Petrarch (84 page)

48.
as water from the river:
The river is the Arc, where Marius was reported to have refreshed himself after the
battle. The waters of the region were normally taken for their medicinal qualities.

49.
will not speak of Caesar:
Whose reputation for violently subjugating peoples needed no further advertisement.

52.
who knows:
He mocks those who blame Heaven for their misfortunes.

54.
thanks to you:
The lords and princes.

56.
fairest part:
Another allusion to the body of Italy, which contains within it the sacred womb of
Rome.

57.
What fault:
The question is posed ironically to those who might attribute to God or destiny acts
that are clearly willed by proud and capricious men.

59.
scattered fortunes:
Petrarch refers to the vengeful manner in which one city-state continues to harass
another defeated one, as Venice did Genoa, for example.

67.
into a game:
That mercenaries are not serious soldiers is demonstrated by their raising the finger,
a gesture of facile surrender that mocks the war.

68.
The shame:
Of surrender, which makes a laughing stock of the lords who pay them.

70.
other anger.
Although the mercenaries fight ingloriously, the Italians are worse, since pride
drives them to bloody internecine battle.

71.
dawn to tierce:
From six to nine in the morning, when the mind is clear—coincidentally the time Christ
died, according to the Vulgate. Cf. 3.1 and note.

77.
a name that is so empty:
That is, lacking moral purpose, fighting without a standard.

78–79.
savage race / conquer our intellect:
Ultimately insinuate itself into the Latin mind. With this he sums up his argument,
focusing on Italy as an Eden threatened by the serpent of divisiveness.

81–86.
Is this not…:
He invites each man to speak in his own voice as an Italian, asking himself these
questions.

88.
look with pity:
Look outside themselves. Cf. 53.57.

91.
to you for hope:
To their expectations of an afterlife. If the noblemen have despaired of salvation,
the people are doomed.

100.
here, but think:
Life, appearing to be a given to the thoughtless, is time running out to the virtuous
man.

102.
perilous pass:
Judgment.

107.
more worthy act:
More civilized, using their skill and intelligence toward honorable goals.

114.
with courtesy:
He uses “courtesy” here in its courtly sense of sophisticated; that is, irony is
used as a means of disarming the nobility.

117.
most vicious:
The hatred they turn on each other. Behind this incendiary anger hovers the tribal
rage of the Germans, poised to descend.

120.
valiant few:
Those whose intelligence allows them to perceive the very real danger they face.

121.
Who will protect me:
A feminine voice, the ultimate cry of “fair Italy” for pity.

This poem is a meditation in which the poet puts poems 125–128 in a wholly new context
and confronts his dilemma. The canzone was believed to have been written in 1344 after
the completion of his diplomatic journey to Naples, during a particularly fertile
period at Selvapiana. In the opinion of DeSanctis, this and poem 126 were the two
most profound canzoni of the Middle Ages.

1.
From thought to thought:
Only in solitude, with his whole attention fixed on his soul’s upreaching flame of
desire, can he find refuge. Lanyi has noted that the word “thought” appears in each
stanza in a descending scale, appearing for the last time in the last line of the
fifth stanza.

2.
Love leads me on:
The loving thought that presses on him to seek her in ever more lofty regions.

5.
between two peaks:
His thoughts descend to the level of a valley on the slope of the mountain.
Poggi
are a grade below mountains peaks.

6.
that is the place:
He is drawn to the eternal valley, the green bank where his roots are and where the
woods offer him shade.

9–13.
and my face …:
His verse reflects the changing nature of his thoughts. Cf. Virgil,
Aeneid
VI, 733: “Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolente gaudentque.”

12.
the man who knows:
The lover (
uom experto),
one who has been tested.

13.
state is uncertain:
He will make this observation in each stanza to follow.

14.
high mountains:
His eyes move back up again to the alpine peaks.

harsh woods:
Farthest from habitation and cultivation, where progress is most difficult.

16.
a mortal enemy:
Enemy of the intellect; inimical to inspiration.

22.
I say:
He says aloud (later he speaks inwardly).

saving you:
The cause of Love is better served by his bittersweet life. 24.
loathsome: Vile,
a word that suggests a servile state.

25–26.
Then to another thought …:
Questioning the simple faith expressed in lines 22–24 with these old doubts.

28.
first stone seen:
Recasting Laura’s image in this stone.

31.
softened with pity:
Perhaps out of compassion for her abandonment.

32.
What have you come to?:
Cf. 23.30. These questions give the effect of stopping him in his tracks in self-blame
and then resuming in a spirit of hope.

34.
on the first thought:
He fixes his mind on the
amoroso pensiero,
which came before all else.

38.
I see her:
Cf. 127.89–90.

40.
who’ll believe me?:
This question defends the truth of the workings of his imagination (Zingarelli).

41–45.
clear water… green grass … :
He will call all of these illusions into account. They differ from the images of
poem 127 in being disconnected fragments—intentionally banal according to the poet
Alfieri, who called them a sham (
posticcio
).

42.
beech tree:
Cf. 23.117.

46–47.
The wilder… / the more:
By contrast between his vision of peace and reality.

50.
that sweet mistake:
Naivete.

51.
cold as dead stone:
Mute because he is without hope or ardor.

living rock:
The heart-stone of Italy whose fires are banked against the assaults of a cruel history.
Cf. 50.78 and Ovid,
Heroides
X, 49–50.

