The Decameron (84 page)

"Of a surety, my father, he must be a wicked fellow, this devil, and in very truth a foe to God; for there is sorrow even in hell—not to speak of other places—when he is put there.""Daughter," said Rustico, "'twill not be always so." And for better assurance thereof they put him there six times before they quitted the bed; whereby they so thoroughly abased his pride that he was fain to be quiet. However, the proud fit returning upon him from time to time, and the girl addressing herself always obediently to its reduction, it so befell that she began to find the game agreeable, and would say to Rustico:—"Now see I plainly that 'twas true, what the worthy men said at Capsa, of the service of God being so delightful: indeed I cannot remember that in aught that ever I did I had so much pleasure, so much solace, as in putting the Devil in hell; for which cause I deem it insensate folly on the part of any one to have a care to aught else than the service of God." Wherefore many a time she would come to Rustico, and say to him:—"My father, 'twas to serve God that I came hither, and not to pass my days in idleness: go we then, and put the Devil in hell." And while they did so, she would now and again say:—"I know not, Rustico, why the Devil should escape from hell; were he but as ready to stay there as hell is to receive and retain him, he would never come out of it." So, the girl thus frequently inviting and exhorting Rustico to the service of God, there came at length a time when she had so thoroughly lightened his doublet that he shivered when another would have sweated; wherefore he began to instruct her that the Devil was not to be corrected and put in hell, save when his head was exalted with pride; adding, "and we by God's grace have brought him to so sober a mind that he prays God he may be left in peace;" by which means he for a time kept the girl quiet. But when she saw that Rustico had no more occasion for her to put the Devil in hell, she said to him one day:—"Rustico, if thy Devil is chastened and gives thee no more trouble, my hell, on the other hand, gives me no peace; wherefore, I with my hell have holpen thee to abase the pride of thy Devil, so thou wouldst do well to lend me the aid of thy Devil to allay the fervent heat of my hell."

[206]
i.e.
the government (
corte
).

[207]
Lit. that scythes were no less plenty that he had arrows (
che falci si trovavano non meno che egli avesse strali
), a proverbial expression the exact bearing of which I do not know, but whose evident sense I have rendered in the equivalent English idiom.

[208]
Syn. what he said (
che si dire
). See ante, p. 11, note.

[209]
Apparently the well–known fabliau of the Dame de Vergy, upon which Marguerite d'Angoulême founded the seventieth story of the Heptameron.

[210]
Lit. made (
Di me il feci digno
).

[211]
i.e.
false suspicion (
falso pensiero
).

[212]
i.e.
to heaven (
e costa su m'impetra la tornata
).

[213]
The pertinence of this allusion, which probably refers to some current Milanese proverbial saying, the word
tosa
, here used by Boccaccio for "wench," belonging to the Lombard dialect, is not very clear. The expression "Milan–fashion" (
alla melanese
) may be supposed to refer to the proverbial materialism of the people of Lombardy.

[214]
Sic (
senza invidia
); but the meaning is that misery alone is without
enviers
.

[215]
i.e.
blasts of calumny.

[216]
i.e.
having not yet accomplished.

[217]
i.e.
my censors.

[218]
i.e.
in alms.

[219]
"I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need."—
Philippians
iv. 12.

[220]
i.e.
benumbed (
assiderati
).

[221]
Or airshaft (
spiraglio
).

[222]
Lit. introduced him to me (
a me lo 'ntrodussi
); but Boccaccio here uses the word
introdurre
in its rarer literal sense to lead, to draw, to bring in.

[223]
i.e.
thou being the means of bringing about the conjunction (
adoperandol tu
).

[224]
i.e.
Guiscardo's soul.

[225]
i.e.
in the heart.

[226]
i.e.
was more inclined to consider the wishes of the ladies her companions, which she divined by sympathy, than those of Filostrato, as shown by his words (
più per la sua affezione cognobbe l'animo delle campagne che quello del re per le sue parole
). It is difficult, however, in this instance as in many others, to discover with certainty Boccaccio's exact meaning, owing to his affectation of Ciceronian concision and delight in obscure elliptical forms of construction; whilst his use of words in a remote or unfamiliar sense and the impossibility of deciding, in certain cases, the person of the pronouns and adjectives employed tend still farther to darken counsel.
E.g.
, if we render
affezione
sentiment,
cognobbe
(as
riconobbe
) acknowledged, recognized, and read
le sue parole
as meaning
her
(instead of
his
) words, the whole sense of the passage is changed, and we must read it "more by her sentiment (
i.e.
by the tendency and spirit of her story) recognized the inclination of her companions than that of the king by her [actual] words." I have commented thus at large on this passage, in order to give my readers some idea of the difficulties which at every page beset the translator of the Decameron and which make Boccaccio perhaps the most troublesome of all authors to render into representative English.

