ifornia 
 
 anal 
 ity
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 THE FORERUNNERS 
 v OF DANTE 
 
 A SELECTION FROM ITALIAN POETRY 
 BEFORE 1300 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 A. J. BUTLER 
 
 PROFESSOR OF ITALIAN LITERATURE IN 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON 
 
 OXFORD 
 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 1910
 
 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. 
 
 PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK 
 
 TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
 
 College 
 Library 
 
 TO 
 
 RHODA BUTLER 
 
 WITHOUT WHOSE HELP THIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE 
 BEEN WRITTEN IT IS DEDICATED BY HER FATHER 
 
 1221601
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE v 
 
 PlERO DELLE VlNGNE ...... T 
 
 NOTARO GlACOMO . 4 
 
 JACOPO MOSTACCI . ... . . . . .12 
 
 KING JOHN OF BRIENNE. . . . . -15 
 
 RINALDO D'AQUINO . . . . . . . 18 
 
 GlACOMINO PUGLIESE . . . 
 COMPAGNETTO DA PRATO . . ... 
 
 JACOPO D'AQUINO . . . . 
 
 TOMASO DI SASSO DI MESSINA ..... 
 
 GlUDICE GUIDO DELLE COLONNE DI MESSINA 
 
 MAZZEO DI Rico DI MESSINA . 
 
 PREZIVALLE DORIA (?) ...... 
 
 FOLCALCHIERI DI SlENA . . . . 
 
 TIBERTO GALLIZIANI DI PISA . . . 
 
 GALLETTO DI PISA . . ' . . . . 
 LEONARDO DEL GUALLACO DI PISA 
 BETTO METTIFUCCO DI PISA .... 
 
 ODO DELLE COLONNE DI MESSINA . 
 RUGGIERONE DI PALERMO . . . . 
 
 ANONYMOUS . . . . ' . 
 
 'CiULLO D'ALCAMO' . 73 
 
 MESSER OSMANO ... ... 78 
 
 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO . . .80 
 
 CHIARO DAVANZATI .100 
 
 BONAGIUNTA DA LUCCA . . . . . IIO 
 
 PUCCIANDONE MARTELLI DA PlSA . . . . Il8 
 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA . . . I2O 
 
 ONESTO DA BOLOGNA 130 
 
 GUIDO CAVALCANTI DA FIRENZE . . . .133 
 CINO DA PISTOIA . . . . . . 136 
 
 NOTES . -143 
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES . 261
 
 PREFACE 
 
 ITALY is unique among European countries in having 
 twice seen its literature culminate, at epochs, indeed, far 
 remote one from the other ; and each time in a poet 
 who by common consent holds rank among the four 
 or five greatest among men of European speech. 
 The older Italian, which we call Latin, and the later 
 Latin, which we call Italian, must not be regarded 
 as parent and child ; they are the same individual at 
 various stages of development, as Dante was well 
 aware. Throughout the treatise on language and 
 literature to which he gave the name of De Vulgari 
 Eloquentia, the word he uses to designate his own 
 mother- tongue is Latino. The three chief ' Romance ' 
 languages, as we now style them, are for him French, 
 * Spanish ' (including Proven9al), and ' Latin ' ; the 
 vernacular of Italy is vulgare latinum. His instinct was 
 quite right ; he would have understood Virgil, in all 
 probability, though he had never read another word 
 of ancient Latin, while Virgil would have understood 
 him, and recognized in his speech something very 
 closely resembling what he had heard every day in the 
 streets of Rome, or the country lanes round Mantua. 
 
 If we consider these two culminating epochs of 
 Italian literature, we shall be struck by two points of 
 similarity. First there is the extraordinary rapidity 
 of development in both cases. A hundred years 
 before Virgil was born, Latin poetry was represented
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 by a number of plays founded on the Greek, and a 
 versified chronicle in the rugged indigenous Saturnian 
 metre. A hundred years before Dante was born there 
 was, so far as we know, no Italian poetry at all, other 
 than the popular songs of which we can only infer the 
 existence from what we know of the universal habits 
 of mankind. The other point to be noticed is this : 
 In the earlier period, not only was the drama imported 
 straight from Greece, but the lyric and elegiac metres, 
 even the hexameter itself, which in Virgil's hands 
 became such an instrument as the world has never since 
 beheld for expressing and arousing all the nobler 
 emotions arma, amor, rectitudo, as Dante classifies 
 them all these and their themes were in the first 
 instance purely exotic, consciously introduced by men 
 of letters. 
 
 At the second great outburst of poetry in Italy a 
 similar process went on, though it took its rise some- 
 what differently. Instead of Italy consciously seeking 
 foreign models, the foreign model seems rather to have 
 been introduced by forces acting from without. For 
 a full century before any vernacular poetry appeared 
 in Italy the neighbouring country of Southern Gaul 
 had been a very nest of singing-birds. It is not 
 necessary here to discuss social and other causes which 
 brought about this development, or to criticize the 
 poetry of the troubadours. We need merely note 
 that in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth 
 centuries nearly every man of education in Guyenne 
 and Languedoc which, rather than Provence proper, 
 was the troubadours' land seems to have been a more 
 or less competent versifier, and that many of their
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 compositions which have been preserved possess a 
 richness of melody and a variety of rhythm such as 
 perhaps have never since been surpassed. 
 
 Throughout the twelfth century various forms of 
 heresy were rife in Provence and the adjacent regions, 
 but it was not till about the year 1200 that serious 
 efforts were made to suppress them. Innocent III, 
 one of the popes to whom the Roman See is most 
 indebted for the position it attained towards the end 
 of the Middle Ages, was elected in 1198. Before 
 long a crusade against the Albigenses was set on 
 foot, and for ten years Languedoc was given up to 
 slaughter and rapine. Those who preferred a quiet 
 life not unnaturally went elsewhere. Some trouba- 
 dours had already found a hospitable welcome at the 
 Courts of various North Italian princes, the Marquises 
 of Montferrat and Este, and the Counts of San 
 Bonifacio. They carried with them not only their 
 art, but their language also. It does not seem to 
 have occurred, in the first instance, to the courtly 
 poets of Italy that they had a language of their own, 
 capable of being employed for the expression of 
 passion or sentiment. Throughout Lombardy and 
 Venetia, and indeed further to the south, Prove^al 
 was for a long time the only language which a self- 
 respecting poet could use. Malaspinas and Dorias 
 corresponded with each other and with the strangers 
 in those curious metrical debates known as tensos or 
 tenzoni, and as late as 1268 a Venetian nobleman was 
 writing a planh or elegy over the defeat and death of 
 Conradin. The troubadours, it may be noted, were 
 mostly Ghibellines, as might be expected of men who
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 had found favour with the Emperor and feudal princes 
 and had reason to see in the Papal policy the cause 
 of the troubles which afflicted their own land. One 
 name is conspicuous among the Proven9alising Italians 
 that of Sordello of Mantua. Whether he had, as 
 Dante rather seems to imply, 1 begun by writing poetry 
 in his native tongue, or not, it is certain that no such 
 compositions of his have survived. Of his work in 
 Proven9al we have, however, a respectable body ; 
 including a moral treatise, the Ensenhamen tfOnor, 
 in some 1300 lines, and the famous ' Lament for 
 Blacaz ', which, with its invective against the existing 
 sovereigns of Europe, is thought by some to have 
 suggested the similar tirade at the end of the nine- 
 teenth canto of the Paradise, and to have earned for 
 its writer the post which he holds in the Purgatory. 
 He seems to have been living at least down to 1268. 
 Curiously enough, the earliest essay in Italian verse 
 which has come down to us is the work of a Pro- 
 ven9al. Towards the end of the twelfth century 
 Raimbaut de Vaqueiras of Orange went to Italy and 
 entered the service of Marquis Boniface of Montferrat. 
 He has left as a memorial of his residence in those 
 parts a somewhat amusing little piece in the form of 
 a dialogue between a Proven9al stranger and a lady 
 of Genoa. The Provengal opens with a string of 
 compliments, introducing most of the terms of the 
 troubadour's amatory vocabulary. She replies with 
 promptitude and decision, addressing him as ' Jujar', 
 that is, 'juglar' or 'jongleur' not much better than 
 mountebank and rejecting his advances in the most 
 1 V. E. i. xv.
 
 I 
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 uncompromising fashion. ' Provei^al of ill fame, dirty, 
 stunted, bald ; my husband is a better-looking man 
 than you ; go thy way betimes, brother, a better 
 man'. As he becomes more urgent, she becomes 
 more contemptuous. She does not value his Pro- 
 vengal at a farthing ; she understands him no better 
 than a German, a Sard, or a man of Barbary ; if her 
 husband comes to know, he will have an awkward 
 case to argue with him; the best thing he can do is 
 to get a horse and be off. As a bit of broad farce 
 the little piece is by no means a bad specimen of 
 mediaeval humour, employed for once on the side of 
 good morals. But its interest for our purpose lies in 
 the fact that, while the wooer speaks in his own lan- 
 guage, the lady replies in what is obviously meant to 
 be Italian. The language she uses is full of Proven9al 
 words, and needs a Provencal dictionary to make it 
 out ; but there are many forms that can only be 
 Italian. 
 
 But, while the Italian language was thus slow in 
 coming to its own in the northern parts of its own 
 domain, a true vernacular literature was growing up 
 elsewhere. The process can hardly be better described 
 than in Dante's own words. In his search after a 
 vernacular fit to be the vehicle of high thoughts and 
 noble emotions he has passed in review most of the 
 local dialects of Italy, and rejected them all, some with 
 contumely, on account of the uncouth forms and 
 phrases which all at times admit. After a preliminary 
 sifting it is his own term in which he has eliminated 
 Rome, the March of Ancona, Spoleto, Milan, Bergamo, 
 and one or two more, he proceeds :
 
 x PREFACE 
 
 Next let us see what is to be thought of Sicilian ; 
 for the Sicilian vernacular seems to claim a reputation 
 above the others, for the reason that all the poetry 
 written by Italians is called Sicilian, and we find that 
 many of its native professors have sung in a dignified 
 style, as in the Odes Ancor che Vaigna per lo foco lassi 
 and Amor che lungiamente m hai menato. But this 
 fame of the Trinacrian land, if we look at the mark 
 whereunto it tends, seems to have survived only to be a 
 reproach to the princes of Italy, who follow after pride 
 not in heroic but in plebeian fashion ; as surely as 
 those illustrious heroes, Frederick the emperor and 
 Manfred his well-born son, displaying the nobleness 
 and righteousness of their souls, so long as their fortune 
 endured, followed after things befitting men (/tumana), 
 disdaining the ways of brute beasts. Wherefore, being 
 noble in heart and endowed with graces, they strove to 
 cleave to the majesty of the princes that they were ; 
 and so whatever efforts were achieved by the most 
 eminent Latins in their time first appeared at the 
 Courts of those great wearers of the crown. And 
 because Sicily was the place of their royal throne it 
 came to pass that all the vernacular work of those who 
 went before us was called Sicilian ; a name which we 
 still retain, nor will our posterity be able to change it. 
 
 Then, as if the mere mention of the bygone glories 
 had stirred his soul past endurance, he bursts out with 
 that often-quoted invective against the degenerate 
 princes of his own day, which, though it is not in the 
 Commedia, must have been in Villani's mind when he 
 charged the poet with garrire e sclamare : 
 
 Racha, racha ! What sounds come now from the 
 trumpet of the latest Frederick, or from the tinkling 
 bell of the second Charles, or from the horns of John 
 and Azzo, those puissant marquises, or the fifes of the
 
 PREFACE xi 
 
 other grandees ? What but, ' Come hangmen, come 
 swindlers, come ye that follow after avarice! ' 
 
 The fire soon dies down, and he continues : ' But it 
 is better to get back to our subject than to talk to no 
 purpose.' He then proceeds to consider whether, 
 after all, the ordinary speech of Sicily may not furnish 
 what he wants. A line from a vernacular poem (to 
 which reference will have to be made again) settles 
 that question in the negative. We may leave him to 
 put Tuscan, Romagnole, and other dialects through 
 his sieve, and, in his own words, ' foot it back to our 
 subject.' 
 
 It was, then, in the brilliant Court of Frederick II, 
 ' Wonder of the world and amazing revolutionist,' that 
 Italian poetry really sprang into life. It is not neces- 
 sary here to go into the details of Frederick's career, 
 though for students of Dante they are of profound 
 importance. No one who has read it will forget the one 
 tremendous line in which Farinata, rising up out of his 
 fiery sepulchre, acquaints Dante with the Emperor's 
 doom ; or the Lombard nobleman's attribution of the 
 disorders in his own country, with the consequent 
 decay of courtesy and goodness, to the opposition 
 which the Church had offered to him ; or half a dozen 
 other passages, from which we may learn how deeply 
 Dante's imagination had been impressed by the 
 splendid figure in whom the mediaeval series of Em- 
 perors, one might almost say the Middle Age itself, 
 culminated and practically ended. 
 
 Frederick's reign as Emperor he was born King of 
 Sicily may be dated either from his election in 1212
 
 xii PREFACE 
 
 or from his final coronation at Rome by Honorius III 
 in 1 220. It lasted till 1250 ; and during the whole of 
 it, save for occasional absences in Germany or in the 
 East, the Empire may be said to have been governed 
 from Italy. The Emperor held Courts, Councils, 
 Diets, in one city or another, from Palermo to Friuli. 
 Learned men of all kinds, and from all nations, were 
 welcome ; lawyers and statesmen were of more account 
 than feudal nobles. Many of the fugitive troubadours 
 found their way thither, and brought with them the 
 fashion of verse-making into Tuscany, Apulia, and 
 Sicily, as they had already brought it into Lombardy. 
 There was this difference, however : that, whereas in 
 the North, where Proven9al and other foreign tongues 
 were more frequently heard, men were content to 
 borrow the language as well as the methods of their 
 teachers, in the South, Italian asserted itself from the 
 first. Frederick himself wrote love-songs a little con- 
 ventional, it must be owned ; his great minister, Peter 
 de Vineis, was one of the earliest exponents of the 
 sonnet, if he be not indeed the actual inventor of that 
 metrical form as it ultimately became fixed, with its 
 two quatrains and two tercets. The names which* we 
 find attached in the MSS. to the earliest extant pieces 
 are all, or nearly all, those of southerners Mazzeo di 
 Rico and Stefano di Pronto of Messina, Ranieri and 
 Ruggierone of Palermo, two or three of the Counts of 
 Aquino, Jacopo of Lentino, Ruggieri and Giacomo of 
 Apulia. Of course many of the ascriptions are uncer- 
 tain enough, the very names in some cases taking 
 different forms in different MSS. Even if we could be 
 sure of them, we know in most cases nothing further
 
 about the persons. One or two we may perhaps 
 identify with men of whom other records exist. 
 Ruggieri d'Amici, of whom a couple of pieces survive, 
 was probably the Captain of Sicily who went on an 
 embassy from Frederick to the Sultan of Egypt in 
 1240. Rinaldo and Jacopo of Aquino were doubtless 
 members of the House from which sprang the Angelic 
 Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas. They may even have 
 been his elder brothers. The reality of some is 
 vouched by Dante's references to them, and we have 
 the same evidence for the correctness of the ascription 
 of a few poems. Thus he names a ' Judex de Columnis 
 de Messana ', who is plausibly identified with ' Judex 
 Guido de Columna' of Messina, the author in 1287 of 
 a history of the destruction of Troy, which had an 
 immense popularity down to 1500, or even later, to 
 judge by the number of MSS. and editions of it in 
 existence. To him Dante assigns the poem Amor che 
 lungiamente^ given in the passage just quoted as an 
 example of the Sicilian school. Altogether, in the De 
 Vnlgari Eloquentia and in the Commedia, Dante men- 
 tions by name some seven or eight poets, his prede- 
 cessors ; occasionally with a few words of acute criti- 
 cism the first that had been heard for many centuries. 
 It is only necessary here to refer to the great passage, 
 Purgatory xxiv. 52-60, wherein, one may almost say, 
 is contained as in a nutshell the substance of all that 
 future ages were to debate so keenly of the classic and 
 the romantic in poetry. 1 For it must be remembered 
 that, rude and rough-hewn as much of their perform- 
 ance appears to us, these pioneers of Italian poetry 
 
 1 See Gaspary, Scuola Poetica Sic^liana, pp. 1 78-9.
 
 xiv PREFACE 
 
 followed the best poetic tradition of their age and 
 adhered to its accepted conceits and conventions. 
 Dante used their language and many of the phrases 
 to which they had given currency ; but their true 
 spiritual heir was Petrarch, and through him the 
 great Petrarchizing school of the cinquecento. Even 
 in the English lyric verse of the seventeenth century 
 their influence, passed down through who knows what 
 long obliterated conduits, seems now and again dis- 
 tinctly traceable. 
 
 Nevertheless, their interest to the student of Dante 
 is very considerable. Of many of their characteristics, 
 their allegorizing, their use of metaphor and imagery, 
 and the like, we detect the influence upon him at every 
 step. The wonderful thing is how he made conven- 
 tions spontaneous, and restored its original lustre to 
 many a well-worn ornament. Take, for example, the 
 much and rightly praised image in Paradise xx. 73-75 
 of the lark which soars aloft singing, till, sated with 
 the sweetness of its own song, it becomes silent. This 
 beautiful conception is Dante's own ; but Bondie 
 Dietaiuti before him had borrowed from Bernard de 
 Ventadour and inserted into a poem of his own the 
 image of a bird flying upwards with eyes fixed on the 
 sun, till it is forced to drop to earth 
 
 per lo dolzore ch' a lo cor le viene, 
 or, as the Prove^al has it, 
 
 per la doussor qu'al cor li vai. 
 
 Dante's image is unquestionably the more beautiful ; 
 but one can hardly doubt that his ' ultima dolcezza che 
 la sazia ' is an echo of his predecessors.
 
 PREFACE xv 
 
 One may even go so far as to say that Beatrice her- 
 self is the donna of the troubadours and their Italian 
 imitators, in a sublimated form. Dante's attitude to- 
 wards her, the love without expectation, or it would 
 seem desire, of requital, finds its prototype in many of 
 the older writers. The merely sensual aspect of love, 
 which holds so prominent a place in the troubadours' 
 conception of that passion, is far less conspicuous 
 though of course instances of it are not lacking in 
 the poetry of their Italian followers, or so much of 
 it as has come down to us. To be allowed to serve 
 Madonna is all the reward that ' fino amore ' demands ; 
 ' guiderdone e lo servizio ' says Bonagiunta, possibly 
 in tacit reproof of the Notary's more ambitious 
 
 Guiderdone aspetto avire 
 di voi, donna, cui servire 
 non m'e noia. 
 
 The Notary himself, in his most famous sonnet, ' lo 
 m* aggio posto in core a Dio servire ' (which Rossetti 
 has translated), in which the presence of his lady in 
 Paradise is represented as the lover's chief motive for 
 serving God, seems to provide the germ which was, in 
 the greater poet's hands, to attain so magnificent a 
 development. If indeed the little poem beginning 
 ' Poiche saziar non posso gli occhi miei ' (Ballata X) 
 be correctly assigned to Dante, he must himself in his 
 younger days have essayed a variation on the same 
 theme ; just as in tfce sonnet ' Negli occhi porta la mia 
 donna amore ' he has uttered with a new richness and 
 tenderness the commonplace which Bonagiunta and 
 others had adopted from their Proven9al models, of 
 the power of the lady's presence to purge the thoughts
 
 xvi PREFACE 
 
 of the beholders from all sin and baseness. The Vita 
 Nuova, in fact, shows the influence of the dngentisti 
 from end to end, as might, perhaps, have been ex- 
 pected. But there is abundant evidence in the 
 Commedia that the influence was upon him to the 
 last. One instance may suffice. When Beatrice 
 first appears to Dante's view, after the ' ten years' 
 thirst', describing the effect on himself, he begins 
 (Purgatory xxx. 34-36) : 
 
 E lo spirito mio, che gia cotanto 
 tempo era stato che alia sua presenza 
 non era di stupor tremando affranto. 
 
 Here we have, touched no doubt with the ' grand 
 style', but quite recognizable, one of the common- 
 places of the ' Sicilian ' school ; and the kinship is 
 marked by the use of the word affrauto a Proven9al 
 word introduced by, and familiar enough in, the older 
 poets, though Dante himself uses it only once elsewhere. 
 The word was rapidly becoming obsolete, and before 
 the end of the century we find Benvenuto of Imola, 
 perhaps the most intelligent of the older commen- 
 tators, misunderstanding its meaning. Many other 
 words and forms, familiar enough in the earlier poetry, 
 had dropped out of use altogether by the time Dante 
 began to write. But enough has been said to show the 
 importance to the Dante student of an acquaintance 
 with these earlier singers. 
 
 In Italy the fame of these pioneers was at first ob- 
 scured by the greater lights of the Trecento Cino of 
 Pistoia, Petrarch, Boccaccio and totally eclipsed with 
 the general eclipse of Italian letters, which followed the
 
 PREFACE xvii 
 
 revival of classical study. Even the few who still cul- 
 tivated vernacular poetry, such as Giusto de' Conti, 
 show no trace of their influence. Boccaccio indeed 
 introduces into one of his stories (Dec. Day X, Nov. 7) 
 a short canzone, which he attributes to one Mico of 
 Siena, a poet not otherwise known (unless he be iden- 
 tical with Mino da Colle). But the style of the little 
 poem is hardly ' convincing ', and some of the forms 
 occurring in it are still less so ; so that Tiraboschi is 
 probably right in conjecturing that it is the offspring 
 of Messer Giovanni's own muse. Boccaccio's younger 
 contemporary and pupil, Benvenuto of Imola, in his 
 commentary on the Commedia, shows some knowledge 
 of at least the history of the four or five of the earlier 
 poets whose names occur in the poem ; but from the 
 fact that he specially mentions having seen the works 
 of Guittone ' cuius librum ego vidi ' it may be in- 
 ferred that his acquaintance with the others did not 
 extend to their writings. 
 
 From this time onward no notice seems to have 
 been taken of the early poets until the fifteenth cen- 
 tury was far advanced. In 1465 Lorenzo de' Medici 
 fell in at Pisa with Frederick, son of Ferdinand, king 
 of Naples, by whom he was requested to indicate to 
 him some Italian poetry worth reading. Lorenzo, 
 a true poet himself, and evidently possessed of a taste 
 very unusual in that age of reviving Petrarchism, 
 ' willingly,' says Roscoe, following Tiraboschi, ' com- 
 plied with his request ; and shortly afterwards selected 
 a small volume, at the close of which he added some 
 of his own sonnets and canzoni.' Lorenzo's selection, 
 though Apostolo Zeno in the eighteenth century pro-
 
 xviii PREFACE 
 
 fessed to have seen it, seems now to have disappeared l ; 
 but the letter which accompanied it is fortunately 
 preserved, and some sentences in it seem of sufficient 
 interest to be quoted : 
 
 
 
 Fu 1' uso della rima, secondo che in una sua latina 
 epistola scrisse il Petrarca, ancora appresso gli antichi 
 Romani assai celebrato. II quale per molto tempo inter- 
 messo comincio nella Sicilia non molti secoli avanti 
 a rifiorire ; e di qui per la Francia sparto, finalmente 
 in Italia, quasi in un suo ostello, e pervenuto. II primo 
 adunque dei nostri (che) a ritrarne la vaga immagine 
 del novello stilo pose la mano fu 1' Aretino Guittone ; 
 ed in quella medesima eta il famoso bolognese Guido 
 Guinizello . . . quel primo alquanto ruvido e severe, 
 . . . T altro tanto di lui piu lucido, piu soave, e piu ornato. 
 . . . Riluce drieto a costoro il dilicato Guido Cavalcante 
 fiorentinOjSottilissimo dialettico, e filosofo del suo secolo 
 prestantissimo. . . . Ne si deve il lucchese Bonagiunta ed 
 il Notaro da Lentino con silenzio trapassare ; 1' uno 
 e 1' altro grave e sentenzioso, ma in modo d' ogni 
 fior di leggiadria spogliati, che contenti dovrebbero 
 restare se fra questa bella manata di si onorati uomini 
 li riceviamo. E costoro e Piero delle Vigne nella eta di 
 Guittone furono celebrati. ... II bolognese Onesto e li 
 siciliani che gia primi furono, come di questi dui (i. e. 
 Dante and Petrarch) sono piu antichi, cos\ della loro 
 lima piu arebbono mestiero. . . . Assai bene alia sua 
 nominanza risponde Cino da Pistoia, tutto dilicato 
 e veramente amoroso ; il quale primo, al mio parere, 
 cominci6 1' antico rozzore in tutto a schifare ; dal quale 
 n& il divino Dante, per altro mirabilissimo, si e potuto 
 per ogni parte schermire. 
 
 1 In a letter of May 1742, to Jacopo Facciolati (whose name we now 
 associate with a Latin Lexicon), he speaks of the MS. as being then in 
 Facciolati's possession ; and mentions that the last componintento in 
 it is one by the Notary.
 
 PREFACE xix 
 
 Lorenzo is, it will be seen, a little vague in his 
 chronology though not more so than all students of 
 early Italian poetry till well past the middle of the last 
 century ; but he had evidently, at the age of seven- 
 teen, read and judged for himself. It is noticeable 
 that he differs from Dante in putting Guittone among 
 the originators of the ' new style ' rather than with the 
 Notary and Bonagiunta, as representing the old con- 
 ventional methods. That he was acquainted with 
 more than the names can hardly be doubted. Some 
 of the names he might indeed have got from the 
 Commedia, but not all. Onesto of Bologna is not 
 mentioned in it, nor does Piero delle Vigne appear 
 as a poet. Onesto is named, and a line of a poem by 
 him (now, it would appear, lost) is quoted in V.E. 
 I. xv ; but it is by no means certain that Lorenzo can 
 ever have seen that treatise. So we may safely credit 
 him with having gone to the original MSS. : indeed 
 with being the first to restore to Italy the memory 
 of the origins of its own vernacular poetry, which 
 Humanism had for nearly three generations allowed 
 to fall into oblivion. 
 
 Attention having thus been recalled to the early 
 poets, they were not, at any rate for some time, wholly 
 lost sight of. Doubtless, when lyrical poetry revived 
 in Italy towards the close of the fifteenth century, its 
 exponents drew their inspiration rather from Petrarch 
 than from his predecessors ; yet they cannot have been 
 wholly unacquainted with these. The great Pietro 
 Bembo, perhaps the most accomplished man of letters 
 of his day, and for more than the last third of his long 
 life (1470-1547) the unquestioned arbiter in literary 
 
 b a
 
 xx PREFACE 
 
 matters, albeit to him as much as to any man the 
 Petrarchizing fashion was due, knew them well. He 
 is believed to have possessed a manuscript collection of 
 their writings, and in his famous treatise on the ver- 
 nacular tongue, known as Le Prose, he not only names 
 a large number of them, but quotes from several in 
 illustration of various points. It is possible that, as 
 Trissino seems to suggest, 1 Bembo's interest in these 
 matters may have been stimulated by his friendship 
 with Giuliano, the son of Lorenzo, called, like his 
 father, II Magnifico, the future Duke of Nemours, 
 known to all readers of the Cortegiano and all visitors 
 to the Chapel of San Lorenzo in Florence; who is 
 moreover one of the interlocutors in the Prose, the 
 principal one, indeed, in the third book, where most 
 of the quotations from the older poets occur. How 
 much these poets, whom Bembo, following Dante, 
 calls ' Sicilians ', owed to the Proven9als, he does not 
 attempt to conceal. ' Gl' Italiani uomini/ says one of 
 the speakers, ' apparata hanno questa arte piu tosto che 
 ritrovata.' The words are indeed put into the mouth 
 of Ercole Strozzi, the Ferrarese poet, whom the others 
 are trying to convert from a belief in the superiority 
 of Latin to Italian as a vehicle for poetry ; but they 
 do not attempt to controvert them. In fact Federigo 
 Fregoso (also known to readers of the Cortegiano} 
 rejoins that it is true, though he himself does not 
 think much of these older poets, and believes their 
 reputation to be mainly due to the fact that they 
 practised their art at the Sicilian Court. 
 
 1 See the Preface of Varchi to Cosimo de* Medici in the edition of 
 1714 (Venice).
 
 PREFACE xxi 
 
 The Prose first appeared in 1525 ; but the work 
 had been taking shape in the author's mind for many 
 years. There are, however, other evidences of the 
 interest which the people of the early Cinqnecento felt 
 in regard to the beginnings of their literature. In 
 1527 appeared a little book, bearing the imprint of the 
 house of Giunta at Florence, entitled Sonetti e Can- 
 zoni di diver si antichi Autori Toscani in died libri 
 raccolte. As a matter of fact there are eleven books, 
 while the table of contents accounts for nine only. 
 The first four contain poems by Dante ; the fifth and 
 seventh are devoted to his contemporaries, Cino of 
 Pistoia and Dante of Maiano ; the sixth and eighth 
 respectively to his older friend Guido Cavalcanti and 
 his predecessor Guittone of Arezzo * ; while the ninth 
 contains several specimens of the very earliest versi- 
 fiers, including the Emperor Frederick, Pietro delle 
 Vigne, and the Notary of Lentino. The preface, 
 purporting to be addressed by Bernardo di Giunta to 
 ' his most noble youths, lovers of Tuscan rhymes ', is 
 interesting. The writer, evidently with an eye on 
 Le Prose, seeks to correct what he considers the 
 exaggerated estimate of Petrarch ascribed in the 
 dialogue by one speaker to Pietro Bembo. ' Can we 
 believe,' he says, ' that if Petrarch had not found these 
 men before him he would have been able so grace- 
 fully to set forth his own ? Certainly not ' a truly 
 refreshing judgement, it may be said, to meet with 
 in that age, whether Bernardo di Giunta or another 
 were its author. Trucchi, not the most trustworthy of 
 
 1 The genuineness of the sonnets ascribed in this volume to 
 Guittone is very doubtful.
 
 xxii PREFACE 
 
 authorities, states the selection was mainly the work 
 of Bardo (? Bernardo, the future historian) Segni and 
 Cosimo Rucellai. 
 
 Two years after the Sonctti e Canzoni a publica- 
 tion of some importance in Italian literature made its 
 appearance. That Dante had composed a work on 
 the Italian vernacular was known from the statements 
 of Villani and Boccaccio ; but hitherto this had 
 existed only in manuscript. No doubt learned men, 
 interested in the subject, had seen it in this form ; 
 there is pretty clear evidence in the Prose that Bembo 
 had read it. But in 1529 Giangiorgio Trissino, a 
 well-meaning, if somewhat heavy-footed, author, critic, 
 and grammarian, brought out, with some little show 
 of mystification, what professed to be (and indeed was, 
 though doubts as to its genuineness were expressed at 
 the time, and were not entirely extinct two centuries 
 later 1 ) an Italian rendering of Dante's work. The 
 treatise in its original Latin did not see the light for 
 nearly fifty years more, when it was edited (1577) by 
 Jacopo Corbinelli. 2 We shall have occasion to say more 
 of him presently. Trissino explains his apparent eccen- 
 tricity of publishing the work first in a translation by 
 the plea that, though Dante may have found Latin 
 a better means of making it known outside Italy in his 
 day, its rude style would make it less intelligible to the 
 
 1 See, for example, the remarks assigned to Filippo Strozzi, who 
 plays the part of advocatus diaboli in Trissino's dialogue // Castellano. 
 Giovanni Rucellai the ' Castellan ' has little trouble in upsetting 
 them ; but they may be taken to represent what some people said. 
 As late as 1699 we find Apostolo Zeno assuring a friend that the 
 Latin is as certainly Dante's as the translation is Trissino's. 
 
 3 Corbinelli's MS. with his annotations is preserved at Grenoble.
 
 PREFACE xxiii 
 
 present he would doubtless hint, more cultivated 
 age ; and indeed the Latin of it, though vigorous and 
 alive, has not the Ciceronian graces which Humanism 
 had taught the polite world to expect. But we may 
 fairly see in his action an illustration of the movement in 
 favour of the vernacular which Bembo had championed. 
 
 The appearance in whatever form of the De Vulgari 
 Eloqucntia must have brought the older poets, some 
 dozen or more of whom are quoted or mentioned by 
 Dante in the course of it, into still wider notice ; 
 though it is hard to find any trace of their influence in 
 the poetry of the succeeding generation. Trissino was 
 himself, however, sufficiently well acquainted with 
 them, and in his Poetica quotes them freely. This 
 treatise, of which the first part appeared in the same 
 year as the De Vulgari Eloquentia, while the remain- 
 der only saw the light nearly forty years later, is of 
 importance in Italian literary history. 1 In this work 
 the author quotes a good many of the early poems, 
 including several which seem to have been lost, or to 
 be still in manuscript. Among them is one attributed 
 to ' Re Federigo di Sicilia ', presumably Frederick of 
 Aragon, who reigned in that island from 1296 to 1337, 
 and is not otherwise known as a versifier, the Re 
 Federigo or Rex Fridericus of the manuscripts being 
 the emperor. 
 
 The first attempt to supplement the Giunta collec- 
 tion by the publication of some more of the treasures 
 yet unprinted was made by Jacopo Corbinelli, an 
 Italian scholar living at Paris in the latter half of the 
 sixteenth century ; probably one of the many Italians 
 
 1 See Saintsbury, History of Criticism) vol. ii, pp. 39 sqq.
 
 xxiv PREFACE 
 
 drawn thither by the Florentine queen Catherine de' 
 Medici. To Corbinelli we owe, as has been said, the 
 first publication in its original Latin form of the DC 
 Vulgari Eloqncntia in 1577. 1 ] 5^ he had pre- 
 pared an edition of the Bella Memo of Giusto de' Conti ; 
 and to this he appended what he calls ' Raccolto di 
 Rime antiche (di) diversi Toscani, oltre a quelle de' 
 X libri ' (i.e. the Giunta). It has a dedication to Mon- 
 signore Vulcob, doubtless the diplomatist of that name, 
 dated June 10, in which the scholar rather pathetically 
 writes of 'questo mese di maggio, che mi sembra 
 tuttauia come vna vera primauera di tutti i mali '. It 
 was the month of the Barricades ; the king had been 
 driven by the League from his capital ; and Corbinelli 
 fears that his collection of amatory rimes may seem to 
 some too effeminate for ' questa stagione cosi rubesta e 
 martiale '. He pleads, however, that others had done 
 the like, and ' forse che non sono anco tanto contrari i 
 dolci suoni di nostra Venere alii strepiti di Marte, che 
 con la suaueloquentia sua non potesse chiederli anchella 
 Qualche brene riposo, o qtialche pace? Mars was, how- 
 ever, too much for Venus, and the book did not appear 
 till the end of the troubles, in 1595. Corbinelli's taste 
 seems to have lain rather in the direction of the poets 
 of the 'stil nuovo', such as Guido Guinizelli, Onesto 
 of Bologna, Cino of Pistoia, and others yet later ; 
 but he admits a few pieces from the earlier time of 
 Piero delle Vigne or the Notary. 
 
 No further attempt to do anything for the early poets, 
 who doubtless fell in the seventeenth century under 
 the same cloud of oblivion as almost buried Dante, 
 was made for seventy years ; though many of them,
 
 PREFACE xxv 
 
 including Frederick and his son Enzo, the Notary, 
 Guittone, Guinizelli, are cited, to illustrate words and 
 phrases, in the Glossary to the Roman edition of 
 Francesco da Barberino's Documenti d Amore (1640). 
 In 1661 Leone Allacci, librarian of the Vatican, brought 
 out Poeti Antichi raccolti da' Codici manoscritti, a col- 
 lection, badly printed and carelessly edited, of poems of 
 all dates from Piero delle Vigne to Burchiello. 1 Its chief 
 importance lies in the fact that in it appeared for the 
 first time in a somewhat dilapidated form a piece 
 which was long regarded as the very earliest offspring 
 of the Italian, or Sicilian, muse, the Fresca rosa aulen- 
 tissima, of which a line had been quoted by Dante in 
 the V. E. More will have to be said of this hereafter ; 
 it is sufficient to remark here that Italian critics have 
 contrived to shed over it more ink, in proportion to 
 its bulk and intrinsic value, than all the Homeric and 
 Shakespearian commentators have done over their 
 authors. 
 
 At about the time when Allacci was compiling his 
 selection, his contemporary, Francesco Redi, poet and 
 physiologist, was also paying some attention to these 
 early poets, of whom he seems to have possessed 
 sundry manuscripts. In the 'annotations' to his 
 famous ' dithyramb ' Bacco in Toscana, in which he 
 poured out his stores of learning, literary and philo- 
 logical, he cites various pieces by Pannuccio del Bene, 
 Pucciandone Martelli, Guittone of Arezzo, and others, 
 which had not previously been printed. Generally 
 there are signs that at this time Italian men of letters 
 were again beginning to remember that poets had 
 
 1 Third edition (1691).
 
 xxvi PREFACE 
 
 lived before Marino. Redi and his friend Magalotti 
 were enthusiastic admirers of Dante ; the latter had 
 even planned an edition of the Commedia. Towards 
 the end of the century, as we have seen, Apostolo 
 Zeno (who might also be called the Bembo of his 
 age) was interesting himself in Lorenzo's selection of 
 early poetry, and in the De Vulgari Eloquentia. 
 But the only actual attempt at the publication of any 
 of the older poetry seems to have been a Raccolta 
 delle Rime Antiche t cited by Valeriani in his Poeti 
 del Primo Secolo, and stated by him to have been 
 printed at Venice in I74O. 1 In 1753 Giannalberto 
 Tumermani the name has a very Teutonic ring 
 a learned publisher of Verona, having discovered in 
 the library of S. Giustina at Padua, among other 
 books of Corbinelli's, a copy of the Bella Mano with 
 manuscript annotations by him, thought it worth 
 while to republish the work with some additions of 
 his own. Then again followed a period of oblivion. 
 Owing no doubt to the prevailing ' classical ' ten- 
 dencies in literature, the founders of national poetry 
 were during the rest of the century of as little account 
 in Italy as elsewhere. Academic critics, the In- 
 quisitors, as they have been well styled, of letters, 
 found their language too often rude and uncouth, as 
 their predecessors had done before them ; but, unlike 
 some at least of their predecessors, they failed to see 
 that passion and tenderness, and even melody when 
 
 1 I can find no trace of this selection of 1740. No copy seems to 
 exist in the British Museum. Nor, indeed, is Fiacchi to be found 
 there ; but his existence, as Mr. Toynbee tells me, is vouched for 
 by later evidence (Gamba, fth ed., no. 806),
 
 PREFACE xxvii 
 
 the rhythm is properly understood, may exist in 
 company with forms of speech no longer accepted in 
 polite circles. 
 
 With the growth of the 'romantic' movement the 
 reaction came. The term ' mediaeval ' ceased to de- 
 note something that persons of cultivation might 
 safely neglect in art and literature. As has been 
 said, the study of Dante made great progress during 
 the latter half of the eighteenth century ; and, with 
 him, his forerunners became again worthy of con- 
 sideration. The Abate Luigi Fiacchi appears to 
 have led the way, with his Scelta di Rime Antiche 
 (Florence, 1812). Valeriani followed in 1816, with 
 the work already mentioned, containing most, or all, 
 of the pieces that had already appeared in print, 
 together with many others, to the number of six 
 hundred or so in all, edited, not always very intelli- 
 gently, from various MSS. 1 A year later the 
 Marquis of Villarosa brought out at Palermo four 
 volumes of Rime Antiche Toscane, containing, or pro- 
 fessing to contain, all the pieces up to that time 
 printed, and representing the works of nearly a 
 hundred and fifty authors. This compilation, like 
 Valeriani's, suffers from lack of scholarly editing, for 
 which the times were perhaps hardly ripe. It is also 
 untrustworthy in its ascription of poems to authors. 
 It has short biographies of the authors, mostly taken 
 from Crescimbeni. No editor's name appears on the 
 title of either of these ; nor on that of Valeriani's 
 edition of Guittone (1828). 
 
 1 Trucchi states that both Valeriani and Villarosa made use of the 
 Codex of Pier del Nero, preserved in the Riccardian Library.
 
 xxviii PREFACE 
 
 The first modern editor to resort avowedly to the 
 manuscripts preserved in the various libraries of Italy 
 was Francesco Trucchi, ' fellow of various Academies ' 
 as he styles himself on his title. Trucchi unfortu- 
 nately had more enthusiasm for his subject than 
 critical discernment. He accepts without question 
 the impossibly early dates for some of his authors 
 which had been assigned by Crescimbeni and others. 
 He broaches wild theories about the Vatican MS. 
 3793, our great source for most of the poems earlier 
 than 1300. His emendations are not always con- 
 vincing. For all these faults subsequent Italian 
 critics have dealt faithfully enough with him. Still he 
 deserves gratitude as the first who went to work on 
 the right lines ; and the long Preface of over one 
 hundred pages, to the anthology of poets from the 
 beginnings of the language to the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, which he styles Poesie Italiane inedite di 
 dugento Autori (Prato, 1846), is stimulating and 
 interesting, and may yet be read with profit by 
 students of Italian verse. 
 
 From the middle of the last century to the present 
 time it cannot be said that the early Italian poets 
 have had any cause to complain of the neglect of 
 their countrymen ; of those, at any rate, who troubled 
 themselves about literary matters. Salvini, writing 
 early in the eighteenth century, had called attention 
 to the duty of paying reverence to ' our fathers, and the 
 authors of the fair tongue which does us honour ' ; not 
 to mention their value as preserving the original signifi- 
 cations of words, 'born but not yet formed.' Following 
 up this hint, the learned Vincenzo Nannucci pub-
 
 PREFACE xxix 
 
 lished in 1856 his Manuale delict Letterattir a del Primo 
 Secolo della Lingua Italiana^ in which special atten- 
 tion is paid to the meaning and history of words. 
 His philology is of course somewhat prescientific ; but 
 hardly more so than much that may be found in many 
 recent and highly commended editions of Dante. 
 Nannucci does not seem to have troubled himself 
 much over the text of the pieces which he gives, but 
 to have contented himself with following the printed 
 editions. Before long, however, scholars began to 
 gird themselves to this task. Periodicals were started 
 in which students could impart to one another their 
 theories or discoveries ; manuscripts were carefully 
 collated ; and efforts made to get the text of various 
 pieces into an acceptable, or sometimes an intelligible, 
 form. A great step was made by the publication of 
 the Vatican MS. 3793, edited with apparatus criticus 
 and notes, by Professors D'Ancona and Comparetti 
 (Bologna, 1875-88) under the title of Antiche Rime 
 Volgari. Professor Monad's Crestomazia Italiana 
 dei Primi Secoli (Citta di Castello, 1889-97) contains, 
 besides many of the most notable of the pieces in the 
 Vatican MS., several which do not occur in it, and 
 collations of variants. Unfortunately only the text 
 has so far appeared, and it seems probable that the 
 grammatical notes and glossary promised on the title, 
 which all students would have welcomed, will now 
 never see the light. A good many of the early poems 
 have found a place in recent anthologies, such as 
 Eugenia Levi's Lirica Italiana Antica (Florence, 
 1905), and Giosue Carducci's Antica Lirica Italiana 
 (Florence, 1907). Quite recently the Philological 
 Society of Rome has, with the aid of Signori Satta,
 
 xxx PREFACE 
 
 Egidi, and Festa, produced verbatim et literatim, under 
 the title Q{ II Libro de Varie Romanze Volgarc (cited 
 in this volume as V.R. V.\ the text of the Vatican 
 MS. 3793 (Rome, 1902-6 : index and preface yet to 
 come). From this it is possible for any one with a slight 
 knowledge of palaeography to suggest emendations 
 (still sorely needed) almost as well as from the original ; 
 and I have availed myself of it freely. 1 
 
 In a book intended for English readers mention 
 must not be omitted of the one attempt which has 
 hitherto been made to introduce them to this remark- 
 able band of poets. In 1 86 1 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 
 published, under the title of TJie Early Italian Poets 
 from Citillo D'Alcamo to Dante, a translation into 
 English verse of a number of the best specimens of 
 their work, accompanied by a rendering of Dante's 
 Vita Nuova. It was republished, with some re- 
 arrangement, in 1874, under the new title of Dante 
 and Ids Circle. In both forms it met with approval, 
 especially in quarters to which Rossetti's influence 
 directly or indirectly penetrated ; but it is to be feared 
 that it did little or nothing towards stimulating any 
 desire in this country to make closer acquaintance 
 with the writers whom Rossetti was trying to make 
 known. Perhaps wisely for his rendering, though it 
 often has much of the feeling of the original, is often 
 little better than a loose paraphrase he did not print, 
 except for the first lines, the Italian text of the 
 
 1 I have also used the work of D'Ancona and Comparetti, but as 
 my text has always been based, for the poems existing in the Vatican 
 MS., on the Roman edition, I have not thought it necessary to record 
 their presence in the Antiche Rime. Similarly I have only referred to 
 Valeriani, Villarosa, Trucchi, &c., for pieces not in that MS., for which 
 their edition had to be used.
 
 PREFACE xxxi 
 
 poems. He also relies for dates and biographical 
 details somewhat too implicitly on the uncritical 
 statements of Trucchi and his predecessors. 
 
 In spite of Rossetti's effort to make these fore- 
 fathers of Italian poetry known, it is certain that they 
 have received very little recognition in this country. 
 In the days when Englishmen paid some attention to 
 Italian literature, the days of Roscoe, Mathias, and 
 Hallam, the youth of Tennyson and of Gladstone, 
 the days when people 
 
 lay and read 
 The Tuscan poets on the lawn 
 
 the ' stilo rozzo ed inculto ' view still held sway. Now 
 that this mood has, as it would seem, passed away for 
 the time, and almost too much interest is professed in 
 the early stages of certain literatures, Italian literature 
 of all periods is curiously neglected. People, it is 
 true, talk a good deal about Dante, and valuable 
 works dealing with his writings appear from time to 
 time in England ; but many of these are written from 
 other than the literary points of view, while the 
 average local ' Dante Society ' is quite content to 
 study him in translations. Publishers, again, seem to 
 find a market for books dealing with Petrarch, Ariosto, 
 and Tasso, some of them of considerable merit, both 
 for research and for scholarship ; but it would be 
 interesting to know how many readers these have 
 sent to the authors themselves. When the great 
 names of the so-called classical age of Italian litera- 
 ture are thus neglected, how can it be expected that 
 much care will be taken of its remote origins, of these 
 singers the greater part of whom are little more than 
 names, sometimes hardly that? Yet it may safely
 
 xxxii PREFACE 
 
 be said that no one who wishes fully to trace out 
 the course of Italian literature, to understand the 
 significance of the change in it brought about by the 
 genius more especially of Petrarch, or, in other words, 
 the gulf which divides the mediaeval genius from that 
 of the ' Renaissance ', can afford to pass them over. 
 They, with Dante, seem to represent for Italy all that 
 it has ever to show of truly poetical poetry the 
 poetry which thrills and not merely delights. We 
 turn away from Petrarch's justly praised description 
 of the dead Laura ' Pallida no, ma piu che neve 
 bianca ' or from the finest sonnet of the second part, 
 admiring but unmoved, perhaps with an uneasy con- 
 sciousness that the poet had one thought for his 
 departed lady and two for the cadence and diction of 
 his line. Who, on the other hand, can read such 
 pieces as the ' Morte, perche ' of Giacomino Pugliese 
 (No. XIV in the present selection) with its passionate 
 reminiscence of ' madonna's ' graces and perfections, 
 modulated away to the tender resignation of the 
 closing lines, without a tremor of the voice ? When 
 did Petrarch, or any who came after Petrarch, render 
 the forlorn lament of a forsaken damsel with the 
 pathetic truth of Rinaldo of Aquino in ' Giammai non 
 mi conforto ' (No. XI) ? Even in the point of form, 
 these early experiments in versification are often more 
 interesting than the more polished performances of 
 later days, tied by the rules which the Bembos and 
 Trissinos laid down and Academies enforced for the 
 better furthering of the poetic art. We shall look in 
 vain through all the work of the Cinqnecento for any- 
 thing like the lilt, with its suggestion of a jovial 
 swagger, in spite of sighs and sleepless nights, of the
 
 PREFACE xxxiii 
 
 lyric (No. XVIII) in which Jacopo d' Aquino bewails 
 his absence from his lady. Even in Fra Guittone, 
 the overesteemed, as Dante thought, we find a 
 certain stately seriousness, both of thought and move- 
 ment, which goes far to explain the high estimate of 
 his contemporaries, and makes us wonder somewhat 
 why the great poet, who looked on life from so 
 similar a point of view, and was obviously not un- 
 indebted to him, should so often have found it neces- 
 sary to hold him up as a bad example, if not to scorn. 
 
 Of course these men are full of ' common form ', of 
 hyperbole, of well-worn ' conceits '. But even these 
 were fresh, so far as their own language went ; and it 
 may be questioned whether the childlike disposition 
 to adopt these time-honoured commonplaces, found 
 practically in all early poetry, is not more consistent 
 with the true poetic spirit than the effort, of which 
 we find examples even in Petrarch, and enough and 
 to spare in the Petrarchists of a later date, to say 
 something as it has never been said before. 1 
 
 Upon the language of these poems a good deal has 
 been written by Italian scholars. The vocabulary, as 
 
 1 In this connexion a word may be said about the curious piece 
 entitled Mare Amoroso, given by Monaci in his Crestomazia ; a blank 
 verse poem of 356 lines consisting of a string of all the quaint similes, 
 allusions to mythology and romance, and other stock ornaments of 
 the older school. It is preserved, and that in a very corrupt state, 
 only in a MS. of the Riccardian Library, and is believed, probably 
 with reason, by Gaspary to belong to the fourteenth century. It is 
 a sort of ' cento ' of all the far-fetched similes and conceits dear to 
 the early lyrists, and looks very like a ' skit ' on the part of some 
 early 'Humanist' written to hold up to derision the school of 
 poets now superseded. If this view be correct, it is interesting as 
 the earliest specimen of Italian blank verse.
 
 xxxiv PREFACE 
 
 has been said, owes much to Provencal, something 
 also to French ; but owing to the fact that these 
 represent practically all, or nearly all, that we possess 
 in the way of specimens of the earliest Italian, it is 
 hard to say how many of these words were already 
 current, and how many consciously imported by them. 
 The dialect has many affinities with that of Sicily and 
 the old Sicilian territories in the Peninsula. Con- 
 spicuous instances are the apparent identity of sound 
 between'* and t, o and u, allowing a licence in rhyme 
 of which even Dante occasionally avails himself. It 
 is, however, impossible to be certain that we have the 
 language in its original form. Scribes would natur- 
 ally tend to modify orthography in the direction of 
 their native dialect ; the more so as many of the 
 poems were obviously written down from memory 
 in some cases, it would seem, by notaries' clerks and 
 suchlike in their idle moments. The grammar again 
 differs often from that now usual ; but the reader who 
 knows his Dante will not find much difficulty in dis- 
 entangling it. Those who need help cannot find a 
 better guide than the Altitalienisches Elementarbnch 
 by Berthold Wiese (Heidelberg, 1904). Unfortunately 
 no English version of this exists, or, in the present 
 condition of Italian study, is likely soon to do so. 
 
 In the matter of textual criticism, and annotation 
 generally, the editor has striven always to keep before 
 his eyes the principles so admirably expounded by 
 Johnson in his ' Proposals ' and ' Preface ' to an edition 
 of Shakespeare. No man ever has improved upon 
 them ; no man, so long as textual criticism and ex- 
 planatory comment are demanded, ever will. ' Con- 
 jecture, though it be sometimes unavoidable, I have
 
 PREFACE xxxv 
 
 not wantonly nor licentiously indulged. It has been 
 my settled principle that the reading of the ancient 
 books is probably true' (this has to be taken with 
 some latitude in the case of MSS.), ' and therefore is 
 not to be disturbed for the sake of elegance, per- 
 spicuity, or mere improvement of the sense . . . But 
 it is evident that they ' (and still more their later 
 editors) ' have often made strange mistakes by ignor- 
 ance or negligence, and that therefore something may 
 be properly attempted by criticism, keeping the 
 middle way between presumption and timidity.' 
 
 The present selection includes only poems which 
 are known, or may be safely assumed, to have been 
 written before 1300. This of course excludes some 
 of the best by Cino of Pistoia, the only one of the 
 authors, of whom examples are given, who is known 
 to have lived into the next century. Further, only 
 Canzoni have been included ; and these have been 
 selected for their intrinsic merits either of thought or 
 rhythm, or, in some cases, as affording examples of 
 the special peculiarities of the school. All those 
 cited by Dante in the V. E., so far as they are 
 now extant, have been included. The Canzone, as 
 a rule, is capable of finer effects than the sonnet, 
 besides admitting of much greater rhythmical variety. 
 Still, the sonnet, as the undoubted invention of the 
 Italian muse, has great claims on the attention of 
 students of Italian ; and if readers of this little selection 
 care for a companion volume of that form of verse 
 the present editor, si vita suppeditet, may one day 
 
 endeavour to supply it. 
 
 A. J. BUTLER. 
 
 [MAY], 1908.
 
 NOTE 
 
 St vita suppeditet. The answer to these words has been 
 given, and this book lacks the author's finishing touches. 
 The notes were finished on February 14, and he was ' caught 
 by death', to use his own expression, on February 26, 1910. 
 The proofs have had to be corrected by other hands.
 
 EARLY LYRIC POETS OF 
 ITALY 
 
 PIP:RO DELLE VINGNE 
 
 Amor, da cui move tuttora ed ene 
 pregio, e larghezza, e tutta benenanza, 
 viene nell' uom valente ed insengnato, 
 che nom poria divisare lo bene 
 che ne nascie ed aviene chi a leanza ; 
 ond' io ne sono in parte tralasciato, 
 ma si diro come ello m' a locate 
 ed onorato piu ch' altro amadore 
 
 per poco di servire ; 
 
 ca s' io volglio ver dire 
 di tale guisa m' ave fatto onore, 
 ca se a slocato, e miso m' a 'n suo state. 
 
 Istato si rico ed alto non fue dato 
 di si poco servire, al mio parvente ; 
 ond' io mi tengno bene avventuroso, 
 e veio ben c' amor m' k piu norato 
 intra gli altri amadori ciertamente, 
 ond' io m' allegro e vivo piu gioioso. 
 Che m' a donate quella c' a per uso 
 bellezze ed adornezze e piacimento, 
 
 e aunor e conoscienza 
 
 in lei senza partenza 
 fanno sogiorno, ed a le al suo talento ; 
 senno la guida e fin presgio amoroso. 
 B
 
 PIERO DELLE VINGNE 
 
 Presgio ed aunor ad essa lei davanza, 
 
 ed e dismisurata di gran guisa 
 
 d' avere tutto bene in provedenza; 
 
 di lei c' amor m' k miso in sua possanza 
 
 la conosciente senza lunga attesa 
 
 mi meritao della sua benvolglienza. 
 
 C' assai val melglio poco di ben, senza 
 
 briga di noia e d' affanno acquistato 
 
 (ca rico) per ragione, 
 
 poiche passa stagione, 
 e dell' om rico deve esser laudato; 
 perb i' non n' 6 fatto penitenza. 
 
 Penitenza non agio fatta neiente, 
 al mio parvente poco agio servito ; 
 ma tuttavia seraggio servitore 
 di tutto c' amor m' a fatto gaudente 
 delF avenente, per cui vado ardito ; 
 piu d'altro amante deo aver fin core. 
 E non vorrei essere lo sengnore 
 di tutto il mondo, per aver perdita 
 
 di sua benvolglienza, 
 
 c' agio senza temenza, 
 che mi mantene in amorosa vita, 
 si che 'n esta contento lo mio core. 
 
 Lo mio core tenesi contento 
 del grande abento ove amor m' a miso ; 
 mille grazie n' aggia ciascun' ore, 
 c' agio tutto cib che m' e a talento 
 dall' amorosa donna al chiaro viso, 
 che mi donb comforto con valore. 
 E' non si poria pensare per core 
 com' a tutte bellezze a compimento ;
 
 PIERO DELLE VINGNE 3 
 
 dunqu' eo nom w fallo 
 se no 'nde (piu eo) parlo; 
 che lingua non po aver in parlamento 
 
 di dire piu che il cor sia pensatore, 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 II 
 
 Amore, in cui disio ed 6 speranza, 
 di voi, bella, m' a dato guiderdone, 
 guardomi infin che vengna la speranza, 
 pur aspettando buon tempo e stagione; 
 com' uom ch' e in mare ed a spene di gire. 
 e quando vede il tempo, ed ello spanna, 
 e giamai la speranza non lo 'nganna; 
 cos' io faccio, madonna, in voi venire. 
 
 Or potess' eo venir a voi, amorosa, 
 com lo larone ascoso, e non paresse; 
 bello mi teria in gioia aventurosa 
 se 1' amor tanto bene mi facesse. 
 Si bel parlante, donna, con voi fora, 
 e direi como v' amai lungiamente, 
 piu ca Piramo Tisbia dolzemente, 
 ed ameraggio infin ch' io vivo ancora. 
 
 Vostro amor e che mi tiene in disiro 
 e donami speranza con gran gioia, 
 ch' io non euro s' io dolglio od 6 martiro 
 membrando 1' ora ched io vengno a voi ; 
 ca s' io troppo dimoro, aulente lena, 
 par ch' io pera, e voi mi perderete^ 
 adunque, bella, se ben mi volete, 
 guardate che non mora in vostra spena. 
 
 In vostra spena vivo, donna mia, 
 e lo mio core adesso a voi dimando, 
 B 2
 
 PIERO DELLE VINGNE 
 
 e V ora tardi mi pare che sia 
 
 che fino amore a vostro cor mi mando ; 
 
 e guardo tempo che (mi) sia a piaci(mento) 
 
 e spanda le mie vele inver voi, rosa, 
 
 e prendo porto la 've si riposa 
 
 lo mio core al vostro insengnamento. 
 
 Mia canzonetta, porta esti compianti 
 a quella c' a 'm ballia lo mio core, 
 e le mie pene contale davanti, 
 e dille com' io moro per su' amore; 
 e mandimi per suo messagio a dire 
 com' io comforti 1'amor che lei porto, 
 e se ver lei i' feci alcuno torto, 
 donimi penitenza al suo volire. 
 
 (VR.V. Mon. Val. Nan.) 
 
 NOTARO GIACOMO 
 
 III 
 
 Madonna, dir vi voglio 
 come 1'amor m' a priso, 
 inver lo grande orgoglio 
 
 che voi bella mostrate, e non m' aita. 
 Ol lasso, lo meo core, 
 ch' e in tanta pena miso 
 che vede che si more 
 
 per ben amare, teneselo in vita. 
 Or dunque morire' eo? 
 no, ma lo core meo 
 more spesso e pifc forte 
 
 che no faria di morte naturale;
 
 NOTARO GIACOMO 
 
 per voi, donna, cui ama 
 piu che se stesso brama, 
 e voi pur lo sdegnate ; 
 amor, vostr' amistate vidi male. 
 
 Lo meo namoramento 
 
 non po parire in detto ; 
 
 cosi com' eo lo sento 
 core nol penseria ne diria lingua ; 
 
 Cib ch' eo dico e neente, 
 
 inver ch' eo son distretto; 
 
 tanto coralemente 
 foe' aio, che non credo mai si stingua ; 
 
 anzi se pur aluma ; 
 
 perche non mi consuma? 
 
 la salamandra audivi 
 che nelo foco vivi, stando sana; 
 
 cosi fo per long' uso, 
 
 vivo in foco amoruso 
 
 e non saccio che dica; 
 lo meo lavoro spica, e non mi grana 
 
 Madonna, se m' avene 
 ch' eo nom posso invenire 
 com eo dicesse bene 
 
 la propia cosa ch' eo sento d' amore; 
 sicom' omo improdito 
 lo cor mi fa sentire 
 che giammai non e chito 
 
 fintanto che non vene a suo sentore ; 
 lo non poter mi turba, 
 com om che pinge e sturba, 
 e pura li dispiace 
 
 lo pingere che face, e se riprende,
 
 NOTARO GIACOMO 
 
 che non e per natura 
 la propia pintura; 
 e non e da biasmare 
 omo che cade in mare, se s' apprende. 
 
 Lo vostro amore (che) m' ave 
 
 in mare tempestoso 
 
 cosi como la nave, 
 c' a la fortuna gitta ogni pesanti, 
 
 e campane per getto 
 
 del loco periglioso, 
 
 similemente eo getto 
 a voi, bella, li miei sospiri e pianti. 
 
 E s' eo no gli gittasse, 
 
 paria che s' afondasse ; 
 
 e bene s' afondara 
 lo cor, tanto gravara il suo disio. 
 
 Tanto si frangie a terra 
 
 tempesta che s' aterra, 
 
 eo cosi mi frango, 
 quando sospiro e piango, posar creio. 
 
 Assai mi son mostrato 
 
 a voi, donna spietata, 
 
 com' eo son inamorato ; 
 ma creio che spiaceria a voi pinto. 
 
 Poi c' a me lasso solo 
 
 cotal ventura e data, 
 
 perche non me ne lasso? 
 non posso ; di tal guisa amor m' a vinto. 
 
 A Deo! c' or avenisse 
 
 a lo meo cor c' uscisse 
 
 com' e 'ncarnato tutto, 
 e non diciesse motto a voi sdengnosa.
 
 NOTARO GIACOMO 7 
 
 C' amor a tal 1' adusse 
 che se vipra ivi fusse 
 natura perderia ; 
 a tal lo vederia, fora pietosa. 
 
 (V.R.V. Giunta. Mon.) 
 
 IV 
 
 Dolcie coninciamento 
 canto per la pift fina 
 che si' al mio parimento 
 d'Agri ; nfin a Messina, 
 cib e la piCi avenente. 
 ' O Stella riluciente 
 che levi la maitina, 
 quando m' appar davanti 
 li suoi dolzi sembianti 
 m' inciendon la corina.' 
 
