II - COMMENTARY ON SOME OF HIS SONNETS

to be an error. And if this is so, either for the reasons stated or out of respect for my age, neither the composing nor the commenting on my verses written for this purpose can be imputed to me as a grave error. And granted that it were true that a commentary is not suitable for such matter, because it is small and of little importance for either the edification or the contentment of our mind, I say that if this is the case, the labor of this commentary belongs most properly to me, so that no other genius of greater excellence than mine should have to consume himself or spend time on such lowly things; and if indeed the matter is high and worthy, as it seems to me, clarifying it well and making it plain and intelligible to everyone is very useful; and for this and for what I have said above, no one can do it with a clearer expression of the true sense than I myself. Nor was I the first who commented on verses concerning such amorous subjects, because Dante himself commented on some of his songs original: "canzoni"; a prestigious form of long-form lyric poetry used by Dante and Petrarch. and other verses; and I have read Giles of Rome Egidio Romano (c. 1243–1316), a celebrated philosopher and theologian. and Dino del Garbo A famous 14th-century physician and philosopher who wrote a scientific commentary on the nature of love., most excellent philosophers, writing upon that most subtle song of Guido Cavalcanti—a man reputed in his time to be the premier dialectician A master of logical argument and philosophical debate. in the world, and furthermore most excellent in these vernacular verses, as all his other works show, and especially the aforementioned song that begins:

original: "Donna mi prega"; one of the most famous and difficult philosophical poems of the Italian Middle Ages, exploring the psychology and physiology of love.

which concerns nothing other than the principle of how love is born in noble hearts, and its effects. And if neither the reasons written above nor the examples are sufficient for my defense, at least compassion should justify me, because, having been greatly persecuted by men and by fortune in my youth, some small measure of refreshment should not be denied to me, which I have found only in loving fervently and in the composition and commentary of my verses, as we shall make more clearly understood when we come to the exposition of that sonnet which begins:

As for what my malicious persecutions have been, they being quite public and well-known, and what was the sweetness and refreshment that

LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT, Works - I. 2

Lorenzo the Magnificent, Dante Alighieri, Giles of Rome, Dino del Garbo, Guido Cavalcanti, Donna mi prega, commentary, sonnets, philosophy, dialectic