Stanza 8

Boccaccio:

La qual cosa a' suoi uomini non piaccendo, piú volte il pregaron che moglie prendesse,

but his vassals, brooking it ill, did oftentimes entreat him to take a wife,


Petrarch:

Cum merito igitur tua nobis omnia placeant, semperque placuerint, ut felices nos tali domino iudicemus. Unum est, quod si a te impetrari sinis teque nobis exorabilem prebes, plane felicissimi finitimorum omnium futuri simus: ut coniugio scilicet animum applices,

Although all your ways, then, justly give us pleasure and always have, so that we count ourselves happy in such an overlord, there is one thing in which we should assuredly be the happiest of all men round about, if you would consent to it and show yourself susceptible to our entreaties; and that is, that you should take thought of marriage


Chaucer:

For certes, lord, so wel us liketh yow
And al youre werk, and evere han doon that we
Ne koude nat us-self devysen how
We myghte lyven in moore felicitee,
Save o thyng, lord, if it youre wille be,
That for to been a wedded man yow leste,
Thanne were youre peple in sovereyn hertes reste.

(close this window to return to the Clerk's Tale.)

No comments:

Post a Comment