 ' Dolcie meo sir, s' incendi 
 or io che degio fare? 
 tu stesso mi riprendi 
 se mi vei favellare ; 
 ca tu m' ai inamorata, 
 al core m' ai lanciata, 
 si ca di for non pari ; 
 rimembriti a la fiata 
 quand' io t' ebbi abrazata 
 a li dolzi basciari.' 
 
 Ed io basciando stava 
 in gran dilettamento 
 con quella che m' amava, 
 bionda, viso d' argento. 
 Presente mi contava 
 e non mi si cielava
 
 NOTARO GIACOMO 
 
 tutto suo convenente ; 
 e disse : ' i' t' ameragio 
 e non ti falleragio 
 a tutto '1 mio vivente. 
 
 ' Al mio vivente, amore, 
 io non ti falleragio 
 
 per lo lusingatore 
 
 che parla di [tal] fallagio.' 
 
 'Ed io si t' ameragio ; 
 per quello ch' e salvagio 
 Dio li mandi dolore, 
 unqua non venga a magio ; 
 tant' e di mal usagio 
 
 che di stat' k gielore.' 
 
 V.R.V. Mon > 
 
 Maravigliosamente 
 un amor mi distringe, 
 e sovenemi ogn' ora; 
 com omo che ten mente 
 in altra parte, e pinge 
 la simile pintura; 
 cosi, bella, face' eo, 
 dentro allo core meo 
 porto la tua figura. 
 
 In cor par ch' eo vi porte, 
 
 pinta como voi sete, 
 
 e non pare di fore. 
 
 O Deo, che mi par forte; 
 
 che non so se savete 
 
 com io v' amo a bon core 
 
 ca son si vergognoso
 
 NOTARO GIACOMO 
 
 ch' eo pur vi guardo ascoso, 
 e non vi mostro amore. 
 
 Avendo gran disio 
 dipinsi una pintura, 
 bella, a voi simigliante. 
 E quando voi non vio 
 guardo in quella figura 
 e par ch' eo v' aggia avante, 
 si com om che si crede 
 salvarsi per sua fede 
 ancor non vea inante. 
 
 Al cor m' arde una doglia 
 com om che tene '1 foco 
 a lo suo seno ascoso, 
 che quanto piu lo 'nvoglia 
 allora arde piti loco, 
 e non pub stare incluso ; 
 similemente io ardo, 
 quando passo e non guardo 
 a voi viso amoroso. 
 
 Se siete, quando passo, 
 inver voi non mi giro, 
 bella, per isguardare; 
 andando ad ogni passo 
 gittone uno sospiro 
 che mi facie angosciare. 
 E certo bene angoscio 
 c' a pena mi conoscio, 
 tanto bella mi pare. 
 
 Assai v' aggio laudato, 
 Madonna, in tutte parti,
 
 ro NOTARO GIACOMO 
 
 di bellez/.e c' avete. 
 Non so se v' e contato 
 ch' eo lo faccia per arti, 
 che voi ve ne delete. 
 Sacciatelo per singa 
 cib che vi dirb a linga 
 quando voi mi vedete. 
 
 Canzonetta novella, 
 va, e canta nova cosa ; 
 levati da maitino 
 davanti a la piu bella 
 fiore d' ogni amorosa, 
 bionda piu ch' auro fino. 
 Lo vostro amor, ch' e caro, 
 donatelo al notaro 
 
 ch' e nato da Lentino. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon. Nan.) 
 
 VI 
 
 Ben m' e venuta prima al cor doglienza, 
 poi benvoglienza, d'orgolglio me rendente 
 di voi, madonna, incontro a mia sofrenza; 
 non e valenza far male a sofrente. 
 Ma si e potente vostra signoria" 
 ch' avendo male, piu v' amo ogni dia. 
 Per6 tuttor la troppa sicuranza 
 ubria conoscenza ed inoranza. 
 
 E dunque, amor, ben fora convenenza 
 d' aver temenza, como 1' altra gente 
 che tornano di lor disconoscenza 
 alia credenza di lor benvolente.
 
 NOTARO GIACOMO n 
 
 Chi e temente fugge villania, 
 
 e per coverta tal fa cortesia 
 
 che non voria da voi bella sembianza 
 
 se dal core non vi venisse amanza. 
 
 Ch' io non faccio, donna, contendenza, 
 ma ubbidenza, ed amo coralmente, 
 perb non dev' io pianger penitenza, 
 che nullo senza colpa e penitente; 
 naturalmente avvene tuttavia, 
 ch' omo s' orgolglia a chi Io contraria, 
 ma vostro orgolglio passa sorchietanza, 
 che si smisura contro ad umilianza. 
 
 E chi per torto batte e fa increscenza 
 
 de' ben far penitenza, e poi si pente ; 
 
 perb mi pasco di bona credenza 
 
 c' amor coninza prima a dar tormente ; 
 
 dunque saria piu giente gioia mia 
 
 se per mi' amor 1' orgoglio s' umilia, 
 
 e la ferezza torna a pietanza; 
 
 ben Io pub far amor ch' egli ib su' usanza. 
 
 Voi so che sete senza percepenza, 
 como Fiorenza che d' orgoglio sente. 
 Guardate a Pisa ch' a gran conoscenza 
 che fugge intenza d' orgogliosa gente. 
 Gia lungamente orgolglio v' a 'n balia; 
 Melan a Io carroccio par che sia. 
 Ma se si tarda 1' umile speranza 
 
 se soffra sgombra, e vince ogni tardanza. 
 
 (V.R.V.)
 
 12 
 
 JACOPO MOSTACCI 
 
 VII 
 
 Umile core e fino e amoroso, 
 gia fa lunga stagione c' 6 portato 
 
 buonamente a 1'amore ; 
 di lei avanzare adesso fui pensoso 
 oltre podere e infin ch' era aflfannato, 
 
 nonde sentia dolore. 
 Pertanto non di lei partia coraggio 
 nfe mancava lo fino piacimento, 
 mentre non vidi in ella folle usaggio 
 lo quale avea cangiato lo talento. 
 
 Ben m' averia per servidore avuto, 
 se non (si) fosse di fraude adonata, 
 
 perchk lo gran dolzore 
 e la gran gioia ch' stata, i' la rifiuto; 
 ormai gioia che per lei mi fosse data 
 
 non m' averia savore. 
 Perb ne parto tutta mia speranza 
 ch' ella parti del pregio e del valore; 
 che mi fa uopo aver altr' intendanza 
 onde acquisti cib che perdei d' amore. 
 
 Perb se 'n altra intendo e d' ella parto 
 non le sia greve e non le sia oltraggio, 
 
 tant' fe di vano affare; 
 ma ben credo saver e valer tanto, 
 poi la solglio avanzare, c' a dannaggio 
 
 le saveria contare. 
 
 Ma non mi piace adesso quello dire 
 ch' eo ne fusse tenuto misdicente ; 
 ch' assai val meglio chi si sa partire 
 da reo signer e alungiar buonamente.
 
 JACOPO MOSTACCI 13 
 
 Om che si parte a lunga, fa savere 
 di loco ove possa essere affannato, 
 
 e tranne suo pensiero ; 
 ed io ne par to e traggone volere 
 e dolglio dello tempo trapassato, 
 
 che m' e stato falliero. 
 Ma non dotto, c' a tale signoria 
 mi son donate ; che buon guiderdone 
 mi donera, per cib che no m' oblia ; 
 
 lo ben servente merit' a stagione. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.) 
 
 VIII 
 
 Amor ben veio che mi fa tenere 
 
 manera e costumanza 
 d' augello, c' arditanza lascia stare 
 quando lo verno vede sol venire ; 
 
 ben mette 'n ubrianza 
 la gioiosa baldanza di svernare ; 
 e par che la stagione non li piaccia, 
 
 che la freddura inghiaccia ; 
 
 e poi per primavera 
 
 ricovera manera, 
 
 e suo cantare innova e sua ragione ; 
 ed ogni cosa vuole sua stagione. 
 
 Amor, lo tempo che non m' era a grato, 
 
 mi tolse lo cantare ; 
 credendo migliorare io mi ritenne. 
 Or canto, che mi sento migliorare, 
 
 ca per bene aspettare 
 solazzo ed alegrare e gioi' mi venne 
 per la piu dolce donna ed avenente
 
 JACOPO MOSTACCI 
 
 che niai amasse amante, 
 
 quella ch' e di beltate 
 
 sovrana e in veritate, 
 che ognunque donna passa ed ave vinto, 
 e passa perle, smeraldo e giacinto. 
 
 Madonna, s' io son dato in voi laudare, 
 
 non vi paia lusinga ; 
 c' amor tanto mi stringa ch' io ci falli ; 
 ch' io 1' aggio udito dire ed acciertare, 
 
 sovrana & vostra insegna 
 e bene siete degna senza falli. 
 E consolomi in gran buona ventura 
 
 s' io v' amo a dismisura; 
 
 e s' io non son si lico 
 
 ben me ne tengo rico, 
 assai piu ch' io non so dir in parole ; 
 quegli & rico c' ave cio che vuole. 
 
 Donna e 1' amore han fatto compagnia, 
 
 e teso un dolce laccio 
 per mettere in sollaccio Io mio stato ; 
 e voi mi siete gentil, donna mia, 
 
 colonna e forte braccio, 
 per cui sicuro giaccio in ogni lato. 
 Gioioso e baldo canto d' allegranza, 
 
 c' amor m' b scudo e lanza, 
 
 e spada difendente 
 
 da ogni maldicente, 
 e voi mi siete, bella, rocca e muro; 
 mentre vivo per voi staro sicuro. 
 
 (V.R.V. Tr. Nan.)
 
 KING JOHN OF BRIENNE 
 
 IX 
 
 Donna, audite como 
 
 mi tengo vostr' omo 
 
 e non d' altro signore. 
 
 La mia vita fina 
 
 voi 1' avete in dotrina 
 
 ed in vostro tenore. 
 
 Oi chiarita spera, 
 
 la vostra dolce ciera 
 
 de 1'altr' e genzore. 
 
 Cosi similemente 
 
 e lo vostro colore. 
 
 Colore non vidi si gente 
 
 ne 'n tinta ne fiore, 
 
 ancor la fiore sia aulente 
 
 voi avete il dolzore, 
 
 dolze tempo e gaudente 
 
 inver la pascore. 
 
 Ogn' omo c' ama altamente 
 
 si de' aver bon core 
 
 d' essere cortese e valente 
 
 e leal servidore 
 
 inver la sua donna piagente 
 
 chui ama a tutore. 
 
 Tutor de' guardare 
 
 di fare fallanza; 
 
 che non e da laudare 
 
 chi non a leanza, 
 
 e ben de' om guardare 
 
 la sua noranza.
 
 16 KING JOHN OF BRIENNE 
 
 Cierto be' mi pare 
 che si faccia biasmare 
 chi si vuol orgogliare 
 la 've non ha possanza ; 
 e chi bene vuol fare 
 si si de' umiliare 
 inver [sua] donna, amare 
 e far conoscanza. 
 Or vegna a ridare 
 chi ci sa andare ; 
 e chi a intendanza 
 si degia allegrare 
 e gran gioia menare 
 per fin' amanza. 
 Chi no lo sa fare 
 si si vada a posare, 
 non si faccia biasmare 
 di trarresi a danza. 
 
 Fino amor m' ha comandato 
 ch' io m' allegri tuttavia, 
 faccia si ch' io servo a grato 
 a la dolce donna mia, 
 quella c' amo piu 'n cielato 
 che Tristano non facea 
 Isotta, com' e contato, 
 ancor che le fosse zia; 
 lo re Marco era 'ngannato 
 perch' el lui si confidia. 
 Ello n' era smisurato 
 e Tristan se ne godea 
 de lo bel viso rosato 
 ch' Isaotta biond' avea; 
 ancor che fosse pecato
 
 KING JOHN OF BRIENNE 17 
 
 altro far non ne potea ; 
 c' a la nave li fu dato 
 onde ci6 li dovenia. 
 Nullo si faccia mirato 
 s' io languisco tuttavia, 
 ch' io son piu inamorato 
 che null' altr' omo che sia. 
 
 Per la fior de [le] contrate, 
 che tutte [F] altre passate 
 di belleze e [di] bontate 
 donzelle, or v' adornate ; 
 tutte a madonna andate 
 e merce[de] le chiamate, 
 che di me aggia pietate, 
 di que' che la [rijmembranza 
 le degiate portare ; 
 giamai 'n altr' intendanza 
 non mi voglio penare, 
 se no 'n lei, per amanza, 
 che Io meglio mi pare. 
 
 Dio mi lasci v[ed]er la dia 
 ch' io serva a madonna mia 
 
 a piacimento ; 
 ch' io servire la voria 
 a la fior di cortesia 
 e [d'] insegnamento. 
 
 Meglio mi tengo per pagato 
 
 di madonna, 
 che s' io avessi Io contato 
 
 di Bologna, 
 e la Marca e Io ducato 
 
 di Guascogna.
 
 i8 KING JOHN OF BRIENNE 
 
 E le donne e le donzelle 
 rendano le lor castelle 
 
 sanza temere ; 
 tosto tosto vada fore 
 chi non ama di bon core 
 
 a piaciere. 
 
 (V.R.V. Tr. Mon.) 
 
 RINALDO D'AQUINO 
 
 X 
 
 Per fino amore vo si lietamente 
 
 ch' io non aggio veduto 
 omo ch' in gioia mi possa aparigliare ; 
 e paremi che falla malamente 
 
 omo c' ha riceputo 
 ben da sengnore e poi lo vuol cielare. 
 
 Ma eo nol cielaraggio 
 com' altamente amor m' ha meritato, 
 
 che m' ha dato a servire 
 a la fiore di tutta canoscienza 
 
 e di valenza 
 e di bellezze piu che non so dire. 
 
 Amor m' ha sormontato 
 
 lo core in mante guise, e gran gioia n' aggio. 
 4} 
 
 Aggio gioi' piti di nullo certamente, 
 
 c' amor m' a si arriccuto, 
 da che lei piacio, che la degia amare, 
 poi che (ella) delle donne e la piti gente 
 
 si alto dono aggio avuto, 
 d' altro amador piu degio in gioia stare ; 
 
 che null' altro coraggio 
 poria aver gioia ver core inamorato. 
 
 Dunqua senza fallire
 
 RINALDO D' AQUINO 19 
 
 a la mia gioia null' altra gioia s' intenza; 
 
 non ho temenza 
 c' altro amador potesse unque avenire, 
 
 per suo servire a grato 
 de lo suo fino amor, al mio paragio. 
 
 Para no averai, si se' valente; 
 
 che lo mondo a cresciuto 
 lo presgio tuo, si lo sape avanzare. 
 Presgio d' amore non vale neente, 
 
 poi donna ha ritenuto 
 a servidore, c' altro de' pigliare; 
 
 che 1' amoroso usagio 
 non vuol che sia per donna meritato 
 
 piii d' uno a tiranare, 
 ched altrui ingannare e gran fallenza 
 
 in mia parvenza; 
 chi fa del suo servire dipartire 
 
 quelli c' assai e stato, 
 senza mal fare, mal fa sengnoragio. 
 
 Sengnoria vuol ch' io serva lealmente, 
 
 che mi sia ben renduto 
 buon merito, che non saccio biasmare, 
 e Dio mi laudo, che piii altamente 
 
 che non aio servuto 
 amor m' ha coninzato a meritare. 
 
 Se bene che faraggio 
 quando sar6 d' amor cosi inalzato, 
 
 pero voria compiere 
 come de' far chi si bene inconenza; 
 
 ma no credenza 
 che non venisse mai per mio volere; 
 
 si [d' amor] (non) son aiutato 
 i' ho piu d' aquisto che non serviragio. 
 c 2
 
 20 RINALDO D'AQUINO 
 
 
 
 XI 
 
 Giammai non mi conforto 
 ne mi voglio rallegrare, 
 le navi son giunte al porto, 
 e vogliono collare; 
 vassene la piti gente 
 in terra d' oltremare, 
 ed io lassa dolente, 
 come deg' io fare? 
 
 Vassen' 1 in altra contrata, 
 
 e nol mi manda a dire; 
 
 ed io rimangno ingannata, 
 
 tanti son li sospire, 
 
 che mi fanno gran guerra 
 
 la notte co la dia; 
 
 (e) ne in cielo ne in terra 
 
 non mi par ch' io sia. 
 
 Santus, Santus Deo 
 
 che 'n la virgen venisti, 
 
 tu salva [e guarda] 1' amor meo 
 
 poi[che] da me '1 dipartisti. 
 
 Oi alta potestate 
 
 temuta e dottata, 
 
 il dolce mio amore 
 
 ti sia racomandata. 
 
 La croce salva la gente, 
 e me face disviare ; 
 la croce mi fa dolente, 
 non mi val Dio pregare. 
 Oi me, croce pellegrina, 
 perche m' ai cosi distrutta? 
 
 1 qy. Vassi.
 
 RINALDO D'AQUINO 21 
 
 Oi me lassa tapina, 
 
 ch' i' ardo e 'nciendo tutta. 
 
 Lo 'mperador con pace 
 
 tufto '1 mondo mantiene, 
 
 ed a me guerra face, 
 
 [che] m' a tolta la mia spene. 
 
 Oi alta potestade, 
 
 temuta e (ri)dottata, 
 
 lo mio dolce amore 
 
 vi sia racomandata. 
 
 Quando la croce pigliao, 
 cierto nol mi pensai 
 quel che tanto m' amao 
 ed io lui tanto amai, 
 ch' io ne fui battuta 
 e messa in presgioni, 
 e in cielata tenuta, 
 per la vita mia. 
 
 Le navi sono alle colle, 
 in bonora possano andare, 
 e '1 mio amor con elle, 
 e la gente che va andare. 
 Padre criatore, 
 a santo porto le conduce 
 che vanno a servidore 
 de la santa croce. 
 
 Pero ti prego, Dolcietto, 
 che sai la pena mia, 
 che men faci un sonetto 
 e mandilo in Soria. 
 Ch' io nom posso abentare 
 notte ne dia ;
 
 22 RINALDO D' AQUINO 
 
 in terra d' oltremare 
 
 ista la vita mia. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon. etc.) 
 
 XII 
 
 In gioi' mi tengo tutta la mia pena, 
 e contolami in gran buona ventura; 
 si com Parisgi quando amava Elena, 
 cosl fac' io membrando per ongnura, 
 
 non cura lo meo cor s' a pene 
 
 membrando [la] gioia che vene, 
 quando piu dole, ed ella [piCi] e dura. 
 
 Null' omo credo c' ami lealmente 
 che tema pene inver sua donna c' ama, 
 amante (egli) e che ama falsamente 
 quandunque vede un poco e que' piu brama, 
 
 e chiama tutta via mercede, 
 
 e giammai non si crede 
 c' amor conosca il male c' altrui inflama. 
 
 Perb la tegno grande scanoscien/a, 
 chi rimproccia al amore i suoi tormente ; 
 che non e gioi' che si vien da incredenza 
 ne per forza di pene c' altrui sente. 
 
 Non mente a quelli che son suoi, 
 
 anzi li dona gioi' 
 come fa buon singnore a suo servente. 
 
 Dunque, madonna, ben faccio ragione, 
 s' io vi conto le pene che patia, 
 ancor ch' i' aggio avuto guiderdone, 
 della piu ricca gioia ch' 'n voi sia. 
 
 Voria, bella, a poco a poco 
 
 con voi rintrare in giuoco, 
 com' io son vostro e voi madonna mia.
 
 RINALDO D'AQUINO 23 
 
 Or ti rimembri, bella, a quello punto 
 ched io ti presi ad amare coragio; 
 dapoi che gravemente m' aggi punto, 
 tutta la pena ben mi par ch' i' aggio. 
 
 Ben agio amor e vo' servire, 
 
 e tragiendo martire 
 
 e non cangiar per nulla gioia c' agio. 
 
 (V.R.V. Tr.) 
 
 XIII 
 
 Amorosa donna fina, 
 Stella che levi la dia 
 sembran le vostre bellezze. 
 Sovrana fior di Messina, 
 nom pare che donna sia 
 vostra para d' adorn e/ze. 
 Or dunqua non e maraviglia 
 se fiamma d' amor mi piglia, 
 guardando lo vostro viso, 
 che 1' amor m' infiamma in foco 
 sol ch' i' vi riguardo un poco ; 
 levatemi gioco e riso. 
 
 Gioco e riso mi levate 
 membrando tutta stagione 
 che d' amor vi fui servente. 
 Ne della vostr' amistate 
 non ebbi anche guiderdone 
 se no un bascio solamente. 
 E quel bascio m' infiamao 
 che dal corpo mi levao 
 lo core e di' ello a voi. 
 Degiateci provedere, 
 che vita pub 1' omo avere 
 se lo cor non e con lui ?
 
 24 RINALDO D'AQUINO 
 
 Lo meo cor non e co meco, 
 ched io tutto lo v' ho dato, 
 e ne son rimasto in pene ; 
 di sospiri mi notrico, 
 membrando da voi son errato 
 e nom so perche m' avene ; 
 per li (ri)sguardi amorosi 
 che savete sono ascosi 
 quando mi tenete mente ; 
 che li sg(uard)i micidiali 
 voi facete tanti e tali 
 che aucidete la giente. 
 
 Altrui aucidete che meve, 
 che m' avete im foco miso 
 che d' ongne parte m' aluma. 
 Tutto esto mondo e di neve, 
 di tal foco son racceso 
 che me ne (tutto) consuma, 
 e con foco che non pare 
 che la neve fa allumare, 
 ed inciendo tra lo ghiaccio; 
 quell' e lo foco d' amore, 
 c' arde lo fino amadore 
 quando ei non ha(ve) sollaccio. 
 
 Se '1 sollaccio non avesse, 
 se non da voi la sembiante 
 con parlamento sguardare 
 la gran gioi' quando volesse; 
 perche porto pene tante 
 eh' io no le poria contare 
 ne di 1 null' omo che sia 
 la mia voglia non diria, 
 1 qy. ned a.
 
 RINALDO D'AQUINO 25 
 
 dovesse morir penando ; 
 se non este u montellese, 
 cib e '1 vostro serventese, 
 
 a voi lo dico in cantando. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 GIACOMINO PUGLIESE 
 
 XIV 
 
 Morte, perche m' ai fatta si gran guerra 
 che m' ai tolta madonna, ond' io mi dolglio? 
 la flor de le bellezze e morta in terra 
 perche lo mondo non amo ne volglio. 
 Villana morte, che non ai pietanza, 
 disparti amore e tolgli la allegranza 
 
 e dai cordoglio; 
 
 la mia allegranza ai posta in gran tristanza, 
 che m' ai tolto la gioia e 1' allegranza 
 
 c' avere soglio. 
 
 Solea aver sollazzo e gioco e riso 
 piu che null' altro cavalier che sia ; 
 or n' e gita madonna im paradiso ; 
 portonne la dolce speranza mia, 
 lasciommi in pene e con sospiri e pianti, 
 levommi da lo dolze gioco e canti, 
 
 e compangnia. 
 
 Or non la veggio, ne la sto davanti, 
 e non mi mostra li dolzi sembianti, 
 
 come solia. 
 
 Ov' e madonna e lo suo insegnamento, 
 la sua bellezza e la gran canoscienza, 
 lo dolze riso e lo bel parlamento, 
 gli occhi e la bocca e la bella sembianza ?
 
 26 
 
 Oime, sia in nulla parte cib m' fe aviso ; 
 madonna, chi lo tiene, lo tuo viso, 
 
 in sua ballia? 
 
 lo vostro insengnamento dond' e miso? 
 e lo tuo franco cor chi mi 1' a priso, 
 
 (ma)donna mia? 
 
 Oi Deo, perchb m' ai posto in tale stanza? 
 ch' io son smarato e non so ove mi sia, 
 chfe m' ai levato la dolze speranza, 
 partita la piu dolze compangnia, 
 lo adornamento e la sua cortesia. 
 Madonna, per cui stava tuttavia 
 
 in allegranza, 
 
 or non la vegio nfe notte nfc dia, 
 e non m' abella, si com far solia, 
 
 la sua sembianza. 
 
 Se fosse mio '1 reame d' Ungaria, 
 
 con Grezia e la Mangna infino in Franza, 
 
 lo gran tesoro di Santa Sofia, 
 
 non poria ristorar si gran perdanza 
 
 come fu in quella dia che si n' andao 
 
 madonna, e d' esta vita trapassao 
 
 con gran tristanza; 
 sospiri e pene e pianti mi lasciao, 
 e giammai nulla gioia mi mandao 
 
 per confortanza. 
 
 Se fosse al mio voler, donna, di voi, 
 diciesse a Dio sovran che tutto facie 
 che notte e giorno istessimo ambondoi. 
 Or sia il voler di Dio, da ch' a lui piace. 
 Membro e ricordo quand' era con meco 
 sovente m' apellava dolze amico, 
 ed or nol facie.
 
 GIACOMINO PUGLIESE 27 
 
 Poi Dio la prese e menolla con seco, 
 la sua vertute sia, bella, con teco, 
 e la sua pacie. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan. Mon.) 
 
 XV 
 
 Ispendiente Stella d' albore 
 
 e piagiente donna d' amore, 
 
 bella, lo core mio c' ai 'n tua ballia 
 
 da voi non si diparte in (non)fidanza. 
 
 Or ti rimembra, bella, quella dia 
 
 che noi fermammo la dolze amanza. 
 
 Bella, or ti sia in rimembranza 
 la dolze dia e 1' allegranza, 
 che in diportanza io stava con voi ; 
 basciando mi dicei : Anima mia, 
 lo dolze amore ch' e intra noi dui 
 non falsasse per cosa che sia. 
 
 Lo tuo splendore m' a si preso, 
 di gioia d' amore m' a conquiso 
 si, che non mi so da voi dipartire, 
 e non faria, se Dio lo volesse. 
 Ben mi poria adoblar li mar tire, 
 se fallimento 'nver voi faciesse. 
 
 Donna valente, la mia vita 
 
 per voi, piagente, e ismarrita, 
 
 se non la aita fosse e lo comforto, 
 
 membrando ch' ei te, bella, a lo mio brazo 
 
 (Palor) quando sciendesti a me in diporto 
 
 per la finestra de lo palazo. 
 
 Alor t' ei, bella, in mia balia, 
 rosa novella per me tenia ;
 
 28 GIACOMINO PUGLIESE 
 
 di voi presi amorosa vegianza. 
 
 O, in fide, rosa, fosti patuta ; 
 
 se 'n mia balia avesse Spangna e Franza, 
 
 non averei si rica tenuta. 
 
 Ch' io mi partia da voi, intando 
 
 diciavatemi sospirando : 
 
 'Se vai, meo sire, e fai dimoranza, 
 
 ve' ch' io m' arendo e faccio altra vita ; 
 
 giamai non entro in gioco ne in danza, 
 
 ma sto richiusa pid che romita.' 
 
 Or vi sia a mente, donna mia, 
 ch' entrava giente, v' ha 'm balia ; 
 di me vi sia, bella, rimembranza. 
 Tu sai, amore, le pene ch' io trasse ; 
 chi ne diparte mora (egli) in tristanza ; 
 Io vostro core (mai) non falsasse. 
 
 Chi ne diparte, fior di rosa, 
 non abbia parte im bona cosa; 
 che Deo fecie 1' amore dolcie e fino 
 di due amanti che s' amar di core, 
 assai (ver e, si) canta Giacomino, 
 reo e chi sparte (? Io fino) amore. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.) 
 
 XVI 
 
 Tuttor la dolze speranza 
 di voi, donna, mi comforta, 
 membrando la tua semblanza; 
 tant' e la gioia che mi porta, 
 che nulla pena mi pare sofrire ; 
 e cotanto Io dolzore 
 ca Io core
 
 GIACOMINO PUGLIESE 29 
 
 tuttora mi fa sbaldire. 
 Non pensai, dolze amore, 
 
 c' a null' ore 
 dovessi da me partire. 
 Madonna dolcie e piagiente, 
 la vostra gran canoscienza 
 non falli si grevemente 
 c' abassi vostra valenza. 
 S' abandonassi ci6 che hai conquiso, 
 perderia lo grande pregio, 
 
 e 'n dispregio 
 
 vostro (onor) e (tutto) miso. 
 Post' ho, donna, ('1 mio desio) 
 
 (quando vegio) 
 si alto amore disceso. 
 Oi bella dolzetta mia, 
 non far si gran fallimento, 
 di creder a giente ria 
 de lor falso parlamento. 
 Le lor parole sono viva lanza 
 che li cori van pungendo 
 
 e diciendo 
 
 per mala 1 indivinanza. 
 Donna, merze, ch' io 'nciendo 
 
 (si) veggendo 
 dispartire dolze amanza. 
 Donna, se me non vuoi 'ntendere 
 non mi fare si gran fallia; 
 lo mio cor mi degie rendere, 
 ch' e distretto in vostra ballia ; 
 chb grande perdanza di me saria, 
 perdere lo cor e voi 
 
 ambedui. 
 
 1 qy. malvagia.
 
 30 G1ACOMINO PUGLIESE 
 
 Bella, per voi non si sia, 
 lo dolcie amore che fui 
 
 fra noi dui 
 nom falli, (ma)donna mia. 
 
 Donna, se 'nver me falsassi 
 
 bello sacco 1 tanto fino 
 
 che vostro amor s' inabassi, 
 
 di voi diria Giacomino 
 
 che vostra usanza sia spessamente 
 
 che t' infinga d' amar, poi 
 
 pare a noi 
 
 trezeria (esser) parvente. 
 Donna, merze, cib non fare ; 
 
 in fallare 
 
 non agie core ne mente. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 COMPAGNETTO DA PRATO 
 
 XVII 
 
 ' Per lo marito c' 6 rio 
 1' amor m' e 'ntrato 'n coraggio; 
 sollazo e gram bene agg" io 
 per lo mal che con lui aggio. 
 Che per lo suo lacierare 
 tal pensero, O ! no 1' avea 
 che sono preso d' amare, 
 fino amante aggio in balia 
 che mi fa 'n gran gioia stare. 
 
 Gieloso, batuta m' ai, 
 piacieti di darmi doglia; 
 ma quanto piii mal mi fai 
 tanto piCi '1 mi metti in voglia. 
 1 qy. ben lo saccio.
 
 COMPAGNETTO DA PRATO 31 
 
 Di tal uom m' acasgionasti 
 c' amanza non avea 'ntra noi ; 
 ma da che mi ricordasti 
 1'amor mi prese di lui. 
 Lo tuo danagio pensasti. 
 
 Mio amor mi mette a rasgione, 
 [e] dicie, s' io 1' amo a cor fino, 
 pero che m' abe a casgione 
 ch' era nel male dimino? 
 Per ira del mal marito 
 m' avesti e non per amore ; 
 ma da che m' ai, si m' e gito 
 lo tuo dolzor dentro al core ; 
 mio male in gioia m' e ridito. 
 
 Drudo mio, a te mi richiamo 
 d' una vecchia c' 6 a vicina; 
 ch' ella, s' e accorta ch' io t' amo, 
 del suo mal dir non rifina. 
 Con [molto] adiroso talento 
 m' ave di te gastigata, 
 mettemi a maggior tormento 
 che quel cui son maritata, 
 non mi lascia aver abento.' 
 
 'Madonna, per lo tuo onore, 
 SL nulla vecchia non credere; 
 ch' elle in guerra anno 1' amore, 
 perc' altri loro non credere. 
 Le vecchie son mala giente, 
 non ti lascia dismagare ; 
 che '1 nostro amor fino e giente 
 per lor nom possa falzare ; 
 Mettale Dio im foco arzente.'
 
 32 CQMPAGNETTO DA PRATO 
 
 La bella dicie : ' Pardeo, 
 giurolti per mia leanza, 
 che non e cosa perch' eo 
 lasciasie la tu' amistanza. 
 Ma perch' io mi ti lamento 
 d' una mia desaventura, 
 non aver tu pensamento 
 che d' altr' amor agie cura, 
 
 se non far tuo piacimento.' 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.) 
 
 JACOPO D'AQUINO 
 
 XVIII 
 
 Al cor m' e nato e prende uno disio 
 d' una che m' a si lungiamente priso 
 e si mi stringe forte, che non crio 
 che d' altro amor mi piaccia gioia ne riso. 
 
 Vaio ne griso, 
 
 nfc nulla gioia che sia, 
 
 io non voria ; 
 
 ne singnoria, 
 
 ma tuttavia 
 
 vedere Io bel viso. 
 
 Cosi m' afina arnore, che m' a tolto 
 core e disio e tutta la mia mente; 
 e d' altra donna amar non sono accorto 
 che tanto sia amorosa ne piacente. 
 
 Non m' e neente 
 
 sed io son d' altra amato 
 
 o disiato, 
 
 bello provato, 
 
 mentr' io son stato 
 
 Ionian della piu giente.
 
 JACOPO D'AQUINO 33 
 
 Ancor ch' io sia lontano in altra parte 
 lavunqu' io vada il suo amor mi mantiene, 
 e giamai dal mio core non si parte, 
 ne altra donna amar non mi sovene. 
 
 Percib m' avene, 
 
 ca s' io songno la veio, 
 
 dormo e donneio, 
 
 vegliar mi crio, 
 
 ma non disio 
 
 d' aver null' altro bene. 
 
 Membrandomi la sua ciera piagiente 
 veder la creo tutta per sembiante, 
 com omo c' a Io specchiar tene mente ; 
 cosi mi pare ch' io 1' agia davanti. 
 
 Poi sono tanti 
 
 li sospiri, membrando, 
 
 pure aspettando 
 
 e disiando 
 
 di veder quando 
 
 io 1' agia davanti. 
 
 (V.R.V. Tr.) 
 
 TOMASO DI SASSO DI MESSINA 
 XIX 
 
 D' amoroso paeso 
 
 sospiri [e dolzi pianti] m' a mandate 
 amor, che m' a donato [ad una] donna amare. 
 
 [Giajmai senza sospirare 
 amore me non lascia solo un' ora. 
 Deo, che folle natura ! ella m' a preso 
 ch' io non saccio altro fare, 
 
 se non pensare, e quanto piu mi sforzo
 
 34 TOMASO DI SASSO DI MESSINA 
 
 allora meno posso avere abento; 
 
 e uscito m' e di mente 
 gia lungiamente ogni altro pensamento, 
 e si veglio o dormento sento amore. 
 
 Amore sento tanto, 
 
 donna, c' altro nom faccia, 
 son divenuto paccio troppo amando; 
 
 moro considerando 
 che sia amore che tanto m' allaccia. 
 Non trovo chi lo saccia, ond' io mi schianto, 
 ch' e vicino di morte, 
 
 crudele sorte, mal che non a nomo; 
 che mai non lo pote onio ben guarire l ; 
 
 dunque pur voria dire 
 come sentire amor mi fa tormento; 
 forse per mio lamento lo mi lascia. 
 
 Amor mi facie [umile ed] umano, 
 
 crucioso e sollazante, 
 e per mia volglia amante amor negando; 
 
 e medica piagando 2 
 amore, che nel mare tempestoso 
 navica vigoroso, e ne lo chiano 
 teme la tempestate. 
 
 Folli, sacciate finche 1' amadore 
 disia, vive 'n dolore 3 , e poi che tene 
 
 credendosi aver bene, 
 dagli amor pene sperando aver gioia, 
 la gielosia e la noia che 1' asale. 
 
 Amor mi fa fellone, 
 
 sfacciato e vergongnoso ; 
 quanto piu son dolglioso alegro paro 
 
 e nom posso esser varo. 
 1 guer . . . , V.R.V. - pieg . . . , V.R.V. </y. dolzorc.
 
 TOMASO DI SASSO DI MESSINA 35 
 
 Da poi che cristallo avene la neve 
 squalgliare mai non deve, per rasgione; 
 cosi eo, che no rifino, 
 
 son poco mino divenuto, amore. 
 Agua per gran dimoro torna sale; 
 
 cotal dolglia mortale, 
 gravoso male, da meve stesso e nato, 
 che non agio nul lato che non ami. 
 
 Poi ch' io si lungiamente 
 
 agio amato, giamai no rifinai, 
 tardi mi risvelgliai a disamare; 
 
 che non si puo astutare 
 cosi sanza fatica uno gran foco, 
 ma si consuma '1 foco per neiente. 
 Dunqua como faraggio ? 
 
 Bene ameraggio, ma [bene] saver voria 
 che fera singnoria mi face amare, 
 
 chfc gran follia mi pare 
 omo inorare a si folle singnore, 
 c' a lo suo servidore non si mostra. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan.) 
 
 GIUDICE GUIDO DE LE COLONNE DI 
 
 MESSINA 
 
 XX 
 
 Amor, che lungiamente m" ai menato 
 a freno stretto sanza riposanza, 
 alarga le tue redine in pietanza, 
 che soperchianza m' a vinto e stancato; 
 c' 6 piu durato ch' io non b possanza 
 per voi, madonna, a cui porto leanza, 
 D 2
 
 36 GIUDICE GUIDO DI MESSINA 
 
 piu che non fa assessino a suo cuitato, 
 che si lascia morir per sua credanza. 
 Ben este affanno dilettoso amare, 
 e dolce pena ben si pub chiamare; 
 ma voi, madonna, della mia travaglia, 
 cosl mi squaglia, prenda voi mercede, 
 che ben' fc dolce il mal, se non m' ancide. 
 
 Oi dolce ciera con sguardo soave, 
 piu bella d' altra che sia in vostra terra, 
 traete lo mio core ormai di guerra, 
 che per voi erra e gran travaglia n' ave; 
 che si gran trave poco ferro serra, 
 e poca pioggia grande vento atterra. 
 Perb, madonna, non v' incresca o grave 
 s' amor vi sforza, c' ogni cosa inferra, 
 che certo non gli e troppo disonore 
 quand' omo b vinto d' uno suo migliore, 
 e tanto piu d' amor che vince tutto. 
 Percib non dotto c' amor non vi smova; 
 saggio guerrero vince guerra e prova. 
 
 Non dico c' a la vostra gran bellezza 
 orgoglio non convenga e steavi bene; 
 c' a bella donna orgoglio ben convene, 
 che si mantiene in presgio ed in grandezza , 
 troppa alterezza e quella che sconvene, 
 di grande orgoglio mai ben non avvene. 
 Dunque, madonna, la vostra durezza 
 convertasi in pietanza e si raffrene; 
 non si distenda tanto che mi pera. 
 Lo sol sta alto e face la lumera 
 piu viva, quanto in alto ha a passare ; 
 vostro orgogliare dunque e vostra altezza 
 facciami pro e tornimi in dolcezza.
 
 GIUDICE GUIDO DI MESSINA 37 
 
 F allumo dentro e forz' e far sembianza 
 di non mostrar cio che lo mio cor sente; 
 oi, quanto e dura pena al cor dolente 
 istar taciente e non far dimostranza ! 
 che la pesanza a la cera consente, 
 e fanno vista di lor portamenti. 
 Cos! son volontieri in acordanza 
 gli occhi co lo core insembramente. 
 Forza di senno & quella che soverchia 
 ardir di core e asconda ed incoverchia ; 
 ben b gran senno, chi lo pote fare, 
 saper celare, ed essersi sengnore 
 de lo suo core, quand' este in errore. 
 
 Amor fa disviare li piu saggi, 
 e chi piu ama meno a in se misura ; 
 piu folle b quello che piu s'innamora. 
 Amor non cura di far suoi dannaggi, 
 che li coraggi mette in tal calura 
 ch' uom non pub raffredare per fredura ; 
 gli occhi al core sono gli messaggi 
 del suo cominciamento per natura. 
 Dunque, madonna, gli occhi e lo mio core 
 avete in vostra man dentro e di fore; 
 c' amor mi smena e il vivere combatte 
 com vento batte nave e smena in onda ; 
 voi siete il mio pennel che non afonda. 
 
 XXI 
 
 Ancor che 1' aigua per lo foco lasse 
 
 la sua grande freddura, 
 
 non cangerea natura 
 s' alcun vasello in mezzo non vi stasse; 
 anzi averrea senza lunga dimora
 
 38 GIUDICE GUIDO DI MESSINA 
 
 che lo foco astutasse 
 
 o che 1' aigua seccasse, 
 ma per lo mezzo 1' uno e 1' altro dura. 
 
 Cosl, gentil creatura, 
 
 in me ha mostrato amore 
 
 1' ardente suo valore, 
 che senza amore era aigua fredda e ghiaccia ; 
 
 ma el m' a si allumato 
 
 di foco che m' abraccia, 
 
 ch' eo fora consumato 
 
 se voi, donna sovrana, 
 
 non foste voi mezana 
 
 infra 1' amore e meve, 
 che fa lo foco nascere di neve. 
 
 Imagine di neve si pu6 dire 
 
 om che non a sentore 
 
 d' amoroso calore; 
 ancor sia vivo non si sa sbaldire. 
 Amor e uno spirito d' ardore 
 
 che non si pu6 vedire, 
 
 ma sol per li sospire 
 si fa sentire in quel ch' e amadore. 
 
 Cosi, donna d' aunore, 
 
 lo mio gran sospirare 
 
 vi poria certa fare 
 dell' amorosa fiamma ond' eo son involto; 
 
 e non so come eo duro, 
 
 si m' ave preso e tolto; 
 
 e parmi esser sicuro 
 
 che mold altri amanti 
 
 per amor tutti quanti 
 
 sono perduti e morti ; 
 e non amar quant' eo ne si forte.
 
 GIUDICE GUIDO DI MESSINA 39 
 
 Eo v' amo tanto, che mille fiate 
 
 lo giorno mi s' aranca 
 
 lo spirito che manca, 
 pensando, donna, la vostra beltate ; 
 e lo disio ch' eo ho lo cor m' abranca, 
 
 crescemi volontate, 
 
 mettemi 'n tempestate, 
 de lo grande pensier che mai non stanca. 
 
 O colorita e bianca 
 
 e gioia de lo mio bene, 
 
 speranza mi mantene, 
 e s' eo lenguisco, non posso morire : 
 
 che mentre viva sete 
 
 eo non poria fallire, 
 
 anco che fame e sete 
 
 lo meo corpo tormenti ; 
 
 ma sol ch' io tegna a mente 
 
 vostra gaia persona, 
 oblio la morte, tal forza mi dona. 
 
 Eo non credo che sia quel ch' avia 
 
 10 spirito che porto, 
 ched eo fora gia morto, 
 
 tant' 6 passato male tuttavia. 
 
 Lo spirito ch' i' agio, ond' eo mi sporto, 
 
 credo la vostra sia, 
 
 che nel mio petto stia, 
 e abiti meco in gran gioi' e diporto. 
 
 Or mi son bene accarto, 
 
 quando da voi mi venni, 
 
 che quando 'n mente tenni 
 vostro amoroso viso netto e chiaro, 
 
 11 vostri occhi piagenti 
 allora m' addobraro,
 
 GIUDICE GUIDO DI MESSINA 
 
 che 'n mi tennero mente, 
 
 e diedermi nascoso 
 
 uno spirto amoroso 
 
 c' assai mi fa piu amare 
 che non amo null' altra, cib mi pare. 
 La calamita, contano i saccenti, 
 
 che trare non poria 
 
 ferro per maestria, 
 
 se non che 1' aire in mezzo lei consenti ; 
 ancor che calamita petra sia, 
 
 1' altre petre neenti 
 
 non son cosi potenti 
 a trajer, perche non n 5 anno balia. 
 
 Cosi, madonna mia, 
 
 1' amor s' e apperceputo 
 
 che non m' avria potuto 
 traer a se, se non fusse per voi. 
 
 E si son donne assai, 
 
 ma non ulla per cui 
 
 eo mi movesse mai, 
 
 se non per voi, piagente, 
 
 in cui e fermamente 
 
 la forza e la virtute; 
 
 adonqua prego 1' amor che m' aiuti. 
 
 (Mon. Nan.) 
 
 XXII 
 
 Poi non mi val mercfe ne ben servire 
 inver madonna, in cui tengno speranza, 
 
 ed amo lealmente, 
 non so che cosa mi poria valere ; 
 se di me non le prende pietanza, 
 
 ben morrb certamente. 
 Per neente mi cangio '1 suo talento,
 
 GIUDICE GUIUO DI MESSINA 41 
 
 ond' 6 tormento e vivo in gran dottanza, 
 e son di molte pene sofferente. 
 
 Poi sofferente sono al suo piacere, 
 di bon cor 1' amo e di pura leanza, 
 
 e servo umilemente; 
 perchfc meglio m' e per ella male avere 
 che per un' altra bene con baldanza, 
 
 tanto [le] son ubidente. 
 Ardente son di far suo piacimento, 
 ne mai n' 6 abento d' aver sua membranza 
 in quella in cui disio spessamente. 
 
 Ispessamente disio e son al perire, 
 membrando che m' a messo in ubrianza 
 
 1' amorosa piagiente. 
 Sanza misfatto nom dovea punire, 
 ne far partenza della nostra amanza, 
 
 per tanto e canosciente, 
 Temente son, non ho comfortamento, 
 poi valimento nom da, ma pesanza, 
 e fallami di tutto suo convento. 
 
 Convento ben mi fece di valere, 
 
 e donommi una gioia per rimembranza, 
 
 ch' i' stesse allegramente ; 
 or la m' k tolta per troppo savere, 
 dice ch' in altra parte b mia 'ntendanza, 
 
 lo so veracemente 
 non sente lo mio core fallimento, 
 non 6 talento di far misleanza 
 inver di voi per altra al mio vivente. 
 
 Vivente donna non creo che partire 
 potesse lo mio cor di sua possanza, 
 non fosse si avenente,
 
 42 GIUDICE GUI DO 1)1 MESSINA 
 
 perch' io lasciar volesse d' ubidire 
 quella che presgio e belleze inavanza; 
 
 fa mi stare sovente 
 la mente d' amoroso pensamento. 
 Non agio abento, tanto '1 cor mi lan/.a 
 co li riguardi degli occhi ridente. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan.) 
 
 XXIII 
 
 Gioiosamente canto, 
 
 e vivo in allegranza, 
 
 ca per la vostra amanza, 
 
 madonna, gran gioia sento; 
 
 s' eo travagliai cotanto 
 
 or' agio riposanza, 
 
 ben agia disianza, 
 
 che vene a compimento ; 
 ca tutto mal talento torna in gioi' 
 quandunque la speranza vien dipoi, 
 ond' io m' allegro di grande ardimento; 
 un giorno viene che val piti di cento. 
 
 Ben passa rosa e fiore 
 
 la vostra fresca cera 
 
 luciente pid che spera, 
 
 e la bocca aulitosa 
 
 piCi rende aulente aulore 
 
 che non fa una fera 
 
 c' a nome la pantera, 
 
 che 'n India nasce ed usa. 
 Sovra ogn' altr' amorusa mi parete 
 fontana, che m' a tolta ognunque sete, 
 perch' io son vostro pift leale e fino 
 che non e al suo singnore 1' assessino.
 
 GIUDICE GUIDO DI MESSINA 43 
 
 Come fontana plena, 
 
 che spande tutta quanta, 
 
 cosi lo mio cor canta 
 
 si fortemente e abonda 
 
 de la gran gioia che mena, 
 
 per voi, madonna, tanta 
 
 ch' e ciertamente tanta ; 
 
 non e dove s' asconda, 
 e piu c' augello in fronda son gioioso, 
 e ben posso cantar piu amoroso 
 che non canta giamai null' altro amante, 
 uso di bene amare 6 trapassante. 
 
 Ben mi degio allegrare 
 
 d' amor che 'mprimamente 
 
 ristrinse la mia mente 
 
 d' amar voi, donna fina; 
 
 ma piu degio laudare 
 
 voi, donna canosciente, 
 
 donde lo mio cor sente 
 
 la gioia ch' in voi non fina. 
 Ca se tutta Messina fosse mia, 
 senza voi, donna, nente mi faria; 
 quando con voi a sol mi sto, avenente, 
 ogn' altra gioia mi par che sia neiente. 
 
 La vostra gran beltate 
 m' a fatto, donna, amare, 
 e lo vostro ben fare 
 m' a fatto cantadore; 
 ca s' eo canto la state 
 quando la fiore appare, 
 nom poria ubriare 
 cantar a la fredore.
 
 44 GIUDICE GUIDO Dl MESSINA 
 
 Cosi mi tene amore lo cor gaudente, 
 che voi sete la mia donna valente ; 
 sollazzo e gioco mai non vene mino, 
 cosl v' adoro come servo inchino. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan.) 
 
 MAZZEO DI RICO DI MESSINA 
 
 XXIV 
 Lo gran valor e lo pregio amoroso 
 
 ch' e in voi, donna valente, 
 tuttor m' aluma d' amoroso foco 
 che mi dispera e fami pauroso, 
 
 com' om che da neiente 
 volesse pervenire in alto loco. 
 
 Ma s' egli 6 destinato 
 moltipricar lo folle pensamento, 
 e la ventura gli da piacimento 
 dello gran bene c' a desiderate. 
 
 Cosl pensando a la vostra beltate 
 
 amor mi fa paura, 
 tanto siete alta e gaia ed avenente, 
 e tanto piu che voi mi disdegnate. 
 
 Ma questo m' asicura, 
 che dentro 1' agua nasce foco arzente, 
 
 e par contra natura. 
 Cosl poria la vostra disdegnanza 
 tornar in amorosa pietanza, 
 se '1 volesse la mia bona ventura. 
 
 Madonna, se del vostro amor son priso 
 
 non vi paia fereze 
 ne riprendete gli occhi inamorati. 
 Guardate lo vostro amoroso viso, 
 
 le angeliche belleze,
 
 MAZZEO DI RICO DI MESSINA 45 
 
 e F adorneze e la vostra beltate ; 
 
 e sarete sicura 
 
 che le vostre belleze mi convita 
 per forza, come fa la calamita 
 quando F aguglia tira per natura. 
 
 Certo ben fece amore dispietanza, 
 
 che di voi, donna altera, 
 m' inamorai, poi non v' e in piacimento. 
 Or come troveraggio in voi pietanza? 
 
 che non vegio manera 
 com' io vi posso dire cib ch' io sento. 
 
 Perb, donna avenente, 
 per Dio vi priego, quando mi vedete 
 guardatemi, cosi conoscierete 
 per la mia ciera cib che mio cor sente. 
 
 Si namoratamente m' a infiammato 
 
 la vostra diletanza, 
 
 ch' io non mi credo giamai snamorare; 
 che Io cristallo poich' e ben gielato 
 
 non pub aver speranza 
 ch' ello potesse neve ritornare. 
 
 E poich' amor m' a dato 
 (interamente) in vostra potestate, 
 (donna,) agiatene alcuna pietate, 
 accioch' agiate in voi tutto valore. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon. Val.) 
 
 XXV 
 
 Sei anni b travagliato 
 in voi, madonna, amare, 
 e fede v' b portato 
 piii assai che divisare
 
 4 6 
 
 ne dire vi poria. 
 
 Ben b caro acatato 
 
 lo vostro inamorare, 
 
 the m' a cosi inganato 
 
 con suo dolce parlare 
 
 che gia nol mi credia. 
 
 Ben mi men6 follia 
 
 di fantin veramente, 
 
 che crede fermamente 
 
 pigliar lo sol nell' agua splendiente, 
 
 e stringere si crede lo splendore 
 
 della candela ardente; 
 
 ond' ello immantenente 
 
 si parte e piange, sentendo 1' ardore. 
 
 S' eo tardi mi son adato 
 de lo meo follegiare, 
 tengnomene beato, 
 poi ch' io sono a lasciare 
 lo mal che mi stringia; 
 che 1' omo ch' e malato, 
 poiche torna in sanare, 
 
 10 male c' a passato 
 e lo gran travagliare 
 tutto mette in obria. 
 Oi lasso, ch' io credia, 
 donna, perfettamente 
 che vostri assetamenti 
 passassero giacinti stralucenti; 
 
 or veggio bene che '1 vostro colore 
 di vetro e fermamente, 
 che fanno sagiamente 
 
 11 mastri contrafare allo lavore.
 
 MAZZEO DI RICO DI MESSINA 47 
 
 Isperanza m' a 'nganato, 
 
 e fatto tanto errare, 
 
 com' omo c' a giucato 
 
 e crede guadagnare 
 
 e perde cio c' avia. 
 
 Or veggio ch' e provato 
 
 cio c' audo contare, 
 
 c' assai a guadagnato 
 
 chi si fa scompagnare 
 
 da mala compagnia. 
 
 A meve adivenia 
 
 como avene sovente, 
 
 chi impronta buonamente 
 
 lo suo a mal debitor e scanoscente ; 
 
 impercio ch' e malvagio pagatore 
 
 vaci omo spessamente 
 
 e nom pub aver neiente, 
 
 ond' a la fine ne fa richiamore. 
 
 (V.R.V. Val.) 
 
 PREZIVALLE DORIA (?) 
 XXVI 
 
 Come lo giorno, quando e dal maitino, 
 chiaro e sereno e bello e da vedere, 
 perche gli ausgielli fanno lor latino 
 cantare fino, e par dolze a udire; 
 e poi ver mezzo il giorno cangia e muta, 
 e torna in piogia la dolze veduta 
 
 che si mostrava, 
 lo pellegrino, che sicuro andava 
 per 1' allegreza dello giorno bello, 
 diventa fello, pieno di pesanza ; 
 cosi m' a fatto amor con sua possanza.
 
 48 PREZIVALLE DOR1A 
 
 Cosl m' a fatto amor certanamente, 
 ca 'mprimamente d' amor mi mostrava 
 sollazzo e tutto ben de la pifi giente, 
 poi per neiente lo cor mi cangiava ; 
 ch* io mi credea laudar tutta mia vita, 
 avere grande ben di sua partita, 
 
 e stare baldo; 
 
 quella che avanza giacinto e smeraldo, 
 ed ave le belleze ond' io disvio; 
 or sento e veio che gran follia lo tira, 
 chi lauda il giorno avanti che sia sera. 
 
 Per voi, madonna, con tante belleze 
 senza fereze lo mio cor sotrasse, 
 e si m' a preso e tene 1' adorneze, 
 vostre belleze, che '1 mio core atrasse, 
 Perchb mi siete fatta si orgolgliosa, 
 oi, gientil donna bene aventurosa, 
 
 se (ben) pensate 
 come s' avene a donna in veritate, 
 mostrare amore, e mettere in errore 
 lo suo servente e si fedele amante ? 
 Tu doni e tolli come fa lo fante. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan.) 
 
 FOLCALCHIERI DI SIENA 
 XXVII 
 
 Tutto lo mondo vive sanza guerra, 
 ed io nom pace aver posso neiente. 
 
 O Deo, como faraggio? 
 O Deo, como sostenemi la terra? 
 E' par ch' io viva in noia de la gente ; 
 
 ogn' omo m' b salvagio.
 
 FOLCALCHIERI DI SIENA 49 
 
 Nom paiono li fiori 
 per me, com gia soleano, 
 e gli auscielli per am ore 
 dolzi versi faceano agli albori. 
 
 E quand' eo vegio gli altri cavalieri 
 arme portare, e d' amore parlando, 
 
 ed io tutto mi dolglio; 
 sollazzo m' e fallito ne' pensieri ; 
 la gente mi riguardano parlando 
 
 s' io son quel ch' esser solglic. 
 
 Nom so cio ch' io mi sia, 
 
 ne so perche m' avene; 
 
 mort' e la vita mia, 
 tomato m' e Io bene (nel) dolori. 
 
 Ben credo ch' eo fenisco e non conenza 
 e Io meo male nom poria contare 
 
 ne le pene ch' io sento. 
 Li drappi d' investire non m' agenza 
 ne bono non mi sa Io manicare, 
 
 cosi vivo in tormento. 
 
 Non mi so onde fugire, 
 
 ne a cui m' acomandare; 
 
 convenemi sofrire, * 
 
 tutte le pene amare 6 in dolzori. 
 
 Io credo bene che 1' amore sia; 
 altro deo non m' a gia a giudicare 
 
 cosi crudelemente 
 che 1' amor e di tale sengnoria 
 che le due parti a se vole tirare, 
 
 e '1 terzo e de la giente. 
 
 Ed io per ben servire, 
 
 s' io ragione trovasse, 
 
 non doveria fallire
 
 So FOLCALCHIERI DI SIENA 
 
 a lui, cosl chiamasse per lo cori : 
 Dolce madonna, poi ch' io mi moragio 
 niun troverai si bene ti servire, 
 
 tutt' a tua volontate ; 
 
 ch' unque non volli ne voglio ne voraggio, 
 se non di tutto [a] far a (far) piaciere 
 
 a la vostra amistate. 
 
 Merze di me vi prenda, 
 
 che non mi sfidi amando ; 
 
 vostra grazia discenda, 
 perb oh' eo ardo e inciendo, (non) da fori. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan. Mon.) 
 
 TIBERTO GALLIZIANI DI PISA 
 XXVIII 
 
 Biasmomi dell' amore 
 che mi dona ardimento 
 d' amar si fina amanza ; 
 di dire 6 tal timore 
 che sol di pensamento 
 mi trovo in disvianza; 
 ma s' eo faccio acordanza 
 di dire, e poi mi scordo, 
 tanto infra me mi stordo 
 per la gran dubitanza; 
 per6 faccio sembianza 
 al core che sia sordo 
 che mi dice, e m' accordo 
 che dimandi pietanza. 
 
 Ma tutto cib mi mente, 
 che 'ntenda in tal parlare, 
 che 1' altro cor m' intenza, 
 c dice : Oi me dolente !
 
 TIBERTO GALLIZIANI DI PISA 51 
 
 nom puoi tanto durare 
 che vinche per sofrenza. 
 Se fai di me partenza 
 da lo suo bel piaciere, 
 gia mai non poria avere 
 gioia, ma pur doglienza ; 
 che tanto a di valenza, 
 ca melglio m' e sofrire 
 le pene e li martiri 
 che 'nver lei far fallenza. 
 
 Cosl amor m' a miso 
 in due contenzione; 
 ciascuna m' e guerera; 
 nell' una m' adiviso 
 di dire mia ragione, 
 e 1' altra mi par fera. 
 Ma s' i' faccio preghera, 
 di lei merze pensando 
 ca eo no le dimando, 
 perch' ell' e tanto altera. 
 Perb in tale manera 
 d' amor mi vo blasmando, 
 ca si mi stringe amando, 
 dottando ch' io nom pera. 
 
 Ben v' amo follemente 
 s' io pero per dottanza 
 di dir lo meo penare; 
 e moro certamente 
 s' io faccio piu tardanza 
 tante pene a portare. 
 C amor nom vol mostrare 
 le pene ch' io tant' agio 
 
 E 2
 
 52 TIBERTO GALLIZIANI DI PISA 
 
 a ella per cui moragio 
 tuttor per lei amare; 
 ond' eo mi volglio provare 
 di dirle 1' amor ch' agio 
 a lo suo sengnoragio, 
 e nol vo piu cielare. 
 
 Per6 mi torno a vui, 
 
 piagiente creatura, 
 
 ch' io sia per voi intiso; 
 
 che gia nom posso plui 
 
 sofrir la pena dura 
 
 d' amor, che m' a conquiso 
 
 S' eo per6 son mispreso, 
 
 1' amore d' el biasmate, 
 
 e le vostre bieltate 
 
 che m' a d' amor si priso. 
 
 Mercie, piagiente viso, 
 
 prenda a voi pietate 
 
 di meve, e non mostrate 
 
 ch' io sia da voi diviso. 
 
 Cierto, madonna mia, 
 ben seria convenenza 
 c' amore voi stringnesse, 
 che tanto par che sia 
 in voi plena plasenza 
 ch' ella renda manchesse. 
 Perb se voi tenesse 
 amor distrettamente 
 ben so che doblamente 
 varrian vostre bellessej 
 ed anco a vostre altesse 
 blasmo saria parvente,
 
 TIBERTO GALLIZIANI DI PISA 53 
 
 poi siete si piagiente, 
 
 s' amor in voi fallisse. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.) 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Gia lungiamente, amore, 
 
 son stato in mia balia, 
 e non curava d' altro sengnoragio ; 
 
 or sono in tal tenore 
 
 che gia mai nom poria 
 partir, si m' a distretto il mio coragio, 
 
 e lo suo bel visagio, 
 ch' e d' ongni bielta sagio, m' infiamao, 
 e tutti gli altri pensier mi levao. 
 
 Le sue bellezze tante 
 
 che porta in viso, e mante, 
 tuttor s' adoblan, tant' an di plagienza, 
 
 mi fan piu (fino) amante, 
 
 che gioia paion le pene, 
 e piu d' amar mi cresce benvolenza, 
 
 di qu(ella) c' 6 temenza 
 di dir la mia volglienza, e voria dire, 
 perche giamai non ei tanto d' ardire. 
 
 Deo ! c' or avess' io tanto 
 
 d' ardire, ch' io contasse 
 le mie pene a la mia donna valente. 
 
 Forse averebbe alquanto 
 
 merce, ancor non m' amasse, 
 che per sembianti poria star gaudente'; 
 
 e nolle steria giente, 
 poi ch' e di me temente, s' io morisse ; 
 perch' io voria ch' ella mio mal savesse.
 
 54 TIBERTO GALLIZIANI DI PISA 
 
 (Dime, che dich' io folle? 
 
 or gia m' acolglie e inora, 
 ancor nol faccia d' amorosa intesa; 
 
 per tanto non mi stolle 
 
 lo sguardar ch' assicura, 
 e la speranza gia non m' e difesa 
 
 di quella bene apresa; 
 che d' amar e si accesa la mia mente, 
 ch' io nolle poria dir, ne star taciente. 
 
