A poem from Baudri

Translated letter:

Read through this letter, and carefully clasp it once read,
Lest malignant tongues harm my reputation.
Read through my verse by yourself with careful hunting,
Read through it, whatever it is; a friend's hand wrote it.
A friend's hand wrote it, and the same friend fashioned it;                      5
The same man who wrote these verses, composed them.
What this letter speaks of is love and love poetry,
And yet no venom lies hidden in the letter's touch.
My page is not smeared with the Gorgon's blood,
Nor does Medea secretly accompany my work.                                             10
Fear not the Hydra, waver not before the Chimaera
As (your) bare hand touches the bare page.
You yourself can safely open this letter,
And you can safely put it in your lap.
Oh, if only you knew, as my heart knows,                                                        15
How valuable you are to me, how much I make you mine.
To me you are more valuable and better, greater finally
than a Goddess to mortals, than a girl, or than any love might be.
You are more valuable to me than Leda's daughter to Paris,
Than Venus to Mars, than the goddess Juno to Jupiter.                           20
Neither Danae [ms, ed: Daphne] nor Io were worth so much,
For whom Jupiter was a shower of gold and a bull.
When Orpheus, the mournful bard, braved the Stygian waves,
He did not regard Eurydice [to be] of greater value.
But Greek myth commends these men to people,                                       25
For the deed comes to us covered in some sort of mist.
But once mists and trifles have been dispersed,
true love does not allow me to forget you anywhere.
I can never forget you, Constance,
Your beauty docs not allow me to forget you;                                                 30
I could sooner forget myself, Constance,
Than myself be compelled to forget you.
May you never be able so to forget me, Constance,
That you dissolve the very bond of my love.
Oh, if only God and nature had bound us together                                      35
So that neither should live forgetting the other.
Believe me (and I want both you and the readers to believe):
A filthy love has never driven me to you.
I want virginity to live in you as a fellow citizen,
I do not want chastity to be shattered in you;                                               40
You are a girl, I a man: I am young, you are younger.
I swear by all that is: I do not want to be your husband.
I do not want to be your husband, nor you to be my wife:
Let mouth and heart confirm our friendship.
Let our hearts be joined, but our bodies remain apart;                              45
Let the shame be in the act, let the game be in the pen.
Believe me (and I want both you and the readers to believe):
A filthy love has never driven me to you.
Neither lascivious love nor a love of wanton love
Stirs up the depths of my heart5 on account of you.                                     50
Your learned writing has moved my feeling for you,
And your Muse has joined me to you deep within.
In short, so much eloquence lives in your tongue
That you could be believed to be, a Sibyl, and are to me.
The binomial planet Venus does not shine so bright                                  55
As both your bright eyes shine.
One look at your hair, and I judge gold to be less yellow;
Your neck gleams more than lilies or fresh snow.
Your teeth shine whiter than ivory, than Parian marble,
And a lively grace breathes upon your lips.                                                    60
Your lips swell somewhat; they have a firey warmth and color,
But an appropriate modesty caresses them both.
It is right that I put your tender little cheeks before the roses,
Cheeks dressed in red and white and every charm.
Let me express briefly the composition of (your) body:                             65
It is a body which suits such beauty.
You yourself could seduce high Jupiter from the heavens,
If the Greek myth about Jupiter were true;
He would have fashioned himself in whatever shape you wish.
If his age had [not] preceeded you by centuries.                                          70
But whatever you do, and whoever you can divert,
I am not distracted in different directions because of you.
Neither my flesh nor my heart itches for you;
But, nevertheless, I ardently love you without deceit.
I love you ardently, all of me will love all of you,                                          75
You alone do I enfold within my heart.
Therefore, it is clearly visible that this kind of love
Tastes of something not common, but special.
It is a special love, which neither the flesh accompanies
Secretly nor illicit desire wounds.                                                                       80
I myself am always the lover of your virginity,
I love the cleanness of your flesh.
I do not wish that your mind be violated even a little bit on account of me:
Hope would be aroused, suspicion aroused.
For this reason I depicted your beauty in verse                                            85
So that your outer beauty expresses the beauty of your character.
Let the girl as beautiful as a flower show her flowery ways,
So that she flowers more inside than outside.
This pagan page is inserted in my poem
