Folgore da San Geminiano. “Sonnet. Of virtue.”

The original sonnet is not included in the corpus of Folgore's works by modern editors; its authorship is unknown. DGR's source was Poeti del primo secolo (II. 694). The translation is quite free, particularly in the octave. For further commentary see commentaries for DGR's “Sonnet. To the Guelph Faction” and for its Italian original, “Guelfi, per fare scudo delle reni”.

Almost certainly an early translation—late 1840s.

The translation was first published in 1861 in The Early Italian Poets; it was reprinted in 1874 in Dante and his Circle.