Dante: DE VULGARI ELOQUENTIA LIBRI DUO

1. Cum neminem ante nos de vulgaris eloquentie doctrina quicquam inveniamus tractasse, atque talem scilicet eloquentiam penitus omnibus necessariam videamus, cum ad eam non tantum viri sed etiam mulieres et parvuli nitantur, in quantum natura permictit, volentes discretionem aliqualiter lucidare illorum qui tanquam ceci ambulant per plateas, plerunque anteriora posteriora putantes, - Verbo aspirante de celis - locutioni vulgarium gentium prodesse temptabimus, non solum aquam nostri ingenii ad tantum poculum aurientes, sed, accipiendo vel compilando ab aliis, potiora miscentes, ut exinde potionare possimus dulcissimum ydromellum.

1. Since we find that before us no one has treated anything of the doctrine of vulgar eloquence, and we see that such eloquence indeed is utterly necessary to all, since to it not only men but even women and little ones strive, in so far as nature permits, wishing in some measure to illumine the discernment of those who, like blind men, walk through the streets, very often thinking the front the back, - with the Word breathing from the heavens - we shall attempt to be of profit to the locution of the vulgar nations, not only drawing the water of our ingenuity to so great a cup, but, by receiving or compiling from others, mixing better things, so that from thence we may be able to brew the sweetest hydromel.

2. Sed quia unamquanque doctrinam oportet non probare, sed suum aperire subiectum, ut sciatur quid sit super quod illa versatur, dicimus, celeriter actendentes, quod vulgarem locutionem appellamus eam qua infantes assuefiunt ab assistentibus cum primitus distinguere voces incipiunt; vel, quod brevius dici potest, vulgarem locutionem asserimus quam sine omni regola nutricem imitantes accipimus.

2. But because each doctrine ought not to approve itself, but to open its own subject, so
that it may be known what it is upon which it is engaged, we say, attending quickly, that we
call vulgar locution that by which infants become accustomed from those standing by when they
first begin to distinguish voices; or, which can be said more briefly, we assert the vulgar
locution which, without any rule, imitating the nurse, we receive.

3. Est et inde alia locutio secondaria nobis, quam Romani gramaticam vocaverunt. Hanc quidem secundariam Greci habent et alii, sed non omnes: ad habitum vero huius pauci perveniunt, quia non nisi per spatium temporis et studii assiduitatem regulamur et doctrinamur in illa.

3. And there is moreover another mode of speech
secondary for us, which the Romans called grammar. This
secondary speech the Greeks have and others too, but not all: yet
to the habit of this few attain, because only through a span of time
and the assiduity of study are we regulated and instructed in it.

4. Harum quoque duarum nobilior est vulgaris: tum quia prima fuit humano generi usitata; tum quia totus orbis ipsa perfruitur, licet in diversas prolationes et vocabula sit divisa; tum quia naturalis est nobis, cum illa potius artificialis existat.

4. Of these two also, the more noble is the vulgar: both because it was first used by the human race; and because the whole world enjoys it, although it is divided into diverse pronunciations and vocabularies; and because it is natural to us, whereas that one is rather artificial.

5. Et de hac nobiliori nostra est intentio pertractare.

5. And of this more noble one it is our intention to treat.

1. Hec est nostra vera prima locutio. Non dico autem ‘nostra’ ut et aliam sit esse locutionem quam hominis: nam eorum que sunt omnium soli homini datum est loqui, cum solum sibi necessarium fuerit.

1. This is our true first locution. I do not say, however, ‘ours’ as though there were also to be a locution other than that of man: for among all things that are, to man alone it has been granted to speak, since only for him has it been necessary.

2. Non angelis, non inferioribus animalibus necessarium fuit loqui, sed nequicquam datum fuisset eis: quod nempe facere natura aborret.

2. Not for angels, not
for inferior animals was it necessary to speak, but it would have been given to them in vain:
which indeed nature abhors to do.

3. Si etenim perspicaciter consideramus quid cum loquimur intendamus, patet quod nichil aliud quam nostre mentis enucleare aliis conceptum. Cum igitur angeli ad pandendas gloriosas eorum conceptiones habeant promptissimam atque ineffabilem sufficientiam intellectus, qua vel alter alteri totaliter innotescit per se, vel saltim per illud fulgentissimum Speculum in quo cuncti representantur pulcerrimi atque avidissimi speculantur, nullo signo locutionis indiguisse videntur.

3. For if indeed, when we consider perspicaciously
what we intend when we speak, it is evident that nothing
other than to enucleate to others the concept of our mind. Since therefore
the angels, for laying open their glorious conceptions, have
a most prompt and ineffable sufficiency of intellect, whereby
either the one becomes totally known to the other through itself, or at least through
that most refulgent Mirror in which all are represented
and, most beautiful and most eager, they contemplate, they seem to have needed
no sign of locution.

4. Et si obiciatur de hiis qui corruerunt spiritibus, dupliciter responderi potest: primo quod, cum de hiis que necessaria sunt ad bene esse tractemus, eos preferire debemus, cum divinam curam perversi expectare noluerunt; secundo et melius quod ipsi demones ad manifestandam inter se perfidiam suam non indigent nisi ut sciat quilibet de quolibet quia est et quantus est; quod quidem sciunt: cognoverunt enim se invicem ante ruinam suam.

4. And if it be objected about those spirits who
fell, it can be answered in a twofold way: first, that,
since we are treating of those things which are necessary for well-being, we
ought to prefer them, since the perverse refused to await divine care;
secondly and better, that the demons themselves, for manifesting
their perfidy among themselves, have no need except that each may know of
each that he is and how great he is; which indeed they know: they
knew one another before their ruin.

5. Inferioribus quoque animalibus, cum solo nature instinctu ducantur, de locutione non oportuit provideri: nam omnibus eiusdem speciei sunt iidem actus et passiones, et sic possunt per proprios alienos cognoscere; inter ea vero que diversarum sunt specierum non solum non necessaria fuit locutio, sed prorsus dampnosa fuisset, cum nullum amicabile commertium fuisset in illis.

5. To the lower animals as well, since they are led by the sole instinct of nature, there was no need to provide for locution: for in all of the same species the acts and passions are the same, and thus they can recognize others by their own; but among those which are of diverse species not only was speech not necessary, but it would have been utterly damaging, since there would have been no amicable commerce among them.

6. Et si obiciatur de serpente loquente ad primam mulierem, vel de asina Balaam, quod locuti sint, ad hoc respondemus quod angelus in illa et dyabolus in illo taliter operati sunt quod ipsa animalia moverunt organa sua, sic ut vox inde resultavit distincta tanquam vera locutio; non quod aliud esset asine illud quam rudere, neque quam sibilare serpenti.

6. And if it be objected about the serpent
speaking to the first woman, or about Balaam’s she-ass, that they spoke,
to this we answer that an angel in the former and the Devil in the latter
worked in such a way that the animals themselves moved their organs, so
that a voice resulted thence, distinct as though true locution; not that
that was anything other to the she-ass than braying, nor than hissing
to the serpent.

7. Si vero contra argumentetur quis de eo quod Ovidius dicit in quinto Metamorfoseos de picis loquentibus, dicimus quod hoc figurate dicit, aliud intelligens. Et si dicatur quod pice adhuc et alie aves locuntur, dicimus quod falsum est, quia talis actus locutio non est, sed quedam imitatio soni nostre vocis; vel quod nituntur imitari nos in quantum sonamus, sed non in quantum loquimur. Unde si expresse dicenti ‘pica’ resonaret etiam ‘pica’, non esset hec nisi representatio vel imitatio soni illius qui prius dixisset.

7. But if someone should argue on the contrary from what Ovid says in the fifth book of the Metamorphoses about magpies speaking, we say that he says this figuratively, understanding something else. And if it be said that magpies and other birds speak, we say that this is false, because such an act is not speech, but a certain imitation of the sound of our voice; or that they strive to imitate us insofar as we make sound, but not insofar as we speak. Hence, if to one explicitly saying ‘pica’ it should echo also ‘pica’, this would be nothing but a representation or imitation of the sound of him who had said it before.

8. Et sic patet soli homini datum fuisse loqui. Sed quare necessarium sibi foret, breviter pertractare conemur.

8. And thus it is evident that to man alone it was granted to speak. But why it would be necessary for him, briefly let us attempt to treat.

III

1. Cum igitur homo non nature instinctu, sed ratione moveatur, et ipsa ratio vel circa discretionem vel circa iudicium vel circa electionem diversificetur in singulis, adeo ut fere quilibet sua propria specie videatur gaudere, per proprios actus vel passiones, ut brutum anirnal, neminem alium intelligere opinamur. Nec per spiritualem speculationem, ut angelum, alterum alterum introire contingit, cum grossitie atque opacitate mortalis corporis humanus spiritus sit obtectus.

1. Since therefore man is moved not by the instinct of nature, but by reason, and reason itself is diversified in individuals either with respect to discretion or with respect to judgment or with respect to election, to such a degree that almost each one seems to rejoice in his own proper species, through his own acts or passions, like a brute animal, we think that no one understands another. Nor does it befall, through spiritual speculation, as with an angel, that the one enters into the other, since the human spirit is covered by the grossity and opacity of the mortal body.

2 Oportuit ergo genus humanum ad comunicandas inter se conceptiones suas aliquod rationale signum et sensuale habere: quia, cum de ratione accipere habeat et in rationem portare, rationale esse oportuit; cumque de una ratione in aliam nichil deferri possit nisi per medium sensuale, sensuale esse oportuit. Quare, si tantum rationale esset, pertransire non posset; si tantum sensuale, nec a ratione accipere nec in rationem deponere potuisset.

2 It was necessary, therefore, for the human race
to have some sign both rational and sensual for communicating their
conceptions among themselves: because, since it has to receive from reason
and to carry into reason, it had to be rational; and since from one reason
into another nothing can be conveyed except through a sensual medium,
it had to be sensual. Wherefore, if it were only rational,
it could not pass through; if only sensual, it could neither receive from reason
nor deposit into reason.

3. Hoc equidem signum est ipsum subiectum nobile de quo loquimur: nam sensuale quid est in quantum sonus est; rationale vero in quantum aliquid significare videtur ad placitum.

3. This sign, indeed, is the noble subject itself of which we speak: for it is something sensory in so far as it is sound; but rational in so far as it seems to signify something by convention.

1. Soli homini datum fuit ut loqueretur, ut ex premissis manifestum est. Nunc quoque investigandum esse existimo cui hominum primum locutio data sit, et quid primitus locutus fuerit, et ad quem, et ubi, et quando, nec non et sub quo ydiomate primiloquium emanavit.

