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Then I attempt to ease my own malaise, and thus death-pale, fatigued and torn apart, I go to glimpse you, hopeful I’ll be whole. And if I lift my eyes so I can gaze, a seismic shaking starts within my heart that chases from my pulse my very soul.
[Poscia mi sforzo, ché mi voglio atare; e così smorto, d’onne valor voto, vegno a vedervi, credendo guerire: e se io levo li occhi per guardare, nel cor mi si comincia uno tremoto, che fa de’ polsi l’anima partire.]
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet La Vita Nuova [Vita Nova; New Life], ch. 16 / Sonnet 7, ll. 9-14 (c. 1294, pub. 1576) [tr. Frisardi (2012), ch. 9]
(Source)
Dante gets his courage up to approach his beloved Beatrice, only to be gobsmacked by her gaze.
At length I make an effort for relief, And so, all pale and destitute of power, I come to gaze on you, in hope of cure:
And if I raise the eyes that I may look, A trembling at my heart begins, so dread, It makes the soul take flight from every vein.
[tr. Lyell (1845)]
And then if I, whom other aid forsook, Would aid myself, and innocent of art
Would fain have sight of thee as a last hope, No sooner do I lift mine eyes to look Than the blood seems as shaken from my heart,
And all my pulses beat at once and stop.
[tr. Rossetti (c. 1847; 1899 ed.)]
Then I resolve, -- this shall no longer be, And come to seek thee, all amort and pale, Thinking by sight of thee to cure my pain;
But when I lift mine eyes to look on thee, My heart within my bosom begins to quail, And my perturbed soul takes flight from every vein.
[tr. Martin (1862)]
Then to mine aid I summon up my strength, And so, all pale, and empty of defence, I seek thy sight, thinking to be made whole;
And if to look I lift mine eyes at length, Within my heart an earthquake doth commence, Which from my pulses driveth out the soul.
[tr. Norton (1867), ch. 16]
To aid me then my forces I renew And pallid, all my courage drained long since, I come to you to remedy my plight; But if I raise my eyes to look at you So vast a tremor in my heart begins My beating pulses put my soul to flight.
[tr. Reynolds (1969)]
Hoping to help myself, I gather courage
And pale, drawn, lacking all defense
I come to you expecting to be healed;
But if I raise my eyes to look at you
An earthquake starts at once within my heart
And drives life out and stops my pulses' beat.
[tr. Musa (1971)]
With hope of help to come I gather courage, and deathly languid, drained of all defenses,
I come to you expecting to be healed;
and if I raise my eyes to look at you,
within my heart a tremor starts to spread,
driving out life, stopping my pulses’ beat.
[tr. Hollander (1997), sec. 9-10]
I renew my strength, because I wish for help,
and pale like this, all my courage drained,
come to you, believing it will save me:
and if I lift my eyes to gaze at you
my heart begins to tremble so,
that from my pulse the soul departs.
[tr. Kline (2002)]
Then I make an effort, because I want to defend myself: and thus, wan and drained of all strength, I come to see you, thinking I will recover: but if I raise my eyes to look at you, such a great trembling begins in my heart that it makes my soul desert my heartbeats.
[tr. Appelbaum (2006)]
The moment I saw her I say in all truth that the vital spirit, which dwells in the inmost depths of the heart, began to tremble so violently that I felt the vibration alarmingly in all my pulses, even the weakest of them. As it trembled, it uttered these words: Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi [Behold a god more powerful than I who comes to rule over me].
[In quello punto dico veracemente che lo spirito de la vita, lo quale dimora ne la secretissima camera de lo cuore, cominciò a tremare sì fortemente, che apparia ne li menimi polsi orribilmente; e tremando disse queste parole: «Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur michi»]
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet La Vita Nuova [Vita Nova; New Life], ch. 2 (c. 1294, pub. 1576) [tr. Reynolds (1969)]
(Source)
On first seeing his beloved Beatrice (when both were nine years old). Other body parts that react are his senses, particularly his sight, which will now know "bliss"; and his stomach, which fears it will always be knotted and suffering from indigestion.
At that moment, I say most truly that the spirit of life, which hath its dwelling in the secretest chamber of the heart, began to tremble so violently that the least pulses of my body shook therewith; and in trembling it said these words: Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi [Here is a deity stronger than I; who, coming, shall rule over me].
[tr. Rossetti (c. 1847; 1899 ed.), ch. 1]
At that moment (I speak it in all truth) the spirit of life, which abides in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to trumble with a violence that showed horribly in the minutest pulsations of my fram, and tremulously it spoke these words: -- "Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi! Behold a god stronger than I, who cometh to triumph over me!"
[tr. Martin (1862), ch. 1]
At that instant, I say truly that the spirit of life, which dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble with such violence that it appeared fearfully in the least pulses, and, trembling, said these words: Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi [Behold a god stronger than I, who coming shall rule over me].
[tr. Norton (1867), ch. 2]
At that moment, I say truly that the vital spirit, the one that dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble so violently that even the least pulses of my body were strangely affected; and trembling, it spoke these words: “Here is a god stronger than I, who shall come to rule over me.”
[tr. Musa (1971), ch. 2]
At that very moment, and I speak the truth, the vital spirit, the one that dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble so violently that even the most minute veins of my body were strangely affected; and trembling, it spoke these words: Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur michi.
