Source: Mario Marti (ed.). Poeti giocosi del tempo di Dante, pp. 313-321. Rizzoli, Milano, 1956.
The following are four
Italian-language sonnets by Immanuello Romano. One of them, on the death of
Dante, is answered in a poem from his correspondent, Bosone da Gubbio.
The sonnets are interesting as
statements against sectarian positions, whether of religion or of politics.
They are taken from the Internet. I
have not checked them for textual accuracy. Below I provide a rough and
uncompleted translation
Sonnets
Sonnet no. 1 (MS Casanat. 433)
Amor non lesse mai l' avemaria;
Amor non tenne mai legge né fede;
Amor è un cor, che non ode né vede
e non sa mai che misura si sia.
Amor è una pura signoria,
che sol si ferma in voler ciò che chiede;
Amor fa com' pianeto, che provvede,
e sempre retra sé per ogni via.
Amor non lassò mai, per paternostri
né per incanti, suo gentil orgoglio;
né per téma digiunt' è, per ch' i' giostri.
Amor fa quello, di che più mi doglio:
ché non s'attène a cosa ch' io li mostri,
ma sempre mi sa dir: – Pur così voglio. –
Translation
Love never read the Ave Maria;
Love nnever adhered to a religion or
religious dogma;
Love is a heart, which neither hears
nor sees
And never knows what measure it is.
Love is a pure lordship
Which only stops in wanting that
which it asks for;
Love acts like a planet, which
oversees the world*
And always withdraws itself through
every way.
Love never relaxed, either for
pater-nosters
Or for incantations, its gentle
pride;
Nor has it […]
Love does that which grieves me
most:
That it does not attain those things
which I may show it,
But is always able to say to me:
"That's how I want it too."
Sonnet no. 2 (MS
Barb. Lat. 3953)
In steso non mi conosco, ogn'om oda,
che l'esser proprio si è ghibellino:
in Roma so' Colonnes' ed Ursino,
e piacemi se l'uno e l'altro ha loda.
Ed in Toscana parte guelfa goda;
in Romagna so' ciò ch' è Zappetino;
mal giudeo sono io, non saracino:
ver' li cristiani non drizzo la proda.
Ma d'ogni legge so' ben desiroso
alcuna parte voler osservare:
de' cristiani lo bever e 'l mangiare,
e del bon Moisès poco digiunare,
e la lussuria di Macón prezioso,
che non ten fé de la cintura in gioso.
Translation
In myself…
that
the very being is Ghibelline:
In
And I am happy whichever one
receives praises.
And in
In
I am a bad Jew, not a Saracen:
I do not raise my tail against
Christians.
But of every religion I am desirous
Of wishing to see some part:
Of the Christians the eating and
drinking,
And a little fasting of the good
Moses,
And the licentiousness of precious
Which has no
religion below the belt.
Sonnet no. 3 (MS
Barb. Lat. 3953)
Se san Piero e san Paul da l'una parte,
Moisès ed Aaròn da l'altra stesse,
Macón e Trivican, ciascun volesse
ch' io mi rendesse a volontà né a parte;
ciascun di lor me ne pregasse en
sparte:
duro mi pare ch' io gli ne credesse,
se non da dir a chi me' mi piacesse:
– Viva chi vince, ch' io so' di sua parte! –
Guelfo né ghibellin, nero né bianco;
a chi piace il color, quel se nel porte:
che ferirò da coda e starò franco.
E mio compar tradimento stia forte:
ch' i' di voltar mai non mi trovo manco
e aitar ciascun che vince, infin a morte.
Translation
If St Peter and
And Moses and Aaron on the other
were standing,
Macon and Trivican, if each wished
That I should render myself […]
If each of them took me aside and
beseeched me:
It seems to me hard that I would
believe in him,
Except to say to him who most
pleased me:
"Long live the person who wins,
for I am on his side!"
Neither
Let he who likes a particular colour
take it away with him:
I shall strike […] and shall remain
free.
And let my peer* betrayal stand
strong:
For I find myself not lacking in
turncoat behaviour
And I cheer each person who is a
victor, unto death.
