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The New Life/La Vita Nuova
A Dual-Language Book
Dante Alighieri, Stanley Appelbaum, Stanley Appelbaum
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eBook - ePub
The New Life/La Vita Nuova
A Dual-Language Book
Dante Alighieri, Stanley Appelbaum, Stanley Appelbaum
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About This Book
An exquisite medley of lyrical verse and poetic prose, La Vita Nuova (The New Life) ranks among the supreme revelations in the literature of love. Its allegorical view of the soul's crisis and growth combines a narrative with meditations, dreams, songs, and prayers.
In this masterpiece of his youth, Dante assembles a selection of his love poems within a prose framework that situates them chronologically and autobiographically. The result is a history of his love for Beatrice, the muse he encountered in childhood who continued to influence him long after her marriage and early death. Upon completing this work in 1294, the future author of The Divine Comedy pledged to write of Beatrice `what has never before been written of any woman.`
Instructors and students of Italian, as well as anyone interested in the masterworks of world literature, will appreciate this dual-language edition. It features a new English translation, in addition to an informative introduction and helpful notes.
In this masterpiece of his youth, Dante assembles a selection of his love poems within a prose framework that situates them chronologically and autobiographically. The result is a history of his love for Beatrice, the muse he encountered in childhood who continued to influence him long after her marriage and early death. Upon completing this work in 1294, the future author of The Divine Comedy pledged to write of Beatrice `what has never before been written of any woman.`
Instructors and students of Italian, as well as anyone interested in the masterworks of world literature, will appreciate this dual-language edition. It features a new English translation, in addition to an informative introduction and helpful notes.
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Traducción e interpretaciónI. In that part of the book of my memory before which little may be read is found a rubric which says: “The new life begins.” Below this rubric I find written the words which it is my intention to transcribe into this little book: if not all of them, at least their gist.
II. By now, nine times after my birth the heaven of light1 had nearly returned to the same point in its own revolutions, when there first appeared to my eyes the glorious lady of my mind, who was called Beatrice by many who did not know how rightly to name her. She had already been so long in this life that in her time the heaven of fixed stars2 had moved eastward one of the twelve parts of a degree,3 so that she appeared to me when she was nearly at the outset of her ninth year, and I saw her when nearly at the end of my ninth. She appeared clad in a most noble color, humble and modest, blood-red, girdled and adorned in the manner befitting her very tender years. At that moment, I say truly, the vital spirit, which resides in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble so strongly that it was terribly evident in my slightest heartbeats, and tremblingly it spoke these words: “Behold a god stronger than I, who is coming and will dominate me.” At that moment, the animate spirit, which resides in the lofty chamber to which all the sensory spirits convey their perceptions,4 began to marvel greatly and, addressing the spirits of sight in particular, spoke these words: “Your bliss has already appeared.” At that moment, the natural spirit, which resides in that organ where our nutriment is regulated,5 began to weep, and tearfully spoke these words: “Woe is me, for I shall be frequently hindered henceforth!” From then on, I say, Love tyrannized over my soul, which was so quickly wedded to him, and he began to assume so much assurance and tyranny over me, by the power my imagination lent him, that it behooved me to satisfy all his wishes completely. Many a time he commanded me to try and see that very young angel; so that in my boyhood I often went in quest of her, and saw her to be of such noble and
1. The sun (the fourth of the nine concentric heavens in medieval astronomy); each revolution, of course, is a year.
2. The eighth.
3. The stars were deemed to move one “degree” in a century, so that Beatrice had lived one-twelfth of that time; that is, she was over eight.
4. The brain.
5. The liver.
onde io ne la mia puerizia molte volte l’andai cercando, e vedeala di sì nobili e laudabili portamenti, che certo di lei si potea dire quella parola del poeta Omero: «Ella non parea figliuola d’uomo mortale, ma di deo». E avvegna che la sua imagine, la quale continuatamente meco stava, fosse baldanza d’Amore a segnoreggiare me, tuttavia era di sì nobilissima vertù, che nulla volta sofferse che Amore mi reggesse sanza lo fedele consiglio de la ragione in quelle cose là ove cotale consiglio fosse utile a udire. E però che soprastare a le passioni e atti di tanta gioventudine pare alcuno parlare fabuloso, mi partirò da esse; e trapassando molte cose le quali si potrebbero trarre de l’essemplo onde nascono queste, verrò a quelle parole le quali sono scritte ne la mia memoria sotto maggiori paragrafi.
