Few men have anything to fear from their enemies, but most are in danger of being made ridiculous by their admirers. Puymaigre was no blind eulogist, and yet in an unwary moment he suggests a dangerous comparison when he quotes the passage describing the emotion of Doña Endrina’s lover on first meeting her:—
Pero tal lugar non era para fablar en amores:
amj luego me venjeron muchos mjedos e tenblores,
los mis pies e las mjs manos non eran de si senores,
perdi seso, perdi fuerça, mudaron se mjs colores.
And he ventures to place these lines beside the evocation in the Vita Nuova:—
Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare
La donna mia quand’ ella altrui saluta,
Ch’ ogni lingua divien tremando muta,
E gli occhi non l’ardiscon di guardare.