I - EPISTOLA TO FREDERICK OF ARAGON

praise, by which he might give birth to eternal life and glory for both himself and others. Such, then, were those first men, whose virtuous deeds are not only inimitable in our own centuries, but are hardly believable. Because the rewards for virtuous deeds have now completely vanished, every benign light of virtue has been extinguished along with them; and, as men no longer do anything praiseworthy, they have also completely despised these "sacred praisers" The "sacred praisers" refers to poets and historians who immortalize great deeds.. If this had not been the case in the centuries immediately preceding our own, the painful loss of so many and such wonderful Greek and Latin writers would not have occurred, which has resulted in our own very great loss. Similarly, in this tempestuous shipwreck The "shipwreck" is a humanist metaphor for the Middle Ages or "Dark Ages," during which much of classical literature was lost., there were many venerable poets who first began to cultivate the desert field of the Tuscany language in such a way that, in these centuries of ours, it is now entirely reclothed in little flowers and grass.

But your kind hand, most illustrious Frederick, which you deigned to offer to these poets after their many and long labors, has finally brought them into port. For when we were in the ancient city of Pisa last year, and began to discuss those who had written poetically in the Tuscan language, Your Lordship did not keep your praiseworthy desire hidden from me: namely, that through my effort all these writers might be gathered together for you in a single volume. Therefore, being as desirous in this as in all other things to satisfy your most honorable will, and having found the ancient manuscripts original: "antichi esemplari"—not without very great effort—and choosing from them those things that were less crude, I have collected them all in this present volume. I send this to Your Lordship, greatly desiring that you welcome my work, whatever it may be, and receive it as a reminder and a pledge of my singular love toward you.

Nor should anyone despise this Tuscan language as being poorly adorned or lacking in variety. For if its riches and ornaments are estimated correctly and justly, this language will be reputed not poor, nor crude, but abundant and most polished. No thing noble, flowery, graceful, or adorned; none sharp, distinct, ingenious, or subtle; none high, magnificent, or sonorous; none, finally, burning, spirited, or excited can be imagined...