 E se lo taccio, pero, 
 
 e se dico, 6 dottanza, 
 non saccio s' a lei piacie o sia spiaciere; 
 
 ond' io merze le chero 
 
 che nol torni a pesanza, 
 perch' io voglio di morte guarentire ; 
 
 che piti per suo servire 
 che gia d' altro volere n' 6 talento ; 
 perb s' io moro, ell' k lo perdimento. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 GALLETTO DI PISA 
 
 XXX 
 
 Credea essere, lasso ! 
 come quel che si parte 
 di ci6 che piu gli e danno; 
 or son condotto, lasso, 
 poco non ebbi parte. 
 Trapassat' e pifi d' anno 
 come stei ad esser servo 
 di voi, donna, a cui servo
 
 GALLETTO DI PISA 55 
 
 di bon cor, ci6 m' e aviso. 
 Si siete adorna e giente, 
 fate stordir la giente 
 quando voi mira viso. 
 
 Ed eo ponendo mente 
 la vostra bella ciera, 
 ch' e bianca piu che riso, 
 feristemi alia mente, 
 ond' ardo piu che ciera; 
 levastemi lo riso. 
 Le man vostre e la gola 
 cogli occhi mi dan gola ; 
 tanto a veder s' io miro, 
 mostran che 1' altre membra 
 vaglian piu, ci6 mi membra 
 pur di tanto mi miro. 
 
 Volea veder, non pare 
 nessuna donna roma 
 quanto voi bella sia ; 
 non trovai vostra pare, 
 ciercato infino a Roma; 
 grazia e merze vi sia. 
 Le vostre bielta sole 
 che lucon piu che sole 
 m' anno d' amore punto, 
 ch' io n' era sordo e muto ; 
 or me ne vesto e muto 
 e cantone ogni punto. 
 
 Lo meo cor non fa fallo, 
 se da me si diparte 
 e salesi in voi al pe ; 
 ma mio conforto fallo,
 
 56 GALLETTO DI PISA 
 
 non e 'n loco ne in parte 
 e come arcione in alpe 
 m' a piu legato e serra; 
 e poi mi talglia e serra, 
 e non vol ch' io sormonte. 
 Lo vostro amor che colpa 
 a meve sanza colpa 
 fa m' esser pian di monte. 
 
 Lo vostro amor mi cura, 
 di vano amor m' a mondo, 
 e son piu fermo e saggio 
 poi che misi in voi cura, 
 sovrana d' esto mondo 
 che d' amor siete saggio. 
 S' al vostro amor m' aresto, 
 assai piu sottil resto. 
 Si lega savio e matto : 
 di bella donna gallo, 
 como perdice gallo, 
 c' a ciascun ne do matto. 
 
 Mon.) 
 
 LEONARDO DEL GUALLACO DI PISA 
 XXXI 
 
 Si come il pescio a nasso 
 ch' e preso a falsa parte 
 son quei c' amar s' adanno ; 
 peggior gittan che lasso. 
 Salamon che seppe arte 
 disse lo mal che danno; 
 al suo senno m' asservo, 
 con amor non conserve,
 
 LEONARDO DEL GUALLACO DI PISA 57 
 
 che fe parlar d' aviso 
 lo profeta piagiente, 
 forse che 'nd' e piangiente 
 fora di paraviso. 
 
 Se lo scritto non mente, 
 da femina treciera 
 si fu Merlin diriso, 
 e Sanson malamente 
 tradilo una leciera; 
 Troia strusse Pariso 
 per Alena pargola, 
 si che mai non a gola, 
 si la strusse 1' amiro. 
 Quando d' Eva mi membra 
 null' altr' al cor mi membra, 
 si la rompe mio smiro. 
 
 Chi vuol da lor campare, 
 tagli la lor paroma 
 ch' e piena di falsia, 
 che 'nfin che puo atrapare 
 allor puo dir c' a Roma 
 credi vogar 'n Asia. 
 Ed il percid lassole, 
 ciascun' e tal qual sole ; 
 esto senno no spunto 
 e non me ne rimuto 
 ne 'n versi ne rimuto : 
 sempre piu ci k propunto. 
 
 Chi s' inamora in fallo, 
 udit' 6 in sagia parte, 
 mant' a. di male palpe; 
 chi buon senn' a rio fallo
 
 58 LEONARDO DEL GUALLACO DI PISA 
 
 e com ben si comparte, 
 vive come 'n mar salpe. 
 Foil' e che quivi serra, 
 che s' egli e 'n alta serra 
 uop' e c' a basso smonte. 
 Cui amor fer mal colpa, 
 tanto val c' a me scolpa 
 amore; guai chi amonte. 
 
 La chiara aira fue scura 
 a giglio More ed asmondo, 
 lo lor detto falso agio, 
 e chi vi s' asicura 
 guardino a quei, c' al mondo 
 vedran d' amor lo saggio. 
 Serventes, a dir esto, 
 va, che per servo i' resto, 
 piii puro c' auro matto, 
 a quei c' a nom di Gallo ; 
 se Dio di mal tragallo, 
 non creda a vista matto. 
 
 Qual uomo e d' amor preso 
 arrivat' e a mal porto, 
 allor non e 'n sua baglia. 
 Dal terzoletto 6 apreso, 
 a sua guisa mi porto, 
 s' alcuna mi s' inbaglia. 
 Prendo del suo mestieri 
 quello che m' e mestieri, 
 e per altro non 1' amo; 
 per vista che mi faccia, 
 ne per bielta di faccia, 
 
 piii non abocco 1' amo. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.)
 
 59 
 
 BETTO METTIFUCCO DI PISA 
 XXXII 
 
 Amore, perche m' ai 
 
 distretto a tal misura, 
 
 ch' io nom posso contare 
 ben le mie pene a cui mi fora in grado? 
 
 Ardir nom posso mai 
 
 di dir, tant' b paura, 
 
 cosi mi fa dottare 
 di perder quell' ond' io allegro vado. 
 
 Molt' 6 grande alegrezza 
 
 della dolze contezza 
 
 c' agio co T avenente, 
 che par le sia piagiente mia contanza; 
 
 perb ne dotto forte, 
 
 che paura b di morte 
 
 che no la dispiacesse 
 s' io piu su le diciesse c' agio usanza. 
 
 Non veggio se non vengno 
 
 Io splendiente viso, 
 
 che sguarda con pietanza 
 e parla dolciemente con piaciere ; 
 
 tuttor con voi mi tengno 
 
 e non ne son diviso, 
 
 servendo 'in isperanza 
 son gaio e fresco e rafino in servire. 
 
 Ne Io meo pensamento 
 
 posso uscir di tormento 
 
 pensando a farvi onore, 
 donna di gran valore, e pienamente ;
 
 60 BETTO METTIFUCCO DI PISA 
 
 che per lo vostro bene 
 mi pare uscir di pene, 
 cosl forte mi piacie 
 piii che lo meo non facie, fermamente. 
 
 Dunqua como faragio ? 
 
 poi la mia malatia 
 
 non 1' auso adimostrare 
 a chi mi pu6 guerire e far gioioso. 
 
 Ben credo, ne moragio 
 
 di corto qualche dia, 
 
 e non credo campare, 
 se non m' aiuto, lo viso lazioso 
 
 per cui piango e sospiro 
 
 tuttor quando la smiro; 
 
 e dico inver di mei : 
 Lasso, perche colei amai io tanto ? 
 
 e poi riprendo il dire 
 
 c' 6 fatto, e dico : Oi Sire 
 
 Deo, cotal finita 
 faciesse la mia vita> e fora santo ! 
 
 Madonna, penso forte 
 
 de la mia natura, 
 
 che passa 1' asesino 
 del velglio de la montagna disperato, 
 
 che per mettersi a morte 
 
 passa(sse) in aventura; 
 
 e gli cosi latino, 
 non gli e gravoso ch' egli e ingannato ; 
 
 che '1 velglio a lo 'mprimero 
 
 lo tene in bel verdero, 
 
 [e] falli parer che sia 
 quel che fa notte e dia di bon core;
 
 BETTO METTIFUCCO DI PISA 61 
 
 ma io ched b veduto 
 lo mondo, e conosciuto, 
 agio ferma credenza 
 che la vostra potenza sia maggiore. 
 
 S' eo sono inamorato 
 
 cosi in dismisuranza, 
 
 credo faro aquisto 
 due cose ond' io fallo e sono sagio ; 
 
 sagio son, che fermato 
 
 son senza dubitanza 
 
 la ove compose Cristo 
 belleze tante c' altrui fanno oltragio ; 
 
 che son si splendiente 
 
 ch' io nom posso neiente 
 
 contarle bene e dire, 
 che fa tutto avenire a chi la guarda ; 
 
 fallo, c' amo 1' altezza 
 
 somma di gientilezza, 
 
 al mio parer che sia, 
 in cui tutto m' avia arimembrando. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan.) 
 
 ODO DELLE COLONNE DI MESSINA 
 XXXIII 
 
 Oi lassa namorata ! 
 contar volglio la mia vita, 
 e dir ongne fiata 
 come P amor m' invita ; 
 ch' io son sanza pecata 
 d' assai pene guernita
 
 62 ODO DELLE COLONNE DI MESSINA 
 
 per uno c' amo e volglio 
 e no 1' agio in mia balglia 
 si com' avere solglio; 
 perb pato travaglia 
 ed or mi mena orgolglio, 
 lo cor mi fende e talglia. 
 
 Oi lassa tapinella ! 
 come 1' amor m' k prisa, 
 che lo suo amor m' apella 
 quello che m' a conquisa. 
 La sua persona bella 
 tolto m' a gioco e risa, 
 ed ami messa in pene 
 ed in tormenti forte. 
 Mai non credo aver bene 
 se non m' acorre morte ; 
 aspettola che vene, 
 tragami d' esta sorte. 
 
 Lassa, che mi dicea, 
 quando m' avea in cielato : 
 1 Di te, o vita mea, 
 mi tengno pift pagato 
 ca s' i' avess' im ballia 
 lo mondo a sengnorato.' 
 Ed or m' a a disdengnanza, 
 e fa mi scanoscienza ; 
 par c' agia ei d' altra amanza ; 
 o Dio, chi lo m' intenza, 
 mora di mala lanza, 
 e sanza penitenza. 
 
 O ria ventura e fera ! 
 tra mi d' esto penare;
 
 ODO DELLE COLONNE DI MESSINA 63 
 
 fa tosto ch' io nom pera, 
 se non mi dengna amare 
 lo meo sire, che m' era 
 dolze lo suo parlare, 
 ed ami namorata 
 di se oltre misura. 
 Or a lo cor cangiata, 
 saciate se rn' e dura ; 
 si come disperata 
 mi metto a la ventura. 
 
 Va, canzonetta fina, 
 al buono aventuroso, 
 ferilo a la corina 
 se '1 truovi disdegnoso ; 
 nol ferir di rapina, 
 che sia troppo gravoso; 
 ma ferila chi '1 tene, 
 ancidela sen fallo ; 
 poi saccio c' a me vene 
 lo viso del cristallo 
 e sarb fuor di pene, 
 avro alegreza e gallo. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan.) 
 
 RUGGIERONE DI PALERMO 
 XXXIV 
 
 Oi lasso ! nom pensai 
 
 si forte mi parisse 
 lo dipartire di madonna mia; 
 
 da poi che m' alontai 
 
 ben paria ch' io morisse, 
 membrando di sua dolze compangnia;
 
 64 RUGGIERONE VI PALERMO 
 
 e gia mai tanta pena non durai 
 se non quando a la nave adimorai, 
 ed or mi credo morir ciertamente 
 se da lei no ritorno prestamentCi 
 
 Tutto quanto eo vio 
 
 si forte mi dispiacie 
 che non mi lascia in posa in nessun loco 
 
 si mi stringe [e] desio 
 
 che nom posso aver pacie, 
 e fa mi reo parere riso e gioco; 
 membrandomi suo dolze sengnamente 
 tutt' i diporti m' escono di mente, 
 e non mi vanto ch' io disdotto sia, 
 se non la ov' e la dolze donna mia. 
 
 O Deo, como fui matto, 
 
 quando mi dipartive 
 la ov' era state in tanta dengnitate; 
 
 e s' io caro 1' acatto, 
 
 e sciolglio come neve, 
 pensando c' altri 1' aia im potestate, 
 e di me pare mille anni la dia 
 ched io ritorni a voi, madonna mia, 
 Io reo pensiero si forte m' atassa 
 che rider n giucare non mi lassa. 
 
 Canzonetta gioiosa, 
 va la, fuor di Soria, 
 a quella c' a Io meo cor in presgione; 
 di' a la piii amorosa 
 ca per sua cortesia 
 rimembri de Io suo servidore,
 
 RUGGIERONE DI PALERMO 65 
 
 quelli che per suo amore va penando 
 mentre non faccio tutto '1 suo comando; 
 e priegalami per la sua bontate 
 ch' ella mi degia tenere lealtate. 
 
 (V.R.V. Nan.) 
 
 XXXV 
 
 Ben mi degio alegrare, 
 
 e far versi d' amore, 
 
 ca cui son servidore 
 m' a molto grandemente meritato ; 
 
 non si poria contare 
 
 lo gram bene e 1' aunore ; 
 
 ben agia lo martore 
 ch' io per lei lungiamente agio durato. 
 Per6 consilglio questo a chi e amadori, 
 non disperi, ma sia buon sofridori, 
 e lor no 'ncresca la gran dimoranza ; 
 chi vole compiere su' atendanza 
 
 viva a speranza, 
 
 che non mi par che sia di valimento, 
 da ch' omo vene tosto a compimento. 
 
 Ben 6 veduto manti 
 
 a chi par forte amare, 
 
 e non vole penare, 
 e fa come lo nibbio ciertamente; 
 
 ch' egli e bello e possanti 
 
 e non vole pigliare, 
 
 per non troppo affanare, 
 se non cosa quale sia parisciente ; 
 cosi fa quelli c' a povero core, 
 di soferire pene per amore ; 
 e gia sa egli ca null' altr' amistanza 
 
 SUTLER
 
 66 RUGGIERONE DI PALERMO 
 
 non guadangna omo mai per vilitanza. 
 
 Sia rimembranza, 
 
 chi vole amor di donna viva a spene, 
 e contesi in gran gioia tutte le pene. 
 
 Cosi dovemo fare 
 
 come il buon marinaro, 
 
 che corre tempo amaro 
 e per affanno gia non s'abandona; 
 
 pria s' adastia al ben fare 
 
 ancor che li sia caro, 
 
 mentrunque a buon dinaro 
 non si ricrede della sua persona ; 
 
 vede la morte ed a sempre speranza, 
 
 e sta in tormento e dassi buon comforto, 
 
 finchfc campa il rio tempo e giunge a porto ; 
 
 ed in diporto 
 
 nolli rimembra poi di quelle pene. 
 Dolcie e lo male ond' om aspetta bene. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.) 
 
 ANONYMOUS 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 Dispietata morte e fera, 
 
 cierto <se') da biasmafe, 
 che non ti vale preghera 
 
 ne merze chiamare. 
 Con ti facca si l se' dura, 
 che d' auzider non ai cura 
 
 quale t' e in talento, 
 e per sollazi rancura 
 
 dai e pene e tormento. 
 
 1 (jy. Con te fa, ca si.
 
 ANONYMOUS 67 
 
 Di te mi blasmo c' ai tolto 
 
 il gioco e 1' alegreza ; 
 morte dura, mio diporto 
 
 messo ai in gran tristeza, 
 si che giamai non credia, 
 lassa, veder quella dia 
 
 di tanto ismarimento 
 c' a si dolcie compangnia 
 
 faciesse partimento. 
 
 Dipartit' ai, micidera, 
 
 lo piu verace amore, 
 che tra me e '1 piu fino era, 
 
 Baldo di valore, 
 in cui era valimento, 
 cortesia ed ardimento; 
 
 fatt' ai grande fallenza, 
 c' a null' om rincrescimento 
 
 faciea, anzi piagienza. 
 
 A ciascun a piagimento 
 
 servia e co leanza, 
 e a nullo ofendimento 
 
 fe, ne soperchianza ; 
 era uomo giovane e piano 
 a li boni ad ongne mano, 
 
 e tuttor serventese, 
 lo gientil Baldo, sovrano 
 
 di terra Scarlinese. 
 
 Maladetta sia ad ongnore 
 
 colonna maremmana, 
 la onde vene quel dolore 
 
 che [gia]mai no risana 
 F 2
 
 68 ANONYMOUS 
 
 c' auzise la persona umana 
 
 ch' era in veritate 
 di tutte bontk fontana 
 
 e d' ongne [gientile] umilitate. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.) 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 La mia vita e si forte e dura e fera 
 ch' io nom posso ne viver ne morire, 
 anzi distrugo come foco ciera, 
 e sto com om che non si pub sentire, 
 e uscito son del senno la ov' era, 
 e cominciato sono ad imfollire. 
 
 [Ma] ben mi poria campare 
 
 quella per cui m' avene 
 
 tutto questo penare; 
 per bene amare lo mio cor si ritene. 
 
 Merze saria sed ella m' aiutasse, 
 da ch' io per lei son cosi giudicato, 
 e qualche bon conforto mi donasse, 
 che non fosse cosi alapidato; 
 pecato saria s' ella mi lasasse 
 esser si fortemente condannato; 
 
 c' a Deo non trovo aiuto 
 
 nk chi mi dar conforto, 
 
 ond' io sono (accad)uto 
 e venuto ne sono a malo porto. 
 
 Se madonna sapesse lo martore 
 e li tormenti la ove son tirato, 
 ben credo mi daria lo suo amore, 
 ch' io 1' 6 si fortemente goleato, 
 pito di null' altra cosa mi sta in core, 
 si ch' io non 6 riposo in nessun lato.
 
 ANONYMOUS 69 
 
 Tanto mi tien distretto 
 ch' io non 6 ballia ; 
 isto com' om scomfitto, 
 sanza (ri) ditto sono in mala via. 
 
 Or com faragio, lasso, adolorato? 
 che Dio non trovo chi mi consigliare, 
 di quanto mondo quant' agio cercato? 
 nullo consiglio nom posso trovare, 
 a tutti [li] miei amici sono andato, 
 dicon che non mi posson aiutare ; 
 
 se non quella c' a valore 
 
 di darmi morte e vita; 
 
 senza nullo tenore 
 lo suo amore m' e manna saporita. 
 
 Va, canzonetta mia fresca e novella, 
 a quella che di tutt' e la corona; 
 va, e saluta quella alta donzella, 
 di ch' io son servo della sua persona ; 
 di, che per suo onor questo faccia ella, 
 tragami delle pene che mi dona ; 
 
 seria gran conoscienza 
 
 da che m'.a cosi preso, 
 
 non mi lasci in perdenza, 
 ch' io non 6 scienza, in tal dolglia m' a miso. 
 
 (V.R.V. Val. as by G. delle C,) 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 Donna, lo fino amore 
 
 m' a tutto si compreso 
 che tutto son donate a voi amare ; 
 
 nom po pensar lo core 
 
 altro c' amore acceso, 
 e come melglio vi si possa dare
 
 70 ANONYMOUS 
 
 E cierto lo gioioso cominzare 
 isforza 1' amorosa mia natura, 
 ond' io mi credo assai magnificato, 
 e fra gli amanti in gran gioia coronato. 
 
 Eo porto alta corona, 
 
 poi ch' eo vi son servente 
 a cui mi sembra alto regnar servire ; 
 
 si alta gioia mi dona 
 
 a voi star ubidente, 
 pregone voi che '1 degnate gradire. 
 E vero ciertamente credo dire 
 che 'nfra le donne voi siete sovrana, 
 d- ogni grazia e di vertu compiuta, 
 per cui morir d' amor mi saria vita. 
 
 Se lingua ciascun membro 
 
 del corpo si faciesse, 
 vostre belleze nom poria cantare; 
 
 ad. ogni gioia v' assembro 
 
 che dicier si potesse, 
 ci6 avete bel che si pu6 divisare. 
 Molte ci a belle donne e d' alto affare; 
 voi soprastate come '1 ciel la terra; 
 che melglio vale aver di voi speranza, 
 . che d' altre donne aver ferma ciertanza. 
 
 Ancor che sia gravezza 
 
 lo tormento d' amore, 
 maggio ca bon d' amor m' asembra bene; 
 
 e nulla crudeleza 
 
 pote pensar lo core 
 
 che 'n voi aveste donna, e nom s' avene. 
 Gioco e sollazo me sostene in pene, 
 sperando c' avenir pu6 la gran gioia;
 
 ANONYMOUS 71 
 
 melglio mi sa per voi mal sostenere, 
 che compimento d' altra gioia avere. 
 
 Madonna, il mio penare 
 
 per fino amor gradisco, 
 pensando ch' e in voi gran conoscienza; 
 
 troppo non de' durare 
 
 1' affanno che sofrisco, 
 che bon sengnor non da torta sentenza. 
 Compiutamente e 'n voi tutta valenza 
 e merito, voi siete e morte e vita; 
 piCi vertudiosa siete in meritare 
 ch' io nom posso in voi servendo amare. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 Quando la primavera 
 apar 1' aulente fiore, 
 guardo inver la rivera 
 la matina agli albore : 
 audo gli rausingnuoli 
 dentro dagli albuscielli, 
 e fan versi novelli 
 dentro dagli lor cagiuoli, 
 perche d' amore spera. 
 
 Spera(nza) che m' a[i] preso 
 di servir 1' avenente, 
 quella col chiaro viso, 
 alta stella luciente ; 
 fior sovr' ogni sovrana, 
 conta e gaia ed adorna, 
 in cui 1' amor sogiorna, 
 tu c' avanzi Morgana, 
 merze, che m' ai conquiso.
 
 7 2 ANONYMOUS 
 
 Lo suo dolze sembiante 
 e 1' amorosa ciera 
 tuttor mi sta davante 
 la matina e la sera; 
 e la notte dormendo 
 ist6 con madonna mia, 
 perch' eo dormir vorria ; 
 melglio m' e dormir gaudendo 
 c' aver pensier veghiante. 
 
 S' io dormo, in mia parvenza 
 
 tuttor 1' agio im ballia, 
 
 e lo giorno m' intenza 
 
 di lei, sembianti invia. 
 
 Mostramisi guerrera, 
 
 ma non e per sua volglia, 
 
 al core n' 6 gran dolglia ; 
 
 per una laida ciera 
 
 perdo sua benvolglienza. 
 
 Ancor tengno speranza 
 nel vostro franco core, 
 che li sia rimembranza 
 de lo suo fino amore. 
 Ragion' e ch' io ne canto, 
 ancor mi faccia orgolglio ; 
 tuttor son quel ch' io solglio, 
 leale e fino amante 
 senza falsa sembianza. 
 
 Lo tempo e la stasgione 
 mi comforta di dire 
 novi canti d' amore 1 
 per madonna servire ; 
 se madonna discrede 
 1 qy. dari) ne.
 
 ANONYMOUS 73 
 
 le lingue mal parlanti, 
 eo le faro sembianti, . 
 com' amo a dritta fede 
 e senza fallisgione. 
 
 Dio sconfonda in terra 
 le lingue mal parlanti, 
 ch' entra noi miser guerra 
 ch' eramo leali amanti. 
 Chi disparte sollazo, 
 gioco ed ispellamento, 
 Dio lo metta in tormento, 
 che sia preso a reo lazo 
 
 e giuggiato di serra. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.) 
 
 CIULLO D'ALCAMO' 
 
 XL 
 
 Rosa fresca aulentissima c' apari inver la state, 
 
 le donne ti disiano pulcelle maritate ; 
 
 tragemi d' este focora se t' este a bolontate ; 
 Per te non aio abento notte e dia 
 pensando pur di voi, madonna mia. 
 
 Se di meve trabalgliti, follia lo ti fa fare ; 
 lo mar potresti arompere avanti a semenare, 
 1' abere d' esto secolo tutto quanto asembrare, 
 
 averemi nom potria esto monno; 
 
 avanti gli cavelli m' aritonno. 
 
 Se li cavelli artonniti avanti foss' io morto, 
 ca in essi mi perdera lo solazzo e '1 diporto ; 
 quando ci passo e veioti, rosa fresca del orto, 
 bono conforto donimi tuttore, 
 poniamo che s' aggiunga il nostro amore.
 
 74 'CIULLO D'ALCAMO' 
 
 Che '1 nostro amore aggiungasi nom boglio m' atalenti : 
 se ci ti trova paremo cogl' altri miei parenti, 
 
 guarda non t' arigolgano quest! forti corenti ; 
 como ti seppe bona la venuta, 
 consilglio che ti guardi alia partuta. 
 
 Se i tuoi parenti trovanmi, e che mi posson fare ? 
 una difensa mettoci di due milia agostari ; 
 
 non mi tocara padreto per quanto averea 'm Bari. 
 Viva lo 'mperadore, grazia a Deo 
 intendi, bella, quel che ti dico eo. 
 
 - Tu me non lasci vivere nb sera ne maitino ; 
 donna mi son di perperi, d' auro massa amotino; 
 se tanto aver donassemi quant' a lo Saladino, 
 
 e per aiunta quant' a lo Soldano, 
 tocareme non poteria la mano. 
 
 Molte sono le femine c' anno dura la testa, 
 e 1' omo con parabole le adimina e amonesta; 
 tanto intorno procacciala finch' e ella 'n sua podesta ; 
 
 femina d' omo non si pu6 tenere, 
 guardati, bella, pur di ripentere. 
 
 - Ch' eo me ne pentesse ! davanti foss' io aucisa ; 
 c' a nulla bona femina per me fosse ripresa. 
 
 Er sera ci passasti <tu) corenno a la distesa, 
 a questi ti riposa, canzoneri, 
 le tue paraole a me non piaccion gueri. 
 
 Donne quante son le schiantora che m' ai mise a lo core, 
 e solo pur pensannome la dia quanno v6 fore; 
 
 femina d' esto secolo tanto non amai ancore 
 quant' amo teve, rosa invidiata; 
 ben credo che mi fosti distinata.
 
 'CIULLO D'ALCAMO' 75 
 
 Se distinata fosseti, caderia dell' alteze, 
 che male messe forano in teve mie belleze; 
 se tuto adivenissemi, tagliarami le treze, 
 
 e consore m' arendo a una magione, 
 
 avanti che m' artochin le persone. 
 
 Se tu consore arenneti, donna col viso cleri, 
 a lo mostero venoci e rennomi com fieri ; . 
 per tanta prova vincierti faralo volontieri, 
 con teco stao la sera e lo maitino, 
 besongn' e ch' io ti tenga al meo dimino. 
 
 - Boime, tapina, misera ! com' ao reo distinato ; 
 Giesu Cristo 1' altissimo, del tutto m' e airato ; 
 conciepisti m' adabattare in omo blestiemato. 
 
 Cierca la terra ch' este grane assai, 
 chiu bella donna di me troverai. 
 
 - Ciercat' aio Calabria, Toscana e Lombardia, 
 Puglia. Constantinopoli, Gienova, Pisa e Soria, 
 La Mangna e Babilonia, tutta Barberia, 
 
 donna no vi trovai tanto cortese, 
 perche sovrana di meve ti prese. 
 
 - Poi tanto trabagliastiti facioti meo pregheri 
 
 che tu vadi adomanimi a mia mare e a mon peri; 
 se daremiti dengnano menamina lo mosteri, 
 
 e sposami davanti da la iente, 
 
 e poi far6 lo tuo comannamente. 
 
 - Di ci6 che dici, vitama, neiente non ti bale, 
 ca delle tue parabole fatto n' 6 ponti e scale ; 
 penne pensasti mettere, sonti cadute 1' ale; 
 
 e dato t' aio la bolta sotana, 
 dunque, se p6i, teniti villana.
 
 76 'CIULLO D'ALCAMO' 
 
 En paura non mettermi di nullo manganiello ; 
 istomi n' esta groria d' esto forte castello; 
 prezo le tue parabole men che d' uno zitello. 
 
 Se tu no levi e vatine di quaci, 
 se tu ci fosse morto ben mi chiaci. 
 
 - Dunque voresti, vitama, che per te fosse strutto, 
 se morto essere deboci od intagliato tutto; 
 
 di quaci non mi mosera se non ai' delo frutto 
 lo quale stae ne lo tuo jardino ; 
 disiolo la sera e lo matino. 
 
 Di quel frutto non abero conti nb cabal ieri, 
 molto lo disiano marchesi e justizieri ; 
 
 avere nonde pottero, gironde molti feri. 
 Intendi bene ci6 che vo' (ti) dire 
 men este di mill' onze lo tuo abere. 
 
 - Molti son li garofani, ma non che salma 'nd' ai ; 
 bella, non dispregiaremi se avanti non m' assai ; 
 
 se vento b in proda, e girasi, e giungieti a le prai, 
 a rimembrare t' ai este parole, 
 ca d'esta (mia) animella assai mi dole. 
 
 Macara se dolesseti, che cadesse angosciato ; 
 le gienti ci coresoro da traverse e da lato; 
 tutte meve diciessono : Acori esto malnato ; 
 
 non ti dengnara porgere la mano, 
 
 per quanto aver a '1 Papa e lo Soldano. 
 
 Deo lo volesse, vitama, te fosse morto in casa ; 
 1' arma n' anderia consola ca notte e di pantasa ; 
 la jente ti chiamarano : oi pergiura malvasa, 
 
 c' ai morto 1'omo in casata, traita, 
 sanz' ogni colpo levimi la vita.
 
 'CIULLO D'ALCAMO' 77 
 
 Se tu no levi e vatine co la maladizione, 
 
 li frati miei ti trovano dentro chissa magione ; 
 ben lo mi so, feroci son, perdici la persone, 
 
 c' a meve se' venuto a sormonare ; 
 
 parente, amico, non t' ave aiutare. 
 
 - A meve non aitano amici n parent!, 
 istrani mi son, carama, enfra esta bona jente ; 
 or fa un' anno, vitama, ch' entrata mi sei 'n mente, 
 
 di canno ti vististi lo 'ntaiuto, 
 
 bella, di quello jorno son feruto. 
 
 Ai, tanto namorastiti, Juda lo traito, 
 como se fosse porpore, iscarlato o sciamito. 
 Se le Vangiele jurimi che mi sia a marito, 
 
 avere me non potera ('n) esto monno ; 
 avanti in mare jitomi al profonno. 
 
 Se tu nel mare gititi, donna cortese e fina, 
 dereto mi ti misera per tutta la marina, 
 
 e posto chanegaseti, trobaret' a la rina, 
 solo per questa cosa ad impretare, 
 conteco m' aio a giungere a pecare. 
 
 Sengnomi in Patre e 'n Filio ed in Santo Mateo ; 
 so ca tu non sei retico, filglio di Giudeo, 
 
 e cotale parabole non udi dire anch' eo ; 
 mortasi la femina a lo 'ntutto, 
 perdeci lo saboro e lo disdutto. 
 
 Ben lo sacc' io, carama ; altro nom posso fare 
 se quisso non accomplimi, lassone lo cantare; 
 fallo, mia donna, plazati, che bene lo puoi fare 
 
 ancora tu no m' ami, molto t' amo, 
 si m' &i preso come lo pescie a 1' amo.
 
 78 'CIULLO D'ALCAMO' 
 
 Sazo che m' ami, i' amoti di core paladino ' ; 
 levati suso e vatene, tornaci a lo matino ; 
 
 se ci6 che dico faciemi di bon cor t' amo e fino ; 
 quisso t' imprometto sanza falglia, 
 te' la mia fede, che m' ai in tua balglia. 
 - Per ci6 che dici, carama, neiente non mi movo ; 
 inanti prenni e scannami tolli esto cortello novo 
 'sto fatto fare potesi inanti scalfi un uovo; 
 accompli mio talento, arnica bella, 
 che 1' arma co lo core mi s' infella. 
 
 Ben sazo 1' arma doleti com' omo c' ave arsura, 
 esto fatto nom potersi per null' altra misura; 
 
 se non a le Vangiele, che mo ti dico, jura 
 averemi non puoi in tua podesta ; 
 inanti prenni e tagliami la testa. 
 
 L' Evangiele, carama, ch' io le porto in seno, 
 a lo mostero presile non c' era lo patrino 
 sovr' esto libro juroti mai non ti vengno meno. 
 
 Accompli mio talento in caritate, 
 che 1' arma mene sta in sutilitate. 
 
 Meo sire, poi jurastimi eo tutta quanta incienno ; 
 sono a la tua presenza, da voi non mi difenno ; 
 
 s' eo minespreso aioti, merze, a voi m' arenno ; 
 a lo letto ne gimo a la bon' ora, 
 che chissa cosa n' e data in ventura. 
 
 MESSER OSMANO 
 
 XLI 
 
 Una fermana iscoppai da Cascioli, 
 cita cita sen gia in grand' aina, 
 eccoci ne portava impingnoli, 
 saimati di buona saima ; 
 
 1 qy. di core, paladino.
 
 MESSER OSMANO 79 
 
 dissi, 'a te daro rossi treccioli, 
 e operata cinta sciamitina, 
 se co meco ti dai ne la caba, 
 se mi viva mai, e boni scarponi.' 
 - ' So c' ai e mal fai, che cantaba 
 la fantilla di Cencio Guidoni. 
 
 C' ad onto meo me 1' ai comannato, 
 ca la i' ne le vada a le rote ; 
 in quan' son co lo vitto parato 
 a li scotitoi, ch' enno men zote, 
 con un truffo di vino mischiato, 
 e non mi scordai per le gote, 
 e scatoni per ben minestrare 
 la farrata del bono farrone ; 
 leva te su, non m' avicinare, 
 ou tu semplo milenso mamone.' 
 
 Ed io tutto mi fui spaventato, 
 per timiccio che non a Satanai, 
 quan la fermana tansin costat' 6, 
 e quella mi died' e diss', 'Ai, 
 o tu tristo dolgluto crepato, 
 per lo volto di Dio mal lo fai ; 
 che di me nom puoi aver una cica 
 se non pur mi prendi a nosciella ; 
 esci indi e non gir per la spica ! 
 si, ti veio arlucar la masciella.' 
 
 ' Fermana, se mi t' aconsenchi, 
 daroti panari di persici, 
 e moricie per far bianchi denchi, 
 tutti atortti, se quisso non dici; 
 se mi lasci passare al oclenchi, 
 giungerotti colori in tralici.
 
 8o MESSER OSMANO 
 
 ' E io piu non ti faccio rubesto, 
 poi cotanto m' ai sucotata ; 
 vienci ancoi ne sia pirino resto, 
 e d' occhiate nom fia stimulata.' 
 
 A alaborito ne gio alaterato 
 chera alvato senza sollena, 
 lo battisaco trovai bel lavato 
 e da capo mi pose la sciena 
 e tuto quanto miffui comsolato, 
 ca sopra mi gito buona leina, 
 e con essa miffui apatovito 
 e unqua me novi altrei, 
 ' mai fa(re) com omo iscionito, 
 
 be mi pare che tu mastro <s)ei. 
 
 (V.U v 
 
 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 XLII 
 
 Tutto il dolor che mai portai fu gioia, 
 e la gioia neiente appo '1 dolore 
 del mio cor lasso, a cui la morte scorga, 
 c' altro non vegio ormai sia validore ; 
 che 'mprima del piacer poco puo noia, 
 ma poi forte pu6 troppo, ond' a tristore ; 
 maggio convien che poverta si porga 
 a lo ritornador c' al entradore. 
 Adunque eo, lasso, in poverta tomato 
 
 del piu ricco acquistato 
 che mai facesse alcun del meo paraggio, 
 sofera Dio pur ch' i' viva ad oltraggio 
 di tutta gente e del mio forsenato? 
 non cierto gia se non vuol mio danaggio.
 
 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 81 
 
 Ai lasso ! co mal vidi amaro amore, 
 
 la sovranatural vostra bellezza, 
 
 e 1' onorato piacientier piacere, 
 
 e tutto ben ch' b 'n voi, somma e grandezza, 
 
 e vidi peggio il dibonaire corde 
 
 c' umili6 la vostra altera altezza 
 
 a far noi due d' un core e d' un volere, 
 
 perch' io, com' omo mai, portai richezza; 
 
 c' a lo riccor d' amor null' altro e pare, 
 
 ne reina pu6 fare 
 
 riccore como n' e, quant' omo (e) basso; 
 ne lo vostr' aparer in amor passo. 
 Dunque chi '1 mio dolor pu6 pareiare? 
 che qual piu perde acquista ver me lasso. 
 
 Ai ! com pot' om che non di vita a fiore 
 durar contra di mal tutt' altro l grato ? 
 si com' eo, lasso, ostal d' ogni tormento, 
 che se nel piu forte om fosse amassato 
 si forte e si coralmente dolzore 
 come dolore in me, gia trapassato 
 fora di vita contro ogni argomento, 
 como, lasso, viv' eo di vita fore. 
 Ai ! morte, villania fai e peccato, 
 
 che si m' ai disdengnato, 
 perche vedi morire opo mi fora, 
 e perch' eo piu sovente e forte mora ; 
 ma mal tuo grato i' pur moro isforzato 
 de le mie man, se melglio non posso ancora. 
 
 Male 6 piu c' altro, e men, lasso, 6 conforto, 
 che s' io perdesse onor tutto ed avere 
 e tutti amici e delle membra parte, 
 si mi conforterei per vita avere; 
 
 qy. oltre. 
 ER G
 
 82 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 ma qui nom posso, poi ch' e di me torto 
 e ritornato in voi forzo e savere, 
 che non fue amore meo gih d' altra parte; 
 dunqua com' 6 di confortar podere? 
 E poi saver non m' aita, e dolore 
 
 mi pur stringe lo core ; 
 pur conven ch' io m' atteggi, e si facio eo> 
 per6 om mi mostra a dito e del mal meo 
 si gabba, ed io pur vivo a disonore, 
 credo, al mal grado del mondo e di Deo. 
 
 Ai ! bella gioia, noia e dolor meo, 
 che punto fortunal, lasso, fu quello 
 di vostro dipartir, crudel mia morte ; 
 che doblo mal torn6 tutto meo bello, 
 si del meo mal mi duol; ma piu, pardeo, 
 me lo vostro amor crudele e fello, 
 ca s' eo tormento d' una parte forte, 
 e voi dell' altra piu stringe il chiavello 
 come la piu distretta e inamorata 
 
 che mai fosse aprovata; 
 che ben fa forzo dimession d' avere 
 talor basso omo in donna alta capare, 
 ma ci6 non v' agradio gia ne agrada, 
 dunque d' amor coral fue ben volefe. 
 
 Amor, merze, per Dio vi confortate, 
 
 ne da me non guardate, 
 che picciol' e per mia morte dannaggio ; 
 ma per lo vostro amor sanza paraggio, 
 e forse anco per6 mi ritornate, 
 se mai tornar degio, n' alegreraggio. 
 
 Amor, amor, piu che veleno amaro, 
 non gi ben vede chiaro
 
 3 
 
 chi si mette in poder tuo volontero ; 
 
 che il primo e '1 mezzo n' e gravoso e fero, 
 
 e la fine di ben tutto contraro, 
 
 o' prende laude e biasmo ogni mistero. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 XLIII 
 
 Tuttor s' eo veglio o dormo 
 di lei pensar non campo, 
 c' amor in cor m' attacca; 
 e quel voler ad or m' 6 
 ch' e di zappar in campo 
 o di credere a tacca ; 
 e bon sapemi, como 
 eo n' aquistasse, c' 6 mo ; 
 ma che diritto n' 6? 
 perch' eo non dico no 
 di lei servir maidi, 
 dica chi vuol, mal di. 
 
 Ben 6 diritto, so, ma 
 se 'n amar lei m' aduco 
 del cor tutto e dell' alma, 
 perch' e di valor soma, 
 e che piaciere duco 
 da tor amor dell' alma 
 che pih m' ama che se 
 ci6 dia saver, che se 
 trova suo pregio manco 
 pm e onta, non manco, 
 che se ben m' ama ; al dobbio 
 meglio e cierto che '1 dobbio. 
 G 2
 
 FRA GU1TTONE D'ARKZZO 
 
 Om che pregio ama, e p6 
 piii che leggere in scola, 
 amar valeli pr6 ; 
 che piu legiero e P6 
 a passar senza scola, 
 che '1 mondo ad omo pr6 
 senza amore ched a 
 cori e bisongni da 
 spronar, valore, e forzo ; 
 perche alcuno omo for z6 
 che briga o travaglio agia, 
 se vale, non varagia. 
 
 Amor gia per la gioia 
 che ne vengna non laudo 
 quanto per lo travaglio ; 
 ca per aver la gioia, 
 c' a lei sia par, non 1' audo ; 
 quanto per lei travaglio 
 s' eo la tenesse ad agio, 
 ben se n' andrea mio agio, 
 poi tutte gioie 1' om a 
 non varannolo, ma 
 terral grand' astio e vile; 
 perche tal gioia m' al yil' &. 
 
 Poso e travaglio mesto, 
 dato e tolto a buon modo, 
 e piacier sempre a me; 
 e di ciascuno mesto 
 si bonamente m' odo 
 gran pagamento m' e. 
 E' val, mi sembra, melglio 
 quanto riso vermelglio
 
 85 
 
 sperar d' aver arnica; 
 che poi n' a, non a mica 
 ver chi sperava averne, 
 e di gran state a vern' e. 
 
 Scuro saccio che par lo 
 mio detto, ma che parlo 
 a chi lo sente ed ame; 
 che lo 'ngengno mio da me 
 che mi pur provi in onne 
 manera, e talento 6 nne. 
 
 Movi, canzone, adessa 
 e va in Arezzo ad essa 
 da cui io tengno ed 6 
 se 'n alcun ben mi do ; 
 e di, che presto so' mo 
 
 di ritornare s' omo. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 XLIV 
 
 Amor tanto altamente 
 lo mio intendimento 
 have miso, che nente 
 
 agio ardimento di contare e dire 
 come di lei m' a preso; 
 ma vista tal presento 
 ch' e' lei a cierto miso 
 
 come in suo sengnoragio a meo disire. 
 A che di ci6 m' invegio, 
 cierto cielar nol degio, 
 non che cielar lo bene 
 
 che del sengnore vene, fosse fallire.
 
 86 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 Falla chi piu piacente 
 nol fa che '1 ver consente ; 
 meglio a lo male dia 
 lo ben donare ubria, poi val servire. 
 
 Eo, che servir talent' o, 
 
 la delta via tengno; 
 
 al male ubrla consento 
 e '1 ben che mente in viso ognor mi sia 
 
 e d' opera laudata, 
 
 di ci6 mentir son dengno, 
 
 e si che sia accettata 
 a chi di tale donna e 'n sengnoria, 
 
 se serve for fallenza 
 
 che non agia temenza 
 
 perche tant' alta sia, 
 che gik di gientilia non vene orgoglio, 
 
 ma ci6 ch' e non fallire 
 
 li pu6 gioia sentire, 
 
 ed omo, chente sia, 
 (che svia per) sengnoria laudar non volglio. 
 
 Tant' alto sengnoragio 
 
 6 disiato avere ; 
 
 mi credo aver, ne ad agio 
 parra al mondo secondo a sua valenza; 
 
 e ci6 considerando 
 
 quanto e dolze piaciere 
 
 su me distese amando 
 vicino fui che mori di temenza. 
 
 Ma avaccio mi riprese 
 
 uno pensier cortese, 
 
 com sempre gentileza 
 face 'n lo cor alteza e pietanza;
 
 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 87 
 
 allor temer dimisi, 
 fedelita promisi; 
 com' ell' ave coraggio 
 le feci prender sagio per semblanza 
 
 Poi ch' approve lo saggio 
 
 con fina canoscienza 
 
 ch' era di fino omaggio, 
 mi fu suo sengnoraggio concieduto; 
 
 nel suo chiarito viso 
 
 e amorosa piagienza 
 
 fumi lo cor remiso, 
 c' altra guisa non fora mai partuto. 
 
 Quando di ci6 m' accorsi 
 
 tal gioia in cor mi porsi 
 
 che mi facie affollire 
 e veggio pur grazire me 'n sua piagienza, 
 
 adunque non damagio 
 
 mi fa lo temor c' agio, 
 
 ma degiol bene amare, 
 ch sturbato m' a fare ver lei fallenza. 
 
 Fallenza e lo dimando 
 
 far lei senza ragione 
 
 ch' eo vegio che si stando 
 m' k sovrameritato il meo servire ; 
 
 per6 tacier m' asservo, 
 
 per6 che guiderdone 
 
 non de' chieder buon servo, 
 bisongna non che '1 cheri il suo servire. 
 
 Se vo atendendo lasso, 
 
 poi m' avenisse, lasso, 
 
 che mi trovasse in fallo, 
 sicome Prezevallo, non cherere.
 
 88 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 Vorei a presente niorto; 
 mo non tal pensier porto, 
 ma si mala 'ncrescienza, 
 che sola canoscienza a la im podere. 
 
 Va, canzone, a lei ch' ene 
 
 donna e signor di mene, 
 
 di' che di nulla cosa 
 ch' a lei non sia gioiosa eo non son vago ; 
 
 ma di starle servente 
 
 tacito e sofferente, 
 
 e volglio che di me faccia 
 tutto cio che le piaccia, ed e me pago. 
 
 Poi Mazeo di Rico 
 
 ch' e di fin presgio rico 
 
 mi saluta, mi spia, 
 e di', ch' a rasgion fia (ch') el guiderdone 
 
 dea perdere chi '1 chiede ; 
 
 e di cio fogli fede, 
 
 chi '1 servir piii dispresgia 
 e guiderdon non presgia, a tal rasgione. 
 
 (V.R.V. Val.) 
 
 XLV 
 
 Ai lasso, or e stagion di doler tanto 
 a ciascun om che ben ama rasgione; 
 ch' io meraviglio chi trova guerigione, 
 che morto nol agia corotto e pianto, 
 vegiendo 1* alta fior, sempre granata, 
 e 1' onorato antico uso romano, 
 che cierto per crudel sorte e villano 
 se d' avaccio non e ricoverato ; 
 Che 1' onorata sua rica grandeza 
 e '1 presgio quasi e gia tutto perito 
 e lo valor e '1 poder si disvia.
 
 FRA GUITTONE U'AREZZO 
 
 Ai lasso, or quale dia 
 fu mai tanto crudel danagio audito? 
 
 Deo, com' ai lo sofrito? 
 diritto pena, e torto entra in alteza. 
 
 Alteza tanta, e la fiorita fiore, 
 fu, mentre ver se stessa era leale, 
 che riteneva mondo imperiale, 
 aquistando per suo alto valore 
 provincie e terre presso e lungi mante ; 
 e sembrava che far volesse impero 
 sicomo Roma gia fece, e legiero 
 gli era, ciascuno non contrastante, 
 e ci6 gli stava ben cierto a rasgione, 
 che non s' indi penava a suo pro tanto 
 como per ritener giustizia e poso ; 
 
 e poi fu li 1 amoroso 
 di fare cio, si trasse avanti tanto 
 
 c' al mondo non fu canto 
 che non sonasse il presgio del leone. 
 
 Leone, lasso, or non e, ch' i' lo veo 
 tratto 1' unghie e le denti e lo valore, 
 e '1 gran lingnagio suo mortal dolore, 
 e di suo bel presgio messo a gran reo. 
 E ci6 li a fatto chi? Quegli che sono 
 de la gientil sua schiatta stratti e nati, 
 che fur per lui cresciuti ed avanzati 
 sovra tutti altri, e collogati im bono; 
 e per la grande alteza ove li mise 
 e' mostran si che '1 piagan quasi a morte, 
 ma Dio di guerisgion feceli dono, 
 
 ed ei fe lor perdono ; 
 ed anche refedir, poi mal fu forte, 
 1 qy- le.
 
 9 o FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 e perdon6 lor morte, 
 or anno lui e sue membra conquise. 
 
 Conquiso e 1' alto comun fiorentino, 
 e col sanese in tal modo a cangiato 
 che tutta 1' onta e lo danno che dato 
 li a sempre, como sa ciascun latino, 
 li rende, e tolle il pro e 1' onor tutto; 
 ch& Montalcino a combattuto a forza 
 e Montepulcian misoro in sua forza 1 , 
 e di Maremma a la Cervia lo frutto, 
 San Gimignan, Poggibonize e Colle, 
 e Volterra ed il paese a suo tene, 
 e la campana, le insegne, e gli arnesi, 
 
 e li onor tutti presi 
 ave, con ci6 che seco avea di bene; 
 
 e tutto ci6 gli avene 
 per quella schiatta ch' e piu c' altra folle. 
 
 Folle e chi fugie il suo pro e cria danno 
 e 1' onor suo fa che 'n vergongna torna, 
 di bona liberta, ove sogiorna 
 a gram piacier, s' addice a suo gran danno 2 
 sotto (una) sengnoria fella e malvasgia, 
 e suo sengnor fa suo grande nemico. 
 A voi, che siete or in Firenze, dico : 
 che ci6 ch' e divenuto par v' adagia; 
 e poi che gli Alamanni in casa avete, 
 servite bene e fatevi mostrare 
 le spade lor con che v' an fesso i visi 
 
 e padri e filgli aucisi ; 
 e piacemi che lor degiate dare 
 
 perch' ebero in ci6 fare 
 fatica assai di vostre gran monete. 
 1 qy. m. a sua rin forza. - >/v. malanno.
 
 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 91 
 
 Monete mante e gran gioie presentate 
 ai Conti ed a gli Uberti, e a gli altri tutti 
 ch' a tanto grand' onor vanno l condutti, 
 che miso v' anno Sena in potestate, 
 Pistoia e Colle e Volterra fann' ora 
 vostre castelle guardar a lor spese; 
 e '1 Conte Rosso a Maremma e '1 paese ; 
 Montalcin sta sicuro sanza mura; 
 di Ripafratte teme or il Pisano, 
 e '1 Perugin, che '1 lago nolgli tolliate; 
 e Roma vuol con voi far compangnia, 
 
 onore e sengnoria. 
 Or dunque pare ben che tutto abiate 
 
 ci6 che disiavate, 
 potete far cioe re del Toscano. 
 
 Baron lombardi e romani e pulgliesi 
 e toschi e romangnuoli e marchisgiani, 
 Fiorenza, fior che sempre rinovella, 
 
 a sua corte v' apella, 
 che fare vuol di se re de' Toscani, 
 
 poi tutti gli Alamanni 
 e conquisi per forza ave i Senesi. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon.) 
 
 XLVI 
 
 Tanto sovente dett' agio altra fiada 
 di dispiagienza e di falso piacere, 
 che bel m' e forte ed agradivo or dire 
 di ci6 che di (ben) grado in cor m' agrada. 
 Primamente nel mondo agrado pace, 
 
 d' onde m' agrada vedere 
 
 1' uomo e la roba viaciere 
 
 1 qy. v' anno.
 
 92 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 ne' boschi al cierto si come in castelli ; 
 
 e m' agrada gli angnelli 
 lungo i lupi veder pascier ad agio; 
 
 e m' agrada a misagio 
 saver rappador tuti e frodolenti; 
 ed agrada fugir sentir carizia, 
 
 sorvenendo dovizia 
 abbondosa, che pascie e che rifacie 
 
 tutte affamate genti, 
 
 onde vanno gaudenti, 
 e cantando e laudando esso chi '1 facie. 
 
 Bel m' e savor di re che i vizi scusa 
 e casto e mansueto pur si tengna, 
 nella cui reggion men forza rengna, 
 e che P altrui non cher, ne '1 suo mal usa: 
 e bel m' e manto alt' omo, umil savere; 
 
 e bel che forte Sengnore 
 
 rende salute ed amore 
 del ben (a li) vicini; e bel mi sae 
 
 omo ricco ch' estrae 
 la mano sua d' ogni largheza vana, 
 
 e la stende e P apiana 
 a limosina far d' allegro core; 
 e bel m' e giovan om semplice e retto 
 
 d' ogni laideza netto ; 
 e bello, vergognar veglio e dolere 
 
 di che me pecadore 
 
 contra nostro Sengnore; 
 e bello se mendar sa a suo podere. 
 
 Piacemi cavalier che Dio temendo 
 porta lo nobil suo ordine bello ; 
 piacemi dibonare e pro donzello, 
 lo cui mestier e sol pugnar servendo
 
 FRA GUITTONE U'AREZZO 93 
 
 e giudici che 'n se servan ben legie ; 
 
 campion che [non] torto difende, 
 
 e mercatante che vende 
 ad un sol motto, e sua roba non lauda; 
 
 pover' om che non frauda, 
 ne s' abandona gik ne se contrista, 
 
 ma per afanno aquista 
 che lui e neciesaro, e se contene 
 in quel suo poco tuto alegramente. 
 
 E forte m' e piacente 
 om che se ben in aversitk regie ; 
 
 piaciemi anco chi bene 
 
 ogni ingiura sostiene, 
 e c' ave in se chi ben predica e legie. 
 
 E diletto veder donna che porta 
 a suo sengnor fede amorosa e pura, 
 e che da pacie, e che piacier lui cura, 
 e sagiamente, se falla, il comporta ; 
 e donna bella, che bella s' obria ; 
 
 ed ogni donna e donzella 
 
 che basso e rado favella, 
 e c' a temente e vergongnoso aspetto. 
 
 Veder forte diletto 
 donna che sottomette a castitate 
 
 bellore e gioventate, 
 
 e via piu s' a sengnor avoltro e brutto; 
 e donna ch' e vedova sola, ed ae 
 
 briga e famiglia, e sae 
 e fa veder c' aquisti, tengna, e dia, , 
 
 con argomento tutto 
 
 presgio prendendo e frutto, 
 lungiando a se pecato e villania.
 
 94 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 Sami bon Papa la cui vita e lucie, 
 al cui splendor ciascun malfar vergongna, 
 ed al cui spechio s' orna, ed a 1 ben pungna, 
 onde guerra diparte, pace aducie ; 
 e Parlato, la cui operazione, 
 
 abito, ed alto edificio 
 
 paga ben quel beneficio 
 e quella dengnita che data e lui; 
 
 Rilescioso, che pui 
 
 parte del mondo, e non nel mondo sede; 
 e gientil giovane omo e dilicato 
 
 che ben porta chercato, 
 poi d' ogni parte contro a gran campione 
 
 e mastro in nostra fede; 
 
 la cui vita fa fede 
 che solo in nostra legie e salvazione. 
 
 Agrada e piacie e sa piii bello e bono 
 
 la benivol gran bontate, 
 
 la 'ntera e vera pietate 
 di quel giudice eterno, en cui potenza 
 
 resta la mia sentenza. 
 E m' adolza lo cor sovente a audire 
 
 la fermeza e 1' ardire 
 degli antichi cristian buon cavalieri. 
 Ai, che dolce (e) audir la pacienza 
 
 lor grande, ed astinenza, 
 e 1' ardore di lor gran caritate, 
 e come al martir vieno casti e fieri, 
 
 non gia men volontieri 
 che basso cherco a sua gran dengnitate. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 1 qy. e da.
 
 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 95 
 
 XLVII 
 
 Vergongno, lasso, ed 6 me stesso ad ira, 
 e doveria via piu, riconosciendo 
 co' mal usai lo fior del tempo mio. 
 Perche no '1 core mio sempre sospira ? 
 o gli occhi perche mai finan piangendo, 
 
 la bocca di dir: merze di Dio? 
 poi francheza di cor e vertu d' alma 
 tutta sommisi, oime lasso, al servagio 
 de' vizi miei, non Dio ne buono usagio 
 ne diritto guardando in lor seguire, 
 
 non mutando disire. 
 S' io risurgiesse, com fenicie facie, 
 
 gia fora a la fornacie 
 lo putriffatto mio vil corpo ardendo ; 
 
 ma poi non posso, attendo 
 che lo pietoso Padre me sovengna, 
 
 di tal guisa ch' io vengna 
 pulificato e mondo, e di corpo alma. 
 
 01 lasso, gia vegio genere umano, 
 che sengnoril naturalmente e tanto 
 che '1 minor om talenta imperiare, 
 
 e, ci6 piii c' altro piace ; e pih gli e strano 
 d' aver sengnor, che Dio volentier manto 
 non vuole gia ciascun, sicome pare; 
 come poi dunque lo minore e '1 magio 
 sommette a' vizi il corpo e 1' arma e '1 core, 
 <ond') e servagio alcun, lasso, pegiore? 
 ed e mai sengnoria perfetta alcuna 
 
 che sua propia persona 
 tenere 1' omo ben sotto rasgione? 
 
 Ai, che fu mai '1 campione 
 che la V ogni sengnor perde, e vincente?
 
 96 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 ne poi d' altro e perdente, 
 che 'n loco ove vertti dell' alma impera 
 
 non e nociente spera 
 ne tema, ne dolore ne allegragio. 
 
 Oi morti fatti noi di nostra vita ! 
 oi stolti dal vile l nostro savere ! 
 oi pover di ricor, bassi d' alteza ! 
 com' e verta di noi tanto fallita 
 c' ogni cosa di vizio e noi piacere, 
 ed ogni cosa di vertfo graveza? 
 Gia fisolafi, Dio non conosciendo, 
 ne poi morte aspettando guiderdone, 
 schifaro vizi e aver tutta stagione, 
 seguendo si vertu, c' onesta vita 
 
 fu lor gaudio e lor vita ; 
 e noi come pu6 cosa altra abellire 
 
 che 'n vertti lui seguire, 
 lo qual chi 1 segue ben perde timore, 
 
 che non teme om sengnore, 
 morte ne poverta, danno ne pene ? 
 
 c' ogni cosa gli e bene, 
 si com' (e ogni) mal, non lui seguendo. 
 
 Pungnam dunque a valer forzosamente, 
 
 ne '1 ben schifiam perche noi sembri grave, 
 
 c' orato aquisto non fu senza afanno; 
 
 e se 1' om pene per vertute sente, 
 
 ne i vizi usar sempre e dolze e soave, 
 
 che spesso rede 2 dolglia ed onta e danno. 
 
 Ma ci6 ch' e noi contra talento ed uso 
 
 n' e grave, e n' e legier ci6 ch' e con esso; 
 
 ch' uso e voler c' avem nel male messo 
 
 ne '1 fa piacer, e dispiacer lo bene; 
 
 1 qy. da tutto. 2 qy. rende ; or e rede.
 
 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 97 
 
 adunqua ne convene 
 aconciar a bene voglia ed usanza, 
 
 se volem benenanza ; 
 ch& non e ben se da ben non e nato, 
 
 c' ogni gioia di pecato 
 e mesta con dolore, e fine male, 
 
 ed ogni cosa vale 
 da fine suo, che n' e dunque amoroso. 
 
 Come al lavorator la zappa e data, 
 
 e dato il mondo a noi ; non per gaudere, 
 
 ma per esso eternal vita aquistare ; 
 
 e non 1' alma a lo corpo e gia criata, 
 
 ma '1 corpo all' alma, e 1' alma a Dio piacere, 
 
 che noi lui piu che noi dovemo amare 
 
 e im pria ch' istessi noi am& noi esso ! 
 
 e se ne disamammo e demmo altrui 
 
 di se medesmo racatt6ne poi. 
 
 Ai lasso, perche avem 1' alma si vile? 
 
 gia 1' e ben si gientile 
 che prese, per trar lei d' eternal morte, 
 
 umanitate, e mort' e. 
 Abiam la dunque cara, ed esso amiamo 
 
 ove tutto troviamo 
 ci6 che pu6 nostro cuor disiderare; 
 
 ne mai altro pagare 
 ne pu6 gia, che lo ben c' a noi promesso. 
 
 Oi, sommo Ben, da cui ben tutto e nato, 
 oi luce, per qual vede ogni visagio, 
 o sapienza, onde sa ciascun sagio, 
 neiente feci me, tu mi ricrii, 
 
 disviai me, tu me rinvii, 
 ed orbai me, tu m' ai lume renduto ; 
 c56 non m' a conceduto
 
 98 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 
 
 mio merito, ma la tua gran bontate. 
 
 Oi somma maestate, 
 quanto laudar amar servir de' tee 
 
 dimostra ancor a mee, 
 e fa c' a ci6 tutto mio cor sia dato. 
 
 A messer Cavalcante, a messer Lapo, 
 va, mia canzone; e dl lor c' audit' agio 
 che '1 sommo ed inorato sengnoragio 
 pungnan di conquistar, tornando a vita ; 
 
 e se tu sai gli aita, 
 e di che '1 coninzar ben cher tuttore 
 
 mezzo e fine melgliore, 
 e prende onta 1' alma e '1 corpo tornare 
 
 al mal ben cominzare; 
 per6 afermino lor core a volere 
 
 seguire ongni volere 
 di quelli ca per tutto e nostro capo. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 XLVIII 
 
 Comune perta fa comun dolore, 
 e comune dolore comun pianto, 
 perche chere onni bon pianger ragione. 
 Perdu to a vero suo padre valore 
 e pregio, amico bono e grande manto, 
 e valente ciascun suo compagnone, 
 Giacomo da Leona, in te, bel frate. 
 O che crudele amaro(re) ed amaro 
 ne la perdita tua gustar dea core 
 
 che gustb lo dolzore 
 dei dolci e veri tuoi magni conduit!, 
 
 che pascendo bon ghiotti
 
 FRA GUITTONE D'AREZZO 99 
 
 lo valente valor tuo cucinava, 
 
 e pascieva e sanava 
 catun mondan ver gusto e viso chiaro, 
 sentendo d' essi ben la bonitate. 
 
 Tu, frate mio, vero bon trovatore 
 in piana ed in sotile rima e (cara) 
 ed in soavi e saggi e cari motti, 
 francesca lingua e proensal labore 
 piu de 1' artina e bene in te, che chiara 
 la parlasti e trovasti in modi totti. 
 Tu sonatore e cantator gradivo, 
 sentitor bono e parlador piacente, 
 dittator chiaro ed avenente e retto, 
 
 adorno e bello aspetto, 
 cortese lingua e costumi avenenti 
 
 piacenteri e piacenti, 
 
 dato fu te tutto cib solamente 
 
 . ivo. 
 
