BOOK ONE

Of the sleep that took Poliphile, and how

IT SEEMED TO HIM WHILE SLEEPING THAT HE

was in a deserted country, and a
dark forest.

How Poliphile, not having... 149
martyrdom, and the content... 151
How Poliphile, why she sent him the...
her, whom he found alone... 152
discourse of her language... 154
revived.
How the soul of Poliphile... 156
his body, and of the accusations... 157
Cupid, and of the cruel...
How Poliphile said that...
arms of his best beloved...
friendship. Then Polia puts...
How Polia all in one...
on the head of Poliphile...
their pastimes taking in...
ble of their loves. S...
How Poliphile makes an end...
and of what the Sun...
among them of his felicity.

Of sleep

AS for a morning in the month of April around the dawn of Agrypnia original: "Agrypnie" by sickness Agrypnia is a Greek-derived term for sleeplessness or insomnia.
day, I, Poliphile, was in my bed, without other com-
pany than my loyal guard Agrypnia, who
had entertained me all this night in several
matters, and took pains to comfort me: for I
had declared to her the occasion of my sighs. At the end,
as the only remedy for these troubles, and ceasing for all
time, she advised me to forget all
my mourning: then knowing my state? she took her
leave, and left me alone. Wherefore I remained fantasizing, and consuming
the rest of the night in thinking to myself. If love is never equal, how
is it possible to love that which loves not? and in what manner can
a poor doubting soul resist, fought by so many assaults? considering espe-
cially that the war is interior, and the enemies familiar and domes-
tic, along with the fact that it is continually occupied by very varia-
ble opinions. After this there came to my memory the miserable condition of lovers
who, to please another, desire sweetly to die: and to
satisfy themselves, are content to live in unease, not sating their
famished desire, except with vain, dangerous, and painful imaginations.
I labored so much at this discourse, that my spirits were suffoca-
ted; fed by a false and feigned pleasure, and by the object of my lady Polia
(whose image is engraved in the depths of my heart) they sought from then
onward nothing but natural rest, so as not to remain any longer be-
tween so hard a life, and so sweet a death: wherefore I found myself all seized by sleep
and I fell asleep. O Jupiter, sovereign God, shall I call this vision hap-
py, marvelous, or terrible, which is such that in me there is no part so small that it
does not tremble and burn in thinking of it! It seemed to me (certainly) that I was in a
spacious plain, sown with flowers and greenery: the weather was serene and temperate, the
sun bright, and softened by a gracious wind: wherefore everything there was marvel-
ously peaceful, and in silence: from which I was seized by a fearful admiration: for I
perceived there no sign of human habitation, nor even a haunt of
beasts: which made me hasten my steps, looking here and there. Nevertheless I
could see nothing else except leaves and branches which did not move at all.

A