[Voice: author]
[002] As often, most gracious ladies, as I bethink me, how compassionate you
are by nature one and all, I do not disguise from myself that the present work
must seem to you to have but a heavy and distressful prelude, in that it bears
upon its very front what must needs revive the sorrowful memory of the late
mortal pestilence, the course whereof was grievous not merely to eyewitnesses
but to all who in any other wise had cognisance of it.
[003] But I would have you know, that you need not therefore be fearful to
read further, as if your reading were ever to be accompanied by sighs and tears.
[004] This horrid beginning will be to you even such as to wayfarers is a
steep and rugged mountain, beyond which stretches a plain most fair and
delectable, which the toil of the ascent and descent does but serve to render
more agreeable to them;
[005] for, as the last degree of joy brings with it sorrow, so misery has
ever its sequel of happiness.
[006] To this brief exordium of woe--brief, I say, inasmuch as it can be put
within the compass of a few letters--succeed forthwith the sweets and delights
which I have promised you, and which, perhaps, had I not done so, were not to
have been expected from it.
[007] In truth, had it been honestly possible to guide you whither I would
bring you by a road less rough than this will be, I would gladly have so done.
But, because without this review of the past, it would not be in my power to
shew how the matters, of which you will hereafter read, came to pass, I am
almost bound of necessity to enter upon it, if I would write of them at all.
[Voice: author]
[008] I say, then, that the years of the beatific incarnation of the Son of
God had reached the tale of one thousand three hundred and forty-eight, when in
the illustrious city of Florence, the fairest of all the cities of Italy, there
made its appearance that deadly pestilence, which, whether disseminated by the
influence of the celestial bodies, or sent upon us mortals by God in His just
wrath by way of retribution for our iniquities, had had its origin some years
before in the East, whence, after destroying an innumerable multitude of living
beings, it had propagated itself without respite from place to place, and so,
calamitously, had spread into the West.
[Voice: author]
[009] In Florence, despite all that human wisdom and forethought could
devise to avert it, as the cleansing of the city from many impurities by
officials appointed for the purpose, the refusal of entrance to all sick folk,
and the adoption of many precautions for the preservation of health; despite
also humble supplications addressed to God, and often repeated both in public
procession and otherwise, by the devout; towards the beginning of the spring of
the said year the doleful effects of the pestilence began to be horribly
apparent by symptoms that shewed as if miraculous.
[Voice: author]
[010] Not such were they as in the East, where an issue of blood from the
nose was a manifest sign of inevitable death; but in men and women alike it
first betrayed itself by the emergence of certain tumours in the groin or the
armpits, some of which grew as large as a common apple, others as an egg, some
more, some less, which the common folk called gavoccioli.
[011] From the two said parts of the body this deadly gavocciolo soon began
to propagate and spread itself in all directions indifferently; after which the
form of the malady began to change, black spots or livid making their appearance
in many cases on the arm or the thigh or elsewhere, now few and large, now
minute and numerous.
[012] And as the gavocciolo had been and still was an infallible token of
approaching death, such also were these spots on whomsoever they shewed
themselves.
[013] Which maladies seemed to set entirely at naught both the art of the
physician and the virtues of physic; indeed, whether it was that the disorder
was of a nature to defy such treatment, or that the physicians were at
fault--besides the qualified there was now a multitude both of men and of women
who practised without having received the slightest tincture of medical
science--and, being in ignorance of its source, failed to apply the proper
remedies; in either case, not merely were those that recovered few, but almost
all within three days from the appearance of the said symptoms, sooner or later,
died, and in most cases without any fever or other attendant malady.
[Voice: author]
[014] Moreover, the virulence of the pest was the greater by reason that
intercourse was apt to convey it from the sick to the whole, just as fire
devours things dry or greasy when they are brought close to it.
[015] Nay, the evil went yet further, for not merely by speech or
association with the sick was the malady communicated to the healthy with
consequent peril of common death; but any that touched the clothes of the sick
or aught else that had been touched or used by them, seemed thereby to contract
the disease.
[Voice: author]
[016] So marvellous sounds that which I have now to relate, that, had not
many, and I among them, observed it with their own eyes, I had hardly dared to
credit it, much less to set it down in writing, though I had had it from the
lips of a credible witness.
