There is a poem in which
he compares himself to a drowning man whom the beloved alone could save.
This spiritual love (then as now) puzzled the commonplace, and was
misunderstood and regarded with scepticism. Bertran d'Alaman taunted
Sordello with his "hypocritical happiness" and "the whole deception of
his love," and Granet, in a satirical poem, cast doubt upon his
sincerity.
It is very significant to find that Sordello, that typical champion of
chaste love, kept up a number of questionable liaisons with all sorts of
women. Bertran reproached him with having changed his lady at least a
hundred times, and he himself shamelessly confesses:
The jealousies of husbands ne'er amaze me,
For in the art of love I do excel,
And there's no wife, however chaste she may be
Who can resist me if I woo her well.
And if her husband hate me I'll not grumble,
Because his wife receives me in the night,
If mine her kiss, if mine sweet love's delight,
His pain and wrath my spirit shall not humble.
Pages:
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222