- Cara la vita, et dopo lei mi pare
vera honestà, che 'n bella donna sia.
- L'ordine volgi: e' non fûr, madre mia,
senza honestà mai cose belle o care;
et qual donna si lascia di suo honor privare,
né donna è piú né viva; et se qual pria
appare in vista, è tal vita aspra et ria
via piú che morte, et di piú pene amare.
Né di Lucretia mi meravigliai,
se non come a morir le bisognasse
ferro, et non le bastasse il dolor solo. -
Vengan quanti philosophi fur mai,
a dir di ciò: tutte lor vie fien basse;
et quest'una vedremo alzarsi a volo.
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'Life is dearest, and next it seems to me
true chaste behaviour in a lovely woman.'
'Reverse that: there was never anything
dear or lovely without chaste actions :
and she who lives deprived of her honour,
is no lady and no longer living: and if she
seems so, yet her life is harsh, her path
is worse than death, with more bitter pain.
I only wondered at Lucretia in this,
that she must kill herself with a dagger,
that her grief alone was not enough.'
However many philosophers came to speak
of it: all their wisdom would fall to earth:
and we would see hers soar above them.
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