[Voice: author]
[017] I say, then, that such was the energy of the contagion of the said
pestilence, that it was not merely propagated from man to man, but, what is much
more startling, it was frequently observed, that things which had belonged to
one sick or dead of the disease, if touched by some other living creature, not
of the human species, were the occasion, not merely of sickening, but of an
almost instantaneous death.
[018] Whereof my own eyes (as I said a little before) had cognisance, one
day among others, by the following experience. The rags of a poor man who had
died of the disease being strewn about the open street, two hogs came thither,
and after, as is their wont, no little trifling with their snouts, took the rags
between their teeth and tossed them to and fro about their chaps; whereupon,
almost immediately, they gave a few turns, and fell down dead, as if by poison,
upon the rags which in an evil hour they had disturbed.
[Voice: author]
[019] In which circumstances, not to speak of many others of a similar or
even graver complexion, divers apprehensions and imaginations were engendered in
the minds of such as were left alive, inclining almost all of them to the same
harsh resolution, to wit, to shun and abhor all contact with the sick and all
that belonged to them, thinking thereby to make each his own health secure.
[020] Among whom there were those who thought that to live temperately and
avoid all excess would count for much as a preservative against seizures of this
kind. Wherefore they banded together, and, dissociating themselves from all
others, formed communities in houses where there were no sick, and lived a
separate and secluded life, which they regulated with the utmost care, avoiding
every kind of luxury, but eating and drinking very moderately of the most
delicate viands and the finest wines, holding converse with none but one
another, lest tidings of sickness or death should reach them, and diverting
their minds with music and such other delights as they could devise.
[021] Others, the bias of whose minds was in the opposite direction,
maintained, that to drink freely, frequent places of public resort, and take
their pleasure with song and revel, sparing to satisfy no appetite, and to laugh
and mock at no event, was the sovereign remedy for so great an evil: and that
which they affirmed they also put in practice, so far as they were able,
resorting day and night, now to this tavern, now to that, drinking with an
entire disregard of rule or measure, and by preference making the houses of
others, as it were, their inns, if they but saw in them aught that was
particularly to their taste or liking;
[022] which they were readily able to do, because the owners, seeing death
imminent, had become as reckless of their property as of their lives; so that
most of the houses were open to all comers, and no distinction was observed
between the stranger who presented himself and the rightful lord. Thus, adhering
ever to their inhuman determination to shun the sick, as far as possible, they
ordered their life.
[023] In this extremity of our city's suffering and tribulation the
venerable authority of laws, human and divine, was abased and all but totally
dissolved, for lack of those who should have administered and enforced them,
most of whom, like the rest of the citizens, were either dead or sick, or so
hard bested for servants that they were unable to execute any office; whereby
every man was free to do what was right in his own eyes.
[Voice: author]
[024] Not a few there were who belonged to neither of the two said parties,
but kept a middle course between them, neither laying the same restraint upon
their diet as the former, nor allowing themselves the same license in drinking
and other dissipations as the latter, but living with a degree of freedom
sufficient to satisfy their appetites, and not as recluses. They therefore
walked abroad, carrying in their hands flowers or fragrant herbs or divers sorts
of spices, which they frequently raised to their noses, deeming it an excellent
thing thus to comfort the brain with such perfumes, because the air seemed to be
everywhere laden and reeking with the stench emitted by the dead and the dying,
and the odours of drugs.
[Voice: author]
[025] Some again, the most sound, perhaps, in judgment, as they were also
the most harsh in temper, of all, affirmed that there was no medicine for the
disease superior or equal in efficacy to flight; following which prescription a
multitude of men and women, negligent of all but themselves, deserted their
city, their houses, their estates, their kinsfolk, their goods, and went into
voluntary exile, or migrated to the country parts, as if God in visiting men
with this pestilence in requital of their iniquities would not pursue them with
His wrath wherever they might be, but intended the destruction of such alone as
remained within the circuit of the walls of the city; or deeming, perchance,
that it was now time for all to flee from it, and that its last hour was come.
[Voice: author]
[026] Of the adherents of these divers opinions not all died, neither did
all escape; but rather there were, of each sort and in every place, many that
sickened, and by those who retained their health were treated after the example
which they themselves, while whole, had set, being everywhere left to languish
in almost total neglect.
