From An Anthology of Italian Poems 13th-19th Century selected and translated by Lorna de’ Lucchi, Alfred A. Knopf, New York; 1922; pp. 118-119, 352.
[For purists, the Italian text of the poems follows the English translation.]
PIETRO BEMBO, 1470-1547
Notes and translation by Lorna de’ Lucchi
352
Biographical Note
PIETRO BEMBO, born in Venice; studied Greek under Lascaris, 1492; lived in Ferrara, 1492-1500; where he loved Lucrezia Borgia and became a friend of Ariosto; 1505-1512 spent at the Court of Urbino, then accompanied Giuliano de’ Medici to Rome; secretary to Leo X., on whose death he returned to Padua and devoted himself to study; made Cardinal in 1539, then Bishop of Gubbio, and later of Bergamo; died at Rome. His works are: Gli Asolani, Le Prose della volgar lingua, Rime, Lettere; and in Latin: Rerum venetarum Historia, Libri XI. His poems are closely imitated from Petrarch, and deserve praise mainly because of their restraint at a time when conceits were beginning to appear in Italian lyrics.
119
PIETRO BEMBO, 1470-1547
Sonett
THOU too then, Brother, in the tide of spring
Dying, hast left me solitary here,
Whence life, before so bright and glad a thing,
Is shadowed over with dismay and fear;
Justice it would have been and passionate
Desire of mine that hitherwards the dart
Firstly had sped, that as I was not late
In coming, so I might betimes depart.
Then I would not have known such deep despair,
Nor seen myself’s best portion borne away,
Nor been subjected to such misery;
But now, since I before thee might not fare,
God grant, Who loveth equity, I may
Be liberated soon and follow thee.
118
PIETRO BEMBO, 1470-1547
Sonetto
ADUNQUE m’ hai tu pure in sul fiorire,
morendo, senza te, Fratel, lasciato,
perchè il mio, dianzi, chiaro e lieto stato
ora si volge in tenebre e martire?
Gran giustizia era, e mio summo desire,
da me la strale avesse incominciato,
e come al venir qui son primo stato,
ancora stato fossi al dipartire.
Che non arei veduto il mio gran danno,
di me stesso sparir la miglior parte,
e sarei teco fuor di questo affanno!
Or ch’ io non ho potuto innanzi andarte,
piaccia al Signor, a cui non piace inganno,
ch’ io possa in breve e scarco seguitarte.