In order that I might distance you from false people,                                 90
So that for you that people might be pagan and that page base
Which worships the impure and half-male gods
Who frequented the whoring brothels, rather
Than give this service to virtuous matters.
But nevertheless it is true that your charming beauty                                 95
Transcends the stars, since it is the image of God.
Jupiter exists even today, and tries to play with you,
And Mars, too, if you should favor Mars and Jupiter.
There are many youths following the impious deeds of Jupiter.
And I say, not undeservedly, that they are Jupiters.                                  100
There are many Marses, and traces of his old crimes;
These youths foul the realms of chastity beyond measure.
They create Venuses and Junos, Danae and Io;
In truth, hardly one companion of Astrea escapes them.
Just as there are examples of old evils in books,                                          105
So too are good deeds placed in them which you might do.
Diana is praised for her proper virginity:
Perseus is exalted as the victor of the monster.
The might of Alcidean Hercules is revealed through many acts.
All such things, if you know them, are allegorical.                                      11o
Therefore, let us put aside the perverse and foul men,
And undertake our journey in another direction.
Let us tread the path of virtues, let us walk to the stars;
Even pagans advise us to hasten thus.
If you wish to live as mine, you will live as mine; live (as) Diana!          115
I wish to imitate Alcidean Hercules or Bellerophon.
But if you require examples from my books,
You will find as many as you see tips (of letters).
Not one tip, not one stroke spends time in my books
that does not teach us to thirst for lofty things.                                           120
But I wanted to put forward the Greek trifles as proof
That every literature of the world teaches us,
That the whole world speaks as with one tongue
And that each and every man educates us.
I bring here the captive pagan trifles;                                                             125
I, the victor, rejoice in my captive spoils.
Let the rich Pregnaria have captive servants;
Let the Cambio rejoice in Greek slaves.
Captive Athens is now being captured at Bourgueil,
Barbaric Greece now serves Bourgueil.                                                            130
Let the Latin tongue be enriched by enemy booty;
Let the vanquished Greek and Hebrew serve.
Let us not miss reading's lesson in any (of them);
Let evervthing that is, be book and text for us.
Thus my letter attempts this lofty goal                                                             135
So that you, girl, may live as a virgin pleasing to God.
As the bride of my Lord, may you be the court of such a spouse,
And as spouse be the bridal chamber of such a spouse.
Let the Lord cast him down who cast down his temple,
He who, himself a stone, destroys living stones.                                            140
But let the strength of our integrity unite us to each other;
Let there be chaste entrances and chaste conversations.
But if someone should blame us for having said playful things,
I am not a solemn man: whatever I do is a game.
A happy nature has made life playful for me,                                                  145
And a congenial vein has given me a cheerful character.
But whatever I say, let my deeds retain modesty;
Let my heart live in honor as pure, my mind as chaste.
This province rears many to be sad and lewd,
And this same province raises others chaste and cheerful.                          150
I also know many who live their lives like a Bacchic festival,
Whose sad brow makes them resemble the Curii.
 I do not despair that age may take away these games;
The later years will give ripe fruits.
With a serious face I will then write only serious things                              155
So that my heart and pen may then be in harmony.
Meanwhile, my girl, believe in what I have written
And, as I wrote, so live and fare well as mine.
Live, I say, farewell: do what I want, live as I wish.
You are not ignorant of what I want: everything I wish, you know.          160
No vein of my heart could lie hidden from you;
I have written you everthing that I want, that I have wanted.
From now on my Muse will spend time with a greater task;
Now colleagues demand anew the [exegesis of] Moses I began.
No doubt they jump up (in anger)12 because I split Genesis in half,         165
And that, exhausted, I halted in the middle of the road.
They reproach the trifles I busily compose for you;
My verses know none but you.
But if you should attempt to write back anything to me,
Make sure that I see whatever you have sent.                                                  170
I will not be silent after the interruption of my task
And not write back sometime, at least to say "farewell."
But when I say "farewell," understand this "farewell" as "hello";
My last spoken word to you will not be that "farewell."
Even though they usually offer this word to the dead,                                    175
I give and will give this word to the living.
If you wish, display what I have written; hide it if you wish;
For fear is not the teacher for a good lady.
 

