| Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888. | | | | To Italy | | By Vincenzo da Filicaja (1642–1707) |
| | Anonymous Translation
ITALIA, O Italia! hapless thou, | |
| Who didst the fatal gift of beauty gain, | |
| A dowry fraught with never-ending pain,— | |
| A seal of sorrow stamped upon thy brow: | |
| O, were thy bravery more, or less thy charms! | 5 |
| Then should thy foes, they whom thy loveliness | |
| Now lures afar to conquer and possess, | |
| Adore thy beauty less, or dread thine arms! | |
| No longer then should hostile torrents pour | |
| Adown the Alps; and Gallic troops be laved | 10 |
| In the red waters of the Po no more; | |
| Nor longer then, by foreign courage saved, | |
| Barbarian succour should thy sons implore,— | |
| Vanquished or victors, still by Goths enslaved. | | | | |
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