Once in a Lifetime, part 2
Laura, in the Margins of His Virgil
Draft: this translation has not yet been checked against the original by a separate review.
- Written
- 1348 or soon after
- Place
- Parma
- Language
- Latin
- Kind of source
- note
- Reading time
- 2 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Intensity
- Low
Black Death (1347–1351)ChristianityDeath and burial
Once in a Lifetime themes: Exhaustion
On a flyleaf of the manuscript of Virgil he kept with him for most of his life, Petrarch wrote down the day he first saw Laura and the day she died, twenty-one years apart to the hour.
Laura was the woman Petrarch loved from a distance and celebrated in hundreds of Italian poems. She died at Avignon on April 6, 1348, in the first months of the mortality there. Petrarch was in Italy, at Verona. The news reached him at Parma in a letter from his friend Ludovicus, the same friend he called Socrates. The manuscript is now in the Ambrosian Library in Milan.
The note does not say how Laura died. Petrarch wrote it for himself, in a book he read often, so that it would remind him to turn away from the world. The scholar Pierre de Nolhac, who printed it in 1907, says its authenticity had often been doubted, but that he saw no good reason for doubt once he had the manuscript in hand.
Watch for the dates, and for the way Petrarch turns a private grief into a lesson for himself.
The edited translation, in simplified modern English. Bracketed words were added for clarity; [...] marks a cut. Tap a note number to read the note.
Laura, famous for her own virtues and long celebrated in my poems, first appeared to my eyes in the early days of my youth, on April 6 in the year of our Lord 1327, in the church of Saint Clare1 at Avignon, in the morning. And in the same city, in the same month of April, on the same sixth day, at the same first hour,2 but in the year 1348, that light was taken from this light of day. I happened to be at Verona then, alas, unaware of what had befallen me.
The sad news reached me at Parma in a letter from my friend Ludovicus, on the morning of May 19 of the same year. That most chaste and beautiful body was laid to rest at the church of the Franciscans on the very evening of the day she died. Her soul, I am convinced, has returned to heaven, where it came from, as Seneca says of Africanus.3
I have decided to write this down, with a kind of bitter sweetness, in memory of that painful event. I write it here above all, in a place that often comes back before my eyes. Seeing these words often, and reckoning how fast life flies, will remind me that nothing in this life should please me any longer. Now that the greatest snare is broken, it is time to flee from Babylon.4 With God’s grace leading the way, that will be easy, if I think hard and bravely about the useless cares, empty hopes, and unexpected endings of the past.
Notes
- The church of the Poor Clares, an order of nuns, in Avignon. back
- The first hour of daylight, around sunrise. back
- Scipio Africanus, the Roman general. Petrarch recalls a saying of the Roman writer Seneca about him. back
- Avignon, seat of the papal court, which Petrarch often called Babylon for its worldliness. back
Laurea, propriis uirtutibus illustris et meis longum celebrata carminibus, primum oculis meis apparuit sub primum adolescentie mee tempus, anno Domini m° iijc xxviij die vj° mensis Aprilis in ecclesia sancte Clare Auin. hora matutina; et in eadem ciuitate eodem mense Aprili eodem die sexto eadem hora prima, anno autem m° iijc xlviij° ab hac luce lux illa subtracta est, cum ego forte tunc Verone essem, heu! fati mei nescius.
Laura, illustrious for her own virtues and long celebrated in my poems, first appeared to my eyes in the first time of my youth, in the year of the Lord 1328 [sic], on the 6th day of the month of April, in the church of Saint Clare at Avignon, at the morning hour; and in the same city, in the same month of April, on the same sixth day, at the same first hour, but in the year 1348, that light was taken from this light, when I by chance was then at Verona, alas! unaware of my fate.
Laura, famous for her own virtues and long celebrated in my poems, first appeared to my eyes in the early days of my youth, on April 6 in the year of our Lord 1327, in the church of Saint Clare at Avignon, in the morning. And in the same city, in the same month of April, on the same sixth day, at the same first hour, but in the year 1348, that light was taken from this light of day. I happened to be at Verona then, alas, unaware of what had befallen me.
- The church of the Poor Clares, an order of nuns, in Avignon.
- The first hour of daylight, around sunrise.
