Galeotto fu'l libro e chi lo scrisse -- ZANDONAIANA

Quando leggemmo il disïato riso
esser basciato da cotanto amante,
questi, che mai da me non fia diviso,
la bocca mi basciò tutto tremante.
----> Galeotto fu ’l libro e chi lo scrisse:
quel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante".
Mentre che l'uno spirto questo disse,
l'altro piangëa; sì che di pietade
io venni men così com'io morisse.
E caddi come corpo morto cade.
---- Dante

this one, whom nought shall sever from my view,
kissed me upon my mouth, trembling all o'er,
----> Galeotto was the book — the writer too —
In it that day we further read no more.
While as one spirit thus spake, the other so
was weeping, that from pity's piercing wound
I fainted as in life's exphiring through
and fell as falls a corpse upon the ground.
---

We are still researching on it:
some brilliant memorable line in Dante that has been variously interpreted
-- and translated.


By the various translations, I refer to sites such as

_http://www.curledup.com/danteinf.htm_
(http://www.curledup.com/danteinf.htm)

where various translations to the Dante line are provided:

"A book is the undoing, the falling into sin, of the lovers, the reason why
Paolo kisses Francesca. Kirpatrick translates: “This book was
Galehault--pander-penned, the pimp!” The Hollanders’ version is: “A Galeotto was the
book and he that wrote it.” And, Musa’s: “Our Galehot was that book and he
who wrote it”. The words implying that the book was written by a pimp, a
panderer, are only in Kirkpatrick’s of these three, and are not in the
Italian."

--

I find it interesting that it's Paolo who mentions Galeotto, too, as
per the d'Annunzio-Ricordi libretto:

PAOLO.
E Galeotto dice:
"Dama, abbiatene pietà".
"Ne avrò" -- dice ella -- "tal pietà, come vorrete, ma non mi richiede di
niente"
volete seguitare?
Leggiamo qualche pagina, Francesca.
"Certamente, dama", dice allora Galeotto, "ei non si ardisce,
né vi domanderà mai cosa alcuna per amore,
perché teme",
ma io ve ne priego per lui, e se
bene io non vi pregassi, sì
lo doveresti voi procacciare,
perché non potresti voi
più ricco tesoro conquistare" -- et essa dice.
Ora leggete voi quel ch'essa dice.
Siate voi Ginevra. Leggete, "certamente..."

In Symons's translation:

"PAOLO rises & goes up to the reading desk and bends over the book. “The
Story of [Lancillotto del Lago] and [Ginebra] [and Galeotto]”.]a 'parody or
exampler of the 'new-style' love poetry that Dante had written before the
"Comedy"]. "And Galeotto said, "Lady, take pity on [Lancillotto]" " That will
I," answered she. "As much as e'er you will, but he has asked no more of
me" Will you continue? ... Will you not read some pages with me, Francesca ?
... "Assuredly, my lady says There at Galeotto, 'he is not so hot, he does
not ask you any single thing for love of you, because he fears", whereat
says she ... but now, will you not read what she says? Will you not be
Guinevere? ... read on. It says, "assuredly..."

--

We know that Lancelot makes his first appearance in the court of Marie
d'Aquitanie, who had a special reason to provide a defense of courtly
love. I read in the Wikipedia entry for "Canto V" of the Inferno:

"Per "Galeotto" s'intende il personaggio di Galehaut, siniscalco [seneschal
n. historical, obsolete (head servant)] della Regina che, nell'amore tra
Lancillotto e Ginevra, che spinge il cavaliere a baciare la donna e,
soprattutto, fa da testimone all'amore tra i due. Secondo le regole dell'amor
cortese il bacio della dama era infatti una vera e propria investitura che
accoglieva il cavaliere al servizio della donna, per cui aveva bisogno di
essere formalizzato dalla presenza di testimoni, come gli altri rituali di
stampo feudale."

Interestingly, his role in the original saga is made pretty relevant in
places like:

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galehaut_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galehaut)

--- which explains the use, referred to as 'subtle', that Dante (and his
followers) are making of this.

Galehaut (or Gallehault), Sire des Lointaines Isles (Lord of the Distant
Isles) appears for the first time in Arthurian literature in the
early-thirteenth-century prose Lancelot, the central work in the series of anonymous
French prose romances collectively called the Lancelot-Grail or Arthurian
Vulgate Cycle."

