44 Lit. losing (perdendo), but this is probably some copyist’s mistake for podendo, the old form of potendo, availing.
45 i.e. stood sponsor for him.
46 Lit. amorous (amorose), but Boccaccio frequently uses amoroso, vago, and other adjectives, which are now understood in an active or transitive sense only, in their ancient passive or intransitive sense of lovesome, desirable, etc.
47 Compagne, i.e. she-companions. Filomena is addressing the female part of the company.
48 Lit. his church (sua chiesa); but the context seems to indicate that the monastery itself is meant.
49 Lit. a pressure or oppression (priemere, hod. premere, to press or oppress, indicative used as a noun). The monk of course refers to the posture in which he had seen the abbot have to do with the girl, pretending to believe that he placed her on his own breast (instead of mounting on hers) out of a sentiment of humility and a desire to mortify his flesh ipsâ in voluptate.
50 An evident allusion to Boccaccio’s passion for the Princess Maria, i.e. Fiammetta herself.
51 Or standard-bearer.
52 i.e. the One-eyed (syn. le myope, the short-sighted, the Italian word [Il Bornio] having both meanings), i.e. Philip II. of France, better known as Philip Augustus.
53 i.e. with sword and whips, a technical term of ecclesiastical procedure, about equivalent to our “with the strong arm of the law.”
54 i.e. a lover of money.
55 A notorious drinker of the time.
56 i.e. money.
57 “And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name’s sake shall receive an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life.” — Matthew xix. 29. Boccaccio has garbled the passage for the sake of his point.
58 Syn. gluttonous (brodajuola).
59 i.e. gleemen, minstrels, story-tellers, jugglers and the like, lit. men of court (uomini di corte).
60 Dinne alcuna cosa. If we take the affix ne (thereof, of it), in its other meaning (as dative of noi, we), of “to us,” this phrase will read “Tell somewhat thereof,” i.e. of the cause of thy melancholy.
61 i.e. Latinist.
62 Lit. was (era); but as Boccaccio puts “can” (possono) in the present tense we must either read è and possono or era and potevano. The first reading seems the more probable.
63 i.e. have most power or means of requiting it.
64 Fem.
65 Uomo di corte. This word has been another grievous stumbling block to the French and English translators of Boccaccio, who render it literally “courtier.” The reader need hardly be reminded that the minstrel of the middle ages was commonly jester, gleeman and story-teller all in one and in these several capacities was allowed the utmost license of speech. He was generally attached to the court of some king or sovereign prince, but, in default of some such permanent appointment, passed his time in visiting the courts and mansions of princes and men of wealth and liberty, where his talents were likely to be appreciated and rewarded; hence the name uomo di corte, “man of court” (not “courtier,” which is cortigiano).
66 i.e. those minstrels.
67 i.e. the noblemen their patrons.
68 Syn. penalties, punishments (pene).
69 Virtù, in the old Roman sense of strength, vigour, energy.
70 Old form of Margherita.
71 i.e. the base or eatable part of the stem.
72 i.e. that day.
73 See ante, p. 8.
74 i.e. the terms of the limitation aforesaid.
75 i.e. in the mirrored presentment of her own beauty.
76 Ballatella, lit. little dancing song or song made to be sung as an accompaniment to a dance (from ballare, to dance). This is the origin of our word ballad.
77 Or pretext (titolo).
78 Or “having him punished,” lit. “causing give him ill luck” (fargli dar la mala ventura). This passage, like so many others of the Decameron, is ambiguous and may also be read “themseeming none other had a juster title to do him an ill turn.”
79 Lit. a story striveth in (draweth) me to be told or to tell itself (a raccontarsi mi tira una novella).
80 i.e. religious matters (cose cattoliche).
81 i.e. take things by the first intention, without seeking to refine upon them, or, in English popular phrase, “I do not pretend to see farther through a stone wall than my neighbours.”
82 i.e. the aforesaid orison.
83 Or “‘Twill have been opportunely done of thee.”
84 i.e. our patron saint.
85 i.e. whose teeth chattered as it were the clapping of a stork’s beak.
86 i.e. after her bath.
87 i.e. to be hanged or, in the equivalent English idiom, to dance upon nothing.
