Sonnets, Songs, and Triumphs

...wants to take up any honest labor or exercise of the person or of the mind: but to do as those who either lie down or sit in well-feathered beds: in such soft and pleasant places: or above all, attend to dishonest gain: so that, by hook or by crook, they can fill the house up to the roof: and thus with the instrument of money be able to live luxuriously. ¶ There follows the eighth sonnet, in which, through our enamored poet, is shown what he himself was feeling. This is the custom of lovers: to frequent the places of the beloved thing, so that if they cannot see the bed of the desired love, at least they see the surroundings original: pendice, meaning the slopes or outskirts of a place of the wonder of the house. This Petrarch clearly reveals by inducing two partridges to speak, which had been caught by him near the little village original: borgetto of My Lady Laura, and sent from there as a gift to Messer Giacomo The text says "Iacomo," referring to Giacomo Colonna, Bishop of Lombez and a close friend of Petrarch the Colonna Cardinal, with whom he had a singular familiarity and friendship. Speaking, then, these partridges tell the aforementioned Cardinal their story and where and in what way they were caught: then they show the comfort they have in such misfortune and the miserable state of being servants and imprisoned: and even of the death they await. In this comfort, they say they find: the vengeance they see upon Petrarch, by whom they were brought to such an end: seeing that he remains bound by the chain of love, which is much greater in strength for Lady Laura than for death: all of which will be seen more clearly in the particular exposition.

WE WERE PASSING: we two partridges: Free in peace: because without suspicion of finding on the way—that is, during our journey—anything which was troublesome to our path: which ought to make our journey unpleasant: and they passed in the aforementioned manner. THROUGH this mortal life: In contrast to the other which is eternal. WHICH every animal desires: Because every animal desires the preservation of its being and fears death. And they name the place where they were caught. AT THE FOOT of the hills: where that little village is where Lady Laura was born: where the lady Laura often rouses him. FROM sleep: Messer Francesco Petrarch, weeping: Making him weep for her love: who sends us to you, you who put us on the path and sent us to you, O Lord Cardinal, repeating the said lady. Caught in that place. THE BEAUTIFUL garment: the exterior skin of the body where the principal beauty of every creature is seen. OF THE earthly members: Of our bodily parts made of earthly clay original: luto terreno and which then also return to the earth. First from the beginning when they were born: or when she was generated and formed in her members. And thus, the partridges having said they were incautiously caught and sent as a gift to the aforementioned Cardinal. Now they declare the comfort they have from vengeance, saying: BUT we partridges: Have one single comfort for our present miserable state of being in prison: where we were led by Petrarch who caught us. FROM the other life: from the other life when we were in our freedom. Serene: when we lived in the open air original: sereno under the sky, not under a roof and in prison. AND from death: and also from death which we expect from moment to moment. WE HAVE a single comfort which is vengeance upon him: Petrarch who leads us: and guides us. TO THIS: to death. And they explain the vengeance. THE ONE WHO remains bound with a greater chain, which is that of death The commentator links the "chain" of love to the ultimate "chain" of death or the mortal suffering caused by unrequited love: for whose intolerable pain and torment not a few men and women have killed themselves with their own hands. IN ANOTHER'S POWER: of My Lady Laura, pitiless and cruel. NEAR the extreme: to death, which is the extreme and end of every animal: and besides the aforementioned things we should note that not without reason did Petrarch induce such birds to speak: but as a most learned man, in my belief, regarding the nature of animals: regarding amorous practices and the venereal act atto venereo: sexual intercourse: where all amorous thoughts are concluded.

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¶ Partridges are lustful luxurioſi animals, so much so that not only does the male use the female: but also, according to what naturalists write, the males, being aged, use each other in the vice against nature. And for this reason, the Egyptians, before letters were found, wanting to signify such a vice, depicted