[227]
Lit. of those who
was
held of the greatest casuists (
di quelli che de' maggior cassesi era tenuto
). This is another very obscure passage. The meaning of the word
cassesi
is unknown and we can only guess it to be a dialectic (probably Venetian) corruption of the word
casisti
(casuists). The Giunta edition separates the word thus,
casse si
, making
si
a mere corroborative prefix to
era
, but I do not see how the alteration helps us, the word
casse
(chests, boxes) being apparently meaningless in this connection.

[228]
Venetian contraction of
Casa
, house. Da Ca Quirino, of the Quirino house or family.

[229]
cf.
Artemus Ward's "Natives of the Universe and other parts."

[230]
Mo vedi vu
, Venetian for
Or vedi tu
, now dost thou see? I have rendered it by the equivalent old English form.

[231]
i.e.
not of the trap laid for him by the lady's brothers–in–law, but of her indiscretion in discovering the secret.

[232]
Che xe quel?
Venetian for
che c'e quella cosa
, What is this thing?

[233]
i.e.
semble
"an you would wish them nought but an ill end."

[234]
i.e.
to anger.

[235]
i.e.
to the proposal I have to make.

[236]
i.e.
the possession of their mistresses.

[237]
Sic (
di che veleno fosse morto
), but this is probably a copyist's error for
che di veleno fosse morto
,
i.e.
that he had died of poison.

[238]
i.e.
that night.

[239]
Or, in modern parlance, "laying certain plans."

[240]
i.e.
for lack of wind.

[241]
i.e.
of each other.

[242]
This is the proper name of the heroine of the story immortalized by Keats as "Isabella or the Pot of Basil," and is one of the many forms of the and name
Elisabetta
(Elizabeth),
Isabetta
and
Isabella
being others. Some texts of the Decameron call the heroine
Isabetta
, but in the heading only, all with which I am acquainted agreeing in the use of the form
Lisabetta
in the body of the story.

[243]
i.e.
to the place shown her in the dream.

[244]
i.e.
in their service.

[245]
Lit. unhung (
spiccò
).

[246]
The following is a translation of the whole of the song in question, as printed, from a MS. in the Medicean Library, in Fanfani's edition of the Decameron.

Alack! ah, who can the ill Christian be,
  That stole my pot away,
My pot of basil of Salern, from me?
  'Twas thriv'n with many a spray
And I with mine own hand did plant the tree,
  Even on the festal[A] day.
'Tis felony to waste another's ware.

'Tis felony to waste another's ware;
  Yea, and right grievous sin.
And I, poor lass, that sowed myself whilere
  A pot with flowers therein,
Slept in its shade, so great it was and fair;
  But folk, that envious bin,
Stole it away even from my very door.

'Twas stolen away even from my very door.
  Full heavy was my cheer,
(Ah, luckless maid, would I had died tofore!)
  Who brought[B] it passing dear,
Yet kept ill ward thereon one day of fear.
  For him I loved so sore,
I planted it with marjoram about.

I planted it with marjoram about,
  When May was blithe and new;
Yea, thrice I watered it, week in, week out,
  And watched how well it grew:
But now, for sure, away from me 'tis ta'en.

Ay, now, for sure, away from me 'tis ta'en;
  I may 't no longer hide.
Had I but known (alas, regret is vain!)
  That which should me betide,
Before my door on guard I would have lain
  To sleep, my flowers beside.
Yet might the Great God ease me at His will.

Yea, God Most High might ease me, at His will,
  If but it liked Him well,
Of him who wrought me such unright and ill;
  He into pangs of hell
Cast me who stole my basil–pot, that still
  Was full of such sweet smell,
Its savour did all dole from me away.

All dole its savour did from me away;
  It was so redolent,
When, with the risen sun, at early day
  To water it I went,
The folk would marvel all at it and say,
  "Whence comes the sweetest scent?"
And I for love of it shall surely die.

Yea, I for love of it shall surely die,
  For love and grief and pain.
If one would tell me where it is, I'd buy
  It willingly again.
Fivescore gold crowns, that in my pouch have I,
  I'd proffer him full fain,
And eke a kiss, if so it liked the swain.]

Note A: Quære—natal?—perhaps meaning her birthday (
lo giorno della festa
).

Note B: Or "purchased" in the old sense of obtained, acquired (
accattai
).

[247]
i.e.
these two classes of folk.

[248]
i.e.
to the encouragement of good and virtuous actions and purposes.

[249]
Or "lap" (
seno
).

[250]
Lit. what meaneth this? (
che vuol dire questo?
)

[251]
Lit. complaining, making complaint (
dolendosi
).

[252]
i.e.
to attend the ecclesiastical function called a Pardon, with which word, used in this sense, Meyerbeer's opera of Dinorah (properly Le Pardon de Ploërmel) has familiarized opera–goers. A Pardon is a sort of minor jubilee of the Roman Catholic Church, held in honour of some local saint, at which certain indulgences and remissions of sins (hence the name) are granted to the faithful attending the services of the occasion.