88 i.e. usury? See post. One of the commentators ridiculously suggests that they were needlemakers, from ago, a needle.
89 i.e. the thing is done and cannot be undone; there is no help for it.
90 i.e. make her a solemn promise of marriage, formally plight her his troth. The ceremony of betrothal was formerly (and still is in certain countries) the most essential part of the marriage rite.
91 i.e. cannot hope to tell a story presenting more extraordinary shifts from one to the other extreme of human fortune than that of Pampinea.
92 The Genoese have the reputation in Italy of being thieves by nature.
93 It seems doubtful whether la reggeva diritta should not rather be rendered “kept it upright.” Boccaccio has a knack, very trying to the translator, of constantly using words in an obscure or strained sense.
94 i.e. for nothing.
95 i.e. son of Pietro, as they still say in Lancashire and other northern provinces, “Tom o’ Dick” for “Thomas, son of Richard,” etc.
96 i.e. ill hole.
97 i.e. a member of the Guelph party, as against the Ghibellines or partisans of the Pope.
98 Charles d’Anjou, afterwards King of Sicily.
99 i.e. Frederick II. of Germany.
100 The reason was that she wished to keep him in play till late into the night, when all the folk should be asleep and she might the lightlier deal with him.
101 i.e. Catalan Street.
102 Charles d’Anjou.
103 i.e. the Banished or the Expelled One.
104 An island in the Gulf of Gaeta, about 70 miles from Naples. It is now inhabited, but appears in Boccaccio’s time to have been desert.
105 i.e. wild she-goat.
106 A river falling into the Gulf of Genoa between Carrara and Spezzia.
107 More familiar to modern ears as Doria.
108 The Ghibellines were the supporters of the Papal faction against the Guelphs or adherents of the Emperor Frederick II. of Germany. The cardinal struggle between the two factions took place over the succession to the throne of Naples and Sicily, to which the Pope appointed Charles of Anjou, who overcame and killed the reigning sovereign Manfred, but was himself, through the machinations of the Ghibellines, expelled from Sicily by the celebrated popular rising known as the Sicilian Vespers.
109 i.e. Beritola’s sons.
110 i.e. to which general joy.
111 Pedro of Arragon, son-in-law of Manfred, who, in consequence of the Sicilian Vespers, succeeded Charles d’Anjou as King of Sicily.
112 Or (in modern phrase) putting himself at their disposition.
113 i.e. Egypt, Cairo was known in the middle ages by the name of “Babylon of Egypt.” It need hardly be noted that the Babylon of the Bible was the city of that name on the Euphrates, the ancient capital of Chaldæa (Irak Babili). The names Beminedab and Alatiel are purely imaginary.
114 i.e. to his wish, to whom fortune was mostly favourable in his enterprises.
115 Il Garbo, Arabic El Gherb or Gharb, الﻐرب, the West, a name given by the Arabs to several parts of the Muslim empire, but by which Boccaccio apparently means Algarve, the southernmost province of Portugal and the last part of that kingdom to s
uccumb to the wave of Christian reconquest, it having remained in the hands of the Muslims till the second half of the thirteenth century. This supposition is confirmed by the course taken by Alatiel’s ship, which would naturally pass Sardinia and the Balearic Islands on its way from Alexandria to Portugal.
116 The modern Klarentza in the north-west of the Morea, which latter province formed part of Roumelia under the Turkish domination.
117 i.e. sister to the one and cousin to the other.
118 Non vogando, ma volando.
119 Sic (contò tutto); but this is an oversight of the author’s, as it is evident from what follows that she did not relate everything.
120 Lit. Ponant (Ponente), i.e. the Western coasts of the Mediterranean, as opposed to the Eastern or Levant.
121 i.e. a.d. 912, when, upon the death of Louis III, the last prince of the Carlovingian race, Conrad, Duke of Franconia, was elected Emperor and the Empire, which had till then been hereditary in the descendants of Charlemagne, became elective and remained thenceforth in German hands.
122 Anguersa, the old form of Anversa, Antwerp. All versions that I have seen call Gautier Comte d’Angers or Angiers, the translators, who forgot or were unaware that Antwerp, as part of Flanders, was then a fief of the French crown, apparently taking it for granted that the mention of the latter city was in error and substituting the name of the ancient capital of Anjou on their own responsibility.
