a more or less lightly edited version" of Sinclair's.

It would be a long inning indeed if one were to stand in front of the British wicket knocking the balls bowled by Singleton back to Britain, whence they have come. And so, in order to offer sample texts without any suspicion of prejudice, I have allowed another to choose them for me. What follows is a presentation of passages from Purgatorio found in Manuele Gragnolati's recent Experiencing the Afterlife (Notre Dame, 2005). The author acknowledges (p. 199, n. 4) that the English translations he uses are Singleton's. (Long may he live to think so.) Our random sample includes the first nine passages from Purgatorio quoted in Gragnolati's third and fourth chapters. There are a total of 509 words in these nine passages of Singleton's text; of these 461 (90%) appear in identical form and order in his apparent sources, whether Okey or Sinclair (or both of these).

Words in Singleton that are not found in the corresponding place in one or the other of these two earlier translations are written in blue. Those which seem to derive from Okey are written in red, those from Sinclair in green. The evidence of this sample seems conclusive, suggesting that Charles Singleton is not the author of the translation that bears his name, but its collator.

 (1) Purg. III.16-21:
(Okey)
The sun, that behind us was flaming red, was broken in front of me in the figure in which it had its beams stayed by me. I turned me aside from fear of being forsaken, when I saw only before me the earth darkened.

(Sinclair)
The sun, which was flaming red behind, was broken before me in the shape it made by its rays resting on me. I turned to my side, fearing that I was abandoned when I saw the ground darkened before me only.

(Singleton)
The sun, which was flaming red behind, was broken in front of me by the figure ... which was formed by the staying of its rays upon me. I turned to my side, fearing that I was abandoned when I saw the ground darkened before me only.

(2) Purg. III.25-30:
(Okey)
"It is already evening there, where the body buried lies within which I made shadow: Naples possesses it, and from Brindisi 'tis taken. Now, if before me no shadow falls, marvel not more than at the heavenly spheres, that one doth not obstruct the light from the other."

(Sinclair)
"It is evening now in the place where the body is buried within which I cast a shadow; Naples holds it and it was taken from Brindisi. If there is now no shadow before me do not marvel more than at the heavens, that one does not obstruct a ray from another."

(Singleton)
"It is now evening ... in the place where the body is buried within which I made shadow; Naples has it and it was taken from Brindisi. If in front of me now there is no shadow, do not marvel more than at the heavens, that one obstructs not the light from the other."

(3) Purg. III.127-132:
(Okey)
"the bones of my body would yet be at the bridge-head near Benevento, under the guard of the heavy cairn. Now the rain washes them, and the wind stirs them, beyond the Realm, hard by the Verde, whither he translated them with tapers quenched."

(Sinclair)
"my body's bones would still be at the bridge-head by Benevento beneath the shelter of the heavy cairn. Now the rain washes them and the wind drives them, beyond the Kingdom, near Verde's banks, where he carried them with lights extinguished."

(Singleton)
"the bones of my body would yet be at the bridge-head near Benevento under the guard of the heavy cairn. Now the rain washes them and the wind stirs them, beyond the Kingdom, hard by the Verde, whither he transported them with tapers quenched."

(4) Purg. IV.127-134:
(Okey)
"Brother, what avails it to ascend? For God's winged angel that sits at the gate, would not let me pass to the torments. First must the heavens revolve around me outside it, so long as they did during my life, because I delayed my healing sighs to the end: unless before, a prayer aids me, which may rise from a heart that lives in grace."

(Sinclair)
"O brother, what is the use of going up, for God's angel that sits in the gateway would not let me pass to the torments? The heavens must first wheel about me, waiting outside, as long as in my lifetime, because I put off good sighs to the last, unless prayer first helps me that rises from a heart that lives in grace."

(Singleton)
"O brother, what's the use of going up? For God's angel who sits at the gate would not let me pass to the torments. First must the heavens revolve around me outside it, so long as they did during my life, because I delayed good sighs until the end – unless prayer first aid me which rises from a heart that lives in grace."

(5) Purg. V.52-57:
(Okey)
"We were all slain by violence and sinners up to the last hour: then light from heaven made us ware so that, repenting and pardoning, we came forth from life reconciled with God, who penetrates us with desire to behold him."

