Retrospective Review, vol. III.
[5]In the Retrospective Review, vol. III., in the article on the poetical literature of Spain, the whole of Sant Jordi's Song of Contraries (Cancion de Opositos), is given, from which Petrarch adopted, it is alleged, whole lines. Nothing is less derogatory to a poet of the highest genius than the fact that he picked up here and there lines and ideas, amalgamating them with his own, and adorning them with alien splendour. It is honourable, however, to Sant Jordi, to be stolen from the spirit of the two poems is different and the lines scattered and disconnected. Those of Petrarch are—and they are some of his finest—
"Pace non trovo e non ho da far guerra,
E volo sopra 'l cielo, e giaceio in terra,
E nulla stringo e tutto il mondo abraccio,
E ho in odio me stesso e amo altrui,
Se non e amor, cosé dunque ch'io sento?"
Sant Jordi, describing the struggles of his mind, has these similar lines:—
"E no strench res, e tot lo mon abras,
vol sovel cel, e nom movi de terra."
And both Italian and Provençal bear the same translation.
I nothing grasp—and yet the world embrace:
I fly o'er highest heaven, though bound to earth.
As also—
"Hoy he de mi, e vull altra gran he."
I hate myself—others are dear to me.
And