1. To man alone it was given to speak, as from the premises it is manifest. Now also I judge that it must be investigated to which of men the locution was first given, and what at first he spoke, and to whom, and where, and when, and likewise under what idiom the first-speaking emanated.

2. Secundum quidem quod in principio Genesis loquitur, ubi de primordio mundi Sacratissima Scriptura pertractat, mulierem invenitur ante omnes fuisse locutam, scilicet presumptuosissimam Evam, cum dyabolo sciscitanti respondit: ‘De fructu lignorum que sunt in paradiso vescimur; de fructu vero ligni quod est in medio paradisi precepit nobis Deus ne comederemus nec tangeremus, ne forte moriamur’.

2. According indeed to what in the beginning of Genesis speaks, where the Most Sacred Scripture treats of the primordial origin of the world, the woman is found to have spoken before all, namely the most presumptuous Eve, when to the devil questioning she replied: ‘Of the fruit of the trees which are in paradise we eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of paradise God commanded us that we should not eat nor touch, lest perhaps we die’.

3. Sed quanquam mulier in scriptis prius inveniatur locuta, rationabilius tamen est ut hominem prius locutum fuisse credamus, et inconvenienter putatur tam egregium humani generis actum non prius a viro quam a femina profluxisse. Rationabiliter ergo credimus ipsi Ade prius datum fuisse loqui ab Eo qui statim ipsum plasmaverat.

3. Although the woman is found in the writings to have spoken first, nevertheless it is more reasonable that we believe the man to have spoken first, and it is thought inappropriate that so distinguished an act of the human race should not have flowed first from a man rather than from a woman. Reasonably therefore we believe that to Adam himself it was first given to speak by Him who had immediately fashioned him.

4. Quid autem prius vox primi loquentis sonaverit, viro sane mentis in promptu esse non titubo ipsum fuisse quod ‘Deus’ est, scilicetEl, vel per modum interrogationis vel per modum responsionis. Absurdum atque rationi videtur orrificum ante Deum ab homine quicquam nominatum fuisse, cum ab ipso et in ipsum factus fuisset homo. Nam sicut post prevaricationem humani generis quilibet exordium sue locutionis incipit ab ‘heu’, rationabile est quod ante qui fuit inciperet a gaudio; et cum nullum gaudium sit extra Deum, sed totum in Deo, et ipse Deus totus sit gaudium, consequens est quod primus loquens primo et ante omnia dixisset ‘Deus’.

4. What, moreover, the voice of the first
speaker first sounded, I do not hesitate is plain to a man of sane mind:
that it was that which is ‘God’, namely El, either
by way of question or by way of answer. Absurd
and to reason it seems horrific that anything was named by man before God,
since by Him and unto Him man had been made. For just as after the prevarication of the human race anyone the exordium
of his speech begins with ‘alas’, it is reasonable that
he who was before should begin from joy; and since no joy is outside
God, but the whole is in God, and God Himself is wholly joy,
it follows that the first speaker first and before all things would have said
‘God’.

5. Oritur et hinc ista questio, cum dicimus superius per viam responsionis hominem primum fuisse locutum, si responsio fuit ad Deum: nam, si ad Deum fuit, iam videretur quod Deus locutus extitisset, quod contra superius prelibata videtur insurgere.

5. And from here too this question arises, when we say above that the man was first to have spoken by way of response, if the response was to God: for, if it was to God, it would now seem that God had spoken, which seems to rise up against what was prelibated above.

6. Ad quod quidem dicimus quod bene potuit respondisse Deo interrogante, nec propter hoc Deus locutus est ipsa quam dicimus locutionem. Quis enim dubitat quicquid est ad Dei nutum esse flexibile, quo quidem facta, quo conservata, quo etiam gubernata sunt omnia? Igitur cum ad tantas alterationes moveatur aer imperio nature inferioris, que ministra et factura Dei est, ut tonitrua personet, ignem fulgoret, aquam gemat, spargat nivem, grandinea lancinet, nonne imperio Dei movebitur ad quedam sonare verba, ipso distinguente qui maiora distinxit?

6. To which indeed we say that he well could have answered to God interrogating, nor on account of this has God spoken the very locution that we speak of. Who, in fact, doubts
that whatever is is flexible to the nod of God, by which indeed things were made, by which
they are conserved, by which also all things are governed? Therefore, since to such great
alterations the air is moved at the command of a lower nature, which is the minister and
facture of God, so that thunders resound, fire flashes, the water groans, it scatters snow,
it lances with hail, will it not at the command of God be moved to sound certain words, He Himself distinguishing who distinguished greater things?

Quid ni?

Why not?

7. Quare ad hoc et ad quedam alia hec sufficere credimus.

7. Wherefore for this and for certain other things we believe that these suffice.

1. Opinantes autem non sine ratione, tam ex superioribus quam inferioribus sumpta, ad ipsum Deum primitus primum hominem direxisse locutionem, rationabiliter dicimus ipsum loquentem primum, mox postquam afflatus est ab animante Virtute, incunctanter fuisse locutum. Nam in homine sentiri humanius credimus quam sentire, dumunodo sentiatur et sentiat tanquam homo. Si ergo faber ille atque perfectionis principium et amator afflando primum nostrum omni perfectione complevit, rationabile nobis apparet nobilissimum animal non ante sentire quam sentiri cepisse.

1. Thinking, however, not without reason, drawn as much from superior as from inferior things, that the first man directed locution to God Himself first of all, we reasonably say that he, the speaker, straightway after he was breathed upon by the animating Virtue, spoke without delay. For in man we believe it more human to be sensed than to sense, provided that he be sensed and sense as a man. If therefore that craftsman, and the principle and lover of perfection, by breathing upon our first man completed him with every perfection, it appears reasonable to us that the most noble animal did not begin to sense before he began to be sensed.

2. Si quis vero fatetur contra obiciens quod non oportebat illum loqui, cum solus adhuc homo existeret, et Deus omnia sine verbis archana nostra discernat etiam ante quam nos, - cum illa reverentia dicimus qua uti oportet cum de eterna Voluntate aliquid iudicamus, quod licet Deus sciret, immo presciret (quod idem est quantum ad Deum) absque locutione conceptum primi loquentis, voluit tamen et ipsum loqui, ut in explicatione tante dotis gloriaretur ipse qui gratis dotaverat. Et ideo divinitus in nobis esse credendum est quod in actu nostrorum effectuum ordinato letamur.

2. If anyone indeed admits on the contrary, objecting that it was not fitting for him to speak, since as yet man alone existed, and that God discerns all our arcana without words even before we do, - with that reverence which it is proper to employ when we judge anything about the eternal Will, we say that although God knew, nay foreknew (which is the same as regards God) the conception of the first speaker without locution, nevertheless he willed that he too should speak, so that in the explication of so great an endowment he who had endowed gratis might be glorified. And therefore it is to be believed that that is divinely in us, that we rejoice in the ordered act of our effects.

3. Et hinc penitus elicere possumus locum illum ubi effutita est prima locutio: quoniam, si extra paradisum afflatus est homo, extra, si vero intra, intra fuisse locum prime locutionis convicimus.

3. And from this we can utterly elicit
that place where the first locution was poured forth: since, if
the man was afflated outside paradise, outside; if indeed within, within
we conclude the place of the first locution to have been.

1. Quoniam permultis ac diversis ydiomatibus negotium exercitatur humanum, ita quod multi multis non aliter intelligantur verbis quam sine verbis, de ydiomate illo venari nos decet quo vir sine matre, vir sine lacte, qui nec pupillarem etatem nec vidit adultam, creditur usus.

1. Since by very many and diverse idioms the human business is transacted, so that many by many are understood no otherwise by words than as without words, it befits us to hunt after that idiom with which the man without a mother, the man without milk, who saw neither the pupillary age nor the adult, is believed to have been in use.

2. In hoc, sicut etiam in multis aliis, Petramala civitas amplissima est, et patria maiori parti filiorum Adam. Nam quicunque tam obscene rationis est ut locum sue nationis delitiosissimum credat esse sub sole, hic etiam pre cunctis proprium vulgare licetur, idest maternam locutionem, et per consequens credit ipsum fuisse illud quod fuit Ade.

2. In this, as also in many other things, Petramala is a most ample city, and the fatherland to the greater part of the sons of Adam. For whoever is of so obscene a reasoning that he believes the place of his nation to be the most delightful under the sun, this man also, before all others, stakes a claim for his own vernacular, that is, the maternal locution, and consequently believes it itself to have been that which was Adam’s.

3. Nos autem, cui mundus est patria velut piscibus equor, quanquam Sarnum biberimus ante dentes et Florentiam adeo diligamus ut, quia dileximus, exilium patiamur iniuste, rationi magis quam sensui spatulas nostri iudicii podiamus. Et quamvis ad voluptatem nostram sive nostre sensualitatis quietem in terris amenior locus quam Florentia non existat, revolventes et poetarum et aliorum scriptorum volumina quibus mundus universaliter et membratim describitur, ratiocinantesque in nobis situationes varias mundi locorum et eorum habitudinem ad utrunque polum et circulum equatorem, multas esse perpendimus firmiterque censemus et magis nobiles et magis delitiosas et regiones et urbes quam Tusciam et Florentiam, unde sumus oriundus et civis, et plerasque nationes et gentes delectabiliori atque utiliori sermone uti quam Latinos.

3. We, however, for whom the world is a fatherland as the sea to fishes, although we drank the Sarno before we had teeth and love Florence so much that, because we loved it, we unjustly suffer exile, will set the steering-blades of our judgment to reason rather than to sense. And although for our pleasure or for the quiet of our sensuality there does not exist on earth a place more agreeable than Florence, turning over the volumes both of poets and of other writers in which the world is described universally and piece by piece, and reasoning within ourselves about the various situations of the world’s places and their relation to each pole and to the equatorial circle, we consider that there are many, and we most firmly deem that there are both regions and cities more noble and more delightful than Tuscany and Florence, whence we are native and citizen, and that most nations and peoples use a speech more delectable and more useful than the Latins.

4. Redeuntes igitur ad propositum, dicimus certam formam locutionis a Deo cum anima prima concreatam fuisse. Dico autem ‘formam’ et quantum ad rerum vocabula et quantum ad vocabulorum constructionem et quantum ad constructionis prolationem: qua quidem forma omnis lingua loquentium uteretur, nisi culpa presumptionis humane dissipata fuisset, ut inferius ostendetur.

