[48] The now celebrated pass of the Ampezzo between Venice and Innspruck.
[49] This must probably be Hall on the Inn, a little below Innspruck.
Certainly any boat which he got there for the descent of the river must
have been a sufficiently miserable mode of travelling.
[50] Far, that is, from the bank of the river, where he left his boat at
night.
[51] Lettere del Signor Cavaliere Battista Guarini, Nobile Ferrarese, di
nuovo in questa seconda impressione di alcune altre accrescinte, e dall'
Autore stesso corrette, di Agostino Michele raccolte, et al Sereniss.
Signore il Duca d'Urbino dedicate. Con Privilegio. In Venetia, MDXCV.
Appresso Gio. Battista Ciotti Senese al segno della Minerva.
[52] I translate literally. Old-fashioned people will remember a somewhat
similar use of the word "Flame" in English.
[53] I subjoin a literal prose translation in preference to borrowing a
rhymed one from any of Tasso's translators. This fellow "flits and circles
around more unstable than dry leaves in the wind. Without faith, without
love, false are his pretended torments, and false the affection which
prompts his sighs. A traitorous lover, he loves and despises almost at the
same moment, and in triumph displays the spoils of women as impious
trophies."
[54] "See how this fellow, who in vain aims at a lofty goal, by blaming
others, and by lying accents, sharpens against himself his teeth, while
without reason he is enraged with me.... Of two flames he boasts, and ties
and breaks over and over again the same knot; and by these arts (who would
believe it!) bends in his favour the Gods!" ...
[55] It is odd that he should so write in a paper dated, as the present
is, from Venice. I suppose the expression came from his feeling that he
was addressing parsons at Ferrara.
[56] Seeing that, as has been said, his ancestors were of Verona, which
belonged to Venice.
[57] Barotti gives it at length; but it is hardly worth while to occupy
space by reproducing it here.
[58] "Guarini sitting here, sang, that which renders the seat the equal of
a royal throne."
[59] It is very doubtful and very difficult to determine at what period of
his life the "Pastor Fido" was written. Ginguene (Hist. Ital. Lit. Part
II. ch. xxv.) has sufficiently shown that the statements of the Italian
biographers on this point are inaccurate. Probably it was planned and, in
part, written many years before it was finished. It was first printed in
1590.