Arnaut has borne delay and long defence
And will wait long to see his hopes well nested.
[In De Vulgari Eloquio II, 13, Dante calls for freedom in the rhyme
order within the strophe, and cites this canzo of Arnaut's as an example
of poem where there is no rhyme within the single strophe. Dante's
"Rithimorum quoque relationi vacemus" implies no carelessness concerning
the blending of rhyme sounds, for we find him at the end of the chapter
"et tertio rithimorum asperitas, nisi forte sit lenitati permista: nam
lenium asperorumque rithimorum mixtura ipsa tragoedia nitescit," as he
had before demanded a mixture of shaggy and harsh words with the softer
words of a poem. "Nimo scilicet eiusdem rithimi repercussio, nisi forte
novum aliquid atque intentatum artis hoc sibi praeroget." The De Eloquio
is ever excellent testimony of the way in which, a great artist
approaches the detail of métier.]
[1] Preëminence.
[2] Presumably De Born.
[3] Wriblis = warblings.
[4] This is nearly as bad in the original.
[5] Raik = haste precipitate.
[6] Our Lady of Poi de Dome? No definite solution of this reference yet
found.
[7] Make = mate, fere, companion.
[8] Dante cites this poem in the second book of De Vulgari Eloquio with
poems of his own, De Born's, and Cino Pistoija's.
[9] Vivien, strophe 2, nebotz Sain Guillem, an allusion to the romance
"Enfances Vivien."
[10] Longus, centurion in the crucifixion legend.
[11] King of the Galicians, Ferdinand II, King of Galicia, 1157-88, son
of Berangere, sister of Raimon Berenger IV ("quattro figlie ebbe," etc.)
of Aragon, Count of Barcelona. His second son, Lieutenant of Provence,
1168.
[12] King crowned at Etampe, Phillipe August, crowned May 29, 1180, at
age of 16. This poem might date Arnaut's birth as early as 1150.
[13] "Brighter than glass, and yet as glass is, brittle." The
comparisons to glass went out of poetry when glass ceased to be a rare,
precious substance. (_Cf_. Passionate Pilgrim, III.)