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Stories from the Italian Poets: with Lives of the Writers, Volume 2 by Leigh Hunt
page 38 of 371 (10%)
[Footnote 1: "Con parlar basso e bei ragionamenti."]

[Footnote 2: _Video meliora, proboque, &c._ Writers were now beginning
to pride themselves on their classical reading. The present occasion,
it must be owned, was a very good one for introducing the passage from
Horace. The previous words have an affecting ingenuousness; and, indeed,
the whole stanza is beautiful:

"Io non mi posso dal cor dipartire
La dolce vista del viso sereno,
Perch'io mi sento senza lei morire,
E 'l spirto a poco a poco venir meno.
Or non mi vale forza, nè l'ardire
Contra d' amor, the m' ha già posto il freno;
Nè mi giova saper, ne altrui consiglio:
Il meglio veggio, ed al peggior m'appiglio."

Alas! I cannot, though I shut mine eyes,
Lose the sweet look of that delightful face;
The very soul within me droops and dies,
To think that I may fail to gain her grace.
No strong limbs now, no valour, will suffice
To burst the spell that roots me to the place:
No, nor reflection, nor advice, nor force;
I see the better part, and clasp the worse.]

[Footnote 3:
[Greek: Argureais logchaisi machou, kai panta krataeseis.]

"Make war with silver spears, and you'll beat all."
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