Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater,
So I return rebuked to my content,
And gain by ills thrice more than I have spent.
Sonnet 119: Translation to modern English
What seductive potions I have drunk – sweet but distilled in reality from substances foul as hell – applying doubt to my hopes and hope to my doubts, ever losing just as I think myself to be on the brink of victory! What wretched mistakes my heart made at a time when I felt I had never been so blessed! How my eyes have popped out of their sockets in the throes of this maddening fever! But oh, the benefits of evil! Now I can see it's true that good things can be made better by evil and that ruined love can become even better when it's rebuilt – stronger and far greater. And so I return, chastened, to the one who makes me happy and, because of the evils I've committed, I get back three times what I've spent.
