Manicardi e Massera, op. cit., think this would mean he was thirty-five; but in my opinion it would mean he was already forty or forty-five. For according to an old writer of 1310 (Cod. Nazionale di Firenze, II, ii. 84), "They say the philosophers say there are four ages; they are adolescence, youth, age, and old age. The first lasts till twenty-five or thirty, the second till forty or forty-five, the third till fifty-five or sixty, the fourth till death. Cf. Della Torre, op. cit., p. 87. In sonnet lxiv. B. says he, growing grey,
"... ed ora ch' a imbiancare
Cominci, di te stesso abbi mercede."
[371] As to sonnet ci., both Crescini and Koerting point out that it is written to a widow (perhaps the lady of the Corbaccio, see infra, [p. 181] et seq.); but they consider it a mere fantasy, not referring to any real love affair. Cf. Crescini, op. cit., p. 166, note 2. Cf. a similar question to that put in the sonnet in Filocolo (Moutier), Lib. IV, p. 94. Sonnet c. also deals with a widow: "il brun vestire ed il candido velo." Who this widow really may be is an insoluble problem. If it be the lady of the Corbaccio, she would seem to be the wife of Antonio Pucci, for sonnet ci. is dedicated "ad Antonio Pucci." Sonnets lxiv., lxv., seem to refer to the same affair. As to sonnets xii. and xvii., the first is a fantasy and the second refers to Fiammetta in my judgment.
[372] Cf. Manicardi e Massera, op. cit., p. 37.
[374] In xl. he writes, "Quella splendida fiamma"; in xli., "Quindi nel petto entrommi una fiammetta"; in xlvi., "Se quella fiamma"; in lxiii., "Amorosa fiamma"; in lxxxiii., "Accese fiamme attingo a mille a mille."
[375] Sonnets xxxi., xxxii., liii. refer without doubt to Fiammetta, but are indeterminate in time.