53.
that mountain:
The highest of all.

54.
freest path:
The word
giogo
(path) here means the approach to the mountain, those shoulders that provide a pass
to the summit. It alludes to the approach to Calvary.

56–57.
measure with my eyes/my losses:
Also, to tally up his reserves.

58.
painful cloud:
A pejorative term for veil. Cf. poem 66.

60.
air:
Like the heavy air of 66.1 or the distance he needed to travel in 37.41–48.

61.
always so near:
Cf. line 36, “I feel Love so close by.”

62.
Then softly:
Cf. line 22. He speaks to himself humbly, as if in prayer.

63.
Perhaps out there:
“In that direction”—toward Laura.

65.
begins to breathe:
Hope is renewed in this loving thought and balance restored with an intake of breath.

66.
My song:
The congedo finds him on this side of the Alps, anticipating the day he will return
to Laura. He neither sends the song ahead nor invites it to stay behind. It stands
on its own merits.

beyond those Alps:
In Provence or Italy, wherever he imagines her to be.

69–70.
aura/distilling:
The spring breeze that collects and concentrates the essence of flowers.

70.
fragrant laurel:
He uses the word
laureto,
a whole grove of blooming laurels, a symbol of the Virgin Mary.

72.
ghost of me:
Not only his body—the mortal rind—but his verse remains behind, an image of his soul.

According to Wilkins, this sonnet was written at Selvapiana in the same period as
poems 127–129, and the four following in this cycle of five at Vaucluse at some later
time.

1.
road to mercy:
To grace.

3.
what fate:
This is the first time Petrarch uses the word
fato.

4.
reward:
The chivalrous
guidardon
comes from the German
widarlon,
meaning remuneration.

10.
Zeuxis, Praxiteles, or Phidias:
Greek artists of the fourth and fifth centuries
B.C.
, compared here with Love.

12.
What Scythia or Numidia:
Scythia being in remote Central Asia, Numidia in the deserts of Africa.

can protect me:
Where can he hide?

13.
unworthy exile:
From the sight of Laura.

13–14.
filled… /Envy:
Sazia,
sated. Petrarch may allude here to Ovid,
Metamorphoses
II, 708–803, where the beast Envy, who feeds on snakes, is sent by Minerva to seek
out and punish the disobedient Aglauros. Cf. also St. Jerome: “O multiplices et ineffabile
insidiae diaboli, sic quoque me latitantem invenit invidia” (Carducci).

This sonnet is intended to charm while containing a bitter, fierce message.

1.
so differently:
The usual “new” or “strange” way, here, perhaps, almost barbaric. See 134.9–14.

2.
draw by force:
Seduce her with the persuasive voice of Love.

hard side:
The side of the heart, which is impervious to Love’s arrow.

4.
deep desires:
Alti desiri.
Cf. Dante,
Inferno
III, 22; IV, 1; IX, 50; and
Purgatorio
XVI, 64.

5.
face change often:
A conceit often used to describe the face of his own verse.

6.
eyes becoming wet:
Expressing their own grief and pain, a wish that carries a note of vendetta.

7. repents too late:
After the lover has turned away in despair from her she turns toward him with renewed
compassion. He repeats this idea in line 14 of the next sonnet.

9.
deep red roses:
Her lips bloodred (vermilion). Cf. 127.71.

in the snow:
Of her skin.

10.
moved by the breeze:
Again he uses
l’òra,
connoting movement in time. Cf. 127.80.

ivory uncovered:
Her teeth revealed in a smile, according to Tassoni, her hands, according to Castelvetro.

11.
turns to marble:
Like the smile of Medusa that turns men to stone. He may also allude to the fate
of Aglauros in Ovid’s
Metamorphoses;
she was turned to cold, black marble by Mercury.

14.
season more mature:
More ready for harvest.

A discourse about his love using logic notable for its circularity. Sibilants are
audible in his interrogatives and summations.

2.
by God, what:
Created by God, and therefore representing His will.

3–4.
If good… / If bad:
Corresponding to the
quid
and
quale
of dialectic.

5.
If I burn:
If he wishes this bittersweetness on himself, why not take in it what pleasure he
can?

6.
if against:
If it is God’s will, on the other hand, so be it.

7–8.
O living death …:
This synthesis seems to ask why, if he accepts life and death for what they are,
should he not rule himself? “Why not” (
quidnis
) was the question the serpent asked Eve.

10.
Caught in contrasting winds:
He illustrates the fragility of his argument in this metaphor. As a means of support
it can easily be upturned, like a point of dialectic weighted to one side.

14.
shiver:
When he turns the full force of his love on her, her cold glance freezes him; when
he turns away from love, the memory of her smile keeps him in bondage (Castelvetro).

The arguments of poem 132 are given in another form.

1.
target for his arrows:
Love has singled him out, making him susceptible to her divine qualities.

2–3.
like snow … wax …/… mist:
Transforming nature by the agency of another.

3.
I’m hoarse:
Roco,
describing his verse.

5.
mortal blow:
Cf. poem 2: “quando ‘l colpo mortal là giù discese.”

7.
you take it lightly:
She laughs.

8.
make me such:
Snow, wax, mist; that is, they make him a testimony to her effects.

9–10.
Your thoughts … :
She both wounds and heals him, then steals him away with her desire.