Introduction
Dante da Maiano was a close enough friend of Dante Alighieri's to
write this amusing ironical critique of the famous
opening sonnet in the
Vita
Nuova
. It is one of several such responses to Dante's sonnet that
have come down to us, including the two other famous ones (also translated by DGR) by
Cavalcanti and Cino da Pistoia:
“Vedesti al mio parere ogni valore” and
“Naturalmente chere ogni amadore”
DGR's source text was in the
Poeti
del Primo Secolo
(II. 491). See
DGR's translation for further commentary.