Rumor autem infelix per literas Ludouici mei me Parme repperit, anno eodem mense Maio die xix° mane. Corpus illud castissimum atque pulcerrimum in loco Fratrum Minorum repositum est, ipso die mortis ad uesperam. Animam quidem eius, ut de Africano ait Seneca, in celum, unde erat, rediisse persuadeo michi.
The unhappy news, however, through a letter of my Ludovicus found me at Parma, in the same year, in the month of May, on the 19th day, in the morning. That most chaste and most beautiful body was laid in the place of the Friars Minor, on the very day of death, toward evening. Her soul indeed, as Seneca says of Africanus, returned to heaven, whence it came; I persuade myself [of this].
The sad news reached me at Parma in a letter from my friend Ludovicus, on the morning of May 19 of the same year. That most chaste and beautiful body was laid to rest at the church of the Franciscans on the very evening of the day she died. Her soul, I am convinced, has returned to heaven, where it came from, as Seneca says of Africanus.
- Scipio Africanus, the Roman general. Petrarch recalls a saying of the Roman writer Seneca about him.
Hec autem ad acerbam rei memoriam amara quadam dulcedine scribere uisum est, hoc potissimum loco qui sepe sub oculis meis redit, ut scilicet nichil esse debere quod amplius mihi placeat in hac uita et, effracto maiori laqueo, tempus esse de Babilone fugiendi crebra horum inspectione ac fugacissime etatis estimatione conmonear, quod, preuia Dei gratia, facile erit preteriti temporis curas superuacuas spes inanes et inexpectatos exitus acriter ac uiriliter cogitanti.
These things, however, for the bitter memory of the matter, it seemed good to write with a certain bitter sweetness, in this place above all, which often comes back under my eyes, so that, namely, by frequent looking at these [words] and by reckoning of the most fleeting age, I may be reminded that there ought to be nothing which pleases me any more in this life, and that, the greater snare being broken, it is time to flee from Babylon; which, God’s grace going before, will be easy for one who thinks sharply and manfully of the superfluous cares, empty hopes, and unexpected outcomes of past time.
I have decided to write this down, with a kind of bitter sweetness, in memory of that painful event. I write it here above all, in a place that often comes back before my eyes. Seeing these words often, and reckoning how fast life flies, will remind me that nothing in this life should please me any longer. Now that the greatest snare is broken, it is time to flee from Babylon. With God’s grace leading the way, that will be easy, if I think hard and bravely about the useless cares, empty hopes, and unexpected endings of the past.
- Avignon, seat of the papal court, which Petrarch often called Babylon for its worldliness.
Page images of the original object or of the printed edition, from the libraries and archives that hold them. The pages shown are copied here where the holder marks them public domain; titles link to the holder's own viewer. Click a page to see it full size.
Nolhac, Pétrarque et l’humanisme, vol. 2, Paris 1907
Internet Archive. pp. 286–287. Public domain (published 1907).
The printed transcription our text follows.
New translation from the Latin text as transcribed by Pierre de Nolhac (Paris, 1907), volume 2, pages 286–287. The whole note is included.
- Original
- Text as printed in the named edition or on the object, read from page images. Edition: Pierre de Nolhac, Pétrarque et l’humanisme, new edition, vol. 2 (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1907), Excursus VI, pp. 286–287, Nolhac’s transcription of the note on the flyleaf of Petrarch’s Virgil. Digital text: Internet Archive item NolhacPetrarqueEtLHumanisme2a, OCR text, extracted by code and compared with a second copy, nolhac-petrarque-et-lhumanisme-v-2. Not yet read against the page images. Nolhac’s spelling of the manuscript (u for v, e for ae) and its Roman numerals are kept. His introduction and notes are not copied. Author’s text only.
- Transliterated
- Not needed: the original is in the Latin alphabet
- Close English
- Close translation drafted by Claude (Anthropic), kept as a working draft
- Simplified English
- Drafted by Claude (Anthropic) from the original. Not yet checked by a separate review.
- Editor’s review
- Not yet.
- Specialist review
- Not yet. Readings a specialist should confirm are listed for later review.
- Rights
- Original: public domain. Edition: public domain.
Sources for the notes
- Nolhac, Pierre de. Pétrarque et l’humanisme. New edition. Vol. 2. Paris: Honoré Champion, 1907. Excursus VI, pp. 286–287.