 Non die' alcun dunque troppo t' onori 
 
 acciocche non tu om di gran nazione; 
 
 che quanto piu e vil, (men e) car priso 
 
 omo quello, li cui antecessori 
 
 fur di valente e nobil condizione. 
 
 Se valor segue onor poco 1' aviso ; 
 
 se figlio di destrier destrieri vale, 
 
 non e gran cosa, e non n' e lausor magno, 
 
 ma magna e onta se ronzin somiglia ; 
 
 ma ci6 e maraviglia 
 e cosa magna se di ronzin vene 
 
 che destrieri val bene, 
 H 2
 
 ioo FRA GUITTONE D'ARKZZO 
 
 e tal' e da orrar sovTa destrero 
 
 bass' omo, che altero 
 a core e senno, ed or se fa da stagno ; 
 ond' e ver degno d' aver pregio tale. 
 
 Non ver lignaggio fa sangue, ma core, 
 ne vero pregio poder, ma vertute; 
 e si grazia ed amor, e appo sciente, 
 
 sol pregio e giente, 
 nullo o parvo e pregio in ben di fore, 
 
 ma ne li interiore ; 
 che dov' om e per cui lo pregio 1' onta 
 
 le piii fiate [de]smonta, 
 a valore ed a pregio ed a salute, 
 bealta, domo, lignaggio, e riccore. 
 
 Mon.) 
 
 CHIARO DAVANZATI 
 
 XLIX 
 
 Gravosa dimoranza 
 
 faccio, poiche 'n disparte 
 convierrmi contro a voglia dimorare, 
 
 metendo la speranza 
 
 la Ve non agio parte, 
 altro che solamente tormentare ; 
 da poi non vegio possasi partire 
 
 da me punto languire, 
 piCi disiando la dov' agio spera ; 
 
 penando trovo fera 
 per me pieta, e la merce calare. 
 
 Se '1 dimoro ch' eo faccio 
 col pensier non m' alena 
 la mia vita pu6 durare poco;
 
 CHIARO DAVANZATI 101 
 
 meglio e la morte avaccio 
 
 che vivendo con pena; 
 forse nel altro mondo avragio gioco, 
 che lo tormento in esto mondo avere 
 
 e per 1' altro tenere 
 v v d' ongni bono membrato, 
 
 secondo io vegio usato ; 
 ma per me, lasso, so ch' e tutto foco. 
 
 Dunque voria partire 
 
 se '1 mio cor concedesse, 
 ricanosciendo mio meglioramento ; 
 
 ma non mi val seguire, 
 
 tant' a sue voglie messe 
 in altro loco, ov' e suo piacimento. 
 Pero d' amor voria fosse in usanza 
 
 omo quand' a pesanza 
 che <vi) trovasse la pieta incarnata, 
 
 quando fosse chiamata 
 secondo opera che desse tormento. 
 
 Se 'n disperar dimoro 
 
 da tutto mio disio 
 e di tornar non agio libertate, 
 
 de lo talento moro, 
 
 che sanza lo cor mio 
 nom posso dimorar a le contrade; 
 e la valente in cui mess' agio intenza 
 
 s' eo non veio in presenza 
 non pote gioi' aver gia la mia vita, 
 
 ma di crudel ferita 
 conven morir con fera iniquitate. 
 
 Or dunque, canzonetta, 
 poi di lontana via 
 (ritorno) conven fare a 1' avenente,
 
 CHIARO DAVANZATI 
 
 dille che [altro] non aspetta 
 
 la speranza mia 
 
 solo che lei vedere di presente ; 
 e quest' e cio laond' io riprendo gioia 
 
 de la mia pena e noia, 
 atendendomi a lei tosto redire, 
 
 se non torna in fallire 
 lo mio pemsier alegro sovenente. 
 
 D' un' amorosa voglia mi convene 
 cantare alegramente, rimembrando 
 com' io partivi da la donna mia, 
 ca dolzemente mi dicea abrazando : 
 ' Se vai, mio sire, non agie 'n obria 
 tornare a 1' amoroso nostro 1 bene, 
 ma rinmembra lo nostro fin diporto 
 a ci6 che di tornar agie volglienza; 
 prendi lo core e me ne la tua balglia, 
 si che mi porti avanti tua presenza, 
 dipinta in core, com' io sono in talgliu ; 
 di simile voler faragio porto.' 
 
 Io, abraciando 1' amorosa ciera, 
 basgiando dolzemente le parlai : 
 ' Gientil mia gioia, in voi e la mia vita, 
 altra speranza non avragio mai 
 che solamente de la mia redita 
 a voi che sete del mio cor lomera.' 
 Ed ella a s& mi strinse immantinente : 
 ' Dolze mio sire, a Dio sia acomandato ; 
 di mi tua fe' presente di tornare.' 
 1 qy. vostro.
 
 CHIARO DAVANZATI 103 
 
 Ed io lei die', piangiendo lo comiato ; 
 disele : ' Amor meo, non ti sconfortare, 
 membra che la tornata fia presente.' 
 
 Cosi partiva de lo mio diletto ; 
 
 canto, che mi sovien de 1' amorosa, 
 
 e dolglio forte de lo dipartire. 
 
 Pertanto che lo so che m' e gravosa, 
 
 cosi fosse cangiato in un (vedere) 
 
 che fosse in sicurta de lo dispetto; 
 
 pertanto mi soverchi 1' alegranza 
 
 membrandomi la gioia che avemo insembra. 
 
 Quand' io veragio a simile disio? 
 
 che di null' altra cosa piu mi membra 
 
 che di tornar cola donde partio, 
 
 che di gioia torni doppia la speranza. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 LI 
 
 Di lungia parte aduciemi 1' amore 
 ispesso gioia e pena, rimembrando 
 ch' io son Ionian da tutto mio disio ; 
 la mente non e meco ne lo core, 
 che 1' avenente 1' ave in suo comando, 
 ed eo quant' agio tengnol da lei im fio, 
 di che dimeno gioia ed alegranza, 
 rimembrando de la sua gran bieltate, 
 e che le piacie ch' io le sia servente; 
 e di quest' agio dolglia com pesanza, 
 ch' io son disparte di quelle contrate 
 cola dove dimora 1' avenente. 
 
 L' avenente e '1 mio cor fan compagnia, 
 
 e chiamano la mente e 1' intelletto 
 
 che vengnano a veder chi sengnor n' era,
 
 104 CHIARO DAVANZATI 
 
 e chi per amor prese la balia 
 del piu piagiente e nobile diletto 
 che fosse mai in null' altra riviera ; 
 c' amanti son c' an gioia ricieputa, 
 ma non che ver la mia sian di paragio. 
 Di ci6 piu doppiamente agio dolglienza, 
 che senza pene mi fu concieduta 
 per umilita, non gia per oltragio, 
 da 1' avenente in cui rengna valenza. 
 
 Per6 dolglio, no mi posso alegrare, 
 che quanto piu sent' io di piacimento, 
 cotanto piu mi dole la dimora, 
 ch' io son disparte sanza lei parlare, 
 che di null' altra cosa e pensamento 
 che Io tornare, quando sia quell' ora 
 ch' io raquisti Io tempo c' 6 perduto, 
 e metta in obrianza le mie pene 
 c' agio portate per lei non vedere; 
 che son di ci6 pensando divenuto 
 natural com' el cieciero divene, 
 che termina cantando Io spiaciere. 
 
 Dolze rivera gaia ed amorosa, 
 
 diletto sovra tute la sovrana, 
 
 porto di gioie e di valore orata, 
 
 d' adornamento e di graze abondosa, 
 
 gentil terra sovr' ongne altra Pisana, 
 
 ove Io presgio compie sua giornata, 
 
 perche son prolungato, oime lasso, 
 
 e facievi '1 meo core dimoranza, 
 
 e P avenente da cui tengno vita, 
 
 che chiamo Io suo noine ad ongne passo, 
 
 e' par che ne solevi mia pesanza 
 
 pensando solamente la redita.
 
 CHIARO DAVANZATI 105 
 
 Di cio mi ricomforto e nom dispero 
 pensando ne la sua rica acolglienza, 
 che mi de' far tornandole davanti; 
 e I 1 adorneze del suo viso altero 
 faran redire in gioia la mia dolglienza 
 e li martiri c' agio avuti tanti. 
 Pero, mia canzonetta, a lei t' invia, 
 inchinala e saluta dolzemente, 
 dille ch' io credo in gioia ristorare 
 presente ch' io vedro sua sengnoria ; 
 sovr' ongni amante credo esser gaudente, 
 
 onde fratanto degia comfortare. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 LII 
 
 Ai dolze e gaia terra Fiorentina, 
 fontana di valore e di piagienza, 
 
 fior dell' altre, Fiorenza, 
 qualunque a piu saver ti ten reina; 
 formata fue di Roma tua semenza, 
 e da Dio solo data la dotrina, 
 
 che per lucie divina 
 Io re Fiorin ci spese sua potenza, 
 
 ed ebe in sua seguenza 
 conti e marches!, prencipi e baroni, 
 gientil d' altre <~> v rasgioni ; 
 ciesati fuor d' orgoglio e villania 
 
 miser lor baronia, 
 a cio che fossi de 1' altre magiore. 
 
 Come fosti ordinata primamente 
 
 da sei baroni che piu avean d' altura, 
 
 e ciascun pose cura 
 ver sua parte com fosse piu piaciente,
 
 io6 CHIARO DAVANZATI 
 
 da San Giovanni avesti sua figura, 
 i bei costumi dal fior de la giente, 
 
 da' savi il convenente, 
 im planeta di Leo piu sicura, 
 
 di villania fuor pura, 
 di piacimento e di valore orata, 
 in sana aira ed in gioia formata, 
 diletto d' ongni bene ed abondosa, 
 
 gientile ed amorosa, 
 imperadricie d' ongni cortesia. 
 
 Ai me, Fiorenza, che e rimembrare 
 lo grande stato e la tua franchitate 
 
 c' 6 detta, ch' e 'n viltate 
 disposta ed abassata, ed im penare 
 somessa, e sottoposta im fedeltate, 
 per li tuoi figli collo rio portare, 
 
 che per non perdonare 
 1' un P altro, t' anno messa in basitate. 
 Ai me, o lassa, dov' e lo savere 
 e '1 presgio e lo valore e la francheza, 
 
 la tua gran gientileza? 
 credo die dorme e giacie in mala parte. 
 
 Chi 'm prima disse 'parte' 
 fra li tuoi figli, tormentato sia. 
 
 Fiorenza, [nom] posso dir che sei sforita 
 ne ragionar che 'n te sia cortesia; 
 
 chi non s' adomilia, 
 gia sua bonta nom puote esser gradita. 
 Non se' piu tua, ne ai la segnoria, 
 anzi se' disorata ed aiinita 
 
 ed ai perduta vita, 
 che messa t' a ciascuno in schiavonia ;
 
 CHIARO DAVANZATI 107 
 
 da 1' un tuo filglio due volte donata 
 per 1' altro consumare e dar dolore, 
 
 e per 1' altro a sengnore 
 se' oramai, e donera' gli il fio. 
 
 Non val chiedere a Uio 
 per te merze, Fiorenza dolorosa. 
 
 Ke e moltipricato in tua statura 
 astio, envidia, noia e strugimento, 
 
 orgolglioso talento, 
 avarizia, pigrizia e losura ; 
 e ciascuno ch' e in te a pensamento 
 e' studia sempre di voler usura; 
 
 di Dio non an paura, 
 ma sieguen sempre a desiar tormento ; 
 li picioli, i mezani e li magiori 
 anno altro in cor che nom mostran di fora. 
 
 Per contrado lavora ; 
 onde '1 sengnor Idio, pien di pietate, 
 
 per sua nobilitate 
 
 ti riconduca a la verace via. 
 
 (V.R.V. Mon/ 
 
 LI 1 1 
 
 Non gia per gioia c' agia mi conforto, 
 
 ma perch' io vegio un om morto d ! amore 
 
 per dritto amar ed esser servidore 
 
 a suo poter di donna tuttavia ; 
 
 c' ormai le donne che '1 vedranno morto 
 
 ciascuna piu pietanza avranno in core, 
 
 vegiendo per asempro lo dolore 
 
 del buono amante chi '1 tene in obria.
 
 io8 CHIARO DAVANZATI 
 
 ciascuna credera veraciemente 
 quello, onde sono state miscredente, 
 che null' om possa per amor morire. 
 Cosi fosse piaciuto a 1' alto Sire 
 che la donna per cui mort' e 1' amante 
 fosse essa morta per colui avante, 
 perche ciascuna fosse poi credente. 
 
 In tanto posso de 1' amor mesdire 
 quant' a mort' un per lealmente amare, 
 e noil' a gia voluto accompagnare ; 
 ca, se fosse, saria pih gioia la morte, 
 c' a 1' amante faria magior disire 
 se la donna co lui al trapassare 
 d' esto secol com' ei vedesse andare ; 
 gia lo morir nol gli saria si forte, 
 e gli amador che gioia van no sperando 
 non viverian languendo piu tardando, 
 che F altre donne non avrian dottanza 
 e moverian lor cori a piu pietanza, 
 vegiendo d' agualglianza il guiderdone 
 del danno, e '1 pr6 la ove amor li pone ; 
 e credo a lor varia merze chiamando. 
 
 Ancor d' un' altra cosa amor riprendo; 
 da poi due ne congiungie in un piaciere, 
 F un pur tormenta e facielo dolere, 
 e F altra non costringie di paragio ; 
 e molti n' audo van di cio dolendo, 
 che non acompie mai lo lor volere, 
 da poi ch' e morto, che val lo potere? 
 ci6 c' a sperato puot' om dir danagio. 
 Per6, s' amor piaciesse, crederia 
 che piii valor e presgio gli saria
 
 CHIARO DAVANZATI 109 
 
 s' amendasse di cio c' agio contato, 
 ancor che gientil cor lungo aspetato 
 non dispera per lunga soferenza ; 
 ma de 1' amor mi credo piu valenza 
 fora il donar la 've '1 mistier piti sia. 
 
 Alchun porami dir : folle, che fai ? 
 
 riprendi amor; non a conoscimento. 
 
 Risponderd : si a e' valimento 
 
 c' aucide ed altoregia cui li piacie; 
 
 che me fatt' a sentir de li suoi guai, 
 
 ma a ritenuto a se lo piacimento, 
 
 a tal m' a dato e messo in servimento. 
 
 Tardando assai languir forte mi facie, 
 
 per6 che lungiare po la mia vita; 
 
 se non provede nanti che perita 
 
 sara, che mi vara di poi pentere? 
 
 gitto a mio danno '1 parlar e '1 vedere, 
 
 e se mia vita rengna per languire 
 
 e non mi dona, me' fora fallire, 
 
 se '1 suo valore di gioia non m' invita. 
 
 Va, canzonetta, a chi sente d' amore, 
 che degia Dio pregar per F amadore 
 ch' e morto e d' esta vita e trapassato, 
 c' ajuti lui ed ongni namorato, 
 c' a le donne umili loro dureza, 
 c' a loro amanti donin pift largheza, 
 non sempre sia lor vita con dolore. 
 
 (V.R.V. Tr. Mon.)
 
 I 10 
 
 LIV 
 
 Quando appar 1' aulente fiore, 
 lo tempo dolze e sereno, 
 gli auscelletti infra gli albori 
 ciascun canta in suo latino ; 
 per lo dolze canto e fino 
 si confortan gli amadori, 
 quelli c' aman lealmente, 
 ed eo, lasso, no rifino 
 per quella, che lo meo core 
 va pensoso infra la giente. 
 
 Per quella che m' a 'n balia 
 ed a d' amore conquiso, 
 va pensoso notte e dia, 
 per quella col chiaro viso. 
 Co' riguardi e '1 dolce riso 
 m' a lanciato e mi distringie 
 la piu dolze criatura, 
 lasso, quando m' ebbe priso; 
 d' amor tuttor mi s' infingie, 
 pare di me non a cura. 
 
 Cogli sguardi mi conquiso 
 
 (a,) parlando, ond' io mi doglio, 
 
 lasso, quando m' ebbe preso 
 
 or mi va menando orgoglio. 
 
 Adunque partir mi voglio 
 
 d' amore e di suo servire, 
 
 e de li falsi riguardi, 
 
 e sara ci6 ch' io nom soglio, 
 
 o fin amor mantenere 
 
 per quella che tutto m' ardi.
 
 BONAGIUNTA DA LUCCA in 
 
 Ben me ne voria partire 
 s' umque lo potesse fare, 
 m' adoblaran li martire, 
 non ne poria in ci6 campare. 
 Dumqua mi convene stare 
 a la sua dolze speranza, 
 e non esser argoglioso, 
 ma tuttor merze chiamare ; 
 forse ne vera pietanza 
 a quella al viso amoroso. 
 
 Canzonetta dolze e fina, 
 va, saluta la piu giente, 
 va ne a quella ch' e regina 
 di tutti gli insegnamente. 
 Da mia parte t' apresenta 
 e si la chiama merzede 
 che non degia piu sofrire 
 ch' io patisca esti tormente, 
 ca rimembrando m' auzide, 
 
 e d' amor mi fa languire. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 LV 
 
 Tal e la fiamma e lo foco 
 la ond' eo 'ncendo e coco, 
 
 dolce meo sire, 
 
 che ismarrire 
 mi fate lo core e la mente. 
 
 Ismarrire mi fate la mente e lo core, 
 si che tutta per voi mi distruggo e disfaccio, 
 cosi come si sface la rosa e lo fiore 
 quando la sovragiungie freddura ne ghiaccio;
 
 M2 BONAGIUNTA DA LUCCA 
 
 cosi son preso a lo laccio 
 
 per la stranianza vostra in prumera, 
 
 come la fera 
 amorosa di tutta la gente. 
 
 Tant' e '1 foco e la fiamma ch' el meo cor abonda, 
 che non credo che mai si poss' astutare; 
 e non e nullo membro che no mi confonda 
 e non vegio per arte ove possa campare, 
 
 com' quel che cade al mare, 
 
 che non a sostegno ne ritenenza 
 per la 'ncrescenza 
 
 de 1' onda che vede frangente. 
 
 Se mi sete si fero com parete in vista 
 e nojoso secondo la ria dimostranza, 
 ancidetemi adesso, ch' io vivo pid trista 
 che quando morta fosse, tant' 6 gran dottanza ; 
 
 se la bona speranza 
 
 ch' eo agio di voi mi rinfrangesse, 
 s' eo m' aucidesse 
 
 serestene poi penitente. 
 
 Io non v' oso guardare ne 'n viso ne 'n ciera, 
 ne mostrarvi sembianti com fare solea; 
 che mi fate una vista mortale, crudera, 
 com' eo fosse di voi nemica giudea; 
 ed esser non dovria, 
 perch' io ci colpasse ; che la casgione 
 
 de 1' ofensione 
 non fu che m' ontasse niente. 
 
 (Mon.)
 
 BONAGIUNTA DA LUCCA 113 
 
 LVI 
 
 Gioia ne ben non e sanza conforto, 
 
 ne sanza ralegranza, 
 ne ralegranza sanza fino amore. 
 Rasgion, chi vuol venir a buono porto 
 
 de la sua disianza, 
 che 'n amoranza metta lo suo core ; 
 che per lo fior' si de' sperar lo frutto 
 e per amor ci6 ch' e desiderate ; 
 
 perche 1' amor e dato 
 a gioia ed a disdutto sanza inganno, 
 ma se patisse inganno fora strutto 
 lo ben d' amor, ch' e tanto confermato, 
 
 ne fora disiato, 
 s' avesse men di gioia che d' afanno. 
 
 Tant' e la gioia, lo presgio e la valenza, 
 
 la 'ntendenza e 1' onore 
 e lo valore e '1 fino insegnamento, 
 che nascon d' amorosa canoscienza, 
 
 (che) non e prenditore 
 (senz' essi) amor' di veracie empimento ; 
 ma fallimento fora a comquistare 
 sanza affanar cosi gran dilettanza ; 
 
 ca per la soperchianza 
 vive in oranza quei che s' umilia. 
 Chi gioia non da nom p6 gioia acquistare, 
 ne bene amar chi non a in se leanza, 
 
 ne compier la speranza 
 chi non lascia di quel che pin disia. 
 
 Perche sera fallire a dismisura . 
 
 a la pintura andare 
 chi puo mirare la propia sostanza ;
 
 ii4 BONAGIUNTA DA LUCCA 
 
 che di bel giorno 6 vista notte scura 
 
 contra natura fare, 
 ed apportar lo bene in malenanza. 
 Perche bastanza fora, donna mia, 
 se cortesia e merze in voi trovasse, 
 
 che 1' afanno passasse, 
 e ritornasse in gioia ed im piacere ; 
 che troppo soferir mi contraria, 
 com om ch' e 'n via per gir, che dimorasse 
 
 ne 'nnanti non andasse, 
 ne ritornasse^ contro a suo volere. 
 
 Voler agio e speranza d' avanzare 
 
 lo meo 'ncominzamento, 
 per tal convento, che voi sia piagiente ; 
 e ben volesse a retro ritornare 
 
 contra lo mio talento, 
 ne valimento n' agio ne podere, 
 cosl mi fere 1' amor che m' a priso 
 del vostro viso giente ed amoroso, 
 
 per cui vivo gioioso 
 e disioso si che moro amando. 
 E ci6 ch' io dico null' e gio', m' e aviso, 
 si m' a comquiso e fatto pauroso 
 
 P amore c' agio ascoso, 
 ch' io piu non oso dire a voi parlando. 
 
 (V.R.V.; 
 
 LVII 
 
 Fin amor mi comforta, 
 e lo cor m' intalenta, 
 madonna, ch' io no m penta 
 di voi s' inamorai ;
 
 BONAGIUNTA DA LUCCA 115 
 
 membrando cio che porta 
 
 la vita n' e contenta, 
 
 avengna ch' io ne senta 
 
 tormento pur assai. 
 
 che 'mprimamente amai 
 per ben pregare al vostro segnoragio 
 
 d' aver fermo coragio, 
 a cio che per fermeza non dottasse 
 
 che '1 meo labor fallasse; 
 e chi 'ncominza a mezo compimento 
 se sa perseverar <n)e lo suo adopramento. 
 
 Ed io perseverando 
 
 la rica incomincianza 
 
 condott' 6 la speranza 
 
 al giorno c' aspettava; 
 
 non ciertb dispresgiando ; 
 
 ne voi contra noranza 
 
 cometeste fallanza, 
 
 ch' io no la dimandava; 
 
 che cio ch' io disiava 
 non era fuor di buono intendimento, 
 
 m' a vostro acrescimento ; 
 ne a bona donna non si sconvene 
 
 s' amor la sforza bene ; 
 che tal val molto che nulla varia 
 per inamoramento di donna che golia. 
 
 Ond' io non mi dispero 
 di cio c' amor mi facie 
 che guerra non a pacie 
 ne amor conoscimento. 
 se non 6 ci6 che chero 
 faro come chi tacie 
 
 I 2
 
 n6 BONAGIUNTA DA LUCCA 
 
 la cosa che li spiacie 
 
 per fino intendimento. 
 
 E si ser6 contento 
 cosi del male e delle grevi pene 
 
 como saria del bene ; 
 c' amor a in se ben tuto sengnoragio 
 
 che mi pu6 dar coragio ; 
 o 1' ire c' ave e le pene e la noia 
 mi poria ritornare in suo piacere e gioco. 
 
 (V.R.V.) 
 
 LVIII 
 
 Ben mi credeva in tutto esser d' amore 
 
 certamente allungiato; 
 si m' era fatto selvaggio e straniero ! 
 or sento che 'n erranza era il mio core, 
 
 che non m' avia ubliato 
 ne riguardato il mio coragio fero ; 
 poiche servo m' ha dato per servire 
 
 a quella a cui grandire 
 
 si pu6 somma piacenza 
 
 e somma conoscenza; 
 che tutte gioie di beltate ha vinto, 
 si come grana vince ogn' altro tinto. 
 
 Tant' allegrezza nel meo core abonda 
 
 di si alto servaggio, 
 
 che m' ha e tiemmi tutto in suo volere, 
 che non posa giammai se non com' onda, 
 
 membrando il suo visaggio, 
 ch' ammorza ogni altro viso e fa sparere 
 in tal maniera che la V ella appare 
 
 nessun la puo guardare, 
 
 e mettelo in errore; 
 
 tant' e lo suo splendore
 
 BONAGIUNTA DA LUCCA 117 
 
 che passa il sole, di vertute spera, 
 e Stella e luna ed ogn' altra lumera. 
 
 Amor, lo tempo ch' era senza amanza, 
 
 mi sembra in veritate, 
 ancor vivessi, ch' era senza vita ! 
 che viver senz' amor non e baldanza 
 
 ne possibilitate 
 
 d' alcun pregio acquistar di gioia gradita : 
 onde fallisce troppo oltra misura 
 
 qual huom non s' innamora; 
 
 ch' amor ha in se vertude, 
 
 del vile huom face prode ; 
 s' egli e villano, in cortesia lo muta, 
 di scarso largo addivenir 1' aiuta. 
 
 Ciascuna guisa d' amor graziosa, 
 
 secondo la natura 
 
 che vien di gentil loco, ha in se valore ; 
 com' arbore quando e fruttiferosa, 
 
 qual frutto e piu in altura 
 avanza tutti gli altri nel savore ; 
 onde la gioia mia passa 1' ottima 
 
 quant' e piii d' alta cima ; 
 
 di cui si pu6 dir bene 
 
 fontana d' ogni bene, 
 che di lei sorge ogn' altro ben terreno, 
 come acqua viva che mai non vien meno. 
 
 Dunque m' allegro certo a gran rasione, 
 
 ch' io mi posso allegrare, 
 poi sono amato ed amo si altamente ; 
 anzi in servir mi trovo guiderdone 
 
 si soave umiliare 
 ver me, per darmi gioia, 1' avvenente ;
 
 u8 BONA(UUNTA DA LUCCA 
 
 per6 piu graziosa e la mia gioia, 
 
 ch' allaccia senza noia ; 
 
 che non e costumanza ; 
 
 cosi gran dilettanza 
 amore giammai desse a nullo amante, 
 per6 m' allegro senza simigliante. 
 
 Considerando tutto quel ch' e detto 
 
 a quel ch' e a dir rispetto, 
 
 e 1' ombra al mio parere; 
 
 che non mi par sapere 
 se di sua forma parlare volessi ; 
 che solo un membro laudare compiessi. 
 
 Giunta.) 
 
 PUCCIANDONE MARTELLI DA PISA 
 
 LIX 
 
 Tuttor agg' io di voi rimembranza 
 e disianza, donna mia valente. 
 
 Tuttor mi membra e disio vedere 
 la piacente belta, donna amorosa, 
 che 'n voi fa porto con tutto savere, 
 cera avenente, fresca e graziosa ; 
 la rimembranza tenemi in piacere 
 e lo disio 'n gran pena angosciosa, 
 se non ti vedo, disiato amore, 
 in cui lo core tegno con la mente. 
 
 Quando vi veo, donna, in cui speranza 
 tegno con tutta fina benvoglienza, 
 aggio allegranza, gioia, e beninanza, 
 e donami valor con gran piacenza
 
 PUCCIANDONE MARTELLI DA PISA 119 
 
 la vostra angelicale sembianza, 
 
 che 'nver mi fate, senza percepenza 
 delli noiosi e delli mal parliedi 
 che di voi e di me parlan vilmente. 
 
 Poi de' sembianti tant' aggio allegrezza, 
 
 ben averia, osasselo mostrare; 
 
 lo mio disio fermat' ho 'n tale altezza 
 
 che di gran gioia viver6 senza pare ; 
 
 pregovi per la vostra gentilezza 
 
 che non vi spiaccia lo meo 'nnamorare : 
 
 quando mi donerete piu podere 
 
 meglio servire vi por6 sovente. 
 
 Entr' allo cor m' entrao con tal dolzore 
 lo primo sguardo di voi, donna mia, 
 che m' innammao di tanto fino amore, 
 che monta in me cosi ciascuna dia ; 
 che 'n nulla guisa, donna di valore, 
 a compimento contar lo poria : 
 
 lingua che parli tant' aggia (abandono) 
 
 com' io sono ver voi lealmente. 
 
 Ben mi laudo d' amor, che m' ha donato 
 voler cotanto altero intendimento, 
 che m' ha di tale donna inamorato, 
 ch' ell' e somma di tutto intendimento ; 
 poiche si altamente m 5 ha locato, 
 faccia che piaccia lo meo servimento 
 
 a quella ch' in sua balia mi tene, 
 
 e la mia spene v' aggio interamente. 
 
 (Val.)
 
 T20 
 
 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 
 
 LX 
 
 Donna, 1' amor mi sforza 
 ch' io vi degia contare 
 com' io son 'namorato, 
 e ciascun giorno inforza 
 la mia volglia d' amare, 
 pur foss' io meritato. 
 Sacciate in veritate, 
 ca si e preso '1 mio core 
 di voi, incarnate amore, 
 che moro di pietate, 
 e consumar Io fate 
 in gran fuoco ed ardore. 
 
 Nave ch' escie di porto 
 con vento dolze e piano, 
 fra mar giungie in altura ; 
 po' ven Io tempo torto, 
 tempesta e grande aflfano 
 1' aducie la ventura, 
 alor si sforza molto 
 come possa scampare 
 che nom perisca in mare; 
 cosi 1' amor m' a colto 
 e di buon loco tolto 
 e messo a tempestare. 
 
 Madonna, udit' 6 dire 
 che 'n aira nascie fuoco 
 per incontrar di venti, 
 se non more in venire
 
 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 121 
 
 in nuvoloso loco 
 ard(isc)e inmantenente 
 ci6 che (si) trova iloco 
 cosi le nostre volglie 
 a contrare s' acolglie, 
 la onde nascie un fuoco 
 lo qual si stiza urn poco 
 in lagrime ed in doglie. 
 
 Greve cosa e servire 
 segnor contro a talento, 
 e sperar guiderdone 
 e mostrare im parere 
 che sia gioia il tormento 
 contro a suo openione. 
 Dunque si de' gradire 
 di me, che volglio fare 
 e chirlanda portare 
 per vostro orgoglio ed ire, 
 purche possa valere ; 
 ma credo pingier 1' are. 
 
 A pingier 1' aer son dato, 
 poi c' a tal sono adotto ; 
 laboro e non aquisto. 
 Lasso, che non m' e a grato 
 c' amor m' a a tal condotto ! 
 fra gli altri son piu tristo. 
 Oi ! sengnor Giesu Cristo, 
 fu' io per ci6 solo nato, 
 per stare inamorato? 
 poi madonna 1' a visto, 
 melgli' e ch' io mora in quisto ; 
 
 forse n' avria pecato. 
 
 (V.R.V.)
 
 122 r.UIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOCNA 
 
 LXI 
 
 Madonna, il fino amore ch' io vi porto 
 mi dona si gran gioia ed allegranza 
 
 c' aver mi par d' amore; 
 ca d' ogni parte aduciemi comfort o, 
 quando di voi mi membra 1' intendanza, 
 
 a farmi da valore 
 a ci6 che la natura mia mi mena, 
 
 ad esser di voi Una 
 d' amor distrettamente inamorato ; 
 
 ne mai in altro lato 
 amor mi pu6 dar fino piacimento, 
 anzi d' aver m' allegra ogni tormento. 
 
 Dare allegran/a amorosa natura 
 
 sanz' esser 1' omo a dover gioia compiere, 
 
 inganno mi somiglia; 
 ^ c' amore quand' e di propia ventura 
 di sua natura a dover a '1 morire, 
 
 cosi gran foco pilglia : 
 ed io, che son di tale amor sorpreso, 
 
 tengnomi a grave meso, 
 che nom so che natura degia complire; 
 
 se no c' audit' 6 dire 
 che quello male a periglioso inganno, 
 che F omo a far diletta e porta danno. 
 
 Sotile voglia mi potria mostrare 
 come di voi m' a preso amore amaro, 
 
 ma ci6 dire non volglio, 
 ca 'n tutte guise degiovi laudare. 
 Peru piCi spietosa ven declare 
 
 se biasimo ven tolglio;
 
 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOC T NA 123 
 
 e fiavi forse men danno a sofrire, 
 
 c' amor poi fa bandire 
 c' a tutta scanoscienza sia in bando, 
 
 e sol ritrae '1 comando 
 a P acusanza l di colui c' a '1 male ; 
 ma voi non blasmeria; istea sevale. 
 
 Madonna, da voi tengno ed 6 il valore, 
 per6 m' avene, istandovi presente, 
 
 ca perdo ogni vertute ; 
 che le cose propinque al suo fatore 
 ritornar volontieri e tostamente 
 
 per gir ov' en nasciute : 
 da me fanno partute e vanne in voi 
 
 la Ve son tutte e plui ; 
 e ci6 vedemo fare a ciascheduno, 
 
 che si mette in comuno 
 piii volontera degli assai 2 e boni, 
 che no sta solo, se ria parte n' oponi. 
 
 In quella parte sotto tramontana 
 sono gli monti della calami ta, 
 
 che dan vertute all' are 
 di trar lo ferro, ma perch' e lontana 
 voi di simile petra aver P aita 
 
 per farla adoperare 
 si, che P ago si driza ver la Stella. 
 
 E voi pur siete quella 
 che presedete i monti del valore 
 
 onde si spande amore, 
 e gia per lontananza non e vano, 
 che senza aita adopera lontano. 
 
 1 qy. scusanza. 2 qy. saggi.
 
 124 OUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 
 
 Ai Deo ! como faragio ed in che guisa ? 
 che ciascun giorno canto all' avenente, 
 
 ne 'ntender me non pare, 
 ne in lei non trovo bona alcuna intesa 
 com' eo possa mandar umilemente 
 
 a lei merze chiamare; 
 e saccio ch' eo ne porto sagio fino, 
 
 c' amor che m' a in dimino 
 mostra c' ongni parola ch' io fuor porto 
 
 porti uno core morto, 
 feruto a la sconfitta del mio core 
 che fugie la batalglia, e vince amore. 
 
 Madonna, le paraule in cio ch' io dico 
 pur mostrano ch' in me sia dismisura 
 
 d' ogni forfalsitate, 
 
 che non trovo merze ('n) ci6 che fatico, 
 ne par c' amor per me possa drittura 
 
 for vostra potestate; 
 e nom posso sentire onde m' avene, 
 
 se non ch' io pemso bene 
 c' amor ave reposta in voi amanza ; 
 
 e credolo in ciertanza 
 ch' ello vi dica: tello 'namorato, 
 ch' ell' afini ; poi moia disamato. 
 
 D' ora in avanti parto Io cantare 
 
 da me, ma non 1' amare; 
 e sia omai in vostra canoscienza 
 
 Io don di benvolenza ; 
 che credo aver per voi tanto inarato; 
 se ben si paga, molto e 1' aquistato. 
 
 (V.R.V.)
 
 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 125 
 
 LXII 
 
 Tengnol di folle impresa, a lo ver dire, 
 chi s' abandona in ver troppo possente, 
 sicomo gli occhi miei che fen resmire 
 incontra quei della piu avenente ; 
 
 che sol per lor en vinti 
 senza c' altre bellezze li dian forza, 
 
 c' a cio fare son pinti 
 sicome baronia di sengnore, 
 
 quando vuol usar forza, 
 tutta s' apresta in donarli valore. 
 
 Di si forte valor lo colpo venne 
 che gli occhi nol ritenner di neente, 
 ma passo dentro al cor, che lo sostenne 
 e sentesi piagato duramente; 
 
 e poi li rende pace, 
 come troppo agravato, che si posa 
 
 e more in letto e giace; 
 ella non mette cura di niente, 
 
 ma vassen disdegnosa, 
 che si vede alta, bella ed avenente. 
 
 Ben si puo tener alta quanto vole, 
 che la piu bella donna e che si trove, 
 ed intra 1' altre par lucente sole 
 e falle disparer a tutte prove ; 
 
 che 'n lei enno adornezze, 
 gentilezze, savere e bel parlare 
 
 e sovrane bellezze, 
 tutto valor in lei par che si metta ; 
 
 posso in breve contare 
 madonna e delle donne gioia eletta.
 
 126 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 
 
 Ben e eletta gioia da vedere 
 
 quand' appar entra 1' altre piu adorna, 
 
 che tutta la rivera fa lucere 
 
 e ci6 che 1' e d' incierchio allegro torna ; 
 
 la notte s' apariscie, 1 
 come lo sol di giorno da splendore, 
 
 cosi F aer solarisce ; 
 ond' el giorno ne porta grand' enveggia, 
 
 ch' ei solo avea clarore, 
 ora la notte igualmente i pareggia. 
 
 Amor m' a dato a madonna servirej 
 o vogli' io o non voglia, cosi este ; 
 ne saccio certo ben ragion vedere 
 sicomo sia caduto a 'ste tempeste; 
 
 da lei non 6 sembiante 
 ed ella non mi fa vista amorosa 
 
 perch' eo divengn' amante, 
 se non per dritta forza di valore 
 
 che la rende gioiosa; 
 onde mi piace morir per su' amore. 
 
 (Val. Nan. Mon.; 
 
 LXIII 
 
 Con gran disio pensando lungamentc 
 
 amor che cosa sia, 
 e donde e come prende movimento 
 deliberar mi par infra la mente 
 
 per una cotal via 
 che per tre cose sente compimento; 
 
 ancorch' e fallimento 
 
 volendo ragionare 
 
 di cosi grande affare, 
 
 1 qy. si spariscic.
 
 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 127 
 
 ma scusami ch' io si fortemente 
 
 sento li suoi tormente, ond' io mi doglio. 
 
 E' par che di verace piacimento 
 
 Io fino amor discenda, 
 guardando quel c' al cor torni piacente 
 che poi c' om guarda cosa di talento? 
 
 al cor pensieri abbenda, 
 e cresce con disio immantinente, 
 
 e poi dirittamente 
 
 fiorisce e mena frutto ; 
 
 pero mi sento isdutto, 
 F amor crescendo fieri e frutti a messe, 
 e vien la messe, e '1 frutto non ricoglio 
 
 Di cio prender dolore deve e pianto 
 
 Io core inamorato 
 e lamentar di sua disaventura ; 
 perocche nulla cosa alF uomo e tanto 
 
 gravoso riputato 
 che sostenere afanno e gran tortura, 
 
 servendo per calura 
 
 d' essere meritato, 
 
 e poi Io suo pensato 
 non a compita la sua disianza 
 e per pietanza trova pur orgoglio. 
 
 Orgoglio mi mostrate. donna fina, 
 
 ed io pietanza chero 
 a voi, che tutte cose, al mio parventc 
 dimorano a piacere; a voi s' inchina 
 
 vostro servente^ e spero 
 ristoro aver di voi, donna valente ; 
 
 che avvene spessamente
 
 i28 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 
 
 che '1 ben servire a grato 
 
 non e rimeritato ; 
 
 allotta che '1 servente aspetta bene 
 tempo rivene che merta ogni scoglio. 
 
 (Val. Nan.) 
 
 LXIV 
 
 Al cor gentil ripara sempre amore 
 com alia selva augello in la verdura ; 
 ne fe amor anzi che gentil core, 
 ne gentil core anzi d' amor natura, 
 
 c' adesso che fu 1 il sole 
 si tosto lo splendore fu lucente, 
 
 ne fu davanti al sole ; 
 e prende amor in gentilezza loco 
 
 cosi propiamente 
 come chiarore in clarita di foco. 
 
 Foco d' amor in gentil core aprende, 
 come vertute in pietra preziosa, 
 che alia Stella valor non discende 
 anzi che '1 sol la faccia gentil cosa ; 
 
 poiche n' a tratto fore 
 per forza il sole ci6 che 'n ell' e vile, 
 
 Stella li da valore; 
 cosl al cor ch' e fatto da natura 
 
 schietto, puro e gentile 
 donna a guisa di Stella lo 'namora. 
 
 Amor per tal ragion sta in cor gentile 
 per qual lo foco in cima del doppiero, 
 splendeli al suo diletto, claro, sottile, 
 non li sta in altra guisa, tant' e fero ; 
 
 1 qy. com fu.
 
 GU1DO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 129 
 
 per6 prava natura 
 rincontra amor come fa 1' aigua il foco, 
 
 caldo per la fredura; 
 amor in cor gentil prende rivera 
 
 per suo consimil loco 
 come damas del ferro in la minera. 
 
 Fere lo sole il fango tutto '1 giorno, 
 vile riman, ne '1 sol perde calore; 
 disse omo altier: Gentil per schiatta torno; 
 lui sembro al fango, al sol gentil valore ; 
 
 che non de' dar om fe 
 che gientilezza sia fuor di coragio 
 
 in dengnitk di re, 
 se da vertute non a gentil core; 
 
 com' aigua porta ragio, 
 e '1 ciel retien le stelle e lo splendore. 
 
 Splende in la intelligenzia del cielo 
 
 Deo creator piu ch' in nostri occhi '1 sole 
 
 quella intende '1 suo fattor oltre cielo, 
 
 10 ciel volgendo a lui obedir tole, 
 
 e com segue al primero 
 dal giusto Deo beato compimento, 
 
 cosi dar dovria il vero 
 la bella donna che negli occhi splende 
 
 del suo gentil talento 
 chi mai da lei ubidir non disaprende. 
 
 Donna, Deo mi dira : Che presumisti 
 (istando 1' alma mia a lui davanti), 
 
 11 ciel passasti e fino a me venisti, 
 
 e desti in vano amor me per sembianti; 
 
 c' a me convien la laude, 
 e alia reina del reame dengno,
 
 130 GUIDO DI GUINIZELLO DA BOLOGNA 
 
 per cui cessa ogni fraude. 
 Dirli poria : Tenne d' angiel sembianza 
 
 che fosse del tuo rengno ; 
 non mi fu fallo s' io le posi amanza. 
 
 (V.R.V. Giunta, Mon. &c.) 
 
 ONESTO DA BOLOGNA 
 
 LXV 
 
 Ahime, lasso taupino ! altro che lasso 
 non posso dir, s' io sono a greve meso ; 
 sentomi '1 cor e ciascun membro preso 
 morir si forte ch' oltre a morte passo; 
 celar non posso piu la greve noia, 
 
 tanto contr' a me poia 
 pena mortale e rea disaventura ; 
 
 per6 quanto piu dura 
 la vita mia piii soverchia il dolore : 
 male ad uopo meo m' a creato amore. 
 
 SI m' ai tu fatto, amor, ad uopo meo 
 che m' e vergogna dir ci6 che m' incontra ; 
 tutto fui fatto solo a mia rincontra, 
 per6 nol chiamo amor, ma amaro e reo 
 per cui Io cor meo chiamo core morto, 
 
 ingiuriato a torto; 
 ed anche me chiamo per lui mal nato, 
 
 perch' e si sventurato 
 c' ogni mio membro si batte e s' adira, 
 piangono gli occhi e 1' anima sospira. 
 
 Piangere gli occhi e lagrimar tutt' ora 
 e di pianto bagnar tutto mio viso
 
 ONESTO DA BOLOGNA 131 
 
 possono ben, guardando a me conquiso, 
 e per lo corpo lasso ove dimora 
 P anima mia per forz' a sospirare, 
 
 che gli 1 e morte lo stare 
 piu con lo corpo, c' arde piii che 'n foco, 
 
 e in nessun altro loco 
 potrebbe peggiorar sua condizione, 
 si m' a condotto amor contro a ragione. 
 
 Ragion non fa chi m' accusa e riprende, 
 che contro al mio voler amor mi mena; 
 ma chi non si conduol della mia pena 
 secondo umanita, pietade offende ; 
 dolor sente ciascun naturalmente, 
 
 che dovria tutta gente 
 gir per chiamar pieta alia donna mia, 
 
 e quando va per via 
 dovria ciascun gridar : Merze, merzede, 
 che non m' ancida s' eo P amo di fede. 
 
 Di fede e di pieta, canzon, vestita 
 vatti alle donne e gettati a lor piede, 
 che preghin quella ch' ell' aggia merzede 
 un po' per Deo della mia lassa vita ; 
 di che Deo si com' ama pietate 
 
 condanna crudeltate, 
 la 'nde di ci6 assai piu me dogP eo 
 
 con fede mia per Deo, 
 che in ogni parte a messo state buono ; 
 ma quanto per me posso io gliel perdono. 
 
 (Val.) 
 
 K 2
 
 132 ONESTO DA BOLOGNA 
 
 LXVI 
 
 La partenza che fo dolorosa 
 e gravosa piu d' altra m' aucide 
 per mia fede di voi, bel diporto. 
 
 Si m' aucide '1 partir doloroso 
 ch' eo non (oso) pur a pensare 
 al dolor che convienmi portare 
 nel mio core di vita pauroso: 
 per lo gravoso stato e dolente 
 lo qual sente : com dunque faraggio 
 m' aucideraggio per men disconforto. 
 
 S' eo mi dicp di dar morte fera, 
 gioia stranera non vi paia audire; 
 ahi, null' omo ode il mio languire, 
 mea pena dogliosa e crudera 
 che dispera lo coraggio e 1' alma; 
 tanta salma a di pena e abbondanza, 
 poi pietanza a merzb-fece torto. 
 
 Torto fece, e falli ver me lasso, 
 ch' eo trapasso ogni amante leale ; 
 ciascun giorno piu cresce piu sale 
 1' amor fino ch' eo porto nel casso, 
 e non lasso per null' increscenza, 
 che 'n sofrenza conviene che sia 
 chi disia 1' amoroso conforto. 
 
 Poi pietanza in altrui non si sciovra, 
 e s' adovra in altrui fuor che meve, 
 pianto mio, vanne a quella che deve 
 rimembrarsi di mia vita povra ;
 
 ONESTO DA BOLOGNA 133 
 
 di che scovra ver me suo volere; 
 
 se 'n placer 1' e ch' eo senta la morte, 
 
 a me forte gradisce esser morto. 
 
 (Giunta. Val. Nan.) 
 
 GUIDO CAVALCANTI DA FIRENZE 
 LXVII 
 
 Donna mi prega, perche voglio dire 
 
 d' un accidente che sovente e fero, 
 
 ed e si fero ch' e chiamato amore, 
 
 si che chi '1 nega possa il ver sentire. 
 
 Ed al presente conoscente chero, 
 
 perch' io non spero ch' om di basso core 
 
 a tal ragione porti conoscenza ; 
 
 che senza natural dimostramento 
 
 non ho talento di voler provare 
 
 la dov' ei posa e chi lo fa criare, 
 
 e qual e sua vertute e sua potenza, 
 
 P essenza, e poi ciascun suo movimento, 
 
 e '1 piacimento che '1 fa dir amare, 
 
 e s' omo per veder lo puo mostrare. 
 
 In quella parte dove sta memora 
 prende suo stato, si formato come 
 diafan dal lome, d' una oscuritate 
 la qual da Marte viene e fa dimora. 
 Egli e create ed a sensato nome, 
 d' alma costume, e di cor volontate ; 
 vien da veduta forma che s' intende 
 che prende nel possibile intelletto 
 come in suggetto loco e dimoranza ; 
 in quella parte mai non a pesanza ', 
 
 1 iy- posanza, possanza.
 
 i 3 4 GUIDO CAVALCANTI DA FIRENZE 
 
 perchb da qualitate non discende ; 
 risplende in se perpetuale affetto; 
 non a diletto, ma consideranza, 
 si che non pote largir somiglianza. 
 
 Non e vertute, ma da quella viene, 
 
 ch' b perfezione che si pone tale; 
 
 non razionale, ma che sente dico ; 
 
 fuor di salute giudicar mantiene, 
 
 e P intenzione per ragione vale; 
 
 discerne male in cui e vizio amico; 
 
 di sua potenza segue spesso morte, 
 
 se forte la virtu fosse impedita, 
 
 la quale aita la contraria via; 
 
 non perche opposto naturale sia, 
 
 ma quanto che da buon perfetto tort' e 
 
 per sorte, non puo dir om c' aggia vita, 
 
 che stabilita non a signoria; 
 
 a simil pud valor quand' om 1' oblia. 
 
 L' esser e, quando lo volere e tanto 
 c' oltra misura di natura torna ; 
 poi non s' adorna di riposo mai, 
 move, cangiando core, riso e pianto, 
 e la figura con pietate storna; 
 poco soggiorna; ancor di lui vedrai 
 che 'n gente di valor lo piu si trova; 
 la nuova qualita move i sospiri, 
 e vuol c' om miri non fermato loco, 
 destandosi ira la qual manda foco; 
 imaginar non pot' om che nol prova; 
 e non si mova perch' a lui si tiri, 
 e non si giri per trovarvi gioco, 
 ne certamente gran saver ne poco.
 
 GUIDO CAVALCANTI DA FIRENZE 135 
 
 Di simil tragge complessione sguardo, 
 che fa parere lo piacere certo; 
 non pud coperto star quando e sorgiunto, 
 non gia selvagge le bilta son dardo, 
 che tal volere per temere e sperto; 
 consegue merto spirito ch' e punto; 
 e non si pu6 conoscer per lo viso, 
 c' om priso bianco in tal obietto cade, 
 e chi ben vade forma non li vede, 
 perche lo mena chi da lei procede 
 fuor di colore, d' essere diviso, 
 assiso in mezzo oscuro, luci rade ; 
 fuor d' ogni fraude dicer degno in fede ; 
 che solo di costui nasce mercede. 
 
 Tu puoi sicuramente gir, canzone, 
 dove ti piace ; ch' i' 6 si t' adornata 
 c' assai lodata sara tua ragione 
 dalle persone c' anno intendimento ; 
 di star con 1' altre tu non ui talento. 
 
 (Giunta. Val. Nan. Mon ) 
 
 LXVIII 
 
 Poiche di doglia cor convien ch' io porti, 
 e sento di piacere ardente foco, 
 che di vertu mi tragge a si vil loco, 
 diro com' 6 perduto ogni valore. 
 
 Io dico che miei spiriti son morti, 
 e '1 cor, c' a tanta guerra e vita poco ; 
 e se non fosse che '1 morir m' e gioco, 
 fare' ne di pieta piangere amore. 
 
 Ma per lo folle tempo che m' a giunto 
 mi cangio di mia ferma opinione 
 in altrui condizione;
 
 136 GUIDO CAVALCANTI DA FIREN/K 
 
 si ch' io non mostro quanto io sento aflfanno 
 
 la 'nd' io ricevo inganno ; 
 che dentro dello cor mi passa amanza, 
 che se ne porta tutta mia speranza. 
 
 (Giunta. Val. Nan.) 
 
 CINO DA PISTOIA 
 
 LXIX 
 
 Avegna ch' io non aggio piu per tempo 
 per voi richiesto pietate ed amore 
 per confortar la vostra greve vita, 
 non e ancor si trapassato il tempo 
 che '1 mio sermon non trovi il vostro core 
 piangendo star con 1' anima smarrita, 
 fra se dicendo : Gia te n' ei 'n ciel gita, 
 beata gioia, come chiamava il nome; 
 
 lasso me, quando e come 
 vedervi potr6 io visibilmente 
 
 si che ancora a presente 
 far i' vi possa di conforto aita? 
 dunque m' udite, ch' io parlo a posta 
 (V amor, alii sospir ponendo sosta. 
 
 Noi provamo che in questo cieco mondo 
 ciascun si vive in angosciosa noia; 
 chi non a avversita, ventura il tira; 
 beata 1' alma che lascia tal pondo 
 e va nel ciel ov' & compiuta gioia, 
 gioioso il cor for di corrotto ed ira : 
 or dunque di che il vostro cor sospira, 
 che rallegrar si de' del suo maggiore? 
 
 che Dio nostro signore 
 volse di lei, com' avea 1' angel detto,
 
 CINO DA PISTOIA 137 
 
 per fame il ciel perfetto; 
 per nova cosa ogni santo la mira, 
 ed ella sta dinanzi 1 alia salute, 
 inver lei parla d' ogni sua vertute. 
 
 Di che vi stringe il cor? che pianto adopra? 
 
 chb dovresti d' amor sopraggioire, 
 
 c' avete in ciel la mente e 1' intelletto; 
 
 li spirti vostri trapassar di sopra 
 
 per sua vertu nel ciel; tale e '1 disire 
 
 c' amor la su li pinge per diletto. 
 
 O omo saggio, o Dio, perche distretto 
 
 vi tien cosi 1' affannoso pensiero? 
 
 per suo onor vi chero 
 c' allegramente prendiate conforto, 
 
 ne abbiate piii il cor morto, 
 ne figura di morte in vostro aspetto 
 per6 che Dio locata 1' a fra i suoi, 
 e tuttora dimora ella con voi. 
 
 Conforto gia, conforto T amor chiama, 
 e pieta prega, per Dio, fate presto ; 
 or inchinate a si dolce preghiera, 
 spogliatevi di questa veste grama, 
 da che voi siete per ragion richiesto; 
 che 1' omo per dolor muore e dispera. 
 Come vedrete poi la bella ciera 
 se v' accogliesse morte in disperanza? 
 
 da si greve pesanza 
 traete il vostro core omai, per Dio; 
 
 che non sia cosi rio 
 ver 1' alma vostra ; che ancora ispera 
 vederla in cielo, star nelle sue braccia; 
 dunque di speme confortarvi piaccia. 
 1 qy. stando innanzi.
 
 138 CINO DA PISTOIA 
 
 Mirate nel placer ove dimora 
 la vostra donna ch' e in ciel coronata 
 ond' e la vostra speme in paradise ; 
 e tutta santa, ormai vostra, inamora 
 contemplando nel ciel dov' e locata; 
 il vostro cor per cui ista diviso, 
 che pinto tiene in se beato viso? 
 secondo ch' era qua giu maraviglia, 
 
 cosi lassu simiglia; 
 tanto piu quant' e me' conosciuta ; 
 
 come fu ricevuta 
 
 dagli angioli con dolce canto e riso, 
 gli spirti vostri rapportato 1' anno, 
 che spesse volte quel viaggio fanno. 
 
 Lassu parla di voi con que' beati, 
 e dice loro : ' Mentre ch' io fui 
 nel mondo ricevetti onor da lui, 
 laudando me ne' suoi detti laudati ' ; 
 e prega Dio lor 1 signer verace, 
 che vi conforti si come lui piace. 
 
 (Vil. Tr. D'A. & B.) 
 
 LXX 
 
 Degno son io ch' i' mora, 
 
 donna, quando vi mostro 
 ch' i' 6 degli occhi vostri amor furato ; 
 
 che certo si celato 
 
 men venni al lato vostro, 
 che non sapesti quando io 2 n' usci' fora ; 
 ed or perche davanti io non m' attento 
 
 mostrarlo in vista vera, 
 
 ben e ragion ch' io pera, 
 solo per questo mio folle ardimento ; 
 
 1 qy. Io r6, . . . 3 qy. ei.
 
 CINO DA P1STOIA 139 
 
 ch' io dovea innanzi, poi che cosi era, 
 
 sofrir ogni tormento, 
 
 che fame mostramento 
 a voi c' oltre a natura sete altera. 
 
 Ben son stato ozioso 
 
 poi ch' ho seguito quanto 
 mostrar ver me disdegno vi piacesse; 
 
 ma se non vi calesse 
 
 di mie follie alquanto, 
 destando il vostro cor non disdegnoso ; 
 perciocche questo amor c' allor furai 
 
 per se stesso m' ancide, 
 
 e dentro mi conquide, 
 sovente mi fa rio tragger piu guai, 
 e in tal guisa il mio cor, lasso, divide, 
 
 che dentro a lui menai ; 
 
 donna mia, unque mai 
 cosi fatto giudizio non si vide. 
 
 Di mi' ardir non vi caglia, 
 
 donna, che vostra altezza 
 mover non si convien contro si basso ; 
 
 lasciatemi gir, lasso ; 
 
 c' a finir mia gravezza 
 fo con la morte volontier battaglia. 
 Vedete ben che non 6 piu possanza ; 
 
 dunque al mio folleggiare 
 
 piacciavi perdonare, 
 non per ragion, ma vincavi pietanza ; 
 ben piu che far vendetta e da lodare 
 
 signer anza 
 
 che perdonanza 
 
 usa nel tempo che puo gastigare 
 
 (Vil.)
 
 1 40 CINO DA PISTOIA 
 
 LXXI 
 
 Non spero che gia mai per mia salute 
 si faccia, o per vertute di soffrenza, 
 
 o d' altra cosa, 
 
 questa sdegnosa di pietate arnica, 
 poi non s' e mossa da ch' ell' a vedute 
 le lagrime venute per potenza 
 
 della gravosa 
 
 pena, che posa nel cuor c' a fatica ; 
 per6, tornando a pianger la mia mente, 
 cosi dolente vado tuttavia, 
 com' om che non sente ne sa ove sia 
 da campar, altrove ch' in parte ria. 
 Non so chi di ci6 faccia conoscente 
 piu omai la gente, che la vista mia, 
 
 che mostra apertamente 
 
 come 1' alma disia, 
 per non vedersi il cor, partirsi via. 
 
 Questa mia donna prese nimistate 
 allor contra pietate che s' accorse, 
 
 ch' era apparita 
 
 nella smarrita figura ch' io porto, 
 per6 che vide tanta nobiltate 
 cosi pone in viltate chi mi porse 
 
 quella ferita, 
 
 la quale e ita si che m' a '1 cor morto. 
 Pietanza lo dimostra, ond' e sdegnata 
 ed adirata per questo che vede; 
 ch' ella fu risguardata ove non crede 
 c' altri riguardi, per vertu che fiede 
 d' una lancia mortal, c' ogni fiata 
 ch' e afilata di piacer precede;
 
 CINO DA PISTOIA 141 
 
 io 1' 6 nel cor portata 
 da poi c' amor mi diede 
 tanto d' ardir ch' io vi mirai con fede. 
 
 Io la vidi si bella e si gentile 
 ed in vista si umile, che per forza 
 
 del suo piacere 
 
 a lei veder menaron gli occhi il core. 
 Partissi allora ciascun pensier vile, 
 e amore, ch' e sottile si che sforza 
 
 1' altrui savere 
 
 al suo volere, mi si fe signore. 
 Dunque non muove ragion il disdegno, 
 ch' io convegno seguire isforzato 
 Io mio disio secondo ch' egli e nato, 
 ancor che da vertd sia scompagnato; 
 perche non e cagion, ch' io non son degno; 
 c' a ci6 vegno come quei ch' e menato ; 
 
 ma questo sol m' assegno, 
 
 morendo sconsolato, 
 c' amor fa di ragion ci6 che gli e grato. 
 
 (Vil.)
 
 ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES 
 
 D. C. = Divina Commedia. 
 
 V. N. = Vita Nuova. 
 
 V. E. = De Vulgari Eloquentia. 
 
 Conv. = Con-vivio. 
 
 All. = Allacci. 
 
 Val. = Valeriani. 
 
 Mon. = Monaci, Crestomazia Italiana. 
 
 V. R. V. = // Libra de Varie Romanze Volgare (Cod. 
 
 Vat. 3793), a cura di S. Satta. 
 A. R. V. = Antiche Rime Volgari (Cod. Vat. 3793), pub- 
 
 blicate per cura di A. d' Ancona e D. Com- 
 
 paretti. 
 
 Chig. MS. = Chigian Manuscript. 
 Gloss. Occ. = Glossaire Occitanien. 
 Vill. = Villarosa, Rime Antiche Toscane. 
 
 Nan. = Nannucci, Mamtale della Letteratura del 
 
 prime secolo della Lingua Italiana. 
 D'Anc. eBac. = D' Ancona e Bacci, Storia della Letteratura 
 
 Italiana.
 
 NOTES
 
 NOTES 
 I. 
 
 FOR the history of Piero delle Vigne, or Petrus de Vineis, 
 students may refer to almost any commentary on Dante, Inf. xiii. 
 58 sqq. Dante does not cite him as a poet ; but he was one of 
 the earliest vernacular Italian versifiers ; and the facts that he 
 died about the middle of the fourteenth century, and that from 
 1230 or so onwards he was busily engaged in State affairs, hold- 
 ing the offices of logothete and protonotary to Frederick II, whose 
 right-hand man he was for many years, entitle us to refer most 
 of his poems to the first thirty years of the century ; while the 
 existence of a tenzone, or poetical debate, on the nature of love, 
 between him, Jacopo Mostacci, and the Notary of Lentino, 
 enables us more or less to date those writers, less known to general 
 history. Pietro is generally credited with having invented the 
 sonnet, the indigenous and most typical form of Italian poetry. 
 
 The actual date of the present piece is not known ; but I have 
 placed it at the head of this collection, as it seems thoroughly 
 to strike the key-note of ' Trecentist ' verse. Allacci, who includes 
 it in his selection, assigns it to the Notary. His text varies 
 a good deal from that of the Vat. MSS. 
 
 It will be noted how each stanza opens with one or two of the 
 words with which its predecessor concludes. A similar artifice 
 occurs in Nos. XIII, XLV. 
 
 The 'art', as Dante calls it, or structure of the stanza, is 
 simple. The lines are hendecasyllabic, with the exception of 9 
 and 10, which are heptasyllabic. The metre is iambic. The 
 rimes run ABCABC, CDEEDC. The few internal rimes, as in 
 St. 2. 8 and 4. 2, are probably accidental. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. i. ed ene. V.R.V. reads eue. A.R.V., follow- 
 ing Allacci, has e vene. This is slightly nearer to the 
 ductus literarum ; ene gives a much better sense, when we
 
 146 NOTES 
 
 remember the 'movemur et sumus ' of Acts xvii. 28, besides 
 avoiding the awkward repetition in 1. 3, so that I have preferred to 
 regard the u as a blunder of the scribe (or reader) for n. The 
 *may be the not uncommon superfluous enclitic (as, for instance, 
 vane in Purg. xxv. 42) ; or, better, have its full force of ' thence ', 
 inde. The insertion of ed seems quite permissible. 
 
