Edition notes: A double edition, both a diplomatic edition and two editions in modernised notation but with different text-underlay. Translation by A. S. Kline included in the document.
Firstpublished:1510 in Canzoni nove con alcune scelte ..., no. 41 Description: A Frottola to Francesco Petrarca sonett from The Canzoniere (no.205)from the Andrea Antico print: "Canzoni nove con alcune scelte ...", Roma 1510
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Original text and translations
Italian text
Dolci ire, dolci sdegni et dolci paci,
dolce mal, dolce affanno et dolce peso,
dolce parlare, et dolcemente inteso,
or di dolce òra, or pien di dolci faci:
alma, non ti lagnar, ma soffra et taci,
et tempra il dolce amaro, che n'à offeso,
col dolce honor che d'amar quella ài preso
a cui io dissi: Tu sola mi piaci.
Forse anchor fia chi sospirando dica,
tinto di dolce invidia: Assai sostenne
per bellissimo amor quest'al suo tempo.
Altri: O fortuna agli occhi miei nemica,
perché non la vid'io? perché non venne
ella piú tardi, over io piú per tempo?
English translation
Sweet anger, sweet disdain and sweet peace,
sweet ills, sweet troubles, and sweet burdens,
sweet speech, and sweetly understood,
now with sweet fire, now filled with sweet airs:
soul, don't complain, but suffer in silence,
and temper the sweet bitterness that hurt you
with the sweet honour loving her has brought you
to whom I say: 'You alone please me.'
Perhaps someone will one day say sighing,
blushing with sweet envy: 'In his time
this man suffered for the greatest of loves.'
Another: 'O fortune, inimical to my eyes,
why did I not see her? Why was she
not born later, or I, much earlier, in her time?'