Petrarch (12 page)

had not refused
to make for me the crown

adorning those composing poetry,

those goddesses
of yours would be my friends,

the ones abandoned vilely by the world;

but
that offense forces me far away

from the
inventress
of the olive tree,

for
Ethiopia’s sands do not burn more

beneath the hottest sun than I am burning

from losing something
dear that was my own.

Go then and look for
a more peaceful fountain
,

for mine suffers a dearth of any liquid

except for that which weeping I let run.

Love at times
would weep, and I, with him

from whom I never kept too far a distance,

would weep to see the
strong and strange effects

that have
released your soul
tied in his knots;

now that God has returned it to the right path

with heart raised to the heavens and both hands,

I give my thanks to Him who in
His mercy

so kindly understands just prayers of men.

And if,
returning to the life of love
,

to make you turn your back
on sweet desire

you found some
hills or ditches
on your way,

it was to show how
thorny
is the path

and just how mountainous and hard the climb

by which a man must rise to reach true worth.

Più di me lieta non si vede a terra

nave da l’onde combattuta et vinta,

quando la gente di pietà depinta

su per la riva a ringraziar s’atterra;

né lieto più del carcer si diserra

chi ’ntorno al collo ebbe la corda awinta,

di me veggendo quella spada scinta

che fece al segnor mio sì lunga guerra.

Et tutti voi ch’ Amor laudate in rima,

al buon testor degli amorosi detti

rendete onor ch’ era smarrito in prima;

ché più gloria è nel regno degli eletti

d’un spirito converso, et più s’estima,

che di novantanove altri perfetti.

Il successor di Cario, che la chioma

co la corona del suo antiquo adorna,

prese à già l’arme per fiaccar le corna

a Babilonia et chi da lei si noma;

e ’l vicario de Cristo colla soma

de le chiavi et del manto al nido torna,

sì che s’ altro accidente nol distorna

vedrà Bologna et poi la nobil Roma.

La mansueta vostra et gentil agna

abatte i fieri lupi, et così vada

chiunque amor legitimo scompagna;

consolate lei dunque, ch’ ancor bada,

et Roma che del suo sposo si lagna,

et per Jhesù cingete omai la spada.

Happier than I there never came
to land

a ship battled and
defeated by the waves

when all its crew
piteously painted pale

on shore fall to their knees giving their thanks;

nor happier that man set free from jail

who had just felt the cord twist round his neck,

than I to see that
sword back in its sheath

that had waged war so long
against my lord
.

And all of you who praise Love in your verse,

to that
fine weaver
of
love’s poetry

give honor,
honor the one who strayed before
;

more glory shines
in God’s realm of elect

for one converted soul, and more respect,

than for ninety and nine perfected ones.

The successor of Charles
who with the crown

of his ancestor now adorns his hair,

already takes up arms
to
break the horns

of Babylon
and those who bear her name
;

and
the vicar of Christ
who bears the burden

of
keys and cloak
returns now to the nest
;

if accident of sorts not turn him back,

he’ll see Bologna
, then the noble Rome.

Your lamb
of humbleness and grace destroys

the
savage wolves
—and so should suffer all

who separate a sanctified affair;

console her then, the one who still is waiting
,

and Rome who is
lamenting for her bridegroom
,

and
raise your sword
now in the name of Jesus.

O aspettata in Ciel beata et bella

anima che di nostra umanitade

vestita vai (non, come l’altre, carca):

perché ti sian men dure omai le strade

(a Dio diletta, obediente ancella)

onde al suo regno di qua giù si varca,

ecco novellamente a la tua barca,

ch’ al cieco mondo à già volte le spalle

per gir al miglior porto,

d’un vento occidental dolce conforto;

lo qual per mezzo questa oscura valle

ove piangiamo il nostro et l’altrui torto

la condurrà de’ lacci antichi sciolta

per drittissimo calle

al verace oriente ov’ ella è volta.

Forse i devoti et gli amorosi preghi

et le lagrime sante de’ mortali

son giunte innanzi a la pietà superna;

et forse non fur mai tante né tali

che per merito lor punto si pieghi

fuor de suo corso la giustizia eterna.

Ma quel benigno Re che ’l ciel governa

al sacro loco ove fu posto in croce

gli occhi per grazia gira,

onde nel petto al novo Carlo spira

la vendetta ch’ a noi tardata noce

si che molt’anni Europa ne sospira;

così soccorre a la sua amata sposa

tal che sol de la voce

fa tremar Babilonia et star pensosa.

Chiunque alberga tra Garona e ’l monte

e ’ntra ’l Rodano e ’l Reno et l’onde salse

le ’nsegne cristianissime accompagna;

et a cui mai di vero pregio calse

dal Pireneo a l’ultimo orizonte

con Aragon lassarà vota Ispagna.

Inghilterra con l’isole che bagna

l’Occeano intra ’l Carro et le Colonne,

O beautiful and blessèd soul that Heaven

waits for, soul who in our humanity

is clothed
, not burdened by it like the rest;

so that by now the road may be less painful

for you, God’s chosen one, obedient servant,

by which down here one crosses to His kingdom,

behold just now to help
your boat
along,

which has
already turned
from the blind world

headed for a better port,

there blows a
western wind
with its sweet comfort,

a wind by means of which through this dark valley

in which we weep
for ours and others’ wrongs

it will be led, now
free of ancient bonds
,

along the
straightest course

to the true Orient toward which it’s turned.