[027] Tedious were it to recount, how citizen avoided citizen, how among
neighbours was scarce found any that shewed fellow-feeling for another, how
kinsfolk held aloof, and never met, or but rarely; enough that this sore
affliction entered so deep into the minds of men and women, that in the horror
thereof brother was forsaken by brother, nephew by uncle, brother by sister, and
oftentimes husband by wife; nay, what is more, and scarcely to be believed,
fathers and mothers were found to abandon their own children, untended,
unvisited, to their fate, as if they had been strangers.
[028] Wherefore the sick of both sexes, whose number could not be estimated,
were left without resource but in the charity of friends (and few such there
were), or the interest of servants, who were hardly to be had at high rates and
on unseemly terms, and being, moreover, one and all, men and women of gross
understanding, and for the most part unused to such offices, concerned
themselves no further than to supply the immediate and expressed wants of the
sick, and to watch them die; in which service they themselves not seldom
perished with their gains.
[029] In consequence of which dearth of servants and dereliction of the sick
by neighbours, kinsfolk and friends, it came to pass--a thing, perhaps, never
before heard of--that no woman, however dainty, fair or well-born she might be,
shrank, when stricken with the disease, from the ministrations of a man, no
matter whether he were young or no, or scrupled to expose to him every part of
her body, with no more shame than if he had been a woman, submitting of
necessity to that which her malady required; wherefrom, perchance, there
resulted in after time some loss of modesty in such as recovered.
[030] Besides which many succumbed, who with proper attendance, would,
perhaps, have escaped death; so that, what with the virulence of the plague and
the lack of due tendance of the sick, the multitude of the deaths, that daily
and nightly took place in the city, was such that those who heard the tale--not
to say witnessed the fact--were struck dumb with amazement.
[031] Whereby, practices contrary to the former habits of the citizens could
hardly fail to grow up among the survivors.
[Voice: author]
[032] It had been, as to-day it still is, the custom for the women that were
neighbours and of kin to the deceased to gather in his house with the women that
were most closely connected with him, to wail with them in common, while on the
other hand his male kinsfolk and neighbours, with not a few of the other
citizens, and a due proportion of the clergy according to his quality, assembled
without, in front of the house, to receive the corpse; and so the dead man was
borne on the shoulders of his peers, with funeral pomp of taper and dirge, to
the church selected by him before his death.
[033] Which rites, as the pestilence waxed in fury, were either in whole or
in great part disused, and gave way to others of a novel order.
[034] For not only did no crowd of women surround the bed of the dying, but
many passed from this life unregarded, and few indeed were they to whom were
accorded the lamentations and bitter tears of sorrowing relations; nay, for the
most part, their place was taken by the laugh, the jest, the festal gathering;
observances which the women, domestic piety in large measure set aside, had
adopted with very great advantage to their health.
[035] Few also there were whose bodies were attended to the church by more
than ten or twelve of their neighbours, and those not the honourable and
respected citizens; but a sort of corpse-carriers drawn from the baser ranks,
who called themselves becchini and performed such offices for hire, would
shoulder the bier, and with hurried steps carry it, not to the church of the
dead man's choice, but to that which was nearest at hand, with four or six
priests in front and a candle or two, or, perhaps, none; nor did the priests
distress themselves with too long and solemn an office, but with the aid of the
becchini hastily consigned the corpse to the first tomb which they found
untenanted.
[036] The condition of the lower, and, perhaps, in great measure of the
middle ranks, of the people shewed even worse and more deplorable; for, deluded
by hope or constrained by poverty, they stayed in their quarters, in their
houses, where they sickened by thousands a day, and, being without service or
help of any kind, were, so to speak, irredeemably devoted to the death which
overtook them.
[037] Many died daily or nightly in the public streets; of many others, who
died at home, the departure was hardly observed by their neighbours, until the
stench of their putrefying bodies carried the tidings; and what with their
corpses and the corpses of others who died on every hand the whole place was a
sepulchre.
[Voice: author]
[038] It was the common practice of most of the neighbours, moved no less by
fear of contamination by the putrefying bodies than by charity towards the
deceased,
[039] to drag the corpses out of the houses with their own hands, aided,
perhaps, by a porter, if a porter was to be had, and to lay them in front of the
doors, where any one who made the round might have seen, especially in the
morning, more of them than he could count; afterwards they would have biers
brought up, or, in default, planks, whereon they laid them. Nor was it once or
twice only that one and the same bier carried two or three corpses at once; but
quite a considerable number of such cases occurred, one bier sufficing for
husband and wife, two or three brothers, father and son, and so forth.
