The Decameron (83 page)

[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]
[PLACE FOOTNOTE HERE] -- 142

[144]
Il mal foro
, a woman's commodity (Florio).

[145]
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.

[146]
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.

[147]
i.e.
Friday being a fast day and Saturday a
jour maigre
.

[148]
i.e.
generally upon the vicissitudes of Fortune and not upon any particular feature.

[149]
Industria
, syn. address, skilful contrivance.

[150]
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.

[151]
i.e.
as a whole (
tutto insieme
).

[152]
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.

[153]
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
).

[154]
Giardino
,
i.e.
flower–garden.

[155]
Lit. broke the string of.

[156]
Boccaccio calls her
Teudelinga
; but I know of no authority for this form of the name of the famous Longobardian queen.

[157]
Referring apparently to the adventure related in the present story.

[158]
Lit. with high (
i.e.
worthy) cause (
con alta cagione
).

[159]
Lit. (
riscaldare gli orecchi
).

[160]
i.e.
three a.m. next morning.

[161]
i.e.
a lay brother or affiliate.

[162]
i.e.
the canticles of praise chanted by certain lay confraternities, established for that purpose and answering to our præ–Reformation Laudsingers.

[163]
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.

[164]
Contraction of Elisabetta.

[165]
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.

[166]
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.

[167]
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.

[168]
i.e.
nine o'clock p.m.

[169]
i.e.
a gentleman of Pistoia.

[170]
Lit. "The summit," or in modern slang "The tiptop,"
i.e.
the pink of fashion.

[171]
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.

[172]
i.e.
my death.

[173]
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.

[174]
i.e.
the favour.

[175]
i.e.
the lost six months.

[176]
Or, in modern parlance, to enlighten her.

[177]
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.
)

[178]
i.e.
friars' gowns. Boccaccio constantly uses this irregular form of enallage, especially in dialogue.

[179]
Or, as we should nowadays say, "typical."

[180]
i.e.
the founders of the monastic orders.

[181]
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.

[182]
i.e.
may not have to labour for their living.

[183]
i.e.
the false friars.

[184]
Lit. more of iron (
più di ferro
).

[185]
Sic (
per lo modo
); but
quære
not rather "in the sense."

[186]
i.e.
if they must enter upon this way of life, to wit, that of the friar.

[187]
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.

[188]
Sic
; but the past tense "loved" is probably intended, as the pretended pilgrim had not yet discovered Tedaldo to be alive.

[189]
Lit. barkers (
abbajatori
),
i.e.
slanderers.

[190]
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.

[191]
i.e.
foot–soldiers.

[192]
i.e.
of his identity.

[193]
i.e.
the abbot who played the trick upon Ferondo. See post.

[194]
i.e.
I will cure your husband of his jealousy.

[195]
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.

[196]
i.e.
in the sublunary world.

[197]
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.

[198]
i.e.
the Angel Gabriel.

[199]
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.

[200]
Lit. and so I hope (
spero
), a curious instance of the ancient Dantesque use of the word
spero
, I hope, in its contrary sense of fear.

[201]
Fornito
, a notable example of what the illustrious Lewis Carroll Dodgson, Waywode of Wonderland, calls a "portmanteau–word," a species that abounds in mediæval Italian, for the confusion of translators.

[202]
i.e.
getting good pay and allowances (
avendo buona provisione
).

[203]
Guadagnare l'anima
, lit. gain the soul (syn. pith, kernel, substance). This passage is ambiguous and should perhaps be rendered "catch the knack or trick" or "acquire the wish."

[204]
The translators regret that the disuse into which magic has fallen, makes it impossible to render the technicalities of that mysterious art into tolerable English; they have therefore found it necessary to insert several passages in the original Italian.

[205]
Transcriber's Note: The following is a 1903 translation of this passage by J.M. Rigg (from Project Gutenberg Etext No. 3726):

Whereupon Rustico, seeing her so fair, felt an accession of desire, and therewith came an insurgence of the flesh, which Alibech marking with surprise, said:—"Rustico, what is this, which I see thee have, that so protrudes, and which I have not?""Oh! my daughter," said Rustico, "'tis the Devil of whom I have told thee: and, seest thou? he is now tormenting me most grievously, insomuch that I am scarce able to hold out." Then:—"Praise be to God," said the girl, "I see that I am in better case than thou, for no such Devil have I.""Sooth sayst thou," returned Rustico; "but instead of him thou hast somewhat else that I have not.""Oh!" said Alibech, "what may that be?""Hell," answered Rustico: "and I tell thee, that 'tis my belief that God has sent thee hither for the salvation of my soul; seeing that, if this Devil shall continue to plague me thus, then, so thou wilt have compassion on me and permit me to put him in hell, thou wilt both afford me great and exceeding great solace, and render to God an exceeding most acceptable service, if, as thou sayst, thou art come into these parts for such a purpose." In good faith the girl made answer:—"As I have hell to match your Devil, be it, my father, as and when you will." Whereupon:—"Bless thee, my daughter," said Rustico, "go we then, and put him there, that he leave me henceforth in peace." Which said, he took the girl to one of the beds and taught her the posture in which she must lie in order to incarcerate this spirit accursed of God. The girl, having never before put any devil in hell, felt on this first occasion a twinge of pain: wherefore she said to Rustico:—