Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Italy: Vols. XI–XIII. 1876–79.

Introductory

To Italy

By Giovanni Guidiccioni (1480–1541)

Anonymous translation

FROM ignominious sleep, where age on age

Thy torpid faculties have slumbering lain,

Mine Italy, enslaved, ay, more, insane,—

Wake, and behold thy wounds with noble rage!

Rouse, and with generous energy engage

Once more thy long-lost freedom to obtain;

The path of honor yet once more regain,

And leave no blot upon my country’s page!

Thy haughty lords, who trample o’er thee now,

Have worn the yoke which bows to earth thy neck,

And graced thy triumphs in thy days of fame.

Alas! thine own most deadly foe art thou,

Unhappy land! thy spoils the invader deck,

While self-wrought chains thine infamy proclaim!