[040] And times without number it happened, that, as two priests, bearing
the cross, were on their way to perform the last office for some one, three or
four biers were brought up by the porters in rear of them, so that, whereas the
priests supposed that they had but one corpse to bury, they discovered that
there were six or eight, or sometimes more.
[041] Nor, for all their number, were their obsequies honoured by either
tears or lights or crowds of mourners; rather, it was come to this, that a dead
man was then of no more account than a dead goat would be to-day. From all which
it is abundantly manifest, that that lesson of patient resignation, which the
sages were never able to learn from the slight and infrequent mishaps which
occur in the natural course of events, was now brought home even to the minds of
the simple by the magnitude of their disasters, so that they became indifferent
to them.
[Voice: author]
[042] As consecrated ground there was not in extent sufficient to provide
tombs for the vast multitude of corpses which day and night, and almost every
hour, were brought in eager haste to the churches for interment, least of all,
if ancient custom were to be observed and a separate resting-place assigned to
each, they dug, for each graveyard, as soon as it was full, a huge trench, in
which they laid the corpses as they arrived by hundreds at a time, piling them
up as merchandise is stowed in the hold of a ship, tier upon tier, each covered
with a little earth, until the trench would hold no more.
[043] But I spare to rehearse with minute particularity each of the woes
that came upon our city, and say in brief, that, harsh as was the tenor of her
fortunes, the surrounding country knew no mitigation; for there--not to speak of
the castles, each, as it were, a little city in itself--in sequestered village,
or on the open champaign, by the wayside, on the farm, in the homestead, the
poor hapless husbandmen and their families, forlorn of physicians' care or
servants' tendance, perished day and night alike, not as men, but rather as
beasts.
[044] Wherefore, they too, like the citizens, abandoned all rule of life,
all habit of industry, all counsel of prudence; nay, one and all, as if
expecting each day to be their last, not merely ceased to aid Nature to yield
her fruit in due season of their beasts and their lands and their past labours,
but left no means unused, which ingenuity could devise, to waste their
accumulated store;
[045] denying shelter to their oxen, asses, sheep, goats, pigs, fowls, nay,
even to their dogs, man's most faithful companions, and driving them out into
the fields to roam at large amid the unsheaved, nay, unreaped corn.
[046] Many of which, as if endowed with reason, took their fill during the
day, and returned home at night without any guidance of herdsman.
[047] But enough of the country! What need we add, but (reverting to the
city) that such and so grievous was the harshness of heaven, and perhaps in some
degree of man, that, what with the fury of the pestilence, the panic of those
whom it spared, and their consequent neglect or desertion of not a few of the
stricken in their need, it is believed without any manner of doubt, that between
March and the ensuing July upwards of a hundred thousand human beings lost their
lives within the walls of the city of Florence, which before the deadly
visitation would not have been supposed to contain so many people!
[048] How many grand palaces, how many stately homes, how many splendid
residences, once full of retainers, of lords, of ladies, were now left desolate
of all, even to the meanest servant! How many families of historic fame, of vast
ancestral domains, and wealth proverbial, found now no scion to continue the
succession! How many brave men, how many fair ladies, how many gallant youths,
whom any physician, were he Galen, Hippocrates, or Æsculapius himself, would
have pronounced in the soundest of health, broke fast with their kinsfolk,
comrades and friends in the morning, and when evening came, supped with their
forefathers in the other world!
[Voice: author]
[049] Irksome it is to myself to rehearse in detail so sorrowful a history.
Wherefore, being minded to pass over so much thereof as I fairly can, I say,
that our city, being thus well-nigh depopulated, it so happened, as I afterwards
learned from one worthy of credit, that on a Tuesday morning after Divine
Service the venerable church of Santa Maria Novella was almost deserted save for
the presence of seven young ladies habited sadly in keeping with the season. All
were connected either by blood or at least as friends or neighbours; and fair
and of good understanding were they all, as also of noble birth, gentle manners,
and a modest sprightliness. In age none exceeded twenty-eight, or fell short of
eighteen years.
[050] Their names I would set down in due form, had I not good reason to
withhold them, being solicitous lest the matters which here ensue, as told and
heard by them, should in after time be occasion of reproach to any of them, in
view of the ample indulgence which was then, for the reasons heretofore set
forth, accorded to the lighter hours of persons of much riper years than they,
but which the manners of to-day have somewhat restricted; nor would I furnish
material to detractors, ever ready to bestow their bite where praise is due, to
cast by invidious speech the least slur upon the honour of these noble ladies.
