Cristofano Allori, Judith with the Head of Holofernes, 1613
My melancholy is so great and such, that I cannot disbelieve that, if he knew it who was my mortal enemy, for me in pity would not, weep. She, from whom this comes, little cares; for she would be able, if she wished, cure me in an instant of all my suffering, if she even said “I hate you.” But the only answer I have from her is: she neither wishes me ill nor well, and that I mind my own affairs, and that she does not care if I have joy or pain, less than a straw that comes under her feet. Damned be love, that ever gave me over to her.
La mia malinconia è tanta e tale, ch’i’ non discredo che, s’egli ‘l sapesse un che mi fosse nemico mortale, che di me di pietade non piangesse. Quella, per cu’ m’ avven, poco ne cale; che mi potrebbe, sed ella volesse, guarir ‘n un punto di tutto ‘l mie male, sed ella pur : – I’ t’odio – mi dicesse. Ma quest’ è la risposta c’ho da lei: ched ella non mi vol né mal né bene, e ched i’ vad’ a far li fatti miei; ch’ ella non cura s’ i’ ho gioi’ o pene, men ch’ una paglia che le va tra’ piei: mal grado n’ abbi Amor, ch’ a le’ mi diene.