 1. 4. divisare : ' describe.' So Purg. xxix. 82. The anno- 
 tator (Rovillin) of the Lyons ed. (1551) of Dante calls it 'modo 
 di parlar Francese '. It is certainly a Provenc,alism. 
 
 1. 7. ma si. We say ' but even so '. 
 
 1. 10. ca = che; both 'that' and 'than', quod and quam. 
 The latter sense was no doubt the original ; ca is intermediate 
 between quam and che. It is a common form in early Italian. 
 
 1. II. tale. All. has si gran. 
 
 STANZA 2,l.i. Istato : i is extra metrum. 
 
 1. 4. norato : onorato. The omission of the o is very usual. 
 
 1. 7. c' a. All. che. 
 
 1. 9. aunor=0#0r; a very frequent form. Conoscenza, often 
 written canoscenza, ' intelligence ', is another stock attribute of 
 the ' donna '. 
 
 1. n. talento, 'will', ' inclination' ; as often in Dante. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. i. ad essa : V.R.V. adesa. Perhaps we should 
 read adesso ; esso indeclinable is often appended to a preposi- 
 tion with an intensitive force. Thus sopresso, Inf. xxiii. 54; 
 conesso, Purg. iv. 27. See Diez, ii. 426. It must not be 
 confused with adesso, adverb of time, davanza : probably 
 only ' superabounds ' ; though the verb davanzare, formed from 
 adverb d'avanzo, does not occur later, nor is it recognized by 
 Crusca. It may conceivably be adapted from Prov. diruant anar, 
 ' to precede, escort ' : in which case one is reminded of Ps. xcvi. 
 6, where an Italian version of 1573 has ' la gloria e 1* ornamento 
 avanti a quello'. Such Scriptural reminiscences, with ascription 
 to the lady of divine qualities, are frequent and daring enough 
 in these poems, just as they were commonplaces of courtly 
 flattery. 
 
 1. 8. briga (Fr. brigue= t intrigue '), a word of obscure origin, 
 means ' strife ', ' worry '. briga di n. e efaf. = ' having to struggle 
 with annoy and weariness '. (V.R.V. edinotaiht e superfluous).
 
 1. 9- V.R.V. corico pragtone, obviously corrupt. The slight 
 alteration of corico to carico allows a sense to be extracted. ' A 
 little good, acquired without too much trouble, is better than 
 wealth (lit. a rich man) by natural right (i.e. unearned) after 
 he passes his prime.' For ragione see note to No. XIX, St. 4, 
 1.6. 
 
 1. 1 1. All. ma lo mio ricchore de 1 e. /., which looks like a gloss. 
 
 I. 12. i' : Ml.che] perhaps better ; with comma for semicolon 
 at end of preceding line. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. agio must be scanned as one syllable; pro- 
 nounced a?. So voglio, deggio, gioia, noia, and similar words. 
 
 II. 5, 6. Ml.per cut chanto e son di gioia guaruto [sic] e tengno 
 me sovr 3 ogri 1 altro amadore. Of the next three lines he makes 
 a complete hash. 
 
 11. 7-9. Gaspary (S.P.S., p. 51) quotes a similar sentiment 
 from Pons de Capdueil as an instance of the Italians' debt to the 
 troubadours. The expression is no doubt very like ; but this 
 sentiment is surely a commonplace of all amatory poetry, down 
 to ' Si le roi m'avait donne* Paris sa grand'ville.' 
 
 1. 12. core, riming to core (1. 6) in practically the same sense, 
 is contrary to the general rule of ' equivocal ' rime. See V,E. ii. 
 13. Possibly we should read here amore. The two words are 
 often substituted for each other by scribes. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. i. mio: like tuo and suo, very rarely a dis- 
 syllable; so rarely that, when it occurs, one may suspect 
 a syllable dropped in the MS. 
 
 I. 2. abento : ' rest,' ' solace.' This pretty word, of constant 
 occurrence in the early poets, seems to have disappeared entirely 
 by Dante's time. Diez (WorterbucK) calls it Sicilian. Its 
 derivation is unknown, but it is probably connected with 
 ventus; the idea being of a cool, breezy place, such as 
 a Southerner would find refreshing, just as more northern 
 people formed abri, ' shelter,' from apricus, ' warm.' 
 
 1.3. grazie: three syllables ; asgrazwso in Inf. v. 88 is four. 
 
 1. 5. al chiaro viso : V.R.V. col, which makes the line too 
 long. A.R.V. escapes by adopting c/riar, a doubtfully possible 
 form. It seems simpler to read al. Au cler vis is a stock 
 phrase in early French poetry. 
 
 L 2
 
 i 4 8 NOTES 
 
 11. 9, 10. These lines, as given by the Vat. MS., are obviously 
 corrupt. They are short, and the rime fallo parlo, though 
 not unexampled, is not satisfactory. Casini, in his note to A.R.V., 
 
 suggests : 
 
 Dunqu' eo nom posso farlo, 
 Nom fallo se non parlo. 
 
 This is plausible ; it might be better with nl 'in for nom in the 
 second line. I would however suggest converting the present to 
 
 the future : 
 
 Dunqu' eo nom falleragio 
 Se no 'nde parleragio. 
 
 'nde : often used, especially with no or non, for the later ne. 
 
 II. 
 
 Again we find, though with less precision, the last line of each 
 stanza echoed in the first of the next. Rime-scheme : ABAB, 
 CDDC. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. i. disio: Bella Mano io vivo. If distort re- 
 tained, it must be regarded as sb., governed by b. speranza : 
 Nan. and other editors give fidanza, to avoid the riming of the 
 same word in the same sense ; but there seems to be no autho- 
 rity for this, though it is otherwise better. But see Stanza 3, 
 11. I, 2, where disio and speranza are again coupled. 
 
 1. 3. MSS. (Vat. and Laur.) e guardomi. mi : the quasi- 
 reflexive form is common enough in Dante, as elsewhere. See 
 for examples Inf. ii. 9, Purg. xxiv. 52, 91, Par. xxii. 27, 36 (where 
 // riguarde has much the same sense as guardomi here). The 
 pronouns probably represent the Latin dative, not the accusa- 
 tive. So mi teria below, Stanza 2, 1. 3. 
 
 1. 6. ed : e is frequently used to introduce the second member 
 of a sentence involving time or condition. Wiese, 117, 118, 
 gives many instances. Others may be found Inf. xxv. 34, 50. 
 In V.N. t 24 we have 'sedendo io pensoso in alcuna parte, ed 
 io mi sentii,' &c. spanna: images drawn from navigation are 
 very common. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. bello=^ lo\ A.R.V. belo. 'Truly I should 
 hold it.' Nan. omits Io.
 
 NOTES 149 
 
 1. 7. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is a stock ornament. 
 Dante's use of it in Purg. xxvii. 37-39 and xxxiii. 69 will be 
 remembered. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 4. ched : the d, retained to avoid hiatus, is 
 of course a relic of Latin quod. Che in early Italian serves as 
 a universal relative, much like 'which' in Elizabethan (and to 
 this day in illiterate) English. Instances are frequent. Here, of 
 course, it stands for quando. 
 
 1. 5. lena : so MSS. Bella Mano, Val., Nan., A.R.V., alter 
 to cera, 'face,' in order to save the rime with spera (the 
 reading of the MSS. in 1. 8). But the epithet aulente, ' fragrant,' 
 is far more suitable to lena, 'breath.' Mon., who keeps 
 lena, thinks the author may have been satisfied with an 
 assonance ; but it seems better to risk spena (for spene) in 
 1. 8. The alteration of final e to a is not unexampled, e.g. 
 suora for suore ; while assonance is seldom, if ever, permitted. 
 
 1. 6. Gaspary quotes a Provencal parallel ; but here again 
 the notion of dying for love might surely have occurred to the 
 writer independently. There are plenty of parallels, without 
 counting universal commonplaces. 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. 2, 4. dimando mimando : this is the reading 
 of the MSS., and the sense seems fairly clear. ' I now demand 
 my own heart at your hands.' The notion of the lady having 
 the lover's heart in her keeping is of course very common ; 
 sometimes, as in V.N., 3, she feeds on it 'and the time seems 
 long to me since I have been sending love into your heart.' I take 
 mi mando to be another instance of the quasi-reflexive. It 
 might be better to read fino che for che fino. Fino is of course 
 the regular term for the 'courtly' love; and a scribe could 
 hardly have seen the two words in one line without coupling them. 
 Mon. reads mi manda, presumably taking amore as the subject, 
 assuming the author, it would seem, to have again chanced 
 his rime. A.R.V. saves him by reading dimanda ; but either the 
 object or the subject seems lacking according as we make cor 
 subject or object. Bella Mano has in line 4 vi mando ; which, 
 if any emendation is needed, seems the best. 
 
 1. 5. Vat. MS. piaciere: this is clearly wrong. Even so 
 careless a rimer as Mon. makes Pietro to have been could not
 
 rso NOTES 
 
 have allowed -ere and -enio to pass. Val. emends to guarao 
 tempo vi sia in piacimento ; Nan. follows him. The omission 
 of che is quite usual ; but it seems simpler to omit mi. 
 
 1. 6. spanda : we might have expected spanni, after the 
 previous use of the word ; but very probably the author thought 
 them the same. 
 
 1. 8. insengnamento : Prov. ensenhamen, ' instruction,' 
 ' guidance ' ; another technical troubadour's term. 
 
 STANZA 5,1. 2. a'mballia, 'has in keeping'; another favourite 
 word. It only occurs twice in D.C,, of St. Peter with the keys 
 and of Cato with the souls. It occurs in a Canzone attributed to 
 Dante (xvi. 65). From bailo, a steward, bailiff- Lat. bajttlus, ' a 
 porter.' Fr. batller, Eng. bail. With accent thrown back, bdlio, 
 lnil ia, it means guardian or nurse (Conv. iv. 5). 
 
 1. 8. volire, Sicilian pronunciation of volere. The spelling 
 is sometimes changed to suit the rime, sometimes not. 
 
 Dante avoids the -ere, -ire rime, though he sometimes permits 
 himself that of -preso with -iso and the other Sicilianism of u 
 for o. Mon. valore. (Why ?) 
 
 III. 
 
 Nothing is known of the personal history of Giacomo the 
 Notary, of Lentino in Sicily. He seems to have been a prolific 
 poet, much (and often justly) admired throughout the thirteenth 
 century, and much quoted by those who at a later time took 
 notice of the early writers. We know that he was a con- 
 temporary of Piero delle Vigne and Jacopo Mostacci of Pisa, 
 from the sonnet-debate between the three on the nature of 
 love, which has come down to us. (The sonnets in question : 
 ' Sollecitando un poco il mio savere,' ' Per6 c' amore non si pub 
 vedere,' ' Amor t: un desio che ven da core,' are printed 
 separately by Val. and in their proper connexion by Monaci, 
 CrestoHi., p. 61.) It will be remembered how, in the famous 
 passage Piirg. xxiv. 5 5-57, Bonagiunta of Lucca is made to name 
 ' the Notary ', Guittone, and himself, as exponents of the older, 
 more conventional and less spontaneous, style of verse. Never-
 
 NOTES 151 
 
 theless there is a vivacity about many of his poems which is 
 often as pleasing as the greater finish of the stil mtovo. We 
 may take it that he was one of the cultivated men who 
 frequented the Court of Frederick. 
 
 This poem is the first in the Vatican MS. collection. Dante 
 quotes it, though without naming the author, in V,E. i. 12, as an 
 example of polished diction and 'courtly ' vocabulary, in contrast 
 to the usual coarse style of the ordinary ' Apulian'. 
 
 The poem consists of 1 6-line stanzas, the first three of each 
 four being hepta-, the fourth hendecasyllabic. Rime-scheme : 
 ABACDBDC, EEFfGHHIiG (the small letters indicating 
 internal rimes at the sixth and seventh syllables). 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 2. priso for preso. See note to last line of 
 No. II. Cf. Purg. i. 95, iv. 126. 
 
 1. 4. non m 1 aita : ' my wish to speak is no help to me.' 
 
 1.8. teneselo : Vat. MS. etenolosi; Giunta (following 
 Palatine MS.) teneselo* aita ; Nan. teneselo a vita (interpreting 
 se lo tiene) ; Mon. tenelosi in v. The best sense seems to be 
 ' Love keeps my heart alive for himself. It is rather tempting 
 to read e' lo fenese, ' might he keep it ! ' 
 
 1. 16. vidi : the principal MSS. and all edd. till Carducci in 
 1876 have vide ; but vidi, obviously the right reading, is pre- 
 served, says Casini, in a Memoriale, or note-book, at Bologna. 
 Cf. Par. xix. 141 (according to the best reading). Render 'to my 
 own hurt I saw.' 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 1-4. Cf. No. I, last lines. 
 
 1. 6. ' beside the way I am distressed.' For the use of verso 
 or inverso in a comparison, cf. P^erg. iii. 51, Par. xxiv. 95. 
 A suggested reading is in ver^ ' in truth ' ; abolishing the stop 
 at end of this line, and taking cK to stand for #<>, ' since.' But 
 this gives no better sense. 
 
 1.7. coralemente : 'from my heart.' An imported Provengal 
 word; not in D.C., but used once by Dante in a sonnet, 
 V.N., 22. 
 
 1. 8. che non credo mai si stingua: note the omission of 
 che after credo a\\ idiom common to Italian and English ; and 
 stingua, subj. because of the negative preceding (Diez, iii. 346). 
 
 1. II. The salamander is another creature which plays
 
 152 NOTES 
 
 a great part in the fauna of the troubadours and their Italian 
 imitators. 
 
 1. 1 6. ' Comes to the ear, and brings me no grain.' 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 5, 6. improdito : so the Vat. MS. The 
 Laurentian (Redi's) has om prudito, according to Monaci, who 
 says that the lines are missing in the Palatine. Giunta has e? 
 parmiuno spirito ; which Casini (perhaps on the strength of this) 
 avers to be the reading of the Pal. The Memoriale has im- 
 pendito \ an ugly image, which pleases some modern Italian 
 critics. (Is impendito ever found for impeso or impendiito ?) 
 This seems to be a case of lectio difficilior potior. Improdito is 
 no doubt an unusual word ; but may it not mean ' one deprived of 
 prowess,' ' in a fright,' the opposite of prode ? lo cor : Giunta 
 c/i' al cor. 
 
 1. 7. chito : i. e. cheto, ' quiet.' 
 
 1. 10. sturba : cancella (Nan.). Perhaps rather ' makes 
 a mess of it '. 
 
 1. II. pura seems to be equivalent to pure (which Val. 
 reads) ; Giunta : perb che. For the image, cf. Par. xiii. 78. 
 
 1. 14. propia: as usually, for propria. 
 
 1. 16. se s' apprende: so V.R.V. A.R.V. and Mon. s"oprende 
 apparently a ' vox nihili '. Giunta, following Pal. MS., has 
 ove s 1 apprende, which Nan. interprets ' whatever he catches 
 hold of. But should not the verb in that case be in the subj. ? 
 Apprendersi in a physical sensz = appr'gliarsi is, to say the least, 
 very rare, unless in the metaphorical use of fire catching, plants 
 taking root, and the like ; but it is hard to find another sense 
 for it here. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. I. If che be retained, there seems no verb for 
 amore. Giunta gets out of the difficulty by reading m' 2 suave. 
 ave, ' has got me.' 
 
 I. 4. fortuna : in the common technical sense of 'storm'. 
 
 II. 5, 6. ' Gets away by jettison from the place of danger.' 
 
 11. n, 12. afondara, gravara : archaic form of cond. It 
 is formed directly from the Lat. pluperfect (Diez, ii. 133). So 
 in English, e.g. 'yea, the waters had drowned us, and the 
 streams had gone over our soul.' 
 
 11. 1 3-16. ' As the storm breaks up when it touches the earth,
 
 NOTES 153 
 
 so do I break up, and seem to get repose when I sigh and weep.' 
 creio for creggio, i. e. credo ; formed on the analogy of veggio, 
 veto, for vedo. In the latter case the ' palatalized ' form is due 
 to the Lat. video. (Wiese, p. 132.) 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 3. inamorato : / between two n's dropped 
 in scansion. 
 
 1. 7. lasso : Lat. laxo , ' set myself loose.' In 1. 5 it is the 
 adj. ' weary '. 
 
 1. il. 'all in its fleshly form.' 
 
 1. 16. tal lo vederia. Note omission of relative. 
 
 IV. 
 
 This pretty little poem so strongly resembles the 'Acmen 
 Septimius' of Catullus as to make the reader wonder if the 
 Notary can have had any knowledge of that famous piece. Not 
 only is the sentiment very similar, but the form, partly narrative, 
 partly dialogue, is alike in both, except that, whereas in the 
 earlier the poet narrates, here the lover tells the story himself. 
 Though the MS. of Catullus was not rediscovered (at Verona) 
 till after 1300, some individual poems seem to have been known 
 throughout the Middle Ages ; and this is as likely as any to 
 have been handed down in Florilegia. Some of the more 
 obvious resemblances are quoted ; others will occur to the reader. 
 It may be noted that the lover uses tit, not voi. 
 
 The lines are heptasyllabic throughout : rime - scheme 
 ABABCCBDDB. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. I. coninciare (or coninsare) is more usual at 
 this time than com-. 
 
 1. 3. al mio parimento : ' in my opinion.' Often al mio 
 parere ; used by Dante once or twice (e. g. V.N., 3 ; Par. ii. 
 84), but only in verse. Petrarch and Boccaccio also have it. 
 
 1. 4. Agri Messina : Acre and Messina may be taken to 
 denote Palestine and Sicily ; to an Italian the most eastern 
 and western of Frederick's realms. So Catullus uses ' Syrias 
 Britanniasque ' the extremities of the Empire. All., not 
 perceiving this, reads da qui.
 
 154 NOTES 
 
 STANZA 2, 11, i, 2. Cf. : 
 
 ut multo mihi maior acriorque 
 ignis mollibus ardet in medullis. 
 
 1. 6. All. laniata, probably to avoid the necessity of making 
 four syllables of lanciata. 
 
 1. 7. Cf. No. V, Stanza 2, 1. 3. The hidden wound is a 
 commonplace. 
 
 I. 8. It might be better to read membriti; fiata being 
 properly a trisyllable. 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 2, 4, 7, 10. As Casini notes, -ento and -ente 
 seem to be accepted as sufficient rimes. 
 STANZA 4, 11. i, 2. Cf. 
 
 Ni te perdite amo atque amare porro 
 omnes sum assidue paratus annos. 
 
 II. 3-6. Gaspary quotes some lines of Peyrols as suggesting 
 these, but the resemblance is not very close ; and the lusinga- 
 tore or slanderer is a commonplace of the school. 
 
 I. 3. lusingatore, Prov. lausenjador, in the sense of both 
 'slanderer ' and ' flatterer '. In the face of this double sense the 
 usual derivation from Lat. laus will hardly hold, and it seems 
 better to regard the word, which runs through all the Romance 
 languages, as of Teutonic origin, and akin to Eng. leasing (: lying). 
 
 II. 5, 6. Another reading is to put no stop at the end of 1. 5, 
 and to take per='in spite of,' a sense which it has in perche, 
 Purg. v. 58. 
 
 1. 8. ' may he never see a spring.' Casini suggests trans- 
 posing the last two couplets, which certainly makes the sense 
 run more smoothly. 
 
 V. 
 
 Heptasyllabic throughout; rime-scheme ABCABCDDC. 
 
 STANZA i, 11. 4-6. The meaning seems to be 'as a painter 
 who is thinking about some scene other than his real subject, 
 and paints that instead of it.' 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. porte forporti. 
 
 1. 4. Vat. anzi nf asembra morte. I have followed Monaci
 
 NOTES 155 
 
 in preferring the Palatine. The Laurentian has ; e molto mi par 
 forte, forte =hard, as Purg. xxix. 42. This on the whole seems 
 to give the better sense ; but either will do. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. pintura : of course, a mental picture is 
 meant. 
 
 I. 4. vio = veto for veggie. 
 
 II. 7-9. ' Passo oscuro,' says Casini. It hardly needs ex- 
 planation for readers who know their Bible. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 4. invoglia : ' wraps up,' involvat. So sdoglia, 
 (ex)solvat. Not to be confused with invogliare from voglia, in 
 Purg. xiv. no, Par. iii. 84. 
 
 1. 5. Laur. tanto prende piu loco. So All. Probably a later 
 alteration, to make the dependent clause more symmetrical. It 
 might seem easier to do this by reading quando in the previous 
 line, with the Pal. MS. 
 
 STANZA 5. The Vat. MS. transposes this and Stanza 6 ; spoil- 
 ing the sequence of ideas. 
 
 1. I. siete must mean ' are there ' ; but this use is unusual. 
 
 I. 9. bella : Laur. and ^A. forte ; obviously another attempt to 
 make the sense run more easily by avoiding the change of person. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. I. Vat. Perzo (perdb) s' io v' b laudata. With 
 this the stop at end of 1. 6 would be replaced by a comma. 
 
 II. 7, 8. The readings vary somewhat, though not materially. 
 Laur. has aggiatelo, and voi dire, which may stand for iioglio 
 dire or voi direi. Allacci, Monaci, and Casini take the former 
 view ; but the reading of the Vat. is good enough. singa, i.e. 
 signa = segno. This playing fast and loose with genders is not very 
 uncommon ; and in this case the Lat. plural in a may justify the 
 fern, termination. It is possible that there may be a reminiscence 
 of the Prov. senhal, or secret name under which the troubadour 
 celebrated his lady. Here the 'signal' is the poet's silence. 
 Gaspary's suggestion of Zb c/t' io no dire' a lingua brings this 
 out better. cio (Vat. so) must be taken as di do, unless for do 
 che we may read di do, with the common omission of the relative. 
 
 STANZA 7, 1. I. Laur. has Mia canz.fina, and in 1. 3 maitina, 
 forgetting the rime-scheme ; and in 1. 4 fina. Pal. omits the 
 stanza altogether.
 
 156 NOTES 
 
 VI. 
 
 Rime-scheme : AaBAaBbCCDD. It will be noticed that the 
 same rime-endings are kept throughout. With this poem may 
 be compared that by Prezivalle Doria, Amor m' ha priso\ 
 though in that the lover is more submissive. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 2. A.R.V. orgolglio w' 2 rendente. If we keep 
 the reading of the MS., -oglio must be pronounced as one 
 syllable, as often in voglio. Prov. orguelh, vuelh had no doubt 
 some influence in producing these syncopations (or whatever the 
 correct term is). With either reading the first two lines are 
 not very clear. Allacci's reading Pot benvolenza tforgoglio ma 
 [gy. me] rendete makes that line indeed simple enough, but has 
 no connexion with the preceding and following. Poi must 
 answer to prima. The sense seems to be : ' Your pride in face 
 of my suffering, which restores me (sc. to myself), wrought in 
 my heart at first grief, then goodwill,' i.e. a feeling of easy in- 
 difference. The sentiment is common enough. ' If now I be 
 disdained, I would my heart had never known you ' ; ' If she 
 think not well of me, what care I how fair she be ? 'and so on. 
 
 I. 4. And take delight to increase a wretch's woe, 
 
 Then all her nature's goodly gifts are lost. (SPENSER.) 
 
 II. 5-8. The lover is soon in bondage again. He must do as 
 all the world does and go in fear of his lady. He does not even 
 wish for fair looks, if she has not love in her heart. (St. 2.) 
 
 STANZA 3. He is ready to obey her ; he has done nothing to 
 repent of. Then again he plucks up a little spirit. Some feeling 
 of pride towards a disagreeable person is but human ; but her 
 pride against his humility is immoderate. 
 
 1. 3. penitenza is a kind of ' cognate accusative ' to pianger. 
 
 1. 7. sorchietanza : formed from O.Fr. sorcutdance, ' pre- 
 sumption ' (the place of which was early taken by outrecuidance). 
 Or, reading sor chietanza, we may interpret ' beyond possibility 
 of any settlement '. 
 
 STANZA 4. 'Those who are unjustly harsh come to repentance ; 
 and I venture to hope that love is beginning to punish her. So 
 she, my joy, would be prettier if her pride is humbled ; love can 
 do it it is his wont.'
 
 NOTES 157 
 
 1. 5. giente : a regular word, borrowed from Provengal, to 
 denote all that is graceful, morally and physically. Dante uses 
 it frequently in lyrics, but not in D.C. Afterwards gentile took 
 its place, though with a rather stronger meaning, ' noble.' 
 
 STANZA 5. ' You cannot have perceived how pride has ruined 
 Florence, and how Pisa has the good sense to shun the aims of 
 proud folk. Your pride is as stubborn as that of Milan at her 
 carroccio! Here the Ghibelline poet shows himself; and in- 
 cidentally enables us to date the poem with some accuracy. In 
 1232 Frederick had inflicted a heavy fine on Florence for its 
 contumacy, particularly in carrying on hostilities against Siena. 
 Pisa, on the other hand, had always been loyal, and accepted his 
 measures for keeping the peace. Milan had suffered a severe 
 chastisement in the battle of Cortenuova (Nov. 27, 1237). On 
 that occasion the Milanese had made a last stand round their 
 carroccio ; which was, however, captured and sent to Rome. 
 The event carried dismay among the party ; Piero delle Vigne and 
 Frederick himself announced it in letters to princes and peoples. 
 It must have been fresh in memory when this was written. 
 
 1. 4. intenza : a word of various meanings. Here it pro- 
 bably has its primary sense of ' aim ' or ' intention '. 
 
 1. 6. Melan a lo carroccio : cf. ' Piramo alia gelsa,' Purg. 
 xxxiii. 69. 
 
 1. 8. sgombra : intr., 'disencumbers himself.' 
 
 VII. 
 
 Jacopo Mostacci is just not only a name. He is believed to have 
 been a Pisan. As has been mentioned, he took part with Piero 
 delle Vigne and the Notary in a sonnet-debate on the nature of 
 love ; so that he must have been their contemporary, though 
 probably their junior. Monaci quotes from a Spanish chronicle 
 a mention of his having been sent to Spain by Manfred in July 
 1260 as one of a commission to negotiate a marriage, doubtless 
 that of Manfred's daughter Constance with Peter, son of James, 
 King of Arragon. See Purg. iii. 115. Obviously, therefore, 
 he was a person of some consideration. The present piece is, 
 as to its first three stanzas, an almost literal rendering of
 
 158 NOTES 
 
 a Provencal poem, the authorship of which is assigned to 
 various troubadours, including Cadenet and Peire Ramon : 
 
 Lunga sazon ai estat vas amor 
 
 Humils e francs, et ai fait son coman . 
 
 Gaspary (S.P.S., chap. 2 ad *>'/.) gives the Italian poem in full, 
 with variants and notes, also the three stanzas of the Prove^al. 
 English readers will be struck with the resemblance in tone, 
 and often in expression, to Sir Robert Ayton's ' I loved thee 
 once, I'll love no more ' ; while the opening lines recall the well- 
 known song ' Since first I saw your face, I resolved to honour and 
 renown ye' both of about 1600, at which date the poem, so far 
 as is known, had not been printed. Nor, so far as I am aware, 
 had it been imitated by any of the Cinquecentisti, whose influence 
 upon English poetry towards the end of the century was so well 
 marked. 
 
 The Cruscan Dictionary (s. v. adonare) assigns the poem to 
 Guittone. 
 
 The rime-scheme is simple : ABCABCDEDE. Lines 3 and 
 6 are heptasyllabic. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. 4. adesso = sempre, says Gaspary ; but it is 
 probably more nearly equivalent to the older English use of 
 ' presently '. 
 
 1. 6. nonde, Lat. non inde : now non ne, 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 1-6. 
 
 ' Nothing could have my love o'erthrown, 
 If thou hadst still continued mine ; 
 Yea, if thou hadst still remained thy own 
 I might perchance have yet been thine.' (AYTON.) 
 
 1. 2. This line, as given in the MS., is a syllable short. The 
 insertion of si seems obvious. adonata. Adonare is from 
 Lat. donare, but its sense appears to have been modified by 
 domare. It usually has the meaning of ' to subdue ', as in 
 Inf. vi. 34. Reflexively it means ' to surrender ', as Purg. xi. 
 19. It was confused with adunare by the earlier makers of 
 vocabularies, such as Francesco d'Alunno, and, to some extent, 
 the Cruscans. In Proven$al it seems to mean adunare solely,
 
 NOTES 159 
 
 so that, as Gaspary points out, Mostacci probably misunderstood 
 his original, ' Mas tan la vei adonar ab enjan,' i. e. ' united with 
 deceit '. 
 
 11 4j 5- gioia in the earlier poets usually scans as one 
 syllable in the interior of a line, unless a word beginning with 
 two consonants follows. Towards the end of the century it begins 
 to be dissyllabic. 
 
 1. 9. intendanza, ' object to aim at,' hence (as usually) 
 ' object of love '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 1-6. ' My leaving her will not hurt her ; but ' 
 with a touch of conscious pride in his poetic powers ' I could 
 make her feel that she has lost something.' 
 
 I. i. The use of ella in the oblique case may be noted. It goes 
 down to Petrarch and Boccaccio. parto is obviously not 
 a precise rime to tanto in 1. 4 ; but it gives at least an 
 assonance, which is more than can be said of Casini's pro- 
 posed reading, after the Pal. MS. : se d'e. parto e in a. intendo. 
 But for the sim part de lieis of the original, it would be easy to 
 suggest canto, taking ella to refer to the new love. 
 
 II. 7-10. ' But I will not, lest I should be taken for an evil- 
 speaker ; much better to leave a bad master on good terms.' 
 The little touch in 1. 8 seems to be original ; at any rate, it is 
 not in the Provengal. 
 
 STANZA 4 is not in the Provencal. It has, perhaps for this 
 reason, got into some confusion in the MSS. 
 
 I. 6. falliero. So Mon. The Vat. hus/al/tre, which A.R.V. 
 follows, reading in 1. 3 pensiere for the MS. pensero : whereby 
 the rime is not saved. Falliero is a perfectly possible form for 
 fallatore, as parliero for parlatore. The form in -iero is doubt- 
 less due to French influence. It represents Lat. -anus, not -ator. 
 The meaning is ' which has been wasted for me '. (Fallare, ' to 
 fail,' 'be lacking,' must be distinguished fromfallire, 'to deceive' ; 
 though the two run into each other.) 
 
 II. 7-10. Vat. has: ' manonomispero Catale sengnora son 
 servato chebuono guiderdone averagio ca perzo chenobria ' &c. 
 With a little reconstruction a rhythm and a sense can be got at, 
 but I have followed the Palatine, as given by Monaci : which 
 seems more to the point.
 
 160 NOTES 
 
 1. 10. stagione. The idea of the reward coming in due 
 season is a very favourite one. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The opening of this little poem is very graceful. The arrange- 
 ment of long and short lines is particularly agreeable, and 
 marks a distinct advance in rhythmical resource. Rime-scheme : 
 ABbCABbCDDEEFF. 
 
 STANZA I. Images from the winter silence and spring renewal 
 of the birds' song are very frequent. Italians, one may con- 
 jecture, had not yet begun to eat small birds. 
 
 1. 6. svernare, ' to come out of winter,' Lat. dishibernarc. 
 Hence of the spring song of birds, in which sense it seems to be 
 used in Par. xxviii. 118. In xxvii. 142 it is used reflexively, in 
 the literal sense. 
 
 I. 12. Doubtless a reminiscence of Eccles. iii. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 7. avenente : a stock epithet for a lady, 
 ' kind ', ' affable '. From Prov. cminen. The idea is of one who 
 comes forward to meet a wish. Avenant is still used in a very 
 similar sense in French. 
 
 I. ii. ognunque: omne utnqttam. The Crusca does not 
 recognize it. 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 2, 3, 5, 6. Note the equivalence, for riming 
 purposes, of -inga and -egna. The facility of the passage from 
 gn or gl to ng and Ig in Italian is illustrated by such words as 
 vengo, tolgo, beside vegno, toglio. There is no need to change 
 the spelling. 
 
 1. 9. lico is a word not found elsewhere, and impossible to 
 interpret. Some would read rico ; but the rime of a word to 
 itself in precisely the same sense is inadmissible. The only 
 suggestion that I can make is that silica is one word (as the MS. 
 writes it) and intended to represent the German selig. Mostacci 
 must have heard plenty of German in the Imperial Court ; and 
 this word (which he would have heard in the form scelic) may have 
 struck his fancy, and he may have tried to naturalize it. The 
 meaning would be : ' If I do not attain to full bliss, I am surely 
 rich.'
 
 NOTES 161 
 
 11. 7-12. Note the echo of the Psalms throughout this stanza; 
 especially of the opening verses of Pss. xviii and xxxi (Vulg., 
 xvii and xxx). 
 
 STANZA 4. The dolce laccio of 1. 2 looks like a reminiscence 
 by contrast of the laqueus of Ps. xxxi. 4 ; while the other lines 
 will recall other phrases curiously enough, so far as the actual 
 terms go, more of our own version than of the Vulgate. But the 
 Vulgate was by no means the only rendering of the Psalms with 
 which a man of the thirteenth century might be acquainted. 
 
 IX. 
 
 This quaint little piece is assigned by the Vat. MS., which 
 alone has preserved it, to Messer lo re Giovanni. The only 
 King John of the time would be John, Count of Brienne, titular 
 King of Jerusalem, through his wife Mary of Montferrat, leader 
 of the fifth Crusade, and, at the end of his life, Latin Emperor 
 of the East. He was also Frederick's second father-in-law ; 
 the Emperor having in 1225 married his daughter Yolande. 
 A good deal of his time was spent in Italy, where he was 
 a popular figure, for his gifts of mind and body. ' A man of 
 energy, and in form fair before the sons of men,' a chronicler 
 quoted by Monaci calls him ; and Salimbene says that he was 
 deemed a second Charlemagne, and that when he hit about with 
 his iron mace the Saracens fled from the face of him as if they 
 saw the Devil. As he was born about 1160, and died not later 
 than 1237, this poem, if correctly ascribed to him, must be one 
 of the earliest specimens of Italian verse. Some modern critics, 
 with the usual ' credulous incredulity ', as it has been aptly 
 termed, characteristic of modern Italians when dealing with their 
 early literature, have attempted to throw doubt on the correct- 
 ness of the ascription in the MS. The only tangible argument 
 that I have seen is to the effect that John would not have had 
 time to learn Italian. No doubt, when he had occasion to use 
 strong language to his son-in-law he preferred his native 
 French ; but it would be hard if he did not acquire Italian enough 
 to write light verses in that tongue. Others, puzzled perhaps 
 by the changes of rhythm, have thought the poem to be a patch- 
 
 BUTLER M
 
 1 62 NOTES 
 
 work of fragments from other pieces. But this change of 
 rhythm was a feature of the class known as discordi, Prov. des- 
 cortz. The lines are clearly intended to be sung to a dance, 
 and the changes correspond obviously to changes of step. 
 
 The varying length of the stanzas (if they may so be called) 
 is also characteristic of the discordo. In the present case the 
 first contains 23 lines, the second 24, the third 22, the fourth 
 13, the fifth, sixth, and seventh, 6 each. The rime-schemes vary 
 no less. That of St. I is AABCCBDDB, EBEB and so on 
 to the end ; of St. 2, A 2 B 2 for six lines, A 2 A 2 A 2 B a for eight 
 lines, A 2 A 2 B 2 for six lines, A 2 A 2 A2B 2 for four lines ; of St. 3, 
 A 3 B 3 throughout ; of St. 4, A 4 for seven lines, B 4 C 4 (identical 
 with B 2 A 2 ) for six; of St. 5, A 5 A 5 B C , twice; of St. 6, A 6 B 6 
 thrice ; of St. 7, A 7 A 7 B 7 C 7 C 7 B 7 . The great number of a rimes, 
 are, ate, ansa, will be noticed. The metre of Sts. i and 2 is 
 a lilting amphibrachic, the type being inver la pascore, e far 
 conoscanza ; but an extra syllable often comes at the beginning. 
 From St. i, 1. 12, to the end, the men lines have three beats ; 
 as : Colore non vi'di si ge'nte. In St. 3 the measure changes to 
 a tripping trochaic line of seven syllables. In St. 4 the first 
 eight lines as given in the MS. appear to continue this ; but 
 I suspect that there should be a return to the measure of I and 
 2, to which the last 5 lines clearly belong. By the slight 
 omissions of letters which I have indicated the whole stanza 
 becomes homogeneous. St. 5 has w w v w (bis) | 
 w - c/ v, twice over ; St. 6 \j ^ ^ ^ | w ^ | 
 thrice ; St. 7 is like St. 5, without the initial syllable to 11. 3 and 
 6. In 1. 3 sanza must probably be scanned as one syllable, 
 a licence natural enough in a Frenchman. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. 7. chiarita spera : ' beam of brightness ' ; a 
 favourite form of address to the lady, used by the Notary and 
 others. This spera is probably a distinct word from spera, ' a 
 sphere ', and Teutonic in origin. Germ, speer, ' spear ' (cf. strale 
 from strahl). Dante uses it once in D.C. Purg. xvii. 5 (where 
 modern translators mostly render by 'disk', 'orb', 'globe'). 
 The older commentators knew it, and explain by raggio or 
 some similar word, as does Torraca among the moderns. It 
 also occurs (probably) in the Canzone ' lo son venuto,' 1. 16.
 
 NOTES 163 
 
 Petrarch appears to have it once in the sonnet 'In mezzo di 
 due amanti.' 
 
 l.g. genzore : comparative of gente; ~Pro\.gensor, 
 
 1. 14. Read ancora la far, me tri gratia, 
 
 1.17. pascore : 'spring'; another Provengalism. (B. del 
 Born : El coindes pascors floritz Mi donz son ardit no creis.) 
 From Pascha, Easter ; perhaps not without a suggestion from 
 pasczia, ' meadows.' 
 
 1. 1 8. Read che ama; che unelided, as frequently. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 6. noranza : onoranza. 
 
 1. 15. ridare : 'dance in a ring,' Inf. vii. 24. Also riddare. 
 
 1. 22. Either si si, as above ; or the pleonastic si may be 
 dropped. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 5. in cielato : ' in secret' ; of frequent use. 
 
 1. 6. facea : fare used just like our ' do ', to save repeating 
 a verb. The story of Tristan and Iseult is one of the stock 
 commonplaces in the early poems. 
 
 It is this abrupt introduction of a bit of narration into the 
 dance-song which has chiefly exercised the modern critics ; but 
 how do they know that it was not part of the game ? After all, 
 there are transitions no less abrupt in Pindar or Horace. 
 
 1. 8. zia : she was his aunt as being the wife of Mark, his 
 uncle. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. contrate: see note to No. XLIX, St. 4, 1. 6. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. i. meglio is a monosyllable, as often in Dante, 
 where it is usually written mtf, and in later poetry. 
 
 STANZA 7, 1. 3. temere: MS. tinore, which gives neither 
 sense nor rime. 
 
 X. 
 
 Though no definite evidence on the point appears to exist, 
 we are not likely to be wrong in identifying this Rinaldo of 
 Aquino with the nobleman of that name who in 1241, with 
 the acquiescence of Peter de Vineis, succeeded in kidnapping 
 his young brother Thomas from the General of the Dominicans 
 and locking him up in one of the family castles with a view to 
 dissuading him from joining that Order. After a year the lad 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 NOTES 
 
 escaped; and Scholastic Philosophy was not deprived of its 
 greatest light. The Lords of Aquino were of German stock, 
 and were high in the favour of Frederick II. In 1257 Rinaldo 
 appears to have acted as Manfred's viceroy for Otranto and 
 Ban. 
 
 The first line of this poem is quoted by Dante twice : in V. E. 
 i. 12, as an example of the use of verba curialiora by an 
 Apulian ; and ii. 5 as an instance of the correct opening of a 
 canzone with a hendecasyllabic line. 
 
 The stanza is of 14 lines, 2, 5, 7, 9, 13 being heptasyllabic, 
 and II pentasyllable. Rime scheme: ABCABCDEFGGFED. 
 The effect of this somewhat elaborate structure is exceedingly 
 melodious. It will be observed that the first line of each stanza 
 echoes the last of the preceding. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. 3. aparigliare: 'match.' From pariglio or 
 more usually pareglio, Lat. pariculus, dim. of par. Used by 
 Dante, Par. xxvi. 107, 108. Fr. pareil, Prov. parelh, whence it 
 seems to have come directly. 
 
 11. 5, 6. The terms of feudal lordship are constantly used to 
 illustrate the relations of the lover to his lady. 
 
 1. 14. mante: 'many.' See note to No. XXIX, St. 2, 1. 2. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 6. Note that the a oigioia is not silent before 
 .$/; doubtless a relic of Latin metrical usage. Instances of 
 conformity with this rule will be found in Dante, though for 
 the most part he neglects it ; allowing, for instance, mia to stand 
 as a monosyllable before speranza. 
 
 1. 7. coraggio means here no more than core its original 
 sense. 
 
 1. 8. ver : ' compared with,' ' beside '. 
 
 1. 10. s'intenza : intenzare is a somewhat perplexing word. 
 It is not easy to find a general notion which will satisfy the various 
 significations in which it appears to be used. Here it seems to 
 mean ' set up as a rival ' or ' match itself, and it has a very similar 
 sense in No. XXXIII, St. 3, 1. 10 : ' O Dio, chi lo m' intenza.' In 
 No. XXVIII, St. 2, 1. 3, the meaning seems to be ' contends with 
 me ' or perhaps ' raises a contest in me '. It occurs also in 
 Peter de Vineis' Pot tanta conoscienza (A.R.V., xxxvii. 1. 41), 
 ' d'amore, che la 'ntenza ', where it must mean ' puts her on her
 
 NOTES 165 
 
 mettle', or something of that sort. Dante does not use the 
 verb, but has the subst. intenza in the passage Par. xxiv. 
 75-8, where it seems to denote 'purport', almost 'quality'. 
 Voc. Cruse.) which equally does not recognize the verb, renders 
 intenza by ' aim ', ' intention ', as in No. VI, St. 5, 1. 4. In this 
 way it came to mean ' object of love ' ; but no such idea seems 
 to be conveyed by the verb. Ducange indicates a Low Latin 
 intentiare : ' Intentiatum pro intentionatum, seu controversiae 
 datum ', intentionare being = intendere in the sense of litigare. 
 The Glossaire Occitanien renders entensa (vb.) by aspire. 
 The word, it may be noted, seems always to occur in rime. 
 
 I. 14. al mio paragio: 'to my rank'. Prov.paratge; ety- 
 mologically equivalent to our ' peerage '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 3. avanzare : so No. VIII, St. i, 1. 4. 
 
 II. 7-14. One lady ought not to have more than one re- 
 cognized ' seruidore ' (husbands, of course, did not count), and 
 to drive away one who has long been established may not be a 
 crime, but implies bad ' lordship '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 4. mi laudo : so Inf. ii. 74, ' di te mi loderfc '. 
 This is the usual construction, and suggests that we ought to 
 read di for e, putting a semicolon after biasmare. 
 
 1. n. no: non b. Vat. MS. maocredenza ; but the nega- 
 tive seems to be wanted. 
 
 1. 13. Casini's suggestion to omit d'amor as a gloss, and 
 substitute non, is obviously correct. 
 
 XI. 
 
 This little poem, first printed by Trucchi, and lacking from 
 few selections since, for sheer pathos and simplicity cannot be 
 matched, one might say, in the whole range of Italian verse, 
 and marks its author as a true poet. It purports to be the 
 lament of a girl whose lover has gone on a Crusade. Whether 
 it be the Crusade of 1228, or that of 1240, or indeed any par- 
 ticular Crusade at all, seems a matter of extreme unimportance. 
 It is not, strictly speaking, a canzone, but just a lyric of four- 
 line stanzas, seven syllables to a line, with alternate rimes. 
 Perhaps because all the even lines of the first two rime together, 
 the Vat. MS., which alone has preserved it, groups all the
 
 1 66 NOTES 
 
 stanzas in pairs, and the edd. have followed the arrangement. 
 The text is corrupt, and there has evidently been some disloca- 
 tion. Thus the first four lines of St. 7 appear to be a variant 
 of the four opening lines ; the last four should clearly be the 
 last four of St. 3, leading up to the apostrophe to the Cross 
 with which St. 4 opens. The last four lines of St. 3, with the 
 false concord between il mio amore and ti sia racomandata 
 and their missing rime, have slipped in from St. 5 ; where, by 
 reading alto imperadore for alta pote state and (ri)dottato> rime 
 can be vindicated without offence to syntax. 
 
 The piece has been translated into English by the late 
 Mr. Warburton Pike. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 3. navi must probably be pronounced as one 
 syllable naui or na'i. 
 
 1. 4. collare, 'to hoist '. It is also used of hoisting a man by 
 the arms for torture, ' giving him the rope ' as it was called. Diez 
 takes this to be the primary meaning, and connects the word with 
 German qudlen. Looking to the frequency with which this form 
 of discipline was applied in Italy at any rate at a much later 
 date this does not seem impossible ; though one would have 
 expected the transference of meaning to have been the other 
 way. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. If we are to retain ed, we must suppose that 
 the somewhat similar sounds in rimango and ingannato are 
 fused together Hwang* 'ngannata. Other instances will be 
 found where doubtful prosody may be mended by a similar 
 assumption ; e.g. in St. 7, 1. 2 of the present poem, where the 
 an of possano seems to coalesce with that of andare. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. i. A syllable seems to be lacking; but the 
 metre throughout is rather irregular, and there is nothing 
 unusual in dropping an unstressed syllable at the beginning of 
 a line, provided that the right number of beats is preserved. 
 The same applies to St. 6, 1. 8. In fact, the irregularity is 
 pleasing. 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. i, 3, 5. croce must be sounded ascrcc'. Some 
 editors read crux, which perhaps has some analogy with the 
 Santus of the last stanza, but has no warrant from the MS. 
 
 STANZA 5, 11. I, 2. Difficulties have been made by minute
 
 NOTES 167 
 
 historical critics over this statement, seeing that the ' world ' 
 i. e. Christendom had not much peace in Frederick's reign ; 
 but it may be taken to express at least the Ghibelline conception 
 of the Empire and its functions, afterwards grandly developed 
 by Dante in De Monarchia. 
 
 STANZA 6. The syntax of the first five lines is irregular, 
 1. 2 having no regular construction, and one is at first inclined 
 to attempt emendation. But the dislocation expresses very 
 naturally the confused thought and inconsequent speech of the 
 love-lorn girl. 
 
 1. 7. in cielata : cielato is more usual, and Trucchi so reads, 
 followed by most recent editors. D'Ancona and Bacci, in their 
 Manuale della Lett. Ital., retain the MS. form. There is a touch 
 of irony in the use of the phrase, which is more often applied to 
 the meetings of lovers. 
 
 1. 8. ' For the sake of my true love.' Vita is common in this 
 sense, as are its equivalents in other languages. 
 
 STANZA 7. As has been said above, this ought probably to 
 be deleted here, the second half going to St. 3. Santo must be 
 omitted in 1. 6. 
 
 STANZA 8, 1. I. There is some little controversy whether 
 Dolcietto should have a large or a small d, a question not of 
 vital importance. The person appealed to is clearly a pro- 
 fessional maker of verses ; though one can hardly suppose that 
 anything he could write would have gone straighter to the 
 gallant's heart than the maiden's own artless lament. This line 
 seems to have a syllable too many ; yet none can be spared. 
 May we suppose that prego was colloquially sounded preg 1 ? 
 
 1. 3. sonetto : not necessarily in the technical sense. The 
 'sonnet' proper would hardly at this time have been regarded 
 as a vehicle of passion. 
 
 1. 6. Carducci and others, not seeing the metrical beauty 
 imparted by this short line punctuated, one may fancy, by 
 sobs have inserted la before notte and diet. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Another little study on the favourite theme : that while a good 
 lover will not complain of his sufferings, will even find joy
 
 1 68 NOTES 
 
 in them, the lady ought not to take pleasure in inflicting and 
 witnessing them. The stanzas are in seven lines, i, 2, 3, 4, 7 
 being hendecasyllabic, 5 of nine syllables, with an internal rime 
 at the second syllable, 6 of seven. Rime-scheme ABABbCCB. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 2. contolami : la mi conto. 
 
 1. 3. The loves of Paris and Helen, learned from the ficti- 
 tious but popular Dictys Cretensis, are as favourite an illustration 
 as those of Tristan and Yseult ; and are often, as here, intro- 
 duced with no special applicability. 
 
 1. 4. ongnura : omnem horatn. 
 
 1. 7. By inadvertence wrongly arranged. Read ella pift (<?) 
 dura. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. Egli has been inserted to save the metre. 
 Che unelided, often written ched (with retention of Lat. d in 
 quod), is common enough, and found even in Dante. 
 
 1. 4 should probably read : que* che quantunque vede (perhaps 
 vene) un pd p. b. 
 
 1. 7. MS. infrlama. The emendation is obvious. Perhaps 
 mal ch' in altruiflama would be even better. Trucchi, regard- 
 less of rime, has d altnii procitra ; A.R.V. in far Fama, which 
 the editors see to be impossible, but leave alone. 
 
 STANZA 3,!. i. scanoscienza : almost our colloquial 'bad 
 form '. Canoscienza would appear to be the quality by which 
 the right thing to say or do is known. Gloss. Occit. renders 
 conoissensa by habilett. 
 
 1. 2. chi rimproccia : render 'when anyone reproaches '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. i. punto : ' moment.' So Par. xxix. 4. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Of no very special merit, except that of reciting the common- 
 places in smoothly flowing language and rhythm and a touch of 
 banter. The stanzas are of twelve lines, the first of each again 
 echoing the last of its predecessor. The lines are octosyllabic, 
 therefore trochaic ; once or twice, as in St. I, 1. 7, and St. 3, 1. 5, 
 a superfluous syllable seems to be introduced at the beginning, 
 like the anacrusis in Greek choric lines. Rime-scheme : 
 ABCABCDDEFFE. The poem was first printed by Valeriani;
 
 NOTES 169 
 
 aftenvards, with comments, by Grion, in the Propugnatore of 
 Bologna, vol. iv. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 2. levi : this use of the subjunctive in a com- 
 parison with some general image is almost peculiar to Italian. 
 Cf. Inf. xv. 45 'com' uom che riverente vada' : and see Diez, iii. 
 p. 347. We may render very closely in English ' a star to bring 
 up the morning ', showing how it sprang naturally from the Latin 
 use of the relative with the subjunctive. 
 
 1. 10. The same image as in the last piece, St. 2, 1. 7 ; con- 
 firming the emendation there adopted. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 8, 9. This notion of the lover's heart being 
 taken from him and entering into the lady is often met with. 
 The passage at the opening of the Vita Nuova is the most 
 famous instance. 
 
 1. 10. degiate : an imperative to debbo is hard to render. 
 Perhaps ' do your duty, and provide me ' may serve ; unless, 
 indeed, we ought to read degnateci. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 5. Casini would save the metre by omitting da ; 
 but see above, No. XI, St. 8, 1. 6. 
 
 1. 10. According to a note to V.R.V., a blot has hidden the 
 letters between sg and /. Their restoration is pretty obvious. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. meve : this form of me is common. It may 
 not improbably represent Lat. memet. The tendency of m to 
 become v is seen in novero from numerus. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 7. The suggestion ned a, for the neda of the 
 MS., is Valeriani's. A.R.V. has n2 di, which does not seem to 
 make sense. 
 
 1. 9. Val. has no stop after penando, A.R.V. a comma. The 
 punctuation in the text seems better, rendering ' though I should 
 die in my pain ' : or perhaps ' my waiting ', a sense which the 
 word has more than once in Boccaccio. 
 
 1. 10. The allusion is obscure. According to the editors of 
 A.R.V., Grion discovered a castle called Monteil, near Bard in 
 Piedmont (known to travellers through the Mont-Cenis tunnel), 
 the owner of which was one Jacopo del Carretto, lord of Ivrea 
 and the Canavese, married to a daughter of Frederick ; and 
 assumes that this serventese was addressed to him (why not 
 her?). They do not, however, seem to think much of this
 
 i7o NOTES 
 
 identification ; and it is hard to see why a poet in Apulia should 
 be writing for a lady so remote, or calling her 'the flower of 
 Messina '. There is a place called Montella, a little way inland 
 from Salerno, which, if we are to speculate, seems more eligible. 
 Val. reads in Mont., but there seems no need for this. ' If you 
 are not where the country of Mont, is ' gives a good enough 
 sense. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 In this exquisite elegy the poetry of the early period seems to 
 reach its culminating point. In sincerity, in absence of anything 
 like a 'conceit', in manly resignation, its treatment of a theme 
 which has since been handled by famous men, Dante, Cino, 
 Petrarch, has not even by them been surpassed. Nothing 
 certain is known of the author. Valeriani, who first printed this 
 ode, calls him 'of Prato'; on the ground, says Monaci, that there 
 was a family of Pugliesi in that city. These were no doubt 
 immigrants from Apulia ; and Giacomino may have settled 
 there. But his language is certainly Apulian he writes, for 
 instance, chiace for piace. Monaci suggests, with some plausi- 
 bility, that he may be the Giacomino whose name appears 
 among the witnesses to a deed executed at Cividale in Friuli 
 in 1235. Frederick and his Court were at Aquileia in May of 
 that year, on the way to Germany, and Cividale would have 
 lain on their route. In one of his poems the author apostro- 
 phizes a lady as holding rule over all ladies from Germany 
 to Aquileia, showing that Friuli was a familiar region to him. 
 
 Giacomino was evidently known to the next generation, for 
 Guido Cavalcanti's ballata ' La forte e nova mia disaventiira* 
 contains an obvious echo of this poem in the lines ' Che la gentil 
 piacevol donna mia | da 1' anima distrutta s' e partita ; | si ch' io 
 non veggio la dov' ella sia, | non e rimaso in me tanta balia.' 
 He seems also to have been something of an experimentalist in 
 metre, as the next poem shows. 
 
 The Vat. MS., which alone has preserved Giacomino's verses, 
 has given them in a sadly disorganized form. The present 
 poem is printed by Valeriani and in A.R.V. in stanzas of vary- 
 ing length, ten and eleven lines. Casini would make them all 
 of nine. Monaci has them correctly. There can be no doubt
 
 NOTES 171 
 
 that they are of ten ; 11. 7 and 10 being of five syllables. The 
 MS. has also obviously transposed the first four lines of Stanzas 
 3 and 4, besides introducing superfluous lines, perhaps from 
 other versions. The structure of the stanza is plain enough ; 
 the first section of four lines, the second, or, to use Dante's word, 
 sirima, of six, the third and sixth of these being, as has been 
 said, short. Rime-scheme : ABABCCDCCD. 
 
 STANZA I, 11. 6, 9. The repetition of allegranza is clearly 
 wrong. For the first we might suggest leanza, ' allegiance.' 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. Cf. V. N. 32, Canzone, 1. 1 5 ' Ita n' e Beatrice 
 in 1' alto cielo.' Dante, too, no doubt knew his Giacomino. 
 
 11. 6. 7. The Vat. MS. reads : levomi dagioco e canti e dela- 
 dolse compagnia chio mavea delgliamanti. 
 
 STANZA 3. As said above, the MS. has transposed the first 
 sections of this and the next stanza. The second section of this 
 is so plainly a reply to the first, that the restoration is obvious. 
 
 I. 5. The omission of che before sia is a common idiom. 
 
 II. 6, 7. MS. : madonna lotuo viso chelotene t'nsva ballia. 
 STANZA 4, 1. I. The MS. reads iranza, which gives perhaps 
 
 an even better sense, with its suggestion of passages in the 
 Psalms. 
 
 11. 5, 6. Between these, Vat. MS. inserts: elssua nobile gien- 
 tilia ; an obvious variant. 
 
 1. 10. la : MS. followed by Val. in. 
 
 STANZA 5, 11. I, 2, 3. This enumeration of territories, as the 
 height of all that could be desired, is a characteristic feature of 
 the early poets. Other instances, though none perhaps quite so 
 comprehensive, will be found. 
 
 XV. 
 
 In this rather free poem, hardly to be dignified by the name 
 of canzone, we have Giacomino in a lighter mood. It is also 
 one of his experiments in rhythm. The text, perhaps owing to 
 the metrical eccentricity, has again suffered at the scribe's 
 hands, and presents several lacunae not easy to fill. Casini, 
 entirely (as I think) misunderstanding the metre, has re-written 
 the poem in stanzas of six hendecasyllabic lines ; which has
 
 172 NOTES 
 
 involved the insertion of several unnecessary little words. From 
 a careful comparison of all the stanzas, the following scheme is 
 arrived at : 
 
 (ter) 
 
 The rime-scheme is equally original : aBaBbCDCD which 
 has caused some editors to print the stanzas as of nine lines. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 1. Ispendiente : so the MS. which Mon. follows: 
 A.R.V. preferring, perhaps rightly, to read isplendiente. But 
 until we know more of thirteenth-century Apulian it seems safer 
 to stick to the text. The / is probably represented by the i of 
 the third syllable: splendere spienderespendiere. There is, 
 however, a Prov. espenher, corresponding to Ital. sptngere, with 
 similar senses. Dante does not seem to use spingere, though he 
 has the compound sospingere often enough, in the sense of 
 ' rouse ', ' stimulate '. This would be very appropriate here. 
 The i would arise from an attempt to imitate the sound of Prov. 
 nh, and the d would almost inevitably slip in after the w. Stella 
 d'albore : cf. No. XIII, St. I, 1. 2 : st. che levi la dia. 
 
 1. 4. This line as given in the MS. lacks a syllable. The 
 insertion of non improves the sense, and is justifiable on the 
 ground that similarity of termination frequently caused the 
 scribe to omit the latter of two words. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. diportanza : ' pastime ', ' sport '. Diporto 
 is the more usual form. 
 
 1. 4. dicei for dicevi ; ' you kept saying '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. conquiso: this French form occurs in 
 Piirg. xxiii. 45. 
 
 1. 3. The MS. reads si che davoi nonsso par tire. Val. has 
 auso (for oso) ; A.R.V. and Mon. oso. The trifling alteration 
 made in the text preserves the internal rime. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 3. Here again the MS. has made a hash of rime 
 and metre se nom fosse ladolze at fa. 
 
 1. 5. Two syllables short in MS. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. Either this is a lapse into the measure of 
 the sixth line, or we must read a me tenia. Rosa novella : 
 compare the opening of No. XL.
 
 NOTES 173 
 
 1. 3. Observe the ingenuity with which the rime -ia is 
 obtained. 
 
 1. 4. Probably corrupt. A syllable is almost certainly lacking, 
 for the hiatus of O in is unusual and disagreeable ; in fide 
 (=' faith' expletive) is doubtful; and it seems impossible to 
 make sense of fosti patuta. The metre might be amended by 
 reading fosti ti ; but the difficulty of the sense would remain. 
 One might read fostiti pattuta (for pattuita), ' thou hadst 
 pledged thyself. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. i. intando : seems to stand for intanto, ' the 
 while '. 
 
 1. 3. Again a syllable short. We might read se ten vai. 
 There is no internal rime. 
 
 STANZA 7. Dislocated in MS., 1. 6 being inserted between 
 2 and 3. This line and 1. 5 are also short. I have suggested 
 possible rectifications. 
 
 I. 2. ' Folks who have charge of you ' ; parents or guard- 
 ians, always a terror to wooers. The omission of the relative 
 is as common in Italian, at least down to Machiavelli, as in 
 English. 
 
 STANZA 8, 1. 3. Again the internal rime is missing. Probably 
 the text is wrong in both places. 
 
 II. 5, 6. The MS. reads: as at verssi canta giacomino che 
 sparte direo amore, which gives neither sense nor metre. The 
 correction of 1. 5 is pretty obvious ; for 1. 6 we must depend on 
 conjecture : based indeed on the main theme of the poem, the 
 iniquity of ' him who parts two loving hearts ' to quote a lyric 
 popular some forty years ago. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Giacomino here remonstrates with his lady, supposing her to be 
 estranged through having lent too easy an ear to the slanders of 
 mal parladori the stock villains of these little dramas who 
 have thrown doubts on his loyalty to her ; not without a threat of 
 poetic reprisals. He evidently does not intend to be taken too 
 seriously ; for he has set his complaint to a tripping trochaic 
 measure of eight syllables, very different from that of the
 
 174 NOTES 
 
 pathetic Afortc, percht. It is broken in every stanza by the fifth 
 line, an ordinary hendecasyllable, but resuming afterwards 
 with an even more lively step, produced by the insertion of 
 two short lines. It is perhaps the poet's most felicitous inven- 
 tion in metre (A.R.V. makes the stanzas of varying length; 
 Casini proposes to make each of nine lines, by a somewhat 
 Procrustean method). Rime-scheme : ABABCDDCDDC. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 6. e cotanto : MS. cotante. 
 
 11. 7, 8. MS. transposes lo core and tuttora. 
 
 1. 8. sbaldire : ' to be bold, merry '. From baldo ; a Teu- 
 tonic word, of which the oldest form is Goth, balths. It appears 
 as a termination in many Lombard names ; and is found in all the 
 eastern Romanic group. Curiously enough, Spanish does not 
 seem to have retained it ; for the words in that language which 
 appear to resemble it have from the first a totally different 
 meaning, and Diez is inclined to derive them from Arabic. 
 Dante has baldo and sbs. formed from it ; but not the verb, 
 which is a favourite with his predecessors. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 7-11. MS. eldispresgio uostro emiso posto 
 donna intutto desio sialtamore discese. Except for the missing 
 1. 10 the emendation is fairly obvious ; and quando veggio, or 
 something like it, fits the sense. For the sentiment, compare 
 Spenser's 
 
 O fairest fair, let it be never named 
 That so fair beauty was so foully shamed. 
 
 1. 9. posto : ' laid down '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 2. MS. verme nonfare ; perhaps better. Note 
 the throwing back of the accent in fdllia, bdllia. The four 
 ' sdrucciolo' rimes add to the generally jovial effect of the 
 metre. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. bello sacco can hardly stand. I have 
 suggested (after A.R.V.) an obvious correction. Bello for ben 
 lo is common in the MSS. 
 