[051] Wherefore, that what each says may be apprehended without confusion, I
intend to give them names more or less appropriate to the character of each. The
first, then, being the eldest of the seven, we will call Pampinea, the second
Fiammetta, the third Filomena, the fourth Emilia, the fifth we will distinguish
as Lauretta, the sixth as Neifile, and the last, not without reason, shall be
named Elisa.
[Voice: author]
[052] 'Twas not of set purpose but by mere chance that these ladies met in
the same part of the church; but at length grouping themselves into a sort of
circle, after heaving a few sighs, they gave up saying paternosters, and began
to converse (among other topics) on the times.
[Voice: author]
[053] So they continued for a while, and then Pampinea, the rest listening
in silent attention, thus began: "Dear ladies mine, often have I heard it said,
and you doubtless as well as I, that wrong is done to none by whoso but honestly
uses his reason. And to fortify, preserve, and defend his life to the utmost of
his power is the dictate of natural reason in every one that is born. Which
right is accorded in such measure that in defence thereof men have been held
blameless in taking life.
[054] And if this be allowed by the laws, albeit on their stringency depends
the well-being of every mortal, how much more exempt from censure should we, and
all other honest folk, be in taking such means as we may for the preservation of
our life?
[055] As often as I bethink me how we have been occupied this morning, and
not this morning only, and what has been the tenor of our conversation, I
perceive--and you will readily do the like--that each of us is apprehensive on
her own account; nor thereat do I marvel, but at this I do marvel greatly, that,
though none of us lacks a woman's wit, yet none of us has recourse to any means
to avert that which we all justly fear.
[056] Here we tarry, as if, methinks, for no other purpose than to bear
witness to the number of the corpses that are brought hither for interment, or
to hearken if the brothers there within, whose number is now almost reduced to
nought, chant their offices at the canonical hours, or, by our weeds of woe, to
obtrude on the attention of every one that enters, the nature and degree of our
sufferings.
[057] And if we quit the church, we see dead or sick folk carried about, or
we see those, who for their crimes were of late condemned to exile by the
outraged majesty of the public laws, but who now, in contempt of those laws,
well knowing that their ministers are a prey to death or disease, have returned,
and traverse the city in packs, making it hideous with their riotous antics; or
else we see the refuse of the people, fostered on our blood, becchini, as they
call themselves, who for our torment go prancing about here and there and
everywhere, making mock of our miseries in scurrilous songs.
[058] Nor hear we aught but: Such and such are dead; or, Such and such are
dying; and should hear dolorous wailing on every hand, were there but any to
wail.
[059] Or go we home, what see we there? I know not if you are in like case
with me; but there, where once were servants in plenty, I find none left but my
maid, and shudder with terror, and feel the very hairs of my head to stand on
end; and turn or tarry where I may, I encounter the ghosts of the departed, not
with their wonted mien, but with something horrible in their aspect that appals
me.
[060] For which reasons church and street and home are alike distressful to
me, and the more so that none, methinks, having means and place of retirement as
we have, abides here save only we;
[061] or if any such there be, they are of those, as my senses too often
have borne witness, who make no distinction between things honourable and their
opposites, so they but answer the cravings of appetite, and, alone or in
company, do daily and nightly what things soever give promise of most
gratification.
[062] Nor are these secular persons alone; but such as live recluse in
monasteries break their rule, and give themselves up to carnal pleasures,
persuading themselves that they are permissible to them, and only forbidden to
others, and, thereby thinking to escape, are become unchaste and dissolute.
[063] If such be our circumstances--and such most manifestly they are--what
do we here? what wait we for? what dream we of? why are we less prompt to
provide for our own safety than the rest of the citizens? Is life less dear to
us than to all other women? or think we that the bond which unites soul and body
is stronger in us than in others, so that there is no blow that may light upon
it, of which we need be apprehensive?
[064] If so, we err, we are deceived. What insensate folly were it in us so
to believe! We have but to call to mind the number and condition of those, young
as we, and of both sexes, who have succumbed to this cruel pestilence, to find
therein conclusive evidence to the contrary.
