X.

The sentiment of love is so important in the songs of the Wandering Students, that it may not be superfluous at this point to cull a few emphatic phrases which illustrate the core of their emotion, and to present these in the original Latin.

I may first observe to what a large extent the ideas of spring and of female society were connected at that epoch. Winter was a dreary period, during which a man bore his fate and suffered. He emerged from it into sunshine, brightened by the intercourse with women, which was then made possible. This is how the winter is described:[15]--

"In omni loco congruo Sermonis oblectatio Cum sexu femineo Evanuit omni modo."

Of the true love-songs, only one refers expressly to the winter season. That, however, is the lyric upon Flora, which contains a detailed study of plastic form in the bold spirit of the Goliardic style.[16]

The particularity with which the personal charms of women are described deserves attention. The portrait of Flora, to which I have just alluded, might be cited as one of the best specimens. But the slightest shades are discriminated, as in this touch:[17]--

"Labellulis Castigate tumentibus."

One girl has long tawny tresses: _Caesaries subrubea_. Another is praised for the masses of her dark hair: _Frons nimirum coronata, supercilium nigrata_. Roses and lilies vie, of course, upon the cheeks of all; and sometimes their sweetness surpasses the lily of the valley. From time to time a touch of truer poetry occurs; as, for instance[18]--

"O decora super ora Belli Absalonis!"

Or take again the outburst of passion in this stanza, where both the rhythm and the ponderous Latin words, together with the abrupt transition from the third to the fourth line, express a fine exaltation:[19]--

"Frons et gula, labra, mentum Dant amoris alimentum; Crines ejus adamavi, Quoniam fuere flavi."

The same kind of enthusiasm is more elaborately worked out in the following comparisons:[20]--

"Matutini sideris Jubar praeis, Et lilium Rosaque periere: Micat ebur dentium Per labium, Ut Sirium Credat quis enitere."

As might be expected, such lovers were not satisfied with contemplative pleasures:[21]--

"Visu, colloquio, Contactu, basio, Frui virgo dederat; Sed aberat Linea posterior Et melior amori, Quam nisi transiero, De cetero Sunt quae dantur alia Materia furori."

The conclusion of this song, which, taken in its integrity, deserves to be regarded as typical of what is pagan in this erotic literature, may be studied in the Appendix to _Carmina Burana_.

Occasionally the lover's desire touches a higher point of spirituality:[22]--

"Non tactu sanabor labiorum, Nisi cor unum fiat duorum Et idem velle. Vale, flos florum!"

Occasionally, the sensuous fervour assumes a passionate intensity:[23]--

"Nocte cum ea si dormiero, Si sua labra semel suxero, Mortem subire, placenter obire, vitamque finire, Libens potero."

Very rarely there is a strong desire expressed for fidelity, as in a beautiful lyric of absence, which I hope to give translated in full in my 17th Section.

But the end to be attained is always such as is summed up in these brief words placed upon a girl's lips:[24]--

"Dulcissime, Totam tibi subdo me."

And the motto of both sexes is this:[25]--

"Quicquid agant alii, Juvenes amemus."

It may be added, in conclusion, that the sweethearts of our students seem to have been mostly girls of the working and rustic classes, sometimes women of bad fame, rarely married women. In no case that has come beneath my notice is there any hint that one of them aspired to such amours with noble ladies as distinguished the Troubadours. A democratic tone, a tone of the proletariate, is rather strangely blent with the display of learning, and with the more than common literary skill apparent in their work.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 15: _Carm. Bur._, p. 174.]

[Footnote 16: Ibid., p. 149, translated below in Section xvii.]

[Footnote 17: Ibid., p. 130.]

[Footnote 18: _Carm. Bur._, p. 200.]

[Footnote 19: Ibid., p. 231.]

[Footnote 20: Ibid., p. 121.]

[Footnote 21: Ibid., p. 135.]

[Footnote 22: _Carm. Bur._, p. 145.]

[Footnote 23: Ibid., p. 230.]