The lady that now came toward us over the little bridge was one whose acquaintance I could claim, and whose beauty I admired very greatly. Madonna Vittoria Crescimbeni was a very fair lady that was generous of her favors to those that were wealthy, and even to those that were not, if they happened to take her fancy, as indeed I am pleased to recall. She lived on the other side of Arno, in a gracious dwelling1 that had been built for her by a great lord that had given her everything, except his name, while he lived, and had died and left her a fortune. For all that, she was a light child; she carried herself with much show of discretion2, and was only to be come at warily3, as it were, and with circumspection4; and because of her abundance she was at no man's beck and call, and could choose and refuse as it liked her. She was made something full of figure, with a face like an ancient statue, which was the less to be wondered at because her mother was a Greek; but her hair, of which she had a mighty5 [Pg 47]quantity, was of that tawny6 red tincture that is familiar to those that woo Venetian women. As for her mouth, it was like flame, and her eyes were flames too, though of another hue7, having a greenish light in them that could delight or frighten as she pleased. She went her ways in great state, having two small knavish8 blackamoor pages in gold tissue at her heels, and a little ways off she was followed by a brace9 of well-armed serving-rascals.
For my own part, I was mightily10 pleased to see her, for though she was, in the native ways of affairs, somewhat out of my star, still, as I said, she was to show later that she had an eye for a pretty fellow and owned a spirit above mere11 dross12. I say no more. She seemed content enough to see me, but still more content to see Messer Guido. This was an experience in the ways of ladies with which those that walked with Messer Guido were familiar. Every woman that saw him admired him highly. So Vittoria smiled a little on me and a great deal on Messer Guido; and as for Dante, she glanced at him slightly and gave him little heed13, for his habit was modest and his looks were not of a kind at once to tickle14 the fancy of such as she. Yet Dante looked at her curiously15, though without ostentation16, as one whose way it is instinctively17 to observe all men and all women with an exceeding keenness and clearness of vision.
Messer Guido greeted Madonna Vittoria very [Pg 48]courteously, as was ever his way with women. Were they fair or plain-favored, chaste18 or gay, he was ever their very gentle servant. And by this time Vittoria, being very close to us, paused and gave us the greeting of the day; and her pages came to a halt behind her, and her men-at-arms stood at ease a little space away.
The beautiful lady looked at us with a kind of wonder and a kind of mockery in her dark eyes. And when she spoke19 to us her voice was marvellously soft with a rich softness that made me, being then of a very sensual disposition20, think instantly of old wine and ripe fruit, and darkened alcoves21, and the wayward complaining of lutes. Indeed, wherever Monna Vittoria went she seemed to carry with her an atmosphere of subtle seclusion22, of a cloistered23 lusciousness24, of dim, green, guarded gardens, where the sighs of love's novices25 are stifled26 by the drip of stealthy fountains and the babble27 of fantastic birds. I suppose it was no more than my fancy, or a trick of my memory confusing later things with earlier, that makes me now, as I write, seem to recall what seemed like a smile on the face of the pagan effigy28 of Love as Madonna Vittoria swam into her company, as if the Greekish image recognized in the woman a creature of the early days when cunning fingers fashioned him. For, indeed, Vittoria was not modern in the sense that we Florentines are modern. She derived29 from a [Pg 49]world long dead and buried. Heavens, how Messer Alcibiades would have admired her!
"Good-morrow, gentle gentles," she began, in that caressing30 voice, "why are you absent from the sacrifice?"
Guido looked for the instant perplexed31 by the woman's words, and he moved a little nearer to her. As for Dante, he seemed to have forgotten us all, even to have forgotten his book, and though he had risen when Monna Vittoria approached, he had by this time sunk onto the stone seat again, and seemed drowned in a brown study.
"What sacrifice, lady?" Guido asked of Vittoria; and whenever Guido spoke to a woman, he spoke as if all the pleasures and destinies of the world depended upon that one woman's interest and caprice.
Madonna Vittoria smiled, self-satisfied, as all women smiled when Guido so addressed them. "Why, the sacrifice of the pearl to the pig," she answered; and she still smiled as she spoke, but there was a kind of anger in her eyes. "The sacrifice of a clean child to a coarse churl32, the sacrifice of Folco Portinari's little Beatrice to my big Simone, that I do not choose to lose."
Here I broke in, laughing, for I took the drift of her meaning, and was wishful to prove myself alert. "Most allegorical lady," I protested, "I take you very clearly when you explain your own [Pg 50]fable." And I rubbed my hands, instantly pleased with myself and my nimbleness.
But Messer Guido still looked thoughtful. "If the ladies of Florence," he said, slowly, "make Madonna Beatrice their May-queen, that dainty deed does not deliver her to Simone of the Bardi."
