“Ben è un ramo senza foglia,
Fiuma senz’ acqua e casa senza via,
La gentilezza senza cortesia.”
"Like to a leafless tree,
Dry river bed, or house in pathless waste,
Is gentle blood that hath no courtesy.”
“Ben fiorisce negli uomini 'l volere;
Ma la pioggia continua converte
In bozzaccliioni le susine verdi.”
“In men desire of good doth fairly flower:
But withereth, through sin’s continuous rain,
To abortive growths each fruit that decked their bower.”
— (J. I. Minchin.)
“*(Che) ben pigliar nel crin la buona sorte
Carlo sapea, quando volgea la faccia.”
“Good fortune by the forelock Charles had learnt
To seize, whene’er she towards him turned her face.”
“Ben provvide il cielo
Ch’ uona per delitti mai lieto non sia.”
“Heaven provides that man
Shall ne’er by crime to happiness attain.”
“Ben provvide Natura; ne conviene
A tanta crudelta minor bellezza:
Ghé l’un contrario l’altro a temperato.
Cosi può 'l viso vostro le mie pene
Tante temprar con picciola dolcezza,
“Well Nature orders; ’twere a bitter thing
That so great cruelty should be less fair:
One opposite the other doth alloy.
And so the sight of thy fair face doth bring
Some sweetness still to temper my despair.
Lighten my woes, and bid me taste of joy.”
“(Che) ben può nulla chi non può morire.”
ViTTORiA CoLONNA. Bime Spirituali, OCX.
“He naught can do that knows not how to die.”
“Ben s’ode il ragionar, si vede il volto,
Ma dentro il petto mal giudicar puossi.”
“We hear the speech, we see the looks exprest.
But who can view the secrets of the breast."—(Hoole.)
“Ben sapev’ io che natural consiglio,
Amor, contra di te giammai non valse.”
“Full well I know that all the wit of man,
Love, against thee did never yet prevail.”
