"So absolute she seems,
And in herself complete, so well to know
Her own, that what she wills to do or say
Seems wisest, virtuosest, discreetest, best.
...*...*...*...*
Authority and reason on her wait,
...*...*...*...*
* * * and, to consummate all,
Greatness of mind and nobleness their seat
Build in her loveliest, and create an awe
About her, as a guard angelic plac'd."
FOOTNOTES:
[233] Sis oppido meminens quod olim Martia Hortensio, Terentia Tullio, Calpurnia Plinio, Pudentilla Apuleio, Rusticana Symmacho legentibus meditantibusque candelas and candelabra tenuerunt. Lib. II, Epist. 10.
[234] "Verum hoc—seu gratitudini seu ineptiæ ascribendum—non sileo, me quantulucunque conspicis, per illam esse, nec unquam ad hoc, si quid est nominis aut gloriæ fuisse venturum, nisi virtutum tenuissman sementem, quasi pectore in hoc natura locaverat, nobilissimis his affectibus coluisset." Francisci Petrarchæ, Colloquiorum Liber quem Secretum Suum Inscripsit, pp. 105-106, Berne, 1603.
In his canzone beginning with the words Perchè la vita e breve, Petrarch declares to his inspirer—
"Thus if in me is nurst
Any good fruit, from you the seed came first;
To you, if such appear, the praise is due,
Barren myself till fertilized by you."