Original letter:

Perlege, perlectam caute complectere cartam,
Ne noceat famae lingua maligna meae.
Perlege sola meos versus indagine cauta,
Perlege, quicquid id est, scripsit amica manus.
Scripsit amica manus, et idem dictavit amicus,                                    5
Idem qui scripsit carmina composuit.
Quod sonat iste brevis amor est et carmen amoris,
Inque brevis tactu nulla venena latent.
Sanguine Gorgoneo non est lita pagina nostra,
Nec Medea meum subcomitatur opus.                                                     10
Non timeas Ydram, noli dubitare Chymeram,
Dum tanget nudam nuda manus folium.
Ipsa potes nostram secura revolvere cartam,
Inque tuo gremio ponere tuta potes.
O utinam nosses sicut mea viscera norunt                                                15
Quanti sis mecum, quam mihi te facio.
Pluris es et melior, major mihi denique vivis
Quam dea, quam virgo, quamve sit ullus amor.
Pluris es ipsa mihi Paridi quam filia Ledae,
Quamque Venus Marti, quam dea Juno Jovi.                                         20
Nec tanti Dafnes, neque tanti constitit Io
Pro quibus aurum et bos Jupiter ipse fuit.
Vates et Stygias querulus cum tenderet undas,
Non habuit pluris Orpheus Euridicem.
Hos autem populis commendat fabula Greca,                                       25
Nam nebula quadam res adoperta venit.
Sed me verus amor nugis nebulisque remotis
Esse tui nusquam desinit immemorem.
Immemor esse tui numquam, Constantia, possum
Quem tua forma tui non sinit immemorem.                                           3o
Immemor esse mei citius, Constancia, possem
Quam conpellor ego non memor esse tui.
lmmemor esse mei nunquam, Constancia, possis,
Ut mihi persolvas foedus amoris idem.
Sic nos o utinam natura deusque ligasset,                                                 35
Ut neuter vivat immemor alterius.
Crede mihi, credasque volo, credantque legentes,
In te me nunquam foedus adegit amor.
In te concivem volo vivere virginitatem,
In te confringi nolo pudicitiam.                                                                   4o
Tu virgo, vir ego, juvenis sum, junior es tu;
Juro per omne quod est : Nolo vir esse tibi.
Nolo vir esse tibi neque tu sis femina nobis,
Os et cor nostram firmet amicitiam.
Pectora jugantur, sed corpora semoveantur.                                          45
Sit pudor in facto, sit jocus in calamo.
Crede mihi, credasque volo, credantque legentes,
In te nunquam foedus adegit amor.
Nec lascivus amor, nec amor petulantis amoris,
Pro te subvertit corque jecurque meum.                                                  5o
In te sed nostrum movit tua littera sensum,
Et penitus junxit me tua musa tibi.
Denique tanta tuse vivit fecundia lingue
Ut possis credi, sisque Sibilla mihi.
Non rutilat Veneris tam clara binomia stella,                                        55
Quam rutilant ambo lumina clara tibi.
Crinibus inspectis fulvam minus abitror aurum,
Colla nitent plusquam lilia, nixve recens,
Dentes plus ebore Pario plus marmore candent,
Spirat et in labiis gratia viva tuis.                                                              6o
Labra tument modicum calor et calor igneus illis,
Quae tamen ambo decens temperies foveat.
Jure rosis malas praeponi dico tenellas,
Quas rubor et candor vestit et omne decus.
Corporis ut breviter complectar composituram,                                    65
Est corpus talem quod deceat faciem.
Ipsa Jovern summum posses deducere coelo,
De Jove si verax fabula Greca foret.
In quascumque velis se formas effigiasset,
Si tua te saeclis tempora praestiterint.                                                     70
Sed quicquid facias, quemcumque avertere possis,
Non pro te partes distrahor in varias.
Nec caro titillat pro te neque viscera nostra,
Attamen absque dolo te vehementer amo.
Te vehementer amo, te totam totus amabo,                                           75
Te solam nostris implico visceribus.
Ergo patet liquido quoniam genus istud amoris
Non commune aliquid sed speciale sapit.
Est specialis amor, quem nec caro subcomitatur,
Nec desiderium sauciat illicitum.                                                              80
Ipse tuae semper sum virginitatis amator,
Ipse tuae carnis diligo munditiam.
Nolo vel ad modicum pro me tua mens violetur,
Irrita spes esset, irrita suspitio.
Propter id ergo tuam depinxi carmine formam,                                     85
Ut morum formam extima forma notet.
Mores florigeros praetendat florida virgo,
Ut plus quam exterius floreat interius.
[In]serviat metro gentilis pagina nostro, 
[Ut mentem de] falsis gentibus amoveam.                                              90
Ut tibi gentilis sit gens et pagina vilis,
Quae colit impuros semimaresque deos.
Qui meretricales potius coluere tabernas,
Rebus honestatis quam dederunt operam.
Et tamen est verum quam tua forma venusta                                        95
Sidera transcendit, cum sit imago dei.
Jupiter instat adhuc et tecum ludere temptat,