"An ambitious, towering figure of a man, he emerges from obscurity to
challenge King Arthur for possession of his entire realm. Though unknown to
Arthur and his court, Galehaut has already acquired considerable power, loyal
followers, and a reputation for nobility of character. In the ensuing
military engagements it is clear that Galehaut’s forces are more than capable of
defeating Arthur’s. One thing alone prevents the challenger from
succeeding: he is so awed by the battlefield performance of the King’s most ardent
defender, that for his sake he renounces certain victory and surrenders to
Arthur. Lancelot gratefully accepted Galehaut’s companionship. What follows
is a tale of friendship and self-denial, in which Galehaut figures as a major
—indeed, as the pivotal — character: he becomes the doomed person in the
story. For Lancelot, just as he has surrendered to King Arthur, he will
give way before Guenevere, yielding the young Lancelot to her in an especially
memorable scene. Lancelot forever has this profound attachment to
Galehaut."

"Of all the personages in the story, Galehaut is the only one whose inner
life the text explores at length and in depth, the only character whose
trajectory is that of a classic tragic hero. If a large part of the Prose
Lancelot has long been known as the “Book of Galehaut,” it is because its
bounds are defined more clearly by his action and evolution than by anything
else."

"Galehaut gives depth and complexity to the work's grappling with the
meaning and expression of love, with its obligations and its consequences. He is
unquestionably the richest creation in the narrative's immense cast of
characters. Long after his death, brought about by longing, Galehaut is
recalled by everyone as an exemplar of greatness. Lancelot, at the end of his own
life, will be buried next to Galehaut in the magnificent tomb that the
younger man had built to consecrate and eternalize their companionship."

"Since the early thirteenth century, there have been numerous retellings,
in various languages, of the life and loves and chivalric career of
Lancelot. The story of his adulterous liaison with Guenevere has always been part
of every significant account of King Arthur. The second, overlapping love
story, however, the one related in the Prose Lancelot, in which Galehaut
sacrifices his power, his happiness, and ultimately his life for the sake of
the younger man, has been quite forgotten. The character himself reappears in
a number of Arthurian tales, in several different languages, but without
the same significance."

---

Finally, the d'Annunzio text:

PAOLO.
Qual libro è questo?

FRANCESCA.
La famosa istoria di Lancillotto del Lago. (Anch’ella si leva e s’appressa
al leggio)

PAOLO.
Già letta l’avete?

FRANCESCA.
Sono giunta nella lettura a questo passo.

PAOLO.
Dove? Qui dov’è il segno? (Egli legge) “…ma non mi richiede di niente…”
Volete seguitare?

FRANCESCA.
Guardate il mare come si fa bianco!

PAOLO.
Leggiamo qualche pagina, Francesca!

FRANCESCA.
Guardate quello stormo di rondini, che arriva e segna l’ombra sul bianco
mare!

PAOLO.
Leggiamo, Francesca.

FRANCESCA.
E quella vela ch’è sì rossa che par foco!

PAOLO (leggendo) "Certamente, dama" – dice allora Galeotto –
"ei non si ardisce,
né vi domanderà mai cosa alcuna per amore,
perché teme,
ma io ve ne priego per lui, e se bene io non vi pregassi, sì lo doveresti
voi procacciare, perché non potresti voi più ricco tesoro conquistare". Et
essa dice… (Paolo trae leggermente Francesca per la mano) Ora leggete voi
quel ch’essa dice. Siate voi Ginevra. Sentite come odorano le violette che
abbandonaste? Via, leggete un poco! (Le loro fronti si avvicinano chinandosi
sul libro)

FRANCESCA (leggendo)
“Et essa dice: Io lo so bene, et io ne farò ciò che mi comanderete. E
Galeotto dice: Gran mercé, dama. Io vi prego che voi gli doniate il vostro amore
…” (ella s’interrompe)

PAOLO.
Leggete ancora!

FRANCESCA.
No, non vedo più le parole.

PAOLO.
Leggete: “Certamente…”

FRANCESCA.
“Certamente, dice essa, io gli prometto: ma che egli sia mio et io tutta
sua, e che emendate sien tutte le cose mal fatte…” Basta, Paolo.

PAOLO (leggendo con voce divenuta roca e tremante) “Dama, dice esso, gran
mercé: baciatelo, a me davanti, per cominciamento di vero amore…” Voi, voi!
Che dice essa? Ora che dice? Qui. (I loro volti pallidi sono chini sul
libro, così che le guance quasi si sfiorano)

FRANCESCA (leggendo)
“Dice: di che io mi farei pregare? più lo voglio io che voi…”

PAOLO (seguitando, soffocatamente)
“E si tirano da paret. E la reina vede il cavaliere che non ardisce di fare
di più. Lo piglia per il mento e lungamente lo bacia in bocca…” (Egli fa
quell’atto istesso verso la cognata, e la bacia. Quando le bocche si
disgiungono, Francesca vacilla e s’abbandona sui guanciali) Francesca!

FRANCESCA (con la voce spenta)
No, Paolo!
----