...of particular virtue and of reverence, which is properly attributed to the divine excellence as a happy and blessed thing: whose perfection never

## That to speak of her ever-green branches

## A mortal tongue should presumptuously come

has failed: thus with excessive praise he exalts his beloved: as a creature not human, but almost a goddess. Therefore, he adds the final letter, namely A. which is an interjection of admiration and also an adverb that forbids and prohibits something from being done, as if he wants to say: that the name of Lady Laura—praiseworthy, royal, and worthy of reverence—merits so much honor that before it one ought to be silent as a man insufficient to exalt her, whom even the god Apollo could not satisfy. This is demonstrated more particularly in the present opening of the sonnet. When I move my sighs original: "Quando io mouo i sospiri" means "I move myself sighing." To call you: note VOI: LAU. RE. The commentator is explaining how Petrarch hides the name L-A-U-R-A in the syllables of the opening words of the sonnet: "VOI" (You), "LAU-de" (Praise), and "RE-al" (Royal). dividing the name: namely Lau- WHICH love wrote in my heart: where the seat of amorous sighs is: The sound of its first sweet accents namely these three letters Lau. which signify praise original: "laude" resonate no differently than the sweetest accents. In this is manifested the quality of those in love: everything they see and hear in the beloved seems to them the sweetest manna and nectar-like liquor. The said sound begins. TO BE HEARD original: "VDIR" from without: from the heart where he says that name of love was written. And this concerns the first syllable of Lau. then he takes the first letter of the second syllable, namely .R. saying your royal state: namely this letter .R. which can signify "royal" original: "real" as in the royal state and manner of your pilgrim person and graceful customs; which royal state THAT meets me: after the first syllable "lau" aforementioned. Redoubles my value: my power and strength toward the high enterprise of praising your name. And finally, the last letter of the aforementioned second and last syllable, adding namely .A. BUT the end: which is the aforementioned interjection or adverb .A. It cries out against me, saying "Be silent, you lover." BECAUSE FOR THIS—what can be done for her in the commanding of her name: honor and reverence regarding the preceding letter .R. mentioned above, which not only signifies "royal" but also "reverence" original: "reuerentia" as is more clearly manifested here below. And therefore he said shortly before that it redoubled his value: which he intended regarding both the royal and the reverence. And a summary of other attributes namely of other forces of eloquence and doctrine. For it is fitting that all those who wish to act according to the duty of her dignity would need a divine and not a human speech, which he will then aptly say in the final part of the turn of this sonnet. And in repeating the first syllable, namely Lau. and the first letter of the second syllable, namely .R. he speaks in this manner. The voice itself "Lau" teaches how to praise original: "laudare": regarding the first syllable, namely Laura. And to revere regarding the first letter of the second and last syllable, R. which shall be the lone .R. PROVIDED that another calls you by your name saying Laura: and similarly concluding, he shows her to be worthy of such reverence and such honor that even the god Apollo, to whom the muses along with the musical arts are subject, would seem presumptuous in speaking of her; and therefore he says: O my Laura, Worthy of all reverence: which is properly attributed to divine excellence. AND worthy of honor: which is granted to human excellence: and therefore in truth Petrarch ought first to place honor, which was the lesser, and then reverence, which matters much more. There are also some who make the present verse follow the preceding sense and speech; which does not please me; his most fitting conclusion follows. Apollo may come: it should be. Mortal tongue: namely of divine humanity we must understand the fault, both presumptuous and audacious and reckless: because it could never, with its speech however divine it may be, satisfy regarding your excellence, which merits every honor and every reverence. Unless perhaps the aforementioned Apollo is indignant: he would disdain to speak: and he shows the cause of this. That to speak: that to speak supremely as a lover. Of his branches: of the laurel consecrated to him. Always green: because the laurel continually preserves its leaves. This proceeds from the great humidity joined with the heat of that tree.

H

¶ Here he touches upon the amorous fable of Daphne, daughter of Peneus, turned into a laurel: which we shall narrate with pleasing brevity. Fable. Apollo, son of Jupiter and Latona, after the victory had over the formidable and immeasurable serpent called by the name Python, by chance saw Cupid, the god of love, who (as said above) is depicted among his other qualities with a bow and of a boyish age: therefore, seeing Apollo that a child had the daring to pull a bow and to use those same weapons in wounding others with amorous blows that he himself had used in striking down and killing Python with his innumerable arrows, he began