4. Therefore, returning to
the purpose, we say that a certain form of locution was by God with the
first soul concreated. Moreover, I say ‘form’ both as much
as regards the vocables of things and as much as regards the construction of the vocables and
as much as regards the prolation of the construction: by which form indeed every
tongue of those speaking would make use of it, unless by the fault of human presumption it had been
dissipated, as will be shown below.

5. Hac forma locutionis locutus est Adam; hac forma locutionis locuti sunt omnes posteri eius usque ad edificationem turris Babel, que ‘turris confusionis’ interpretatur; hanc formam locutionis hereditati sunt filii Heber, qui ab eo dicti sunt Hebrei.

5. By this form of locution Adam spoke; by this form of locution all his descendants spoke down to the edification of the Tower of Babel, which is interpreted ‘tower of confusion’; this form of locution the sons of Heber inherited, who from him are called Hebrews.

6. Hiis solis post confusionem remansit, ut Redemptor noster, qui ex illis oriturus erat secundum humanitatem, non lingua confusionis, sed gratie frueretur.

6. To these alone after the confusion it remained, that our Redeemer, who was to arise from them according to humanity, might enjoy not the language of confusion, but of grace.

7 Fuit ergo hebraicum ydioma illud quod primi loquentis labia fabricarunt.

7 Therefore the Hebrew idiom
was that which the lips of the first speaker fashioned.

VII

1. Dispudet, heu, nunc humani generis ignominiam renovare! Sed quia preferire non possumus quin transeamus per illam, quanquam rubor ad ora consurgat animusque refugiat, percurremus.

1. It is shameful, alas, now to renew the ignominy of the human
race! But because we cannot pass it by without
going through it, although a blush rises to the face and the mind
recoils, we will run through it.

2. O semper natura nostra prona peccatis! O ab initio et nunquam desinens nequitatrix! Num fuerat satis ad tui correptionem quod, per primam prevaricationem eluminata, delitiarum exulabas a patria?

2. O our nature always prone to sins! O from the beginning and never-ceasing perpetratrix of iniquity! Was it not enough for your correction that, de-lumined through the first prevarication, you went into exile from the fatherland of delights?

Num satis quod, per universalem familie tue luxuriem et trucitatem, unica riservata domo, quicquid tui iuris erat cataclismo perierat, et [que] commiseras tu animalia celi terreque iam luerant? Quippe satis extiterat. Sed, sicut proverbialiter dici solet ‘Non ante tertium equitabis’, misera miserum venire maluisti ad equum.

Was it not enough that, through the universal luxury and truculence of your family, with a single house reserved, whatever was under your jurisdiction had perished in a cataclysm, and that the animals of heaven and earth had already paid for [what] you had committed? Indeed, it had been enough. But, as it is proverbially said, ‘Not before the third will you ride,’ wretched, you preferred that the wretch come to the horse.

3. Ecce, lector, quod vel oblitus homo vel vilipendens disciplinas priores, et avertens oculos a vibicibus que remanserant, tertio insurrexit ad verbera, per superbam stultitiam presumendo.

3. Behold, reader, how either a man forgetful or despising the prior disciplines, and averting his eyes from the weals which had remained, for the third time rose up to the lashes, presuming through proud stupidity.

4. Presumpsit ergo in corde suo incurabilis homo, sub persuasione gigantis Nembroth, arte sua non solum superare naturam, sed etiam ipsum naturantem, qui Deus est, et cepit edificare turrim in Sennaar, que postea dicta est Babel, hoc est ‘confusio’, per quam celum sperabat ascendere, intendens inscius non equare, sed suum superare Factorem.

4. Therefore the incurable man presumed in his heart, under the persuasion of the giant Nembroth, by his art not only to surpass nature, but even the very Naturer, who is God, and he began to build a tower in Sennaar, which afterward was called Babel, that is ‘confusion’, by which he hoped to ascend to heaven, aiming, unwitting, not to equal, but to overtop his own Maker.

5. O sine mensura clementia celestis imperii! Quis patrum tot sustineret insultus a filio? Sed exurgens non hostili scutica sed paterna et alias verberibus assueta, rebellantem filium pia correctione nec non memorabili castigavit.

5. O clemency of the celestial imperium without measure! who of fathers would endure so many insults from a son? But rising up, not with a hostile scourge but with a paternal one, and at other times accustomed to lashes, he chastised the rebelling son with pious correction, and moreover with a memorable chastisement.

6. Siquidem pene totum humanum genus ad opus iniquitatis coierat: pars imperabant, pars architectabantur, pars muros moliebantur, pars amussibus regulabant, pars trullis linebant, pars scindere rupes, pars mari, pars terra vehere intendebant, partesque diverse diversis aliis operibus indulgebant; cum celitus tanta confusione percussi sunt ut, qui omnes una eademque loquela deserviebant ad opus, ab opere multis diversificati loquelis desinerent et nunquam ad idem commertium convenirent.

6. Since indeed almost the whole human
race had come together to a work of iniquity: some were commanding, some
were architecting, some were building up walls, some were regulating by straightedges,
some were coating with trowels, some intended to split rocks, some
to carry by sea, some by land, and different parties were indulging in different
other works; when from heaven they were smitten with so great a confusion that they who all with one and the same tongue were serving the work
ceased from the work, diversified into many tongues, and never came together
to the same commerce.

7. Solis etenim in uno convenientibus actu eadem loquela remansit: puta cunctis architectoribus una, cunctis saxa volventibus una, cunctis ea parantibus una; et sic de singulis operantibus accidit. Quot quot autem exercitii varietates tendebant ad opus, tot tot ydiomatibus tunc genus humanum disiungitur; et quanto excellentius exercebant, tanto rudius nunc barbariusque locuntur.

7. For only for those convening in a single act did the same language remain: for example, one for all the architects, one for all who rolled the stones, one for all who prepared them; and so it happened with each of the workers. As many varieties of exercise tended toward the work, by so many idioms was the human race then disjoined; and the more excellently they exercised it, by so much the more rudely and more barbarously do they now speak.

8. Quibus autem sacratum ydioma remansit nec aderant nec exercitium commendabant, sed graviter detestantes stoliditatem operantium deridebant. Sed hec minima pars, quantum ad numerum, fuit de semine Sem, sicut conicio, qui fuit tertius filius Noe: de qua quidem ortus est populus Israel, qui antiquissima locutione sunt usi usque ad suam dispersionem.

8. But for those to whom the sacred idiom
remained, they were neither present nor did they commend the undertaking, but, gravely
detesting the stolidity of the workers, they mocked them. But this smallest
part, as to number, was from the seed of Shem, as I conjecture, who
was the third son of Noah: from which indeed the people of Israel arose,
who used the most ancient locution up to their own dispersion.

VIII

1. Ex precedenter memorata confusione linguarum non leviter opinamur per universa mundi climata climatumque plagas incolendas et angulos tunc primum homines fuisse dispersos. Et cum radix humane propaginis principalis in oris orientalibus sit plantata, nec non ab inde ad utrunque latus per diffusos multipliciter palmites nostra sit extensa propago, demumque ad fines occidentales protracta, forte primitus tunc vel totius Europe flumina, vel saltim quedam, rationalia guctura potaverunt.

1. From the previously mentioned confusion of languages we do not lightly opine that men were then for the first time dispersed through all the universal world’s climates and the regions to be inhabited of the climates, and the angles; and since the root of the principal human propagation was planted on the oriental shores, and from there as well, by shoots manifoldly diffused, to either side our propagation has been extended, and finally drawn out to the occidental bounds, perhaps then at the beginning either all the rivers of Europe, or at least certain ones, watered rational throats.

2. Sed sive advene tunc primitus advenissent, sive ad Europam indigene repedassent, ydioma secum tripharium homines actulerunt; et afferentium hoc alii meridionalem, alii septentrionalem regionem in Europa sibi sortiti sunt; et tertii, quos nunc Grecos vocamus, partim Europe, partim Asye occuparunt.

2. But whether newcomers then had at first arrived, or the indigenous had returned to Europe, the men brought with them an idiom threefold; and, among those bringing this, some apportioned to themselves the meridional region, others the septentrional region in Europe; and the third, whom we now call Greeks, occupied partly Europe, partly Asia.

3. Ab uno postea eodemque ydiomate in vindice confusione recepto diversa vulgaria traxerunt originem, sicut inferius ostendemus.

3. From one afterward and the selfsame idiom, received in the vindicatory confusion, the diverse vulgars drew their origin, as we shall show below.

4. Nam totum quod ab hostiis Danubii sive Meotidis paludibus usque ad fines occidentales Anglie Ytalorum Francorumque finibus et Oceano limitatur, solum unum obtinuit ydioma, licet postea per Sclavones, Ungaros, Teutonicos, Saxones, Anglicos et alias nationes quamplures fuerit per diversa vulgaria dirivatum, hoc solo fere omnibus in signum eiusdem principio remanente, quod quasi predicti omnesjo affermando respondent.

4. For the whole which from the mouths
of the Danube or the Maeotian marshes up to the western borders
of England is bounded by the borders of the Italians and the Franks and by the Ocean, a single
idiom possessed; although afterwards through the Slavs, Hungarians,
Teutonics, Saxons, the English, and many other nations it was
divided into diverse vulgars, with this alone to almost all remaining as a sign
of the same origin, that, as it were, all the aforesaid jo
respond in affirming.

5. Ab isto incipiens ydiomate, videlicet a finibus Ungarorum versus orientem, aliud occupavit totum quod ab inde vocatur Europa, nec non ulterius est protractum.

5. Beginning from this idiom,
namely from the borders of the Hungarians toward the east, another occupied
the whole that from there is called Europe, and likewise it has been protracted further.

6. Totum vero quod in Europa restat ab istis, tertium tenuit ydioma, licet nunc tripharium videatur: nam aliioc, alii oil, alii sÏ affirmando locuntur, ut puta Yspani, Franci et Latini. Signum autem quod ab uno eodemque ydiomate istarum trium gentium progrediantur vulgaria, in promptu est, quia multa per eadem vocabula nominare videntur, ut Deum, celum, amorem, mare, terram, est, vivit, moritur, amat, alia fere omnia.

6. But all that in Europe
remains from these, a third idiom held, although now it seems threefold:
for some, affirming, speak oc, others oil, others sÏ,
for example Spaniards, French, and Latins. The sign, however, that the vulgars of these three peoples
proceed from one and the same idiom is evident, because they seem to name many things
by the same words, such as God, heaven, love, sea, earth,
is, lives, dies, loves, almost all other things.