[tr. Hollander (1997), ch. 2]
At that moment I say truly that the vital spirit, that which lives in the most secret chamber of the heart began to tremble so violently that I felt it fiercely in the least pulsation, and, trembling, it uttered these words: "Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur michi: Behold a god more powerful than I, who, coming, will rule over me."
[tr. Kline (2002), ch. 2]
At that moment, I say truly, the vital spirit, which resides in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble so strongly that it was terribly evident in my slightest heartbeats, and tremblingly it spoke these words: "Behold a god stronger than I, who is coming and will dominate me."
[tr. Appelbaum (2006), ch. 2]
At that time, truly, I say, the vital spirit, which dwells in the innermost chamber of the heart, started to tremble so powerfully that its disturbance reached all the way to the slightest of my pulses. And trembling it spoke these words: “Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur michi” [Here is a god stronger than I, who comes to rule me].
[tr. Frisardi (2012), ch. 1]
The fact is that in order to do any thing in this world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on the bank thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845) English clergyman, essayist, wit
Lecture (1804-1806), Moral Philosophy, No. 9 “On the Conduct of the Understanding,” Royal Institution, London
(Source)
Collected in Elementary Sketches of Moral Philosophy (1849).
Dore – Purgatorio, Canto 30 – The Arrival of Beatrice
Not one drop of blood
is left inside my veins that does not throb:
I recognize signs of the ancient flame.
[Men che dramma
di sangue m’è rimaso, che non tremi;
conosco i segni de l’antica fiamma.]
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian poet The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 2 “Purgatorio,” Canto 30, l. 46ff (3.46-68) (1314) [tr. Musa (1981)]
(Source)
Dante, on seeing his long-lost love, Beatrice, repeating to Virgil the lines he had given Dido (Aeneid, 4.23) about how she felt the stirring of long-dead passion upon seeing Aeneas: "Agnosco veteris vestigia flammae" ("I know the traces of the ancient flame" [tr. Kline (2002)]).
(Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:
There is no dram of blood,
That doth not quiver in me. The old flame
Throws out clear tokens of reviving fire.
[tr. Cary (1814)]
There is not one drop
Of blood within me trembling but became:
I know the tokens of the ancient fame.
[tr. Bannerman (1850)]
Not a drachm
Of blood remains in me, that does not tremble;
I know the traces of the ancient flame.
[tr. Longfellow (1867)]
Less than a dram of blood remains to me which trembles not; I recognise the signs of the ancient flame.
[tr. Butler (1885)]
Rests within my frame
No dram of blood that does not tremble now;
I know the symptoms of the olden flame.
[tr. Minchin (1885)]
Less than a drachm of blood remains in me that doth not tremble; I recognize the signals of the ancient flame.
[tr. Norton (1892)]
Less than a drachm of blood
is left in me that trembleth not; I recognise
the tokens of the ancient flame.
[tr. Okey (1901)]
Not a drop of blood is left in me that does not tremble; I know the marks of the ancient flame.
[tr. Sinclair (1939)]
Scarce one drop remains
Of blood in me that trembles not: by this
I recognize the old flame within my veins.
[tr. Binyon (1943)]
There is scarce a dram
That does not hammer and throb in all my blood;
I know the embers of the ancient flame.
[tr. Sayers (1955)]
There is not within me
one drop of blood unstirred. I recognize
the tokens of the ancient flame.
[tr. Ciardi (1961)]
Less than a drop of blood
Is left in me, that is not trembling:
I know the signs of the ancient flame.
[tr. Sisson (1981)]
I am left with less
than one drop of blood that does not tremble:
I recognize the signs of the old flame.
[tr. Mandelbaum (1982)]
There is a barely a drop of blood in me that does not tremble: I know the tokens of the ancient flame.
[tr. Kline (2002)]
Less than a dram of blood is left me that is not trembling: I recognize the signs of the ancient flame!
[tr. Durling (2003)]
There is not one gram
of blood in me that does not tremble now.
I recognize the signs of ancient flame.
[tr. Kirkpatrick (2007)]
Not a single drop of blood
remains in me that does not tremble --
I know the signs of the ancient flame.[tr. Hollander/Hollander (2007)]
There isn't a single drop of whatever blood Still flows in my veins that isn't shaking from fear: I recognize the signs of that ancient fire.
[tr. Raffel (2010)]
We boast our emancipation from many superstitions; but if we have broken any idols, it is through a transfer of idolatry. What have I gained, that I no longer immolate a bull to Jove or to Neptune, or a mouse to Hecate; that I do not tremble before the Eumenides, or the Catholic Purgatory, or the Calvinistic Judgment-day, — if I quake at opinion, the public opinion as we call it; or at the threat of assault, or contumely, or bad neighbors, or poverty, or mutilation, or at the rumor of revolution, or of murder? If I quake, what matters it what I quake at?
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Character,” Essays: Second Series (1844)
(Source)
Virgil (70-19 BC) Roman poet [b. Publius Vergilius Maro; also Vergil] The Aeneid [Ænē̆is], Book 2, l. 204 (2.204) [Aeneas] (29-19 BC) [tr. Fairclough (1916)]
(Source)
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
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