Mars quoque si Marti faveris atque Jovi
Sunt multi juvenes Jovis impia facta sequentes,
Quos non immerito dicimus esse Joves.                                                 100
Sunt multi Martes, scelerum vestigia prisca,
Hi nimis infestant regna pudicitiae
Hi faciunt Veneres, Junones, Dafnen et Io,
Astrae vero vix latet una comes.
Ut sunt in veterum libris exempla malorum,                                         1o5
Sic bona quae facias sunt in eis posita.
Laudatur propria pro virginitate Diana,
Portenti victor, Perseus exprimatur.
Alcidis vertus per multos panditur actus;
Omnia si nosti talia mystica sunt.                                                            11o
Ergo sepositis lenonibus et maculosis,
Alterius partis aggrediamur iter.
Virtutum gradiamur iter, gradiamur ad astra,
Gentiles etiam sic properare monent.
Si mea vivere vis, vives mea, vive Diana ;                                              115
Alcidem volo vel Bellorofonta sequi.
Quod si de libris nostris exempla requiris,
Ipsa tot invenies quot videas apices.
In nostris non unus apex, non linea libris,
Quae nos non doceat alta sitire, vacat.                                                    120
Sed volui Grecas ideo praetendere nugas,
Ut quaevis mundi littera nos doceat,
Ut totus mundus velut unica lingua loquatur,
Et nos erudiat omnis et omnis homo.
Captivos ideo gentiles adveho nugas,                                                      125
Laetor captivis victor ego spoliis.
Dives captivos habeat Pregnaria servos,
Laetetur Grais Cambio mancipiis.
Burgulii victae nec captivantur Athenae,
Barbara nec servit Grecia Burgulio.                                                          130
Hostili praeda diletur lingua latina,
Grecus et Hebreus serviat edomitus.
In nullis nobis desit doctrina legendi,
Lectio sit nobis et liber omne quod est.
Hanc igitur summam pertemptat epistola nostra                                  135
Ut virgo vivas, virgo deo placita.
Sponsa mei domini sis tanti conjugis aula,
Sis conjunx tanti conjugis et thalamus.
Subruat hunc dominus qui templum subruit ejus,
Qui lapides vivos ipse lapis perimit.                                                        140
Nos autem nobis vigor uniat integritatis,
Sint casti acessus, castaque colloquia.
Quod si nos aliquid dixisse jocosa remordet,
Non sum durus homo, quicquid ago jocus est.
Laeta mihi vitam fecit natura jocosam,                                                   145
Et mores hilares vena benigna dedit.
Sed quicquid dicam, teneant mea facta pudorem,
Cor mundum vigeat, mensque pudica mihi.
Tristes obscenos alit haec provincia multos,
Et castos hilares educat haec eadem.                                                      150
Novimus et multos qui Baccanalia vivunt,
Quos curios simulat triste supercilium.
Nec despero jocos quin aetas auferat istos,
Fructus matures tempera sera dabunt.
Fronte severus tunc tantummodo seria scribam,                                 155
Ut mihi tunc pectus consonet et calamus.
Interea mea virgo meis sis credula scriptis,
Et sicut scripsi, sic mea vive, vale.
Inquam vive, vale, fac quod volo, vive quod opto,
Quod volo non nescis, omne quod opto sapis.                                     160
Nulla mei cordis potuit te vena latere,
Omne tibi scripsi quod volo, quod volui.
A modo majori studio mea musa vacabit;
Inceptum Moysen jam repetunt socii,
Scilicet insultant Genesim quia dimidiavi,                                            165
Defessusque via substiterim media;
Improperant nugas quas scriptito sedulus ad te
Nullam praeter te carmina nostra sciunt.
Si tamen ipsa mihi quicquam rescribere temptas,
Attendam quicquid miseris ut videam.                                                   170
Nec studii nostri post intervallo silebo,                                                  
Quin tibi rescribam saltem aliquando vale.
Dum tibi dico vale, vale hoc intellige, salve,
Ultima vox ad te non erit ista, vale.
Quamvis hoc verbum soleant praestare sepultis,                                175
Nos tamen hoc vivis et damus et dabimus.
Si vis ostendas, si vis haec scripta recondas,
Nam pedagoga bonae non limor est dominae.
 

Historical context:

Baudri sends Constance a poem declaring his intense but innocent love, but many of his classical allusions and his praise of her beauty have erotic overtones.  The two streams he mentions, the Cambio and its tributary the Pregnaria run through Bourgueil.

Printed source:

Original text from Baudri de Bourgueil, Oeuvres Poétiques, ed. Phyllis Abraham (Paris:  Champion, 1926, repr.Geneva:  Slatkine, 1974), 337-42, #CCXXXVIII.   Translation from Gerald A. Bond, The Loving Subject, Desire, Eloquence, and Power in Romanesque France (Philadelphia:  University of Pennsylvania, 1995), Appendix II, 171-81, reprinted with permission of the press:  http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/214.html

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