7. Istorum vero proferentesoc meridionalis Europe tenent partem occidentalem, a Ianuensium finibus incipientes. Qui autem sÏ dicunt a predictis finibus orientalem tenent, videlicet usque ad promuntorium illud Ytalie qua sinus Adriatici maris incipit, et Siciliam. Sed loquentes oil quodam modo septentrionales sunt respectu istorum: nam ab oriente Alamannos habent et ab occidente et settentrione anglico mari vallati sunt et montibus Aragonie terminati; a meridie quoque Provincialibus et Apenini devexione clauduntur.

7. Of these, those who pronounceoc
hold the western part of southern Europe, beginning from the borders of the Genoese,
but those who say sÏ hold, from the aforesaid borders, the eastern part,
namely up to that promontory of Italy where the gulf of the Adriatic Sea begins,
and Sicily. But those who speak oil are in a certain way northern with respect to these:
for on the east they have the Alemanni, and on the west and north
they are walled in by the English sea and bounded by the mountains of Aragon;
on the south also they are enclosed by the Provincials and by the slope of the Apennines.

1. Nos autem oportet quam nunc habemus rationem periclitari, cum inquirere intendamus de hiis in quibus nullius autoritate fulcimur, hoc est de unius eiusdemque a principio ydiomatis variatione secuta. Et quia per notiora itinera salubrius breviusque transitur, per illud tantum quod nobis est ydioma pergamus, alia desinentes: nam quod in uno est rational[i], videtur in aliis esse causa.

1. But it behooves us to put to the test the rationale we now have, since we intend to inquire about those things in which we are buttressed by the authority of no one, that is, about the variation that has ensued of one and the same idiom from the beginning. And because by more-known roads one passes more salubriously and more briefly, let us proceed only by that which is our idiom, leaving off the others: for what in one is rational seems to be a cause in the others.

2. Est igitur super quod gradimur ydioma tractando tripharium, ut superius dictum est: nam aliioc, alii sÏ, alii vero dicunt oil. Et quod unum fuerit a principio confusionis (quod prius probandum est) apparet, quia convenimus in vocabulis multis, velut eloquentes doctores ostendunt: que quidem convenientia ipsi confusioni repugnat, que ruit celitus in edificatione Babel.

2. Therefore, the idiom upon which we are proceeding, in treating it, is threefold, as was said above: for some sayoc, others sÏ, and others indeed say oil. And that it was one from the beginning of the confusion (which must first be proved) appears, because we agree in many vocables, as eloquent doctors show: which indeed agreement is opposed to the confusion itself, which rushes down from heaven at the edification of Babel.

3. Trilingues ergo doctores in multis conveniunt, et maxime in hoc vocabulo quod est ‘amor’. Gerardus de Brunel:

3. Trilingual, therefore, the doctors agree in many things, and especially in this vocable which is ‘love.’ Gerardus de Brunel:

Si-m sentis fezelz amics,
per ver encusera amor.

If you hear me, faithful friends,
truly Love will accuse.

Rex Navarre:

King of Navarre:

De fin amor si vient sen et bontÈ;

From fine love thus comes sense and goodness;

Dominus Guido Guinizelli:

Lord Guido Guinizelli:

NÈ fe' amor prima che gentil core,
nÈ gentil [cor] prima che amor, natura.

Nor did Love come before a gentle heart,
nor a gentle [heart] before Love, by nature.

4. Quare autem tripharie principali[ter] variatum sit, investigemus; et quare quelibet istarum variationum in se ipsa variatur, puta dextre Ytalie locutio ab ea que est sinistre (nam aliter Paduani et aliter Pisani locuntur); et quare vicinius habitantes adhuc discrepant in loquendo, ut Mediolanenses et Veronenses, Romani et Florentini, nec non convenientes in eodem genere gentis, ut Neapoletani et Caetani, Ravennates et Faventini, et, quod mirabilius est, sub eadem civilitate morantes, ut Bononienses Burgi Sancti Felicis et Bononienses Strate Maioris.

4. Why, moreover, it has been varied in threefold fashion principally, let us investigate; and why each of these variations is in itself varied, for instance the speech of right-hand Italy from that which is left-hand (for the Paduans speak otherwise and the Pisans otherwise); and why those dwelling nearer still are discrepant in speaking, as the Milanese and the Veronese, the Romans and the Florentines, and likewise those agreeing in the same genus of people, as the Neapolitans and the Caetans, the Ravennates and the Faventines, and, what is more marvelous, those dwelling under the same civility, as the Bolognese of the Borgo of Saint Felix and the Bolognese of the Strada Maggiore.

5 Hee omnes differentie atque sermonum varietates quid accidant, una eademque ratione patebit.

5 All these differences and varieties of speeches, why they occur, will be evident by one and the same rationale.

6. Dicimus ergo quod nullus effectus superat suam causam, in quantum effectus est, quia nil potest efficere quod non est. Cum igitur omnis nostra loquela - preter illam homini primo concreatam a Deo - sit a nostro beneplacito reparata post confusionem illam que nil aliud fuit quam prioris oblivio, et homo sit instabilissimum atque variabilissimum animal, nec durabilis nec continua esse potest, sed sicut alia que nostra sunt, puta mores et habitus, per locorum temporumque distantias variari oportet.

6. We say therefore that no effect surpasses its cause, insofar as it is an effect, because nothing can effect what it is not. Since therefore all our speech - except that concreated with the first man by God - was by our good-pleasure repaired after that confusion which was nothing other than a forgetting of the former, and since man is the most unstable and most variable animal, it can be neither durable nor continuous, but, just as other things which are ours, to wit mores and habits, through the distances of places and times it must vary.

7. Nec dubitandum reor modo in eo quod diximus ‘temporum’, sed potius opinamur tenendum: nam si alia nostra opera perscrutemur, multo magis discrepare videmur a vetustissimis concivibus nostris quam a coetaneis perlonginquis. Quapropter audacter testamur quod si vetustissimi Papienses nunc resurgerent, sermone vario vel diverso cum modernis Papiensibus loquerentur.

7. Nor do I think there is now to be doubting in
that which we said ‘of times’, but rather we think it must be
held: for if we scrutinize our other works, much more
we seem to differ from our most ancient fellow-citizens than from
very far-distant coevals. Wherefore we boldly testify that if
the most ancient Pavians were now to rise again, with varied or
diverse speech they would speak with the modern Pavians.

8. Nec aliter mirum videatur quod dicimus quam percipere iuvenem exoletum quem exolescere non videmus: nam que paulatim moventur, minime perpenduntur a nobis, et quanto longiora tempora variatio rei ad perpendi requirit, tanto rem illam stabiliorem putamus.

8. Nor should what we say seem marvelous otherwise than as to perceive a youth outworn whom we do not see grow outworn: for things that are moved little by little are scarcely weighed by us, and the longer a time the variation of a thing requires in order to be weighed, the more we reckon that thing stable.

9. Non etenim ammiramur, si extimationes hominum qui parum distant a brutis putant eandem civitatem sub invariabili semper civicasse sermone, cum sermonis variatio civitatis eiusdem non sine longissima temporum successione paulatim contingat, et hominum vita sit etiam, ipsa sua natura, brevissima.

9. We do not indeed marvel, if the estimations of men who are little distant from brutes think the same city to have always carried on civic life under invariable speech, since the variation of the speech of that same city does not, without a very long succession of times, happen little by little, and the life of men is also, by its very nature, most brief.

10. Si ergo per eandem gentem sermo variatur, ut. dictum est, successive per tempora, nec stare ullo modo potest, necesse est ut disiunctim abmotimque morantibus varie varietur, ceu varie variantur mores et habitus, qui nec natura nec consortio confirmantur, sed humanis beneplacitis localique congruitate nascuntur.

10. If therefore through the same people
speech is varied, as has been said, successively through times, nor can it stand
still in any way, it is necessary that, for those dwelling separately and afar,
it be variously varied, just as manners and habits are variously varied, which are neither
confirmed by nature nor by consortship, but are born from human good-pleasures
and from local congruity.

11 Hinc moti sunt inventores gramatice facultatis: que quidem gramatica nichil aliud est quam quedam inalterabilis locutionis ydemptitas diversibus temporibus atque locis. Hec cum de comuni consensu multarum gentium fuerit regulata, nulli singolari arbitrio videtur obnoxia, et per consequens nec variabilis esse potest. Adinvenerunt ergo illam ne, propter variationem sermonis arbitrio singulariurn fluitantis, vel nullo modo vel saltim imperfecte antiquorum actingeremus autoritates et gesta, sive illorum quos a nobis locorum diversitas facit esse diversos.

11 From this were moved the inventors of the grammatical faculty: which grammar indeed is nothing other than a certain unalterable identity of locution across diverse times and places. This, since it has been regulated by the common consensus of many nations, seems to be subject to no individual arbitrament, and consequently cannot be variable. They therefore devised it, lest, on account of the variation of speech fluctuating by the arbitrium of individuals, we should either in no way or at least imperfectly attain the authorities and deeds of the ancients, or of those whom the diversity of places makes to be different from us.

1. Triphario nunc existente nostro ydiomate, ut superius dictum est, in comparatione sui ipsius, secundum quod trisonum factum est, cum tanta timiditate cunctamur librantes quod hanc vel istam vel illam partem in comparando preponere non audemus, nisi eo quo gramatice positores inveniuntur accepisse ‘sic’ adverbium affirmandi: quod quandam anterioritatem erogare videtur Ytalis, quisÏ dicunt.

1. With our idiom now being threefold, as said above, in comparison with itself, inasmuch as it has been made trisonous, we, hesitating with such timidity and weighing, do not dare, in comparing, to set this or that or the other part before; except in so far as the positors of grammar are found to have accepted ‘sic’ as the adverb of affirming: which seems to allot a certain anteriority to the Italians, who saysì.

2. Quelibet enim partium largo testimonio se tuetur. Allegat ergo pro se linguaoil quod propter sui faciliorem se delectabiliorem vulgaritatem quicquid redactum est sive inventum ad vulgare prosaycum, suum est: videlicet Biblia cum Troianorum Romanorumque gestibus compilata et Arturi regis ambages pulcerrime et quamplures alie ystorie ac doctrine.

2. For each of the parts defends itself by ample testimony. Therefore the language ofoil alleges on its own behalf that, because its vulgarity is more easy and more delectable, whatever has been reduced or invented into the prosaic vulgar, is its own: namely the Bible compiled together with the gests of the Trojans and Romans, and the windings of King Arthur most beautifully, and very many other histories and doctrines.