 1. 5. Note sia, dissyllable before sp. 
 
 1. 6. t' infinga: 'makes you pretend'. The reflexive in- 
 fingersi is more usually found. 
 
 1. 8. trezeria : ' treachery '. Fr. tricherie^ Prov. tricharia.
 
 NOTES 175 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Nothing whatever is known of Compagnetto of Prato, except 
 that he seems from his style to be rather later than those 
 hitherto represented. Only two poems of his are extant. They are 
 of no very special merit, but interesting as examples of popular 
 verse, illustrating the lax code of domestic morality which in 
 the next century found its classic in the Decameron. Gaspary 
 (S. P. S., pp. 149 sqq.) gives a good summary, and suggests 
 some emendations. Here the husband's ill-treatment of his 
 wife drives her into the arms of a lover. This piece again is in 
 trochaic ottonari\ but Compagnetto handles the metre with far 
 less grace than Giacomino. Rime-scheme : ABABCDCDC. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 6. Gaspary suggests : Tal Denser b no V avea ; 
 i. e. ' it has now first come into my mind '. 
 
 I. 9. MS. (which shifts 1. 4 to the end of the stanza) in gran 
 g. mi fa. I have altered the order of the words, in order to give 
 gioia a right to be two syllables. The line thus runs smoother. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 5. acasgionasti : ' you have given me occa- 
 sion for '. 
 
 II. 5, 6. tal . . . c' amanza, etc. ' Such that there was no 
 love between us ', i. e. ' for whom I had no love, nor he for me '. 
 The construction is precisely similar to that of Purg. iii. 41 : 
 ' tai, che sarebbe lor disio quetato '. Avea : ' there was ' ; vi 
 avea is more usual (Fr. il y avait), but the simple verb is 
 common enough ; so abe in St. 3, 1. 3. The first syllable of 
 1. 6 must be regarded as extra metrum ; as is the e in 1. 2 of 
 the next stanza. 
 
 1.7. MS. madache lomiric., i.e. 'since you made me re- 
 collect him '. But she has said that she had never thought of 
 him before. So it seems better to drop the lo (which strictly 
 ought to be ne) and take ricordasti= ' put a new heart in me '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. dicie si : 'asks if. 
 
 1. 4. dimino : for dominio. So dimestico for domestico, and 
 conversely domandare for dimandare (see Meyer-Liibke, Altit. 
 Gram. 137). Note male in this and the next line still in use 
 as adj. 
 
 1. 9. ridito : 'returned'. Directly from Lat. redire, for
 
 176 NOTES 
 
 which ritdere is now used. Dante has reddire, as in Par. 
 xviii. ii. Note again the Scriptural diction : Psalm xxx. (Vulg. 
 xxix.) 12. 
 
 STANZA 4. Here, as Gaspary points out, the vague mat 
 parladori are personified in a particular old woman. 
 
 1. 4. rifina : perhaps only ' makes an end of ' ; this sense of 
 rifinare occurs in No. LIV, St. I, 1. 8 ; and in Boccaccio. But 
 I am inclined to think that it means here ' does not mince her 
 words '. Gloss. Occit. renders refinamen by soulagetnent. 
 
 1. 5. The molto of the MS. spoils the metre; unless we are 
 to read airoso. 
 
 STANZA 5, 11. 2, 4. The rime of a word to itself in the same 
 sense is quite contrary to rule ; and in this case it is hard to see 
 the construction of the second credere. This might be rectified 
 by reading lor nonde' c.> but the other objection would remain. 
 May we read chiedere in the sense of ' go after them ', or ' seek 
 information from them ' ? 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Even Trucchi is unprepared with any conjecture as to the 
 identity of Jacopo of Aquino. We may perhaps assume that 
 he belonged to the same family as Rinaldo. The only thing 
 that tells against this supposition is that he is not styled Messer, 
 as Rinaldo is, in the MS. (though the title is conferred on 
 him in A.R.V.). This is the only poem of his that has been 
 preserved. The theme is the old one, of the lover's absence 
 from his mistress ; but the versification is spirited. The metre 
 is peculiar ; four of the ordinary lines being followed by six 
 short, of which the first, third, fourth, and fifth are five 
 syllables, the second and last, seven. The result is a fine 
 swaggering lilt. One can almost see the disconsolate lover 
 ruffling it down the street, hand on hilt, flinging his short lines 
 from side to side, as though challenging all the world to show 
 fidelity like his. It would do credit to one of our own early 
 17th-century poets. Rime-scheme: ABABBCCCCB. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 3. crio, credo ; so mo for vedo. Bembo, 
 Prose iii, remarks on these forms ; and Castelvetro notes that
 
 NOTES 177 
 
 Lat. creare has similarly become criare. Here, however, the 
 change from e to i is probably dialectic. 
 
 1. 5. Vaio ne griso : ' rich robe nor plain '. Vaio, ' fur ', 
 from varius. 
 
 1.6. gioia here =' jewel'. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. afina, ' refines '. Fino amore is the tech- 
 nical term for chivalrous love ; several instances of its use have 
 already occurred. Remembering this, we see the full force of 
 ' il fuoco che gli affina ' in the last line of Purg. xxvi. 
 
 1. 6. sed=^; a mistaken analogy with ched for chc, where 
 the d is a survival. 
 
 1. 10. giente: a Prov. \\or&,=gentile. See note to No. VI, 
 St. 4, 1. 5. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. MS. suo more. 
 
 I. 4. mi sovene : ' comes to my aid '. 
 
 II. 6-9. Note that, whether written -eio or io t the termination 
 is the same for purposes of rime. 
 
 Gaspary again finds in these lines traces of Provencal influence, 
 because Arnaut de Maruelh has something similar. But surely 
 the idea might occur to two poets independently. Did not 
 Shakespeare, who certainly never read either Arnaut or Jacopo, 
 write : 
 
 Thus have I had thee as a dream doth flatter; 
 In sleep a king, but waking, no such matter? 
 
 1. 7. donneio : ' make love ', ' court '. The word occurs twice 
 in the Paradiso, xxiv. Il8 and xxvii. 88, in a spiritualized sense. 
 The full form is donneggio. 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. 1-4. In these lines Gaspary finds a remini- 
 scence of Aimeric de Belenoi ; and here the suggestion is more 
 plausible, for, though the simile of the mirror is somewhat 
 differently applied, two of the lines he quotes from the Pro- 
 venqal poet 
 
 Que, quand ulhors cortei, 
 Pensan ab lieis dompnei 
 
 when compared with 11. 4-7 of the last stanza, suggest that 
 Jacopo may have had them in mind. 
 
 BUTLER N
 
 178 NOTES 
 
 A somewhat similar idea is prettily expressed in a sonnet by 
 Pannuccio del Bagno (A.R.V. cccvi) : 
 
 E quando te veder, lasso, non oso, 
 ne veder posso, miro, in fede mia, 
 dentro a mio core, ove io te porto e guardo. 
 
 (I take the reading of V.R.V.) 
 
 XIX. 
 
 A group of Sicilians of the island itself follow here ; those who 
 have hitherto appeared being for the most part Apulians, with 
 the exception of the Notary, who seems to have lived mostly at 
 the Court. Tommaso di Sasso is only a name ; no record of 
 him has been preserved. His Muse, however, is not deficient in 
 energy, and his power of handling a complicated measure is 
 remarkable. The text is in a bad state, not always improved by 
 Allacci's editing. The stanza is of 12 lines ; I, 2, 4, 7, io being 
 heptasyllabic, the rest hendecasyllabic. A curious feature is 
 the absence of any rime to the final lines. Rime-scheme : 
 ABbCCDdAEeFfGGHh nil. The internal rimes in 11. 3, 6, 9, 
 12 are on the sixth syllable ; in 8 and II on the fourth. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 2. Allacci is clearly right in omitting the e dolzi 
 pianti of the MS., which spoil the metre. A.R.V. retains them, 
 making the line hendecasyllabic. 
 
 I. 3. MS. : amore chema donato aduna dona amare. The 
 repetition of dona, duna, dona probably confused the scribe. 
 All. retains it ; also Val., who divides it into two lines, putting 
 this stanza out of agreement with the rest ; A.R.V. has amor 
 che dato m'd d. a., which brings the internal rime into the wrong 
 place. Besides, donato, ' made a grant ', is the more effective 
 word. Perhaps adonato, ' subdued', would be even better. 
 
 II. 8, 9. Note the rime sforzo posso (MS. POZO). Sforzo 
 doubtless became sfrozo by the shifting of r common in all 
 languages, but especially in Italian (for examples, see Meyer- 
 Liibke, 288, Diez, i, p. 207) ; the z perhaps under Greek 
 influence in the South becoming ss. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3 ; pa.ccio=paz*o.
 
 NOTES 179 
 
 1. 5. allaccia : ' enmeshes ', ' catches in his noose '. 
 
 1. 6. mi schianto : ' am shivered to pieces'. Changes of meta- 
 phor are not uncommon. 
 
 1. 7. che : the antecedent must be ' my condition ', or ' the 
 state of affairs '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. i : the umile of the MS. is clearly a gloss on 
 umano ; suggested perhaps by ' Umile sono ed orgoglioso ', the 
 opening line of a lyric by Ruggieri Pugliesi, in which a similar 
 fantastic list of contradictory qualities effected by the influence 
 of Love is recited. 
 
 1. 4. piagando : MS. piegando> as noted. But the meaning 
 must be ' heals while he wounds '. 
 
 1. 6. chiano : Sicilian for piano. 
 
 I. 9. MS. dolore ; but Allacci's dolzore, which Val. adopts, is 
 clearly needed to carry out the image of the previous three lines. 
 ' The lover finds more delight in the rough waters of unsatisfied 
 longing than in the possession which Love torments with 
 jealousies.' 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 4. varo : vario, ' diverse '. 
 
 II. 5 sqq. ' Snow that has become crystal cannot, by the law 
 of its being, become uncongealed again ' ; the old notion being 
 that crystal was ice in an extra-hardened form. avene for 
 diviene is usual enough. squalgliare : Lat. dis-coagulare ; Fr. 
 cailler. per rasgione : ragione seems to be the Gr. Xoyor, 
 ' formal cause,' that which makes a thing what it is. Cf. No. I ? 
 St. 3, 1. 9. 
 
 1. 9. These illustrations from water and ice become more 
 common in the latter half of the century ; from which we may 
 perhaps infer that Tommaso did not belong to the earliest 
 group. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 4. astutare : ' to smother.' Of obscure origin. 
 Diez inclines to take it from Lat. tutari, ' to protect ' ; the con- 
 necting link being the idea of covering up. 
 
 The internal rime is missing. 
 
 1. 8. saver voria seems to mean ' I would have it known '. 
 
 1. n. inorare : onorare, 
 
 1. 12. For non.ym? or some such word seems to be wanted. 
 
 N 2
 
 i8o NOTES 
 
 XX. 
 
 Guido de Columnis, Judge of Messina, is a well-known figure 
 in mediaeval literature, and his fame lasted for some centuries. 
 His history of the Fall of Troy, based of course on the so-called 
 Dares Phrygius, continued to be the most popular work of enter- 
 tainment at least down to 1500. He is said to have gone to 
 England with Edward I, and to have written on English 
 matters. The Trojan book, finished, as the author tells us, 
 in 1287, had been begun at least fifteen years before, at the 
 instance of Matheus de Porta, Archbishop of Salerno, who 
 died in 1272. Doubts have, of course, been cast on the 
 identity of the poet and the prose-romancer ; it has been sug- 
 gested that two gentlemen of the same name may have been 
 judges at Messina, perhaps in succession. They may ; but, 
 if so, it is strange that Dante, who refers to this poem twice 
 in V. E., in one place (ii. 4) naming the author, should not 
 have indicated that the ' Judex Guido ' to whom he ascribes it 
 was not the famous veteran of letters, who had been for over 
 twenty years his contemporary, and with whom the name would 
 have been chiefly associated by his readers. It was first printed 
 m t * ie Sonetti e Canzoni (1527), edited to suit the taste of 
 the age. Dante (V. E, i. 12) quotes the first line as an ex- 
 ample of the Sicilian school without naming any author; but 
 j. i ^jfoi in conjunction with Ancor che Faigua. The poem, which was 
 > A*V written probably not before 1250, at which date the author 
 
 might have been about thirty years old, shows a distinct 
 change from the earliest school. The diction is easier and 
 more finished, and there is a kind of attempt to find somewhat 
 far-fetched parallels from natural objects, and work them out 
 elaborately, and a sententious tone very different from the light- 
 hearted way in which the earlier people throw in salamanders, 
 panthers, and heroes of romance to illustrate their feelings. 
 Also the diction is graver and more sententious and the stanza 
 longer. We are on the road to Guittone and Guido Caval- 
 canti. 
 
 The stanza is of thirteen lines, all hendecasyllabic. Rime- 
 scheme : ABBbABBABCCDdAA.
 
 NOTES 181 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 3. redine: 'reins'. From Lat. retinere; sub- 
 stituted, Diez suggests, for the classical habena when that word 
 came into danger of confusion with avena, 'oats'; which might 
 no doubt be awkward in the stable. 
 
 1. 4. soperchianza : ' excess ' ; in this case, of severity. 
 
 1. 7. The fidelity of the ' Assassins ' to their chief, the Old 
 Man of the Mountain ', is a favourite illustration, cuitato : 
 ' thought ', ' care ', ' purpose '. A Prov. word ; cuidar is from 
 Lat. cogitare. The Italian form is coto (cogitatus), as in Inf. xxxi. 
 77, Par. iii. 26. Hence too oltracotanza, Fr. outrecuidance. 
 
 1. 9. este : Lat. est. Used by Dante once in rime, Par. xxix. 
 141 (where I now incline to think that 'sono ed este' is 
 probably the correct reading). 
 
 1. 12. squaglia : see note, No. XIX, St. 4, 1. 5 sqq. Here it 
 seems to mean ' breaks me up '. Che is omitted, and not 
 needed ; though Val. reads che si. But the Giunta retains cost. 
 Or the words may be parenthetical : ' let reward for my trouble 
 so does it dissolve me take hold of you '. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. ciera: 'countenance'. A loan-word from 
 OFr. Mere. Cdra in this sense is found in Latin of the seventh 
 century. See Ducange, s.v. Sp. cara. It may be the Gr. Kapa, 
 ' head ' ; not a very satisfactory derivation, for want of historical 
 evidence, but better than cerea, l waxen ', suggested by Meyer- 
 Liibke, which, among other things, does not account for the 
 Spanish form. Hence Eng. cheer ; at first in such phrases as 
 ' good cheer ', directly from Fr. ' bonne chere ', ' friendly coun- 
 tenance '. In Elizabethan English ' cheer ' = ' entertain '. 
 
 1. 7. grave for gram ; possibly a stage on the road from Lat. 
 graiiet. 
 
 1. 12. dotto : ' I fear ' ; a sense which ' doubt' once had in 
 Eng., doute in Fr., and which survives in redoubtable. Lat. 
 dubito hardly conveys more than ' doubt '. 
 
 I. 13. vince guerra : so ' vince ogni battaglia'-, Inf. xxiv. 53. 
 STANZA 3, 1. 8. raffrene again for raffreni. 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. i, 2 : cf. No. Ill, St. 2. The concealed flame 
 is of course a stock image. 
 
 II. 5, 6 : ' the inward burden and the countenance agree, and 
 make a show of how they fare '.
 
 182 NOTES 
 
 I. 1 1 : Render ' it is surely good sense, in him who can do it '. 
 The omission of the antecedent in such phrases is not un- 
 common. See Diez, iii. 354, where this line is instanced. In 
 the Giunta, edited after the idiom had gone out of use, ha has 
 been substituted for t. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 This poem is cited by Dante, V. E. i. 12, in a somewhat 
 important passage. He has been saying that the Sicilian school, 
 having been the first to acquire fame, had given its name to all 
 the Italian poetry of the first period ; and he proceeds to give, 
 as examples of the Sicilian ' teachers ' in their serious work, 
 L^J this and the preceding, though without naming their authors.* 
 X it '* ^ The Vat. MS. does not include this piece, but it is in the Lau- 
 
 iAT^ rentian and (partly) in the Palatine collections, from which 
 
 *3 Monaci has edited it. Nannucci and Valeriani also have it. 
 
 The stanza is of 19 lines; I, 4, 5, 8, 12, 19 being u syllables, 
 ii o ' the rest 9. Rime-scheme: ABBABAABBCC,DEDEFFGG. 
 The internal rimes in Stanzas I, 1. 12 and 2, 1. 8 are probably 
 fortuitous. 
 
 STANZA i, 11. 1-8. 'Fire will not warm water, unless 
 there be a vessel between them ; if they are brought into 
 direct contact, either the fire will be put out, or the water 
 dried up.' 
 
 I. 5. averrea : avveria, awerrebbe, from avvetiire, to happen. 
 
 II. 9-19. ' Thus, when Love put forth his power upon me, 
 I should have been wholly consumed.' The image has been 
 found fault with as pedantic ; but it is not devoid of ingenuity. 
 The germ of it may perhaps be found in St. Augustine's famous 
 sentence : ' Nondum amabam ; et amare amabam ; et quaere- 
 bam quod amarem '. 
 
 1. 15, fora : Lat./mw. See note, No. Ill, St. 4, 11. u, 12. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 12. The i of involto disappears in scansion 
 between the two n's. 
 
 1. 16. A syllable short, unless we suppose a hiatus between 
 molti and amanti. Perhaps come should be read for che. 
 
 1. 19. Laur. MS. has amaro, which saves the apparent lack
 
 NOTES 183 
 
 of a syllable. But eo as a dissyllable is not unknown, especially 
 when there is some emphasis on the word. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. i. fiate, as usual, in three syllables ; confirming 
 the derivation from Low Lat. vicata (from vices, ' changes ', 
 ' turns '). In fact, wherever the word seems to be two syllables, 
 at any rate in poetry before 1400, the reading (e.g. the usual 
 trenta fiate in Par. xvi. 38) may be suspected. 
 
 1. 2. s' aranca : ' is wrenched '. From OHG. rank ; akin to 
 our turing, wrench, wrong. The mod. senses of the word, ' to 
 hurry ' (lit. ' hobble fast '), and ' to spurt in rowing ', can easily 
 be traced to the original sense ; as can the mod. German rank, 
 1 intrigue ', ' trick '. 
 
 1. 5. abranca : ' claws ', ' tears '. 
 
 1. II. mantene : imperative. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. avia, 'leads on its way'. Inviare is more 
 usual in this sense. 
 
 1. 5. sporto appears to be for sopporto. 
 
 1. 13. piagenti : for piacenti. Universal in the early poets, 
 but obsolete by Dante's time. It may have been due to the 
 Prov. plazer. 
 
 1. 14. addobraro : 'doubled'; presumably 'made me twice 
 the man I was '. But ought we not to read addobbaro, ' adorned ', 
 as in Par. xiv. 96 ? Alumno calls this word ' vocabolo francese', 
 and it probably came into Italian from Fr. adottber, ' to dub ', 
 though its origin seems to be Teutonic. If we read it here we 
 might render ' made me her knight'. 
 
 1. 15. tennero mente seems here to be used literally, ' kept 
 a mind in me '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 11. 1-4. Another image to illustrate the doctrine 
 that Love cannot act except through the medium of a loved 
 person ; calamita from calamus, the original compass having 
 been constructed with a needle enclosed in a piece of reed or 
 straw and floating in a bowl of water (Diez). One of the 
 earliest notices of the loadstone is cited by Humboldt from 
 a Chinese philosopher named Kuopho, of the fourth cen- 
 tury A.D. 
 
 1. 5. From the needle, the name calamita seems to have been 
 transferred to the stone.
 
 i8 4 NOTES 
 
 1. 8. non n' anno balia : the duty has not been entrusted to 
 them. 
 
 1. 14. ullo was probably almost obsolete at this time ; it does 
 not occur in Dante. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Stanzas of nine lines, riming ABC ABCcDd BC. D has no 
 corresponding end-rime in the stanza, but the seventh lines of 
 the stanzas rime together. A somewhat similar arrangement 
 will be found in the envoi to the ' Clerkes tale ', though the 
 internal rime is there lacking. The lines are hendecasyllabic, 
 except 3 and 6, which are heptasyllabic. It will be noticed that 
 the first line of each stanza repeats the last word of the pre- 
 ceding. 
 
 STANZA i , 1. 7. The internal rime suggests that neente may be 
 two syllables, in which case we must read lo suo. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 8. abento. See note to No. I, St. 5, 1. 2. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 9. convento : ' agreement ', ' compact.' 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. I, 2. Cf. the German ballad, ' Sie hat mir die 
 Treue versprochen, Und gab einen Ring dabei.' The resemblance 
 can hardly be other than fortuitous, but the correspondence is 
 somewhat curious, considering that gifts of this kind must have 
 been more usual from the lover to the lady. 
 
 1. 4. per troppo savere : the words seem to be ironical, 
 ' she knows a thing too much ' ; they can hardly be meant, in the 
 light of what follows, to imply a confession of fickleness. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 5. inavanza : ' enough and to spare '. 
 
 1. 9. ridente for ridenti as given by Val. and Nan. can hardly 
 be right in a Sicilian poem. It would be better to read in 
 11. 3 and 6 avenenti and soventi. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 This piece has the air of an early production of the author's. 
 It is full of the conventional phrases and images which we find 
 in the versifiers of the first half of the century. Allacci includes 
 it in his collection, and it is also in V.R.V., in which the two
 
 NOTES 185 
 
 preceding poems do not appear. The stanzas are of 12 lines, 
 8 of 7 syllables, 4 of 11. Rime-scheme : ABBCABBCcDDCC. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 5. axL\vr&=atidore, the / being probably due to 
 the influence of aulere, Lat. adolere. 
 
 11. 6, 7. The sweet odour of the panther is a stock image 
 among the early poets. Brunetto Latini tells us about it in 
 Tre'sor, I. v. 196. After eating, the animal retires to a cave and 
 sleeps for three days, and then ' se lieue et oevre sa bouche, et 
 flaire si dous et si soef que toutes bestes qui sentent 1'odor s'en 
 vont devant li, fors seulement li dragons '. Pliny (Nat. Hist. 
 xxi. 1 8) alludes to this belief. 
 
 I. 10. fontana, N\.fortuna. So in 1. i of the next stanza. 
 
 II. II, 12. 'The Old Man of the Mountains' and the fidelity 
 of his ' Assassins ' is another stock comparison. Cf. No. XX, 
 St. 1,1.7. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. spande, All. spenda, which is possibly correct, 
 since a subjunctive seems called for. 
 
 I. 7. Allacci transposes c and ciertamente with improvement 
 to the run of the line. 
 
 II. 6, 7. tanta tanta can hardly pass as a good rime. In 
 A.R.V. a reading spanta for the second tanta is given as from 
 Nann., who assigns it to Mazzeo di Rico. Spantare, Pr. espa- 
 ventar, Fr. cponvanter='' to frighten'; and there would be no 
 difficulty about its use intransitively, so the emendation is not 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. Used as the first line of No. XXXV by Rug- 
 gierone da Palermo. 
 
 1. 8. fina : for the change from Lat. -ire to -are see Wiese, 
 225. 
 
 1. 9. Cf. No. XV, St. 5 ; here the lover is somewhat more 
 moderate in his estimate. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Of Mazzeo di Rico practically nothing is known save that 
 Fra Guittone addressed a canzone (No. XLIV in the present 
 collection) to him, and that he was of Messina. Monaci 
 (Crestomasta, p. 216) gives an extract from an Angevin docu- 
 ment concerning one Henricus Rubeus Arrigo Rosso who
 
 1 86 NOTES 
 
 may possibly have been his father; and in the Palatine MS. 
 this piece is, says Casini, attributed to Rosso da Messina. The 
 present poem has nothing very original about it, but the 
 commonplaces are nicely expressed, and the rhythm is agree- 
 able. The stanzas are of ten lines each, I, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 
 being of eleven syllables, 2, 5, 7 of seven. Rime-scheme : 
 ABCABCDEED. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. 8. moltipricar : the change of / to r after a 
 consonant is common enough, and not specially Sicilian. We 
 have frequently had ubbriare, ' to forget ', from Lat. oblitare, 
 a late word formed directly from oblitus. Another good in- 
 stance is assemprare (Inf. xxiv. 4) from adexemplare. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 8. convita: V.R.V. reads cinvita, which 
 modern editors have followed, putting an apostrophe after the 
 6~; but it is difficult to see the force of ci in this collocation. 
 Convitare strictly means ' to invite to a feast (convictTis) ', but 
 it seems soon to have been treated as if connected with in- 
 vitare. The false concord, however, shows that there is some- 
 thing wrong about the reading of this line. Val. boldly reads 
 la vostra bellesa, while the Pal. MS. reads convitan and destroys 
 the structure of the verse. 
 
 11. 9, 10. Here calamita is distinctly the loadstone. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 3. snamorare : disinamorare. 
 
 11. 4-6. Cf. No. XIX, St. 3, 11. 10, 11. 
 
 11. 8, 9. V.R.V. reads : inuostra potestate, agiatene alchuna 
 pietate. I suggest the insertion of the words in brackets as an 
 attempt to save the metre. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 The stanzas are of eighteen lines : I trochaic of eight 
 syllables, 14, 15, 18 of eleven, the remainder of seven. Rime- 
 scheme : ABABCABABCCDDDEDDE. The same rimes are 
 kept in each stanza. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. i. Compared with the first lines of the second 
 and third stanzas, this is a syllable short ; symmetry may be 
 restored by writing eo after b. 
 
 L 4. divisare. See note, No. I, St. 1, 1. 4.
 
 NOTES 187 
 
 1.6. acatato : 'purchased', accattare, Fr. acheter, from Lat. 
 adcaptare. Dante uses the word once, Inf. xi. 84. Boccaccio 
 has it in the sense of ' to borrow ', which Acharisio seems to 
 regard as the original meaning ; but this can hardly be correct. 
 
 11. 11-18. A pretty image, prettily expressed. 
 
 I. 17. immantenente : Fr. maintenant, from which the 
 Italian word was possibly taken ; it seems to have fallen out 
 of use by the next century. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. mi son adato : addarsi is used by Dante 
 (Purg. xxi. 12) in the sense of 'to take notice'. The original 
 meaning must have been 'to apply oneself to'. Acharisio gives 
 no later instance of its use. 
 
 II. 11-18. ' I believed that you were wrought more finely than 
 jacinth ; now I see that your hue is undoubtedly that of glass 
 which skilled craftsmen make to counterfeit the handicraft.' 
 assetamenti seems here to have what Diez (who derives it 
 from sectare) takes to be its original meaning of ' a cutting ', 
 or 'carving', lavore is not uncommonly used in the sense of 
 wrought work, as of a carved gem, opposed to molten glass. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 7. One syllable short. Possibly here also eo 
 should be inserted before audo. 
 
 1. 1 8. richiamore seems to be a substantive formed from 
 richiamare ; almost in the sense of ' repentance '. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Prezivalle Doria, a member apparently of the great Genoese 
 house of that name, seems to have been a man of considerable 
 mark in his day. According to Monaci he was successively 
 Podesta of Avignon and Parma, Vicar to Manfred in the March 
 of Ancona, at Rome, and at Spoleto, and lost his life by drown- 
 ing in the river Nera in 1264. He thus belongs to the group 
 of poets who flourished about the middle of the thirteenth 
 century. Val. and Nan. ascribe this poem to Semprebene of 
 Bologna. They make four stanzas of it, of which only the 
 first two agree with the version here given. The stanzas 
 are of eleven lines, all of eleven syllables except the seventh 
 (which is pentasyllable). Rime-scheme : AaBAaBCCDDEeFF.
 
 i88 NOTES 
 
 It will be noticed that Prezivalle, though a Genoese, is not afraid 
 of the Sicilian rime e = i ; it may be that his residence in Apulia 
 familiarized him with it, in which case this poem would have 
 been written in the later part of his life. 
 
 STANZA i , 1. 3. latino was used at an early date to denote 
 every man's language when he was born. Hence, both in 
 Italian and Provengal, it was transferred even to the song of 
 birds. In the Ballata somewhat doubtfully ascribed to Dante, 
 Fresco, rosa novella (Oxford Dante, p. 177), we find the lines 
 ' E cantinne gli augelli, ciascuno in suo latino ', and this mean- 
 ing too we get in Eng. latiner or latimer, ' an interpreter '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. sotrasse seems here to be intransitive, as 
 we might say ' withdrew ' or ' withdrew itself, sc. ' from me '. 
 
 11. 3, 4. Here again we have the plurals adorneze and belleze 
 used as singulars. 
 
 1. 7. I have inserted ben, metri gratia. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 All that is known of Folcalchieri thus the Vat. MS. writes 
 the name amounts to no more than an occasional reference in 
 the archives of Siena. He appears to have been dead by 1260. 
 The form of the name as given in the MS. seems to suggest that 
 the family came from Forcalquier in Provence : at any rate it 
 is difficult to see any Italian etymology for the name. If his 
 Christian name was Folcalchiero, the evidence for which does 
 not appear, unless it be in the documents referred to by Monaci, 
 the place-name must in the course of generations have been 
 converted into a Christian name. 
 
 The present poem appears to be the only one of Folcalchieri's 
 compositions that has been preserved. The theme is of course 
 a commonplace ; but there is a fine rush of passion in it, which 
 seems to suggest that it may have been something more than 
 a mere exercise in amatory poetry. The stanzas are of ten lines; 
 I, 2, 4, 5, 10 of eleven syllables : the others of seven. Rime- 
 scheme : ABCABCDEDeF. The same F-rime recurs at the 
 end of each stanza, while the others vary. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. i. Some attempts have been made to date the
 
 NOTES 189 
 
 poem by this line, but it is probably only another expression 
 similar to that in No. XI, St. 5. The most we can infer from it 
 is that there was no Crusade on hand at the moment. 
 
 11. 7, 9. Casini notices that the rime of these two lines is 
 irregular, presumably because, unlike the equivalent lines in 
 the other stanzas, they end with the same rime as 1. 10. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 2 and 5. As Nan. observes, the repetition of 
 parlando as a rime to itself in the same sense is irregular, 
 though perhaps not unexampled. He tries to save the situation 
 by taking the first to mean ' speaking openly ', the second 
 'speaking covertly', but this seems weak. Yet no obvious 
 emendation suggests itself. 
 
 1. 9. mort' e : Vat. MS. reads forte e, ' is hard '. The slight 
 change to morf e gives a better antithesis and can be frequently 
 paralleled in the early poets. 
 
 1. 10. As it stands in the MS. this line lacks a syllable. To 
 rectify this I suggest the insertion of nel. There is no difficulty 
 about dolori as singular. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. i. fenisco . . . conenza : the negative accounts 
 for the second of these words being in the subjunctive mood. 
 Wiese notes the subjunctive in -a as a Genoese form, but poets 
 in want of a rime did not always confine themselves strictly to 
 their own local forms. 
 
 1. 4. agenza : a Prov. word ; ' gives pleasure '. This from 
 gens. See note to No. VI, St. 4, 1. 5. 
 
 1. 5. sa = ' tastes ', as in Par. xvii. 58. manicare = ' to eat ', 
 Lat. manditcare, earlier form of mangiare. 
 
 1. 7. I have preferred to expand the nom of the MS. to avoid 
 the hiatus after so ; but possibly we may regard the vowel of 
 so as sufficiently stressed to be safe from elision before a follow- 
 ing vowel. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. One is reminded of Virgil's ' Nunc scio quid 
 sit amor ', but here it is the existence and not merely the nature 
 of love which is in question. 
 
 1. 2. a gia a giudicare may be taken as almost equivalent to 
 a giiidicato ; the present of the verb, with an adverb of past 
 time, would be a survival from Latin. 
 
 1. 6. e '1 terzo is very puzzling ; it can hardly mean anything
 
 1 9 o NOTES 
 
 but ' the third part', but why the masculine ? Nannucci's torlo 
 has no warrant and his explanation is futile. Perhaps the 
 simplest emendation would be to read ' la terza '. ' Love takes 
 two thirds of my heart and leaves only one to my lady.' 
 
 STANZA 5, 11. 3-6. Notice tua followed by vostra. 
 
 1. 5. MS. has senon dituto a/are aptacere, which leaves 
 the line a syllable short. The emendation seems obvious. 
 Render : ' save to do everything to do her pleasure '. 
 
 1. 10. Again there is a syllable short in the MS. The inser- 
 tion of non seems not only excusable, but imperative, since the 
 absence of any outward manifestation of the consuming passion 
 is a regular commonplace. Casini calls attention to the rime 
 inciendo amando. If any one is scandalized at this he may 
 conceive the poet to have written incando. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 This and the four following pieces are by members of a Pisan 
 group, probably a little junior to Mostacci, but still before the 
 middle of the century. They all show a tendency to the shorter 
 line, and abound in Provengalisms. Little is known of any of 
 them, and indeed the Pal. and Chig. MSS. assign Tiberto's 
 poems to Rinaldo d'Aquino. Monaci finds mention in Pisan 
 archives of the Galliziani family. In the present piece the 
 stanzas are of 14 lines, all heptasyllabic. Rime-scheme : 
 ABC ABC DEEDDEED. It will be seen that, so far as the 
 rimes go, the structure is that of an inverted sonnet, with the 
 tercets preceding the quatrains. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. I. Both biasmare and lodare are often used 
 reflexively, followed by di. For lodare see Inf. ii. 74. 
 
 11. 7, 8. ' If I tune myself up to speak, afterwards the string 
 slackens." e is not 'and ', but is used as in No. II, St. 1, 1. 6, 
 where see note. 
 
 1. 9. mi stordo : ' I become stupid '. Fr. je nfttourdis. The 
 etymology of stordire and its cognates is very uncertain. Diez 
 is inclined to adopt a view that we must look for it to turdus = 
 ' a thrush ', from an alleged habit of these birds to drop stupefied
 
 NOTES 191 
 
 off the branch in the heat of the day. In this case the meaning 
 ' to deafen ' would be secondary. The word does not appear to 
 be Provencal. 
 
 1. 1 3. It would perhaps be better to read dice : E m' accordo ; 
 and the meaning of the last four lines would be : ' I make a 
 show of being deaf to the heart that says to me, " I too agree 
 that thou shouldst ask for kindness ".' The notion of two hearts 
 dragging in different directions is not uncommon. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. mi mente : ' is as a lie to me'. 
 
 1. 2. 'ntenda in : ' give heed to '. 
 
 1. 3. intenza : see note to No. X, St. 2, 1. 10. 
 
 1. 7. Se fai : the Vat. has sefa ; Pal., which Monaci follows, 
 has^/. But the correct reading is obviously sejb. The words 
 of the ' other heart ' end with the previous line. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 4. m' adiviso : possibly a lengthened form of 
 m' aviso, ' purpose ' ; but more likely = dimsare, ' devise '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 5. piu : Chig. reads pur. I am much inclined 
 to think that we ought to read s' io lascto, per tardanza, which 
 departs very slightly from the text and gives a much better 
 sense. 
 
 1. 1 1. Note that volglio must be treated as a monosyllable, 
 though written in full. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 3. ' That I may be given heed to by you.' 
 
 1. 6. conquiso : a Fr. form used by Dante in Purg. xxiii. 45. 
 
 1. 8. d' el : so Vat. MS. A.R.V. and Mon. emend to ne ; but 
 one cannot see why the writer should have wantonly introduced 
 an exceptional form in place of the more usual. Note that 
 biasmare is here transitive. 
 
 STANZA 6, 11. 4, 5, 6. If we keep the reading manchesse = 
 manchezze it must be regarded as an antithesis to plena ; ' such 
 is the fullness of your pleasantness, that it restores what was 
 lacking'. But it is perhaps better to read rendani 1 cinch" 1 esse, 
 which might mean that ' it also gives me back existence '. 
 One is somewhat tempted to think that there may be allusion 
 to Psalm xvi. 12 (Vulg. xv). As has been pointed out, these 
 Scriptural allusions are very common in the amatory poetry of 
 this time.
 
 192 NOTES 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 This piece is attributed by the Pal. MS. to Ruggieri d'Amici, 
 and by the Chig. to the Notary. 
 
 The stanzas are of nine lines : 3, 6, 8, 9 of eleven syllables, the 
 others of seven. Rime-scheme : ABC ABC Cc DD. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 2. 'I was my own master.' 
 
 1. 4. tenore : ' holding ', ' bondage '. 
 
 1. 8. sagio : ' assay ', ' standard '. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 2. mante : ' many ' ; Fr. maintes. The origin 
 of the word is uncertain ; it seems to have fallen out of use 
 before Dante's time. Vat. MS. reads ' emantene', which looks 
 as if the word was strange, even to the writer of 1290 or 
 thereabouts. 
 
 1. 4. fino: the editors of V.R.V. state that the first three 
 letters of the word are blotted in the MS., and propose to read 
 fino, which is confirmed by the Pal. MS. 
 
 1. 6. benvolenza : in its literal sense of ' good-will '. 
 
 1. 7. quella : here again the MS. has been partly obliterated, 
 and the editors suggest quella. che: the general relative. 
 Three hundred years ago it could have been rendered in Eng- 
 lish by ' which ' ; now this form is confined to the less educated 
 speech, and we must say ' with regard to whom '. 
 
 1. 9. ei = ebbi. I have adopted this reading from Vat. 
 instead of the e of the MS. 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 4-8. ' Perhaps she would have some pity on 
 me, even if she did not love me ; so much pity as to put on an 
 appearance of joy. It would not look well for her if I died 
 because she shuns me.' 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. 2 and 3. ' She does welcome and honour me, 
 though not with loving intent.' 
 
 1. 4. stolle : Lat. distollit : takes away. 
 
 1. 6. difesa = ' forbidden '. 
 
 1. 7. apresa may be merely the participle to apprendere, in 
 which case the meaning will be very similar to that of the often- 
 recurring canosciente, but I am inclined rather to take it as from 
 Pr. presa, ' esteemed ', ' prized '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 6. morte : MS. molte. The emendation seems
 
 NOTES 193 
 
 obvious, when we look back to St. 3. guarentire must be 
 taken as intransitive. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Concerning Gallo, or Galletto of Pisa, we have a few notices. 
 Dante refers to him (V.E. i. 13) in company with Fra 
 Guittone, ' Brunetto of Florence,' and others, as among the 
 writers ' whom investigation will show to have used not the 
 courtly, but only their local speech '. He is said to have been 
 at the Council of Lyons in 1275, and he is addressed in one of 
 Fra Guittone's poems. This poem is in stanzas of twelve lines, 
 all of seven syllables. Rime-scheme : ABC ABC DDEFFE. 
 It will be noticed that the rimes are all on similar words used in 
 different senses. Nos. XXXI (which has identical rimes with 
 this) and XLIII are rimed on a similar principle. All may be 
 regarded as tours de force in imitation of the Provengal caras 
 rimas. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 5. poco. Monaci, following Pal. and Chig., reads 
 loco, which, looking to St. 4, 1. 5, is probably right. Even with 
 this reading, however, the meaning seems hopelessly obscure, 
 and further emendation needed. Something like loco non evvi 
 o parte might meet the case. The meaning would seem to be 
 ' I was brought (where) there is neither definite place, nor even 
 district ', somewhat in the sense of the Psalmist's ' I had no 
 place to flee unto '. 
 
 11. 10-12. Cf. Dante's sonnet, 'Tanto gentile,' V.N. xxvi, 
 where the same thought is expressed in more stately fashion. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. i, 2. For the use of poner mente as if the two 
 words formed one transitive verb, we may compare ' faro aquisto 
 due cose ' in No. XXXII, St. 5, 11. 3, 4. 
 
 1. 3. riso = ' rice '. As rice was not grown in Italy until 
 1468, this must refer to the imported grain, which, as we know 
 from Horace, had long been in use in Europe. 
 
 1. 8. mi dan gola : ' make me greedy '. Dante uses the word 
 in the same sense in Par. x. in. 
 
 1. 12. miro = ' wonder'. In line 9 it is merely 'look' ; the 
 two words are of course of the same origin. 
 
 STANZA 3, I. 2. roma, probably for aroma. A.R.V. reads
 
 i 9 4 NOTES 
 
 donri aroina, from a supposed verb aromare. It might be better 
 to read d roma, ' has a fragrance'. 
 
 1. 3. It might be better to put a comma after voi, and render 
 bella sia by ' fair as she may be '. 
 
 1. 5. ciercato : for this active use of the past participle, see 
 Diez, iii, p. 241. It is found in writers of the classical period of 
 Italian. 
 
 1. II. muto : apparently = 'change', as we also use it of 
 clothes. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 3. pe = pie. 
 
 1. 5. See note to Stanza 1,1. 5. 
 
 1. 6. arcione = 'saddle-bow'; presumably high saddle-bows 
 were found convenient to secure the rider on mountain paths. 
 
 I. 7. serra == ' rips '. 
 
 1. 8. serra = ' saws '. 
 
 1. 12. ' makes me, from being mountain, become plain ', i. e. 
 ' brings me down from high to low '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. m' a mondo : ' has cleansed me '. 
 
 1. 6. saggio : again ' test', or 'standard ', as in No. XXIX, 
 St. 1,1.8. 
 
 1. 10. gallo : 'pride myself, 'swagger'; as in Purg.n. 127. 
 
 1. 1 1. ' like a cock partridge.' Any one who has seen the airs 
 of these birds in pairing-time will appreciate the simile. There 
 is of course a play on the writer's name. 
 
 1. 12. do mat to : ' I give check-mate'. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Of Leonardo del Guallaco we seem to have no documentary 
 notice ; though from the present piece it is obvious that he was 
 a contemporary of Galletto, and therefore of Guittone. As has 
 been said, the structure of this poem, which the author calls 
 a Sirventese, is identical with that of the last, even the rime- 
 endings being line for line the same. Some one has, however, 
 appended one additional stanza, summing up the writer's point 
 of view, which is that it is best to keep free from the entangle- 
 ments of love. The poem is preserved in the Laurentian (Redi) 
 and Pal. MSS.
 
 NOTES 195 
 
 STANZA i, 1. i. nasso = 'net'. Ger. netz. Doubtless, as 
 has been said in a note to No. VIII, the Germans of Frederick's 
 court must have introduced many German words which after- 
 wards fell out of use. 
 
 1. 4. ' they (the women) throw something worse than a noose.' 
 
 1. 8. non conserve : ' I do not take service '. 
 
 1. 9. fe parlar d' aviso : ' talked about what he knew '. 
 
 I. 10. piagiente : this epithet, usually reserved for the ladies, 
 has a somewhat comic effect when applied to Solomon. 
 
 II. II, 12. The place of Solomon in the next world was 
 a question of no small interest in the Middle Ages. Dante 
 alludes to it (Par. x. in, 112), but gives him the benefit of the 
 doubt. Petrarch, in the Trionfi, probably from a spirit of con- 
 tradiction to Dante, takes the other view. 1. 12. par aviso = 
 paradiso. Paravisus for paradisus has been preserved in our 
 word parvis, the enclosed space in front of a church. (The use 
 of the word to denote a chamber over the porch seems to be 
 erroneous.) 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. scritto: cf. Inf. xix. 54. 
 1.2. treciera: 'treacherous'; Prov. trichaire. 
 1. 5. leciera: 'a wanton'. 
 
 1. 7. pargola : ' a girl ' ; Lat. parvula. Used here in a 
 depreciatory sense, as pargoletta in Purg. xxxi. 59. 
 
 I. 9. T amiro: I can make nothing of this word ; the only 
 suggestion I have to offer is that it may be a shortened form of 
 ammiralio, 'the commander of the ships'. Curiously enough, 
 in Aesch. Ag. 184, Agamemnon is styled 'the senior commander 
 of the Greek ships ', but it is hard to see how the Pisan poet can 
 have acquired any knowledge of this. Still, some Greek classical 
 tags seem to have filtered through in a curious way, and this 
 may be one of them. 
 
 II. 10, ii. Between the meanings of membra in these two 
 lines there is a very faint shade of difference. In line 10 it 
 appears to be impersonal, while in line n the subject would 
 seem to be Eva. ' She puts all others out of my thought.' 
 With line 10 cf. Purg. xxix. 24. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. paroma : Crusca does not recognize the word 
 but Baretti explains it by ' one of the yard ropes of a ship ', 
 
 o 2
 
 196 NOTES 
 
 i. e. ' braces '. The Greek rrap^ts is used by LXX to indicate 
 straps or bands passing down from the corners of the altar. 
 The literal meaning would be ' shoulder-straps '. 
 
 11. 5, 6. Here, again, the allusion is obscure ; unless it means 
 that a man in love loses his head so completely that when he is 
 at Rome he thinks he is going on a crusade. 
 
 11. 7-12. 'As for the reason of my leaving him alone, every 
 man is what he is wont to be ; I do not take the point off this 
 bit of wisdom, and I do not swerve from it, whether in verses or 
 anything rimed (?) : this is evermore my aim.' Such I conceive 
 to be the meaning of these very obscure lines. rimuto for 
 rimato is daring, and hardly less so propunto (by a false 
 accidence) for proposito ; but until an adequate grammar of 
 these poets is produced we must occasionally be content with 
 somewhat wild conjectures. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 3. palpe: 'pats'. This word, again, is not 
 recognized by the dictionaries. It seems to have been formed 
 backwards from palpare. 
 
 11. 4-6. These lines seem hopelessly obscure. For line 4 
 V.R.V. reads ' chibuosena rio fallo ', and it is stated that the o 
 of rio is barely visible. We might read chi buon senn' a rifallo : 
 ' he who has a good wit makes it up again, and, when it is all in 
 good order, lives like salpae in the sea ', i. e. ' roams about as 
 he pleases'. The salpa here referred to is not the Ascidian 
 known by that name to modern zoologists, but a fish of no great 
 repute, asserted by Pliny (ix. 32) to require beating before it 
 could be cooked. 
 
 1. 7. serra : as before, ' grips ', ' takes hold '. 
 
 1. 8. serra : mountain-ridge, Sp. sierra, from its saw-like 
 form. 
 
 1. 10. fet: fere, 'strikes'. 
 
 1. 12. amonte : the meaning of this word is obscure. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. Note that giglio counts for a monosyllable. 
 The allusion in these lines is evidently to some incident in one 
 of the romances, in which the course of true love did not run 
 smooth. The first line, ' the light of day was darkened to the 
 lovers,' I take to mean that their fate was like that of Paolo and 
 Francesca. With scura compare the aer perso of Inf. v. 89.
 
 NOTES 197 
 
 Who the lovers were I have not been able to discover. If we 
 keep the reading of the text, Gigliofiore may be an equivalent 
 for Fiordiligi; Asmondo is a name unknown to me in the 
 Charlemagne cycle. My colleague, Prof. Brandin, suggests to 
 me that it might be better to read ' a Giglia e a Fiorestnondo ' ; 
 but this does not carry us any further towards the identification 
 of the personages. Still, the general meaning can hardly be 
 mistaken. 
 
 1. 3. agio : probably here ' I have '. 
 
 1. 6. d' amor lo saggio : ' how love turns out '. saggio = 
 ' test ' or ' proof ', as elsewhere. 
 
 1. 9. auro matto seems to mean unburnished gold (cf. Ger. 
 matt), gold that is unwrought and therefore pure. 
 
 1. n. ' so may God draw him from evil.' tragallo, lo traga. 
 
 1. 12. non creda a vista: like ne crede colon. matto, in 
 the usual sense of ' mad '. 
 
 STANZA 6. This is obviously spurious : it corresponds with 
 nothing in the poem to which this is a reply, and it is impossible 
 that anything could follow the comiato or envoi. The style, 
 too, is very different. The fact of its occurrence in the other 
 two MSS. looks as if these were not wholly independent of the 
 Vatican. Possibly it belongs to some other poem on similar 
 lines, and was transferred to this by some scribe who thought it 
 formed a good summary of the general drift of the poem. Line 3, 
 too, is an obvious allusion to No. XXIX, St. i, 1. 2. 
 
 1. 4. terzoletto : ' tercelet ', the young male falcon. 
 
 1. 8. m' e mestieri : ' is necessary to me '. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Of Betto Mettifucco no record seems to exist, nor has any 
 other piece of his been preserved. From the style of this he 
 may be judged to have been contemporary with the earlier 
 Pisans. There is nothing very remarkable about the piece, but 
 it expresses, rather gracefully, the usual commonplaces. The 
 stanza is of sixteen lines, 4, 8, 12, 16 being of eleven syllables, 
 the rest of seven. Rime-scheme: ABCDABCDEEFfGHHIiG. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 10. contezza: 'kindliness', or 'delicacy'; so
 
 ig8 NOTES 
 
 Matteo di Dino Frescobaldi, 'Leggiadra se', vezzosa, conta e 
 bella, e di virtu fiorita'. Also probably the ' saette conte* of 
 Purg. ii. 67. See my glossary to Purg., s.v. conto. 
 
 1. 12. contanza : A.R.V. acontansa. aconta is used by 
 Petrarch and Boccaccio in the sense of ' to make acquaintance 
 with ', ' accost '. Dante prefers the form contezza, equally but 
 more directly from Latin cognitus. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 8. rafino : see note to No. XVIII, St. I, I. 2. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 3. auso : probably = oso, but it is possible that 
 it may be from the other ausare = ' to be used '. Note again 
 the inability or unwillingness to reveal the secret flame. 
 
 1. 8. aiuto: this is the reading of the MS. A.R.V. reads 
 aiuta, taking vtso as the subject, but the meaning seems to be, 
 'If I do not do something for myself, I do not think I shall 
 escape the face for which,' &c. lazioso: the more usual form 
 is lezioso, probably shortened for delizioso. 
 
 I. 10. smiro : the s seems to have no particular force, any 
 more than in sguardo for guardo. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 2. Unless we are, very exceptionally, to read 
 mia as a dissyllable, one syllable would seem to be missing in 
 this line. natura gives no very satisfactory sense ; what we 
 want is some word implying ' service ' or ' devotion '. 
 
 II. 3-12. Again the favourite example of reckless devotion in 
 the Old Man of the Mountain and his assassins. 
 
 1. 6. MS. has passa in, which again leaves the line a syllable 
 short. The subjunctive would be more idiomatic, but an even 
 simpler emendation would be to readflassar. 
 
 1. 7. latino : as in Par. iii. 63. See note No. XXVI, St. I, I. 3. 
 
 I. 10. in bel verdero: ' in his fair pleasance'. MS. has in 
 del. verdero : Lat. viridarium ; the other form, vergiero, 
 Fr. verger, representing mridiarium. 
 
 II. 9-12 indicate the effects of the Hashish with which the 
 ' Assassins ' were drugged. 
 
 STANZA 5, 11. 3, 4. Note that faro aquisto is treated as a 
 single transitive verb. See note to No. XXX, St. 2, 1. i. 
 
 1.4. fallo = ' blunder'. 
 
 11. 7, 8. ' In a place where the Creator put together so many 
 beauties that they surpassed those of others.' Oltragio has
 
 NOTES 199 
 
 here its primary meaning of ' surpassing ' or ' supsereding ', from 
 which that of ' injuring ', ' outraging ', easily comes. In Purg. 
 ii. 94, ' nessun m' e fatto oltraggio,' we find the word in a transi- 
 tion stage : ' nothing beyond what happens to others, and so no 
 injury '. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Odo delle Colonne is just a tangible figure. He can hardly 
 have been the brother of the judge Guido, but was undoubtedly 
 a member of the same great family, and may quite possibly have 
 held office under Frederick at Messina. In Boniface VIII's Bull 
 of 1297, in which he appears in company with ' the Roman 
 Emperor Frederick of accursed memory', he is stated, says 
 Monaci, to have been dead forty years. In V.R.V. the two 
 poems of his which are preserved stand between those of the 
 Notary and Rinaldo d' Aquino, so that he probably belongs to 
 the earliest group. The present piece, it will be seen, is put into 
 the mouth, not of the lover, as usual, but of a forlorn lady. The 
 stanzas are of twelve lines, all of seven syllables. The rime- 
 scheme is very simple: ABABABCDCDCD. 
 
 STANZA i, 1.3. fiata: note that this word is of three syllables ; 
 the i does not represent a Latin /, but is original, whether the 
 word be, as Diez thinks, a derivative of via or represents a Latin 
 vicata from vices ' turns '. In Dante it is nearly always three 
 syllables ; indeed, where it is not, the text is probably doubtful. 
 Later, with Petrarch and others, it seems to have been treated 
 as the exigencies of metre might require. 
 
 1.6. guernita =' furnished ', 'fitted out'; from a Teutonic 
 root meaning ' to take heed for ', whence also our ' warn ' ; 
 ' garnish ' is another variety of the same word through the French. 
 
 1. 8. Note the accent thrown back for the sake of the rime. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 1 . tapinella : ' wretched '. tapino, from ran twos, 
 is one of the few Greek words preserved in Italian. 
 
 1. 4. conquisa: see note to No. XXVIII, St. 5, 1. 6. 
 
 1. 10. acorre morte : cf. Inf. xiii. 118. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. in cielato : the regular phrase for lovers' 
 stolen meetings. 
 
 1. 8. scanoscienza : almost ' discourtesy '.
 
 200 NOTES 
 
 1. 10. intenza: apparently 'disputes'. See note to No, X, 
 St. 2, 1. 10. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 2. tra : imperative of trarre. 
 
 1. 5. che : again the indefinite relative. Che lo suo = lo ctfi, 
 but with a slight suggestion of ' the reason why '. 
 
 J. 9. cangiata : there seems nothing except the needs of 
 rime to account for this false concord, or for the feminine dura 
 in the next line. Of course one might get over the difficulty by 
 reading ' la corin' a (or ^) cangiata '. MS. has ' ora locore '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 11. 5-8. A somewhat amusing touch about the 
 tenderness towards the lover and the ferocity to the supposed 
 rival. 
 
 1. 12. gallo : cf. note to No. XXX, St. 5, 1. 10. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Ruggierone of Palermo is only known to us by the ascription 
 to him of two poems in the Vatican MS., and in the Palatine, 
 and even one of these, that here given, is assigned to Re Federigo, 
 probably the Sicilian king of that name. The stanzas of this 
 poem are of ten lines, i, 2, 4, 5 of seven syllables, the rest of 
 ten. Rime-scheme : ABCABCDDEE. The verses purport to 
 be written by a Crusader for transmission to his lady at home. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. i, 3. Cf. note to No. XXVII, St. i, 1. 5. 
 vio = veggio. The MS. has via, and in line 4 desia, but the 
 subjunctive seems unnecessary. 
 
 1. 4 It would probably be better to omit e. 
 
 1. 6. riso e gioco : frequently coupled, as in the last piece, 
 St. 2, 1. 6. 
 
 1. 7. sengnamente : see note to No. II, St. 4, 1. 6. Perhaps 
 ' accomplishment ' would render the word here. It seems un- 
 certain whether it is singular or plural, ente might stand for 
 either ento or enti. If we take it as plural we ought probably, 
 with Monaci, to read suo. 
 
 1. 9. disdotto : ' diversion ', ' amusement '. From Latin dis- 
 ducere = ' to lead away ', that is, ' from the business of life ' ; 
 ' divert ', ' distract ' convey a similar idea. The word is probably
 
 NOTES 201 
 
 borrowed from French deduit. It does not seem to have become 
 incorporated in Italian. In Provengal desdtdre is used by Giraut 
 de Bornelh in the poem Si per mon Sobretotz ; but Gloss. Occ. 
 does not recognize it. (Dedurre, as in Par. viii. 121. Fr. 
 de'duzre= l lo deduce' is from Latin diducere, and is altogether 
 a different word.) 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. i. Omitted by Allacci. 
 
 1. 4. acatto. See note to No. XXV, St. 1, 1. 6. 
 
 1. 9. atassa : a word of doubtful signification and rare occur- 
 rence. It occurs in a poem ascribed to Guido Guinizelli, Contra 
 lo meo volere, where Val. interprets it by ' troubles ', a meaning 
 it will equally well bear here, but this of course is only a mere 
 ' shot ' from the context. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 2. MS. valafiore disoria, 'go to the flower of 
 Syria'. But this is clearly wrong; the poem is obviously 
 addressed to a lady at home, and not to any ' flower of Syria '. 
 The alteration of one letter which I have made restores the 
 right sense. 
 
 1. 10. degia : ' may deem it her duty '. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 The stanzas are of fifteen lines, I, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 being of seven 
 syllables, 13 of five, and the rest of eleven. Rime-scheme : 
 ABBC ABBC DDEEEFF. In Stanza 3, line 9 is missing. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. i. This line occurs also in No. XXIII as the 
 first of the fourth stanza. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. I. manti: All. has inanti. The readings will 
 of course be practically indistinguishable in MS. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 5. s'adastia. This adastiare appears to be of 
 Teutonic origin and akin to our ' haste ' (see Diez, s.v. astiu) ; 
 distinct from a similar verb from astio (Purg. vi. 20), ' hatred ', 
 'envy'. Only the second sense seems to be recognized by 
 Crusca ; but the two have obviously a tendency to blend. Thus 
 in the Italian version of Brunetti's Trtsor (vii. 37) adastiano is 
 used to represent the estrivoiient of the original (No. III. ii, 
 ch. 72), where it is hard to say whether ' vie' or 'strive ' be the 
 precise meaning implied by the words.
 
 202 NOTES 
 
 1. 9. As mentioned above, a line has evidently dropped out 
 here, leaving speranza without a rime ; a fact which seems to 
 have escaped the notice of all the editors. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 This anonymous little poem, simple and pathetic as it is, 
 though not on a level with the beautiful threnody of Giaco- 
 mino Pugliese (No. XIV), has much of the same sincerity of 
 sorrow. In this case it is the lady who mourns for a lost lover. 
 He appears to be no imaginary person, but lord of the little terri- 
 tory of Scarlino in the Tuscan Maremma. The stanzas are of 
 nine lines, I, 3, 5, 6, 8 being of eight syllables, and therefore 
 trochaic, 2, 4, 7, 9 of the ordinary iambic hendecasyllables. The 
 rhythm is very nearly that of ' Who is Sylvia ', but can be more 
 closely indicated by a rough rendering : 
 
 Ruthless death, thou fierce destroyer, 
 
 All blame thou sure deservest. 
 
 Rime-scheme: ABABCCDCD. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 5. Con ti facca: this is the reading of the MS., 
 and seems to mean 'keep yourself to yourself. The variant 
 suggested in the footnote seems to make the sense run some- 
 what easier. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. diporto : ' pleasure ', ' entertainment '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. i. micidera : ' homicide '. 
 
 I. 3. me : notice the hiatus before e. Perhaps we should 
 read meve. 
 
 II. 8, 9. Cf. Chaucer's Knight : 
 
 He never yet no vilanie ne sayde 
 In alle his lif, unto no manere wight. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 4. fe : MS. fa f tea, which gives the line a syl- 
 lable too many. soperchianza = ' overbearing '. 
 
 1. 5. piano : probably = ' accessible '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. colonna maremmana : Casini says that 
 the reference is to Colonna di Buriano, a small town a little 
 north of Grosseto, in the neighbourhood of which we may 
 suppose that Baldo caught his death.
 
 NOTES 203 
 
 1. 8. Monaci retains the gientile of the MS., but it destroys 
 the metre, and I have followed A.R.V. in omitting it. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 This poem (which Val. assigns to Guido delle Colonne) has 
 no special merit, save a certain simplicity and elegance of diction, 
 to distinguish it from the many others on the same theme. 
 The stanzas, in number, as usual, five, are of ten lines, all save 
 7, 8, 9 being of eleven syllables. These three are of seven. 
 Rime-scheme : ABABABCDCcD. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 3. The syntax of this line is somewhat curious : 
 distrugo is intransitive, ' I waste away,' but presently it has to 
 be understood in the transitive sense, after foco. 
 
 1. 7. MS. mabene. The ma must clearly be omitted. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 4. alapidato : ' stony'. 
 
 1. 5. lasasse = lasciasse. 
 
 1. 7. a Deo : the use of a is somewhat curious ; as it were, 
 ' at God '. 
 
 1. 8. chi . . . dar. Wiese (Part III, Section 124) gives an 
 instance from Guido Fava of this construction, infinitive with 
 relative, but desires corroboration of it. This passage may 
 supply it. 
 
 1. 9. accaduto : a note in V.R.V. says that an erasure has 
 obliterated about eight letters before to. Val. reads ismarruto, 
 a doubtful form. The suggestion in the text seems simpler. 
 
 1. 10. MS. ' evenuto neseno amale portto '. A.R.V. omits 
 e venuto. It might be better to read e ne vemito sono, to keep 
 the internal rime in its proper place. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 4. goleato: goleare, see note to No. XXX, 
 St. 2, 1.8. 
 
 1. 10. riditto : V.R.V. ditto. A.R.V., following Val., de- 
 litto. riditto in the sense of ' no need to say it twice ', or possibly 
 ' without contradiction '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 2. Note Dio thrown in as a kind of expletive. 
 Exactly equivalent to our use of ' the deuce'. chi . . . con- 
 sigliare : construction again as in St. 2, 1. 8. 
 
 1. 7. se non seems to be treated as one syllable, perhaps 
 pronounced sen.
 
 204 NOTES 
 
 1. 9. tenore : probably ' bondage ' as in No. XXIX, St. 1 , 1. 4. 
 