[065] And lest from lethargy or indolence we fall into the vain imagination
that by some lucky accident we may in some way or another, when we would,
escape--I know not if your opinion accord with mine--I should deem it most wise
in us, our case being what it is, if, as many others have done before us, and
are still doing, we were to quit this place, and, shunning like death the evil
example of others, betake ourselves to the country, and there live as honourable
women on one of the estates, of which none of us has any lack, with all cheer of
festal gathering and other delights, so long as in no particular we overstep the
bounds of reason.
[066] There we shall hear the chant of birds, have sight of verdant hills
and plains, of cornfields undulating like the sea, of trees of a thousand sorts;
there also we shall have a larger view of the heavens, which, however harsh to
usward, yet deny not their eternal beauty; things fairer far for eye to rest on
than the desolate walls of our city.
[067] Moreover, we shall there breathe a fresher air, find ampler store of
things meet for such as live in these times, have fewer causes of annoy.
[068] For, though the husbandmen die there, even as here the citizens, they
are dispersed in scattered homesteads, and 'tis thus less painful to witness.
[069] Nor, so far as I can see, is there a soul here whom we shall desert;
rather we may truly say, that we are ourselves deserted; for, our kinsfolk being
either dead or fled in fear of death, no more regardful of us than if we were
strangers, we are left alone in our great affliction.
[070] No censure, then, can fall on us if we do as I propose; and otherwise
grievous suffering, perhaps death, may ensue.
[071] Wherefore, if you agree, 'tis my advice, that, attended by our maids
with al??? things needful, we sojourn, now on this, now on the other estate, and
in such way of life continue, until we see--if death should not first overtake
us--the end which Heaven reserves for these events.
[072] And I remind you that it will be at least as seemly in us to leave
with honour, as in others, of whom there are not a few, to stay with dishonour."
[Voice: author]
[073] The other ladies praised Pampinea's plan, and indeed were so prompt to
follow it, that they had already begun to discuss the manner in some detail, as
if they were forthwith to rise from their seats and take the road,
[074] when Filomena, whose judgment was excellent, interposed, saying:
"Ladies, though Pampinea has spoken to most excellent effect, yet it were not
well to be so precipitate as you seem disposed to be. Bethink you that we are
all women; nor is there any here so young, but she is of years to understand how
women are minded towards one another, when they are alone together, and how ill
they are able to rule themselves without the guidance of some man.
[075] We are sensitive, perverse, suspicious, pusillanimous and timid;
wherefore I much misdoubt, that, if we find no other guidance than our own, this
company is like to break up sooner, and with less credit to us, than it should.
Against which it were well to provide at the outset."[076]
Said then Elisa: "Without doubt man is woman's head, and, without man's
governance, it is seldom that aught that we do is brought to a commendable
conclusion. But how are we to come by the men?
[077] Every one of us here knows that her kinsmen are for the most part
dead, and that the survivors are dispersed, one here, one there, we know not
where, bent each on escaping the same fate as ourselves; nor were it seemly to
seek the aid of strangers; for, as we are in quest of health, we must find some
means so to order matters that, wherever we seek diversion or repose, trouble
and scandal do not follow us."
[Voice: author]
[078] While the ladies were thus conversing, there came into the church
three young men, young, I say, but not so young that the age of the youngest was
less than twenty-five years; in whom neither the sinister course of events, nor
the loss of friends or kinsfolk, nor fear for their own safety, had availed to
quench, or even temper, the ardour of their love.
[079] The first was called Pamfilo, the second Filostrato, and the third
Dioneo. Very debonair and chivalrous were they all; and in this troublous time
they were seeking if haply, to their exceeding great solace, they might have
sight of their fair friends, all three of whom chanced to be among the said
seven ladies, besides some that were of kin to the young men.
[080] At one and the same moment they recognised the ladies and were
recognised by them: wherefore, with a gracious smile, Pampinea thus began: "Lo,
fortune is propitious to our enterprise, having vouchsafed us the good offices
of these young men, who are as gallant as they are discreet, and will gladly
give us their guidance and escort, so we but take them into our service."[081]
Whereupon Neifile, crimson from brow to neck with the blush of modesty,
being one of those that had a lover among the young men, said:
[082] "For God's sake, Pampinea, have a care what you say. Well assured am I
that nought but good can be said of any of them, and I deem them fit for office
far more onerous than this which you propose for them, and their good and
honourable company worthy of ladies fairer by far and more tenderly to be
cherished than such as we.