Perhaps all those devout and loving prayers

and all the pious tears of mortal man

have reached the presence of His highest pity;

perhaps there weren’t so many or so great

that
by their merit
they could swerve at all

eternal justice from its very course;

but rather that good King who rules the heavens

to the holy place where He was crucified

turns in His grace His eyes

and breathes into the breast of the
new Charles

that vengeance
whose delay has
brought us harm

and made all Europe sigh for many years;

and doing so He helps His
much loved bride
,

that One
whose voice alone

fills Babylon with fear and makes it tremble.

All those between the mountains and Garonne,

between the Rhône and Rhine and the salt waves,

accompanies
the Christianest
of standards,

and all who ever
cared about true worth

from Pyrenees up to the last horizon

behind the Aragon will
leave Spain empty
.

England and all the islands that are bathed

by Ocean stretching
from the Wain to Columns
,

in fin là dove sona

dottrina del santissimo Elicona,

varie di lingue et d’arme et de le gonne

a l’alta impresa caritate sprona.

Deh, qual amor sì licito o sì degno,

qua’ figli mai, qua’ donne

furon materia a sì giusto disdegno?

Una parte del mondo è che si giace

mai sempre in ghiaccio et in gelate nevi,

tutta lontana dal camin del sole;

là sotto i giorni nubilosi et brevi,

nemica naturalmente di pace

nasce una gente a cui il morir non dole.

Questa se più devota che non sòle

col tedesco furor la spada cigne,

Turchi Arabi et Caldei,

con tutti quei che speran nelli Dei

di qua dal mar che fa l’onde sanguigne,

quanto sian da prezzar conoscer dèi:

popolo ignudo paventoso et lento,

che ferro mai non strigne

ma tutt’ i colpi suoi commette al vento.

Dunque ora è ’l tempo da ritrare il colio

dal giogo antico, et da squarciare il velo

ch’ è stato avolto intorno agli occhi nostri,

et che ’l nobile ingegno che dal cielo

per grazia tien de l’immortale Apollo

et l’eloquentia sua vertù qui mostri

or con la lingua, or co’ laudati incostri.

Perché d’Orfeo leggendo et d’Anfione

se non ti meravigli,

assai men fia ch’ Italia co’ suoi figli

si desti al suon del tuo chiaro sermone

tanto che per Jhesù la lancia pigli:

che s’ al ver mira questa antica madre,

in nulla sua tenzione

fur mai cagion sì belle o sì leggiadre.

Tu ch’ ài per arricchir d’un bel tesauro

volte l’antiche et le moderne carte,

volando al ciel colla terrena soma,

as far as there is heard

the word of the
most sacred Helicon
,

all different in their
language, arms, and customs
,

charity spurs
to this high undertaking.

Ah, what love however right or worthy,

what sons, what women ever

were subject
of so just disdain as this?

There is a piece of this world that is resting

forever
under ice and frozen snow
,

so far from where the sun travels its course:

there, under cloudy days that last so briefly,

is born a people
enemies by nature

to peace and to whom
dying does not hurt
.

Were these folk,
more devout than in the past
,

to take up sword in their
Teutonic rage
,

then
Arabs, Turks
, and Chaldeans

together with all those who hope in gods

on this side of the
sea of bloody waves
,

you’ll see how little all of them are worth:

a people
naked, slow, and cowardly
,

who never seize the steel

but rather
trust the wind
to take their blows.

And so the time is now to pull our neck

from
that old yoke
and to destroy the veil,

the one that has been wrapped
around our eyes
;

and time your noble mind, bestowed on you

by grace of our
immortal god Apollo
,

display the power
of your eloquence

both through your spoken words and your
praised writings
.

If reading of Amphion and of Orpheus

does not amaze
you much,

far less you’ll be when Italy and her sons

are wakened by the sound of your
clear voice

and take their sword in hand for sake of Jesus;

for if this
ancient mother
looks on truth,

in none of her past battles

will she find
cause so fair, so glorious
.

You who, to grow rich with
true treasure

have turned
the ancient and the modern
pages

soaring up to Heaven
with your earthly weight
,

sai da l’imperio del figliuol de Marte

al grande Augusto che di verde lauro

tre volte triunfando ornò la chioma

ne l’altrui ingiurie del suo sangue Roma

spesse fíate quanto fu cortese;

et or perché non fia

cortese no, ma conoscente et pia

a vendicar le dispietate offese

col figliuol glorioso di Maria?

Che dunque la nemica parte spera

ne l’umane difese,

se Cristo sta da la contraria schiera?

Pon mente al temerario ardir di Xerse,

che fece per calcare i nostri liti

di novi ponti oltraggio a la marina,

et vedrai ne la morte de’ mariti

tutte vestite a brun le donne perse

et tinto in rosso il mar di S alamina.

Et non pur questa misera ruina

del popolo infelice d’oriente

vittoria t’empromette,

ma Maratona et le mortali strette

che difese il Leon con poca gente,

et altre mille ch’ ài ascoltate et lette.

Per che inchinare a Dio molto convene

le ginocchia et la mente

che gli anni tuoi riserva a tanto bene.

Tu vedrai Italia et l’onorata riva,

canzon, ch’ agli occhi miei cela et contende

non mar non poggio o fiume

ma solo Amor, che del suo altero lume

più m’invaghisce dove più m’incende,

né natura può star contra ’l costume.

Or movi, non smarrir l’altre compagne,

che non pur sotto bende

alberga Amor, per cui si ride et piagne.

you know—that from the reign of
Mars’ own son

to great Augustus who with the green laurel