No husband e'er shall rob me of my pleasure,
None can resist me, what I wish I gain,
All do I love and never will refrain
Spite husbands' wrath to rob them of their treasure.
It may seem strange at first sight that this enthusiastic exponent of
pure love should have led such a double life. But Sordello's conduct is
not in the least paradoxical; in accordance with the tendency of the
period, he carefully distinguished in his own heart between sexuality
and love; before the one he lay prostrate, unable to find words enough
in self-depreciation, so that he might the more exalt his mistress; but
with respect to all other women he was a mere sensualist. We read that
although he was "an expert in the treatment of women" in her presence
his voice forsook him and he lost all self-control. Petrarch, who--while
living with a very earthly woman--extolled all his life long a lofty
being whom he called Laura, was akin to Sordello, although he was a far
less brutal character.
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