Candide — Chapter 25 in Italian
By Voltaire
Candido e Martino fanno visita al signor Pococurante, un nobile veneziano Candide and Martin Pay a Visit to Signor Pococurante, a Noble Venetian
Candido e Martino andarono in gondola sulla Brenta, ed arrivarono al palazzo del nobil Pococurante. Candide and his friend Martin went in a gondola on the Brenta, and arrived at the palace of the noble Pococurante: the gardens were laid out in an elegant taste, and adorned with beautiful marble statues; his palace was architecturally magnificent. Il proprietario del luogo, uomo di sessant’anni, molto ricco, ricevè con molta compitezza i due visitatori, ma con altrettanta freddezza, il che sconcertò Candido, e non dispiacque punto a Martino. The master of the house, who was a man of sixty, and very rich, received our two travellers with great politeness, but without much ceremony, which somewhat disconcerted Candide, but was not at all displeasing to Martin.
Tosto due belle ragazze, portarono la cioccolata, che avean fatta bene spumare. First, two very pretty girls, neatly dressed, brought in chocolate, which was extremely well frothed. Candido non potè fare a meno di lodare la loro bellezza, la loro grazia, la loro attività. Candide could not help praising their beauty and graceful carriage.
— Queste sono buonissime creature, disse il senatore Pococurante; non mi dispiacciono perchè sono stufo delle dame della città, per le loro civetterie, per le loro contese, per i loro capricci, per il loro orgoglio, per le loro bassezze, per lo loro pazzie, e per i sonetti che bisogna fare, o far fare per loro. “The creatures are well enough,” said the senator; “I make them lie with me sometimes, for I am heartily tired of the women of the town, their coquetry, their jealousy, their quarrels, their humours, their meannesses, their pride, and their folly; I am weary of making sonnets, or of paying for sonnets to be made on them; but, after all, these two girls begin to grow very indifferent to me.”