3. Pro se vero argumentatur alia, scilicetoc, quod vulgares eloquentes in ea primitus poetati sunt tanquam in perfectiori dulciorique loquela, ut puta Petrus de Alvernia et alii antiquiores doctores.

3. On its own behalf, however, argues the other, namelyoc, that the eloquent in the vulgar tongue first poetized in it, as in a more perfect and sweeter locution, for instance Peter of Auvergne and other more ancient doctors.

4. Tertia quoque, [que] Latinorum est, se duobus privilegiis actestatur preesse: primo quidem quod qui dulcius subtiliusque poetati vulgariter sunt, hii familiares et domestici sui sunt, puta Cynus Pistoriensis et amicus eius; secundo quia magis videntur inniti gramatice que comunis est, quod rationabiliter inspicientibus videtur gravissimum argumentum.

4. The third also, [which] is of the Latins, attests by two privileges that it is preeminent: first indeed, that those who have composed more sweetly and more subtly in the vernacular are its familiars and household intimates, to wit Cino of Pistoia and his friend; second, because they seem to lean more upon the grammar which is common, which to those inspecting rationally appears the most weighty argument.

5. Nos vero iudicium relinquentes in hoc et tractatum nostrum ad vulgare latium retrabentes, et receptas in se variationes dicere nec non illas invicem comparare conemur.

5. We, however, leaving judgment in this aside and drawing back our treatise to the Latian vernacular, will strive both to set forth the variations received within it and also to compare those with one another.

6. Dicimus ergo primo Latium bipartitum esse in dextrum et sinistrum. Si quis autem querat de linea dividente, breviter respondemus esse iugum Apenini, quod, ceu fistule culmen hinc inde ad diversa stillicidia grundat aquas, ad alterna hinc inde litora per ymbricia longa distillat, ut Lucanus in secundo describit: dextrum quoque latus Tyrenum mare grundatorium habet, levum vero in Adriaticum cadit.

6. We say therefore first that Latium is bipartite into right and left. But if anyone should ask about the dividing line, we briefly answer that it is the ridge of the Apennines, which, as the summit of a pipe, on this side and that spouts waters toward diverse drip-lines, and through long roof-tiles distillates to the alternating shores on this side and that, as Lucan describes in the second: the right side too has the Tyrrhenian Sea as its drain-receiver, while the left falls into the Adriatic.

7. Et dextri regiones sunt Apulia, sed non tota, Roma, Ducatus, Tuscia et Ianuensis Marchia; sinistri autem pars Apulie, Marchia Anconitana, Romandiola, Lombardia, Marchia Trivisiana cum Venetiis. Forum Iulii vero et Ystria non nisi leve Ytalie esse possunt; nec insule Tyreni maris, videlicet Sicilia et Sardinia, non nisi dextre Ytalie sunt, vel ad dextram Ytaliam sociande.

7. And the regions of the right are
Apulia, but not the whole, Rome, the Duchy, Tuscany, and the Genoese March;
but of the left, a part of Apulia, the Anconitan March, Romandiola (Romagna),
Lombardy, the Trevisan March with Venice. But Forum Iulii and
Istria can be only of left Italy; nor are the islands of the Tyrrhenian
sea, namely Sicily and Sardinia, anything but of right Italy, or to be joined to right Italy.

8. In utroque quidem duorum laterum, et hiis que secuntur ad ea, lingue hominum variantur: ut lingua Siculorum cum Apulis, Apulorum cum Romanis, Romanorum cum Spoletanis, horum cum Tuscis, Tuscorum cum Ianuensibus, Ianuensium cum Sardis; nec non Calabrorum cum Anconitanis, horum cum Romandiolis, Romandiolorum cum Lombardis, Lombardorum curn Trivisianis et Venetis, horum cum Aquilegiensibus, et istorum cum Ystrianis. De quo Latinorum neminem nobiscum dissentire putamus.

8. On both indeed of the two sides, and in those parts that follow thereto, the languages of men vary: as the language of the Sicilians from that of the Apulians, of the Apulians from that of the Romans, of the Romans from that of the Spoletans, of these from that of the Tuscans, of the Tuscans from that of the Genoese, of the Genoese from that of the Sardinians; and likewise of the Calabrians from that of the Anconitans, of these from that of the Romagnoles, of the Romagnoles from that of the Lombards, of the Lombards from that of the Trevisans and the Venetians, of these from that of the Aquileians, and of those from that of the Istrians. About which we think that none of the Latins would dissent with us.

9. Quare ad minus xiiii vulgaribus sola videtur Ytalia variari. Que adhuc omnia vulgaria in sese variantur, ut puta in Tuscia Senenses et Aretini, in Lombardia Ferrarenses et Placentini; nec non in eadem civitate aliqualem variationem perpendimus, ut superius in capitulo immediato posuimus. Quapropter, si primas et secundarias et subsecundarias vulgaris Ytalie variationes calcolare velimus, et in hoc minimo mundi angulo non solum ad millenam loquele variationem venire contigerit, sed etiam ad magis ultra.

9. Wherefore by at least 14 vernaculars Italy alone seems to be varied. And all these vernaculars still vary among themselves, as, for instance, in Tuscany the Sienese and the Aretines, in Lombardy the Ferrarese and the Piacentines; and indeed in the same city we observe some variation, as we set forth above in the immediately preceding chapter. Wherefore, if we should wish to calculate the primary, secondary, and subsecondary variations of the Italian vernacular, it might come to pass that in this very small corner of the world we arrive not only at a thousandfold variation of locution, but even to more beyond.

1. Quam multis varietatibus latio dissonante vulgari, decentiorem atque illustrem Ytalie venemur loquelam; et ut nostre venationi pervium callem habere possimus, perplexos frutices atque sentes prius eiciamus de silva.

1. With the Latian vulgar being dissonant in many varieties, let us hunt the more decent and illustrious locution of Italy; and that we may be able to have a pervious path for our venation, let us first eject the tangled shrubs and brambles from the wood.

2. Sicut ergo Romani se cunctis preponendos existimant, in hac eradicatione sive discerptione non inmerito eos aliis preponamus, protestantes eosdem in nulla vulgaris eloquentie ratione fore tangendos. Dicimus igitur Romanorum non vulgare, sed potius tristiloquium, ytalorum vulgarium omnium esse turpissimum; nec mirum, cum etiam morum habituumque deformitate pre cunctis videantur fetere. Dicunt enim:Messure, quinto dici?

2. Just as therefore the Romans think themselves to be set before all,
in this eradication or discerption let us not undeservedly set them before others, protesting that the same are to be touched in no manner of vernacular eloquence. We say therefore
that the Romans’ is not a vernacular, but rather a tristiloquy, the most turpid of all the Italians’
vernaculars; nor is it a wonder, since even by the deformity of their manners and habits they seem to reek beyond all. For they say:
Messure, quinto dici?

3. Post hos incolas Anconitane Marchie decerpamus, qui Chignamente scate, sciate locuntur: cum quibus et Spoletanos abicimus.

3. After these, let us prune away the inhabitants of the Anconitan March, who speakChignamente scate, sciate: along with whom we also cast aside the Spoletans.

4. Nec pretereundum est quod in improperium istarum trium gentium cantiones quamplures invente sunt: inter quas unam vidimus recte atque perfecte ligatam, quam quidam Florentinus nomine Castra posuerat; incipiebat etenim

4. Nor must it be passed over that in reproach of those three peoples many songs have been composed: among which we saw one correctly and perfectly linked, which a certain Florentine by the name of Castra had set; for it began

Una fermana scopai da Cascioli,
cita cita se 'n gÏa 'n grande aina.

A Ferman woman I screwed at Cascioli’s,
quickly, quickly she was going off in great haste.

5. Post quos Mediolanenses atque Pergameos eorumque finitimos eruncemus, in quorum etiam improperium quendam cecinisse recolimus

5. After whom we shall root out the Milanese
and the Bergamese and their neighbors, in whose reproach also
we recollect that a certain person sang.

Enter l'ora del vesper,
ciÚ fu del mes d'occhiover.

At the hour of Vespers,
this was in the month of October.

6. Post hos Aquilegienses et Ystrianos cribremus, quiCes fas tu? crudeliter accentuando eructuant. Cumque hiis montaninas omnes et rusticanas loquelas eicimus, que semper mediastinis civibus accentus enormitate dissonare videntur, ut Casentinenses et Fractenses.

6. After these let us sift the Aquileians and the Istrians, whoCes fas tu? cruelly, by accentuating, belch forth. And together with these we cast out all montane and rustic speeches, which always seem to midland citizens, by the enormity of accent, to dissonate, such as the Casentines and the Fractenses.

7. Sardos etiam, qui non Latii sunt sed Latiis associandi videntur, eiciamus, quoniam soli sine proprio vulgari esse videntur, gramaticam tanquam simie homines imitantes: nam domus nova et dominus meus locuntur.

7. Let us also cast out the Sardinians, who are not Latins but seem to be associated with the Latins, since they alone seem to be without a proper vernacular, imitating Grammar like simian men: for they say domus nova and dominus meus.

XII

1. Exaceratis quodam modo vulgaribus ytalis, inter ea que remanserunt in cribro comparationem facientes honorabilius atque honorificentius breviter seligamus.

1. With the Italian vulgars in some manner sifted, among those which have remained in the sieve making a comparison, let us briefly select what is more honorable and more honorific.

2 Et primo de siciliano examinemus ingenium: nam videtur sicilianum vulgare sibi famam pre aliis asciscere eo quod quicquid poetantur Ytali sicilianum vocatur, et eo quod perplures doctores indigenas invenimus graviter cecinisse, puta in cantionibus illis

2 And first let us examine the Sicilian ingenium: for it seems that the Sicilian vulgar (vernacular) assumes fame to itself before the others, because whatever the Italians poetize is called Sicilian, and because we have found very many indigenous doctors to have sung gravely, for instance in those songs

Ancor che l'aigua per lo foco lassi,
et
Amor, che lungiamente m'hai menato.

Even though the water grows weary through the fire,
and
Love, who have led me for a long time.

3. Sed hec fama trinacrie terre, si rccte signum ad quod tendit inspiciamus, videtur tantum in obproprium ytalorum principum remansisse, qui non heroico more sed plebeio secuntur superbiam.

3. But this fame of the land of Trinacria, if we rightly inspect the sign to which it tends, seems only to have remained as an opprobrium of the princes of Italy, who not in a heroic manner but in a plebeian follow pride.