[083] But 'tis no secret that they love some of us here; wherefore I
misdoubt that, if we take them with us, we may thereby give occasion for scandal
and censure merited neither by us nor by them."[084]
"That," said Filomena, "is of no consequence; so I but live honestly, my
conscience gives me no disquietude; if others asperse me, God and the truth will
take arms in my defence.
[085] Now, should they be disposed to attend us, of a truth we might say
with Pampinea, that fortune favours our enterprise."[086]
The silence which followed betokened consent on the part of the other
ladies, who then with one accord resolved to call the young men, and acquaint
them with their purpose, and pray them to be of their company.
[087] So without further parley Pampinea, who had a kinsman among the young
men, rose and approached them where they stood intently regarding them; and
greeting them gaily, she opened to them their plan, and besought them on the
part of herself and her friends to join their company on terms of honourable and
fraternal comradeship.
[088] At first the young men thought she did but trifle with them; but when
they saw that she was in earnest, they answered with alacrity that they were
ready, and promptly, even before they left the church, set matters in train for
their departure.
[089] So all things meet being first sent forward in due order to their
intended place of sojourn, the ladies with some of their maids, and the three
young men, each attended by a man-servant, sallied forth of the city on the
morrow, being Wednesday, about daybreak, and took the road; nor had they
journeyed more than two short miles when they arrived at their destination.
[090] The estate lay upon a little hill some distance from the nearest
highway, and, embowered in shrubberies of divers hues, and other greenery,
afforded the eye a pleasant prospect.
[091] On the summit of the hill was a palace with galleries, halls and
chambers, disposed around a fair and spacious court, each very fair in itself,
and the goodlier to see for the gladsome pictures with which it was adorned; the
whole set amidst meads and gardens laid out with marvellous art, wells of the
coolest water, and vaults of the finest wines, things more suited to dainty
drinkers than to sober and honourable women. On their arrival the company, to
their no small delight, found their beds already made, the rooms well swept and
garnished with flowers of every sort that the season could afford, and the
floors carpeted with rushes.
[092] When they were seated, Dioneo, a gallant who had not his match for
courtesy and wit, spoke thus: "My ladies, 'tis not our forethought so much as
your own mother-wit that has guided us hither.
[093] How you mean to dispose of your cares I know not; mine I left behind
me within the citygate when I issued thence with you a brief while ago.
Wherefore, I pray you, either address yourselves to make merry, to laugh and
sing with me (so far, I mean, as may consist with your dignity), or give me
leave to hie me back to the stricken city, there to abide with my cares."[094]
To whom blithely Pampinea replied, as if she too had cast off all her cares:
"Well sayest thou, Dioneo, excellent well; gaily we mean to live; 'twas a refuge
from sorrow that here we sought, nor had we other cause to come hither.
[095] But, as no anarchy can long endure, I who initiated the deliberations
of which this fair company is the fruit, do now, to the end that our joy may be
lasting, deem it expedient, that there be one among us in chief authority,
honoured and obeyed by us as our superior, whose exclusive care it shall be to
devise how we may pass our time blithely.
[096] And that each in turn may prove the weight of the care, as well as
enjoy the pleasure, of sovereignty, and, no distinction being made of sex, envy
be felt by none by reason of exclusion from the office; I propose, that the
weight and honour be borne by each one for a day; and let the first to bear sway
be chosen by us all, those that follow to be appointed towards the vesper hour
by him or her who shall have had the signory for that day; and let each holder
of the signory be, for the time, sole arbiter of the place and manner in which
we are to pass our time."
[Voice: author]
[097] Pampinea's speech was received with the utmost applause, and with one
accord she was chosen queen for the first day. Whereupon Filomena hied her
lightly to a bay-tree, having often heard of the great honour in which its
leaves, and such as were deservedly crowned therewith, were worthy to be holden;
and having gathered a few sprays, she made thereof a goodly wreath of honour,
and set it on Pampinea's head; which wreath was thenceforth, while their company
endured, the visible sign of the wearer's sway and sovereignty.
[Voice: author]
[098] No sooner was Queen Pampinea crowned than she bade all be silent. She
then caused summon to her presence their four maids, and the servants of the
three young men, and, all keeping silence, said to them: "That I may shew you
all at once, how, well still giving place to better, our company may flourish
and endure, as long as it shall pleasure us, with order meet and assured delight
and without reproach, I first of all constitute Dioneo's man, Parmeno, my
seneschal, and entrust him with the care and control of all our household, and
all that belongs to the service of the hall.
