“In what a narrow circuit, among what
abandoned solitudes your fame lies bound!
Amid vast seas your island earth is shut,
though "vast" or "ocean", or what words resound
to name that sea, are idle names and fond,
for what it is: a shallow bog, a pond.”

—  Torquato Tasso

In che picciolo cerchio, e fra che nude
Solitudini è stretto il vostro fasto!
Lei, come isola, il mare intorno chiude;
E lui, ch'or Ocean chiamate or vasto,
Nulla eguale a tai nomi ha in sè di magno;
Ma è bassa palude, e breve stagno.
Canto XIV, stanza 10 (tr. Wickert)
Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)

Original

In che picciolo cerchio, e fra che nude Solitudini è stretto il vostro fasto! Lei, come isola, il mare intorno chiude; E lui, ch'or Ocean chiamate or vasto, Nulla eguale a tai nomi ha in sè di magno; Ma è bassa palude, e breve stagno.

Gerusalemme Liberata (1581)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Torquato Tasso 94
Italian poet 1544–1595

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