4. Siquidem illustres heroes, Fredericus cesar et benegenitus eius Manfredus, nobilitatem ac rectitudinem sue forme pandentes, donec fortuna permisit humana secuti sunt, brutalia dedignantes. Propter quod corde nobiles atque gratiarum dotati inherere tantorum principum maiestati conati sunt, ita ut eorum tempore quicquid excellentes animi Latinorum enitebantur primitus in tantorum coronatorum aula prodibat; et quia regale solium erat Sicilia, factum est ut quicquid nostri predecessores vulgariter protulerunt, sicilianum voc[ar]etur: quod quidem retinemus et nos, nec posteri nostri permutare valebunt.

4. Indeed the illustrious heroes, Frederick Caesar and his well-begotten Manfred, displaying the nobility and rectitude of their form, followed what is human so long as fortune permitted, disdaining brutish things. On account of which, noble in heart and endowed with graces, they strove to adhere to the majesty of such great princes, so that in their time whatever the excellent minds of the Latins were endeavoring would first come forth in the hall of such crowned ones; and because Sicily was the royal throne, it came about that whatever our predecessors brought forth vulgarly was called Sicilian: which indeed we too retain, nor will our posterity be able to change.

5. Racha, racha. Quid nunc personat tuba novissimi Frederici, quid tintinabulum secundi Karoli, quid cornua lohannis et Azonis marchionum potentum, quid aliorum magnatum tibie, nisi ‘Venite carnifices, venite altriplices, venite avaritie sectatores’?

5. Racha, racha. What now does the trumpet of the latest Frederick resound, what the tintinnabulum of the second Charles, what the horns of John and Azzo, powerful marquises, what the pipes of other magnates, except ‘Come, executioners, come triple-robbers, come followers of avarice’?

6. Sed prestat ad propositum repedare quam frustra loqui. Et dicimus quod, si vulgare sicilianum accipere volumus secundum quod prodit a terrigenis mediocribus, ex ore quorum iudicium eliciendum videtur, prelationis honore minime dignum est, quia non sine quodam tempore profertur; ut puta ibi:

6. But it is better to step back to the proposed point than to speak in vain. And we say that, if we wish to accept the Sicilian vernacular according to how it comes forth from middling natives, from whose mouth the judgment seems to be elicited, it is by no means worthy of the honor of prelation, because it is not uttered without a certain time; as, for instance, there:

Tragemi d'este focora se t'este a boluntate.

Extract me from these fires if it be your volition.

Si autem ipsum accipere volumus secundum quod ab ore primorum Siculorum emanat, ut in preallegatis cantionibus perpendi potest, nichil differt ab illo quod laudabilissimum est, sicut inferius ostendemus.

If, however, we wish to accept it
according to how it emanates from the mouth of the foremost Sicilians, as in
the pre-alleged songs can be weighed, it differs in nothing from that
which is most laudable, as we shall show below.

7. Apuli quoque vel sui acerbitate vel finitimorum suorum contiguitate, qui Romani et Marchiani sunt, turpiter barbarizant: dicunt enim

7. The Apulians also, either by the harshness of their own or by the contiguity of their neighbors, who are Romans and Marchians, disgracefully barbarize: for they say

Volzera che chiangesse lo quatraro.

He wished that
the four-year-old weep.

8. Sed quamvis terrigene Apuli loquantur obscene comuniter, prefulgentes eorum quidam polite locuti sunt, vocabula curialiora in suis cantionibus compilantes, ut manifeste apparet eorum dicta perspicientibus, ut puta

8. But although the earth-born Apulians
speak obscenely commonly, certain preeminent among them have spoken politely,
compiling more courtly words in their songs,
as is manifestly apparent to those scrutinizing their sayings, as for instance

Madonna, dir vi volglio,
et
Per fino amore vo si letamente.

Madonna, I wish to tell you,
and
For fine love I go so gladly.

9 Quapropter superiora notantibus innotescere debet nec siculum nec apulum esse illud quod in Ytalia pulcerrimum est vulgare, cum eloquentes indigenas ostenderimus a proprio divertisse.

9 Wherefore, to those noting the foregoing, it ought to become known that neither Sicilian nor Apulian is that which in Italy is the most beautiful vernacular, since we have shown the eloquent natives to have turned aside from their own.

XIII

1. Post hec veniamus ad Tuscos, qui propter amentiam suam infroniti titulum sibi vulgaris illustris arrogare videntur. Et in hoc non solum plebeia dementat intentio, sed famosos quamplures viros hoc tenuisse comperimus: puta Guittonem Aretinum, qui nunquam se ad curiale vulgare direxit, Bonagiuntam Lucensem, Gallum Pisanum, Minum Mocatum Senensem, Brunectum Florentinum, quorum dicta, si rimari vacaverit, non curialia sed municipalia tantum invenientur. Et quoniam Tusci pre aliis in hac ebrietate baccantur, dignum utileque videtur municipalia vulgaria Tuscanorum sigillatim in aliquo depompare.

1. After these things let us come to the Tuscans, who, on account of their insanity, shameless, seem to arrogate to themselves the title of the illustrious vulgar. And in this not only does the plebeian intention run mad, but we have found that very many famous men have held this: to wit, Guittone of Arezzo, who never directed himself to the curial vulgar, Bonagiunta of Lucca, Gallo the Pisan, Mino Mocato the Sienese, Brunetto the Florentine, whose utterances, if one should have leisure to scrutinize, will be found not curial but only municipal. And since the Tuscans, beyond the others, bacchate in this drunkenness, it seems fitting and useful to decant severally, in some measure, the municipal vulgars of the Tuscans.

2. Locuntur Florentini et dicunt

2. The Florentines speak and say

Manichiamo introcque, altro. Ô che noi non facciamo

Let us eat meanwhile, something else. O what we do not do

Pisani:

Pisans:

Bene andonno li fanti de Fiorensa per Pisa.

Well go the foot-soldiers of Florence toward Pisa.

Lucenses:

The Lucchese:

Fo voto a Dio ke in grassarra
eie lo comuno de Lucca.

I make a vow to God that in abundance
may be the commune of Lucca.

Senenses:

Sienese:

Onche renegata avess'io Siena.
Ch'ee chesto?

Even if I had reneged
on Siena.
What is this?

Aretini:

Aretines:

Vuo' tu venire ovelle?

Do you want to come
where to?

De Perusio, Urbe Veteri, Viterbio, nec non de Civitate Castellana, propter affinitatem quam habent cum Romanis et Spoletanis, nichil tractare intendimus.

Concerning Perugia, Orvieto, Viterbo, and likewise Civita Castellana, on account of the affinity which they have with the Romans and the Spoletans, we intend to treat nothing.

3. Sed quanquam fere omnes Tusci in suo turpiloquio sint obtusi, nonnullos vulgaris excellentiam cognovisse sentimus, scilicet Guidonem, Lapum et unum alium, Florentinos, et Cynum Pistoriensem, quem nune indigne postponimus, non indigne coacti.

3. But although nearly all the Tuscans are obtuse in their own turpiloquy, we perceive that some have recognized the excellence of the vernacular, to wit Guido, Lapo, and one other, Florentines, and Cino of Pistoia, whom we now postpone unworthily, compelled not unworthily.

4. Itaque si tuscanas examinemus loquelas, et pensemus qualiter viri prehonorati a propria diverterunt, non restat in dubio quin aliud sit vulgare quod querimus quam quod actingit populus Tuscanorum.

4. Therefore, if we examine the Tuscan speech-forms, and weigh how men of foremost honor turned aside from their own, it does not remain in doubt that the vernacular we seek is other than that which the Tuscan people employ.

5. Si quis autem quod de Tuscis asserimus, de Ianuensibus asserendum non putet, hoc solum in mente premat, quod si per oblivionem Ianuenses ammicterent z licteram, vel mutire totaliter eos vel novam reparare oporteret loquelam. Est enim z maxima pars eorum locutionis; que quidem lictera non sine multa rigiditate profertur.

5. But if anyone should not think that what we assert about the Tuscans
is to be asserted about the Genoese, let him press this one thing in
mind: that if by oblivion the Genoese were to lose the letter z,
it would be necessary either for them to be totally mute or to repair a new
speech. For the z is the greatest part of their locution; which letter
is indeed pronounced not without much rigidity.

XIV

1. Transeuntes nunc humeros Apenini frondiferos levam Ytaliam contatim venemur ceu solemus, orientaliter ineuntes.

1. Now passing the frondiferous shoulders of the Apennine, let us forthwith seek the left-hand Italy as we are wont, entering eastward.

2. Romandiolam igitur ingredientes, dicimus nos duo in Latio invenisse vulgaria quibusdam convenientiis contrariis alternata. Quorum unum in tantum muliebre videtur propter vocabulorum et prolationis mollitiem quod virum, etiam si viriliter sonet, feminam tamen facit esse credendum.

2. Romandiola, therefore, entering, we say that we two in Latium have found vernaculars alternated by certain contrary congruences. Of which one seems so womanish on account of the softness of its vocabulary and prolation that it makes a man, even if he sounds virilely, nevertheless to be believed a woman.

3. Hoc Romandiolos omnes habet, et presertim Forlivienses, quorum civitas, licet novissima sit, meditullium tamen esse videtur totius provincie: hiideuscÏ affirmando locuntur, et oclo meo et corada mea proferunt blandientes. Horum aliquos a proprio poetando divertisse audivimus, Thomam videlicet et Ugolinum Bucciolam Faventinos.

3. This characterizes all the Romagnols,
and especially the Forlivians, whose city, although it is the newest,
nevertheless seems to be the midmost point of the whole province: these say deuscÏ
when affirming, and proffer oclo meo and corada mea in blandishing.
Of these we have heard that some have diverted from their own in poetizing,
namely Thomas and Ugolino Bucciola, Faentines.

4. Est et aliud, sicut dictum est, adeo vocabulis accentibusque yrsutum et yspidum quod propter sui rudem asperitatem mulierem loquentem non solum disterminat, sed esse virum dubitare[s le]ctor.

4. There is also another, as has been said, so hirsute and hispid in its words and accents that, on account of its raw roughness, it not only distinguishes a woman speaking, but would make you, reader, doubt that it is a man.

5. Hoc omnes qui magara dicunt, Brixianos videlicet, Veronenses et Vigentinos, habet; nec non Paduanos, turpiter sincopantes omnia in-tus participia et denominativa in -tas, ut mercÚ et bontË. Cum quibus et Trivisianos adducimus, qui more Brixianorum et finitimorum suorum u consonantem per f apocopando proferunt, puta nof pro ‘novem’ et vif pro ‘vivo’: quod quidem barbarissimum reprobamus.

