The Decameron, Volume II

by Giovanni Boccaccio

company until supper-time. So, the king being risen, theladies and the rest likewise rose, and betook them, as they were wont, totheir several diversions. Supper-time being come, they supped withexceeding great delight. Which done, they addressed them to song andmusic and dancing; and, while Lauretta was leading a dance, the king badeFiammetta give them a song; whereupon Fiammetta right debonairly sang onthis wise:--

  So came but Love, and brought no jealousy, So blithe, I wot, as I, Dame were there none, be she whoe'er she be.

  If youth's fresh, lusty pride May lady of her lover well content, Or valour's just renown, Hardihood, prowess tried, Wit, noble mien, discourse most excellent, And of all grace the crown; That she am I, who, fain for love to swoun, There where my hope doth lie These several virtues all conjoined do see.

  But, for that I less wise Than me no whit do other dames discern, Trembling with sore dismay, I still the worst surmise, Deeming their hearts with the same flame to burn That of mine maketh prey: Wherefore of him that is my hope's one stay Disconsolate I sigh, Yea mightily, and daily do me dree.

  If but my lord as true As worthy to be loved I might approve, I were not jealous then: But, for that charmer new Doth all too often gallant lure to love, Forsworn I hold all men, And sick at heart I am, of death full fain; Nor lady doth him eye, But I do quake, lest she him wrest from me.

  'Fore God, then, let each she List to my prayer, nor e'er in my despite Such grievous wrong essay; For should there any be That by or speech or mien's allurements light Of him to rob me may Study or plot, I, witting, shall find way, My beauty it aby! To cause her sore lament such frenesie.

  As soon as Fiammetta had ended her song, Dioneo, who was beside her, saidwith a laugh:--"Madam, 'twould be a great courtesy on your part to do allladies to wit, who he is, that he be not stolen from you in ignorance,seeing that you threaten such dire resentment." Several other songsfollowed; and it being then nigh upon midnight, all, as the king waspleased to order, betook them to rest. With the first light of the newday they rose, and, the seneschal having already conveyed thence alltheir chattels, they, following the lead of their discreet king, hiedthem back to Florence; and in Santa Maria Novella, whence they had setforth, the three young men took leave of the seven ladies, and departedto find other diversions elsewhere, while the ladies in due time repairedto their homes.

  THE AUTHOR'S EPILOGUE.

  Most noble damsels, for whose solace I addressed me to this long andtoilsome task, meseems that, aided by the Divine grace, the bestowalwhereof I impute to the efficacy of your pious prayers, and in no wise tomerits of mine, I have now brought this work to the full and perfectconsummation which in the outset thereof I promised you. Wherefore, itbut remains for me to render, first to God, and then to you, my thanks,and so to give a rest to my pen and weary hand. But this I purpose not toallow them, until, briefly, as to questions tacitly mooted--for wellassured I am that these stories have no especial privilege above anyothers, nay, I forget not that at the beginning of the Fourth Day I havemade the same plain--I shall have answered certain trifling objectionsthat one of you, maybe, or some other, might advance. Peradventure, then,some of you will be found to say that I have used excessive license inthe writing of these stories, in that I have caused ladies at times totell, and oftentimes to list, matters that, whether to tell or to list,do not well beseem virtuous women. The which I deny, for that there isnone of these stories so unseemly, but that it may without offence betold by any one, if but seemly words be used; which rule, methinks, hashere been very well observed. But assume we that 'tis even so (for withyou I am not minded to engage in argument, witting that you wouldvanquish me), then, I say that for answer why I have so done, reasonsmany come very readily to hand. In the first place, if aught of the kindin any of these stories there be, 'twas but such as was demanded by thecharacter of the stories, which let but any person of sound judgment scanwith the eye of reason, and 'twill be abundantly manifest that, unless Ihad been minded to deform them, they could not have been otherwiserecounted. And if, perchance, they do, after all, contain here and therea trifling indiscretion of speech, such as might ill sort with one ofyour precious prudes, who weigh words rather than deeds, and are moreconcerned to appear, than to be, good, I say that so to write was aspermissible to me, as 'tis to men and women at large in their converse tomake use of such terms as hole, and pin, and mortar, and pestle, andsausage, and polony, and plenty more besides of a like sort. Andtherewithal privilege no less should be allowed to my pen than to thepencil of the painter, who without incurring any, or at least any just,censure, not only will depict St. Michael smiting the serpent, or St.George the dragon, with sword or lance at his discretion; but male hepaints us Christ, and female Eve, and His feet that for the salvation ofour race willed to die upon the cross he fastens thereto, now with one,now with two nails.

