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From An Anthology of Italian Poems 13th-19th Century selected and translated by Lorna de’ Lucchi, Alfred A. Knopf, New York; 1922; pp. 138-139, 354.


[For purists, the Italian text of the poems follows the English translation.]



BENEDETTO CARITEO, 1450-1514

Notes and translation by Lorna de’ Lucchi


354

Biographical Note

BENEDETTO CARITEO (Benedetto Gareth), born at Barcelona, in Spain; lived at the Aragonese Court in Naples; wrote a “canzoniere” (Endimione), wedding the imitation of Petrarch to that of the classics; succeeded occasionally in attaining elegant and realistic expression.



Poem


138

BENEDETTO CARITEO, 1450-1514

Sonetto

LADY, ’tis clear that you and I will be
Cast to infernal torments, you through pride,
I through too great presumption found in me
Whose ardent dreams sought a celestial bride !
But when my eyes assail you without tire,
You will be more aggrieved, I well content,
No glory save your presence I desire,
Thus one glad heart where myriads lament !
   If you be visible unto my eyes
In mid inderno, lo, a paradise
Will open, dear as Heaven to my sight;
And if I be not parted from thy light
No guilty spirits will disturb my mind;
Who would torment me need but make me blind !









138

BENEDETTO CARITEO, 1450-1514

Sonetto

VOI, donna, ed io per segni manifesti
andremo insieme a l’ infernal tormento,
voi per orgoglio, io per troppo ardimento,
che vaneggiare osai cose celesti,
Ma, perchè gli occhi miei vi son molesti,
voi più martiri avrete, io più contento,
ch’ altra, che veder voi, gloria non sento,
talch’ un sol lieto sia fra tanti mesti.
   Ch’ essendo voi presente a gli occhi miei,
vedrò nel mezzo inferno un paradiso,
che in pregio non minor cheil cielo avrei.
E, se dal vostro sol non son diviso,
non potran darmi pena i spirti rei;
chi mi vuol tormentar mi chiuda il viso.





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