 STANZA 5,!. I. novella: a favourite epithet applied to an 
 ode which the poet is sending forth, especially in the poets 
 towards the end of the century. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 This anonymous piece again expresses in an elegant form the 
 usual commonplaces. From the smoother style and less archaic 
 diction we may suppose it to have been written, or at least 
 re-edited, in the latter part of the century. The stanza is 
 almost identical with that of No. XXXIV, with one difference, 
 which will be noted in the rime-scheme. This is as follows : 
 ABCABCCDEE. It will be observed that D has no corre- 
 sponding rime, a feature almost or quite unique in these poems. 
 A remarkable feature is the devotional tone of the whole. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. i. It will be observed that this line corresponds 
 very closely with the opening of Guido Guinizelli's ode (No. LXI) 
 as this is given in the Vat. MS. The reading of the MS., 
 however, differs from that of V. E. i. 15, where it is quoted by 
 Dante, so that there can be no reason to suppose, as some 
 have done, that the present piece should be ascribed to Guini- 
 zelli. In some respects, indeed, it more resembles Guittone. In 
 V. E. ii. 12, where Dante quotes it again, he appears to ascribe 
 it to Guido Ghisilieri. 
 
 1. 2. compreso : one is rather tempted to suggest conguiso, 
 as corresponding better with donato in the next line. 
 
 I. 6. melglio here, and in St. 3, scanned as a dissyllable, 
 points somewhat to the later date of the poem. 
 
 II. 9, 10. Note the obvious devotional allusion in magnificato 
 and coronato. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. regnar servire: here there can be no doubt 
 of the source whence this expression is taken. The words occur 
 in our Prayer-book in the second Collect at Morning Prayer, in 
 the form ' Whose service is perfect freedom '. But in the Latin 
 original, ascribed to Gelasius (fifth cent. A.D.), the form is ' cui 
 servire regnare est '. 
 
 1. 9. d' ogni grazia . . . compiuta. Here, again, an obvious
 
 NOTES 205 
 
 allusion to gratia plena. vertu : not 'virtue ' in our sense, but 
 more nearly ' power ', as in Inf. ii. 76. compiuta must be read 
 compita for the rime's sake. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 4. assembro : 'liken', 'compare'; from Latin 
 assemplare, for exemplar v? = to copy. See Inf. xxiv. 4. 
 
 1. 8. See Ps. ciii (Vulg. cii), verse u. 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. 2, 3. 'The pain of love seems to me greater 
 good than the good of love.' asembra is here intransitive. 
 
 1. 7. sostene : a singular verb, after two or more substantives 
 coupled by e, is common in Italian at least down to the sixteenth 
 century. Curiously enough, when they are coupled by con the 
 verb is usually, if not always, plural. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 6. A good instance of the way in which the 
 terms of feudalism were employed to express the relation 
 between the lover and the lady. 
 
 1. 10. 'Your vertu in deserving love is greater than any my 
 love can have in serving you.' 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 This poem, again, is a fair exercise on the usual themes, the 
 spring-time, inciting to sing the lady's praises and the lover's 
 happiness. It probably belongs to an earlier period than the 
 last, being in almost the earliest and simplest form. The open- 
 ing curiously resembles that of No. LIV, by Bonagiunta of 
 Lucca, but this need not imply any relation between the two 
 pieces, the imagery being part of the regular troubadour's stock. 
 The stanzas are of nine lines, all short. Rime-scheme : 
 ABABCDDCA. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. 8. cagiuoli : from Latin caveola, with gender 
 changed. Literally ' cages ', but here merely cages formed by 
 the boughs among which the birds sing. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. I. MS. Spera chemai preso. This appears to 
 give neither metre nor sense, so I have ventured on the slight 
 alteration in the text. 
 
 1. 3. col chiaro viso. See note to No. I, St. 5, 1. 5. 
 
 1. 8. Morgana : Morgan le Fay, known to all readers of the 
 Arthurian Romances. As her name implies, she must have 
 been of Welsh origin, and connected with the sea.
 
 2 o6 NOTES 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 5 sqq. Cf. No. XVIII, St. 3, 11. 5 sqq. 
 STANZA 4, 1. 3. intenza : see note to No. X, St. 2, 1. 10. 
 
 I. 4. in via : MS. minvia. A.R.V., retaining this, reads sem- 
 bian, of which it is hard to see the meaning. In any case the 
 passage is difficult ; the only meaning I can suggest is, ' The 
 day sets me thinking more of her, it sends her likeness '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 4. Unless we are to read mio for suo, amore 
 must have the sense here of amante. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. 3. d' amore clearly cannot stand. The emenda- 
 tion I have suggested in a note saves the rime and gives a good 
 sense. <? amore is exactly what a scribe, writing perhaps from 
 memory, would almost mechanically give after novi canti. 
 
 II. 5, 6. The evil speakers, whom the lady is begged not to 
 believe, are other stock personages in these little dramas. See 
 e. g. No. XVI, St. 3. 
 
 STANZA 7, 1. i. Note that before the two consonants at the 
 beginning of the next word Dio is two syllables. 
 
 11. 1-4. Cf. the last stanza of No. XV. 
 
 1. 4. The o in eramo must be dropped, since leal seems 
 to be always two syllables, though in beato, &c., the vowels are 
 usually merged. The Lat. legalis would sufficiently account 
 for this. 
 
 I. 6. ispellamento : none of the dictionaries seems to re- 
 cognize spellare or any of its compounds. It must be equiva- 
 lent to the French e'peler, Pr. espelar ; the original signification 
 of which seems to have been ' to relate ', ' recount '. Eng. 
 ' spelP in both senses is of the same origin. The etymology is 
 Teutonic ; cf. Goth, spillon in the same sense. Here it might 
 almost be rendered by ' converse '. 
 
 II. 8, 9. ' May he be taken in an evil noose, and condemned 
 to be sawn asunder.' To save the metre in the last line, 
 D'Ancona suggests the reading giuggiuto, which I have adopted 
 in the text, where the MS. has giudicato. Possibly we should 
 also read da for di. 
 
 XL. 
 
 As I have said elsewhere, a good deal more ink has been shed 
 over this piece than its intrinsic merits deserve. In A.R.V.
 
 NOTES 207 
 
 Professors D'Ancona and Comparetti allot 214 pages to it out 
 of the 532 of which their first volume consists. Others have 
 also written about it at considerable length. It was first printed 
 in a fragmentary state by Allacci, and a good deal of the interest 
 which it aroused is doubtless due to the fact that it was for 
 some time regarded as the earliest extant specimen of Italian 
 poetry. The first edition of D. G. Rossetti's work, best known 
 as Dante and his Circle, appeared, as will be remembered, 
 under the title The Early Italian Poets from Ciullo (fAlcamo 
 to Dante Alighieri. Rossetti's translation, it may be observed, 
 though spirited, is very far from accurate. When the poem 
 came to be more studied, certain allusions, which will be noted 
 presently, proved that its date could not be much antecedent to 
 1 240 ; so that it was preceded by several of the pieces in the 
 present selection ; nor indeed should I have included it, were it 
 not that Dante did it the honour of quoting its third line, as 
 a specimen of the vulgar Sicilian language, in V. E. i. 12. 
 Indeed, it bears many traces of courtly, or at least artificial, 
 origin. It has few merits, save a swinging rhythm, and in 
 places a certain coarse humour. It is in no sense a canzone, 
 but rather what is known as a contrasto : an amoebaean dialogue 
 between the lover and the lady, the former (whom sundry 
 Italian commentators treat as though he were identical with 
 the author, and speak of as ' Ciullo ', or, in the more recent 
 version of the name, ' Cielo ') being represented as a roving 
 vagabond, who pays his addresses to the lady. She treats him 
 at first with disdain, but meets with the usual fate of the woman 
 who deliberates. The piece is obviously entirely dramatic, and 
 no inference whatever can be drawn from it as to the author's 
 position in life. The form of it will remind English readers 
 somewhat remotely of ' The Nutbrown Maid ' ; though it seems 
 hardly fair to the latter to suggest such a comparison. The 
 stanzas are of five lines, the first three being iambics of 15 
 syllables ; in fact the common English ballad measure, of which 
 a typical instance is : ' A captain bold of Halifax, who lived in 
 country quarters ', while the last two are the regular ' hendeca- 
 syllabics'. The stanzas are so many and so short that I have 
 departed from the system of reference adopted elsewhere in this
 
 208 NOTES 
 
 book, and given the stanza-numbers only. If readers will bear 
 in mind that there are three stanzas on - the first page, and six 
 on every subsequent one, they will have little difficulty in finding 
 the place referred to. 
 
 STANZA I. There is evidently something wrong about the 
 second line, for why should a lady's attractions appeal to other 
 ladies ? Grion boldly changes le donne to // homini, putting 
 the other words into the masculine ; but what seems to be 
 wanted is a substitute for disiano, some word implying ' envy ', 
 as suggested by invidiata in Stanza 9. Might it not be 
 Cinvidianol The MS. gives trami I have followed the read- 
 ing of V. E. focora : for fochi. This irregular feminine 
 plural formed on the analogy of Lat. corpora, tempora, &c., is 
 very common in early Italian, and not peculiar to Sicily. See 
 Diez, ii, p. 27. 
 
 STANZA 2. arompere : ' to plough '. abere for avere ; b for 
 v being, as we have already seen in bolontate, a regular Sicilian 
 form. monno : for mondo. cavelli : for capelli. aritonno : 
 1 clip all round ', i. e. ' become a nun '. Probably from ritonda, 
 though doubtless modified in sense by tondere. 
 
 STANZA 4. atalenti : ' make me wish ', from talento in the 
 usual meaning of ' inclination '. paremo : mio padre. Forms 
 like mogliama, &c., are not uncommon in Boccaccio and other 
 Tuscans. arigolgano : rivolgano.\\. 4, 5. 'However well 
 your coming tasted to you, I advise you to look sharp about 
 going away.' 
 
 STANZA 5. difensa . . . agostari. ' An inferior unjustly at- 
 tacked by a superior was allowed to invoke the Sovereign's name, 
 and this was called a Defensa. If a Lord robbed his vassal after 
 this outcry, he was debtor to the Treasury as well as to the 
 wronged sufferer after a civil process ; but this did not apply 
 to offences against the person ' (Kington Oliphant, Life of 
 Frederick //, i. 387). This system was instituted in 1231, and 
 the Augustals were first struck in the same year, so the poem 
 cannot have been written before that ; and, seeing that the 
 system and the coins had evidently become quite familiar things 
 by the time it was written, we may easily add a few years 
 unless, indeed, they were introduced into this poem with a view
 
 NOTES 209 
 
 to advertising them. It may perfectly well have been written by 
 some one about the Court. The allusion to the father's property 
 in Bari suggests that he was supposed to be a person of some 
 position. We can hardly suppose that the scene is laid in Bari, 
 since Dante, in the passage above referred to, is clearly dis- 
 tinguishing Sicilians from Apulians, so that we must suppose 
 the action to take place in the island itself. bella : the form of 
 this word shows either that the poem was not written in the 
 purest Sicilian, or that it was edited by the probably Tuscan 
 scribe. The pure Sicilian form would be bidda. 
 
 STANZA 6. perperi : according to Nan., Byzantine gold coins, 
 called vTrfpTrvpot (extra-fired). Saladino : The use of Saladin's 
 name with the present tense a has been adduced as evidence 
 of the early date of the poem, Saladin having died in 1 193. But 
 the name of this famous personage may very well have survived 
 among less well-informed persons in out-of-the-way parts of 
 Christendom as a general designation for Saracen sovereigns, 
 a result to which its resemblance to Soldano would contribute. 
 The difficulty would be removed altogether by expunging a 
 and reading quanta, not a very violent remedy. Even if we 
 retain the a the lady's reference to the Soldano in the 
 next line as a distinct personage from ' the Saladino ' shows 
 that she was but imperfectly acquainted with recent Saracen 
 history. 
 
 STANZA 7. parabole : the full form of the word which 
 became parole. Here, as in perperi above, and elsewhere in 
 this poem, we find the Greek forms retained. adimina for 
 domina. amonesta : ' admonishes '. 
 
 STANZA 8. er =jeri. 
 
 STANZA 9. Donne, the reading of the MS., is somewhat 
 weak, and gives a syllable too many to the line. Monaci reads 
 dot, presumably dogli me, but this does not save the metre. 
 May we not read Dio quante, &c. ? schiantora : ' splinters '. 
 Plural \\kefocora in Stanza i. pensanno : pensando. 
 
 STANZA 10. male : ' to your own hurt '. As in Purg. iv. 72. 
 treze : 'tresses'. consore : 'sister in a community'. 
 arendo : arendersi, the regular term for entering a religious 
 house ; so renduto, Purg. xx. 54. magione : Fr. maison, Lat.
 
 210 NOTES 
 
 mansio. Used specially for the abode of a religious order, as of 
 the Templars, in Villani, viii. 92. 
 
 STANZA n. viso cleri: see note to No. XX, St. 2, 1. i. 
 Here the form is more directly French, another detail which 
 points to the artificiality of the piece. dimino : cf. adimina in 
 Stanza 7. The change of o to i in the unaccented syllable is of 
 course common enough. 
 
 STANZA 12. Boimd : a less elegant form of the usual oimc. 
 ao = <), somewhat nearer to the original habeo. blestiemato : 
 here again the passive participle used in active sense ; note the 
 / of blasphemia retained, as in the Provencal blast emar, another 
 indication of hybridism in the poem. chii : for piu, a Sicilianism 
 which we have already found in these poems. 
 
 STANZA 14. adomanimi : dimandimi. mon peri : here, 
 again, a French influence is obvious. 
 
 STANZA 15. bolta (volta) so tana : ' an over-turn from 
 below ' ; probably a wrestling term, though the dictionaries do* 
 not seem to recognize it. villana : ' churlish '. 
 
 STANZA 16. manganiello: a mangonel, the well-known 
 engine used in mediaeval times for battering a fortress ; here 
 generally for ' assault '. groria : r for / is genuinely Sicilian. 
 chiaci : piaci. 
 
 STANZA 17. vitama : as paremo in Stanza 4 and elsewhere. 
 deboci=* debbo. mosera : so the MS. Most editors have 
 altered to movera (the subject being of course the ' danger ' 
 referred to in the preceding line). But is it not possible that 
 mosera or mossera may be a dialectal future perfect, formed 
 directly from the past tense (movomovero mossi mossero) ? 
 ai' : the first person is clearly required here, and Val. is 
 probably right in reading aio, or perhaps it should be ao as in 
 Stanza 12. 
 
 STANZA 18. abero : ebbero. Note that the second line lacks 
 a syllable at the beginning, a familiar feature in the old ballad 
 poetry of all languages. nonde : See note to No. VII, St. i, 
 1. 6. gironde : girono inde in later Italian it would have been 
 ne girono t ' many went away angry '. Perhaps moltoferivio\i\d 
 be better ; ' they went away very angry ' seems to give a more 
 lively touch. 1. 4. V.R.V. intendi bella bene do chebol dire ;
 
 NOTES 211 
 
 bella being, as the editors tell us, erased in the MS. Val. 
 boglio dire. onze : presumably of silver. 
 
 STANZA 19. garofani: literally ' clove- pinks '. Gr. Kapvo- 
 </>uAXoj/. Possibly it may here be equivalent to our ' swells '. 
 salma 'nd 'ai : written as one word in the MS. Val. emends 
 che a casata mandai, ' which I have sent to your house '. But it 
 seems quite possible to extract a better sense from the words as 
 they stand. ' Not that you have any burden of them.' He is 
 beginning to return banter for banter. m' assai : ' try me ', 
 ' essay me '. So the wooer in Midas : ' try me, ply me, prove 
 ere you deny me '. 1. 3. ' If there is a head-wind, and it turns, 
 and you come to shore.' prai : piaggie ; "Lak.plaga, whence, of 
 course, the r. 
 
 STANZA 20. macara : more usually magari, ' would that '. 
 A curious word, surviving from Gr. na.Ka.piov = ' blessed would 
 it be, if, and so, 'would that'. It is still in use. acori : 
 accorare signifies ' to touch the heart ' in any way, here ' to vex '. 
 In Purg. v. 57, and Par. viii. 73, the original idea is retained 
 with a somewhat different signification. dengnara : not the 
 future, but a pluperfect (Lat. dignaveraf) with a conditional 
 sense, such as this tense has acquired in Spanish cantara, &c. : 
 ' He had not ventured '. 
 
 STANZA 2 1. arma : alma, anima. pantasa: this word is 
 variously explained. Val.'s tutta from an imaginary Greek 
 Tram-curia may be dismissed, as a verb is clearly wanted. Nan- 
 nucci's farnetica and Grion's anela come really to the same 
 thing. From Greek fyavraala came the O.Fr. form pantoisie, 
 ' a nightmare ', whence our ' pant ', and kindred forms occur of 
 course in the other languages, as Italian fantasia. The form 
 of the word here seems again to point to the artificial origin of 
 the poem, p forynot being a Sicilian peculiarity. chiamarano : 
 here the conditional pluperfect is even more obvious than in 
 dengnara above. malvasa : malvagia ; curiously enough, this 
 word seems to have nothing to do with malo, but to come from 
 the Gothic balwaivesei, ' wickedness ', from balwo, akin to our 
 bale. traita : the form traito (tradito) for traditore is not 
 recognized by the dictionaries, but it is unmistakable in 
 Stanza 24, and Nan. quotes an example of it from Fra Guittone.
 
 2 T2 NOTES 
 
 STANZA 22. chissa : questa. persone : for persona. See 
 Wiese, 51. The meaning here appears to be almost 
 = ' personality ' ' you cease to exist ', ' there 's an end of 
 you '. sormonare : probably another French word, surmener, 
 ' to over-drive ', ' weary out '. Nan. would read sertnonare, 
 adducing Prov. sermonar, which does not appear to exist, but 
 which he has apparently confused with somoner = ' to summon', 
 and French sermonner, which is a later word, and does not 
 mean, as he would interpret his sermonare, 'to chatter'. ave, 
 in the frequent sense of '"tnere is', te being dependent on 
 aiutare. 
 
 STANZA 23. istrani : for istranio. Both strano and stranio 
 are found, the latter corresponding more nearly to Latin 
 extraneus. canno : quando. lo 'ntaiuto. Val. and Nan. read 
 lo trajuto, and explain it as meaning ' a dress with a train '. 
 The former, while allowing that intaiuto may also be the name 
 of a garment, says that he has made many inquiries among 
 Sicilians, including ladies, but has been unable to find out that 
 any such name now exists in Sicily. Might' it not be ensaiuto, 
 ' silk-trimmed ' ? 
 
 STANZA 24. Note that again a syllable is lacking at the 
 beginning of the second division of the first line ; probably the 
 J would be sounded almost as ty.como se fosse, &c., 
 apparently implying that the garment in question was of no 
 very costly material. sciamito : ' velvet ', ' samite ', from Gr. 
 f^dfuros = ' six-thread ', presumably because woven of that 
 number. 
 
 STANZA 25. misera: a conditional formed direct from the 
 Latin pluperfect, miseram. trobaret': trovereiti. rina : arena. 
 impretare : impetrare. 
 
 STANZA 26. disdutto. See note to No. XXXIV, St. 2, 1. 9. 
 
 STANZA 27. fallo : ' I fail ', fromfallare. 
 
 STANZA 28. di core paladino : ' with the heart of a valiant 
 man", or, with a comma after core, 'my valiant man'. The 
 lady's resistance is breaking down, she now only asks for a 
 little delay. 
 
 STANZA 29. scannami : ' cut my throat ', from canna, 
 a slang term for gola (Acharizio). scalfi : Nan. explains by
 
 NOTES 213 
 
 sb^lcci, ' peel ' ; but ' boil ', Lat. excalifacere, seems a good deal 
 more probable. 
 
 STANZA 32. minespreso : Prov. menspreizar, Fr. mepriser. 
 arenno here is simply ' surrender '. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 This again is a burlesque piece, and I should not have 
 included it, had not it too been cited by Dante, V. E. i. n, as 
 a skit on poems composed in the dialects of Rome, Ancona, 
 and Spoleto. He gives the author's name as ' quidam Floren- 
 tinus, nomine Castra'. There was a poet named Terino da 
 Castel Fiorentino, a contemporary of Honesto da Bologna, two 
 of whose poems are in the Vatican 3793 ; and one is tempted to 
 think that Dante may have got his name inaccurately. But the 
 MS. assigns this to an otherwise unknown Messer Osmano. It 
 is probably the most puzzling piece in the whole collection. 
 The language baffles the Italian commentators ; who, when in 
 doubt, are apt to say with the German commentator on 
 Aristophanes : ' mihi quidem arridet interpretatio obscenior '. 
 I cannot profess to have mastered every detail or explained 
 every word ; but in my view there is nothing improper in the 
 poem. A vagabond personage, of lower rank than the hero of 
 the last, meets a woman carrying food to the field- workers. He 
 makes discreditable proposals to her ; she slaps his face, and 
 sets him to work. That evening, or next morning, he departs 
 with an aching back and something in his wallet. 
 
 The stanzas are of ten lines, in another familiar ballad- 
 measure ; normally v^-^w-^w-w ('a day I shall ever re- 
 member') represents it in English, but an extra syllable (or 
 syllables) is freely admitted at the beginning, as in the first line, 
 where una may be regarded as extra metrum. Rime-scheme : 
 ABABABCDCD. 
 
 The story is partly narrated, partly in the form of dialogue. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 1. fermana : Vat. MS.forwana. The Grenoble 
 MS. has una fertnava, and an annotator, possibly Corbinelli, 
 has underlined the quotation in red, and drawn a vertical line, 
 cutting off the i>a. This is hardly distinguishable from fermana,
 
 2i4 NOTES 
 
 which has become the accepted meaning. But the sense is far 
 from obvious. Strictly speaking, fermana can only mean a 
 woman from Fermo, but what should a woman of Fermo be 
 doing in Tuscany ? It is difficult to avoid the conviction that 
 the word has something to do with ' farm ' ; ferma in this sense 
 did not come into use until long after, but ferine already 
 existed in French, and, as we have seen, words of French 
 origin are not uncommon in these poems. iscoppai : if this 
 word is to stand it can hardly mean anything but ' I spied '. 
 The Gr. vKontiv may have continued in use in the south-east of 
 Italy, or Sicily, and have spread northwards for poetical pur- 
 poses. But it is a question whether we should not read scappd, 
 1 came out '. 
 
 1. 2. cita cita: so the Gr. MS. and Vat. MS. reads detto, 
 probably =cheto, 'quietly'; ctla, 'with speed', however, fits the 
 sense much better. sen gia : Vat. MS. sagia. aina : ' hurry ' ; 
 from Lat. agere, as ntina from ruere, says Diez ; who, however, 
 will not identify it with a similar word in late Latin meaning 
 ' the tongue of a balance ', though one would have said that the 
 two senses might very well have had the same origin. 
 
 1. 3. impingnoli has evidently some connexion with imf>in- 
 guare, ' to fatten '. May we conceive that the objects in question 
 were some kind of suet-dumpling like the German Nudel ? 
 
 1. 4. saima : ' fat ', or ' grease ', Lat. sagina, ' fattening food '. 
 
 L 5. treccioli : looks as if it should mean ' hair-ribbons '. 
 
 1. 8. se mi viva : ' so may I live ', ' upon my life '. This 
 formula is familiar enough in Dante, e.g. Purg. ii. 16, 's' io 
 ancor lo veggia '. se represents here Lat sic, not si. 
 
 1. 9. cantaba: MS. ca&a, obviously a clerical error. The 
 suggested emendation seems obvious, though perhaps contaba 
 would be even better. 
 
 1. io. ' Forse e 1' unico verso chiaro della poesia ' (D'Ancona). 
 fantilla : ' maid-servant '. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. I. comannato : comandato ; here we have an 
 undoubtedly Sicilian form. 
 
 1. 2. rote : probably ' rocks ' (with allusion to the caba in the 
 preceding stanza). From Lat. rupta\ croda in this sense is 
 common in the south-eastern Alps. But this is generally identified
 
 NOTES 215 
 
 with grotta, which is usually derived from crypta^ Gr. Kpim-Tfj, 
 ' concealed ' ; though the juxtaposition of cava and rota here lends 
 some weight to Raynouard's suggestion of cava rota, which Diez 
 (from whom I take it) calls ' mehr sinnreich als richtig '. 
 
 1. 3. vitto : ' victuals '. 
 
 1.4. scotitoi : probably 'threshers' or 'winnowers'. MS. 
 che non m } encaite \ men zote is the suggestion of Grion, who 
 interprets by zoppicchino ('lame,' 'unhandy'). To supply a 
 verb, I have altered che non to cK enno. Diez identifies zoto 
 with Ei'ench sot. The derivation of the words is uncertain. 
 zotico means ' rustic ', ' clownish ' ; the sense of the words would 
 thus be ' who are less of fools (or clowns) than you '. 
 
 1. 5. truffo evidently signifies a vessel of some kind, probably 
 a small barrel; it might be OHG. truha, our 'trough', in the 
 sense which it appears to have had of ' a wooden case '. 
 
 I. 6. scordai per : MS. scordassero. 
 
 II. 5, 6. The meaning is evidently ' Nor did I forget the gate 
 and scatoni to make a good broth ', though I am not able to 
 identify these viands, unless gote may signify beef or mutton 
 'cheeks ' such as might be used in making broth. 
 
 1. 8. MS. reads farfiata farfione. My emendation is some- 
 what bold, but it at least gives a sense : ' porridge of good meal '. 
 Grion, retaining farfiata, interprets as 'decotto di farfaro' 
 (bran-mash). 
 
 1. 9. leva te su : MS. levantesso, which Grion interprets as 
 ' man from the Levant ' ; with leva te su cf. levati suso in 
 Stanza 28 of the preceding poem. 
 
 1. 10. ' O you silly, stupid baboon ' ; milensagine in the sense 
 of 'silliness' occurs in Boccaccio. The origin of the word is 
 obscure. 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 1-3. Apparently ' I was in a bigger funk than 
 I should have been at the devil '. tansin must mean ' so far 
 up to '. timiccio must be read as timicc\ 
 
 1. 4. mi died': 'gave it me', 'let me have it'. Cf. Purg. 
 ix. ill. 
 
 1.5. crepato: probably in the sense of the Yr.creve,' broken- 
 down '. 
 
 1. 7. cica : ' a little bit '. O.Fr. chiche, probably with gender
 
 216 NOTES 
 
 changed, from Lat. ciccnm t literally ' the husk which encloses 
 the grain of corn ', used by Plautus. (The word is said to be 
 now used in Tuscany for the fag-end of a cigar. G. de Gregorio, 
 Studj Glottologici.) 
 
 1. 8. nosciella : nuptials. 
 
 1. 9. ' Get out of that, and don't go through the corn ! ' 
 MS. esciona. 
 
 1. 10. 'Yes, I see your cheek shining,' no doubt from the 
 slap which she has administered ; arlucar = rilucere. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. I. aconsenchi : for aconsenti. MS. acorn-. 
 
 1. 2. 'I will give you baskets of peaches.' MS.fler/ict, which 
 A.R.V. retains. 
 
 1.3. moricie : presumably 'mulberries'. 
 
 1. 4. MS. tulli atortte. As I now perceive, we should read 
 tu ti cC torto, ' tu as tort '. 
 
 1. 5. al oclenchi : oculis cltnatis, i.e. 'and not look at me '. 
 Such is the best suggestion I can make as to this queer-looking 
 word. 
 
 1. 6. 'I will add you colours in woven stuff.' tralici : tralicio, 
 Fr. treiltis, ' cloth woven of three threads/ Lat. trilicium ; prob- 
 ably modified in meaning by treille, Pr. trelha, It. tralcio, ' vine- 
 tendril '. 
 
 1.7. faccio rubesto : MS. rubusto \ ' act roughly '; for ru- 
 besto, Lat. robustus, cf. Purg. v. 125. 
 
 1. 8. sucotata : the only suggestion I can make is that we 
 should read scitotata scossa, treating ai as a disyllabic before 
 the sc, the meaning being ' shaken my resolution '. 
 
 1. 9. So the MS., except that it has rusto. The reading is 
 obviously corrupt, and Grion does not mend matters much by 
 writing Pirino Rusto. For ne sia I should suggest 'n esso, and 
 possibly res fa for resto, reading also rubesta in 1. 7 ; pirino 
 seems hopeless, unless we may take it to mean a ' pear-orchard '. 
 ' Come here for to-day, stay in this pear-orchard '. 
 
 1. 10. 'And don't let me be made angry with your ogling.' 
 MS. ediidochia. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. i. Grion would understand the first word to 
 mean al ab ortu, ' at day-break,' which gives a good sense : 
 ' Next morning I went away weary '. We have seen already
 
 NOTES 217 
 
 an apparent Latinism in odenchi above. alaterato : cf. Fr. 
 
 alte'rer. 
 
 1. 2. chera alvato : alvato is vox nihili, and I think we 
 might read lavorato era, senza sollena : ' without drawing 
 breath '. 
 
 1. 3. battisaco, one can hardly doubt, is the German bettel- 
 sack, ' beggar's wallet ' ; bel (or perhaps ben) lavato, ' well- 
 washed,' I take to be a slang term for ' well-furnished '. 
 
 1. 4. Probably mi 'I pose '#, ' I put it on my back again ' (one 
 would like to read mi dttolse, ' my back was aching from the 
 head downwards,' but this might be too much of a liberty to 
 take with the text). 
 
 1. 6. ' For she cast a kind breath over me.' 
 
 1. 7. essa : MS. esso. miffui apatovito : ' I made it up 
 with her'. 
 
 1. 8. I suspect that altrei contains the Prov. autrejar, Fr. 
 octroyer, ' to permit ' (Lat. auctoricare). The line is a syllable 
 short, and perhaps we should read altrerei, ' and never would 
 I allow myself there again '. 
 
 1. 9. fare : MS. fat. ' Never act like a foolish man,' or, if we 
 read malfaz, ' you do ill to act,' &c. iscionito : this word seems 
 to be unknown to the dictionaries ; if we retain it, it might mean 
 4 devoid of shame ', the prefix sci usually corresponding to ex and 
 the remainder from the same root which has given us Fr. honir, 
 Pr. aunir, It. onta, &c., but perhaps it may be better to read 
 sciumito, which also fits the metre better. 
 
 1. 10. sei : MS. ei. ' It seems to me that you are quite a 
 master.' 
 
 XLII. 
 
 With Fra Guittone we enter upon a new phase of poetry. 
 The date of his birth is uncertain, but he died in 1294, probably 
 at Florence, where he had contributed to the foundation of the 
 Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. He was the son of Michele 
 di Viva, a citizen of Arezzo, and Chamberlain of the Commune. 
 The name Guittone is obviously of Teutonic origin. The full 
 name of the poet generally known as Cino of Pistoja is said to 
 have been Guittoncino ; it may possibly have been only an
 
 2i8 NOTES 
 
 augmentative of Guido. The prefix Fra is due to the fact that 
 about 1269 Guittone, who had hitherto led the ordinary life of 
 a man of the world, joined the Order of the Knights of S. Mary, 
 known to us from Dante and others as the Frati Gaudenti, 
 ' Friars who enjoyed life ' since their rule was very easy, and 
 even married men were not required to abandon family life. 
 Guittone, however, appears, like Dante after him, to have under- 
 gone some kind of ' conversion '. His verses, which in his earlier 
 life were of the usual amatory character, became serious and 
 often devotional. Many of his odes, though somewhat rugged 
 in form, show a vein of elevated thought both moral and 
 political. It will be noticed that the canzone with him is 
 approaching the form which it ultimately took. The stanzas 
 are longer, and the shorter comiato at the end is a usual 
 feature. There are evidences that Dante must have been 
 indebted to him. This being so, it is curious that Dante 
 never refers to him save in terms of depreciation, e. g. Purg. 
 xxiv. 56, xxvi. 124 ; and V. E. i. 13, ii. 6. All these, no doubt, 
 have reference more to his style than to his matter, but one 
 would have expected some word of recognition for a poet whose 
 mind seems to have been to a great extent cast in the same 
 mould as Dante's own, and with whom Dante must have been 
 personally acquainted. Guittone's poetry was evidently well 
 known to Bembo and others of the sixteenth century, though 
 the poems assigned to him in the Giunta compilation of 1527 
 are for the most part spurious. The first extant collected 
 edition of his poetical works (for he was a prose writer also, 
 and many of his letters exist) appears to be that of Valeriani 
 in 1828. ^ 
 
 The following ode is thick with Proven5alisms, and is indeed 
 only too successful an imitation of the ProvenQal ' obscure rimes '. 
 Here and there resemblances will be found to No. XXVII. It 
 obviously belongs to the author's earlier period, and consists 
 of five fourteen-line stanzas and two of six lines. The lines are 
 all of eleven syllables save the tenth of the long stanzas and the 
 second of the short. Rime-scheme: ABCBABCBDDEEDE ; 
 for the short stanzas AABBAB. It is printed in the Giunta 
 of 1527.
 
 NOTES 219 
 
 STANZA I, 1. 2. Note that gioia is beginning to be two 
 syllables. appo : Lat. apud, ' beside '. 
 
 I. 4. validore : ' a defender', a Provengal word ; ' I see that 
 nothing but death can be my defender '. 
 
 II. 5, 6. 'Annoy has little power before pleasure has been 
 felt, but afterwards it has only too much.' tristore : another 
 Provengal form. 
 
 11. 7, 8. ' Poverty must needs present itself greater to one 
 who comes back to it than to one who first enters upon it.' 
 Notice again the Provengal forms ritornador, entradore. 
 
 1. II. del meo paraggio appears to mean 'in comparison 
 with me '. Alunno interprets paraggio by paragone, ' touch- 
 stone,' citing Petr. Tri. Div. 115. 
 
 1. 13. mio forsenato : 'my own senselessness' ; for the use 
 of the adjective in place of the abstract noun cf. meo bello, 
 St. 5, 1. 4. forsenato (Mod.Fr. forcene) is a compound of Lat. 
 forts and Germ. sinn. 
 
 1. 14. 'Nothing is any longer certain, save that he wishes 
 my ruin.' 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 1. Co : come. mal : ' to my own hurt '. amaro 
 amore : a favourite play on words. 
 
 1. 3. piacientier: Prov. plazentieira. 
 
 1. 4. Val. shifts the comma to ben, and omits the e after 
 somma ; but somma appears to be here a subst. ' sum '. 
 
 1. 5. peggio : ' still more to my hurt '. dibonaire : a French 
 word. 
 
 1. 8. Vat. MS. piu como mat. The emendation in the text 
 seems to me now unnecessary. Giunta : piii mat non. 
 
 1. 10. Note reina tljree syllables. 
 
 1. II. I have inserted e before basso as necessary to the 
 balance of the sentence. Giunta : Ne re si ricco tin huom di 
 vile, e basso. 
 
 1. 12. MS. nevostra pare reina amore. Giunta: CK Amor vie 
 piii no" I facciam im sol passo. aparer I understand to mean 
 ' equal ' (Prov.parers) with reference to pare in 1. 9. passo I be- 
 lieve to be also a Provengalism in the sense of ' suffer ' or ' endure '. 
 
 1. 13. The reference to Lam. i. 12 can hardly be mistaken. 
 It was rendered more famous by Dante in V. N. 7.
 
 220 NOTES 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. If, as suggested, we read oltre grato we may 
 compare Prov. estragrat = Fr. malgrt. 
 
 1. 3. ostal d' ogni tormento : cf. Purg. vi. 76, di dolore 
 ostello. 
 
 1. 5. coralmente : 'in the heart', Prov. coralmen\ used by 
 Dante in a sonnet, V. N, 22, but not in D. C. 
 
 I. 7. fora : Lat. fueram, another instance of the plqpf. be- 
 come conditional. In this case we can exactly parallel it in 
 English, ' I had passed '. 
 
 II. 8 sqq. All this again is common form in the early rimers. 
 1. II. opo: in later Italian d' ttopo, Lat. opusfiterat, ( it had 
 
 been necessary*. 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. 5, 6. Giunta : Ma cK eo non posso; 2 rib mi 
 fd, ben torto; di ritornare in miaforza, 2 savere. But the lines 
 as they stand in V.R.V., though crabbed, give a good sense, ' but 
 herein I have no power, since force and knowledge are wrenched 
 from me and gone back to you '. Forzo for forza seems to be 
 a favourite with Guittone ; it recurs in the next stanza, and in 
 rime in the following poem. 
 
 1. II. m' atteggi : 'shape myself. The word occurs in 
 Purg. x. 78. 
 
 1. 12. om: exactly the Fr. on. mostra a dito: the digito 
 monstrare of Horace. 
 
 1. 13. si gabba : ' mocks ' ; for the reflexive cf. Fr. se moquer 
 de. The mockery applied to unfortunate lovers is a common- 
 place. It will be remembered how in V. N. 14 the ladies si 
 gabbavano at Dante. The general idea may not improbably 
 have been taken from Ps. xxxi (Vulgate xxx. 12, 13). As we have 
 seen in several instances, there is a curious tendency to use 
 Scriptural no less than feudal phraseology to describe the rela- 
 tions between lover and lady. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. punto fortunal : 'a stormy moment'. 
 fortuna in the sense of a storm at sea is common both in 
 Prov. and in It., e.g. Purg. xxxii. 116. 
 
 1. 4. doblo : a pure Provencal ism. The Italian word of 
 course is doppio. 
 
 1. 5. pardeo: here we have French influence again. 
 
 1. 6. me, as often, for ;/, but here dative.
 
 NOTES 221 
 
 1. 7. eo : should we not read ao, 1 1 have ' ? 
 
 I. 8. e : not ' and', but ' too '. chiavello : properly a pointed 
 spike. stringere usually has the sense of 'gripe', 'strain to- 
 gether '. Here stringe must be equivalent to distrinse, ' strained 
 apart and so pierced,' but the meaning is somewhat obscure. 
 
 I. 10. aprovata: 'tested'. 
 
 II. n, 12. Giunta: 'Che ben fd forza di mession d' havere: 
 Basso huom non puote in donna alta capere'. The lines as 
 they stand in the text seem almost unconstruable. Dimession 
 does not seem to be an Italian word, but to represent the 
 French demission, 'resignation,' and capare should no doubt 
 be (? apare. The general meaning I take to be : ' Power strained 
 too far (forzo) at times makes a lady who appears high resign 
 her right of possession over a man of low degree ' ; a sentiment 
 of which we have already had one or two instances. In other 
 words, ' the lord must not press his vassal too hard or he will 
 lose him'. 
 
 1. 13. v' agradio : ' was to your taste '. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. 4. paraggio : see note above ; here it is clearly 
 ' comparison '. 
 
 1. 5. ritornate : ' bring me back ' ; we should have expected 
 a future, but the use of the present, as in English, is not 
 unknown. 
 
 STANZA 7, I. 6. o': ove. mistero: 'trade' or 'craft'; Lat. 
 ministerium. ' Every work must be judged by its end ' ; an 
 obvious reminiscence of the opening chapter of Aristotle's 
 Ethics. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 This again is obviously an early production. It is little more 
 han an exercise in ingenious riming. As will be seen, in each 
 case the rime-syllables consist of precisely the same letters as 
 in Nos. XXX and XXXI, whether contained in one word or 
 more. This, of course, was technically correct so long as the 
 meanings were different, but when carried through an entire 
 poem it becomes something of a tour de force, and usually 
 makes interpretation difficult, and the reader sympathizes with 
 Dante's condemnation of it as imitilis aequivocatio quae semper
 
 222 NOTES 
 
 sententiae quidquain derogare videtur ( V. E. ii. 13). There are 
 five stanzas of twelve lines followed by two of six each, normally 
 of seven syllables, but with a good many versi tronchi. Rime- 
 scheme : ABCABCDDEEFF ; AABBCC. The poem was 
 printed by Allacci, but is not in Valeriani's edition. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 2. campo: 'fly from'. The word seems 
 curiously to have become, and for that matter to remain, 
 equivalent to its contrary scampare, which means 'to leave 
 the field ', ' decamp '. 
 
 I. 3. attacca : from tacca, ' the heel of a shoe ' (something 
 tacked on). From this branched off the two meanings of 
 ' attach ' and ' attack ' (Fr. s 1 attacker, ' to attach oneself to,' 
 ' stick closely to ' ; attacquer, ' to attack '). 
 
 II. 4-6. ' I like it as much as digging in the fields, or trusting 
 to a tally.' zappar : Diez suggests from Greek o-KfmTfiv, the 
 change of <TK to z occurring elsewhere. tacca is at this day, 
 and doubtless had then become, equivalent to taglia, ' a notch ' ; 
 such as those by which accounts were kept. 
 
 1. 7. bon sapemi : ' tastes well to me '. 
 1. 1 1. maidi : apparently = oggi mat, ' to-day and for ever '. 
 1. 12. ' Let him who will, say ''You say ill." ' 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. alma : ' a soul '. 
 
 1. 4. soma : probably for somma, as in Stanza 2, 1. 4 of the 
 preceding poem, ' the sum,' but it may be merely ' a load '. 
 
 I. 6. alma : ' kind '. 
 
 II. 9, 10. The shade of difference in the meaning of manco is 
 very faint ; all that can be said is that the first is part, (for 
 mancato), the second adj. 
 
 1. 12. dobbio : for debbo; the o doubtless justified in the 
 poet's mind by dovere. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 3. pro: for prode, 'prowess'. 'To love is as 
 good as prowess to him.' 
 
 1. 5. scola : a small boat, undoubtedly, as suggested to me 
 some years ago by Mr. F. C. Hodgson, from the Lat. scaphula. 
 The word seems to have become, at an early date, confused 
 with spuola, the weaver's 'spool' or 'shuttle'. It occurs as a 
 variant to this in some MSS. of Purg. xxxi. 96, where Benvenuto, 
 who adopts it, interprets it by a genus navigii.
 
 NOTES 223 
 
 1. 6. pro: here an adj., Fr. pretix. 
 
 1. 8. bisongni : apparently in the sense oibisogne, ' business,' 
 the meaning being ' love gives a spur to heart and action '. 
 1. lo. for zo : fuor do, ' apart from this '. 
 
 I. ii. briga: 'struggle', from a Gothic root meaning 'to 
 break '. Purg. xvi. 117 is a good instance of its use. 
 
 1.12. varagia : for varra. The general meaning is ' without 
 love, a man who has to struggle or labour will not be able to 
 make the best of such powers as he has '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 4. gioia : 'jewel '. 
 
 II. 3-5. Vat. MS. chetale sua pare nolaudo quanta glotra- 
 valglio. All. che tal parte non laudo ver che varia travaio. 
 The few slight modifications which I have made seem to give 
 the required sense. 
 
 11. 6-8. quanto should perhaps be quando ; ' when I am in 
 trouble for her (i. e. am toiling to win her) all my pleasure would 
 depart if I could hold her at my ease '. 
 
 1. 10. non varannolo: ' will not avail him'. 
 
 1. II. terral : terra lo. We should have expected le, sc. 
 gioie, but strict syntax need not be too severely demanded in 
 a poem of this kind. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. i. mesto : 'mingled'. 
 
 1. 3. a me : Vat. MS. enme ; if we read ame it must be taken 
 as the subj. ' may I love ', but perhaps it would be better to read 
 I p. s. a me. 
 
 1. 4. mesto : ' sad '. 
 
 1. 5. si : perhaps better se. ' If I get a good word from every 
 one who is in trouble, I am well repaid.' 
 
 1. 10. MS. chepona. ' Expectation is better than possession ; 
 he who obtains the latter has nothing compared with him who 
 hoped.' 
 
 1. 12. ' It is like going from high summer to winter.' 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. 5. onne : ogni. 
 
 STANZA 7, 1. i. adessa for adesso may be explained by 
 supposing the existence of ad ipsam horam. 
 
 1. 3. ' Whose vassal I am.' 
 
 1. 6. s' omo : apparently su' omo.
 
 224 NOTES 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 This again is obviously an early poem. It is addressed to 
 Mazzeo di Rico, who was probably Guittone's senior, and is 
 quite in the early conventional style. The stanzas are of sixteen 
 lines, every fourth line being of eleven syllables, the rest of 
 seven. Rime-scheme: ABAaCDBDCEEFfCAAHhC (this is 
 the scheme of the first stanza, but it does not appear to be very 
 strictly adhered to. This, however, may be due to errors in 
 the MS.). 
 
 STANZA i. 11. 2, 3 are lacking in the Vat. MS. I have supplied 
 them from Valeriani, who presumably took them from the 
 Laurent ian MS. 
 
 1. 7. e.' : that is, ' love '. 
 
 1. 8. a : it might be better to read a. 
 
 1. 9. invegio : apparently the Prov. envezar, ' to cheer up,' 
 and the participle envezatj ' merry '. 
 
 I. 12. fosse fallire: 'were at fault'. Bembo distinguishes 
 fallire axid. failure as implying, the first 'a fault', the second 
 
 'a failure' or 'mistake', and such would seem to be the 
 difference here. 
 
 II. 13, 14. ' He is in error for whom it does not make a thing 
 more pleasing that it is in agreement with the truth.' Con- 
 structions like chi non gli fa for a chi non fa are not un- 
 common. 
 
 11. 15, 1 6. ' Let good giving give oblivion to ill, since service 
 avails,' i. e. ' the service is the real thing, and one may forget 
 the ills for the sake of the good that is given '. The gender of 
 ubria is no doubt due to the Prov. oblida. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. ubria consento : ' I agree to forget '. 
 
 1. 4. ' Good, even under a false visage, is acceptable.' 
 
 1. 5. laudata, referring to both lo ben and opera, takes the 
 gender of the nearest subst. 
 
 1. 9. for : fuori, ' without '. 
 
 1. 12. A sentiment which, though it does not occur in so 
 many words in the famous discussion of nobility (Cony. iv. 9), 
 Dante would have thoroughly approved. 
 
 1. 1 5. chente : ' whoever ', literally ' who in being ', cf. neiente.
 
 NOTES 225 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 7. Note the omission of the relative before su, 
 
 I. 9. avaccio : ' in haste '. Dante uses the word several 
 times ; a good instance will be found in Par. xvi. 70 ; and it 
 occurs in Boccaccio. The origin is doubtful ; a discussion of it 
 will be found in the glossary to my edition of the Purgatory, 
 avacciare appears to have become assimilated in meaning to 
 avanzare. 
 
 II. n, 12. Again a thoroughly Dantesque sentiment. 
 1. 16. prender sagio : ' take a test '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. I. approve lo saggio : ' had found the test 
 good'. 
 
 1. 3. ' That it was of refined homage.' fino has here the usual, 
 almost untranslateable, sense that it bears in the language of 
 courtly love. 
 
 1. 13. damagio : a less usual form of dannaggio. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 8. cheri : ' demands '. 
 
 1. 12. Apparently an allusion to Prezivalle Doria's poem 
 Amor m' a priso (A.R.V. Ixxxvi). It would perhaps be the 
 best to delete the full stop at the end of this line, and in 1. 13 
 regard morto as standing for morte. 
 
 1. 15. 'ncrescienza : 'annoyance'. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. i. ene = merely <?, as in the next line mene is 
 simply me, the enclitic ne having very little force in the first 
 instance, and none in the second. 
 
 I. n. ' Salute him for me, look him up for me.' 
 
 II. 12, 13. ' Tell him that it happens according to reason that 
 guerdon is bound to ruin him who asks for it.' 
 
 1. 14. fogli fede : ' I assure him.' 
 
 1. 15. dispresgia appears here to mean 'makes light of. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 In this piece we have Fra Guittone in a more serious mood. 
 It is a lament over the rout of the Florentine Guelfs by their 
 own Ghibeline exiles allied with the Sienese in the battle of 
 Montaperti, Sept. 4, 1260, when, as Dante says, the Arbia 
 was dyed red. A certain amount of admonition is mingled
 
 226 NOTES 
 
 with the regret, but there is none of the exultation which one 
 would have expected from a citizen of so staunch a Ghibeline 
 city as Arezzo. The stanzas are of fifteen lines, except the 
 comiato, and the lines are all of eleven syllables, save the 
 second and fourth from the end in each stanza. It will be 
 noted that with the exception of the comiato each stanza 
 begins with the last word of the preceding. Rime-scheme : 
 ABBACDDCEFGGFFE. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 3. meraviglio: exactly the equivalent to our 
 ' I wonder '. Note that the last two syllables must be scanned 
 as one, as usually with words ending in -glio. 
 
 1. 4. nol agia : MS. nollagia. I suspect that we ought to 
 read no n' agia, che morto non seems to be equivalent to non 
 che morto, ' not to say that a dead man would hold it ' (or ' would 
 have from it ') ' grief and tears '. 
 
 1. 5. granata : the grains or berries in the Florentine ' lily', 
 which is really an iris showing its open seed capsules, are a 
 familiar feature. 
 
 1. 6. uso romano : the directly Roman origin of Florence 
 was a firm article of belief in the thirteenth century ; Villani 
 (iii. i) makes a deputation sent from Florence to Charlemagne 
 and the Romans with a request for the refounding of the city 
 speak of it as loro figliuola ; and Dante has a notable reference 
 to the same tradition in his epistle to the Emperor Henry : ' in 
 Romam cornua exacuit, quae ad imaginem suam atque simili- 
 tudinem fecit illam '. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 2. Cf. 'Nought shall make us rue, if England 
 to itself do rest but true '. 
 
 1. 3. It might perhaps be better to read V mondo, ( so that it 
 kept the world loyal to the Emperor, comparing Dante's soleva 
 Roma, che 'I buon mondo feo (Purg. xvi. 106). Mon. reads 
 inodo. 
 
 1. 10. a suo pro : ' to its own profit '. So a fa lor pro 
 (Inf. ii. no). One may compare these lines with Dante's 
 apostrophe to Florence at the end of Purg. vi, only that the 
 terms of praise are there used in bitter irony. 
 
 1. 12. amoroso: in passive sense. Cf. No. XLVII, St. iv, 
 1. 1 8.
 
 NOTES 227 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 5. Quegli : the banished Ghibeline nobles. 
 1.6. schiatta : 'stock'. Cf. /' oltracotata schiatta. Par. 
 xvi. 115. Germ, geschlecht. 
 
 1. 8. collogati im bono : ' placed in good position '. 
 
 I. 13. The lion of Florence, having once punished the Ghibe- 
 lines, gave them a chance of striking again, since to its own 
 hurt it controlled itself, forte seems to have here the same 
 meaning as in Purg. vi. 1 8. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 4. latino : ' Italian ' ; one is reminded of the 
 form of Omberto's words, Purg. xi. 65, 66. 
 
 II. 6, 7. Montalcino and Montepulciano are towns in Sienese 
 territory, and it was an attempt of the Florentines to put a 
 garrison in the former which led to the battle of Montaperti. 
 
 1. 7. It might be better, as I have suggested in the note, to 
 read miso a sua rinforza. 
 
 I. 8. Cervia : in Romagna, a little south of Ravenna (P^^rg. 
 xv. 44). With the Maremma, it may be taken as denoting the 
 limits of Tuscany and Romagna. 
 
 II. 9, 10. Places in Florentine territory. Colle di Valdelsa, it 
 will be remembered, was the site of the battle where the Floren- 
 tines on June n, 1269, had their revenge on the Sienese (Purg. 
 xiii. 115). The subject to tene is Siena, carried on from line 5. 
 
 1. 1 1. campana : Villani mentions how the Florentines carried 
 their great bell known as the Martinella into the battle with 
 them. 
 
 1. 15. quella schiatta appears here to mean the common 
 people who, against the advice of the nobles, forced on the 
 expedition which ended at Montaperti (Vill. vi. 77). It is 
 curious that on this occasion it was one of Dante's oltracotata 
 schiatta, Tegghaio Aldobrandi of the Adimari, who was spokes- 
 man on the side of caution. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 4. danno can hardly stand, as there seems to 
 be no shade of difference in meaning here from that in 1. I. 
 
 1. 5. I have inserted una to preserve the metre. 
 
 1. 8. par v' adagia : ' seems to set you at ease ', probably 
 ironical. 
 
 1. 9. gli Alamanni : after the battle of Montaperti, Florence 
 was occupied by the detachment of Manfred's German troops 
 
 Q2
 
 228 NOTES 
 
 who, under their commander Count Giordano Lancia, had 
 assisted the Ghibelines and Sienese. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. 2. Conti usually denotes the ' Conti Guidi ', 
 one of whom, Count Guidoguerra, was a military leader of the 
 Florentine Guelfs, the Uberti being the leaders of the banished 
 Ghibelines. The meaning must be ' that you show all kinds of 
 honour to the chiefs of both parties, who have been equally 
 guilty of bringing you into this disgrace ' ; though it must be 
 said that Guidoguerra joined with Tegghaio in advising against 
 rash measures. 
 
 1. 4 sqq. Obviously ironical. 
 
 1. 7. Conte Rosso : the Giacopi, called Rossi, were one of 
 the Guelf families of Florence, but I cannot trace the precise 
 point of the allusion. 
 
 1. 9. Ripafratte : a Florentine castle on the frontier towards 
 Pisa. Florence being now Ghibeline, Pisa would of course have 
 nothing to fear from it. 
 
 1. 10. lago : Lake Trasimenus. 
 
 1. 15. MS. potete fare fare, the second fare being doubtless 
 a scribe's error owing to the turning over of a page, though 
 A.R.V. retains it. The line seems to mean merely 'you can 
 make Tuscany a separate kingdom '. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 This poem shows Fra Guittone at his best. The language is 
 simple, the verse is musical, and the various characters are so 
 described as to express in few words a high ideal. It is modelled 
 on a well-known Provencal type, in which the writer enumerates 
 various objects which give him pleasure. Good examples are 
 Bertran del Born, Part i, xxiv, and Part 3, ii (Thomas), the 
 former of which Guittone may have had in mind in the 
 present ode. The stanzas are of eighteen lines ; lines 6, 7 
 are of eight syllables, and trochaic in cadence; 9, u, 14, 16, 
 17 being of seven syllables; with a comiato of fourteen, in 
 which lines 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 13 are short. Rime-scheme: 
 ABBACDDEEFFGHHCIIC.
 
 NOTES 229 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 4. di ben : MS. divene ; one might suggest di 
 ver grado, but ben gives a good enough sense. Note the 
 constant recurrence in these lines of grado and kindred words ; 
 a trick very familiar in the early poetry, and not unknown to 
 Dante himself. 
 
 1. 7. Vat. MS. gia giacere, probably a scribe's error. The 
 meaning is of course ' to see person and property as safe in the 
 woods as in a castle '. 
 
 1. ii. a misagio refers to the malefactors mentioned in the 
 next line, ' to know that they are uncomfortable '. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. Vat. MS. Bella me savere dire chi vizi schusa. 
 A.R.V. Bello m' e saver dir chi vizi scusa, where the editors, in 
 omitting the e of dire, have clearly missed the point. 
 
 1. 3. reggion looks as if it should be regno, which would 
 involve reading meno. 
 
 1. 4. cher : chiede. 
 
 1. 8. sae = save, ' tastes '. 
 
 1. 1 8. sa here = 'knows '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 6. MS. campione chenontortto difende, of course 
 an impossible line. If non be omitted, as I think it must be, 
 difende will mean ' wards off ', not ' defends '. 
 
 1. 8. ad un sol motto : ' without bargaining '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 5. che bella s' obria : ' who forgets that she is 
 pretty '. 
 
 1. 14. briga seems here to have a milder sense, ' hard work '. 
 Indeed we might take briga e famiglia as a ' hendiadys ' ' hard 
 household work '. 
 
 1. 1 8. lungiando : cf. the Prov. lunhar, to 'remove,' Fr. 
 ttoigner. a se : the use of the dative is an obvious 
 Latinism. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. i. Sami : ' is to my taste '. 
 
 1. 3. al cui spechio : ' after whose likeness '. 
 
 1. 5. Parlato : ' a Prelate '. 
 
 1. 6. edificio seems to be metaphorical, like our ' edify '. 
 
 I. 9. Rilescioso : religioso, 
 
 II. 10, ii are lacking in the MS. The meaning required is 
 something like ' who after he has taken up the religious life . . .' 
 
 1. 14. chercato : clericato.
 
 230 NOTES 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 This poem would seem to have been written about the time 
 of the author's ' conversion ', being an expression of contrition 
 for his past life, mingled with general moral reflections. There 
 is an austere dignity about it which one would have expected 
 to appeal to Dante, and one fails to trace in it (unless possibly 
 in such forms as Parlato, rilescioso) the ' plebeian ' style which 
 was the chief cause of Dante's depreciation of Guittone. The 
 stanzas are of eighteen lines, except the last two stanzas, in 
 which the rimes are similar to the last twelve of the other 
 stanzas, lines II, 13, 15, 17 of these latter being of seven syllables. 
 Rime-scheme: ABCABCDEEFFGGHHIID. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 18. di corpo alma: 'from body, soul'. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. talenta : ' has a leaning towards '. 
 
 1. 6. gi& : MS. giu. non gid = * no longer '. 
 
 1.8. MS. sormette avizi corppo arma ecore. sormette, ' places 
 above,' is clearly contrary to the sense of the passage, and the 
 articles must be inserted to save the metre. 
 
 1. 9. onde seems to be equivalent to del qual, ' than which '. 
 MS. ode. 
 
 11.13,14. 'Where is the champion who conquers where 
 every lord is beaten ? ' 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. vile seems to weaken the antithesis, and it 
 might be better to read di tutto, a very slight change in the 
 ductus litterarum. 
 
 1. 7. fisolafi : filosofi. 
 
 I. 8. poi, though representing Lat. post, is rarely found as a 
 preposition, its place having been taken by dopo. 
 
 II. 9-11. Cf. Purg. vii. 34-6. The Dantesque character of 
 all this passage will strike every reader. In 11. 10, 11, vita . . . 
 vita can hardly stand. I would suggest in 1. 1 1 ed aita. 
 
 1.12. abellire: 'delight', a Provencal word as in Purg. 
 xxvi. 140. 
 
 1. 13. lui: 'Christ'. 
 
 1. 15. ' For the man does not fear his lord.' 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 3. orato : onorato. 
 
 1. 6. rede may mean ' inherits ', for reda, but e rede would 
 seem better.
 
 NOTES 231 
 
 1. 12. aconciar : ' to trim ', ' fit up '. Cf. Par. xxxi. 98. The 
 line as it stands is a syllable short ; read a lo ben. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. gaudere : is there an allusion to the name 
 of Frati Gaudenti ? 
 
 1. 9. racatto : ' redeemed ', Fr. racheta. 
 
 1. 13. mort' e: A.R.V. morte, but the alteration in the text 
 seems necessary for the sake of both rime and reason. 
 
 1. 14. la: V alma. 
 
 STANZA 7, 1. i. Cavalcante can be no other than he whom 
 Dante saw among the ' sect of Epicurus ', Inf. x. Which, out 
 of the many Lapi of Florence, is here referred to can hardly be 
 ascertained ; it can scarcely be the poet Lapo Giani, who would 
 have been too young at this time. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 The following ode exists only in the Laurentian (Redi's) MS., 
 whence it has been printed by Val. and Mon. It is a lament 
 for a contemporary poet, Giacomo da Leona, of whom little 
 or nothing else seems to be known. The stanzas are of sixteen 
 lines, 10, 12, 14 being of seven syllables, the rest of eleven, and 
 a comiato of ten lines as the last ten of the other stanzas. 
 Rime-scheme : ABCABCDEFFGGHHED. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 8. amarore ed amaro: MS. amaroso, but no 
 such word seems to exist, and if it did it would be only a 
 synonym for amaro. With amarore ed amaro cf. piacientier 
 fitacere, No. XLII, St. 2, 11. 2, 3, and valente valor in 1. 13. 
 
 I. II. condutti: 'guidance', as in Purg. iv. 29, Conv. i. n. 
 
 II. 12-15. The metaphor in these lines suggests several pas- 
 sages in Dante, bon (boni) ghiotti seems to mean ' greedy ' 
 in a good way. 
 
 1. 15. mondan : the regular term for those who led a worldly 
 life. Thus Villani, viii. 10, in recording the death of Brunetto 
 Latini, says/# mondano uomo, a phrase which, in the light of 
 Inf. xv, has a somewhat sinister significance. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 2. piana : ' plain ', ' easy '. This line shows 
 that the frequent obscurities which we meet with in these poems 
 were not in any way due to the writers' lack of power to express
 
 232 NOTES 
 
 themselves, but were deliberately chosen as a recognized form 
 of poetic composition ; indeed, the whole of this passage throws 
 a light on the poetical methods of the time. Giacomo, it would 
 appear, preferred French and Proven9al to his native Aretine, 
 though he could compose well enough in the latter. 
 
 1. 8. sentitor bono seems to mean ' with a good feeling for 
 style '. 
 
 I. 9. dittator refers, no doubt, to choice of words. Cf. Pitrg. 
 xxiv. 59. 
 
 II. 13, 14. The rime-scheme shows that two lines are lacking 
 here, and another at 1. 16. Valeriani has placed 1. 15 where 
 1. 13 should be, and marked a blank for the last three lines. 
 Mon. takes no notice of the lacunae. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. nazione : ' birth ' or ' birthplace ', the regular 
 sense of the word in early Italian, e.g. Inf. i. 105. It never, 
 I think, had the sense which it has since acquired, of ' nation '. 
 
 1. 3. Val. di vil . . . di car, Mon. 77/7 . . . de car. With 
 these readings priso must be taken as ' I prize ' ; I understand 
 it as the participle ; the substitution of men for the second piu 
 seems necessary for the sense. Instances of a similar con- 
 fusion will be found in Purg. ix. 17 ; xxvii. in. 
 
 1. 6. poco 1' aviso : ' I think little of it '. Here again cf. 
 Dante's theory of nobility in Conv. iv. 
 
 1. 7. destrier : ' a war horse '. Lat. dextriarius, ' because 
 brought to the rider's right side to mount,' says Diez (how, then, 
 were other horses mounted?). Cf. Horace's est in equispatrum 
 virtus. 
 
 1. 8. lausor : ' praise '. Prov. lauzor. 
 
 1. 9. ronzin : ' a hack '. Eng. rotmcey, Sp. rocin, Fr. rous- 
 sin, from late Lat. ncncinus^ of which the origin appears to be 
 uncertain. A derivation from Ger. ross is suggested in Ducange, 
 but this word seems to have given rise to another set of deriva- 
 tives (Diez s.v. rozzd). This would hardly account for the Lat. 
 form, which is at least as old as Domesday Book. 
 
