I - EPISTOLA TO FREDERICK OF ARAGON

[Guinizelli] was most learnedly commented upon by three of his contemporaries, most excellent philosophers, among whom was the Roman Egidio Aegidius Romanus or Giles of Rome (c. 1243–1316), a famous theologian and philosopher of the Augustinian order.. Nor should Bonagiunta of Lucca and the Notary of Lentino Giacomo da Lentino, credited with inventing the sonnet. be passed over in silence: both were serious and full of maxims, yet so stripped of every flower of grace that they should be content if we receive them among this beautiful company of such honored men. Both these men and Piero delle Vigne The powerful chancellor to Emperor Frederick II, known for his rhetorical skill. were celebrated in the age of Guittone, who himself also composed several works—albeit small ones—not without gravity and learning. This [Piero] is he who, as Dante says:

held both the keys

of Frederick’s heart, and who turned them,

locking and unlocking so softly.

Dante, Inferno XIII, 58–60. While the text mentions Guittone just before, these famous lines refer to Piero delle Vigne’s influence over Emperor Frederick II.

After these men shine those two wonderful suns who have illuminated this language: Dante, and not far behind him Francesco Petrarch; regarding their praises, just as Sallust says of Carthage The Roman historian Sallust wrote in The War with Jugurtha that it is better to be silent than to say too little about such a great city., I judge it better to be silent than to say too little.

Onesto of Bologna Onesto da Bologna, a 13th-century poet who corresponded with Cino da Pistoia. and the Sicilians—who were indeed the first poets—just as they are older than these two [Dante and Petrarch], so they would have more need of their polishing file, though it is clear that neither talent nor will was lacking in any of them. Cino da Pistoia A famous jurist and poet (c. 1270–1336) who was a close friend of Dante and a precursor to Petrarch. responds quite well to his reputation, being entirely delicate and truly amorous; he was the first, in my opinion, who began to completely shun the ancient roughness, from which even the divine Dante, otherwise most wonderful, could not protect himself on every side. Following them is a longer flock of newer writers, all of whom have moved away from that beautiful pair by a great distance.

All of these, my Lord, and with them some of our own age, come to give you immortal thanks, for you have been the author of their life, their immortal light, and their form, worthy of much greater glory than that ancient Athenian previously mentioned Referring to Pisistratus, the ruler of Athens who was credited with first collecting the poems of Homer into a single work..

For while he restored life to one poet, though a sovereign one, you have restored it to all of these. We have also added at the end of the book (as it seemed it might please you) some of our own sonnets and songs, so that, by reading them, there may be renewed in [your memory...]