Vita Nuova, 2

^{translated from the Italian by Joseph Luzzi}

The sun had already circled the earth nine times since
my birth when the glorious lady of my mind appeared
before my eyes. Many called her Beatrice, she who
blesses, even if they did not know her name. She had
been in this world long enough for the heaven of the fixed
stars to move a twelfth of a degree to the east. So she
was in the beginning of her ninth year when I saw her,
while I was at the end of mine. She was dressed in the
noblest of colors, an understated and dignified crimson,
with her clothes cut and adorned in a manner appropriate
for her young age. I confess that at that point my animal
spirit, which dwells in the heart’s most secret chamber,
began to tremble so violently that I could feel its pain
even in the farthest reaches of my blood. Trembling,
the spirit said in Latin, “Here is a god stronger than
me, who comes to dominate me.” Then this awestruck
animal spirit, which lives in the brain that receives the
perceptions of all the other sensitive spirits, directed its
words to the eyes and said to them in Latin, “Your bliss
has now appeared.” My natural spirit, which is found
in the part of us that controls our digestion, began to
cry, and in tears it said in Latin, “Oh miserable me, what
endless obstacles await!”
            From then on Love governed my soul, which
surrendered to him entirely. He ruled over me with so
much assurance and authority, fueled by my imagination,
that all I could do was satisfy his every wish. He would
order me to seek out the young angelic Beatrice, so in
those early years I often went searching for her and found
her looking so noble and praiseworthy that she recalled
those words of Homer: “She seemed the daughter not of
a mortal man, but of a god.” Even though Love ruled
over me through her omnipresent image, which was so
pure in essence that it never allowed him to guide me
without the sound advice of reason in those matters
where it was useful. Since it may seem absurd to go on
speaking of the passions and deeds of one so young, I
will now stop. I will also omit many other things that I
could have copied from the source of these recollections
in my Book of Memory, and I will return to material
written in more important chapters.