  Moreover, 'tis patent to all that 'twas not in the Church, of matterswhereto pertaining 'tis meet we speak with all purity of heart andseemliness of phrase, albeit among her histories there are to be foundnot a few that will ill compare with my writings; nor yet in the schoolsof the philosophers, where, as much as anywhere, seemliness is demanded,nor in any place where clergy or philosophers congregate, but in gardens,in pleasaunces, and among folk, young indeed, but not so young as to beseducible by stories, and at a time when, if so one might save one'slife, the most sedate might without disgrace walk abroad with hisbreeches for headgear, that these stories were told. Which stories, suchas they are, may, like all things else, be baneful or profitableaccording to the quality of the hearer. Who knows not that wine is, asCinciglione and Scolaio(1) and many another aver, an excellent thing forthe living creature, and yet noxious to the fevered patient? Are we, forthe mischief it does to the fever-stricken, to say that 'tis a bad thing?Who knows not that fire is most serviceable, nay, necessary, to mortals?Are we to say that, because it burns houses and villages and cities, itis a bad thing? Arms, in like manner, are the safeguard of those thatdesire to live in peace, and also by them are men not seldom maliciouslyslain, albeit the malice is not in them, but in those that use them for amalicious purpose. Corrupt mind did never yet understand any word in awholesome sense; and as such a mind has no profit of seemly words, sosuch as are scarce seemly may as little avail to contaminate a healthymind as mud the radiance of the sun, or the deformities of earth thesplendours of the heavens. What books, what words, what letters, are moresacred, more excellent, more venerable, than those of Holy Writ? And yetthere have been not a few that, perversely construing them, have broughtthemselves and others to perdition. Everything is in itself good forsomewhat, and being put to a bad purpose, may work manifold mischief. Andso, I say, it is with my stories. If any man shall be minded to draw fromthem matters of evil tendency or consequence, they will not gainsay him,if, perchance, such matters there be in them, nor will such matters failto be found in them, if they be wrested and distorted. Nor, if any shallseek profit and reward in them, will they deny him the same; and censuredor accounted as less than profitable and seemly they can never be, if thetimes or the persons when and by whom they are read be such as when theywere recounted. If any lady must needs say paternosters or make cakes ortarts for her holy father, let her leave them alone; there is none afterwhom they will run a begging to be read: howbeit, there are littlematters that even the beguines tell, ay, and do, now and again.

  In like manner there will be some who will say that there are storieshere which 'twere better far had been omitted. Granted; but 'twas neitherin my power, nor did it behove me, to write any but such stories as werenarrated; wherefore, 'twas for those by whom they were told to have acare that they were proper; in which case they would have been no less soas I wrote them. But, assuming that I not only wrote but invented thestories, as I did not, I say that I should take no shame to myself thatthey were not all proper; seeing that artist there is none to be found,save God, that does all things well and perfectly. And Charlemagne,albeit he created the Paladins, wist not how to
make them in such numbersas to form an army of them alone. It must needs be that in the multitudeof things there be found diversities of quality. No field was ever sowell tilled but that here and there nettle, or thistle, or brier would befound in it amid the goodlier growths. Whereto I may add that, having toaddress me to young and unlearned ladies, as you for the most part are, Ishould have done foolishly, had I gone about searching and swinking tofind matters very exquisite, and been sedulous to speak with greatprecision. However, whoso goes a reading among these stories, let himpass over those that vex him, and read those that please him. That nonemay be misled, each bears on its brow the epitome of that which it hideswithin its bosom.

  Again, I doubt not there will be such as will say that some of thestories are too long. To whom, once more, I answer, that whoso has aughtelse to do would be foolish to read them,