Volume I Part 22 (1/2)

O con le Grazie elette, e con gli amori.

The d.u.c.h.ess of Ferrara's maid, the beautiful Livia d'Arco, and even her dwarf, are also immortalised in Ta.s.so's verses, who poured forth his courtly gallantry with an exhaustless and splendid prodigality, fitting their praises to his lyre, as if it had never resounded to higher themes.

At a court festival given by the Duke Alphonso, in honour of his beautiful and ill.u.s.trious visitors, the Countess of Sala appeared with her fine hair wreathed round her head in the form of a coronet, which with her grand style of beauty and majestic deportment, gave her the air of a Juno. The young Countess of Scandiano, on the other hand, enchanted by her Hebe-like graces, her smiles, and the unequalled beauty of a pouting underlip;--nothing was talked of at Ferrara but these braided tresses and this lovely lip; the poets and the young cavaliers were divided into parties on the occasion. Ta.s.so has celebrated both with the same voluptuous elegance of style in which he described his Armida. To the Countess of Scandiano he wrote,

Quel labbro, che le rose han colorito Molle si sporge, e tumidetto in fuore, &c.

To the Countess of Sala,

Barbara! maraviglia de' tempi nostri.

But the Countess of Scandiano was more especially the object of his public adoration. It was a poetical pa.s.sion, openly professed; and flattering, as it appears, both to the lady and to her husband, without in any degree implicating either her discretion or that of Ta.s.so.

Compare his verses to this young Countess--this _peregrina Fenice_,[130]

as he fancifully styles her, who comes s.h.i.+ning forth, not _to be consumed_, but _to consume_,--to the profound tenderness, the intense yet mournful feeling of some of the poems composed for the Princess d'Este, about the same time; when he must have daily contrasted the rich bloom, the smiling eyes, and sparkling graces of the youthful Countess, with the fading or faded beauty, the languid form, and pale cheek of his long-loved Leonora. See particularly the Sonnet

Tre gran Donne vid' io, &c.

”Three ill.u.s.trious ladies did I behold,--I sung them all--_one only_ I loved,” &c. And another equally beautiful and significant,

Perch 'n giovenil volto amor mi mostri Talor, Donna _Real_, rose e ligustri Oblio non pone in me, de' miei tril.u.s.tri Affanni, o de miei spesi indarno inchiostri.

E 'l cor, che s' invaghi degli onor vostri Da prima, e vostro fu poscia pi l.u.s.tri Reserba, amo in s forme pi ill.u.s.tri Che perle e gemme, e bei coralli ed ostri.

Queste egli in suono di sospir s chiari Farebbe udir, che d' amorosa face Accenderebbe i pi gelati cori.

Ma oltre suo costume fatto avaro De' vostri pregi, suoi dolci tesori, Che in se medesmo gli vagheggia e _tace_!

TRANSLATION.

”Albeit in younger faces Love at times May show me where a fresher rose is set, Yet, _Royal_ Lady, can I not forget My fifteen years of pain and useless rhymes.

This heart, so touch'd by all thy beauty bright, After so many years is still thine own, And still retaineth forms more exquisite Than pearls, or purple gems, or coral stone.

All this my heart in soft sighs would make known, And thus with fire the coldest bosom fill, But that, unlike itself, that heart hath grown So covetous of thy sweet charms, and thee, (Its secret treasures,) that it aye doth flee Inwards, and dwells upon them, and is still.”[131]

Lastly, that most perfect Sonnet, so well known and so celebrated, that I should not insert it here, but that I am enabled to give, for the first time, a translation equally faithful to the sentiment and the poetry of the original.

Negli anni acerbi tuoi, purpurea rosa Sembravi tu, ch' ai rai tepidi, all' ora Non apre 'l sen, ma nel suo verde ancora Verginella s' asconde, e vergognosa.

O pi tosto parei (che mortal cosa, Non s' a.s.somiglia a te) celeste Aurora, Che le campagne imperla, e i monti indora, Lucida in ciel sereno e rugiadosa.

Or la men verde et nulla a te toglie; Ne te, benche negletta, in manto adorno Giovinetta belt vince, o pareggia.

Cosi pi vago 'l fior, poich le foglie Spiega odorate: e 'l sol nel mezzo giorno Vi-pi, che nel mattin, luce e fiammeggia.

TRANSLATION.

”Thou, in thy unripe years, wast like the rose, Which shrinketh from the summer dawn, afraid, And with her green veil, like a bashful maid, Hideth her bosom sweet, and scarcely blows: Or rather,--(for what shape ever arose From the dull earth like thee,) thou didst appear Heavenly Aurora, who, when skies are clear, Her dewy pearls o'er all the country sows.

Time stealeth nought: thy rare and careless grace Surpa.s.seth still the youthful bride when neatest,-- Her wealth of dress, her budding blooming face, So is the full-blown rose for age the sweetest, So doth the mid-day sun outs.h.i.+ne the morn, With rays more beautiful and brighter born!”[132]