123 i.e. of her excuse.
124 Lit. Thou holdest (or judges); but giudichi in the text is apparently a mistake for giudico.
125 i.e. of discernment.
126 Sic (aggiunsero); but semble should mean “believed, in addition.”
127 i.e. That the secret might be the better kept.
128 Paesani, lit., countrymen; but Boccaccio evidently uses the word in the sense of “vassals.”
129 i.e. that it was not a snare.
130 Quære, the Count’s?
131 Rimane. The verb rimanere is constantly used by the old Italian writers in the sense of “to become,” so that the proverb cited in the text may be read “The deceiver becometh (i.e. findeth himself in the end) at the feet (i.e. at the mercy) of the person deceived.”
132 Lit. Whatsoever an ass giveth against a wall, such he receiveth (Quale asino da in parete, tal riceve). I cannot find any satisfactory explanation of this proverbial saying, which may be rendered in two ways, according as quale and tale are taken as relative to a thing or a person. The probable reference seems to be to the circumstance of an ass making water against a wall, so that his urine returns to him.
133 From this point until the final discovery of her true sex, the heroine is spoken of in the masculine gender, as became her assumed name and habit.
134 Here Boccaccio uses the feminine pronoun, immediately afterward resuming the masculine form in speaking of Sicurano.
135 i.e. her.
136 i.e. her.
137 i.e. hers.
138 i.e. her.
139 Sic (meglio).
140 Lit. fabulous demonstrations (dimostrazioni favolose), casuistical arguments, founded upon premises of their own invention.
141 According to one of the commentators of the Decameron, there are as many churches at Ravenna as days in the year and each day is there celebrated as that of some saint or other.
142 A trifling jingle upon the similarity in sound of the words mortale (mortal), mortaio (mortar), pestello (pestle), and pestilente (pestilential). The same word-play occurs at least once more in the Decameron.
143 Il mal foro, a woman’s commodity (Florio).
144 i.e. Cunnus nonvult feriari. Some commentators propose to read il mal furo, the ill thief, supposing Ricciardo to allude to Paganino, but this seems far-fetched.
145 i.e. semble ran headlong to destruction. The commentators explain this proverbial expression by saying that a she-goat is in any case a hazardous mount, and a fortiori when ridden down a precipice; but this seems a somewhat “sporting” kind of interpretation.
146 i.e. Friday being a fast day and Saturday a jour maigre.
147 i.e. generally upon the vicissitudes of Fortune and not upon any particular feature.
148 Industria, syn. address, skilful contrivance.
149 i.e. half before (not half after) tierce or 7.30 a.m. Cf. the equivalent German idiom, halb acht, 7.30 (not 8.30) a.m.
150 i.e. as a whole (tutto insieme).
151 Sollecitudine. The commentators will have it that this is an error for solitudine, solitude, but I see no necessity for the substitution, the text being perfectly acceptable as it stands.
152 Hortyard (orto) is the old form of orchard, properly an enclosed tract of land in which fruit, vegetables and potherbs are cultivated for use, i.e. the modern kitchen garden and orchard in one, as distinguished from the pleasaunce or flower garden (giardino).
153 Giardino, i.e. flower-garden.
154 Lit. broke the string of.
155 Boccaccio calls her Teudelinga; but I know of no authority for this form of the name of the famous Longobardian queen.
156 Referring apparently to the adventure related in the present story.
157 Lit. with high (i.e. worthy) cause (con alta cagione).
158 Lit. (riscaldare gli orecchi).
159 i.e. three a.m. next morning.
160 i.e. a lay brother or affiliate.
161 i.e. the canticles of praise chanted by certain lay confraternities, established for that purpose and answering to our præ-Reformation Laudsingers.
162 An order of lay penitents, who were wont at certain times to go masked about the streets, scourging themselves in expiation of the sins of the people. This expiatory practice was particularly prevalent in Italy in the middle of the thirteenth century.
