Stanza 51

Boccaccio:

e oltre a questo era tanto obediente al marito e tanto servente, che egli si teneva il piú contento e il piú appagato uomo del mondo. E similmente verso i subditi del marito era tanto graziosa e tanto benigna, che niun ve ne era che piú che sé non l'amasse e che non l'onorasse di grado, tutti per lo suo bene e per lo suo stato e per lo suo essaltamento pregando. . . . E in brieve non solamente nel suo marchesato ma per tutto, anzi che gran tempo fosse passato, seppe ella sí fare, che ella fece ragionare del suo valore e del suo bene adoperare, e in contrario rivolgere, se alcuna cosa detta s'era contra al marito per lei quando sposata l'avea.

Moreover, she was so obedient and devoted to her husband, that he deemed himself the happiest and luckiest man in the world. And likewise so gracious and kindly was she to her husband's vassals, that there was none of them but loved her more dearly than himself, and was zealous to do her honour, and prayed for her welfare and prosperity and aggrandisement. . . . And in short she so comported herself as in no long time to bring it to pass that, not only in the marquisate, but far and wide besides, her virtues and her admirable conversation were matter of common talk, and, if aught had been said to the disadvantage of her husband, when he married her, the judgment was now altogether to the contrary effect.


Petrarch:

tantus erat vite, tantus morum decor, ea verborum gravitas ac dulcedo, quibus omnium animos nexu sibi magni amoris astrinxerat.

such was the graciousness of her life and of her ways, the gravity and sweetness of her speech, by which she had bound the hearts of all the people to her with the bond of a great love.


Chaucer:

For though that evere vertuous was she,
She was encressed in swich excellence,
Of thewes goode, yset in heigh bountee,
And so discreet and fair of eloquence,
So benigne, and so digne of reverence,
And koude so the peples herte embrace,
That ech hir lovede, that looked on hir face.



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