 1. 13. orrar: onorar. 
 
 1. 15. or se fa, &c. : 'from tin makes himself gold '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 3. It is difficult to see the construction of this 
 line ; it would perhaps be better to read se. appo : Lat. apud.
 
 NOTES 233 
 
 I. 4. ' Esteem of which alone is noble ' (the words di ctti have 
 by some error, for which I cannot account, dropped out of the 
 beginning of the line). 
 
 II. 9, 10. Cf. Horace again, Ep. i. I. 106, 7 'sapiens uno 
 minor est love, dives, Liber, honoratus, pulcher, rex denique 
 regum '. 
 
 1. 10. bealt& : direct from the French beautt. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Of Chiaro Davanzati only three definite facts appear to be 
 known : that he was a Florentine, that he fought in the battle 
 of Montaperti, and that he was dead by 1280. He has left 
 a considerable body of verse, but Dante nowhere mentions him. 
 Like Fra Guittone, he seems to belong to the school inter- 
 mediate between the earliest poets, who drew most of their 
 inspiration from the Provengal, and the stil nuovo of Dante 
 and his contemporaries. His metrical forms and vocabulary 
 are not unlike Fra Guittone's, but his touch is somewhat lighter. 
 The present poem is probably an early one. It consists of the 
 very usual number of five stanzas, with the comiato of the 
 same length as the rest. The stanzas are of eleven lines, 3, 6, 
 7, 9, ii being of eleven syllables, the rest of seven. Rime- 
 scheme: ABCABCDDEEC. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. i. Chiaro uses the same opening line in 
 another ode, Vat. MS. clxxviii. 
 
 1. 7. possasi : subjunctive because of the preceding negative. 
 Of the omission of che we have had more than one example. 
 
 1. ii. calare : literally 'to strike sail', from Greek xaXav 
 through late Lat. chalare ; see Inf. xxvii. 81. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 2. non m' alena : ' does not give me breath '. 
 
 1. 3. Vat. MS. omits pub ; I have followed A.R.V. con- 
 jecturally, and doubtless rightly. Even so the line is a syllable 
 short, unless we are to treat mia quite exceptionally as a disyl- 
 lable. Perhaps for pud it would be better to read/0fe. 
 
 1. 5. vivendo : note the use of the gerund in place of the 
 infinitive ; almost, though not quite, equivalent to our English
 
 234 NOTES 
 
 use of the present participle. In this instance we may render 
 either by ' living ' or by ' to live '. 
 
 1. 8. e : A.R.V. I. 
 
 1. 9 lacks four syllables ; Casini suggests CK % loco pien (f o ; 
 we want something like e lo dover cT o. b. otn m. membrato : 
 ' prudent ' ; a Prov. word. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 6. a le contrade : contrada means simply 
 ' region ' or ' district ', whether in town or country ; but the 
 meaning of the word here is not easy to make out. It looks 
 almost as if it referred specially to a country district, but I can 
 find no trace of this special meaning elsewhere. The poet is 
 absent from his lady, who presumably lives in the town. The 
 word is used again by him in No. LI, St. I, but there in its 
 ordinary signification. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 3. MS. ticonvene. A.R.V. reconvene, which 
 leaves the line a syllable short and devoid of sense. 
 
 1. 4. A.R.V. df cK altro. It seems better to emend the MS. 
 by omitting altro. 
 
 1. 5. A syllable seems to be missing at the beginning of the 
 line, but the variation of the rhythm may be intentional. 
 
 L. 
 
 This short and simple poem, the style of which suggests that 
 it was probably an early one, shows occasional resemblances to 
 No. IV, and, again, to ' Acme and Septimius ', the former of 
 which probably, the latter possibly, Chiaro would have read. 
 The stanzas are of twelve lines, all long. Rime-scheme : 
 ABCBCADEFEFD. 
 
 STANZA i , 1. 6. nostro should almost certainly be vostro, 
 bene being a regular term for the object of love. The change 
 from the second sing, to the second plur. need of course give 
 no trouble : we have had several instances of it. 
 
 1. n. talglia : 'shape'. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 6. lomera : lumiera. 
 
 1. 8. The form sia for sit in second sing. pres. subj., if less 
 usual than j/V, is quite recognized. See Diez, ii, p. 135. 
 
 1. 10. piangiendo lo comiato : ' weeping my farewell '.
 
 NOTES 235 
 
 I. 12. presente : 'immediate'. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 4. gravosa can only refer to the lady ; it seems 
 here to mean ' causing grief, or perhaps better, 'vexed '. 
 
 II. 4-6. ' Inasmuch as I know that she is vexed with me, 
 so may it (sc. " my absence ") be changed to sight that I might 
 be secure from all anger.' 
 
 1. 5. in un vedere : MS. avno redire ; A.R.V. a uno 
 vedire', the change from a to in is required for the sake of 
 the metre. 
 
 1. 7. pertanto : ' meanwhile '. 
 
 1. 8. insembra : insieme. 
 
 1. 10. Note membra impersonal. 
 
 LI. 
 
 This poem seems to have been written during the absence, 
 real or imaginary, referred to in the last. The stanzas are again 
 of twelve long lines. Rime-scheme : ABCABCDEFDEF. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 6. agio must be read aio and scanned as one 
 syllable. 
 
 1. 7. dimeno seems here to differ little in meaning from 
 meno, ' I lead,' or ' handle with movement ' ; the origin of the 
 word is obscure, for the derivation given by Diez from Lat. 
 minari, ' to threaten,' is difficult to accept. Fr. mener un cheval 
 is almost exactly ' to handle a horse ', and one is more inclined 
 to suspect some connexion with manus. At any rate ' handle ' 
 will very nearly give the meaning here. 
 
 1. ii. son must stand for so '. contrate: see note to 
 No. XLIX, St. 4, 1. 6. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 1-3. Note the Dantesque character of these 
 lines ; when the mind and the intellect are invoked to take 
 a part in the affairs of love we begin to see the dawn of the 
 so-called philosophical school of love-poetry. 
 
 1. 6. riviera : as the next stanza shows, the bank of the 
 Arno, in Pisan territory. 
 
 1. 8. ver : for verso, prep. : cf. Purg. iii. 51. 
 
 1. 10. concieduta : sc. gioia. The lover apparently regrets 
 that he has won his mistress's favour so easily ; she has been
 
 236 NOTES 
 
 humbled and not overbearing. The reader will remember 
 several cases in which he has rejoiced in the pains he has 
 suffered. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 4. Here again we must no doubt read so 'n. 
 
 1. 6. sia : subjunctive, because of the notion of uncertainty 
 involved ; ' whenever that hour may be '. 
 
 1. ii. cieciero: 'the wild swan': not connected with Latin 
 cygnus ; rather from cecinus, a late Latin word for ' a swan ', 
 which is said to be from deer, a 'vetch', from the bean-like 
 knob on the bill of the bird. We may compare the name 
 Cicero. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 2. The syntax of this line appears confused. 
 The best way to remedy it seems to be to put a comma after 
 diletto ; sovrana will then come naturally back into its agree- 
 ment with rivera. 
 
 1. 3. Here again we have two distinct clauses, and it might 
 be better to put a comma after gioie. orata : onorata. 
 
 1. 7. prolungato : it is difficult to say whether the word 
 means here merely ' kept at a distance ', or ' prolonged ' (sc. ' in 
 absence ') ; the former is perhaps preferable. 
 
 1. 1 1 . solevi : ' took off', ( lightened '. 
 
 LII. 
 
 This lamentation over the degeneracy of Florence will recall 
 to every reader Dante's treatment of the same subject in 
 Purg. vi and Par. xv ; only that Dante's tone is more scorn- 
 ful and less pitiful than that of his predecessor. The poem must 
 have been written during the struggle of Guelfs and Ghibelines 
 for ascendancy ; for the poet was dead before the feud between 
 Blacks and Whites had become acute. It may be compared with 
 Fra Guittone's ode, No. XLV. But these two poems, though 
 some resemblance may be traced between this and Guittone's 
 'Ai, dolze terra Aretina', Val. ix, seem to be independent 
 of each other. It has five stanzas, like most of the canzoni 
 written about this period; each of fourteen lines, 3, 7, n, 13 
 being of seven syllables. In Stanza 2 the short line is trans- 
 ferred from ii to 9, and in Stanza i I have assumed the same
 
 NOTES 237 
 
 to be the case. Rime-scheme : ABBABAABBCCDDE. The 
 last lines of the stanzas appear to have no corresponding rime, 
 and the same is the case with 1. 9 in Stanzas 3, 4, 5 ; in Stanzas 
 2, 3, and 5, however, we find the respective last lines riming 
 together, which looks as if either the poet had not given a final 
 revision to his work, or that something has gone wrong with the 
 text, which is preserved only in the Vat. MS. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 8. Florin : for the foundation of Florence and 
 the acts of the eponymous hero Fiorinus, see G. Villani, i. 
 35-8. That version, however, represents Caesar as naming the 
 city after Fiorinus in memory of his death in battle with the 
 Fiesolans. spese : ' dispensed '. 
 
 1. II. rasgioni : 'sorts'. 
 
 1. 12. ciesati : cessati = 'aloof. Cf. in cesso t Inf. xxii. 100. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 2. sei baroni : as Casini points out, Villani 
 mentions only four baroni at the first foundation of the city, 
 corresponding to the four quarters into which it was then 
 divided. The division into sesti did not take place till after the 
 eleventh century, so that Chiaro was probably misled by the 
 circumstances of his own time. 
 
 1. 5. figura : probably the image of S. John the Baptist 
 stamped on the florins. 
 
 I. 6. dal, and in 1. 7 da' : ' suited to '. 
 
 1. 8. planeta di Leo : Mars ; cf. Par. xvi. 37. 
 
 1. 9. ' Uncontaminated from without by rustics,' di being 
 understood as repeated before fuor. The admission of the 
 country families into the city was regarded as one of the causes 
 of the decay of Florence. Cf. il -villein tfAguglion, Par. xvi. 
 56 and 11. 67-9. 
 
 1. ii. According to the rule of the next three stanzas, and 
 possibly the first, this line is too long ; probably ed in gioia is 
 an interpolation. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 5. ' Brought down into fealty,' as of a servant. 
 
 1. 13. parte : ' party ', in the political sense. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. nom posso is the reading of the MS. I have 
 followed A.R.V. in omitting nom, which seems to spoil both 
 sense and metre. 
 
 1. 3. s' adomilia : ' is humbled '.
 
 238 NOTES 
 
 1. 6. ' Dishonoured and shamed.' ait . . . scans as two syllables. 
 
 I. 8. schiavonia : ' slavery '. The form of the word shows 
 that the origin of schiavo, from the people of that race, was not 
 yet forgotten. 
 
 II. 9, 10. Casini understands the filgli to be the Ghibelines 
 and the Guelfs, and the due volte to refer to the submission of 
 the city, first to Frederick and then to Manfred, ' the other ' being 
 the surrender to Charles of Anjou. Should we not read in 1. 9 
 da duo turf filgli, putting a comma at the end of the line, and 
 taking altro , . . altro to mean ' one ' and ' the other ' ? This 
 would make 11. 10 and n sqq. fit the facts more appropriately. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 4. losura must mean ' flattery ' or ' deceit '. 
 The catalogue of offences may be well paralleled from Dante. 
 1. 1 1 . contrado : contrario. 
 \. 14. veracevia: cf. Inf. i. 12. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 The following poem appears to be based upon a short piece 
 by Sordello, ' Bel cavaler me plai que per amor ' ; though a good 
 deal expanded (Gasp. 6". P. S., p. 40). Verbal coincidences, 
 which will be noted in their due place, seem to preclude any 
 idea of its being an independent composition on a stock theme. 
 It would probably be an early composition ; it consists of four 
 stanzas of fifteen lines, with a comiato of seven, all hendeca- 
 syllabic. Rime-scheme: ABBCABBCDDEEFFD ; comiato: 
 AABBCCA. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. i. Non gik per gioia c' agia : Chiaro has used 
 the same words for the opening of another poem, V.R.V., ccxlii. 
 Non gik : ' no longer '. 
 
 11. 7, 8. ' When she who forgets it sees in an example the 
 grief of the good lover.' tenne might perhaps be better. 
 
 11. 9, 10. Sordello : ' Pois cascuna so que no ere creiria '. 
 
 1. ii must be taken as explanatory of mi 'scredente, 'they have 
 wrongly believed'. Their view seems to have been that of 
 Rosalind, As You Like //, Act IV, Scene i, ' Men have died 
 and the worms have eaten them, but not for love '.
 
 NOTES 239 
 
 1. 1 2. cosi is not uncommonly used to introduce the expression 
 of a wish. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 1. mesdire : a French word. 
 
 I. 3. noil' : non lo. 
 
 1. lo. Sordello : ' van tarzan so '. 
 
 1. II. dottanza : 'hesitation'. Lat. dubitantia. 
 
 1. 15. a lor : 'to the lovers '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 4. di paragio : ' equally'. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 4. altoregia : ' raises on high ', or possibly for 
 alterezsa (vb. ' makes great ' or ' proud '). 
 
 1. 10. nanti : inanzi. 
 
 1. 12. Sordello : 'A mon dan get lei e son repentir'. It will 
 be seen that the Italian poet has given a different turn to the 
 sentiment. gitto : ' cast away '. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 Bonagiunta degli Orbiciani of Lucca is well known to all 
 readers of Dante. He is introduced in Piirg. xxiv, and into 
 his mouth are placed both the obscure prophecy as to ' non so 
 che Gentucca' and the famous criticism of the old and new 
 styles of poetry. Of the old style, he was one of the latest 
 exponents, and from a sonnet-correspondence between himself 
 and Guido Guinizelli (of which his is V.R.V., dcclxxxvi, 
 while Guide's is preserved in the Chig. MS.) he would seem 
 to have been a little ruffled by the pretensions of the new school. 
 This may be the point of the ' issa veggio' of Purg. xxiv. 55. 
 Benvenuto of Imola, who had known him personally, says that 
 he was ' an easy finder of rimes, but an easier of wines ', some- 
 thing of a bon vtvant, we may guess, which would account for 
 the position he occupies in Purgatory. Dante refers to him 
 again, V. E. I. 13, with Guittone and Gallo Pisano, among 
 writers who never got beyond their local mode of speech. The 
 present poem is quite in the Provencal style, and may be com- 
 pared with No. XXXIX. There are five stanzas of ten lines, 
 each of eight syllables, and therefore in a trochaic measure. 
 Rime-scheme : ABABBCDBCD (in Stanza I, C is identical 
 with A).
 
 240 NOTES 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 4. latino : see note to No. XXVI, St. i, 1. 3. 
 
 I. 8. rifino : see note to No. XVII, St. 4, 1. 4. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 4. col chiaro viso : French term, as has been 
 before noted. 
 
 I. 9. s' infingie : ' feigns '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. I, 2. Vat. MS. conquise \parlando; but con- 
 quiso is needed for the rime, and the a which I have inserted 
 corrects both the grammar and the metre of 1. 2. 
 
 1. 4. menando: cf. note to No. LI, St. I, 1. 7. 
 
 LV. 
 
 This poem, which is in structure not a canzone but a ballata, 
 is preserved in the Palatine MS. only, whence it has been edited 
 by Valeriani and Monaci. The ballata, as its name implies, 
 was intended to accompany dancing ; and accordingly it opens 
 with a short stanza serving as a prelude to the measure. Dante 
 intended to give an analysis of its structure in the fourth book of 
 the De Vulgari Eloquentia, which unfortunately was never 
 written. In this case the stanza proper is of eight lines, the 
 normal rhythm being as follows : 
 
 ww ww w Vw v_/v^i \^i four times 
 
 with occasional variations, which do not, however, affect the 
 beat. The introductory short stanza is as follows : 
 
 Rime-scheme : prelude : AABBC ; stanzas : ABABBCCD ; 
 every stanza, including the prelude, ends with the same rime. 
 
 PRELUDE, 1 3. In the present case it is the lady who is plead- 
 ing, contrary to the usual rule. The gender of trista in Stanza 3,
 
 NOTES 241 
 
 where it occurs in rime, makes this clear, though the words dolce 
 meo sire would not be sufficient by themselves to prove it ; 
 since there are instances in which the language of feudal homage 
 is carried to such a point that the lover addresses the lady as 
 his 'lord'. 
 
 1. 4. ismarrire : ' confuse ', ' bewilder '. Inf. i. 3. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 4. ne : the negative is difficult to explain ; it 
 may be equivalent to non che, ' not to say '. Val. gets over 
 the difficulty by boldly-reading o lafr., o Y gh. 
 
 1. 5. We ought probably to read/r<?^ al laccio. 
 
 I. 6. stranianza : ' estrangement '. prumera : a not un- 
 common form for primera. 
 
 II. 7, 8. Another reference to the fable of the leopard. 
 STANZA 2, 1. 7. 'ncrescenza : possibly 'vexation ', but more 
 
 probably only ' increase '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 6. mi rinfrangesse : we might say ' were to 
 break up in my hands '. The word is doubtless an echo of the 
 frangente in the last stanza. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. It is hard to say what distinction the poet 
 would draw between the exact meanings of viso and ciera ; 
 possibly the first is the actual face, the latter the expression, 
 the ' cheer '. 
 
 1. 6. ci : usually with plural meaning, but here singular. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 The chief thing to note in this poem is the extreme smoothness 
 of its flow ; otherwise it is little more than an exercise on the 
 Provengal model. It is probably an early composition of the 
 writer's. The stanzas are of fourteen lines, 2, 5, 9, 13 being of 
 seven syllables, the rest long. Rime-scheme : A (' a ' in Stanzas 
 2 and 3) BbC ABbC DEEdFDEEF. The internal rimes vary 
 a little between D and E. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 5, 6. Vat. MS. che diferenza amore . none 
 prenditore . di, &c. The slight rearrangement which I have 
 adopted, together with the substitution of senz ' essi for diferenza 
 (the actual letters, it will be seen, are almost exactly the same), 
 seems to restore sense, metre, and rime. ' Love without these 
 things cannot get its true fulfilment.'
 
 242 NOTES 
 
 LVII. 
 
 This piece consists of three stanzas of fifteen lines each, 10, 
 12, 14 being hendecasyllables, while the last is alexandrine, 
 a very rare feature in these poems ; the remainder are of 
 the usual shorter form of seven syllables. Rime-scheme : 
 ABBC ABBC CDDEEFF. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 3, 4. See Purg. xxvi. 144, an instance of the way 
 in which Dante took the troubadour commonplaces and digni- 
 fied them. 
 
 1. 14. varia : cond. of valere. 
 
 LVII I. 
 
 The only authority for assigning this poem to Bonagiunta is 
 the Giunta edition of 1527, in which it first appeared in print. 
 No MS. of it seems at present to be known. It was afterwards 
 reprinted by Valeriani ; the spelling has probably been a good 
 deal modified to suit the polite readers of the sixteenth century. 
 It is difficult to form any judgement as to its authenticity from 
 internal evidence, both the vocabulary and the manner of the 
 earlier writers, with whom Bonagiunta must, as regards style, be 
 classed, having so many features in common, but it may as well 
 be his as another's. Both the five stanzas and the short comiato 
 would indicate that it was written at least after 1260, when these 
 two features seem to have become usual. The stanzas are of 
 twelve lines, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10 being of seven syllables. Rime- 
 scheme : ABCABCDDEEFF an arrangement which is some- 
 what characteristic of Bonagiunta. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 12. grana: ' cochineal', from the grain-like ap- 
 pearance of the insects from which the dye is made. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 4. se non com' : ' any more than does '. So 
 the lover in the contemporary English ballad, ' Bytune Mersshe 
 and Averil,' speaks of himself as 'wery so water in wore', i.e. 
 ' weary as water in a weir '. 
 
 I. 6. ammorza : ' kills '. 
 
 II. 7-9. Cf. the opening lines of the sonnet Tanto gentile^ 
 V. N. xv.
 
 NOTES 243 
 
 1. n. spera: see note to No. IX, St. 1, 1. 7. The term is 
 obviously applied here to the lady, not to the sun. 
 
 I. 12. stellar the use of stella for 'star' in the abstract, 
 where we should say ' stars ', may be paralleled from the can- 
 zone Donna pietosa, V. N. 23, St. 4, 1. 8. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 3. ancor vivessi : ' although I was alive'. The 
 omission of che is of course common enough. 
 
 II. 4-12. Cf. the opinion expressed by Fra Guittonein No. 
 XLIII, St. 3. 
 
 J. 12. di scarso largo : cf. di larga parca, Par. viii. 82. 
 STANZA 5, 1. 6. me should probably be m' . 
 
 I. 9. costumanza : ' good-breeding ' ; the passive sense is 
 rare, but it turns up in the negative scostumato : ' ill-bred '. 
 
 COMIATO, 1. 2. ' In respect to that which is to be said.' 
 
 II. 4-6. ' It does, not seem to me knowledge if, wishing to 
 speak of her whole form, I succeeded in praising one member 
 only.' 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Pucciandone Martelli was a contemporary of Fra Guittone, 
 one of whose letters is addressed to him. He is mentioned by 
 Trissino in the Poetica, and by Redi. The present piece was 
 printed by Villarosa and Valeriani, who probably took it from 
 Redi's (now the Laurentian) MS. From its style and diction this 
 piece would appear to belong to a date not very long after 1250. 
 It is in form a ballata with a prelude of two lines, and five 
 stanzas of eight lines, each of eleven syllables. Rime-scheme : 
 prelude : AaB ; stanzas : ABABABCcD. Each member, includ- 
 ing the prelude, ends with the same rime, -ente, which, curiously 
 enough, is that of the equivalent lines in No. LV. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. i. mi membra : ' comes to my mind ' ; of 
 a similar use vfmembrare we have already had instances. Here 
 the construction is somewhat unusual, belta being at once the 
 subject of membra and the object of vedere. 
 
 1. 3. fa porto : ' harbours '. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 7. parliedi : Val. parlieri, but this does not 
 agree with the internal rime, e di, in the next line. The d for r 
 
 R 2
 
 244 NOTES 
 
 may be paralleled by chiedo for chiero. The evil speakers as 
 obstacles to true love have been noticed before. See note to 
 No. XXXIX, St. 6, 1. 6. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 7. abandono : Val. abondanza, which again 
 misses the internal rime ; the emendation is pretty obvious. 
 The meaning seems to be 'the tongue which would speak 
 should be as unfettered as I am in loyalty towards you '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. i. mi laudo d' amor : for this reflexive use of 
 laudare cf. Inf. ii. 74, ' di te mi loder&'. 
 
 1. 2. intendimento : ' aim ' ; the second intendimento in 
 1. 4 meaning probably ' understanding '. 
 
 LX. 
 
 Guido, the son of Guinizello de' Principi, of Bologna, owes his 
 great reputation chiefly to the estimate formed of him by 
 Dante, who frequently refers to him in terms of unstinted 
 eulogy. Meeting him in Purgatory (xxvi. 92 sqq.), he speaks 
 of him as his father, and the father of others ' who had ever 
 used rimes of love '. The term padre, it is interesting to note, 
 had been applied by Guido himself in one of his early sonnets 
 to Fra Guittone. In V. E. I. ix he is mentioned with various 
 ' doctores ', such as Giraut de Bornelh, Thierry, King of 
 Navarre, and others, who have sung of love ; in I. xv he is 
 ' maximus Guido Guinizelli ' ; and in II. v he again comes in 
 with the other ' doctores ', and reference is made to his famous 
 ode Al cor gientil. No very great body of his work has sur- 
 vived ; only three of his canzoni are given in V.R.V. Valeriani 
 prints these, with six others, some perhaps of doubtful authen- 
 ticity. The Principi were Ghibeline in politics, and Guido him- 
 self was one of the victims of the expulsion of his party from 
 Bologna in 1274, when he is said to have gone to Verona. The 
 dates of his birth and death are quite uncertain ; the former was 
 probably somewhere about 1230, while of the latter we can only 
 say with certainty that it must have taken place before 1300. 
 In 1270 he is known to have been Podesta of Castelfranco, 
 in the Trevisan, in the territory of Verona. 
 
 The present poem is a string of the early commonplaces.
 
 NOTES 245 
 
 The stanzas are of twelve lines, all seven syllables. Rime- 
 scheme : ABCABC DEEDDE. In Stanza 5, C and D are 
 identical, and the rime-scheme of the last six lines is CAACCA. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. in altura : as we speak of ' on the high 
 seas '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 1-3. Cf. Inf. ix. 67, 68. 
 
 11. 6, 7. Vat. MS. arde, and chetrova, making both lines 
 a syllable short. 
 
 1. 7. iloco : ' in the place '. Lat. in loco. 
 
 1. 9. s' acolglie : ' meet together '. The use of a singular 
 verb with a plural subject, though always rare, is more usual 
 when the verb precedes. Wiese quotes an instance from the 
 Notary, A.R.V. iii. 46. 
 
 1. 1 1. stiza : stizzare, ' to stir up ', from stizzo, tizzo (Inf. xiii. 
 40) ; from Lat. titio, ' a fire-brand ' ; so Fr. attiser. um poco : 
 im would probably be better. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 12. 'Painting the air'; as futile an operation 
 as ' ploughing the sand '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 8. solo must be read as sol. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 This appears to be the poem of which the opening words are 
 quoted in V.E. I. xv as Madonna, il fermo core. The error 
 (if it is one) is probably not Dante's, but that of the scribe of one 
 of the few MSS. which have come down to us, whose error was 
 followed by others. From its length and regular structure of 
 long stanzas with comiafo, it would seem to belong to a later 
 period of the poet's life than the last, though it is far from 
 having reached the stil nuovo. It bears, on the other hand, 
 some arBnity to the manner of Fra Guittone, of whom, in 
 his earlier days, Guido was an admirer. The stanzas are 
 of twelve lines, 3, 6, 8, 10 being short. Rime-scheme : 
 ABCABC DDEEFF. Comiato : AABBCC. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. i. The opening words are practically identical 
 with those of No. XXXVIII, which may have misled the scribe 
 of the Vat. MS., so that fermo core may possibly be the true 
 reading.
 
 246 NOTES 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 8. a grave meso : ' placed in a difficulty '. 
 
 1. 9. degia must be scanned as one syllable. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. amore amaro : cf. No. XLVIII, St. i, 1. 8. 
 
 1. 12. istea sevale : so the MS., but it is difficult to get any 
 sense out of the words, the meaning of which can only be ' let 
 him stand if he is worthy '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. 4, 5. The words are not unlike those of Purg. 
 xvi. 89, 90, though the sense is a little different. 
 
 1. 7. e vanne: MS. evene, but the plural is needed, and 
 vanne, ' go their way,' gives a better sense. This notion of all 
 his vertuti leaving him and passing to the lady to join their kin 
 is thoroughly Dantesque. 
 
 1. II. assai should obviously be saggi or savi. 
 
 1. 12. parte : again almost in the political sense, like the 
 Psalmist's ' congregation of the wicked '. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. See No. XXI, St. 5, 11. 1-8. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. 7. sagio : ' test ' or ' proof ; ' assay '. 
 
 STANZA 7, 1. 2. dismisura : ' superabundance ' ; used by 
 Dante in the sense of lack of moderation, Inf. xvi. 74 and 
 Purg. xxii. 35. 
 
 1. 3. forfalsitate : that which is outside falsehood. 
 
 1. 4. 'n cio che fatico : ' all the trouble I take '. 
 
 1. 5. possa drittura seems to mean 'has the power of or 
 ' is capable of ' justice, but the use of potere in this quasi- 
 transitive sense seems to be very unusual. 
 
 1. II. tello : tenelo. 
 
 1. 12. See note to No. XVIII, St. 2, 1. i. 'Keep him ena- 
 moured, that you may refine him, then let him give up loving, 
 and die.' 
 
 COMIATO, 1. 5. inarato : for marrato, ' given earnest of,' from 
 arra\ hence 'to make a beginning', as in Petr., Son. 187. 
 The word occurs as late as Ariosto, e.g. O. F. xvii. 64. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 The following poem is cited by Dante (V. E. ii. 6) as a speci- 
 men of ' sapidus et venustus gradus constructionis ' ; the highest
 
 NOTES 247 
 
 degree of composition, possessing both relish and elegance. The 
 latter merit it certainly has, though, so far as the matter goes, it 
 does not show much advance on the conventional school, with 
 its feudal phraseology and familiar turns of phrase. It is not in 
 the Vat. MS., but is printed by Fiachi, Val., and Nan. Monaci 
 has edited it from the Chigian MS. The stanzas are of ten lines, 
 5, 7, 9 being of seven syllables. Rime-scheme : ABABCDCEDE, 
 and the first line of the stanza contains in two cases an echo of 
 the last line of the preceding. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. 3. fen resmire : literally ' gazing back ' ; the 
 word seems to have soon dropped out of use, its place being 
 taken by risguardo. Mon. fe rensmire, but a plural verb is 
 clearly needed. It will be noted that there is no direct predicate 
 to occhi. 
 
 1. 5. en : sono, as frequently ; plural formed directly from the 
 singular. So Purg. xvi. 121. 
 
 1. 8. baronia seems here to mean the body of vassals dwelling 
 in the barony. 
 
 1. 9. usar forza : ' go to war '. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 2. di neente : ' in no measure '. The idea in 
 these lines is in some ways parallel to that in V. N. xi, though 
 the imagery is somewhat different. In that case the ' spirits ' of 
 sight are driven out by Love, who takes their place ; here the 
 eyes offer no resistance to the lady's glance, which pierces 
 straight through to the heart. 
 
 I. 8. niente : note that the B rime is continued into the 
 second division of the stanza with a repetition of niente ; sug- 
 gesting that a final revision had not been given to the poem. 
 
 II. 9, 10. Cf. 11. 5-8 of the sonnet Tanto gentile, V. N. xxvi. 
 Only there the lady is not disdegnosa but d' humilta vestitta ; 
 an instance of the way in which Dante had improved upon the 
 feminine ideal of his predecessors. 
 
 STANZA 3, 11. 3, 4. Cf. Sir Henry Wotton, 'You meaner 
 beauties of the night '. 
 
 1. 5. Mon. CK ellei tno. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 5. s' apariscie should obviously be si spariscie, 
 ' night flies before her '. 
 
 1. 7. solarisce : the other texts all have sclarisce t and I regret
 
 248 NOTES 
 
 that I cannot now produce my authority for the reading I have 
 adopted ; it may indeed be due to an error of the press. 
 
 1. 10. pareggia : 'matches'. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 2. este : for e. This quasi-Latin form has oc- 
 curred more than once already, e. g. in Stanza I of No. XL, where 
 it happens to be also coupled with the pronoun este. It is used 
 by Dante in Par. xxiv. 141, where the MSS. vary between sunt 
 et este and sono et este, the great preponderance of MS. authority 
 being for sono, which I am now inclined to think is more likely 
 to be the right reading. At all events it shows that este as 
 a recognized Italian form was familiar to the early scribes. 
 
 1. 4. 'ste : here the plural feminine of esto. 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 This poem, again, is quite in the early style, opening with the 
 well-worn discussion as to the nature of love, and ending with 
 the equally well-worn appeal to the lady to lay aside her pride 
 and show him pity, with allusions to ill-requited service. The 
 stanzas are of eleven lines, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 being of seven syllables. 
 Rime-scheme: ABCABCCDDEeF. F recurs at the end of 
 each stanza. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 3. movimento : cf. the first line of No. I. 
 
 1. 8. volendo : note again the use of the gerund for the 
 infinitive; the use may be exactly paralleled in colloquial 
 English, ' It is a great mistake, wishing to do so and so'. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1.5. abbenda: 'binds', 'wraps'; Prov. bendar 
 in the same sense, from German binde, our ' band '. Voc. Cruse, 
 gives two examples, both in the sense of surgical binding, but in 
 the present passage the lines following seem to suggest that it 
 may have had some horticultural signification, though I can find 
 nothing to confirm this. Florio : ' to skarfe ', ' to swathe '. 
 
 1. 9. isdutto seems here to mean 'misled'. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 6. tortura: this word is used by Dante in 
 Purg. xxv. 109, where there has been some debate as to its 
 meaning, one modern commentator asserting that it is not 
 found in early Italian in the sense of ' torture '. There cannot
 
 NOTES 249 
 
 be much doubt that that is the meaning here, though it might 
 possibly be contended that it signifies only ' wrong '. 
 
 1. 7. calura : 'hot desire'. 
 
 1. 8. meritato : ' rewarded '. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 7. avvene : ' it happens '. 
 
 1. 10. allotta : for allora; used several times by Dante, 
 who also has, in Inf. xxi. 1 12, otta for ora. The words are 
 etymologically quite unconnected, otta being apparently from 
 a Teutonic root. 
 
 1. n. merta ogni scoglio : apparently 'repays every 
 obstacle ' ; scoglio in its usual sense of ' a rock in the sea '. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 This noble ode, so far superior to everything else of Guinizelli's 
 that has remained to us that it is difficult to recognize it as the 
 work of the same person who has left us the pleasing trivialities 
 which precede it, is doubtless his main title to fame. It must 
 have been this that earned for him the filial regard, as it were, 
 of Dante, and it is easy to see the great influence it had upon 
 Dante's own early poetry. It is only necessary to refer, for 
 examples of his influence with him, to the sonnet of V. N. xx, 
 ' Amor e '1 cor gentil sono una cosa,' and the discussion of 
 gentilezza in Conv. iv and the accompanying canzone. The 
 whole poem, indeed, is one which Dante need not have been 
 ashamed to own. So little of the author's work remains to us 
 that we cannot say whether the poem marks a real revolution in 
 his poetic method, or is merely a solitary inspiration, such as 
 worse poets than Guido sometimes enjoyed. But, such as it is, 
 it remains, both for thought and style, one of the masterpieces 
 of Italian lyric poetry. It is preserved in several manuscripts 
 besides the Vatican, and was printed, probably for the first time, 
 in the Giunta edition of 1527. 
 
 The poem consists of six stanzas of ten lines each, lines 5, 7, 9 
 being short. Rime-scheme : ABABCDCEDE. 
 
 STANZA I, 1. I. ripara : Vat. MS. rimpaira ; Mon., following 
 Barberini MS., repadria, sc. rtpatria, ' seeks its home,' a beautiful
 
 250 NOTES 
 
 reading which one would like to retain, but ripara has the weight 
 of authority. Bembo, Prose, i, says that the word is Provencal, 
 and the reading of the Vat. MS. comes very near to the Prov. 
 repairar (Fr. repairs, our ' repair '), which, according to Diez, 
 however, is a different word and comes from the Latin repatriare ; 
 while parar and its compounds are from Lat.flarare, 'to prepare,' 
 ' make ready,' from which the sense of ' defence ' arose. Castel- 
 vetro takes Bembo to task for supposing that riparare can stand 
 for albergare simply, and says that it always involves the meaning 
 of ' defence '. It is very probable that the two words have become 
 confused to some extent in meaning, and we may still, if we like, 
 believe that the idea in the poet's mind was rather ' seeks its 
 home ' than ' has its abode ' or ' place of defence '. If indeed he 
 had intended the latter, would he not have used net rather 
 than al ? 
 
 1. 7. No variant to this line appears to exist, yet it is hardly 
 possible to accept it exactly as it stands, as sole appears to be 
 used in an identical sense with that of 1. 5 ; nor, we may imagine, 
 would the poet have so definitely contradicted the received order 
 of creation, in which light certainly did exist before the sun. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. Here again, as in Stanzas 3 and 5, we have 
 the last word of the preceding stanza echoed ; that this is missing 
 in the other two cases seems to show that either the poem had 
 not its author's final revision, or that the version which we have 
 does not show this. aprende : the regular word for ' catching ', 
 as of fire. Cf. Inf. v. loo, an obvious echo of this line. 
 
 1. 3. stella must mean here 'the heavenly spheres' gene- 
 rally, by the movements of which human affairs are directed ; 
 but the idea that, in order that their effects might be manifested, 
 the co-operation of the sun was needed, seems to be peculiar to 
 the poet. The idea is that the sun first purifies, and then the 
 star imparts its virtue. 
 
 1. 6. ell': sc. cosa. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. doppiero : ' the wick of a candle ', from Lat. 
 d^tplariJts, because formed of two twisted strands. 
 
 1. 3. The line as it stands is too long by a syllable ; we should 
 doubtless read clar, or with Mon. chiar. 
 
 1. 4. fero : untamed.
 
 NOTES 251 
 
 1. 6. fa : the use of fare as a substitute for a preceding verb 
 is common enough in Italian, just as ' do ' in English. Wiese, 
 Part iii, 21, gives other instances. 
 
 1. 8. prende rivera : ' comes to shore '. 
 
 1. 10. damas : ' adamant ', that is ' diamond,' as in Par. ii. 33. 
 The notion that the diamond was a product of iron mines was 
 not uncommon. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 3. Cf. the canzone to Conv. iv, St. 2, 1. 10. 
 torno : cf. our use of ' I turn out '. 
 
 1. 6. fuor di coragio : ' apart from the heart ' ; almost equi- 
 valent to ' courage ', but in a wider meaning. 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. 1. intelligenzia del cielo : here we are getting 
 very much on Dante's ground, though we have not yet got to the 
 distribution of the ' intelligences ' among the different heavens. 
 Cf. Par. xxviii. 78 ; and, with this and the following line, Par. 
 ix. 62. 
 
 1. 3. oltre cielo : here again we have the same word in the 
 same meaning repeated in rime ; presumably to avoid this, 
 Nan. reads oltra 'I velo, which somewhat weakens the sense. 
 
 I. 4. tole : for tolle or toglie, ' takes its obedience ' ; togliere 
 generally has the meaning of 'to take away', but its use for 
 ' take ' simply is not unusual : e. g. Par. xv. 98. It seems, 
 however, to have puzzled the editors, who have suggested such 
 alterations as cole and vole. 
 
 II. 5-10. This somewhat audacious comparison between the 
 attributes of the lady and of the Deity himself is, as will be 
 seen, challenged and excused in the next stanza. 
 
 1. 10. disaprende : ' fails to take fire '. 
 
 STANZA 6, 1. 1. Donna : this word clearly refers to the lady, 
 whoever she may have been, to whom the poem is addressed, 
 and forms no part of the words put into God's mouth, as has 
 been sometimes understood, the use of the feminine address 
 being justified by the feminine of alma. But this notion appears 
 intolerably grotesque, and the mi dira cuts us off so completely 
 from alma in 1. 2 as to make it inconceivable that the two can 
 have any connexion.
 
 252 NOTES 
 
 LXV. 
 
 Of Onesto of Bologna very little is known. Nannucci tells us 
 that his name occurs in various local documents, the latest being 
 dated September 24, 1301. Nor has much of his poetry survived 
 (the Vat. MS., for example, contains nothing of his), which is 
 all the more curious as he was evidently reckoned one of the 
 most distinguished of the Bologna poets. Dante mentions him 
 in V. E. I. xv, with Guinizelli and others, as writing in a language 
 which was not the Bolognese dialect, and quotes a line from 
 a poem of his which appears to be lost. Lorenzo de' Medici, 
 as will have been seen in the Preface, coupled him with the 
 ' Sicilians ', and thought that his work would have been all the 
 better fora little more polish. Bembo, again, names him among 
 the illustrious poets of the first age. He had a sonnet-corre- 
 spondence with Cino of Pistoia. Valeriani gives a few of his 
 pieces, but with no indication as to the source whence he took 
 them. I have taken the following from his collection. It is 
 still very much on the old lines, and shows no trace of the stil 
 nuovo t though on the whole the structure is somewhat more 
 compact, and the diction simpler than that of the Sicilians. 
 The stanzas are of ten lines, 6 and 8 being of seven syllables ; 
 the first line of each stanza more or less repeats the last of the 
 preceding. Rime-scheme : ABBACCDDEE. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 1. taupino : see note to No. XXXIII, St. 2, 1. 1. 
 
 1. 6. poia : poggia ; from Lat. podium, ' a hill,' whence the 
 original meaning ' to climb ' ; thence ' to prop up ' or ' to lean 
 against', as in Inf. xx. 25, xxix. 73. Fr. appuyer. 
 
 1. 10. ad uopo meo : 'for my needs '. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 3. a mia rincontra : ' to my own hindrance '. 
 
 1. 9. The phraseology somewhat reminds one of Romans vii. 23, 
 while the comparison of the lover's condition to death, which 
 occurs in this poem, especially 11. 5-7 of the next stanza, and is 
 a commonplace throughout, may possibly have been suggested 
 by the following verse. Dante was not the only poet of that 
 age who knew his Bible. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 6. gli must refer to anima ; though an inter- 
 change of genders in the pronoun is occasionally found, it might 
 be better to read, as suggested, /'.
 
 NOTES 253 
 
 STANZA 5, 11. 2 sqq. The appeal to other ladies to plead the 
 lover's cause is a common feature, and an echo of it may 
 perhaps be found in Purg. xxx. 96. 
 
 1. 10. gliel refers to the lady. It must be noted that this 
 compound is indeclinable and serves equally for both genders. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 This poem is printed in the collection of 1527. It is a ballata, 
 and, in spite of its somewhat doleful theme and language, is 
 written in a lively, tripping, anapaestic metre. It has the usual 
 prelude, of three lines, and stanzas of seven lines. Rime-scheme : 
 prelude : AaBbC ; stanzas : AaBBAaCcDdE. The final lines 
 of the prelude and stanzas rime together, after the usual ballata 
 fashion. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 2. Giunta : non sono o so . . . ripensare. 
 
 1. 5. Giunta : stato gravoso. I have transposed the words, 
 at the cost of a slight halt in the line, so as to get the internal 
 rime into its proper place. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 7. The meaning is not very clear, for how could 
 ' pity ' do wrong to ' favour ' or ' requital ', which is the general 
 meaning of merzt ? Should we not read a pietanza merzt ? 
 ' Favour did wrong to pity,' i. e. ' was not granted as pity 
 demanded '. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 4. casso : ' breast ', as in Purg. xxiv. 72, 
 literally ' chest ', from Lat. capsus^ and so exactly equivalent to 
 our English word. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. i. si sciovra : ' ceases to work ', Lat. exoperari. 
 
 1. 2. meve : the use of this archaic form, like that of the 
 futures in -aggio above, seems to indicate an early date for this 
 poem. 
 
 LXVI I. 
 
 With Guido, son of Cavalcante Cavalcanti, we pass into the 
 domain of authentic history. His life was nearly or quite 
 co-extensive with the latter half of the thirteenth century, during 
 the later years of which he took a prominent and, for himself,
 
 254 NOTES 
 
 disastrous part in Florentine politics. He is of course best 
 known to fame as Dante's closest friend, though he was senior 
 of the two by some ten or fifteen years. The friendship began, 
 as Dante himself recounts in V. N. 3, by Dante's selection of 
 him as one of the poets to whom the youthful sonnet ' A ciascun' 
 alma presa, e gentil core ' was sent for criticism. Guide's reply, 
 beginning ' Vedesti al mio parere ogni valore ', is preserved. 
 ' This,' says Dante, ' was about the beginning of our friendship '. 
 Dante was then about eighteen years old. The Cavalcanti were 
 a Guelf family, and at the short-lived truce which succeeded 
 the battle of Montaperti, when efforts were made to reconcile 
 Guelfs and Ghibelines by means of matrimonial arrange- 
 ments, Guido was betrothed to the daughter of Farinata degli 
 Uberti. The marriage duly took place, and children were born 
 of it. Like Dante himself, however, and most other poets of 
 the time, Guido looked elsewhere for his poetical inspiration. 
 In V. N. xxiv Dante speaks of a lady who was ' molto donna 
 di questo mio primo amico ', and was known as Primavera, her 
 real name being Giovanna. She is also referred to in the sonnet 
 ' Guido, vorrei ', where her name is coupled with that of ' Monna 
 Bice ', pretty clear evidence that Guide's attachment to her was 
 as innocent as that of Dante to Beatrice. Towards the end of 
 his life, when on an abortive pilgrimage to Compostella, which 
 got no further than Nimes, he addressed poems to other ladies, 
 real or imaginary. In June, 1300, when the quarrel between 
 Black and White Guelfs had become acute, and civil war seemed 
 imminent, the Priors, among whom was Dante, adopted the 
 step of banishing the leaders of both factions ; Guido with other 
 Whites was sent to Sarzana. This place proved so unhealthy 
 that they were soon allowed to return. But Guido was already 
 stricken for death, and expired in the following August. Villani, 
 in recording this, speaks of him as ' filosofo, virtudioso uomo in 
 piu cose, se non ch' era troppo tennero e stizzoso ' (' touchy and 
 prone to wrath ') ; and this seems to be the general verdict of 
 his contemporaries. Dante's reference to him, Inf. x. 63, as 
 one who despised Virgil, and the dramatic scene which follows, 
 will be in every one's memory. As a poet, Dante held him in 
 high esteem. He is mentioned in V. E.\. 13 among the Tuscans
 
 NOTES 255 
 
 who avoided the turpiloquium of their native dialect, and he is 
 doubtless also the ' uno Guido ' who has taken away from 
 ' raltro ' (Guinizelli) ' the glory of our language ' (Pitrg. xi. 97) ; 
 certainly he, rather than Guinizelli, was the one to introduce the 
 philosophical theory of love. (See on this subject Mr. J. B. 
 Fletcher's essay in No. 22 of the Harvard Dante Society's 
 Transactions, ' The Philosophy of Love of Guido Cavalcanti '.) 
 
 The present ode contains the sum of his theory on the subject. 
 The nature of love is still the theme, but it is handled in 
 a different way from that of the earlier poets. Scholastic terms 
 abound, and the whole thing has a somewhat pedantic flavour. 
 It is not in the Vat. MS., perhaps because it was not written 
 when that collection was made, but it is in the Barberini and 
 the Chigi ; Monaci has printed it from the latter. It is also 
 in the Giunta selection of 1527. It is in the almost regulation 
 form of five stanzas with a comiato. The stanzas are of fourteen 
 lines, the comiato of five, every line being, as Dante has noted 
 in V.E. ii. 12, hendecasyllabic. The rime-scheme is somewhat 
 complicated by many internal rimes, a reference to which will 
 be found in V. E. ii. 12 : zAbbCcDzAbbCcDEeFfGGEeFfGG. 
 Comiato: ABbAaCC. 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 2. ' The thing that befalls and is often untame- 
 able.' 
 
 1. 10 seems to be an allusion to the opening lines of No. LXIV. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. i. Cf. the first words of V. N., which may have 
 been suggested by these, though they are differently employed. 
 
 1.3. diafan : 'transparency'. 
 
 1. 4. Cf. Inf. xxiv. 145 and Purg. ii. 14 for the affinity of 
 Mars with mists. 
 
 1. 8. possibile intelletto may be roughly defined as ' the 
 universal intellect ', that which informs the acting intellect of 
 the individual. See Purg. xxv. 65. It is conceivable that Guido, 
 who had the reputation of a free-thinker, may use the term to 
 avoid ' divino intelletto'. 
 
 1. 9. suggetto : ' that which underlies ', almost equivalent to 
 ' material '. 
 
 1. 10. pesanza: this is the reading of the Chig. MS. Giunta 
 , which is perhaps preferable ; ' it cannot rest there
 
 256 NOTES 
 
 because it does not come down from the nature of abstract 
 quality, it beams with perpetual desire, but has no delight.' 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 2. Giunta : Perche perfezion si, which upsets 
 the internal rime. 
 
 1. 4. fuor di salute seems to mean, ' when it is necessary to 
 destroy as well as to save '. 
 
 1. 5. ' And the intention is as good a reason as the act.' This 
 is very much the teaching of Aquinas. 
 
 1. 6. in cui e vizio amico : a condensed way of saying ' in 
 him to whom *, &c. 
 
 STANZA 4, 1. 2. Cf. Purg. xvii. 98 and the following exposi- 
 tion of the manner in which love may be the source of sin. 
 
 1. 5. storna : usually ' to turn away ', ' to turn back ', but 
 here it seems to mean to ' alter ' or ' change '. 
 
 I. ii. Cf. the sonnet ' Negli occhi porta', V. N. xxi, 
 especially 11. 13, 14; but of course the notion is common to all 
 love-poetry. 
 
 II. 12-14. ' Let not either great or little wisdom make any 
 effort to draw love to himself, nor go about to find pleasure 
 from it.' 
 
 STANZA 5, 1. i. tragge complessione : cf. di complession 
 potenziate. Par. vii. 140. The complession is the mingling of 
 qualities which goes to make up all animate and inanimate 
 things, and from which they take, as one may say, their 
 character. The exact construction of this line is not easy to 
 see ; probably sguardo is the subject of tragge : ' a look draws 
 forth love from one of like disposition '. 
 
 1. 3. Chig. MS. reads si giunto, as does the Giunta. I have 
 followed Nannucci's reading, sorgiunto, ' overtaken,' as giving 
 a more lively image. 
 
 1. 5. Cf. Ovid's well-known res est solliciti plena timoris amor. 
 
 1. 8. Giunta : comprise. This line as it stands seems unin- 
 telligible, unless we can take om priso as meaning ' when the 
 man is taken ' ; or might we read f a om ? ' Whiteness ' (or 
 ' a blank ') ' falls over such objects ', i. e. of love. 
 
 1. 1 1. Mon. : esser , but the words seem to mean ' separated 
 from existence ', ' that which emanates from the beloved object 
 is colourless and apart from actual being '.
 
 NOTES 257 
 
 1. 12. mezzo oscuro : ' a dark medium '. The same phrase 
 occurs as a varia lectio in some MSS. and edd. of Purg. i. 15. 
 
 1. 13. Mon. : dice om degno ; Giunta : dice degno, but it is 
 rather the author's remark than that of a supposed ' man '. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 This little piece is referred to by Dante in V. E. ii. 6 as an 
 example of the most excellent construction (see introduction to 
 No. LXII). Beyond graceful expression there is nothing particu 
 larly noticeable about it. In the Giunta edition it is classed among 
 the ballate, though it does not seem to be in the strict ballata 
 form, consisting as it does of two stanzas each of four hendeca- 
 syllabic lines, and one of seven lines, 3 and 5 being short. The 
 rime-scheme of the first two stanzas is ABBC ABBC ; for the 
 third: ABBCCDD. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 2. It might be better to read a t.g. ct, v.p. ; as 
 the line stands we should expect di vita, 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 Cino de' Sinibuldi of Pistoia is one of the most interesting 
 figures in Italian literary history. Born five years after Dante, who 
 always refers to himself in V. E. as ' Cino's friend ', he also was 
 one of those to whom the early sonnet ' A ciascun' alma presa ' 
 was sent, and who replied to it ; though, if the usually received 
 date of his birth be correct, he must have been very young at 
 the time. He lived till 1336, and interchanged verse with the 
 youthful Petrarch, who, when Cino died, was a man of thirty- 
 two. This selection being confined to poems before 1300, none 
 of his later work has been included. Of the three poems which 
 are given, one is known to have been earlier than that date, and 
 the style of the other two seems to show that they were youthful 
 productions. He was eminent both as poet and lawyer. A con- 
 siderable quantity of his verse remains to us, though a good 
 deal of it is of no extraordinary merit. However, he was an 
 elegant versifier, and may to some extent be regarded as the 
 predecessor of Petrarch himself, and so of all the long series
 
 258 NOTES 
 
 of Italian lyric poets, for two hundred years and more, to whom 
 finish of style and elaborate conceits rather than any beauty or 
 originality of thought were the important elements of poetry. 
 Cino, however, like Petrarch, could occasionally touch a nobler 
 chord, as the following ode, addressed to Dante after the death 
 of Beatrice, is sufficient to show. It is another of those cited by 
 Dante in V. E. ii. 6 to illustrate the most excellent style ; in 
 spite of which Allacci assigns it to Guido Guinizelli. It 
 consists of five stanzas of fourteen lines (lines 9 and 1 1 being of 
 seven syllables), with a comiato of six lines. Rime-scheme : 
 ABCABCCDDEECFF ; comiato, ABBACC. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. i. ch' io non aggio: All. che del maggio, 
 a fair specimen of his editing. 
 
 1. 4. tempo may possibly be justified by treating per tempo 
 in 1. i as an adverb. 
 
 1. 7. Cf. canzone in V. N. xxxii, St. 2, 1. I. 
 
 1. 8. Cf. V. N. ii. : 'la quale fu chiamata da molti Beatrice, 
 i qtiali non sapeano che si chiamare.' 
 
 1. 13. a posta : almost equivalent to Fr. a propos. 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 6. corrotto : 'grief. Originally it was the 
 participle, corrotto di dolore, ' broken up with grief. It is diffi- 
 cult not to connect the word with Prov. corrotz and Fr. courrotix. 
 though in these the meaning of ' anger ' is more prominent. 
 Diez, however, would derive both these, as well as the It. cor- 
 ruccio, from cholera, 
 
 I. 8. del suo maggiore seems to mean here ' in its greatest 
 measure '. 
 
 II. 10-12. An obvious reference to the canzone ' Donne 
 ch' avete', V. N. 19, showing that so much at least of the 
 Vita Nuova had been written before this time. 
 
 STANZA 3,!. i . che plant o adopra : ' of what help is weep- 
 ing?' 
 
 STANZA 4, 11. 1-4. Cf. Petrarch, Sonnets, Part II, 75 : 
 
 Ond' io voglie e pensier tutti al ciel ergo, 
 Perche io I 1 odo pregar pur ch' i' m' affretti. 
 
 The entire sonnet, indeed, seems to be based on reminiscences 
 of this poem.
 
 NOTES 259 
 
 STANZA 5. The opening lines of this stanza have a certain 
 resemblance, more in sentiment than in the actual phraseology, 
 to those in Lyciilas beginning ' So Lycidas sunk low, but 
 mounted high'. It is, however, hardly close enough to allow 
 us to infer any suggestion. 
 
 11. II, 12. Cf. again the opening lines of Petrarch's- sonnet 
 quoted above. 
 
 COMIATO, 1. 5. Unless Dio is, contrary to the usual rule, to 
 be taken as two syllables, this line is short, and I have suggested 
 lo rt to complete it. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 This poem is cited by Dante, V, E. II. ii, in the famous passage 
 where he lays down that the highest subjects for poetry are love, 
 warlike heroism, and morals. It is obviously a poem of the 
 author's youth, and little more than an exercise in the early 
 style, as shown by the predominance of short lines, and the use 
 of words like conquide, which by the end of the century were 
 becoming obsolete. With the rest of Cino's work, it is lacking 
 from the Vat. MS., nor is it in any of the printed collections 
 with which I am acquainted, save that of Villarosa, from whom 
 I have taken it ; unless it be in Carducci's of 1862, but as that 
 work has no index it is hard to say what is in it without reading 
 it through. The stanzas are of fourteen lines, 3, 6, 7, 10, II, 14 
 being long. Rime-scheme: ABCCBADEEDEDDE. 
 
 STANZA i, 1. 5. men: me ne. 
 
 1. 6. io should almost certainly be el, sc. amore: 'I stole 
 love from your eyes so secretly that you did not know when he 
 went out.' 
 
 STANZA 2, 1. 9. conquide : see note to No. XV, St. 3, 1. 2. 
 
 1. io. tragger . . . guai : cf. Inf. v. 48. guai : the initial g 
 of guai points to its coming rather from the Gothic ivai than 
 from the Latin vae, though of course the two words are closely 
 akin ; these, and the German weh, our ' woe ', all belong to the 
 same family. 
 
 1. 14. giudizio : carrying on the idea of rio, 'the criminal,' 
 in 1. io. 
 
 S 2
 
 260 NOTES 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. I. non vi caglia: 'take no heed of, as in 
 Pnrg. viii. 12. From Lat. calere, literally ' to grow warm '. O.Fr. 
 chaloir, whence nonchalant. 
 
 11. 12, 13. Villarosa prints signer che perdonanza, thus making 
 the stanza a line short. The last four lines of course contain the 
 old idea that the lord who pardons is better than he who 
 punishes. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 This ode is quoted by Dante in the same passage as Al cor 
 gentil and others, V, E. ii. 5, to show that the opening of a 
 canzone with a line of eleven syllables is the practice of the 
 highest ' doctores '. The stanzas are three in number, of seven- 
 teen lines apiece, the shorter lines being 3, 7, 15, 16, the third 
 and seventh being of 5 syllables only, an arrangement which 
 would point to its being somewhat later than the preceding, 
 though the frequency of internal rimes, as well as the intricacy 
 of the language, shows it to belong still to the earlier school. 
 Rime-scheme : AaBCcDAaBCcDEeF(e)FFEeFEFF. (In the 
 last stanza the internal rime of 1. II is wanting.) 
 
 STANZA 1, 1. 10. Vil., probably not noticing the internal rime, 
 reads vado cosl d. 
 
 STANZA 2, 11. 5, 6. che and chi should probably be trans- 
 posed : ' whoso sees a thing so noble treats it as baseness to 
 have dealt me that blow '. 
 
 1. 9. The subject to e must be pietanza. 
 
 1. 14. afilata : 'sharpened'. 
 
 STANZA 3, 1. 12. vertii: 'power', 'efficiency'. 
 
 1. 13. 'The cause is not my unworthiness.' 
 
 1.17. di ragion : ' by good right '.
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ahime, lasso taupino 13 
 
 Ai dolze e gaia terra Fiorentina 105 
 
 Ai lasso, or e stagion . . 88 
 
 Al cor gentil 128 
 
 AI cor m' & nato 32 
 
 Amor ben veio 13 
 
 Amor, che lungiamente 35 
 
 Amor, da cui move I 
 
 Amore, in cui disio . . . . . . . 3 
 
 Amore, perche m' ki . . . ... . -59 
 
 Amorosa donna fina 23 
 
 Amor tanto altamente . . . . . . .85 
 
 Ancor che 1'aigua 37 
 
 Avegna ch' io non aggio 136 
 
 Ben m' e venuta prima io 
 
 Ben mi credeva 116 
 
 , Ben mi degio alegrare 65 
 
 Biasmomi dell'amore 50 
 
 Come Io giorno 47 
 
 Comune perta 98 
 
 Con gran disio 126 
 
 Credea essere, lasso 54 
 
 D' amoroso paeso 33 
 
 Degno son io ch' i' mora . . . . . . .138 
 
 Di lungia parte aduciemi 103 
 
 Dispietata morte e fera 66 
 
 Dolcie coninciamento 7 
 
 Donna, 1' amor mi sforza ....... 120 
 
 Donna, Io fino amore . . . . . . . .69 
 
 Donna mi prega, perche voglio dire 133 
 
 Donna, audite como . . . . . . . 15 
 
 D' un' amcrosa voglia 102 
 
 Fin amor mi comforta . . . . . . .114 
 
 Gik lungiamente, amore 53 
 
 Giammai non mi conforto 20 
 
 Gioia ne ben non e 113
 
 262 INDEX OF FIRST LINES 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Gioiosamente canto 42 
 
 Gravosa dimoranza 100 
 
 In gioi' mi tengo 22 
 
 Ispendiente stella 27 
 
 La mia vita & s\ forte 68 
 
 La partenza che fo dolorosa 132 
 
 Lo gran valor e lo pregio . . . . . . .44 
 
 Madonna, dir vi voglio ....... 4 
 
 Madonna, il fino amorc . . . . . . .122 
 
 Maravigliosamente ... ..... 8 
 
 Morte, perch . ... * .. . .25 
 
 Non gia per gioia 107 
 
 Non spero che gia mai 140 
 
 Oi lassa namorata . . . . . . .61 
 
 Oi lasso! nom pensai . . ~ . . . . .63 
 
 Per fino amore vo si 18 
 
 Per lo marito c' 6 rio . . 30 
 
 Poich di doglia . . . ... . .135 
 
 Poi non mi val merc . . . . . . .40 
 
 Ouando appar 1' aulente fiore . . . . .no 
 Ouando la primavera 71 
 
 Rosa fresca aulentissima 73 
 
 Sei anni 6 travagliato ........ 45 
 
 Si come il pescio . . . . .... . -56 
 
 Tal & la fiamma e lo foco . . . . , . . 1 1 1 
 
 Tanto sovente dett' agio -91 
 
 Tengnol di folle impresa 125 
 
 Tutto il dolor go 
 
 Tutto lo mondo vive '. . . ,. , . .48 
 
 Tuttor agg' io n 8 
 
 Tuttor la dolze speranza ....... 28 
 
 Tuttor s' eo veglio 83 
 
 Umile core e fino e amoroso . . . . . .12 
 
 Una fermana iscoppai da Cascioli , . . 78 
 
 Vergongno, lasso ........ 95
 
 ERRATA 
 
 P. 19, 1. 14 for tiranare read tiranire. 
 
 P. 22, 1. 9 for [ptu] e read piu (<?). 
 
 P. 28, No. XVI, 1. 6 for <? read e. 
 
 P. 29, 1. 12 for e (tut to} read ^ [/] tutto. 
 
 P. 31, 1. 3 for <://<? wz read che lo mi, 
 
 P. 37. At end of No. XX insert (V.R.V., Giunta, Mon.). 
 
 P. 39, 1. 25 for la vostra read lo vostro. 
 
 P. 42, ]. 2 for ^<? read cJf t>. 
 
 P. 49, 1. 3 for amore read amort. 
 
 P. 55, 1. 4 for mira read ;;//> 'n. 
 
 P. 87, 1. 5 for approve read apprcvb. 
 
 P. 88, 1. 1 6 for <c^'> el read ^' //. 
 
 P. 90, 1. 8 for a combattulo read ^ combattuto. 
 
 Note J for w. read miso. 
 P. 91, last line, for viaciere read giacere. 
 P. too, 1. 8 for sol read di citi sol. 
 P. 102, at end of No. XLIX insert (V.R.V.). 
 P. 121, 1. 3 insert semicolon at end. 
 P. 127, 1. 13 insert full stop at end.
 
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