163 Contraction of Elisabetta.
164 Dom, contraction of Dominus (lord), the title commonly given to the beneficed clergy in the middle ages, answering to our Sir as used by Shakespeare (e.g. Sir Hugh Evans the Welsh Parson, Sir Topas the Curate, etc.). The expression survives in the title Dominie (i.e. Domine, voc. of Dominus) still familiarly applied to schoolmasters, who were of course originally invariably clergymen.
165 A Conventual is a member of some monastic order attached to the regular service of a church, or (as would nowadays be said) a “beneficed” monk.
166 Sic. This confusion of persons constantly occurs in Boccaccio, especially in the conversational parts of the Decameron, in which he makes the freest use of the various forms of enallage and of other rhetorical figures, such as hyperbaton, synecdoche, etc., to the no small detriment of his style in the matter of clearness.
167 i.e. nine o’clock p.m.
168 i.e. a gentleman of Pistoia.
169 Lit. “The summit,” or in modern slang “The tiptop,” i.e. the pink of fashion.
170 i.e. this love shall I bear you. This is a flagrant instance of the misuse of ellipsis, which so frequently disfigures Boccaccio’s dialogue.
171 i.e. my death.
172 Syn. a rare or strange means (nuovo consiglio). The word nuovo is constantly used by Boccaccio in the latter sense, as is consiglio in its remoter signification of means, remedy, etc.
173 i.e. the favour.
174 i.e. the lost six months.
175 Or, in modern parlance, to enlighten her.
176 i.e. It was not the dead man, but Tedaldo Elisei whom you loved. (Lo sventurato giovane che fu morto non amasti voi mai, ma Tedaldo Elisei si.)
177 i.e. friars’ gowns. Boccaccio constantly uses this irregular form of enallage, especially in dialogue.
178 Or, as we should nowadays say, “typical.”
179 i.e. the founders of the monastic orders.
180 Lit. pictures, paintings (dipinture), but evidently here used in a tropical sense, Boccaccio’s apparent meaning being that the hypocritical friars used to terrify their devotees by picturing to them, in vivid colours, the horrors of the punishment reserved for sinners.
181 i.e. may not ha
ve to labour for their living.
182 i.e. the false friars.
183 Lit. more of iron (più di ferro).
184 Sic (per lo modo); but quære not rather “in the sense.”
185 i.e. if they must enter upon this way of life, to wit, that of the friar.
186 The reference is apparently to the opening verse of the Acts of the Apostles, where Luke says, “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” It need hardly be remarked that the passage in question does not bear the interpretation Boccaccio would put upon it.
187 Sic; but the past tense “loved” is probably intended, as the pretended pilgrim had not yet discovered Tedaldo to be alive.
188 Lit. barkers (abbajatori), i.e. slanderers.
189 Lit. despite, rancour (rugginuzza), but the phrase appears to refer to the suspicions excited by the whispers that had been current, as above mentioned, of the connection between Ermellina and Tedaldo.
190 i.e. foot-soldiers.
191 i.e. of his identity.
192 i.e. the abbot who played the trick upon Ferondo. See post.
193 i.e. I will cure your husband of his jealousy.
194 The well-known chief of the Assassins (properly Heshashin, i.e. hashish or hemp eaters). The powder in question is apparently a preparation of hashish or hemp. Boccaccio seems to have taken his idea of the Old Man of the Mountain from Marco Polo, whose travels, published in the early part of the fourteenth century, give a most romantic account of that chieftain and his followers.
195 i.e. in the sublunary world.
196 Sic (casciata); meaning that he loves her as well as he loves cheese, for which it is well known that the lower-class Italian has a romantic passion. According to Alexandre Dumas, the Italian loves cheese so well that he has succeeded in introducing it into everything he eats or drinks, with the one exception of coffee.
197 i.e. the Angel Gabriel.
198 The plural of a surname is, in strictness, always used by the Italians in speaking of a man by his full name, dei being understood between the Christian and surname, as Benedetto (dei) Ferondi, Benedict of the Ferondos or Ferondo family, whilst, when he is denominated by the surname alone, it is used in the singular, il (the) being understood, e.g. (Il) Boccaccio, (Il) Ferondo, i.e. the particular Boccaccio or Ferondo in question for the nonce.
Collected Works of Giovanni Boccaccio Page 189