III. Poi che fuoro passati tanti die, che appunto erano compiuti li nove anni appresso l’apparimento soprascritto di questa gentilissima, ne l’ultimo di questi die avvenne che questa mirabile donna apparve a me vestita di colore bianchissimo, in mezzo a due gentili donne, le quali erano di più lunga etade; e passando per una via, volse li occhi verso quella parte ov’io era molto pauroso, e per la sua ineffabile cortesia, la quale è oggi meritata nel grande secolo, mi salutoe molto virtuosamente, tanto che me parve allora vedere tutti li termini de la beatitudine. L’ora che lo suo dolcissimo salutare mi giunse, era fermamente nona di quello giorno; e però che quella fu la prima volta che le sue parole si mossero per venire a li miei orecchi, presi tanta dolcezza, che come inebriato mi partio da le genti, e ricorsi a lo solingo luogo d’una mia camera, e puosimi a pensare di questa cortesissima. E pensando di lei, mi sopragiunse uno soave sonno, ne lo quale m’apparve una maravigliosa visione: che me parea vedere ne la mia camera una nebula di colore di fuoco, dentro a la quale io discernea una figura d’uno segnore di pauroso aspetto a chi la guardasse; e pareami con tanta letizia, quanto a sè, che mirabile cosa era; e ne le sue parole dicea molte cose, le quali io non intendea se non poche; tra le quali intendea queste: «Ego dominus tuus». Ne le sue braccia mi parea vedere una persona dormire nuda, salvo che involta mi parea in uno drappo sanguigno leggeramente; la quale io riguardando molto intentivamente, conobbi ch’era la donna de la salute, la quale m’avea lo giorno dinanzi degnato di salutare. E ne l’una de le mani mi parea che questi tenesse una cosa la quale ardesse tutta, e pareami che mi dicesse queste parole: «Vide cor tuum». E quando elli era stato
praiseworthy behavior that that saying of the poet Homer could certainly be applied to her: “She seemed like the daughter not of a mortal man, but of a god.”6 And although her image, which was constantly with me, was a bold ploy of Love in order to dominate me, nevertheless it was of such noble force that it never allowed Love to rule me without the loyal advice of reason in matters where such advice might be usefully heard. And because dwelling on the passions and actions of so young a person seems like some recounting of fables, I shall drop this subject; and, omitting many things which could be inferred from the text which is the source of these words, I shall arrive at those words which are written in my memory under more important headings.
III. After so many days had passed that nine years exactly had elapsed since the aforesaid appearance of that most noble girl, on the last of these days it befell that that wonderful lady appeared to me clad in a dazzlingly white gown, walking between two gentlewomen, who were older than she. As she passed down a street, she turned her eyes toward where I was standing in great fear, and with her ineffable courtesy, which is today rewarded in the eternal life, she greeted me very virtuously, so that it seemed to me then that I was viewing every facet of bliss. The hour when her most sweet greeting came to me was precisely the ninth7 of that day; and because that was the first time her words reached my ears, I was so delighted that I retired, as if intoxicated, from those I was with and withdrew to the loneliness of one of my rooms, where I set myself thinking upon that most courteous lady. And while thinking of her, I was overcome by a gentle slumber, in which a marvelous vision appeared to me: I thought I saw in my room a fiery-colored cloud within which I could make out the figure of a man of fearsome aspect to whoever beheld him; and he appeared so joyful personally that it was a wonder to behold; and in his words he said many things, only a few of which I understood; among them I understood this: “I am your master.” In his arms I thought I saw a sleeping person who was nude except that she seemed to be loosely wrapped in a blood-red cloth; looking at her very closely, I recognized her as the lady of the salutary greeting who had deigned to greet me the day before. And I thought the man held in one hand something all ablaze, and I thought he spoke these words to me: “Behold your heart.” And after
6. A reference to Iliad XXIV, 258, or Odyssey VI, 149, or both.
7. Probably 3 P.M., the ninth canonical hour, or nones.
alquanto, pareami che disvegliasse questa che dormia; e tanto si sforzava per suo ingegno, che le facea mangiare questa cosa che in mano li ardea, la quale ella mangiava dubitosamente. Appresso ciò poco dimorava che la sua letizia si converti...