Robert Browning - Ring and the Book

«Better translate--»A Roman murder-case:
«Position of the entire criminal cause
»Of Guido Franceschini, nobleman,
«With certain Four the cutthroats in his pay,
»Tried, all five, and found guilty and put to death
«By heading or hanging as befitted ranks,
»At Rome on February Twenty-Two,
«Since our salvation Sixteen Ninety Eight:
»Wherein it is disputed if, and when,
«Husbands may kill adulterous wives, yet 'scape
'The customary forfeit.'»
(Excerpt from first chapter of The Ring and the Book.)

Note from reader: The main text I have read from follows the first edition; but there are some words or lines that do not make sense, either through copying mistakes or because they are difficult if not impossible to make sense of in the first edition. In such cases, I have relied upon an alternate text, found at archive.org and also in the public domain, that contains the wording of the later editions. --Tony Oliva