Act IV

      Apart from the gioco della cieca, the bulk of the action of the play takes place in the fourth act. One of the most memorable scenes comes from the subsidiary tale of the puerile huntsman, Silvio, and his pursuer, Dorinda, which runs alongside the main plot of the ill-fated lovers Amarilli and Mirtillo.

     In scene 8, Silvio, who has just returned from a successful hunt of a monstrous boar, encounters an echo which seems to wield the power of prophesy. The echo foretells of Silvio's falling in love and foresaking his carefree life as a huntsman, even insisting that this love will be for Dorinda (whom Silvio has only scorned) and will begin that very day, and that Silvio will break his bow in renouncement of his behaviour:

Silvio: E qual sarà colei
che far potrà ch'oggi l'adori?
Eco:   Dori...
Silvio: Quando sarà che 'n questo cor pudico
amor alloggi?
Eco:   Oggi...

Silvio turns from his conversation with the echo and spies hidden in the bushes a large, grey wolf—or at least what seems to be a wolf... How fortunate Silvio believes himself to be, having the chance to kill two large beasts in a single day.

Ma veggio, o veder parmi,
colà, posando in quel cespuglio, starsi
un non so che di bigio,
ch'a lupo s'assomiglia.
Ben mi par desso, ed è per certo il lupo.
...
          Oimè! che veggio?
Oimè! Silvio infelice,
oimè! che hai tu fatto?
Hai ferito un pastor sotto la scorza
d'un lupo. Oh fiero caso! oh caso acerbo,
da viver sempre misero e dolente!

Yet I see—or I seem to see—
over there, lying in those bushes, is
something grey, I know not what,
that resembles a wolf.
Indeed it seems that, and is certainly a wolf.
...
          Alas!  What do I see?
Alas!  Poor Silvio—
alas!—what have you done?
You have wounded a shepherd under the hide
of a wolf.  Oh cruel chance!  Oh bitter fate,
to live always in misery and pain!

Silvio and Dorinda (c.1650) by Flemish painter Pieter van Lint
 

Se tu mi saettasti,
Quel ch’è tuo saettasti,
E feristi quell segno
Ch’è proprio del tuo strale.
Quelle mani, a ferirmi,
Han seguìto lo stil de’ tuo’ begli occhi.
Ecco, Silvio, colei che ‘n odio hai tanto,
Eccola in quella guisa
Che la volevi a punto.
Bramastila ferir:  ferita l’hai;
Bramastila tua preda:  eccola preda;
Bramastila alfin morta:  eccola a morte.
Che vuoi tu più da lei? che ti può dare
Più di questo Dorinda?  Ah garzon crudo!

If you have shot me,
that which is yours you have shot,
and have wounded that target
that belongs to your arrow.
Those hands, to wound me,
followed the path of your fair eyes.
Here, Silvio, is she that you have despised so much. 
Here she is in that exact guise
that you have wanted her.
You longed to wound her:  you have wounded her;
you longed to make her your prey:  now she is your prey;
you wished her finally dead:  here she is at death.
What more do you want from her?  What more can be given to you of this Dorinda?  Ah, cruel boy!

 
      This painting of Pieter van Lint (c.1650) depicts the target of Silvio's impetuous shot: Dorinda, who had disguised herself as as a herdsman wearing the hide of a wolf in order to shadow Silvio on his hunts without being noticed. The picture from the 1602 edition at the top of this page shows Dorinda speaking with Silvio's elder servant, Linco, while both wear wolf-skins. In van Lint's scene, Linco holds the wounded Dorinda, while Silvio—whose repulsion for his pursuer has instantly changed into fervent compassion (notice cupid in the upper left and his arrow approaching Silvio's head)—insists that Dorinda wound him in return:
  Ecco gli strali e l’arco;
Ma non ferir già tu gli occhi o le mani.
Ferisci questo cor che ti fu crudo:
Eccoti il petto ignudo.		 Here are my arrows and my bow;
but do not wound my eyes or my hands.
Wound this heart that was cruel to you:
here before you is my bare chest.		  
Below is another rendering of the same scene by Francesco Barbieri (also known as Guercino) of 1646–47. Here there is no Cupid interpolated into the episode—instead, the lovers' eyes convey the now mutual sentiment—Dorinda's wound is much less graphic, and the wolf-skin still hangs around the nymph's shoulder.


Silvio Finding Dorinda Wounded (1646–47) by Guercino

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