Sonnet no. 4 (MS
Casanat. 433)
A messer Bosone da Gubbio
Io, che trassi le lagrime del fondo
de l'abisso del cor che 'n su le 'nvea,
piango: ché 'l foco del dolor m'ardea,
se non fosser le lagrime in che abbondo.
Ché la lor piova ammorta lo profondo
ardor, che del mio mal fuor ml traea;
per non morir, per tener altra vea,
al percoter sto forte e non affondo.
E ben può pianger cristiano e giudeo,
e ciaschedun sedere 'n tristo scanno:
pianto perpetüal m' è fatto reo.
Per ch' io m'accorgo che quel fu il
mal'anno;
sconfortomi ben, ch' i' veggio che Deo
per invidia del ben fece quel danno.
Translation
I, who drew the tears from the bottom
Of the abyss of the heart which was
sending them up,
weep:
and the fire of grief would have burned me
If it were not for the tears in
which I abound.
Inasmuch as their downpouring
deadens the deep
Burning, which was
drawing me out of my deep ills;
In order not to die, to have another
way,
I stand strong against their
striking and do not drown.
And both Christian and Jew may well
weep,
And each of them sit
in sad mourning:
Perpetual weeping has made me a
prisoner.
Because I have realised that that
was the bad year;
I am much discomfited, because I see
that God
Did that harm from enviousness of
the good.
[See alternative translation below]
Messer Bosone a Manoello Giudeo,
essendo morto Dante
(MS Casanat. 433)
Duo lumi son di novo spenti al mondo
in cui virtù e bellezza si vedea;
piange la mente mia, che già ridea,
di quel che di saper toccava il fondo.
Pianga la tua del bel viso giocondo,
di cui tua lingua tanto ben dicea;
omè dolente, che pianger devea
ogni omo che sta dentro a questo tondo.
E pianga dunque Manoel Giudeo:
e prima pianga il suo proprïo danno,
poi pianga 'l mal di questo mondo reo;
ché sotto 'l sol non fu mai peggior
anno.
Ma mi conforta ch' i' credo che Deo
Dante abbia posto 'n glorïoso scanno.
Translation
Messer Bosone to Manuello Giudeo, Dante having died.
Two
lights are once again extinguished to the world,
In
which virtue and beauty were seen;
My
mind weeps, which formerly laughed,
For
the man who knew how to touch deep things.
Let
yours also weep for the fine cheerful face
Of
which your tongue said such good;
Oh
woe for my grief which should weep
For
every man who stands within this round.
And
so let Manuello Giudeo weep:
And
first let him weep for his own loss,
And
then let him weep for the ills of this wicked world;
Because there never was a worse year under the sun.
But
I am comforted by the belief that God
Has
placed Dante in a glorious position.*
[See
alternative translation below]
[THE
FOLLOWING ARE TWO ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATIONS
TAKEN
FROM THE TEXT OF JONATHAN SIGER'S
Mr. Bosone to
Ha-Romi upon the Death of Dante
Two
lamps of life have waxed dim and died,
Two
souls for virtue loved and blessed grace;
Thou,
friend may’st smile no more with happy face
But
weep for him, sweet song’s and learning’s pride.
And
weep for her, thy spouse, torn from thy side
In
all her charm of native loveliness,
Whom
thou hast sung so oft ere thy distress,
That
is mine, too, and with me doth abide.
Not
I alone bewail thy hapless lot,
But
others, too: do thou bewail thine own,
And
then the grief that all of us have got,
In
this the direst year we’re have known;
Yet
Dante’s soul, that erst to us was given,
Now
ta’en from the earth, dost glisten bright in Heaven.
++++++++++
To Mr. Bosone of
Gubbio
The floods
of tears well from my deepest heart;
can they
e’er quench my grief’s eternal flame:
I weep no
more, my woe is still the same;
I hope
instead that death may soothe the smart.
Then Jew
and Gentile weep, and sit with me
On
morning-stool: for sin hath followed woe;
I prayed
to God to spare this misery,
And now no
more my trust in Him I show.
Ends