5. This embraces all who saymagara, namely the Brixians, the Veronese and the Vicentines; nor yet does it omit the Paduans, who shamefully syncopate all participles in -tus and denominatives in -tas, as mercÚ and bontË.
Along with these we also adduce the Trevisians, who after the manner of the Brixians and their neighbors pronounce the consonantal u as f by apocope, for instance nof for ‘novem’ and vif for ‘vivo’: which indeed we reprove as most barbarous.

6. Veneti quoque nec sese investigati vulgaris honore dignantur: et si quis eorum, errore confossus, vanitaret in hoc, recordetur si unquam dixit:

6. The Venetians too do not deem themselves worthy of the honor of the investigated vulgar: and if any one of them, run through by error, should vaunt himself in this, let him remember whether he ever said:

Per le plaghe de Dio tu no verras.

By the wounds of God, you will not come.

7. Inter quos omnes unum audivimus nitentem divertire a materno et ad curiale vulgare intendere, videlicet Ildebrandinum Paduanum.

7. Among all these we heard one striving to divert from the maternal and to aim at the curial vernacular, namely Ildebrandinus of Padua.

8. Quare, omnibus presentis capituli ad iudicium comparentibus, arbitramur nec romandiolum, nec suum oppositum ut dictum est, nec venetianum esse illud quod querimus vulgare illustre.

8. Wherefore, with all of the present chapter appearing for judgment, we judge neither the Romagnol, nor its opposite, as has been said, nor the Venetian to be that which we seek, the illustrious vulgar.

1. Illud autem quod de ytala silva residet percontari conemur expedientes.

1. But as for that which remains to be inquired concerning the Italian forest, let us endeavor to inquire, setting things forth.

2. Dicimus ergo quod forte non male opinantur qui Bononienses asserunt pulcriori locutione loquentes, cum ab Ymolensibus, Ferrarensibus et Mutinensibus circunstantibus aliquid proprio vulgari asciscunt, sicut facere quoslibet a finitimis suis conicimus, ut Sordellus de Mantua sua ostendit, Cremone, Brixie atque Verone confini: qui, tantus eloquentie vir existens, non solum in poetando sed quomodocunque loquendo patrium vulgare descruit.

2. We say therefore that perhaps they do not think ill who assert that the Bolognese speak with a fairer locution, since from the surrounding Imolese, Ferrarese, and Modenese they adopt something into their own vernacular, just as we conjecture that anyone does from his neighbors, as Sordello of his Mantua shows, bordering on Cremona, Brescia, and Verona: who, being so great a man of eloquence, not only in poetizing but in whatever way of speaking, abandoned the paternal vernacular.

3. Accipiunt enim prefati cives ab Ymolensibus lenitatem atque mollitiem, a Ferrarensibus vero et Mutinensibus aliqualem garrulitatem que proprie Lombardorum est: hanc ex commixtione advenarum Longobardorum terrigenis credimus remansisse.

3. For the aforesaid citizens receive
from the Imolans lenity and softness, but from the Ferrareses and
Modenese a certain garrulity, which is proper to the Lombards:
this we believe to have remained from the commixture of newcomer Lombards with the natives
earth-born.

4. Et hec est causa quare Ferrarensium, Mutinensium vel Regianorum nullum invenimus poetasse: nam proprie garrulitati assuefacti nullo modo possunt ad vulgare aulicum sine quadam acerbitate venire. Quod multo magis de Parmensibus est putandum, quimonto pro ‘multo’ dicunt.

4. And this is the reason why we have found none of the Ferrara folk, the Modena folk, or the Reggians to have composed poetry: for, accustomed to their proper garrulity, they can in no way come to the aulic vernacular without a certain acerbity. Which is to be thought much more of the people of Parma, who saymonto for ‘multo’ say.

5. Si ergo Bononienses utrinque accipiunt, ut dictum est, rationabile videtur esse quod eorum locutio per conmixtionem oppositorum ut dictum est ad laudabilem suavitatem remaneat temperata: quod procul dubio nostro iudicio sic esse censemus.

5. If therefore the Bolognese receive from both sides, as has been said, it seems rational that their locution, through the commixture of opposites, as has been said, should remain tempered to a laudable suavity: which, beyond doubt, in our judgment we deem to be so.

6. Itaque si preponentes eos in vulgari sermone sola municipalia Latinorum vulgaria comparando considerant, allubescentes concordamus cum illis; si vero simpliciter vulgare bononiense preferendum existimant, dissentientes discordamus ab eis. Non etenim est quod aulicum et illustre vocamus: quoniam, si fuisset, maximus Guido Guinizelli, Guido Ghisilerius, Fabrutius et Honestus et alii poetantes Bononie nunquam a proprio divertissent: qui doctores fuerunt illustres et vulgarium discretione repleti. Maximus Guido:

6. And so, if in preferring them in
the vernacular speech they consider by comparing only the municipal vernaculars of the Latins,
assenting we agree with them; but if, in truth,
they judge the Bolognese vernacular simply to be preferred,
dissenting we disagree with them. For it is not what we call courtly and
illustrious: since, if it had been, the greatest Guido Guinizelli,
Guido Ghisilerius, Fabrutius and Honestus and other poets
of Bologna would never have turned aside from their own: who were doctors
illustrious and replete with the discretion of vernaculars. The greatest Guido:

Madonna, lo fino amore ch'a vui porto;

Madonna, the fine love that I bear to you;

Guido Ghisilerius:

Donna, lo fermo core;

Lady, the firm heart;

Fabrutius:

Lo meo lontano gire;

My distant going;

Honestus:

Pi˜ non actendo il tuo soccorso, Amore.

No longer do I await your succor, Love.

Que quidem verba prorsus a mediastinis Bononie sunt diversa.

Which words indeed are entirely diverse
from those of the menials of Bologna.

7. Cumque de residuis in extremis Ytalie civitatibus neminem dubitare pendamus (et si quis dubitat, illum nulla nostra solutione dignamur), parum restat in nostra discussione dicendum. Quare, cribellum cupientes deponere, ut residentiam cito visamus, dicimus Tridentum atque Taurinum nec non Alexandriam civitates metis Ytalie in tantum sedere propinquas quod puras nequeunt habere loquelas; ita quod si etiam quod turpissimum habent vulgare, haberent pulcerrimum, propter aliorum commixtionem esse vere latium negaremus. Quare, si latium illustre venamur, quod venamur in illis inveniri non potest.

7. And since, concerning the residues in
the extreme cities of Italy, we consider that no one should doubt (and if anyone
doubts, we deem him worthy of no reply from us), little remains in
our discussion to be said. Wherefore, wishing to lay down the sieve,
that we may quickly behold the residuum, we say that Trento and Turin and
also Alessandria, cities seated so near the metes of Italy,
cannot have pure locutions; such that even if the vulgar speech which they have
most base were most beautiful, on account of the commixture of others we would deny it to be truly Italian. Wherefore, if we hunt
the illustrious Italian, what we hunt cannot be found in those.

XVI

1. Postquam venati saltus et pascua sumus Ytalie, nec pantheram quam sequimur adinvenimus, ut ipsam reperire possimus rationabilius investigemus de illa ut, solerti studio, redolentem ubique et necubi apparentem nostris penitus irretiamus tenticulis.

1. After we have hunted the glades and pastures of Italy, and we did not find the panther which we pursue, so that we may be able to find her let us investigate about her more rationally, so that, with skillful study, redolent everywhere and appearing nowhere, we may thoroughly ensnare her with our tentacles.

2. Resumentes igitur venabula nostra, dicimus quod in omni genere rerum unum esse oportet quo generis illius omnia comparentur et ponderentur, et a quo omnium aliorum mensuram accipiamus: sicut in numero cuncta mensurantur uno, et plura vel pauciora dicuntur secundum quod distant ab uno vel ei propinquant, et sicut in coloribus omnes albo mensurantur; nam visibiles magis et minus dicuntur secundum quod accedunt vel recedunt ab albo. Et quemadmodum de hiis dicimus que quantitatem et qualitatem ostendunt, de predicamentorum quolibet, etiam de substantia, posse dici putamus: scilicet ut unumquodque mensurabile sit, secundum quod in genere est, illo quod simplicissimum est in ipso genere.

2. Resuming therefore our hunting-spears,
we say that in every genus of things there ought to be one by which
all of that genus are compared and weighed, and from which we take the measure
of all the others: just as in number all things are measured by the one,
and more or fewer are said according as they stand distant from the one
or draw near to it, and as in colors all are measured by white;
for visible things are said to be more or less according as they approach to or
recede from white. And just as we say this of those things which display quantity
and quality, we think it can be said of any of the predicaments, even of
substance: namely, that each thing is measurable, inasmuch as it is in a genus,
by that which is most simple in that very genus.

3. Quapropter in actionibus nostris, quantumcunque dividantur in species, hoc signum inveniri oportet quo et ipse mensurentur. Nam, in quantum simpliciter ut homines agimus, virtutem habemus (ut generaliter illam intelligamus); nam secundum ipsam bonum et malum hominem iudicamus; in quantum ut homines cives agimus, habemus legem, secundum quam dicitur civis bonus et malus; in quantum ut homines latini agimus, quedam habemus simplicissima signa et morum et habituum et locutionis, quibus latine actiones ponderantur et mensurantur.

3. Wherefore in our actions, however much they may be divided into species, this sign must be found by which they themselves also may be measured. For, insofar as, as human beings, we act, we have virtue (to understand that generally); for according to it we judge a man good and evil; insofar as, as human beings who are citizens, we act, we have law, according to which a citizen is called good and evil; insofar as, as human beings who are Latins, we act, we have certain most simple signs both of morals and of habits and of locution, by which Latin actions are weighed and measured.

4. Que quidem nobilissima sunt earum que Latinorum sunt actiones, hec nullius civitatis Ytalie propria sunt, et in omnibus comunia sunt: inter que nunc potest illud discerni vulgare quod superius venabamur, quod in qualibet redolet civitate nec cubat in ulla.

4. And indeed those which are most noble among the actions that belong to the Latins, these are proper to no city of Italy, and are common in all: among which that vulgar can now be discerned which we were hunting above, which is redolent in any city and lies in none.

5. Potest tamen magis in una quam in alia redolere, sicut simplicissima substantiarum, que Deus est, in homine magis redolet quam in bruto, in animali quam in planta, in hac quam in minera, in hac quam in elemento, in igne quam in terra; et simplicissima quantitas, quod est unum, in impari numero redolet magis quam in pari; et simplicissimus color, qui albus est, magis in citrino quam in viride redolet.