(Sinclair)
"We were all slain some time by violence and were sinners up to the last hour. Then light from Heaven gave us understanding, so that, repenting and forgiving, we came forth from life at peace with God, who with desire to see Him pierces our heart."

(Singleton)
"We were all done to death by violence and sinners up to the last hours. Then light from Heaven made us mindful, so that, repenting and pardoning, we came forth from life at peace with God, who fills our hearts with sad longing to see Him."

(6) Purg. XV.106-114:
(Okey)
Then I saw people, kindled with the fire of anger, slaying a youth with stones, and ever crying out loudly to each other:
"Kill, kill!" and him I saw sinking towards the ground, because of death, which already was weighing him down, but of his eyes ever made he gates unto heaven, praying to the high Lord in such torture, with that look which unlocks pity, that he would forgive his persecutors.

(Sinclair)
Then I saw people kindled with the fire of wrath slaying a youth with stones, and they kept crying loudly to each other:
"Kill! kill!" And I saw him sink to the earth, for already death was heavy upon him, but of his eyes he made all the time gateways to heaven, in that great agony praying to the Lord on high to pardon his persecutors, with that look which unlocks compassion.

(Singleton)
Then I saw people, kindled with the fire of anger, stoning a youth to death, and ever crying out loudly to each other,
"Kill, kill!" and him I saw sink to the ground, for already death was heavy upon him, but of his eyes he ever made gates unto heaven, praying to the high Lord in such torture, with that look which unlocks pity, that He would forgive his persecutors.

(7) Purg. XXIII.22-33:
(Okey)
Dark and hollow-eyed was each one, pallid of face, and so wasted away that the skin took form from the bones. I do not believe that Erysichthon became thus withered to the very skin by hunger, when greatest fear he had thereof. I said in thought within me: "Behold the people that lost Jerusalem, when Mary fed on her child." Their eye-sockets seemed gemless rings: he who reads 'omo' in the face of man would clearly have recognized there the 'm.'

(Sinclair)
Each was dark and hollow in the eyes, pallid in face, and so wasted that the skin took shape from the bones; I do not believe that Erysicthon had become so withered to the very rind by hunger when he had most fear of it. I said to myself in thought: "See the people who lost Jerusalem when Mary preyed on her child! The eye-pits were like rings without the gem. He that reads OMO in men's faces might easily have made out the M there.

(Singleton)
Each was dark and hollow in the eyes, pallid in the face, and so wasted that the skin took its shape from the bones; I do not believe that Erysicthon had become thus withered to the utter rind by hunger when he had most fear of it. I said to myself in thought: "Behold the people who lost Jerusalem, when Mary struck her beak into her son! The sockets of their eyes seemed rings without the gems: he that reads OMO in the face of man would surely have recognized ...the M.

(8) Purg. XXIII.55-50:
(Okey)
"Thy face," answered I him, "which in death I wept for once, gives me now not less grief, even unto tears, seeing it so disfigured. Therefore tell me, in God's name, what strips you so; make me not talk while I am marvelling, for ill can he speak who is full of other desire."

(Sinclair)
"Thy face, which once I wept for dead," I answered him, "now gives me no less cause for tears, seeing it so disfigured; therefore tell me, in God's name, what so wastes you. Do not make me speak while I am marvelling, for he can ill speak whose mind is full of something else."

(Singleton)
"Your face, which once I wept for dead," I answered him, "now gives me no less cause for tears, when I see it so disfigured. Therefore tell me, in God's name, what strips you so? make me not talk while I am marveling, for ill can he speak who is full of other desire."

(9) Purg. XXIII.61-63:
(Okey)
"From the eternal counsel virtue descends into the water, and into the tree left behind, whereby I thus do waste away. All this people, who weeping sing, sanctify themselves again in hunger and thirst, for having followed appetite to excess."

(Sinclair)
"From the eternal counsel virtue descends into the water and into the tree left behind us, by which I am made thus lean; all these people who weep as they sing, having followed their appetite beyond measure, regain here in hunger and thirst their holiness."

(Singleton)
"From the eternal counsel virtue descends into the water and into the tree left behind, whereby I waste away thus. All this people who weeping sing, sanctify themselves again in hunger and thirst, for having followed appetite to excess."