The text is the beginning of the Canto settimo in Le Trasformationi di M. Lodovico Dolce tratte da Ovidio (1553), a reworking of Ovid's Metamorphoses in ottave rime.
Italian text
Non è pena maggior, cortesi Amanti,
Voi, che donaste a due begli occhi il core,
Che, quando l’huomo è a la sua donna avanti,
Far palese non possa il suo dolore;
E, quantunque ella il cor vegga ai sembianti,
Non si mova a pietà di chi si more.
Gran miseria è il suo amor tener celato,
E amando altrui non esser punto amato.
German translation
Es gibt keine größere Qual, geneigte Liebende,
die ihr zwei hübschen Augen gleich das Herz schenkt,
als die, wenn der Herr schon weit in der Gunst seiner Dame ist,
dass er doch sein Leiden nicht offenbaren kann;
und, soviel sie auch das Herz zu sehen scheint,
nicht gerührt wird zum Mitleid mit einem ,der stirbt.
Ein großes Unglück ist es, seine Liebe verborgen zu halten,
und, während man liebt, überhaupt nicht geliebt zu werden.
There is no greater pain, worthy lovers,
you that give you heart for two pretty eyes:
that a man, although he has gained the favour of his lady,
cannot reveal his suffering;
and that, as much as she may seem to look into his heart,
she is not moved to pity one that is dying.
It’s a great misery to conceal one’s love,
and, loving another one, not to be loved.
Italian text
German translation
English translation