5. It can, nevertheless, be more redolent in one
than in another, just as the most simple of substances, which
God is, is more redolent in man than in a brute, in an animal than
in a plant, in this than in a mineral, in this than in an element, in
fire than in earth; and the most simple quantity, which is the one,
is more redolent in an odd number than in an even; and the most
simple color, which is white, is more redolent in citrine than in green.

6. Itaque, adepti quod querebamus, dicimus illustre, cardinale, aulicum et curiale vulgare in Latio quod omnis latie civitatis est et nullius esse videtur, et quo municipalia vulgaria omnia Latinorum mensurantur et ponderantur et comparantur.

6. And so, having attained what
we were seeking, we say the illustrious, cardinal, aulic, and curial
vernacular in Latium, which is of every Latin city and seems to be of none,
and by which all the municipal vernaculars of the Latins are measured
and weighed and compared.

XVII

1. Quare autem hoc quod repertum est, illustre, cardinale, aulicum et curiale adicientes vocemus, nunc disponendum est: per quod clarius ipsum quod ipsum est faciamus patere.

1. Why moreover this which has been discovered, adding illustrious, cardinal, aulic, and curial, we should call, must now be set forth: whereby we may make more clearly to lie open that which it itself is.

2. Primum igitur quid intendimus cum illustre adicimus, et quare illustre dicimus, denudemus. Per hoc quoque quod illustre dicimus, intelligimus quid illuminans et illuminatum prefulgens: et hoc modo viros appellamus illustres, vel quia potestate illuminati alios et iustitia et karitate illuminant, vel quia excellenter magistrati excellenter magistrent, ut Seneca et Numa Pompilius. Et vulgare de quo loquimur et sublimatum est magistratu et potestate, et suos honore sublimat et gloria.

2. First, then, let us lay bare what
we intend when we add illustrious, and why we say illustrious.
By this too, that we say illustrious, we understand something
illuminating and, being illuminated, pre‑shining; and in this way we
call men illustrious, either because, illuminated by power, they
illuminate others with justice and charity, or because, being
excellently magistrated, they magistrate excellently, as Seneca and
Numa Pompilius. And the vernacular of which we speak too is exalted
by magistracy and power, and it exalts its own with honor and glory.

3. Magistratu quidem sublimatum videtur, cum de tot rudibus Latinorum vocabulis, de tot perplexis constructionibus, de tot defectivis prolationibus, de tot rusticanis accentibus, tam egregium, tam extricatum, tam perfectum et tam urbanum videamus electum, ut Cynus Pistoriensis et amicus eius ostendunt in cantionibus suis.

3. By magistracy indeed it seems exalted, since out of so many rough words of the Latins, out of so many perplexed constructions, out of so many defective prolations, out of so many rustic accents, we see one chosen so excellent, so extricated, so perfect and so urbane, as Cynus of Pistoia and his friend show in their songs.

4. Quod autem exaltatum sit potestate, videtur. Et quid maioris potestatis est quam quod humana corda versare potest, ita ut nolentem volentem et volentem nolentem faciat, velut ipsum et fecit et facit ?

4. But that it has been exalted in power is evident. And what is of greater power than that which can turn human hearts, so that it makes the unwilling willing and the willing unwilling, as it itself both did and does ?

5. Quod autem honore sublimet, in promptu est. Nonne domestici sui reges, marchiones, comites et magnates quoslibet fama vincunt?

5. But that it exalts by honor,
is evident. Do not its domestics surpass in fame kings, marquises, counts, and
magnates whatsoever?

6. Minime hoc probatione indiget. Quantum vero suos familiares gloriosos efficiat, nos ipsi novimus, qui huius dulcedine glorie nostrum exilium postergamus.

6. This by no means stands in need of proof. How greatly indeed it makes its familiars glorious, we
ourselves know, who by the sweetness of this glory postpone our exile.

7. Quare ipsum illustre merito profiteri debemus.

7. Therefore we ought deservedly
to profess him illustrious.

XVIII

1. Neque sine ratione ipsum vulgare illustre decusamus adiectione secunda, videlicet ut id cardinale vocetur. Nam sicut totum hostium cardinem sequitur ut, quo cardo vertitur, versetur et ipsum, seu introrsum seu extrorsum flectatur, sic et universus municipalium grex vulgarium vertitur et revertitur, movetur et pausat secundum quod istud, quod quidem vere paterfamilias esse videtur. Nonne cotidie extirpat sentosos frutices de ytalia silva?

1. Nor without reason do we grace the illustrious vernacular itself with a second addition, namely that it be called cardinal. For just as the whole door follows the hinge so that, where the hinge is turned, it too is turned, whether it be bent inward or outward, so too the entire municipal flock of vernaculars is turned and turned back, moves and pauses according to this one, which indeed truly seems to be the paterfamilias. Does it not every day extirpate the brambly shrubs from the Italian forest?

Nonne cotidie vel plantas inserit vel plantaria plantat? Quid aliud agricole sui satagunt nisi ut amoveant et admoveant, ut dictum est? Quare prorsus tanto decusari vocabulo promeretur.

Does he not every day either graft plants or plant nursery-stock? What else do his farmers busy themselves with, except to remove and to bring near, as has been said? Wherefore it indeed deserves to be adorned with so great a name.

2 Quia vero aulicum nominamus illud causa est quod, si aulam nos Ytali haberemus, palatinum foret. Nam si aula totius regni comunis est domus et omnium regni partium gubernatrix augusta, quicquid tale est ut omnibus sit comune nec proprium ulli, conveniens est ut in ea conversetur et habitet, nec aliquod aliud habitaculum tanto dignum est habitante: hoc nempe videtur esse id de quo loquimur vulgare.

2 Because indeed we call it “aulic,” the reason is that, if we Itali had an aula, it would be “palatine.” For if the aula is the common house of the whole kingdom and the august governress of all the parts of the kingdom, whatever is such as to be common to all and proper to none, it is fitting that it consort and dwell in it, nor is any other habitation worthy of so great an inhabitant: this, namely, seems to be that of which we speak—the vulgar tongue.

3. Et hinc est quod in regiis omnibus conversantes semper illustri vulgari locuntur; hinc etiam est quod nostrum illustre velut accola peregrinatur et in humilibus hospitatur asilis, cum aula vacemus.

3. And hence it is that in royal courts
all who are conversant there always speak the illustrious vernacular; hence also
it is that our illustrious vernacular, as though an accola, peregrinates and
takes lodging in humble asylums, when we lack a court.

4. Est etiam merito curiale dicendum, quia curialitas nil aliud est quam librata regula eorum que peragenda sunt: et quia statera huiusmodi librationis tantum in excellentissimis curiis esse solet, hinc est quod quicquid in actibus nostris bene libratum est, curiale dicatur. Unde cum istud in excellentissima Ytalorum curia sit libratum, dici curiale meretur.

4. It is also deservedly to be called curial, because curiality is nothing other than the balanced rule of the things that are to be performed: and because the balance of such libration is wont to exist only in the most excellent courts, hence it is that whatever in our acts has been well balanced is called curial. Whence, since this has been librated in the most excellent court of the Italians, it deserves to be called curial.

5. Sed dicere quod in excellentissima Ytalorum curia sit libratum, videtur nugatio, cum curia careamus. Ad quod facile respondetur. Nam licet curia, secundum quod unita accipitur, ut curia regis Alamannie, in Ytalia non sit, membra tamen eius non desunt; et sicut membra illius uno Principe uniuntur, sic membra huius gratioso lumine rationis unita sunt.

5. But to say that in the most excellent court of the Italians it has been balanced, seems trifling, since we lack a court. To which it is easily responded. For although a court, insofar as it is taken as one, as the court of the king of Germany, in Italy is not, yet its members are not lacking; and just as the members of that are united by one Prince, so the members of this by the gracious light of reason are united.

Quare falsum esset dicere curia carere Ytalos, quanquam Principe careamus, quoniam curiam habemus, licet corporaliter sit dispersa.

Wherefore it would be false to say that the Italians lack a curia, although we lack a Prince, since we have a curia, albeit corporeally it is dispersed.

XIX

1. Hoc autem vulgare quod illustre, cardinale, aulicum et curiale ostensum est, dicimus esse illud quod vulgare latium appellatur. Nam sicut quoddam vulgare est invenire quod proprium est Cremone, sic quoddam est invenire quod proprium est Lombardie; et sicut est invenire aliquod quod sit proprium Lombardie, [sic] est invenire aliquod quod sit totius sinistre Ytalie proprium; et sicut omnia hec est invenire, sic et illud quod totius Ytalie est. Et sicut illud cremonense ac illud lombardum et tertium semilatium dicitur, sic istud, quod totius Ytalie est, latium vulgare vocatur.

1. Now this vulgar tongue which
has been shown as illustrious, cardinal, aulic, and curial, we say
is that which is called the Latian vulgar. For just as it is possible
to find a certain vulgar speech that is proper to Cremona, so it is possible
to find one that is proper to Lombardy; and just as it is possible to find
something that is proper to Lombardy, [sic] it is possible to find something
that is proper to all left-hand Italy; and just as all these can be
found, so too that which is of all Italy. And just as that one
is called Cremonese and that one Lombard and a third semi-Latian, so
this one, which is of all Italy, is called the Latian vulgar.

Hoc enim usi sunt doctores illustres qui lingua vulgari poetati sunt in Ytalia, ut Siculi, Apuli, Tusci, Romandioli, Lombardi et utriusque Marchie viri.

This indeed have used the illustrious doctors who have poetized in the vulgar tongue in Italy, such as Sicilians, Apulians, Tuscans, Romagnans, Lombards, and men of both the Marches.

2. Et quia intentio nostra, ut polliciti sumus in principio huius operis, est doctrinam de vulgari eloquentia tradere, ab ipso tanquam ab excellentissimo incipientes, quos putamus ipso dignos uti, et propter quid, et quomodo, nec non ubi, et quando, et ad quos ipsum dirigendum sit, in inmediatis libris tractabimus.

2. And since our intention, as we have promised at the beginning of this work, is to hand down a doctrine concerning vernacular eloquence, beginning from it itself as from the most excellent, those whom we think worthy to use it, and for what reason, and how, and also where, and when, and to whom it should be directed, we shall treat in the books immediately following.

3. Quibus illuminatis, inferiora vulgaria illuminare curabimus, gradatim descendentes ad illud quod unius solius familie proprium est.

3. With these illuminated, we shall take care to illuminate the lower vernaculars, descending by degrees to that which is proper to one single family.