Rialto

293.34

 

 

 

Marcabru

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hueymais dey esser alegrans

 

 

pus l’aura doussa vey venir,

 

 

et auch lays e voutas e chans

 

 

dels auzelhs que·m fan esbaudir.

5

 

Lo gen temps me fai alegrar,

 

 

mas per jovent me desconort

 

 

quar totz jorns lo vey sordeyar.

 

 

 

 

 

D’una ren suy meravelhans:

 

 

qu’ades vey granar e florir

10

 

escassetatz, oc, et enjans,

 

 

vas qualque part me torn ni·m vir;

 

 

cortezia, ni ben estar,

 

 

ni pretz, ni valor, ni deport

 

 

vas nulha part no vey renhar.

 

 

 

15

 

Estz lauzengiers, lenguas-trencans –

 

 

cuy Dieus cofonda et azir –

 

 

meton proeza en balans,

 

 

e fan malvestat enantir;

 

 

mas als pros dic e vuelh preyar

20

 

que ja us ab elhs no·s n’acort

 

 

si en proeza vol renhar.

 

 

 

 

 

Eyssamens son domnas trichans

 

 

e sabon trichar e mentir,

 

 

per que fan los autrus enfans

25

 

als maritz tener e noyrir;

 

 

d’aqui naysso·l malvat cujar,

 

 

q’us no·n ama joy ni deport,

 

 

ni·n auza hom entr’ elhs parlar.

 

 

 

 

 

Ja Dieus no·l sia perdonans

30

 

qui las vol onrar ni servir,

 

 

estas putas ardens cremans,

 

 

peiors que ieu no·us saubria dir;

 

 

tan lor sap bo lo clau copar

 

 

que non hi guardon dreg ni tort,

35

 

mas selh que mielhs las sap ronsar.

 

 

 

 

 

Qui anc fon prezatz ni amans

 

 

per dompnas, ben s’en deu geqir,

 

 

qu’aytan s’en aura us truans,

 

 

o mais si mais li pot bastir,

40

 

et ieu poiri’ o ben proar

 

 

per ma dona na Cropafort,

 

 

mas ja no la·n vuelh decelar.

 

 

 

 

 

Messatgier cortes, ben parlans,

 

 

vai t’en en Urgelh ses falhir,

45

 

e sias del vers despleyans

 

 

a·n Cabreira, que lo remir,

 

 

e potz li dir senes guabar,

 

 

qu’en tal loc ai tornat ma sort

 

 

on elh poiria pro muzar.

 

 

 

Text: Gaunt, Harvey and Paterson 2000 (XXXIV). – Rialto 14.xii.2004.

Mss.: C (176r-v) Marcabru (C reg. Marc e bru), R (5r) marc e brux.

Critical editions: Jean-Marie-Lucien Dejeanne, Poésies complètes du troubadour Marcabru, Toulouse 1909, p. 165; Simon Gaunt, Ruth Harvey and Linda Paterson, Marcabru: A Critical Edition, Cambridge, D. S. Brewer, 2000, p. 427.

Versification: a8 b8 a8 b8 c8 d8 c8 (Frank 405:5); seven coblas unissonans.  Lines 14 and 21 may repeat the same rhyme-word. There is a tornada in R that repeats the last three lines of stanza VII.

Notes: Base of the text: C. There is little discrepancy between the two Mss, though there is a tornada in R that repeats the last three lines of stanza VII. There are minor variants and copying errors in R. There is little to choose between the two Mss, though R would require correction, whereas C does not. – This poem can be approximately dated if the identification of lord Cabreira in line 46 with Guerau III Pons de Cabrera is correct (see François Pirot, Recherches sur les connaissances littéraires des troubadours occitans et catalans des XIIe et XIIIe siècles, Barcelona, 1972, pp. 146-47; but also notes to BdT 293.12a).  Guerau was born before 1136 so the poem is unlikely to have been written before the late 1140s, given Guerau was still a minor in 1145.   If Cingolani’s redating of the ensenhamen «Cabra juglar» to 1196-98 is correct (see Stefano Cingloani, «The sirventes-ensenhamen of Guerau de Cabrera: a proposal for a new interpretation», Journal of Hispanic Research 1, 1992-93, pp. 191-200; compare Pirot, Recherches, whose dating is 1145-59), then the Lord Cabreira addressed here cannot be the author of the ensenhamen, who was almost certainly Guerau IV, Guerau III having died in 1160-61.  It is conceivable (though we believe unlikely) that Marcabru’s addressee in Hueymais was Guerau III’s father, Pons II. – Critics have used the poem as a source of quotations to illustrate Marcabru’s views on women, husbands and morality, as if tacitly agreeing with Dejeanne’s remark : «c’est encore une satire sur le même thème» (p. 234).  However, Hueymais is a witty composition evincing wry humour and play. 

[SGn]

Foreword

BdT    Marcabru