"I know, Canzone, thou wilt go to speak With many ladies, when I send thee forth; And now I bid thee, having bred thee up Like to a young and simple child of Love, That where thou goest thou shouldst praying say, 'Teach me which way to go, for I am sent To her with praise of whom I am adorned.' And if thou wishest not to go in vain, Remain not there where villain folk may be; Endeavor, if thou mayst, to be acquaint Only with ladies, or with courteous men, Who thee will guide upon the quickest way. Love thou wilt find in company with her, And to them both commend me as thou shouldst." After explaining, according to his custom, and marking the divisions of this poem, Dante copies out a sonnet in which he answers the question of one of his friends, who, he says, perhaps entertaining an expectation of him beyond what was due, asked him, 'What is Love?' Many of the poets of that time tried their hands in giving an answer to this difficult question, and Dante begins his with confirming the opinion expressed by one of them:-- "Love is but one thing with the gentle heart, As in the saying of the sage we find."[O] [Footnote O: it is probable that Dante refers to the first of a Canzone by Guido Guinicelli, which says, "Within the gentle heart Love always stays," --a verse which he may have had still in his memory when he makes Francesca da Rimini say, (_Inf_. v. 100,) "Love which by gentle heart is quickly learned." For other definitions of Love as understood by the Italian poets of the trecento, see Guido Cavalcanti's most famous and most obscure Canzone, _Donna mi priega_; the sonnet (No. xlii.) falsely ascribed to Dante, _Molti volendo dir che fosse Amore_; the sonnet by Jacopo da Lentino, _Amore è un desio che vien dal core_; and many others.] Another sonnet follows upon this, telling how this Love was awakened by Beatrice and beginning with the exquisite praise, "Within her eyes my lady beareth Love, So that who looks on her is gentle made."[P] [Footnote P: Compare with this Sonnet xl.,-- "Dagli occhi della mia donna si muove." ]