[030]
But enough of this story: 'tis time for me to cut it short, and
return to those, for whose instruction 'tis told. They say then,
some of these my censors, that I am too fond of you, young ladies,
and am at too great pains to pleasure you. Now that I am fond of
you, and am at pains to pleasure you,
[031]
I do most frankly and fully
confess; and I ask them whether, considering only all that it means
to have had, and to have continually, before one's eyes your debonair
demeanour, your bewitching beauty and exquisite grace, and therewithal
your modest womanliness, not to speak of having known the
amorous kisses, the caressing embraces, the voluptuous comminglings,
whereof our intercourse with you, ladies most sweet, not seldom is
productive, they do verily marvel that I am fond of you, seeing that
one who was nurtured, reared, and brought up on a savage and solitary
mountain, within the narrow circuit of a cell, without other companion
than his father, had no sooner seen you than 'twas you alone
that he desired, that he demanded, that he sought with ardour?
[032]
Will they tear, will they lacerate me with their censures, if I,
whose body Heaven fashioned all apt for love, whose soul from
very boyhood was dedicate to you, am not insensible to the power
of the light of your eyes, to the sweetness of your honeyed words,
to the flame that is kindled by your gentle sighs, but am fond of you
and sedulous to pleasure you; you, again I bid them remember,
in whom a hermit, a rude, witless lad, liker to an animal than to a
human being, found more to delight him than in aught else that he
saw? Of a truth whoso taxes me thus must be one that, feeling,
knowing nought of the pleasure and power of natural affection, loves
you not, nor craves your love; and such an one I hold in light esteem.
[033]
And as for those that go about to find ground of exception in my
age, they do but shew that they ill understand that the leek, albeit
its head is white, has a green tail. But jesting apart, thus I answer
them, that never to the end of my life shall I deem it shameful to
me to pleasure those to whom Guido Cavalcanti and Dante Alighieri
in their old age, and Messer Cino da Pistoia in extreme old age,
accounted it an honour and found it a delight to minister gratification.
[034]
And but that 'twere a deviation from the use and wont of
discourse, I would call history to my aid, and shew it to abound
with stories of noble men of old time, who in their ripest age studied
above all things else to pleasure the ladies; whereof if they be
ignorant, go they and get them to school.
[035]
To keep with the Muses
on Parnassus is counsel I approve; but tarry with them always we
cannot, nor they with us, nor is a man blameworthy, if, when he
happen to part from them, he find his delight in those that resemble
them. The Muses are ladies, and albeit ladies are not the peers of
the Muses, yet they have their outward semblance; for which cause,
if for no other, 'tis reasonable that I should be fond of them.
Besides which, ladies have been to me the occasion of composing
some thousand verses, but of never a verse that I made were the
Muses the occasion. [036]Howbeit 'twas with their aid, 'twas under their
influence that I composed those thousand verses, and perchance they
have sometimes visited me to encourage me in my present task, humble
indeed though it be, doing honour and paying, as it were, tribute,
to the likeness which the ladies have to them; wherefore, while I
weave these stories, I stray not so far from Mount Parnassus and the
Muses as not a few perchance suppose.
[037]
But what shall we say to
those, in whom my hunger excites such commiseration that they
bid me get me bread? Verily I know not, save this: Suppose that
in my need I were to beg bread of them, what would be their
answer? I doubt not they would say: "Go seek it among the
fables."
[038]
And in sooth the poets have found more bread among their
fables than many rich men among their treasures. And many that
have gone after fables have crowned their days with splendour, while,
on the other hand, not a few, in the endeavour to get them more
bread than they needed, have perished miserably. But why waste
more words on them? Let them send me packing, when I ask
bread of them; not that, thank God, I have yet need of it, and
should I ever come to be in need of it, I know, like the Apostle,
how to abound and to be in want, and so am minded to be beholden
to none but myself.
[039]
As for those who say that these matters fell out
otherwise than as I relate them, I should account it no small favour,
if they would produce the originals, and should what I write not
accord with them, I would acknowledge the justice of their censure,
and study to amend my ways; but, until better evidence is forthcoming
than their words, I shall adhere to my own opinion without
seeking to deprive them of theirs, and give them tit for tat.
[040]
And
being minded that for this while this answer suffice, I say that with
God and you, in whom I trust, most gentle ladies, to aid and protect
me, and patience for my stay, I shall go forward with my work,
turning my back on this tempest, however it may rage; for I see
not that I can fare worse than the fine dust, which the blast of the
whirlwind either leaves where it lies, or bears aloft, not seldom over
the heads of men, over the crowns of kings, of emperors, and sometimes
suffers to settle on the roofs of lofty palaces, and the summits
of the tallest towers, whence if it fall, it cannot sink lower than the
level from which it was raised.
[041]
And if I ever devoted myself and
all my powers to minister in any wise to your gratification, I am
now minded more than ever so to do, because I know that there is
nought that any can justly say in regard thereof, but that I, and
others who love you, follow the promptings of nature, whose laws
whoso would withstand, has need of powers pre-eminent, and, even
so, will oft-times labour not merely in vain but to his own most
grievous disadvantage.
[042]
Such powers I own that I neither have, nor,
to such end, desire to have; and had I them, I would rather leave
them to another than use them myself. Wherefore let my detractors
hold their peace, and if they cannot get heat, why, let them shiver
their life away; and, while they remain addicted to their delights,
or rather corrupt tastes, let them leave me to follow my own bent
during the brief life that is accorded us.
[043]
But this has been a long
digression, fair ladies, and 'tis time to retrace our steps to the point
where we deviated, and continue in the course on which we started.