Madonna Vittoria turned upon him with a sharpness seldom seen on a woman's face when it bent33 toward Messer Guido of the Cavalcanti. Her smooth forehead wrinkled with an unfamiliar34 frown; her full lips seemed to tighten35 and narrow to a red thread; her eyes were as a cat's eyes are when the cat is very, very angry.
"Who goes by her side," she asked, sourly, "as she goes through the city?" And she answered her own question with a name. "Simone dei Bardi." She went on: "Who is her father's faithful friend? Simone dei Bardi." She glanced from one to the other of us—Messer Guido and I, I mean, for Dante took no heed of her and she seemed to take no heed of him. "I will tell you," she said, fiercely, "the trap is baited for the prey36, and, as things go, it seems as if I were like to lose my emerald, that I can spare ill, as well as a husband, that I could spare very readily were it not that I had a mind to marry him."
Now at this there was a pause, and in a little while I turned to Dante, thinking that it was high time he took a share in our parley37.
[Pg 51]
"Is not," I said, "Monna Vittoria much to be pitied?"
Being thus questioned, Dante seemed to shake himself free from his lethargy, or his disdain38, or whatever you may call it, and he answered very indifferently, as one that speaks of another that is not present, "I do not know the cause of her sorrow."
Monna Vittoria turned to him now very directly and faced him, and there was a kind of challenge in her carriage.
"Messer Dante," she said, "if you know nothing of me, I know something of you, for Messer Brunetto, your philosopher, is one of my very good friends. I had this trinket of him a week ago." And as she spoke she fingered an enamelled and jewelled pendant against her neck that must have cost the scholar a merry penny. "Well, Messer Dante, you who are young and of high spirit, would you have a queen of beauty married to a king of beasts?"
Dante shrugged39 his shoulders a little, feigning40 no interest in the handsome creature that addressed him. "The alliance sounds unnatural," he answered, carelessly, and looked as if he would be glad that the matter should end.
But Vittoria would not have it so. "Well, now," she said, "when all Florence is luting and fluting41 for the queen of beauty, the king of beasts walks warden42 by her side."
[Pg 52]
Still Dante showed no interest. "Who is this queen of beauty?" he asked, listlessly. And when Guido made answer that she was Folco Portinari's daughter Beatrice, he only shook his head a little and declared that he did not know her.
"She is new to Florence," I explained.
And Vittoria went on. "I will give her this credit, that she is a comely43 piece. Let us go and see the girl in her triumph." She addressed herself directly to Guido, but she had an after-glance for me as well.
Guido turned toward his new-made friend. "Will you come with us, Messer Dante?" he asked.
But Dante denied him. "Not I, by your leave," he replied. "I find folly44 enough here in my book without tramping the highways to face it in its pageant45."
Now I felt a little vexed46 at his churlishness, for Madonna Vittoria was a lovely lady, and very pleasant company, and one worth obliging. So I spoke to the others, saying, "Well, well, let us not starve because Dante has no appetite." And therewith I caught a hand of Guido and a hand of Vittoria, and made to lead them from the place. And they both responded well enough to my summons.
But Monna Vittoria checked me a little and paused, and spoke again to Dante. "Farewell, Messer Dante," she said, sweetly. "Will you come visit me one of these days?"
[Pg 53]
But Dante, who had poked47 that hooked nose of his now in his book again, shook his head and made her no very civil answer. "Madonna," he said, "I have little money and less lust48. God be with you."
So, lapped in that mood, we left him, and went our ways toward the Signory, and our Dante was soon out of sight, and, if truth be told, out of mind.
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1
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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4
circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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5
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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7
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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8
knavish
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| adj.无赖（似）的，不正的；刁诈 | |
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9
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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10
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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11
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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12
dross
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| n.渣滓；无用之物 | |
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13
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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14
tickle
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| v.搔痒，胳肢；使高兴；发痒；n.搔痒，发痒 | |
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15
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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16
ostentation
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| n.夸耀，卖弄 | |
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17
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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18
chaste
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| adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的 | |
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19
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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20
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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21
alcoves
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| n.凹室( alcove的名词复数 )；（花园）凉亭；僻静处；壁龛 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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23
cloistered
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| adj.隐居的，躲开尘世纷争的v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
lusciousness
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25
novices
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| n.新手( novice的名词复数 )；初学修士（或修女）；（修会等的）初学生；尚未赢过大赛的赛马 | |
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26
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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27
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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30
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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31
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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32
churl
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| n.吝啬之人；粗鄙之人 | |
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33
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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34
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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35
tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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36
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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37
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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38
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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39
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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40
feigning
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| 假装，伪装( feign的现在分词 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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41
fluting
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| 有沟槽的衣料； 吹笛子； 笛声； 刻凹槽 | |
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42
warden
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| n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人 | |
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43
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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44
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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45
pageant
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| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
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46
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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47
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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48
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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