[099] Pamfilo's man, Sirisco, I appoint treasurer and chancellor of our
exchequer; and be he ever answerable to Parmeno. While Parmeno and Sirisco are
too busy about their duties to serve their masters, let Filostrato's man,
Tindaro, have charge of the chambers of all three.
[100] My maid, Misia, and Filomena's maid, Licisca, will keep in the
kitchen, and with all due diligence prepare such dishes as Parmeno shall bid
them.
[101] Lauretta's maid, Chimera, and Fiammetta's maid, Stratilia we make
answerable for the ladies' chambers, and wherever we may take up our quarters,
let them see that all is spotless. And now we enjoin you, one and all alike, as
you value our favour, that none of you, go where you may, return whence you may,
hear or see what you may, bring us any tidings but such as be cheerful."[102]
These orders thus succinctly given were received with universal approval.
Whereupon Pampinea rose, and said gaily: "Here are gardens, meads, and other
places delightsome enough, where you may wander at will, and take your pleasure;
but on the stroke of tierce, let all be here to breakfast in the shade."
[Voice: author]
[103] Thus dismissed by their new queen the gay company sauntered gently
through a garden, the young men saying sweet things to the fair ladies, who wove
fair garlands of divers sorts of leaves and sang love-songs.
[Voice: author]
[104] Having thus spent the time allowed them by the queen, they returned to
the house, where they found that Parmeno had entered on his office with zeal;
for in a hall on the ground-floor they saw tables covered with the whitest of
cloths, and beakers that shone like silver, and sprays of broom scattered
everywhere. So, at the bidding of the queen, they washed their hands, and all
took their places as marshalled by Parmeno.
[105] Dishes, daintily prepared, were served, and the finest wines were at
hand; the three serving-men did their office noiselessly; in a word all was fair
and ordered in a seemly manner;
[106] whereby the spirits of the company rose, and they seasoned their
viands with pleasant jests and sprightly sallies. Breakfast done, the tables
were removed, and the queen bade fetch instruments of music; for all, ladies and
young men alike, knew how to tread a measure, and some of them played and sang
with great skill: so, at her command, Dioneo having taken a lute, and Fiammetta
a viol, they struck up a dance in sweet concert;
[107] and, the servants being dismissed to their repast, the queen, attended
by the other ladies and the two young men, led off a stately carol; which ended
they fell to singing ditties dainty and gay.
[108] Thus they diverted themselves until the queen, deeming it time to
retire to rest, dismissed them all for the night. So the three young men and the
ladies withdrew to their several quarters, which were in different parts of the
palace. There they found the beds well made, and abundance of flowers, as in the
hall; and so they undressed, and went to bed.
[Voice: author]
[109] Shortly after none the queen rose, and roused the rest of the ladies,
as also the young men, averring that it was injurious to the health to sleep
long in the daytime. They therefore hied them to a meadow, where the grass grew
green and luxuriant, being nowhere scorched by the sun, and a light breeze
gently fanned them. So at the queen's command they all ranged themselves in a
circle on the grass, and hearkened while she thus spoke:
[Voice: author]
[110] "You mark that the sun is high, the heat intense, and the silence
unbroken save by the cicalas among the olive-trees. It were therefore the height
of folly to quit this spot at present. Here the air is cool and the prospect
fair, and here, observe, are dice and chess. Take, then, your pleasure as you
may be severally minded;
[111] but, if you take my advice, you will find pastime for the hot hours
before us, not in play, in which the loser must needs be vexed, and neither the
winner nor the onlooker much the better pleased, but in telling of stories, in
which the invention of one may afford solace to all the company of his hearers.
[112] You will not each have told a story before the sun will be low, and
the heat abated, so that we shall be able to go and severally take our pleasure
where it may seem best to each. Wherefore, if my proposal meet with your
approval--for in this I am disposed to consult your pleasure--let us adopt it;
if not, divert yourselves as best you may, until the vesper hour."
[Voice: author]
[113] The queen's proposal being approved by all, ladies and men alike, she
added:
[114] "So please you, then, I ordain, that, for this first day, we be free
to discourse of such matters as most commend themselves to each in turn."[115]
She then addressed Pamfilo, who sat on her right hand, bidding him with a
gracious air to lead off with one of his stories. And prompt at the word of
command, Pamfilo, while all listened intently, thus began: