THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

MASUCCIO.

Volume I.

Two hundred and ten copies for England and America.
No./^,

THE NOVELLINO

OF

MASUCCIO

NOW FIRST TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY

W. G. WATERS

ILLUSTRATED BY E. R. HUGHES, R.W.S.

VOLUME I

LONDON: LAWRENCE AND BULLEN
1 6, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden

MDCCCXCV

v./

Contents.

PAGE

List of Illustrations ^j

Introduction xiii

PART THE FIRST ,

Dedication by Francesco Tuppo •t

Prologue r

The First Novel. Maestro Diego is carried back dead to his convent
by Messer Roderico. Another monk, thinking him to be alive, strikes
him with a stone, and then fears he may have slain him thereby, where-
fore he takes to flight, mounted upon a mare. By a strange chance
he meets, riding on a stallion, with lance in rest, the dead man,
who follows him all through the city. The living monk, having been
arrested, confesses he is guilty of the homicide, and is dealt with as a
malefaftor, but the cavalier makes known the truth, and the friar is
delivered from the doom he merited not 1 1

The Second Novel, A Dominican friar persuades Madonna Barbara
that she will find herself with child by a certain righteous man, and
will in due time bring forth the fifth evangelist. By means of his
fraud, she becomes pregnant by him ; and then he, under the cover of
a fresh deceit, makes good his flight. This deed having come to light,
the father of Barbara marries her to a man of mean estate .... 29

The Third Novel. Fra Nicolo da Narni being enamoured of Madonna
Agata, procures fulfilment of his desire. The husband happening
to come upon them, the wife declares that the friar, by the virtue of
certain relics, has delivered her of a distemper which afiiifted her.
But, having found the friar's breeches at the head of the bed, the
husband becomes disturbed in his mind, whereupon the wife assures
him that the breeches formerly belonged to San Griffone. This the
husband believes, and in the end the friar causes them to be conveyed
back to the convent in a solemn procession .^.5

GÌ497S

LIBRARY

CONTENTS.

The Fourth Novel. Fra Girolamo of Spoleto makes the people of
Sorrento believe that the bone of a certain dead body which he has
gotten is the arm of St. Luke. His accomplice contradicts this state-
ment, whereupon Fra Girolamo prays to God that he will demonstrate
the truth of his words by the working of a miracle. Then the accom-
plice feigns to fall down dead, and Fra Girolamo by prayer restores him
to life. Having by the fame of this double miracle colledied a great sum
of money, Fra Girolamo becomes a prelate, and hereafter lives a lazy
life with his comrade 6i

The Fifth Novel. Massimilla, being amorously looked upon by a priest,
and by a tailor as well, promises her favours both to the one and the
other. While she is taking her pleasure in her house with the tailor,
the priest comes for what has been promised him, and tries to gain
entry by force. Whereupon the tailor, being mightily alarmed, seeks
shelter in the garret. The priest comes in and says that he has a wish
to send the Pope to Rome. The tailor, seeing that a festival is at
hand, deems that it ought not to be ungraced by music, so he blows a
note on the pipes, which puts to flight the priest. Then the tailor
takes possession of the booty left behind 77

The Sixth Novel. On a certain night two nuns take their pleasure
with a prior and with a priest. This thing coming to the knowledge
of the bishop, he sets himself on the watch and seizes the prior at the
gate of the monastery. The priest remains within, and the nun who
is with him is made aware that the bishop is demanding entry. She,
by means of a trick, induces the abbess to get out of her bed, and then
conceals the priest therein. The bishop discovers him : the nun
remains free of all blame ; the abbess is disgraced, and together with
the priest condemned to pay a fine of money 87

The Seventh Novel. Fra Partenopeo is seized with love of Marchesa,
and makes pretence of being an adherent to the king in order to win
the favour of the court. By the means of a trick he gets possession of
a key of the monastery, and a companion of his brings Marchesa to
him in his cell. He gives her money, which she entrusts to another
lover of hers. The matter is noised abroad : the friar is caught in
disgraceful case, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment . . . 101

The Eighth Novel. A young lawyer, having no taste for his studies,
sells his books and lives jovially with the money he receives therefor.
A preaching friar promises that he will make the dead arise from their
graves on a certain day when the young lawyer and divers companions
of his happen to be present in the church, whereupon these consider
how they may annoy the preacher with a witty pleasantry, but he
takes his revenge upon them afterwards by a prompt and appropriate
reply ,.,.,..... 1 17

CONTENTS. vii

PACE

The Ninth Novel. A certain priest has an intrigue with the wife of his
gossip. This having come to the husband's ears, he in his jealousy
forbids the praflice; whereupon the young woman pretends that she is
possessed by a spirit. On this account they send the husband on a
pilgrimage, and then the priest goes back to take his pleasure with the
wife without being suspedled by anybody 131

The Tenth Novel. Fra Antonio dc San Marcello in the course of
hearing confessions sells the gift of Paradise, and accumulates vast
suras of money by this pradlice. Two men of Ferrara contrive, by
putting upon him a most subtle cheat, to sell him a false jewel.
When he comes to know of the fraud, he dies wretchedly, almost
maddened by this trouble 143

PART THE SECOND 161

Prologue 163

The Eleventh Novel. Joanni Tornese, by reason of his jealousy,
causes his wife to disguise herself in man's attire whenever she goes
abroad with him; but a certain cavalier, her lover, enjoys her in the
presence of a friend of the husband, who in a state of frenzy takes his
wife home afterwards : the doings of the wife are noised abroad, and
Joanni dies of vexation, whereupon the wife again marries and leads a
merry life 165

The Twelfth Novel. A certain youth, being enamoured of the wife of
an innkeeper, puts on the garb of a widow woman, and arrives one
night with all his attendants at the house of the innkeeper aforesaid.
The host, induced by plausible arguments, puts the pretended widow
to bed with his wife, who, after withstanding somewhat, takes pleasure
with her lover, and the host, unwitting of what has befallen, is paid
twofold 181

The Thirteenth Novel. Pandolfo d'Ascari is made Governor of
Salerno. He takes a wife and fails in his duty towards her. A
certain youth of the city becomes enamoured of her, and plays a
strange jest in the matter of a sword of his. One day the governor's
watch captures this young man and takes him before the court, where-
upon the sword aforesaid is displayed to view, the governor's wife
being present. The governor is mightily incensed and banishes the
young man ; but, the story being noised abroad in the city, the
governor dies of vexation, whereupon his young wife takes her
pleasure with her lover 195

The Fourteenth Novel. A cavalier of Messina falls in love with a
young Neapolitan girl. He learns that her father is very avaricious,
wherefore he contrives to become acquainted with him, and puts him
in the way of making vast gain in traffic. After a time he pretends

CONTENTS.

PAGE

that he must needs return home, and offers to leave behind him in
pawn a slave, the said slave being one well instrud^ed as to the deed he
had in view. This slave, a woman, beguiles the young girl, and the
two plunder the old father and take to flight in company with the
lover. Finally the cavalier marries the damsel ; they return to Naples,
and arc happy in their love 209

The Fifteenth Novel. A lord cardinal is enamoured of a certain lady,
and bribes the husband of the same with a sum of money, in order
that he may let his wife be brought into the cardinal's apartment.
On the morrow the husband comes to take her back, but the lady
being vastly contented with her present lodgment, refuses to accompany
him, though he urges her thereto with much fruitless discourse. In
the end he takes the money which was promised to him, and in
despair goes into exile, while his wife lives a pleasant life with the
cardinal 223

The Sixteenth Novel. San Bernardino is tricked by two Salernitans,
one of whom makes the saint believe that he has found a purse con-
taining five hundred ducats, while the other affirms that he has lost
the same, and by giving a description of its contents recovers the
purse. Whereupon the saint, having in a sermon of his made
mention of the poverty of the first-named man to the Florentine
people, colleds a large sura of money, which he hands over to the
knave, who, having foregathered once more with his colleague, divides
with him the booty 239

The Seventeenth Novel. A dodfor of laws sends home to his house a
cup, and is watched by two thieves. One of these takes a fish to the
doftor's wife, bringing her at the same time a feigned message from
her husband, which diredls her to prepare the fish and to deliver up
the cup. This she gives to the rogue, and when the husband come''
back he finds his cup gone, and hurries off to recover it. Then the
other rogue goes to the house and says that the cup has been found,
and that he has come for the fish. The wife believes him and gives
him the fish, which he straightway carries off; and, having met his
friend, the two together enjoy the trick and the gains thereof . . . 251

The Eighteenth Novel. A friar of Saint Antony by means oi
enchanted acorns saves two pigs from dying, whereupon the woman
to whom they belong gives him a piece of linen cloth. The husband
comes back, and, being greatly angered at what she has done, follows
the friar to recover from him the linen. The friar sees him coming
from afar, and throws a lighted brand into the cloth, and then gives it
back to the owner. The fire burns the cloth, and all the people hold
it for certain that a miracle must have been wrought; so they bring
the friar back to the farm, where he coUed^s a goodly quantity of
chattels 261

CONTENTS.

PACE

The Nineteenth Novel. Two men of La Cava journey to Naples.
One of them, being weary, halts at La Torre, and the other arrives
late at night at Ponte Ricciardo, and lies there. Another man, an
Amalfitan, passes that way during the night, one who is mightily
in fear of men who have been executed, and shouts to a corpse
hanging on a gibbet ; whereupon the man of La Cava, deeming that
it is his comrade who calls, runs towards him. The Amalfitan thinks
he is being greeted by the hanged man, and takes to flight, followed
by the other. He likewise flings away a bag he is carrying, and this
the man of La Cava picks up, and then, having been joined by his
companion, they return home 271

The Twentieth Novel. Giacomo Pinto is enamoured of a certain
widow lady, whereupon Misser Angelo gives him a promise that he
will let him have possession of her by the working of necromancy.
He takes Giacomo, who fully believes this tale, to hold converse with
Barabbas, and likewise gives him certain animals as oft'erings. But
Giacomo takes to flight through fear in the end. The nature of the
cheat comes to light, and Giacomo goes to the wars, wherein he
serves for pay, and comes back therefrom a wise man and a rich . . 281

mm
mm

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I.

To face
page

Novel I. The Dead Rider 24

II. Madonna Barbara 41

III. A Relic of San Griffone 56

V. Marco the Piper 81

VI. Chiara's Indictment 96

XI. Meat without Mustard 176

XII. The Wife of the Amalfitan 192

XV. The Price of a Wife 237

3lntrotiuction.

HE middle period of the fifteenth century is one
which every writer on ItaHan history or hterature
will approach with interest or even delight. It
is probably at the present time being worked more
zealously and more studiously than any other ;
wherefore it would be out of place to set down here
any vague generalities concerning it. Pope Paul IV.,
speaking a century later/ compared the ruin and confusion of his
own age with the states system which produced rulers like Francesco
Sforza, Cosimo dei Medici, Francesco Foscari, Nicolas V., and
Alfonso the Magnanimous, and likened the Italy of the time to a
well-tuned musical instrument and the states of the aforenamed rulers
to the strings thereof, cursing the while the memory of Alfonso of
Aragon ^ and Ludovico of Milan, wretched lost souls who had
disturbed this harmony and compassed the ruin he was fated to
behold. These good times of the Pope's retrospeól may be roughly
identified with the period of Masuccio's literary adivity, and the
people who then lived and moved in town and country as the
originals of the interesting series of literary piélures which he has
left us in his work.

The "Novellino" is a colledlion of fifty stories, each one told by

^ " Relatione di M. Bernardo Navagcro alia Ser'"\ Rep", di Venctia," 1558.

* Alfonso IL, grandson of the Magnanimous, and mentioned by Masuccio as
Duke of Calabria. He fled before Charles VIII, in 1495, and abdicated without
striking a blow.

xiv INTRODUCTION.

the writer separately, without any striving after continuity. Masuccio
does not trouble himself, like certain others of the Novellieri, to
construd a setting for his work, and to feign that the tales were told
in turn by the various members of a gentle company brought together
by hazard. He tells us that all his novels are true,' and that in many
cases he is only setting down what he has learnt by the evidence of
his senses." Each novel begins with a dedication to some personage
of note, and ends with divers comments by the author. These com-
ments in a measure fill the place of the chorus in Greek drama, and
exhibit more completely than the narrative itself Masuccio's own
view of the episode therein chronicled. Now and again the terms
employed in the novel might leave an impression that evil-doers were
being let off too easily, were it not for the scathing denunciation of
offence and offender as well, written in the *' Masuccio " at the end.^
The book begins with a Prologue dedicated to Ippolita, Duchess of
Calabria, a patroness of learning and learned herself, and of extraor-
dinary virtue, if the words of Francesco Tuppo in his short dedica-
tion to the early editions of the work are to be taken seriously.'*
After a few flowery tropes Masuccio strikes the note which is
dominant throughout the entire work, to wit, the profligacy of the
ministers of religion, and in the first ten novels he assuredly lays on
the scourge with a will. His treatment of this, and indeed of all
other subjeéls, is bluntly realistic, and his constant excursions into
real history and his allusions to aólual personages show how vastly his
essay in story-telling differs from the pure fidlion and fiditious history
of Boccaccio and Ser Giovanni, and from the fairy tales of Straparola.
Under Alfonso the Magnanimous the literary renown of Naples
rose to a point never attained before or since. In his zeal for the
cultivation of learning this remarkable man rivalled the aélivity of
Cosimo dei Medici. Like Cosimo he favoured the foundation of an
academy of letters, and the learned men he entertained, first and last,
at his court, certainly equalled in numbers those who frequented
Florence at the same time. Laurentius Valla, Beccadelli, and

^ "E invoco l'altissimo Dio per testimonio che tutte sono verissime istorie, le
più nelli nostri moderni tempi travenute." — Parlamento.

* " Siccome per verissimo ho sentito e con più esperienze toccato con mano." —
Novel XXV.

^ Novel III. may be taken as an instance.

* "Quale guardando la inaudita pudicitia tua,"

INTRODUCTION. xv

Fontano all enjoyed his favour, and Filelfo during his turbulent and
wandering life spent some time at Naples. Alfonso maintained a long
correspondence with Leonardo Aretino, and Poggio was employed
by him to make a translation of the "Cyropasdia" of Xenophon.
It may be assumed that Masuccio enjoyed the friendship of Beccadelli
and of Fontano, seeing that he dedicates to each of them a novel ;
others he inscribes to the men of affairs about the court, such as
Antonello de Fetrucciis and Francesco Scales ; others to the high
nobles of the kingdom, and others to the various members of the
royal house of Aragon.

Between Alfonso and his natural son, who succeeded him as
Ferdinand I., the difference was vast indeed. It is almost impossible
to believe that such a father could have produced such a son. Fon-
tano, who was in Ferdinand's employ both as secretary and ambas-
sador, when writing after the king's death ^ tells of horrors which
might rank with the most hideous barbarities of Ezzelino or Bernabò
Visconti. He was cruel and treacherous as a tiger, brutal in speech,
lustful, and avaricious. He would spend lavishly to make some display
of gaudy and ostentatious pomp, but he would never fail to replace, by
the judicial murder of some rich official and the confiscation of his
estates, the treasure thus expended. In duplicity, cruelty, and irre-
ligion, he was no unfit match for the contemporary occupants of St.
Feter's chair, but it will be vain to search for any such presentment
of him in the pages of the " Novellino." Masuccio, a noble by birth, a
courtier by profession,^ and secretary to Ferdinand's trusted friend and
counsellor, Roberto di Sanseverino, could ill afford, whatever he might
know and believe, to set down in his book a true pióture of the king.

The best that can be said of Ferdinand's rule is that, within the
bounds of his own kingdom, the peace was fairly kept. Stained as
he was with every vice, he was a far-sighted and capable ruler, and,
after the suppression of the rebellion of the Angevin nobles, who had
been incited to revolt by the refusal of Calixtus IV. to grant him

^ "De Immanitate," vol. i., p. 318, Ven., 15 18 : " Ferdinandus rex Ncapolita-
norum praeclaros etiam viros conclusos carcere eiiara bene atque abunde pascebat
eandem ex iis voluptatem capiens quam pueri e conclusis in cavea aviculis : qua de
re sjepe numero sibi ipse inter intimos suos diu multumque gratulatus subblanditusque
in risum tandem ac cachinnos profundebatur."

* The " Masuccio " to Novel XLIV., which is filled with fulsome praise of the
Duke of Calabria, as bad a man as his father, may be taken as an instance of the
writer's servility.

XVI INTRODUCTION.

investiture of Naples, he managed for many years to keep his own
kingdom quiet, though he did not fail to stir up strife amongst the
neighbouring states at every opportunity. No one of his lieutenants
did such splendid work in the subjugation of the Angevin revolt as
Roberto di Sanseverino, and as a reward for his services he was
made Prince of Salerno and Lord High Admiral of the kingdom.
Masuccio became his secretary, and, under the favour of such an
exalted personage, his social and literary advancement must have been
comparatively easy.

The period covered by Masuccio's maturity is the fortunate one
of Ferdinand's reign, the time of comparative quiet between the
Angevin war and the Revolt of the Barons in 1485, in which fell so
many illustrious heads, and which prepared the way for the final ruin
of the Aragonese dynasty. Porzio in his history of this movement has
set forth fully the causes which led to it, and demonstrates how well
justified the barons were in the aétion they took, and how it was that,
at the mere sound of the trumpets of the army of Charles VIII., ten
years later, the Aragonese monarchy fell like a house of cards. Of
Masuccio personally there is very little information to be gathered,
j There is no record of his birth or of his death. He was probably
born about 1420,^ and that he was still living in 1474 is certain,
for in the Parlamento, or epilogue, to his book he mentions the
death of Roberto di Sanseverino, an event which took place in that
year. Seeing that he was Sanse veri no's secretary, and that the
great majority of his novels are dedicated to prominent Neapolitans,
it may be assumed that his life was chiefly spent in Naples and the
neighbourhood. Dunlop has set down/ and Roscoe has copied a
statement that he passed the greater part of his life in the service of
the Dukes of Milan, but for this there is no warrant, beyond that
given in a few inconclusive words at the beginning of Novel XI.
After 1474 Masuccio fades entirely from view. The references he
makes to himself in the " Novellino " are few and unimportant ; more
suggestive is one which occurs in a work by Pontano, an epitaph
written to his memory, and a composition scarcely worthy of that
writer's high reputation as a Latin scholar.

^ In the Pinto MS., quoted by Settembrini, it is stated that Masuccio's name
appears as a witness to a legal document in 1441. He must therefore have been
twenty-one years of age at that date.

^ " History of Fidion," ii. 172.

INTRODUCTION. xvii

" Tumulus Masutu Salernitani fabularum egregii scriptoris.'

" Hic quoque fabcUas lusit tinxitque lepore,

Condiit ornatis et sua diéla jocis.
Nobilis ingenio, natu quoque nobilis, idem

Et doéìis placuit principibusque viris.
Masutius nomen, patria est generosa Salernum,

Haec simul et vitam praebuit et rapuit."

In the story of Messer Goro and Pope Plus II., Luigi Pulci
refers to Masuccio, and furthermore dedicates his story to the Duchess
of Calabria in terms which suggest that he had been encouraged by
reading the many pleasant tales of Masuccio to make this essay in
fiótion, and to beg the illustrious lady to accept the same, as she had
already accepted the dedication of the '^ Novellino." '^ In the appendix
to Toppo's " Biblioteca Napoletana," written by Leonardo Nicodemi,
there is a passage which claims for Masuccio the honours of a poet,
but no fragment of his verses has come down to posterity.''

Masuccio was born of the Guardati, a noble family of Salerno. In
his admirable introduólion to the edition of the "Novellino" published
in 1874, Signor Luigi Settembrini has been able to supply certain
fresh faéls concerning the family aforesaid, taken from some private
genealogical records to which he had been given access. These tell
of a certain Luise, or Luigi Guardato, the descendant of a long line
of fighting barons, who was secretary to Raimondo Orsini, the prince
upon whom Alfonso the Magnanimous had conferred the lordship of
Salerno. This Luigi was numbered amongst the oldest nobility of
the Seggio del Campo, presumably the aristocratic quarter of the
city, and by his marriage with Margherita Mariconda became the
father of the writer of the " Novellino." It is further recorded that
Masuccio himself married Cristina Pando, and had by her four
children. The MS. then goes on to deal with the branch of the

' Aldine edition, i 5 i 8, p. 72.

^ "Raccolta dei Classici Italiani," Milano, 1804, vol. ii., p. 142 : "Masuccio,
grande onore della città di Salerno, molto imitatore del nostro M. Giovanni Boc-
caccio, illustrissima Madonna Ippolita, mi ha dato ardire a scrivere alla Vostra
Eccellenza, leggendo a questi di nel suo Novellino molte piacevoli cose, le quali poi
che io intesi essere da V. S. graziosamente accettate e lette, ho fatto come i
naviganti i quali sogliono addirizzar le loro navi dove le loro mercatanzie intendono
aver ricapito."

' In the " Masuccio" to Novel XXX. he gives a hint that he might, if occasion
should demand, become a rhymester, "con un fiume di proprii e convenienti adiet-
tivi quasi in rima posti."

xviii INTRODUCTION.

Guardati which settled at Sorrento, descendants of which in i 874
were still Jiving.

Masuccio's place in the political and social world may best be
realized from the dedications of his novels. From the terms of these
it would appear that he must have been intimate with many of the
most prominent of the public men of his time, and amongst these
may be numbered seven or eight of the leaders in the Barons' revolt
of 1485.' It has been noted already that he was secretary to Roberto
di Sanseverino, and from the fad: that he dedicated to Antonello,
Roberto's successor, one of his novels, and wrote a cordial and
flattering exordium to the same, it may be inferred that he was on
intimate footing with the son of his patron. Under these circum-
stances it is almost certain that, had Masuccio been living when the
Revoltofthe Barons broke out in 148 5, some mention of his name would
have occurred in the quasi-judicial proceedings taken against the
leaders of the conspiracy. From the appendix to Porzio (ed. 1859),
it may be gathered that he was not — even if alive — the secretary to
Antonello de Sanseverino, for the names of all the secretaries of
the implicated barons are given in the records relating to their trials,
and Masuccio's is not amongst them. The facfl that a member of his
mother's family, Andrea Mariconda, was Vice-Protonotario, and one
of the judges who dealt with the accused conspirators, might account
for the absence of his name, but the balance of probability seems to
favour the view that he died before the outbreak of the revolt, and
was spared the spedacle of the ruin and death of his friends.

No further faéls of any importance are forthcoming concern-
ing the personality of Masuccio, but, without wandering into the
mazes of construólive criticism, it may be permitted to cite from
the "Novellino" itself certain passages which warrant a tentative
estimate of his character and leanings. Masuccio seems to have
rated himself as one with a message to deliver; his work was
perhaps the earliest example of the Tendenz-Roman ; his phra-
S'^ology gives one the impression that he wrote with his feelings at a
white heat, and when a man delivers his soul in this wise he will
generally contrive to let it appear what manner oi man he himselt
may have been. Pulci speaks of Masuccio as " molto imitatore del

' Novel IV. is dedicated to Antonello de Petrucciis ; XIII. to the Conte di
Lauria ; XVIII. to Antonello de Sanseverino ; XXX. to the Prince of Bisignano ;
XL. to the Conte di Tursi ; and XL^'III. to the Duca di Melfi.

INTRODUCTION. xix

nostro M. Giovanni Boccaccio," and there is perhaps some analogy
between his position in the Aragonese court and that which Boccaccio
had occupied in the Angevin. In the Prologue and in the several
dedications there are divers over-laboured touches which suggest
that he was trying hard to play the courtier, and to consecrate his
life to the delegation of the Duchess Ippolita and her ladies; but,
judging by the earnest spirit he displays otherwhere, it is hard to
believe that he set about his work only with the objedl of telling
witty stories of amorous intrigue and sombre ones of tragic adven-
ture.

In the very Prologue to the work he announces his primary
theme, by proclaiming himself the scourger of priestly vices. There /
is evidence enough and to spare to be gathered from other sources
that a censor of this sort was badly needed, but there is also evidence
just as strong concerning other evils and abuses which Masuccio lets
pass unrebuked. It must be remembered, however, that in all ages
the flagellators of existing ofFences as well as the teachers of new and
purer rules of life have chosen their special fields of labour, and
Masuccio apparently did not deem himself strong enough to attack
the forces of evil on all sides. The cruelty, the avarice, the
treachery, and the lust of the rulers of the land, and the misery of the
people subjeft to the caprice of one of the most infamous of tyrants,
did not greatly stir Masuccio's indignation or pity. These were
public evils and public wrongs. They existed in every land and in
almost equal degree, and with the facile acquiescence of an Italian in
things constituted and with the traditional pazienza he was content to
bear them, grievous as they were, rather than take arms against them.
If they touched him, they touched everyone else as well, and the
course of past events had proved over and over again that the
struggles for redress and reform which had been begun against the
forces of constituted authority were by no means foreordained to
success, and that the outcome of such attempts as had been specially
fortunate had rarely been worth the trouble and danger of the enterprise.
It may have been a train of reasoning like this which led Masuccio
to suffer the ills springing from bad government to go unscathed by
his satire, but prudence may very likely have intervened and counselled
him that to criticise the ads of a king like Ferdinand would be to
place his neck in the hangman's noose.

It is when Masuccio begins to deal with the offences which spring

XX INTRODUCTION.

from the corruption of this or that particular class or caste or sex ;
of those foul blows which are dealt us by the hands we are especially
led to trust ; and of the foes which lurk within a man's own house-
hold, that he seems to find his true vocation. If the words which a
man speaks or writes are ever to be taken as evidence of the mind
that is in him, then assuredly Masuccio may be credited with ardent
hatred of the offences he denounces. Putting aside occasional lapses
into licentiousness of expression as accidents inseparable from the age
/ in which he wrote, it is almost impossible to doubt his sincerity as a
would-be reformer of manners. It is true he makes now and then
reservations and exceptions which appear to us strange and incon-
sistent. Once he excuses and even commends a cardinal with
respedl to dealings which he would certainly have censured had he
been writing of a friar.^ Again, after the manner of Boccaccio, he
wishes for the friend to whom the novel in question is dedicated,
^M^ fortunes as happy as those of the youth whose successful intrigue
with a married woman he has just chronicled;'^ but in estimating
these seeming incongruities some heed must be taken of the change
which, since his day, has come over the ordinary conception of sexual
love. Masuccio lived in the lingering shadows of the middle ages,
and was on this account the heir of a tradition by which certain
forms of adultery attained a place, if not amongst the domestic
virtues, at least amongst the venial sins. The air was as yet heavy
with the miasma bred from the dismal swamp of cramped and
artificial life led by womankind in those dreary centuries. The
courts of love of France and Provence declared more than once that
love between husband and wife was impossible, and the drift of
existence within the narrow limits of a feudal castle went far to
confirm this proclamation. Love, however, of one sort or another
was inevitable, so it found its expression in the faithful unfaith
covenanted between dame and servileur, in relations the type of which
is made famihar to us in the Arthurian romances and in the early
Celtic love stories. These relations were shaped by the personal
preferences of the lovers themselves, and had but slight regard of the
moral obligations repudiated by their adoption. In these early love
gestes the youth rarely addresses the maid ; he is attraded rather by
the mature woman with chara6ler and passions developed by the

' Novel XV, ' Novel XII,

INTRODUCTION. xxi

independence she has enjoyed since she was brought out of her
seclusion and commanded to marry a man whom she had seen twice
or thrice before— a mate chosen, not to please her fancy, but by reason
of the fiefs and towns under his control. The loves of such women
with the men whose metier it was to solace their weariness and woe
occupy a large portion of the ballad and romance literature of the
middle ages. Tristram and Yseult, Paolo and Francesca, are but the
most noteworthy examples, the finest flowers of this unwholesome
passion-nourished thicket of exotic bloom, worked up into pathetic
stories and set before us instinél with life and beauty from having
passed through the hands of the great artists who have dealt with
them.

With the lapse of time the custom aforesaid became so universal
that toleration of the same was inevitable, and after a cycle of tolera-
tion came something like approval, or, at any rate, very lenient
censure. It is worthy of remark that this new bond of vice very soon
put on the guise of virtue, by demanding the absolute fidelity of one
offender to the other. If only this faith were duly kept, every other
crime consequent en the intrigue would be passed over with indul-
gence. In the version of Tristram and Yseult given by the Minne-
singer, Gottfried von Strassburg, both of the lovers are commended to
sympathy and compassion, the inextinguishable fidelity of one to the
other, the rejedlion of all else the world had to offer for the sake of
love, being regarded as the supreme exhibition of virtue. To take
another, and more familiar instance, Dante, with all his austerity,
deals out but mild condemnation to the ill-starred lovers, seeing that
he places them in the least terrible circle of the Inferno for the
punishment of their offences, and in our own day the severe respedta-
bility of Tennyson has allowed us to nourish no slight sympathy for
the loves of Lancelot and Guinevere.

The prevalence of this legend of infeéled passion and impure
fidelity, and its survival down to Masuccio's time, must be held
largely accountable for the faót that he, who writes himself down
over and over again as the scourger of female depravity, should con- ^.^
stantly mete out very light censure to offences which seem, judged
by modern standards, wellnigh as flagrant as those which he visits
with his fiercest denunciation.^ To take as an example Novel

^ The influence of medieval sentiment may also be traced in Novel XLI.,
where Messer Ciarlo consents to serve his friend in furtherance of his amour by

xxii INTRODUCTION.

XXIV., it maybe remarked that he begins the story by relating how,
as a matter of everyday occurrence, a gallant youth fell in love with
a fair dame, the wife of one of the chief gentlemen of the city. He
writes about the youth in the kindliest spirit, praising him warmly
as he describes in what seemly fashion he essayed to win the lady's
favour, and demanding from the reader subsequently the deepest
sympathy on account of the failure of his enterprise. And in dealing
with the lady he does not condemn her for her infidelity to her husband,
but because she preferred the embraces of a Moorish muleteer to
those of the proper gentleman who had eleóled to make her his
partner in adultery. The speech and aélion of the lover too, when
he takes up the story, serve to demonstrate how strongly the spirit
aforesaid had infecfled current sentiment. He, having caught the
\2idiy flagrante delibo ^ does not confine himself to chiding her on his own
account, but goes on to rate her soundly for the betrayal of her
husband, whom he praises as a gentleman adorned with every excel-
lence. All this is in full harmony with mediaeval feeling as to the
relation of the sexes. The woman who favours her lover, and him
alone, is scarcely regarded by Masuccio as unchaste or worthy of
blame, and in the first part of the book he has little or no censure for
those who commit themselves with monks and friars, but reserves
all his condemnation for the male ofi^enders. The women against
whom he writes as the vilest of created beings are those who, not
content with a husband and a lover to boot, abandon themselves to
some unclean intrigue with a Moor, or a dwarf, or a muleteer.

Masuccio seems to have set out his work with the view of
making it serve two principal ends : one to provide a number of
diverting stories for the Duchess Ippolita, and the other to shame
into better behaviour womankind and all persons wearing the reli-
gious habit. Boccaccio and Sacchetti, before his time, and all the
Novellieri of the Cinquecento who followed, concern themselves
with the same class of subjed:, but none of them proclaims himself
so emphatically a censor morum or shows such deadly earnestness of
purpose. He entered upon a path already well trodden, and a vast
host of imitators followed upon his heels; wherefore the mass of

taking a part somewhat similar to that played by the companion in the "Aubade" of
Gerault de Berneil, who sings to warn his friend that the dawn is breaking and
that it is time to leave his ladylove (Taylor's "Lays and Songs of the Minne-
singers and Troubadours," p. 247).

INTRODUCTION. xxiii

literature of the same charafter as the " Novellino " is a huge one.
Masuccio's work would, without doubt, have gone down to the
oblivion which has fallen upon Sermini and Sabadino and a host of
others, had he not been gifted with the sense of artistic construdlion
which enabled him to set out his pidures with a few firm and rapid
strokes/ There is no attempt at polish or elaboration; the secret
of his immediate success, and of the recognition still given to him by
the historians of fiftion, comes from his unerring faculty in hitting at
once upon the central point of whatever subjeól he may have in hand,
and his rare judgment in seleólion and subordination, never failing to
let the point aforesaid stand out as the main instrument for enforcing
the moral, or illustrating the argument under consideration.

Masuccio's canvas is a limited one. A few of his stories are in the
vein of genuine buffo, a few more are tragedies pure and simple, but
the majority of the residue will be found to treat of one or other of
his two particular themes, the castigation of profligate clerics and
unchaste women. He devotes one part of the work to each of
these specially; but in the other parts he never lets a friar or
a woman escape the lash if he finds a chance of laying it on. The
most scathing passages, and those which give the most evident signs
of sincerity, are those which occur here and there in the " Masuccio "
at the end of the stories. These in places almost smoke with the
fire of his rage, and, intermixed with his rough-hewn and occasionally
incoherent phrases, are to be found passages of real dramatic power.
As an instance may be quoted the conclusion to Novel XXIII., in
which, after screaming himself hoarse over the crimes of women, he
finishes with these words : " Would that it had been God's pleasure
and Nature's to have suffered us to be brought forth from the oak-
trees, or indeed to have been engendered from water and mire like
the frogs in the humid rains of summer, rather than to have taken
our origin from so base, so corrupt, and so vilely fashioned a sex as
womankind ; " or the frightful indidment at the end of Novel VI.
which he prefers against women who put on the habit of religious

^ One of his happiest efforts is the Prologue to Part III., which deals with the
profligacy of women. He seems to have realized that it would need some special
effort on his part to make the stories immediately following acceptable to the
Duchess Ippolita ; so by the aid of Mercury he exhibits her as the presiding genius
of the shrine of chastity, and lets her excellencies shine out all the brighter from
comparison with the turpitude of the residue of the sex.

xxiv INTRODUCTION.

houses — an indiólment which is, as he declares, supported by the
clearest evidence of his senses;^ or the introduólion to Novel IL,
where he prays God soon to make an end of purgatory, so that these
friars, being unable to live any longer on the offerings made to them
therefor, may be forced to go and work with the mattock.

There are two streams of tendency which sway with peculiar
force the common life of the Southern Italians, to wit, the physical side
of the sexual passion and the sentiment of religion, and Masuccio may
have been impelled unconsciously by the working of these to turn the
course of his censure especially against wanton women and lewd friars.
While the sun shines, while there is food enough for to-day's meal,
and while to-morrow's may be won by an hour's work, while Beppino
and Ninetta are conscious of the prick of passion in their veins, they
think of little else but love-making, and Beppino is not content
merely to sigh after his inamorata or to worship her beauties from a
distance. Far from it. Sexual love around the shores of Parthenope
was then, as it is now, of that elemental and primitive characfler of
which we find some echo in Lucretius when he writes of that over-
mastering force which sways the material universe as potently as
the bodies of men and women. In Latin countries, as compared
with Teutonic, woman is more especially regarded as the instru-
ment of pleasure, and the Neapolitan is subjed to a superadded
influence of similar nature by reason of the stream of Oriental life
which at different periods overflowed his frontiers. Therefore, when-
ever Beppino may have found that his pretty plaything, which he
dreamt of keeping entirely for his own diversion, had befooled and
perhaps robbed him, he would roar as loud as Polyphemus over his
wounded pride, and Masuccio's screed against the whole sex may
very well be taken as the concentrated expression of this widely-spread
sense of injury and resentment — Beppino, and his interpreter as well,
being too oriental in feeling to realize that they themselves should be
ruled by the standard they would apply to womankind. From the
same source a subsidiary explanation of Masuccio's hatred to the

^ "Taccio anco quanto dir si potrebbe circa lo sposare con li frati, dove io
medesimo non una ma più volte sono intervenuto e visto e toccata con mani." —
Novel VI. There is a confirmation of his accusation in a passage in Kemnisius, Ex
Concil. Trident., Part III., "de celibatu Sacerdotum" : "Memorabile quod Ulricas
epistola refert, Grcgorium, quum ex piscina quadam aliata plus quam sex mille
infantum capita vidisset, ingcmuissc, et decretum de celibatu tantam ca;dis causam
confessus condigno illud poenitentia; frudu purgasse."

INTRODUCTION. xxv

priesthood is forthcoming. As soon as the heavens are clouded,
when the world wags ill, when love is under an eclipse, and when the
fires of passion begin to burn low, when the lovers find in the place of
their spent passion no subjeft with which their fancy may engage
itself, man, and woman also, will turn towards what they are pleased to
call their religious duties. Beppino, with many thefts, and perhaps a
homicide or two upon his soul, and Ninetta, with a long string of
petty sins, and infidelities out of number, will both repair to the priest
for the mending of their evil case by the promise of a safe entry to
Paradise upon terms not too hard. Now, if they should find — as
they assuredly would in many cases — that these men, the physicians
of their souls, had become what Masuccio calls " rapacissimi lupi,"
what more natural than that they should cry out that they were
being cheated of their dues, that it was both useless and unseemly to
go for religious consolation to men no whit better than themselves.
Thus the priestly ofi^ence would become something more than a pec-
cadillo, and an outcry would arise against profligate and avaricious
clerics, to be caught up and accentuated by Masuccio and other
censors.

To illustrate still further the intensity of Masuccio's hatred for
women, his twenty-first novel may be compared with the first story
of II Pecorone. The two tales deal with the same theme exadly,^
and are substantially the same in detail, the only noteworthy difl^e-
rence being that Masuccio brings into the narrative a certain friend
of the hero, a man described as impervious to all the wiles ot the
sex, and lets him discourse at great length on the falsehood of
women and the folly of all those who trust them. Ser Giovanni in
his version of the tale is content to let the frailty of the lady in
question be revealed simply by the adion of the story, assuredly the
more artistic method of treatment, but the temptation to preach a
sermon on his favourite theme was evidently too strong for Masuccio
to resist."

For Masuccio's hatred against the religious orders another and

' This talc is given by Painter in the " Palace of Pleasure," No. XLVIL, a
translation of Ser Giovanni's version.

^ Settembrini, in a note ("II Novellino," p. 54), advances a somewhat whimsical
reason for his ill-humour towards women, declaring that it arose from the con-
templation of the numerous evils which came upon the kingdom through the
profligacy of Joanna II.

xxvi INTRODUCTION.

a more cogent reason than the one already alluded to is not far to
seek. The charader of the Popes, and of the major part of the
high ecclesiastics who ruled Christendom during the last half of
the fifteenth century, was bound to be refleóled in the morals of the
inferior clergy. The contrast between the ideal life, laid down for
all Christians alike by the cardinal maxims of the Founder, and the
a<5lual career of fraud, and lust, and cruelty, and bloodshed which
was followed with few exceptions by the princes of the Church,
appeared no doubt less glaring to the contemporary observer than it is
to us, but there are abundant instances in the religious history of the
time which may be cited to show that this flagrant corruption and
the spec51:acle of sin sitting in high places provoked the wrath of all
the men of pure and holy lives still surviving amongst the corruption
of the times. Revivals or revolts against the nefarious pradices of
the priesthood were almost continuous after the notable movement
begun by Arnold of Brescia in T139, and the laudatory terms in
which Masuccio speaks of men like San Bernardino, San Vincenzo,
Giovanni Capistrano, and Roberto di Lecce — all of them men of
holy hves and revivalist leaders— shows how fully he appreciated the
evils they attacked and how completely his sympathy was with them
in their work.^ It is not enough for him to accuse the great mass
of the vowed professors of religion of every crime under the sun.
Over and beyond this he warns his friends that they may not hold
converse with anyone wearing the religious garb without loss of
charader and the good opinion of all worthy men. Even the
illustrious Fontano'^ — one of the last to be suspeded of clerical
leanings — is rated soundly in that he is too much given to the
society of these enemies of the human race,'' and by way of pointing
his lesson Masuccio goes on to tell a story which sets forth the
impiety and blasphemy of the friars in a fashion which would be
hard to excuse were not the sincerity of the writer and his zeal for
reformation so transparent."*

1 In the " Parlamento " he reiterates his praise and appreciation of all priests
and monks who lead honest and godly lives.

=* Novel HI.

' Fontano wrote the following words to be inscribed on his own tomb : "Labor,
dolor, ffigritudo, luftus, servire superbis dominis, jugum ferre superstitionis, quos
habct caros sepelire, condimenta vitae sunt." They scarcely exhibit him as the
favourer of clerical dominion.

* He writes : "Aprasi adunque la terra, e una con li lor fautori la moltitudine

INTRODUCTION. xxni

At the end of the first part he gives notice that he has said his
last word about the priests, admitting at the same time that he has
hardly touched the fringe of the question.^ Here and there it is true
he finds a good word for the religious orders, speaking generally,
and in well-guarded terms," but every individual ecclesiastic, except the
revivalist leaders above-mentioned, who appears in the " Novellino,"
is more or less corrupt and depraved. In Novel XVII. there is a
prior who is a companion of thieves and a receiver of stolen goods ;
in Novel XVIII. a friar of St. Antony swindles a farmer's wife in
rascally fashion; in Novel XXIX. another ads the part of Hende
Nicholas in Chaucer's " Miller's Tale ;" and another in Novel XXX.
plays the pander to the Prince of Salerno. In fine, it may be noted
as an instance worth remark that in Novel XXXIII., which is
recognized as the first modern rendering of the story of " Romeo
and Juliet," there is presented, instead of the pious and dignified
Friar Lawrence, a base fellow who must needs be bribed for the
service he does the lovers in joining them secretly in wedlock,
and again when he provides the drowsy potion for the ill-starred
Giannozza.

In dealing with a work of fidion so important as the "Novel-
lino," it is almost inevitable that a comparison with the "Decamerone"
should suggest itself It has been noted already how Luigi Pulci
spoke of Masuccio as an imitator of Boccaccio ; there is likewise a
passage in the ** Novellino " itself which hints that its writer was
fired to follow so illustrious a leader,^ but however sincere and
earnest his desire may have been, his attempt was not a successful
one.^ In temper and in parts as well the two men differed so widely

di tanti poltroni vivi tranghiottisca, non solo per castigamento de' presenti ma per
timore ed eterno esempio di tutti i futuri scellerati loro pari." — Novel III.

* " Essendomi al tutto disposto di tal perversa e malvagia generatione più avanti
non trattare, quantunque a bastanza non abbia scritto." — Novel X.

' " Questo ben dirò io, e per fermo confesso, quanto de' fatti loro in le passate
dieci novelle e in altre parti ho ragionato, non lo avere con intentione fatto di
lacerar quelli che a compimento le loro approvate e santissime regole osservano :
li quali avvengadiochè rari siano, o con difficultà giudicar si possano, pur quelli tali
sono indubitatamente e lume e sostenimento de la nostra fede e cristiana religione."
—Novel X.

^ Prologue to Part III.

■• Agostino Doni, in his "Libreria" (Venice, 1558), writes, p. 80: "Quanti
ci sono che s'inviluppono in qualche laberinto d'altri, chi accusa Dante, chi defende
il Petrarcha, altri armeggian con l'Ariosto, e altri concorrono con il Boccaccio a

xxviii INTRODUCTION.

that any such essay was bound to fail. Boccaccio was a scholar, and
a fastidious one, while Masuccio, if he knew the rules of grammar,
certainly did not always regard them. Boccaccio sat serene apart
from the rough humours of the people ; they diverted him, and it was
his pleasure to use them for the deleólation of his readers. He did
not, like Masuccio, take vice in hand primarily to correót it. He
would laugh at it — often indulgently — and at virtue as well, were the
laugh necessary to round off his work to perfedlion. His scorn of
formal religion after the spirit of it had been crushed out by eccle-
siasticism may have been as sincere as Masuccio's fulminations
against the vices of the clergy; but he does not limit himself to the
castigation of vice and hypocrisy. He makes a travesty of real piety,
and excuses or even praises what the sincere professors of religion in
all times would have condemned, and never once lapses into such enthu-
siasm as Masuccio displays in speaking of San Bernardino and the
pure and earnest men who followed him. His regard for treatment is
careful enough to satisfy the exaóling standard of contemporary teach-
ing. How much more highly he rated it in comparison with subjeél
than did Masuccio is evidenced by the setting forth of the two books.
The " Novellino " is given to the world as a mere bundle of stories,
a succession of rough-hewn powerful studies brought out without
forethought or design from the workshop. It wants even the con-
ventional knitting together furnished by Ser Giovanni and II Lasca
to their colleélions, and constituted as it is must stand or fall on its
own merits, whereas, in the case of the " Decamerone," were the tales
themselves robbed of three-fourths of their interest, the work as a
whole would still attraél and fascinate on account of the extra-
ordinary beauty and delicacy of the setting, which must ever be
ranked amongst the acknowledged masterpieces of literary craftsman-
ship. It is hard to realize any contrast more telling and dramatic
than that exhibited between the dainty personalities of the immortal
ten, taking their gentle pleasure in their fair retreat, and the pavid
crowd stricken with the horror of the pestilence and cow'ering in the
streets and alleys of the city below — between the brilliant masquerade
of life in all its humours and all its phases, set forth to the listeners

novellare, lascio stare hora dei roba le novelle d'altri, o che gli toglie le dittione
intere per non far satira. Benedetto sia il Salernitano che al manco non ha robato
pure una parola del Boccaccio, anzi ha fatto un libro il quale e tutto suo."

INTRODUCTION. xxix

by each story-teller in turn, and the grim and almost tangible
presence of Death lurking just outside the garden doors.

In the "Novellino" all that Masuccio does in the way o[ setting and
introdudion is to write a Prologue and classify his stories somewhat
roughly into five groups, each group being preceded by a short pro-
logue of its own. The first group deals with the offences of priests
and friars, the second with the mishaps which befall those who are over-
jealous, and with divers amusing tricks played by cunning knaves, the
third with the profligacy of women, the fourth with various love-stories
and adventures, and the fifth with noble deeds wrought by illustrious
personages. Masuccio writes with all the fire of a southern Italian.
Whatever he has to say he says, careless as to what terms he shall
use for the expression of his meaning. With such a temperament,
and such a method of treatment, it will be readily understood by all
those who remember the charaéler of the subjedts he commonly
elaborates that he must often be coarse in didlion. He is undoub-
tedly often coarse in form, but there are few traces in his rugged
sentences of that corrupt purpose which shows itself too often amidst
the delicate periods of Boccaccio's prose. His manner of speech is
not widely different from that used by the Neapolitan of to-day, and
he uses it with a touch of pride and satisfadlion, writing himself down
as the materno poeta in the very first phrase of his book. While
Fontano and Poggio and other humanists and story-tellers were
writing in Latin, it was his objedl to show whether, with his handling,
the Neapolitan idiom might not give as good results as the Tuscan
was giving to Pulci and the Ferrarese to Boiardo, His Italian,
though involved and inelegant,^ is not dialedl, as Roscoe affirms in his
notice in the "Italian Novelists ;" it is, however, sufficiently tinged
with popular idiom to show that he had gathered his experience by
mixing with men of every class, and that his view of life was a large
and comprehensive one. Though he lived about the court, and wrote
at times in sycophantic terms, he showed himself quite at home in de-
scribing the life of the common people, both in town and country.
The pages of the " Novellino " are full of racy characfleristic types of
Salernitans and Neapolitans. There are the peasants, working as hard
then as they work to-day in the Campania Felice and in the mountain

' Signor Settembrini in his footnotes to the latest edition is frequently compelled
to admit that certain passages, though they show the author's meaning, are obscure,
while others baffle comprehension entirely.

e

XXX INTRODUCTION.

vineyards, and the traders and craftsmen of the towns, with their
humorous tricks and coarse pradical jokes put one upon another, the
details of common life, the doings of the persons concerned, being all
sketched with the firm and easy touch of experience.

If full credit be given to the claims advanced by Francesco
Tuppo in his introdudion to the early editions of the work, it would
appear that, had it not been for the forethought of a certain John
Marco and of Tuppo himself, the " Novellino " as a complete work
would never have seen the light. From the faól that Masuccio wrote
a Prologue to the whole book, and a Parlamento or Epilogue, and
prologues to the several parts, it is evident that he left his work
complete in manuscript ; but the terms of Tuppo's introdudion
raise a doubt whether he was alive when the edition of 1476 was
printed.^ In Novel XXII. he speaks of his present old age," and
Novel XLVI. must have been written after 1470, as in it he alludes
to the capture of Arzilla by the Portuguese in that year. It is certain
that he lived to the end of 1474, but the fad that Tuppo addresses
the first edition to the Duchess Ippolita, as Masuccio had dedicated
the MS. to her,"^ certainly lends colour to the view that the writer
was no longer on earth to discharge this task which fell to Tuppo's
care. Again, had he been alive when his writings were torn up by
the officer of justice, presumably at the request of some one or other
of the viftims of his lash, he would scarcely have let his work appear
without some mention of this attack upon him and his mission.^

Leaving Masuccio's personality in the shadows which bar all
further investigation, a short consideration may be given to the
history of the book itself. The first edition was printed at Naples
in 1476 by Reisinger of Strasburg, who had brought thither the
art of printing five years before. Of this edition only one copy is
known to exist, the one in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. The
second edition appeared at Milan in 1483, and the third at Venice in
the following year. The fourth, of 1492, also of Venice, has for

' A passage in the "Masuccio" of Novel XXX. shows that the tales were
circulated and read — presumably in MS. — as they were written.

^ "E con la presente scncftù cognosce de* fatti loro."

' "Quello comò per Masuccio fo ad tua serenità intitulato, cusi stampato a te
illustrissima mia Idea pia Ipolita duchessa de Calabria sera per me indirizato," —
Introduélion Ed. 1483.

^ Tuppo's words seem to imply that divers copies of the book in MS. were in
circulation before 1476.

INTRODUCTION. xxxi

frontispiece a very fine woodcut representing Masuccio offering his
book to the Duchess for acceptance, and at Venice also the five
succeeding editions — the last in 1541 — were printed. The tenth,
" I'editione della gatta," * was brought out without date or place, and,
as it was the first to appear after the institution of the Index, was
greatly mutilated. The eleventh appeared in Lucca in 1765 — *'in
toscana favella ridotto" — and in 1874 Signor Luigi Settembrini
brought out at Naples the edition which the present translator has
followed. Signor Settembrini — to quote his own words — thus set
to work : '' Io mi propongo di restituirlo all' antica lezione per
quanto m'è possibile." This task he has performed most thoroughly,
and he has not shrunk from bringing back certain passages to the
orthodox obscurity or even incomprehensibility of the earlier editions
rather than suffer them to remain in the unauthorized lucidity which
the anonymous Tuscan editor of 1765 had shed over them by his
emendations. There is no evidence that a complete translation of
the book into a foreign language has ever been made. Painter gives
Novel XVII. in a form which suggests that it must have been taken
from an altered French version ; Roscoe includes six, greatly changed
from the originals, in his " Italian Novelists ; " and a translation of
nineteen into French has recently been published. In conclusion, I
must acknowledge my heavy obligation to the learned introdutìion
which Signor Settembrini has prefixed to his work, a contribution
not merely to the elucidation of this particular book, but of the whole
literature of Southern Italy.

^ It has a cat and kittens on the title-page.

m^mmmmm^

lart tfic dFtrst.

SDeDication bp jFrancesco Cuppo/

MOST illustrious Ippolita of Aragon and of Vis-
conti, who by thy own virtues art more goddess
than mortal, what though in this inept beginning of
mine the lyre of Orpheus would in sooth be the
more fitting instrument wherewith to attempt not
only to enumerate but to call to mind thy noble
and queenly converse, thy great courage, and thy unheard-of muni-
ficence— thou who art the one and only rock of beauty from which
flows the spring of chastity. Nevertheless when I, who am entirely
devoted to thy most illustrious ladyship, consider those happy years
of youth which have been thy portion with us by virtue of thy state
as the future queen of this our Ausonian kingdom, since thou hast
become in lawful matrimony the spouse of my earthly lord and
master, Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Calabria, the first-born of the
invincible and mighty lord, Don Fernando, the peaceful and for-
tunate King of Sicily, Hungary, and Jerusalem : when I consider
thy chastity, the like of which has never before been heard of, that
regal and mysterious secret in which thou sharest as an only daughter,
and how thou art equal to the Sibilla Cumana in resource, and in
humanity superior to all the Roman, Greek, and Trojan ladies who
ever lived : when I consider all these things in my mind, I am fain
to become an image of stone more quickly even than those who look
at Medusa's face. And of a surety our Parthenopeans may well
bless great Jove for having in these our days endowed with the gift
of thy most excellent virtues this land of ours, which, on account of

' This dedication is omitted in all editions after that of Venice, 1+84.

4 MASUCCIO. [dedication.

thy holy prayers, can never be blasted either by human or divine
wrath.

Finding myself on this account entirely bound over to your
sublimity (as my rustic pen declares), I will never cease so long as my
lowly spirit is master of this worn and weary body of mine to praise
and extol your virtues to the skies, and like a devoted slave to show
myself ready to do whatever I can for your most illustrious ladyship.
Wherefore [this book] having come into my hands by the means of
Johan Marco the Parmesan,^ that most excellent copyist of all the
letters ever [written] in the world, a servant of the king, and a very
dear friend of my own, it seemed to me that such a book ought not
to be kept back from fame. Now, although the original [writings]
were torn in pieces by the very hand of the magistrate," and burnt
by those who learned therein certain news concerning their own
households, nevertheless my craft was great enough to preserve a
copy of the same ; and, seeing that it had been already dedicated to
your serenity by Masuccio, I now in Uke manner address it, thus
printed, to you, my most illustrious goddess, the pious Ippolita,
Duchess of Calabria. Farewell.

Of your illustrious ladyship the faithful servant,

Francesco Tuppo of Naples.^

' There is a mention of Johan Marco, Cinico, in the poems of the Count of
Policastro, one of the sons of Antonello de Petruciis, who was executed after the
conspiracy of the barons. See D'Aloe in his appendix to Porzio's " Congiura dei
Baroni."

* Auditore, minister of grace and justice.
Francesco Tuppo was a do6lor of laws and a clerk in the royal service. He
was the author of a version of uiEsop's Fables, rendered into the Italian, which
was printed in i486.

ièroloffue.

Ett iaobfUino of tljc noble \mkn ux tfjc motfjer tongue, iHaisurrio eSuactiato
of falerno, tirtiratrt to tlje most tUustrious Ippolita of Hiagon, of tijc
fjouseof Flsconti anti JBucfjes.s of UTalabcla/ j^nt begins in auspicious
tolse t|)e prologue :

^^"^ - -:^^T^~" INCE I clearly understand and hold as an indisputable
fad, most illustrious and exalted lady, that it would
ill become me to compose a book to the music of my
mean and harsh-toned lyre, that it would become me
even less were I to call the same after my own name,
I see that, in so doing, I might be morejustly rebuked
'or my temerity than commended either in great or small degree for my
gifts of eloquence. Nevertheless, having from my most tender youth
busied myself in the exercise of my wit, c Darse and unpolished though it
be, having written down with my rude and sluggish hand certain novels,
the truth of which is approved by real and authentic events which
have come to pass in former times, and in these our days, and having
sent these same to divers worshipful persons — as in sooth the titles of

' Ippolita Maria, the daughter of Francesco Sforza by his marriage with Bianca,
the natural daughter and only issue of Filippo Maria Visconti, the last Duke of
Milan of that family. She married in 1465, Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, the eldest
son of King Ferdinand I. and grandson of Alfonso the Magnanimous. She had
by him two sons and one daughter : Ferdinand, who succeeded to the throne of
Naples on his father's abdication, Don Pietro, and Donna Isabella, Duchess of
Milan, wife of the Gian Galeazzo Sforza who was dethroned and slain by Ludovico
Moro. She was a woman of intelligence and a patron of learning. Constantine
Lascaris was her tutor in Greek, and dedicated to her the Greek Grammar published
at Milan in 1476, the first Greek book printed in Italy. She died at Naples in
1484, and was buried in the Church of the Annunziata.

6 MASUCCIO. [prologue.

the stories themselves will clearly demonstrate — the desire has often
come upon me to gather together all such of these as may be scattered
abroad in divers places, and, by the colledion thereof, to form the
present little book, calling the same — on account of its trifling worth
— The Novellino, and dedicating and sending it to you, who are the
mainstay and light of this our Italian land.

This I do in order that you, with the fluency of your accom-
plished tongue and the excellence of your rare wit, may castigate
and polish the many rusty places you may find abounding therein ;
then, after you shall have cut ofi^ and taken away any superfluities
you may discover, you may — licet indigne — give it a place in that
excellent and glorious library of yours/ And although there were
at work divers causes which almost drew me back from this scheme
of mine, and dissuade! me from entering upon this work, still, when
I happened not long ago to call to mind a certain instance, greatly in
the mouths of the vulgar, which aétually occurred in our city of
Salerno not many years since, I felt comforted thereby and spurred on
to carry out my purposed work. What this instance aforesaid was,
I intend to let you know before I write further.

I must tell you, therefore, that in the days of Queen Margaret,^
of happy and illustrious memory, there lived in this our city a
certain Genoese merchant, a man of great wealth, engaged in traffic
on a vast scale, renowned by name in all parts of Italy, and called
Messer Guardo S.ilusgio. His family, moreover, was one of the
most honourable of the city. Now it chanced one day that this
same merchant was walking backwards and forwards in front of his
bank, which was situated in a street called La Drapperia, a quarter
in which were to be found many other banks, and jewellers', and
tailors' shops as well. During his walk it came to pass that he
espied, lying just at the feet of a poor tailor who was there plying
his trade, a Venetian ducat ; whereupon he, being quite familiar with

* The Aragonese kings collected a fine library in Naples. It was sacked by the
French under Charles VIII. in 149 v

■ Daughter of Charles of Durazzo, who was beheaded in 134.8. She married
her cousin, Charles III. (Durazzo), by whom Joanna I. was deposed and murdered.
She was the mother of Ladislas, King of Naples, d. 1414, and of Joanna II., d.
1435. She was a woman of great ability and courage, and it was on this account
that Ladislas, who was an infant when his father died, was able to retain the throne.
She died in 1412, and lies buried in the Cathedral of Salerno, where a gorgeous
tomb, the work of Baboccio da Piperno, was ereded to her memory.

PROLOGUE.] MASUCCIO. 7

the impression and device thereof, although the coin itself was all
muddy and bruised, knew straightway what it really was, and without
any hesitation stooped down and said, smiling the while, *' By my
faith, here is a ducat." The wretched tailor before him, who was
patching and mending a doublet in order that he might earn for him-
self a little bread, when he saw what had come to pass, was so much
overcome with poisonous envy, by his extreme poverty, and by rage
and vexation as well, that he turned his face to Heaven, clenching
his fists in the tempest of his fury, and uttering curses against both
the justice and the power of God, ending with these words, " It is
well said that gold runs after gold, and that the ill fortune of the
miserable never changes. Here am I, a wretched wight, who have
laboured hard all through this day without earning as much as five
tornesi ^ by my toil, and I forsooth find round about me nought
but sharp stones, which pierce and ruin my shoes. This man, who
is master of a mighty store of treasure, has now picked up a golden
ducat at my very feet, a thing which he needs just as much as the dead
need incense." While he was thus lamenting, the wise and prudent
merchant betook himself into the shop of the silversmith who lived
opposite, and charged the latter to restore the ducat to its original
beauty by the means of fire and of the tools he used for such work.
Then, with a pleasant smile upon his face, he turned towards the
poor tailor and addressed him in these words : *' My good man,
vou were very wrong to murmur against God in such fashion because
He afted with a wise purpose in thus letting me find this ducat, foras-
much as, if it had chanced to fall into your hands, you would very
soon have parted with it. Nay, even if you had kept it, you would
have put it away all alone by itself amongst your poor rags, and would
not have placed it where it should be ; whereas, now that it has come
into my possession, it will fare in just the opposite wise, for I will take
care that it be put amongst its fellows in a fine and numerous company
of coins." And after he had thus spoken, he returned to his bank and
threw the coin which he had picked up on the top of many thousands
of florins which were already there.

For the reason then that I have composed— according to the
illustration of the fable above written — a little book of my own out
of certain novels which were scattered about, some here and some

' Tornesc, an old French coin worth the third part of a French crown.

8 MASUCCIO. [prologue.

there, I have long wished, because of all these reasons which I have
mentioned aforetime, to send the same to you, most worshipful silver-
smith and super-excellent adept in works of this sort, albeit you will
find them, like the ducat, very muddy and sadly beaten out of shape.
Thus you may corredi and beautify my book with those tools of
yours which are always ready at hand, and when it shall have
become fair and seemly, it may peradventure be deemed worthy
of a very humble place amongst your sumptuous and most elegant
volumes.

And this same book of mine in its new place will only lend
a fresh and a greater adornment to the whole ; for, as the philosopher
hath it, when things of an opposite nature are brought into close
conjunólion, their inequalities become the more manifest therefor.
And over and beyond this, I make my prayer to you that, at some
future time when leisure may be granted to you from your other
duties, you will not look upon it as an irksome task to read these
novels of mine, because I am well assured that you will find therein
many merry conceits and delightful jests, which will prove to you an
unceasing source of pleasure and recreation. And if, peradventure,
there should be amongst those who listen to them some canting
bigot,^ some follower of those false ministers of religion — concerning
whose wicked lives and nefarious vices I mean to record some pretty
stories in the first ten of my novels — some fellow who would willingly
rend me with his ravening teeth, I beg you that you will on no
account turn aside from the path you have undertaken to tread
because men of this sort may declare that I am a blasphemer, and
that I have uttered evil slanders against the servants of Gcd with
my envenomed tongue. In a strife like this, indeed, I ask nothing
more but that Truth herself should, in the time of my need, take up
arms in my defence, and bear witness on my behalf that I am not
moved to a6l in this wise on account of any desire of mine to speak
ill of others, or of any personal or particular hatred which I bear
towards men of this sort.

But, on the contrary, so as .lOt to hide the truth in any way, I
have been seized with the wish to bring to the notice of some powerful
prince or other, and likewise to the notice of divers other particular
friends of mine, certain instances, some of which have happened

' "Santcsso." The edition of 1483 gives " sandcsso," and that of 1484
" sanftcse."

PROLOGUE.] MASUCCIO. o

in our own day, and some in times not very long past. By the con-
sideration of these the persons above-named may furnish themselves
with full information concerning the many and varied methods, and
the wicked devices, by means of which foolish, or rather, not very
wise, laymen have, in past times, been tricked and befooled by these
false professors of religion. My purpose in doing this is to make sure
that those now living may become more wary of such folk, and that
the generations of the future may be prepared so as not to suffer
themselves to be led into entanglements by this vile and corrupt crew,
working under the cover of simulated righteousness. And further-
more I, recognizing the fad that amongst the ministers of religion
there are some good men,^ perceive that I am of necessity constrained
to follow their example, and to imitate their doings in certain matters.
I feel this chiefly because the greater number of monks and friars, as
soon as they get a cowl over their heads, seem to fancy that full
licence has been granted to them to put the worst slanders upon
all laymen, both in public and in private as well, adding that all such
men are surely damned, and many other bestialities for which they
ought to be stoned.

Now if perchance they should be minded to contend in opposi-
tion to me by making the assertion that, when they preach, they
rebuke and scourge the sins of the wicked, I can easily answer them
thereanent by remarking that, when I write, I do not set down
words against the virtues of the good. And in this wise, without any ^
trickery or favour given to one above another, we shall all transgress
and all be chastised by the same stripes. Therefore, seeing that I am
disposed to follow their example and to write with all truth concern-
ing the many villainies and the corrupt lives of every one of them,
no one at all ought to feel any displeasure thereanent. Nevertheless,
with regard to those whose ears are choked with holy water - in such
wise that they cannot bring themselves to listen to aught spoken
amiss concerning those vowed to religion, it seems to me that the
best and only remedy for their infirmity will be to let them go their
way in God's name, without ever reading or hearing tell of these
novels of mine. And, keeping up their commerce with the friars,

* Orig., cognoscendo io li religiosi assai bone persone. The sense seems to require
" tra " before " // religiosi^

^ Orig., ammassate de santa pasta. " Pasto is by metaphor much used for court-
holy water, fond entertaining hopes to feed fools withal." — Florid.

C

IO MASUCCIO. [prologue.

they will get to know more thoroughly every day that passes how
profitable such conversation is both to their bodies and to their souls.
And as such men as these are abundantly furnished with all sorts of
charity, they will continually impart the same virtue to their associates.
And you, most worshipful and beauteous lady, reading my volume with
your wonted friendliness, may perchance find therein some flowerets
intermixed with the many thorns ; which thing will cause you now
and then to remember the least of all your servants, your most humble
Masuccio, who, without ceasing, recommends himself to you, and prays
the gods for the increase of your happy and prosperous estate. Fare-
well.

MASUCCIO.

HE brief and inept exordium addressed to your most famous
serenity being now finished, I will let follow straightway
the novels, or rather the stories, which I have already
promised ; and in the first ten of these, as I have before
^ stated, will be set forth divers hateful deeds of some of
these professors of religion. Amongst these will be found certain tales
which will not only rouse the astonishment of those who listen thereto,
but their inward grief as well ; some there are which will not be
passed in review without merry laughter and rejoicing. Amongst
the rest, the first novel is dedicated to the invincible and most puissant
king our lord and master; and, when this shall have come to an end,
I intend to deal with divers other themes, some diverting, some moral,
and some pitiful and worthy of your tears, going on in the order
which follows.

Jl^otìel tbe jFirst.

jI5oi3el tt)e first.

ARGUMENT.

MsLt^to BkQO is carnet! bark tirati to |)is ronbrnt bg ittrssrr ìvotirriro.
^notfier monk, tfjinking ijim to fir alibr, strikrs f)im bjttf) a stonr, anti
tiirn frars f)r mag i^abr slain ijim ttjrvrfig, h)f)rrrforr ijr takrs to filigf)t,
mountrti upon a marr. Ì3g a strange rf)anrr tf meets, ritiing on a
stallion, bDitf) lanre in rrst, tlje beati man, tof)o follotos f)im ali tfirougi)
tf)e ritg. C^e libing monk, fiabing fieen arresteti, ronfesses f\t is guiltg
of tf)e f)omiritie, anti is tiealt b)it!j as a malefartor,l)utt^e rabalier makes
knoton t^e trutl), anti tfje friar is tielibereti from tfje tioom i)e meritrtj not.

Co tbe migfjtg king:, Don jFerDinann of arajon/

EXORDIUM.

OST mighty and glorious king, both in the present
day, and in times past as well, the number of skilful
poets, of eloquent speakers, of most excellent
writers, who have laboured and still labour in
elegant prose and in noble verse, in Latin and
in the mother tongue, to celebrate the plentiful
lonour and the endless renown of your most serene Majesty,
has been so great, that I am persuaded my rude and homely style

^ Ferdinand I. was the natural son of Alfonso the Magnanimous. He was born
in 143 1, and succeeded to the kingdom on his father's death in 1458. He married
(ist) Isabella of Chiaromontc, by whom he had the following children: Alfonso,
Duke of Calabria, who succeeded him; Federico d'Altamura ; Giovanni, who became

14 MASUCCIO. [novel i.

must appear to you not otherwise than as the black spot in the centre
of the pure white ermine.' Nevertheless, since your Highness has
deigned with your accustomed courtesy to assure me that it would
give you great pleasure were I to set down in writing some record
which may preserve the memory of that remarkable adventure which
happened in the kingdom of Castile to a certain cavalier and a minor
friar, I desire, with what speed I may, to obey these your wishes, and
I would sooner fail in resped to what I write, than by my silence
seem to fail in any way in dutiful obedience towards you. For this
reason, and not on account of any rash humour of mine, I have
determined to enter the difficult labyrinth, and boldly presume that
this unworthy script of mine may be read, peradventure, by so puis-
sant a king. Wherefore I beg you, with all the humility which the
occasion demands, that it may please you kindly to accept the same,
hoping that when your other occupations may give you leisure, you
will not find it tedious to peruse it in the company of your stal-
wart and aólive children and foster-children. And, in addition to
the fad that the story in itself is noteworthy, you will find therein
divers pleasantries and feats worthy of all praise wrought by certain
friars, the record of which will, 1 doubt not, only serve to increase
and augment your reverence and devotion to men of this sort.
Therefore your most faithful Masuccio, casting himself at your feet
and seeking your good grace, implores that he may not be reckoned
by you amongst the number of those whose names are no longer held
in remembrance. Farewell.

Cardinal; Francesco, Duke of Saint Angelo ; Beatrice, who married Mathias, King
of Hungary; and Leonora, Duchess of Ferrara ; (2nd) Joanna, the sister of Ferdinand,
King of Aragon, by whom he had a daughter, Joanna, who married his nephew,
King Ferdinand II. He died in 1494.

' Ferdinand was the founder of the Neapolitan Order of the Ermellino,

NOVEL I.] MASUCCIO.

M

THE NARRATIVE.

WILL tell you then, most righteous king, that in the times
Jl when our lord and king, Don Fernando ofAragon/ of happy
and illustrious memory, your most worthy grandfather,
and the ruler of the kingdom of Castile, bore tranquil and
proteóìing sway, there lived, attached to a religious house in
Salamanca, an ancient and very noble city of the above-named kingdom,
a certain friar minor named Maestro Diego da Revalo, who, being no
less well versed in the learning of the Thomists than of the Scotists,
had been deemed worthy to be chosen and appointed one of those who,
in consideration of a generous salary, should expound this teaching
in the excellent schools of the famous university of this city. In
this calling he made the wondrous fame of his learning widely known
throughout all the kingdom; and, besides this, he would now and
again preach certain short sermons more noted for their useful and
sensible tone than for any great show of devotion. And being still
a youth, and of a very comely presence, and graceful as v\ell ; being
subjeél, moreover, to the heats of amorous passion, it happened that
one day, while he was preaching, his eye fell upon a young lady in
his congregation who was endowed with the most marvellous beauty.
This lady, who was called by name Donna Caterina, was the wife of
one of the chief gentlemen of the city, to wit, Messer Roderico
d'Angiaja ; and the friar, as soon as ever he beheld her, was mightily
pleased with the sight of her. Therefore MasterCupid, by means of the
fair seeming of her beauty, dealt a stroke of love to his heart already
inflamed. After he had come down from the pulpit he betook himself
to his cell; and there, having cast aside all his theological reasonings
and sophistical arguments, he gave himself up entirely to thinking of
the fair young woman who had so potently captivated him. And
when he came to know the high estate of the lady, and whose wife
she was, and to realize what a crazy task he was taking in hand, he
set to work to persuade himself to abstain from attempting such an
enterprise as this. Nevertheless, he would now and again say to him-
self, " Love, when he wills to bring his forces into play, has no regard

^ Ferdinand the Just, King of Aragon and Regent of Castile. He married Elcanora
of Castile, and was the father of Alfonso the Magnanimous. He died in 1416.

i6 MASUCCIO. [novel i.

for equality of blood ; for, were this necessary, the great ones of the
earth would not for ever come plundering our coasts. Therefore
Love, in justice, should allow us to love those above our station, as
he has allowed our superiors to stoop to those below them. No one
is smitten by the strokes which Love deals while taking thought of
the same; they come ever unexpededly ; wherefore, if I have been
surprised unarmed by this sovereign Love — against whose attacks
men strive in vain, seeing that they can in no wise resist them — I
am deservedly overcome. And having thus become his subjedl,
happen what may I will throw myself into this fierce battle, and
if I only gain therein death and the riddance of all earthly pain,
at least my soul will with boldness and confidence take its flight,
because I shall have dared to spread my snares in such exalted
ground." And having thus spoken, without going back to the
first negative arguments he had used, he took up paper, and, with
many deep sighs and scalding tears, wrote to the lady of his love a
fitting and elegant letter, praising in the first instance her beauty,
more divine than mortal ; then setting forth how completely he was
overcome by the same in such degree that he was now waiting either
for her favour or for death ; and concluding by saying he knew
well enough that, by reason of her high estate, he himself was in no
way worthy to be allowed an audience with her, still he besought her,
of her compassion, that she would deign to grant him time and
opportunity whereby he might be able to have parley with her in
private, or at least to accept him as her humble servant in the same wise
as he had chosen her as the one supreme queen of his soul. Then,
having brought his letter to an end with divers other flowery speeches,
and having closed and several times kissed the same, he gave it to his
clerk, with direólions as to whither he should convey it. Now this
clerk, being well trained to service of this sort, hid the letter in a
secret receptacle on his left side, such as men of this kind are wont
to have about them, and went his way to the place whither he had
been ordered to go. When he had duly come there, he entered the
house, where he found the gracious lady with many of her women-
folk about her, and, having given her becoming salutation, he spake
thus to her : " My master recommends himself to you, and begs you
that you will let him have a little delicate flour wherewith to make
wafers for the host, concerning which thing he has written more at
length in this letter." The lady, who by nature was very discreet,

NOVEL!.] MASUCCIO. 17

no sooner saw the letter than it seemed to her certain what sort of
message it would bear to her; and, having taken the same and learnt
by reading it what was the drift thereof, she was by no means affronted
to learn that the writer was enamoured of her, though she was very
honest and chaste in her life.

In truth, she reckoned that she herself was fair beyond all other
women ; and, as she read, her heart rejoiced greatly when she per-
ceived what high praises were lavished on her beauty, following the
example of that woman who, together with original sin, acquired that
innate passion of vanity which has now infeifled all the residue of the
female sex; for women hold the universal belief that all their fame
and their honour and their glory lies in nothing else than in being
loved and courted amorously and praised for their beauty, willing
rather to be accounted fair and faulty than to be accredited with the
highest virtues and an ugly face. Nevertheless she, holding with
good reason all friars in strong dislike, made up her mind that she
would in no wise grant Maestro Diego one jot of what he asked, nay
rather, that she would give him his answer in terms of scant courtesy.
Furthermore she resolved that, on this occasion, she would say naught
of the matter to her husband ; wherefore, abiding in this purpose of
hers, she turned to the clerk, and, without showing that aught had
occurred to disquiet her in the least, she said to him : "Go tell your
master that the one who owns my flour wants it all for his own pur-
poses ; therefore let him take thought to seek some elsewhere. Tell
him, likewise, that there is needed no other reply to his letter; but if
he should still desire one, let him give me due notice, and then, as
soon as my husband shall have come back to the house, he will straight-
way set to work to do for him the favour which this proposal of
his deserves."

This unsympathetic answer was duly conveyed to Maestro Diego,
but it in no wise lessened his ardour; indeed, his love and his desire
seemed rather to burn with a fiercer flame therefor. He let relax not
a whit his pursuit of the enterprise he had undertaken ; and, because
it happened that the house of the lady was quite near to the convent,
he began once more to cast his amorous glances upon her with such
constant importunity, that she could not gaze out of a window, or go
to church, or to any other place without doors, and not find the
provoking monk continually hovering around. Wherefore it hap-
pened that this matter became known to all the neighbours who

D

i8 MASUCCIO. [novel i.

dwelt nearby, and was furthermore brought to the notice of a great
part of the city. For this reason, the lady at last told herself that
the affair was one which she ought no longer to keep from her
husband's ears; fearing, at the same time, that, if it should come to
his knowledge through the information of anyone else, over and
above the danger thereof, she might be held on the score of the same
to be something less than an honest woman. So finding all her
thoughts to be in full agreement over this matter, she laid it before
her husband point by pcint, one night when they were together.
The husband, who was a gentleman of worship and high-spirited as
well, found his anger so fiercely kindled by what he heard, that he
with difficulty held himself back from going in that self-same hour
to carry fire and sword against the convent and all the friars therein.
But after he had calmed his rage somewhat, and spoken many words
of praise anent the prudence and honesty of his wife, he bade her
give a promise to Maestro Diego, and to let him come to the house
on the following evening in such fashion as might seem to her to be
most fitting and convenient, so that at the same time he might bring
to pass the satisfying of his own honour, and the deliverance of his
dear and well-loved wife from any danger of contamination. The
rest of the plot he bade her leave to his own care.

Albeit that it was difficult for the lady to imagine to what issue
the affair would come, nevertheless, in order to comply with the
wishes of her husband, she answered that she would do as he direéled,
and as the clerk was for ever coming back to her, seeking by some new
craft to sap the stubborn rock of her chastity, she said to him one
day: *' Commend me well to your master, and tell him that the great
love he bears towards me, together with the scalding tears which,
according to his letters written to me, he sheds for me without
ceasing, have at last found a resting-place in my heart, in such wise
that I now seem to belong more to him than to myself. Now, as
our good fortune has willed it, Messer Roderico is gone this day
into the country, where he will stay the night, lying at an inn.
Wherefore, when the clock shall have struck three, let him come to
me privily, and at that hour I will grant him an interview according
to his wishes. But I earnestly beg him that he will say naught
concerning this affair to any friend or companion of his, however
intimate he may be." The novice, marvellously delighted, went his
way and delivered this gracious message to his master, who forthwith

NOVEL I.] MASUCCIO. 19

became the happiest man the world had ever held, notwithstanding
that the brief time which must elapse ere the given moment would
come seemed to him a thousand years.

And when the hour drew nigh, and after he had well perfumed
himself, so that he might in no wise suggest the friar. Fra Diego,
deeming that he would require all his strength to gain the prize in
the course he proposed to run, made a good meal of the choicest and
most delicate meats that could be gotten. Having put on his accus-
tomed habit, he betook himself to the lady's door; and, finding this
open, he entered straightway. Whereupon a waiting girl appeared
and conduóled him, as if he had been a blind man, through the
darkness into the hall, where he deemed that he would be joyfully
received by the lady herself; but in lieu of this he found awaiting
him the master of the house and a certain trusty varlet of his.
These two, having taken a firm grip of him with their hands,
strangled him without making any disturbance over the deed.

After he had made a dead man of Maestro Diego, the gentleman
began to rue somewhat that he should have sullied his puissant hands
by killing a minor friar; and, realizing that mere regret would never
mend the matter, he considered it best, both for the sake of his own
honour and through fear of the anger of the king, that he should rid
the house of this dead body ; so he forthwith devised in his mind a
plan to convey it back to the convent. Wherefore he hoisted the
body on his servant's back, and made the man bear it into the friars'
girden. Then, having easily found entrance into the premises, they
conveyed it into that part of the house which the friars were accus-
tomed to use as a privy, where by chance they found amongst the
tumble-down seats only a single one which was in order; indeed, it is
ever a thing to be remarked, that a greater part of the houses of the
Conventuals^ have more the semblance of robbers' caves than of habi-

^ The disputes in the Franciscan Order over the pontifical explanation of the
monastic rule and the vow of poverty, which led to the secession of the Fraticelli
and the formation of the " Beghards " and the Brethren of the Free Spirit in the
latter part of the thirteenth century, came ultimately to an issue in the division of
the order into two branches, the Conventuals and the Observantists ; the former
procuring licence to live under a rule of mitigated severity, and the latter adopting
the original rule of St. Francis in all its severity. The separate organization was
fiially established during the pontificate of Leo X., and in the early part of the six-
teenth century the Capuchins, founded by Matteo di Basio, were established as an off-
shoot of the Observantists. In France the strifter Franciscans are known as Cordeliers.

20 MASUCCIO. [novel i.

tations of the servants of God. On this one seat they set the dead
friar, making it appear that he had come there for his needs ; and,
having left him, they returned home.

Now while Maestro Diego was bsing bestowed in this fashion, it
happened that another one of the friars, a young and merry fellow,
was seized about midnight with a sudden natural longing to betake
himself to the same spot ; so, having lighted a little lamp, he went in
haste to the place where the dead body of Maestro Diego was
seated. He saw at once who was there, and, believing him to be
alive, he drew back somewhat without saying a word, for the reason
that, on account of some envy and dislike of one another as friars,
there was between these two a fierce and mortal hatred. The young
brother waited in a corner until the man whom he deemed to be
Maestro Diego should have finished what he had in his mind to do;
and, after he had tarried some long time in thus deliberating over the
matter, and without noticing any sign of moving on the part of
Maestro Diego — feeling moreover that his necessity was growing
urgent — he said to himself more than once, " God's faith, this fellow
sits there, and refuses to make way for me, for no other reason than
to show me, even in a matter of this sort, the enmity which he bears
towards me through his ill will, but in this instance he will find his
spite of no avail, forasmuch as I will endure as long as I can ; then,
if I find that he remains firm set in his obstinacy, though it is open
to me to repair otherwhere, I will not do this, since it is against my
will." Now Maestro Diego, like a vessel which had fixed her anchors
in firm ground, made no sign of movement, great or small ; where-
upon the friar, finding himself able to hold out no longer, cried out
in a rage, " Of a truth it cannot be God's pleasure that you should
put such an affront as this upon me, and I, on my part, can endure
it no longer." So taking up a large stone, and going close to Maestro
Diego, he dealt him therewith such a blow on the chest that he fell
over backwards without moving one or other of his limbs. The
friar then perceived how shrewd a stroke he had given, and next
marked that his foe lay quite still where he had fallen, wherefore he
began to fear lest he might have killed him outright with the stone.
He took a glance at the body, now believing one thing and now
another, and at last went close thereto, and then, after he had viewed
it by the light of his lantern, he knew for certain that it was the body
of a dead man (as indeed it was ere this mishap), and believed that

NOVEL I.] MASUCCIO.

21

he himself had assuredly killed him in the manner above described.
Whereupon, wailing over the catastrophe, and fearing lest, on
account of the ill will known to subsist between them, he should be
suspeded of the fatal blow, a*id be maided of his life thereanent,
there more than once came into his mind the resolution to hang him-
self by the neck ; but, having given the matter better consideration,
he determined to carry the body out of the convent and to fling
it down in the street, in order to keep off from himself all suspicions
which men in the future might have against him for the reason
already mentioned. So, having it in his mind to carry out this
design, he suddenly remembered the public and shameful court that
Maestro Diego had persisted in paying to Donna Caterina ; then he
said to himself, "And where, forsooth, could I take this fellow with
greater ease, and with less suspicion to myself, than to the door of
Messer Roderico's house, seeing that it is hard by, and furthermore,
men will certainly believe that this man, going after the wife, has
been slain by the husband."

Speaking thus to himself, and without further canvassing the
matter, he hoisted Maestro Diego on his shoulders, after no little
trouble, and carried him up to the door aforesaid, out of which, only
a few hours before, he had been dragged a corpse, and there left him.
Then, without having been observed by anyone, he made his way
back to his convent.

Now although the work of reparation he had just done seemed
sufficient to ensure his safety, nevertheless it occurred to him that it
might be well for him to withdraw himself from the place for
a time on some colourable pretence ; wherefore, as soon as he had
thus decided in his mind, he betook himself to the cell of the superior
and spake in these words : " Father, the day before yesterday, for the
reason that we were lacking in beasts of burden, I had perforce
to leave behind me the greater part of our day's work at the house of
a man much devoted to our order in the neighbourhood of Medina.
Wherefore, with your blessing, I would fain go fetch our goods,
taking with me the mare we have here in the convent, and by God's
good will I will come back with the same to-morrow or the day
after. When he heard these words, the superior not only gave the
friar full leave to do as he proposed, but gave him likewise high
commendation on account of his forethought. As soon as the
friar got his answer he set his affairs in order, and, having prepared

22 MASUCCIO. [novel I.

the mare for the journey, awaited the dawn to set forth on his
way.

Messer Roderico, who all that night had slept little or not at all,
through disquiet over the deed he had wrought, when at last the day
was near at hand took occasion to send his servant into the purlieus
of the convent, in order that by listening he might discover whether
the friars had yet come upon the dead body of Maestro Diego, and
what they might have to say about the matter. But as the servant
went forth to discharge the errand which had been given him, he
espied Maestro Diego himself seated before the door with the air of
one who might be holding a disputation, a spe(5tacle which gave him
no little fright — such, in sooth, as a man may well feel on looking at
a dead body — and, having run back into the house, he quickly called
his master, and, bringing out his words with difficulty, pointed out
to him how the dead body of the friar had been brought back thither.
The gentleman was mightily amazed at this mischance, which in sooth
gave him cause for still more doubt; nevertheless, being reassured
by the justice of the enterprise in which he believed himself to be
engaged, he prepared to await with good courage for the successful
issue of the matter. Therefore, turning towards the dead man, he
spake thus : " You, then, must needs be the plague of my house,
seeing that neither dead nor alive can I hale you therefrom ! Never-
theless, out of spite for the person who brought you hither, I will
take care that you only return to the place whence you came on
the back of a beast, seeing that in your lifetime a beast you were
yourself." And having thus spoken, Messer Roderico gave order
to his servant to fetch from the stable of a neighbour of his a stallion
which was there kept for the use of the mares and the she-asses of
the city.

Thereupon the servant made good despatch, and, having fetched
the stallion equipped with saddle and bridle and all other necessary
gear, the two together hoisted up the dead body aforesaid on the
stallion's back, in such manner as Messer Roderico had already
determined. Then, when they had bolstered him up in the saddle,
and bound him fast therein, they furnished him with a lance, duly set
in the rest, and put the reins in his hand as if they were minded to
send him to the wars. Having got him thus in array, they led him
to the place in front of the church of the friars, and there they tied
the horse to the gate and straightway went back home.

NOVEL I.] MASUCCIO.

23

By this time the young friar began to think that he would do
well to set off on the journey he proposed to take ; wherefore, having
first opened the door of the convent and then mounted his mare, he
sallied forth, but when he found Maestro Diego stationed there in
the accoutrement before described, he was fain to believe that the
dead man before him was threatening to kill him with the lance he
carried. Of a sudden he was stricken with so terrible an access of
fear that he stood in no small danger of falling down dead on the
spot; moreover, there came into his mind the dreadful suspicion that
peradventure the spirit of the friar had once more entered the dead
body, and that, by way of punishment, it had been ordained that
Maestro Diego should follow him about whithersoever he might go,
according to the beliefs of certain simple folk. And while he stood
thus confounded and terror-stricken, not knowing which way he
should turn, the stallion perceived by the odour he sniffed that a
mare must be somewhere near about; and, getting himself in order
for the work, and neighing the while, he strived to get anear her,
thus throwing the poor friar into greater terror than ever. Never-
theless, recovering his wits somewhat, he made as if he would urge
the mare along the road, but she, turning her dugs towards the
stallion, began to make play with her heels. The friar, who was not
the best horseman in the world, was wellnigh upset hereby, and with-
out waiting for a second bout, he clasped the mare's sides tightly
with his legs, and struck his spurs into her flanks, Then, hanging
with both his hands on to the pack-saddle and loosening the reins, he
let the beast go whither fortune might take her. The mare, when
she felt the spurs driven so firmly into her flanks, was incited thereby to
start off", at the top of her speed and without guidance, along the first
road which lay open before her, and the stallion, seeing that the prey he
longed for had taken to flight, snapped in his violent passion the slender
cord by which he was tethered, and rushed after her in fierce pursuit.

The poor friar, perceiving that his foe was on his traces, and
turning to look over his shoulder, saw Maestro Diego there with his
lance firmly clasped in hand, as if he were some fiery knight entering
the tilt-yard ; whereupon this last fear of his put to flight the first ;
and, as he thus fled, he began to cry out aloud, " Help ! help ! "
Now, because of this shouting and of the clatter made by the uncon-
trolled horses, all the townsfolk betook themselves to the doors and
the windows— it being by this time broad daylight — and each one

24 MASUCCIO. [novel I.

looked on in amazement. Then rose up a great shout of laughter
at so novel and strange a sight as the chase of one minor friar on
horseback by another, this one looking no less like a dead man than
that. The mare, uncontrolled as she was, ran now here, now there,
through the streets, taking whatever road seemed to please her best,
and behind her the stallion, hot and furious, kept up the pursuit.
There is no need to tell how narrowly the friar more than once
escaped being wounded by the lance. The huge crowd of people
kept on following them with cries and whistlings and bowlings, and
on all sides were heard the shouts, " 'Ware of yourselves ! Stop
him ! " Some hurled stones, and others belaboured the stallion with
sticks, each one of the crowd being keenly set on the task of separating
them, not from any feeling of compassion for the fugitives, but rather
from the desire to know what might be the names of these men,
whom, on account of the rapidity of their flight, the bystanders were
not able to recognize. And, thus harassed, they made their way by
chance to one of the gates of the city, where they were brought to
close quarters and captured together, the dead and the living monk
as well; whereupon it was at once made known who they were, to
the no little amazement of all those who were round about.

Then they led away both the friars on horseback to the convent,
just as they were taken, and the superior and all the brethren as well
were mightily grieved when they saw them brought in. The dead
man they buried straightway, and prepared to give the living one a
taste of the strappado ; but he, as soon as he was tied up thereto,
feeling in no way disposed to undergo the torment, made full con-
fession that he had taken Maestro Diego's life for the reason written
above, but he could give no clue as to who could have set the dead
friar on the horse's back in such fashion. And because he made this
confession, they spared him the torture of the strappado, but they
condemned him to harsh imprisonment, and, furthermore, they sent
their officer straightway to the bishop of the city to beg him to strip
the friar in question of holy orders, resolving at the same time to
deliver him over to the secular power, which might pass sentence
upon him for homicide according to the commandment of the law.

It chanced that in these days King Fernando paid a visit to
Salamanca, and during his stay there they related to him this story.
Now, although he was a prince of marvellously proper carriage, and
greatly grieved, moreover, at hearing of the death of one so note-

NOVEL I.] MASUCCIO. 25

worthy as Maestro D"u go, nevertheless, overcome by the diverting
humour of the episode, while hearing tell of the same in the com-
pany of his barons, he laughed so heartily thereat that he could
scarce stand upright on his feet. And when the date was come when
they must needs set about passing upon the friar the unjust sentence
for the crime he had never committed, Messer Roderico, who was in
sooth a gentleman of great integrity, and at the same time very well
regarded by the king, stimulated by zeal for the truth and clearly
convinced that his own silence would be the only reason for the
infiiaion of such a wrong, at once made up his mind that he
must die rather than keep hidden the truth ccncerning the deed.
Wherefore, being in the presence of the king, where were also
assembled divers barons and many other people, he spake thus :
" My lord, the severe and unjust sentence pronounced against this
innocent minor friar, together with the real circumstances of the case,
induce me to give an explanation of the occurrence in question. And
now, if your majesty will grant pardon to the man \Aho dealt out to
Maestro Diego the death he richly deserved, I will bring him here
into this presence, and let him relate to you upon approved evidence
and in full detail how the deed may have come about." The king,
who was both a very merciful man and one anxious to learn the truth,
listened to this prayer for pardon in free and generous wise; and, as
soon as he had received this assurance, Messer Roderico, in the presence
of the king and of all the bystanders, gave a minute account from the
beginning of the amorous passion of Maestro Diego for his wife, and
of the letters and messages he had sent thereanent, and of all the
other things devised and done by him in the matter up to the last
hour of his life. The king, having already heard the statement of
the young friar — a statement which seemed to him to be fully in
harmony with the words which had just been spoken— and holding
Messer Roderico to be a gentleman of worth and honour, without
any further examination of him at once gave credit to the words he
had just listened to. Then, all amazed as he was, he spent much
time and trouble in turning over in his mind the nature of this
strange and complicated affair, laughing heartily to himself the while.
However, in order not to allow the undeserved sentence which had
been passed upon the innocent friar to take effedl, he made them
bring him and the superior as well into his presence. Then, before
his barons and nobles and all the other people who were there, he

£

26 MASUCCIO. [novel i.

made it clear and manifest in what fashion the whole business had
been brought to pass. For this reason he gave command that the friar,
who had been condemned to suffer a cruel death, should forthwith
be set at liberty, and the friar, w hen this had been done, and his name
purged of all stain, took his way back to the convent rejoicing greatly.
Messer Roderico, having been pardoned at the same time, w^as
extolled with the highest praise in all the parts round about for that
he had wrought such a deed. And thus the wonderful report in a
very brief space of time was noised through all the kingdom of
Castile by swift flying rumour, causing men to rejoice amain as they
listened thereunto. The same report, having been carried from those
parts into these our regions of Italy, had already been told, albeit
briefly, to you, O most puissant king and lord ; and now it is my
grateful duty, by following your commands, to make it worthy of
lasting remembrance, a merit it may be held to possess if one will
examine closely the outward features thereof.

MASUCCIO.

OTH the quality and the method exhibited in the strange
and novel and unforeseen chances of the story I have just
told to you, most illustrious lady,' will, I doubt not, give
you and all other listeners occasion to declare (after laugh-
ing thereanent as much as is meet) that our Maestro Diego
got the return he richly deserved for the fervent passion which consumed
him. And besides this, it seems certain to me that some will be found to
maintain that, if he had chanced to be a spiritual brother or even one of
the Observantists, he would never have come to such a pass of unbridled
lasciviousness, and, by the consequence thereof, have met an end so
gloomy and terrible. And although in other parts of this my little
work I shall try to do full justice, by bringing before your notice these
gross he-goats, and by answering for their deeds — by distinguishing
between the life and works of Conventuals and Observantists;^ never-
theless it occurs to me that it might be well now to touch somewhat
briefly on this subjedl, by affirming that it would without doubt be
much better for the whole of Christianity, if we had on earth no other

^ Ippolita, Duchess of Calabria. Sec Note, p. 19.

NOVEL I.] MASUCCIO. 27

religion besides that which Christ left behind him by the instrumen-
tality of his glorious apostle, St. Peter. And because this has been
partially corrupted in the lapse of time, even the ministers thereof,
and also the brothers who are called Conventuals, show us clearly by
their conduót how, and to what extent, we ought to guard ourselves
against them, forasmuch as their outward seeming, and their garb,
and their gait, and all the works of their hands, are but so many
terrifying voices and clamours crying out : " Put not your trust
in us." And for this reason, all those who are of the fine flower of
intelleól will judge the matter truly, and tell us how we ought not
merely to hold blameless, but rather to praise highly, all those who
refuse to go about with bent necks in mean garb and with a
hypocritical face in order to deceive others. But supposing that to
these men, who walk abroad clad as gentle lambs while they are in
sooth very wolves in soul, there should be granted the same opportu-
nity which came to Maestro Diego, I do not for a moment doubt
but that they would take good care to set about debauching our
households as often as chance might permit. May God help those
foolish laymen who are so meagrely endowed with wit that they know
not how to recognize these crowds of sham friars and monks, who
have borrowed their art from lying mountebanks, and go wandering
abroad through divers kingdoms and countries preaching all new
fashions of fraud — idling, thieving, and wantoning, and, when all other
arts fail them, they feign to be saints^ and to exhibit their power as
miracle-workers. One comes with the waistcoat of San Vincenzo,^

' Orig., "se fingono santi." Masuccio is probably alluding to certain hangers-on
to the numerous religious revivals of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. One
of the most noteworthy of these revivalist leaders was the Dominican monk, Fra
Giovanni of Vicenza, who began to preach in Bologna in 1233. Amidst all the
discord and bloodshed which then desolated Italy, he preached chiefly peace and
the forgiveness of injuries. He then visited Padua, and most of the Lombard cities,
and at last set to work to pacify and unite all these in one political bond. His head
seems to have been turned by the marvellous success which met his efforts, for he
began to burn religious opponents as heretics in Padua, whereupon the people rose
against him. He was deposed from his leadership, and sank into obscurity.

* San Vincenzo (Ferrier) was born at Valentia in 1355, and joined the Dominicans
as a preacher. Peter of Luna detedted his abilities, and took him to Paris with him
in 1 39 1. When Peter became pope as Benediòì XIIL, he made Vincenzo his con-
fessor, but the friar was soon disgusted with the sloth and corruption of Avignon, and in
1 397 resumed his preaching. He travelled all over western Europe. At the Counci 1

28 MASUCCIO. [novel 1.

another adopts the rule of San Bernardino/ and another brings for-
ward the ass-halter of Capestrano.^ In these, and in a thousand other
diabolical ways, they encroach upon our possessions and honours. And
although these doings of theirs re-echo in every place, and the report
of them is blown about through the whole universe, nevertheless, in
the following fable dedicated to that most serene prince your very
worthy consort, I will farther tell you of a strange cheat which a
certain Dominican friar, a child of the devil, put upon the person of
an illustrious German lady under the guise of holiness. And from
the end of this my story we shall be able to adduce the argument
that, the straighter and loftier the trees these wretches attack, the
more boldly and audaciously will they lay on with their felling axes,
in order to bring the trunks down to earth. All this I will show
to you clearly.

of Constance, he urged the deposition of the three popes, though one of them was
his patron. He died in 1419, and was canonized in 1455.

' See Note to Novel XVI.

^ Fra Giovanni da Capestrano was a Franciscan Observant, who opened a re-
vivalist campaign at Brescia in 145 1, and wrought many marvellous cures. See
Muratori, "Istoria Bresciana," vol. xxi., p. 865.

E^t iSnti of tJ)e jFirst iEobeL

Jl3ot)cl tbe ^econD.

5I?otoeltt)e é)econD.

ARGUMENT.

ISomiiiiran friar prrsua^rs itlatjoniia i3avlinra tfjat i5t)f toill fititi trrsrlf
tottlj retili fiì? a Cfrtain rigljtfous man, ant) toill in t)uf tinu bring fcrtf)
t|)e fefti) fbangrlist. i5p means of i)is franti, B\\t irromes pregnant tp
t)im ; anti tfjrn i)p, nntifr t|}f robrr of a frrsf) tifrrtt, mafers gooti i)is
flight. Cljis tiffti tabing rome to ligtjt, tfjc fatljfr of iiartara marrirs
ter to a man of mean estate.

Co tftat most serene IPrinee, alfonso of aragon, ifte most
toorsbipful Duke of Calabria.'

EXORDIUM.

IVERS people there are, my most serene lord, who,
being filled with the desire to put on a semblance of
wisdom and integrity, and, with the idea of letting
themselves be regarded by the herd of common people

!!| as good men and richly adorned with virtue, are wont
to hold conversation with those who have taken upon
themselves the religious habit, and to show themselves to the eyes of
the multitude spitting out their paternosters and browsing at the feet

' Son of King Ferdinand, who died in 1494, and husband of Ippolita Sforza, to
whom Masaccio dedicated the Novellino. He renounced the sovercignt}^ of Naples
in 1495, and died the same year. He was born in 1448, and was known by the
nickname of "II Guercio," the squint-eyed.

32 MASUCCIO. [novel m.

of the saints. In what mensure the men who employ such means as
these are defiled by nefarious crimes and the most wicked vices, all
those who may have come into close commerce with them will be able
to vouchsafe, simply by giving true testimony of what they know.
By false knaves of this sort I am blown upon, bitten, and lace-
rated without ceasing, because, as they maintain, I have set my pen
and my tongue to work in such fashion that I seem able neither
to write nor speak at all except to bear witness against the friars.
These men, in sooth, affirm that the greater part of the friars are
dulv obedient to the rules of their orders, and though here and
there a wicked man may be found amongst the brethren, the vast
quantity of good friars we see around us will in itself prove a stubborn
fad to show that the number of them is pradically infinite. And,
as I have no desire to win the good word of these muttering hypo-
crites, I will hereby make answer to them in terms which will serve
for ever, and tell them that the plain and open villainies worked by
these malignant clerics, every day and in every place, with some fresh
cunning, some new trick, confirm without ceasing the truth of my
words. And from all such men as are lovers and fair judges of truth
and honesty these assertions of mine will win a lasting reward of praise.

It occurs to me, therefore, my most gracious lord, to say with
regard to this subjed that it would be vastly more easy to find a
given hundred soldiers, the half of whom should be good and
worthy men, than to pick out of a whole chapter of friars a single one
without some ugly stain upon him. But, supposing that the number
of worthy friars may be ever so much greater than that of the worth-
less, the issue thereof would be no less an evil, in like manner as it
often comes to pass in a perilous battle, during the course of which it
may happen that a single mean coward will work mischief greater than
is the good which arises from the feats of ten brave men. And in
exadly similar wise would fare any ill-starred layman who might
chance to give to such a treacherous crew any more faith than is
necessary, seeing that aught of intercourse or familiarity with a single
perfidious, secret-working, and ribald friar will bring upon us an
amount of overwhelming shame and loss far greater than any honour
and profit we might draw from the intimacy with a hundred just men.

Against all such as these — and to serve as their well-deserved and
eternal punishment — it seems to me there is naught else to be said
but to pray that God may soc n make an end of Purgatory, so that

NOVEL II.] MASUCCIO. 33

these friars, being no longer able to live by the offerings made to
them thereanent, may be forced to go and work with the mattock,
thus returning to an estate from which the greater part of them have
sprung. But in any case I desire in this most veracious story of mine
— a story which I have addressed to you as my earthly master — to
withdraw myself somewhat from the consideration of the general
offences of the friars, and by descending to tell of one particular
person, to show you in what wise a certain preaching friar, a man
accounted of singular excellence amongst the Dominicans, contrived
by the means of a strange cheat to capture in his subtle snares one of
the most illustrious ladies to be found in all Germany.

THE NARRATIVE.

HERE is in the mouths of men a story approved by a
sufficient show of truth, which tells how, in years only a
short time past, there lived in Germany a nobleman of
high estate called by name the Duke of Lanzhueta,^ a
man wealthy in lands, and in precious stones, and in other
possessions of this sort beyond any other baron of Germany. To this
gentleman fortune had granted the gift of one only daughter, to whom
he gave the name of Barbara, and she, as she was the single child of
the house, was loved by her father with a deep and single love. In like
manner, the extraordinary beauties of her person were celebrated and
held in high esteem in all parts of the empire. Now this damsel,
while she was yet of tender age, inspired peradventure by the Holy
Spirit, or moved now and again thereto rather by some childish fancy
than by any regular desire, promised by a solemn vow on her part
that she would keep herself a virgin as long as her life should last,
and thus, having dedicated her virginity to Christ and decked herself
with all virtues and praiseworthy manners, so that she seemed to the
eyes of the world as one overgone in devotion, she came to the
marriageable age.

When it was made known to her that divers noble barons were

' Query, Landshut in Bavaria.

34 MASUCCIO. [novel h.

proffering requests with no little importunity to her father to gain
her hand in marriage, it seemed to her that of necessity she would be
constrained to make known this inclination of hers ; wherefore, in a
manner entirely befitting the occasion, she informed her father, and
her mother as well, of the same, but they both of them could only
bring themselves to listen to news of this charaóler with great harsh-
ness of demeanour and with much arguing thereanent. And, howbeit
they used their wits as best they could, with many threats and with
allurements also, to make her draw back from the course she was
so obstinately set to follow, they knew well enough how firmly she
was bent on treading the path upon which she had entered, and on
this account, plunged in sorrow such as they had never before
tasted, they determined to bring the matter to a peaceful issue, and
to set down such an accident to the charge of nature.

As soon as Barbara had let appear what her inclination really was,
and had caused to be set up in her chamber an oratory fashioned in
very devout wise, she not only gave herself over to perpetual prayer,
but vexed and mortified her delicate body with fastings and discipline
after a manner which was a wonder to behold. The fame of so
great sandlity soon spread itself abroad in the upper and the lower
parts of Germany, and in these regions of Italy as well, and on
account of this report in a very short time an innumerable multitude
of religious persons, and of other people likewise, came together
round about the city where dwelt the duke aforesaid. These people
put forward all manner of excuses to account for their presence, and,
in exadly the same way as the vultures and famishing wolves run
after decaying carcasses, these human birds and beasts of prey did
their best to win as booty both the fame and the fortune of so
illustrious and extraordinary a lady.

Now amongst these there came a certain rascally friar, whose
name I either do not know or do not wish to make public ; in-
deed, for certain reasons of decency I intend to keep silence as to
whether he was an Italian or a German. This man, forsooth, being
a brother of the Dominican order, had gained much renown as
a skilful preacher, and, using in most arrant wise the arts of a
charlatan, he went rambling from place to place in Germany, which
is, as you know, a rude and barbarous country, carrying with him»
the handle of the knife with which Saint Peter Martyr was slain, and
other trifles, reputed relics of their San Vincenzo, and making it

NOVEL li.] MASUCCIO. 3 5

appear to the crowd of gulls he attraded that he wrought divers
wonders with his unbounded and miraculous power.

It chanced that the fame of this man was brought to the notice
of Madonna Barbara, a thing which he himself greatly desired to
come to pass, having taken due foresight to attain this same end.
Whereupon she, being mightily anxious to see him, sent word for him
to come to her. The friar, not forgetting to put in praótice all his
wonted mummery, set out quickly to obey her summons, and, after
the lady had given him reception, and honoured him as a saint, she
made known to him the unchangeable resolution she had adopted,
begging him at the same time that he would, of his kindness, give
her counsel, and ending with a prayer for his aid towards the salva-
tion of her soul. The friar, who was both young and robust in body,
no sooner looked upon the beauty of the lady — which forsooth was
more divine than human — than he fell straightway in love with her,
and, for the reason that he felt himself now so sharply assailed
by lustful desire, it wanted but little more to cause him to fall into
a swoon at the very sight of her ; nevertheless, having recolledled
his wits, he gave the most admirable commendation to the holy
resolution she had formed, praising and blessing continually divine
providence for having chosen to take so worthy a virgin out of this
guileful world. Moreover, he argued before her parents that a
charadler and disposition so perfed as was that of their daughter had
not been created for their benefit alone, but for the profit of all
womankind, present and future as well. Likewise he persuaded
her, seeing that her intercourse with people of the world might
be fraught with danger to his purpose, that she ought to set herself
apart from the world in a society of ladies, who should be virgins
likewise ; putting herself under obedience to some religious order, in
such wise as to cause to be formed another choir of virgins upon the
earth, who would be ever at the service of Christ Jesus.

Now after he had held much converse with the damsel herself,
and with the duke and his wife as well, and had made it appear to
them all that the advice he gave was the best that could be given,
holy in its charader, built on the foundation of true reason, and
such as would surely bring consolation to Madonna Barbara, the
friar in a very short space of time persuaded them to let build a vast
and magnificent monastery, which, according to his wish, was called
after the blessed Catherine of Siena, and settled in such wise that

36 MASUCCIO. [novel ii.

the governance thereof might never fall into strangers' hands. In this
house, together with Madonna Barbara, a great multitude of damsels
of noble birth secluded themselves from the world, and there, under
the ordinances and rules laid down by the aforesaid friar, they began
to establish a very sandified and perfed way of life — living in such
wise, indeed, that no other than God, who alone knows the hidden
secrets of all hearts, would have been able to find out that, by the
working of the tainted soul of one wicked wretch, the great devil
himself had already taken bodily possession of them. This fellow,
in order to become privy to every inward thought of the young
maidens, never ceased to exhort and persuade them that, in order to
flee from the temptations of God's great adversary, there was to be
found no course so meet and salutary as the constant resort to the
holy praélice of confession. Wherefore, fully carrying out this
diredlion without suspeóling aught of the great and hidden malignity
which lay behind it, they set up a ravening wolf as the pastor of
their gentle flock. He, being now well assured that he had baited
his hook in the right way, perceived that the time had come to put
in operation his lustful and nefarious design ; so, having by cunning
means got into his possession a certain little book belonging to
Madonna Barbara, in which were written divers prayers of a very
devout charader, together with figures of the saints and of the Holy
Ghost, he wrote therein, late on a certain evening, the following
words in letters of gold, coming as it were out of the mouth of the
Blessed Spirit : " Barbara, thou shalt find thyself with child by a
righteous man, and shalt bring forth the fifth evangelist, who will
give to us whatever may be wanting in the writings of the others ;
spotless thou shalt remain, and blessed shalt thou be in the sight of
God." Having done this, he closed the book, and early the next
morning he put it back in the place whence he had taken it the
night before. Likewise he got ready many other slips of paper,
dainty blue in colour, and inscribed in letters of gold with words of a
similar nature. Having put these aside, he waited to make use of
them in such a way as would best serve the purpose he had in view.
Barbara, having gone into her cell at the accustomed hour to
recite the prayers she was wont to use, and having turned over the
leaf whereupon was figured the Holy Ghost, perceived what manner
of words had been there written afresh, and was utterly confounded
at the sight which met her eyes. But after a little, having gathered

NOVEL II.] MASUCCIO. 37

together her wits somewhat, and having mastered the meaning of
this awesome announcement, she felt herself assailed by no little
wonder and confusion and anguish. She then set herself to read it
over again, ever finding greater travail as she went on, and even
became as one bewildered in her youthful, girlish, and as yet unsullied
mind. Wherefore, wonder-stricken as she was, she tore herself away
from the prayers she had just begun to say, and ran as quickly as
she could to her spiritual father. And when she had drawn him
somewhat aside, the maiden, conquered and overcome by girlish
fears, showed to him the book with the gilded writing therein,
weeping plentifully the while. Direólly this met the eyes of the
friar, he made a great show of being altogether stupified with amaze-
ment, and, having signed himself with the sign of the cross, he
addressed Barbara in these words : " My daughter, in my belief this
thing is naught else than a temptation of the devil, who, ill pleased
at the sight of your state of perfeól righteousness, is seeking to set
before you some perilous snare, in order to cause you to fall into
eternal perdition. Wherefore I now admonish you, on behalf of
God Himself, and of the sacred obedience you owe to Him, that
you never, at any time whatsoever, lend a beheving ear to this or to
aught else of a similar charader. Nevertheless, I commend you
highly for that you have laid this thing bare to me. But you must
be careful always to ad in like manner for the future. Of this I
assure you, and I lay it upon you as a penance, to carry out my
commands, for be well assured the snares which have been lately set
to catch your soul will not be likely to become harmless^ except you
make use of the well-tried remedy of holy confession. But by the
help of this you shall go forth strong and enduring, ready to do
battle with the accursed enemy of God ; so that in the end you will
win for yourself a double palm of vidory, seeing that your strength
will make itself perfed in weakness."

Thus with these, and with many other words of a like sandi-
monious charader, he let her spirit quiet itself somewhat from the
agitation which his carefully-devised trickery had produced, and
having gone out of her presence, he called to him a certain young
clerk, according to a plan which he had already formed, and made
this fellow hide himself within side the oratory set up in the

* Orig., eke St fatte insidie sopra dite non abbiano a dormire.

38 MASUCCIO. [novel II.

lady's chamber, giving him at the same time certain of the sHps of
paper of which mention has already been made, and direóling him
how and at what time he must send them forth to do their work.
The gracious maiden, after she had gone into her chamber and set
herself to prayer, beseeching God with all humility of heart that He
would duly give her advertisement of any such event, was all of a
sudden surprised at seeing one of these slips of paper fall into her
lap. Having taken this in hand and read it, and remarked how
richly adorned it was, and how it bore on its face words of a like
purport in confirmation of the incarnation of a new evangelist, she fell
at once into a violent fit of trembling^. When she had risen from her
knees and made ready to depart, she saw fall down a second missive,
and then a third ; indeed, before she left the place, there descended of
these no less than ten. Then she went forth from the chamber,
overcome with the direst fear, and called the friar, and, half dead
with agitation, showed him the aforesaid pieces of paper. This wolf
in holy garb, letting his visage give token of the amazement which,
as he feigned, possessed him, then said: " My daughter, of a truth
these be things to raise in our hearts the greatest possible wonder.
Such things may not be passed over without taking the most
serious counsel thereanent ; forasmuch as it is quite as likely that
they are being revealed to us by divine inspiration as by the opposing
principle. Wherefore it seems to me that we ought neither to let
ourselves run heedlessly after this belief, nor to keep ourselves
obstinately fixed in our original opinion, but rather that we should
apply ourselves to the blessed exercise of prayer ; you on one part,
and I on the other, will lift up our prayers to God and beg Him
that, of His supreme and infinite goodness, He will deign to give us
clear assurance whether this revelation be true or whether it be false,
whether we ought to give heed to it or to flee therefrom. Moreover,
on the morrow it is my intention to hold a celebration in your
chamber, when, by the instrumentality of the wood of the true and
holy cross, and of other relics fitted for the purpose, we will put to
flight all the works of the devil, and will see what thing Almighty
God will show to us."

To Madonna Barbara it seemed that all this advice given by the
friar was most godly, and worthy to be carried out. Wherefore
she made answer that it would please her mightily to follow all his
counsels. And when the next morning had come, the friar got up

NOVEL II.] MASUCCIO.

39

in gocd time, and set in position all his artillery in order to pay his
oblation to Satan. Then, having first given the signal to the yourg
clerk that he should betake himself to the spot where he had befoie
stationed himself, the friar entered the chamber of the lady, being
received by her with tokens of deep reverence, and wiih a seeming
of sanólity and dtvotion he began to celebrate mass. As long as ihe
holy office went on, from the beginning thereof until the end, the
young clerk did not cease from casting down the aforesaid slips of
paper, of which his master had given him no small quantity to be
used in this fashion. The young girl, when she saw them thus put
forth without ceasing, and in such vast numbers (and each one
bearing to her the same message), and perceived that neither her
prayers, nor her vigils, nor all the other forms of discipline she had
praélised, had worked for aught else than to confirm her in her belief,
was fully persuaded that such a revelation as this could only com.e forth
from the Holy Spirit. Wherefore, exulting within herself on account
of this mighty fortune which had befallen her, she be^an to think of
herself as blessed indeed, and furthermore believed that it was
ordained that things should fall out for her in such fashion as was
described on the slips of paper. When the mass was finished, and when
she had duly gathered up the papers which had fallen down so finely
both upon herself and upon the friar — papers which bore every
mark of having been prepared and written by the hand of some blessed
angel, she stood as one altogether possessed with joy and gladness.

The friar, to whom it seemed that the time had fully come when
he might go and pluck the last and the most luscious fruit of so
fertile a garden, now said : " My daughter, I see indeed, by reason of
these signs, so numerous and so clearly manifested, that this thing is
the will of God, and that any endeavours on our part to gain further
assurance thereanent would be held to be nothing else than a pre-
sumptuous desire to pry more curiously into those things which
spring from the divine intelligence, which, as thou mayst clearly see,
is openly showing its desire to produce a treasure so precious from
that thrice happy womb of thine. Therefore, if we should still show
ourselves to be unbelieving, I fear mightily the divine judgment
would come upon us. At all events, so as to have no further hesi-
tation as to the final confirmation of this matter, let us see whether
in any part of the Holy Scriptures there may be found aught pre-
dic5led of the same,"

40 MASUCCIO. [novel ii.

Then, having taken up the Bible forthwith, and turned over the
leaves to a certain place invt^hich he himself had put a mark, he came
upon the passage in the Gospel of John where it is written, " And in
the presence of his disciples Jesus wrought many other wonderful
works which are not written in this book." When he had read this,
he turned to the lady and spake thus : " We have no need of any
farther witness. Behold and see how all our doubts are smoothed
down ! Of a truth, this one shall he be, concerning whom our evan-
gelist makes mention — he who shall furnish us with all these things in
which the others are lacking. Wherefore, if we should now go on
questioning over and above what is necessary, it may be charged
against us as presumption, and I, forsooth, will leave this burden to
be borne by you alone, if you should still show yourself incredulous."
The damsel, making answer to these last words of his, said: "Alas! my
father, why should this saying, which in sooth is known to you alone,
keep shut up in your inner consciousness all my welfare and all my
hope Ì However, I shall always be ready to carry this thing into effedl
in such measure as may seem to you fitting and desirable."

The friar, seeing that the business was now brought to such a
pass that it only remained for him to give the finishing stroke to his
work, said : " My daughter, you speak indeed with wisdom, but there
yet hangs in my mind one doubt unsatisfied. It is this : how shall
we set to work to find the person in whom we can place sufficient
trust, and who will be fitted for this business, bearing in mind that
the whole world swarms with men altogether given over to fraud and
treachery.'' " Madonna Barbara, who was treating the matter with the
utmost purity of mind, then made answer : " My father, these writings
of ours tell us concerning this thing that he who is to be the maker
of this one must be righteous and holy even as you yourself are,
so I do not see who can better bring to pass this thing with me
than you, especially as you are my spiritual father." To this the
friar replied : " In truth 1 do not know how this deed can be wrought
by me, seeing that I, as well as you, have promised to keep my body
in chastity as long as I shall live. Nevertheless, it seems that I
assuredly would be no just man were 1 to consent to allow your holy
and most delicate flesh to be sullied by the touch of other hands ; and,
over and beyond this, I myself am well fitted and furnished tor the
increasing of the Christian religion. At the same time, I will not now
negleól to remind you that you must never let yourself be carried

NOVEL II.] MASUCCIO. 41

away so as to speak of this thing to anyone; for I doubt not at all
that God would hold it for no trifling sin if it were to come to the
knowledge of anybody else. And in this case, whereas now you are
justly held to be the most highly blessed woman of this our age, you
would be turned into a foe and a rebel against God."

The gracious maiden, giving him no other answer than the most
solemn promises, affirmed that as long as she lived she would never
make known this thing to anyone. " Now leave me," said the friar,
"and this same evening, without farther delay, we will make a
beginning of this work; but because unions of this sort ought to be
entered into for the praise and glory of the most high God, we must
needs occupy ourselves with continual prayer until the hour of our
coming together, in order that we may enter these holy and divine
mysteries with devout minds."

With this conclusion to his speech he betcok himself to his own
chamber, after he had been graciously dismissed by Madonna
Barbara, and considering well in his mind how from his fruitful loins
the holy evangelist would take being, he did not allow himself that
day to defile his body with coarse food, such as he was wont often to
consume in order to deceive others by a show of holiness, but took
for the invigorating of his flesh the most delicate viands, the most
exquisite sweetmeats, and the most sumptuous wines, all in temperate
measure.

At last, when the hour was come which had been awaited by him
with such keen desire, he entered with cautious tread the chamber of
Madonna Barbara, who, still fasting and bathed in tears, had never
once given over praying, and now, when she beheld the friar, rose
upon her feet and gave him worshipful reception. Now he, albeit he
was all on fire with lust to take his pleasure of the lady, and that every
moment until he should find himself in her loving arms seemed to
him as a thousand hours, made up his mind nevertheless not to set
about the amorous sport with aught of hasty lasciviousness, but to
begin by seeing for himself whether the damsel was as fair to look
upon naked and in candle-light as she was when clothed by day.
Wherefore he bade her to strip herself naked, and she, although
feeling the while smitten and overwhelmed with the deepest shame,
obediently did all that he bade her do. When she had taken off all
her clothes, and when he had divested himself of the greater part of his
habit, he let kindle two great torches, and, having placed the lady

Q

42 MASUCCIO. [novel ii.

betwixt these, and casting his eyes upon her flesh, delicate and smooth
as ivory, which with its brightness outshone even the light of the en-
kindled flambeaux, he felt himself filled and overcome with so great
concupiscence that he let himself fall almost as one dead into her arms.
Then, when he had recovered himself, and placed himself before heron
his knees, he made her be seated as if she were his sovereign lady, and
with joined hands and bent head he thus spake : " Thee I adore, O
most blessed womb, in which, in times soon to come, there will be
generated that which will be the light of universal Christianity." And
having thus spoken, and kissed her in the middle of her lilywhite
loveliness, he fastened with greedy desire upon her sweet and rosy
lips, and, without letting her go for a moment, he threw himself upon
the bed, which had already been prepared, holding her in his arms.
In what fashion they occupied themselves all the night through it may
be figured by each without much difiiculty ; but I know well, according
to what the lady said when, in after times, she told of what happened,
that they attained not only the number of the fifth evangelist, but to
the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Madonna Barbara, although she took the repast provided for her
only in a spiritual sense, nevertheless, when she considered the same
in her mind, came to the conclusion that this thing was the sweetest
and most delicious pleasure that mortals could take or taste ; so in the
end it happened, the sport being so mightily pleasurable, that every
night they found themselves fresh and eager to recommence the
amorous struggle until such time as they should be fully assured that
the evangelist had indeed been begotten. Passing their time in these
delights, it fell out before long that Madonna Barbara became with
child, and when this fa(5l made itself apparent to both of them by
manifest signs, one day the friar, being in fear of his life should the
thing be known, said to her: *' My daughter, thou seest that, foras-
much as it has thus pleased God, the end desired by us so greatly is
now fulfilled, and that thou, being pregnant, wilt, by God's pleasure,
be duly brought to bed, on this account I am minded to take counsel
with the Holy Father himself, and to announce to him the divine
miracle which is about to ensue, for the reason that he may despatch
hither a certain two of his cardinals, whose place it will be to canonize
your ofi^spring at his birth, and by this cause he will be esteemed of
greater excellence and far above all other saints."

Madonna Barbara, who, as it has been already said, was of pure

NOVEL II.] MASUCCIO. 43

and simple mind, readily gave credence to these words, and, assailed
by a fresh passion of vainglory, felt no little pleasure that such a
course as this should be taken on her account. The friar, seeing
clearly that the vessel containing the new evangelist waxed greater in
size every day that passed, got everything in order to quit the place ;
and, having taken from her divers other meals of pastry to stay his
failing stomach, and bidden her farewell with little pleasure or con-
tentment, he set forth on his journey, and in a short time found him-
self in Tuscany. What other feats he may have wrought after this,
and what regions he may have traversed in order to beguile others by
his tricks and craft, let him search out who is not already possessed
with indignation. And it can, I trow, be held as a sure and
certain fa6l that this precursor of Antichrist, into whatever land he
may have come in the course of his wanderings, made all those who
may have lent credence to his words to have a taste of the divinity
of the angels in Paradise. Concerning Madonna Barbara, whom he
left pregnant behind him, and who waited for a long time in vain the
coming of the promised cardinals, I do not feel myself obliged to go
seeking what fate may have been in store for her, nor what may have
happened to her on the birth of her child. I only know right well
that of this kind are the fruits and the leaves and the flowers which
will assuredly come forth from the conversation and intimacy of these
cheating friars.

MASUCCIO.

THEREFORE ask you what manner of human clever-
ness is there extant upon earth which shall be found
sufficient for the warding off of the constant attacks such
as we see delivered with all kind of deceit and treachery
by these friars, whom I will never call holy men, but
rather ministers of the chief of the devils ? These same friars,
having lately become aware of the faól that every man gifted with
the flower of intelled must needs have full knowledge of the repro-
bate side of their corrupt lives, have, as a last remedy, schemed to
pass themselves off as would-be saints. And in order that the
devotees who favour them may be made to put faith in their mani-

4+ MASUCCIO. [novel n.

fest deceits, and so that the credulous miy touch these frauds with their
hands, I declare that these friars put forward certain creatures who
have been plucked from the gallows and reduced to the last extremity
of misery, and, having corrupted these with some small sum of money,
they induce one to feign to be lame, another to be blind, and
another to be oppressed by some incurable ailment or another.
Wherefore, looking round and observing the dense and swarming
crowd of ignorant people fascinated by their tricks, and not knowing
whit other thing to bring forward, they make a sign duly agreed upon
before,for their gang of murderers to approach them, and these fellows,
merely by touching the tassels of their robes and by the virtue of
the relics which belonged (as the friars declare) to some departed
saints of theirs, mav be heard to proclaim with loud voices that a
cure has been worked upon them simply by touching the holy
preacher. Upon this they all cry out for mercy, bells are rung,
long processes and authentic statements are drawn up, and by the
means of such devilish working as this, the fame of such doings,
spreading itself abroad and flying from one kingdom to another,
forces even those men who can discern clearly enough the falsehood
of the whole affair, to make believe that they take lies for the truth,
forasmuch as were they to a6l otherwise they would be held and
proclaimed to be heretics by the senseless multitudes and by the
hypocrites. And over and above the experiences of these our days,
which have been so clearly made manifest to us, we may well call to
mind, as bearing on the truth of this matter, what has been taught to
us in the preceding novel as to the manner of fruit we may expeél
to gather from their holiness. And albeit you must give in full
measure your grief and pity to the noble lady aforesaid, on account
of the suffering and betrayal put upon her by such a vile poltroon,
nevertheless, the one which I will now let follow will not come to
an end without giving you cause for much pleasure and merriment.

E^f iSnti of ti)e Seconal iEobel.

J13oticl tf)e CftirD.

ll^otoel tì)t tifivi).

ARGUMENT.

diFra i^irolo la iSamt ficmg rnamourfì) of iHaìJontia ^gata, prcrurrs
fulfilmnit of i)is tirsirr. Cijr ^usbanti Ijappftiijiij to foinr upon liifm, tljr
toife tifclatfs ttjat tf)e friav, tg ti)c birtuf of rcrtain rfllrs, |)as tirliberrt
t)fr of a tiistcmpcr totjidj afilirtrt ter. i3ut, Ijabing fomiti i|)f friar's
6rcfrf)fS at tf)r t)fa^ of tljc tri), tije ijusianti fiffomrs ^isturirt m t'S
minti, to^frnipon t\\t boife assurrs f)lm ti)at tijr ircfrijfs formr rljj tf longrti
to £an (Griffonf.' Cijts ttjc t^isiJ^nti firlirbfs, anti in tfjc mt) lijc friar
rauses tljcm to if ronbrgrt tiarfe to tijr ronbrnt in a soUmn profession.

Co tje moi5t illustrious; poet Joanne Ipontano.'

EXORDIUM.

F, most noble-minded Pontanus, we ought to be as
careful concerning the honour and profit of our
true friends as concerning our own, I, although I
am only to be reckoned amongst the least of yours,
am bound by every obligation to further your honour
and well-being both by will and deed. Wherefore,
knowing you to be adorned by so many peerless virtues that we
may with justice call you the light of rhetoricians and the mirror

' The earlier editions give San Bernardino.

^ Giovanni Gioviano Fontano, one of the most illustrious men of letters of the
fifteenth century, was born in 1426, at Cerreto, near Spoleto. He studied at Perugia,

4.8 MASUCCIO. [novel hi.

of poets — knowing likewise of the other excellent parts you possess
in such unbounded measure, I cannot on any account keep silent
when I see all these excellences sullied by a single spot which
might easily be wiped away. By this spot I mean to indicate that
constant pradice you have of holding intimate converse with monks
and friars of every sort — a practice which, in a man of your integrity,
is a greater and a more reprehensible failing than the hatching of a
plot with a band of heretics. Of the truth of what I say you yourself
may be the judge, seeing that none others than usurers, fornicators,
and men of evil condition are ever to be seen associating with them,
and these, forsooth, seek their company chiefly in order that, by thus
foregathering with hypocrites, they may learn how better to deceive
their fellows. Therefore, seeing that you yourself are not a wolf, it is
not seemly that you should line your cloak with a wolf's skin.^ I pray
you get yourself out of so reprobate and damnable a path, and, above
all, be firm, not only to withdraw yourself entirely from the society
of such as these, but also to drive them from your house for good,
even as if they were people smitten by some contagious plague. By
following such a course as this you will shake oft from yourself all
possibility of future suspicion, and will give these creatures no
opportunity of approaching you through the doorway of your friend-
ship, and of contaminating, as is their wont, those who are about you.
Now, in order that I may never behold you rushing down such a
precipice as this, I will point out to you (with whatever authority
my words may carry, and as a supplement to the arguments given
above,) a farther example for your future aélion in the following
novel, which I have dedicated to you, and show you what recompense
the friendship of a holy friar brought to a physician of Catania,
who was addióled more than most men to the society of folk of this

and went in early manhood to Naples, where he attrafted the notice of the celebrated
Beccadelli (Panormita), the founder of the Neapolitan Academy. By Beccadelli he
was Introduced to the notice of Alfonso the Magnanimous, and from this time
onwards he was continually in the royal service, either as tutor, secretary, or am-
bassador. His literary fame rests on his Latin verse, of which he was a voluminous
writer. On the death of Beccadelli he became the head of the learned society of
the capital, and it was perhaps rather from him than from his predecessor and patron
that the Academy of Naples received its formal constitution. When Charles VIII.
entered Naples, Fontano greeted him with a congratulatory oration, an easy transfer
of allegiance which Guicciardini censures severely. He died in 1503.
' Orig., mn conviensi della sua pelle foderarsi il tuo fnantello.

NOVEL III.] MASUCCIO. 49

sort, and who, though he was of a very watchful and jealous nature,
was deceived, and flouted likewise, by the subtle devices of his wife
and of the friar.

THE NARRATIVE.

ATANIA, as we all know well, is reckoned a noble and
illustrious place amongst the other famous cities of the
island of Sicily. There, in times not long past, resided a
certain doótor of medicine. Maestro Rogero Campisciano
by name, and this man, although he was full of years, took
to wife a damsel called Agata, sprung from a very honourable family of
the city before-named, who, according to the opinion current in the
place, was the fairest and most graceful lady at that time living in the
island. On this account her husband held her as dear as he held his
own life.

Now because it very rarely or never happens that a man who is
hotly in love escapes long from the plague of jealousy, this good
dodlor in a very short space of time became so jealous of his wife,
without any other reason than the aforesaid, that he forbade her to
hold converse with anyone, using just as great severity towards her
friends and relations as towards strangers. And although he had
very close relations with a community of friars minor in the city,
being the keeper of their funds, the procurator of the order, and
intimately acquainted with the whole course of their affairs, neverthe-
less, for the better safeguarding of his treasure, he commanded and
laid a charge upon his wife that she should keep herself from all
traffic with the friars, just as if they had been dissolute laymen. It
chanced, however, in the course of time, that there arrived in Catania
a minor friar called Fra Nicolo da Narni, who, though he put on the
air of a hypocrite, and was wont to walk clattering along with a pair
of wooden sandals like prison shackles, with a leather patch on the
breast of his frock, with bent neck, and a gait fitted for the canting
knave he was in sooth, was nevertheless a fresh-coloured, comely
young fellow. And besides this, he had studied at Perugia,' and had
gained considerable knowledge of the dottrine there taught; was a

' Perhaps this mention of Perugia maybe satirical on Masuccio's part, Pontano,
to whom this novel is dedicated, having been educated there.

H

50 MASUCCIO. [novel III.

far-famed preacher, and already enrolled as a fellow of the confrater-
nity of San Bernardino — a fad he never failed to make known to any-
one he might meet. He declared, moreover, that he had in his
possession certain relics of this saint, by the virtue of which God had
already shown, and still continued to show, many miracles. On
account of this, and of the devout name enjoyed by his order, he
drew to his preaching a marvellous great crowd of listeners, and in
this wise it happened that, on a certain morning when he was
preaching, he espied amongst the crowd of women in the church the
aforesaid Madonna Agata, who seemed to him to be as a carbuncle
stone in the midst of a mass of the whitest pearls, and, letting fall
upon her many glances from the tail of his eye without in any way
interrupting his sermon, he said to himself over and over again that
the man who should be held worthy to enjoy the love of such a beautiful
young woman might indeed reckon himself most fortunate. Agata,
as was the wont of all those who came to hear the preaching, kept
her eyes steadily fixed on the preacher in admiration, and, since he
appeared to her to be a young man comely beyond ordinary, she
breathed a wish to herself (without letting her thoughts run into any
undisciplined excess of lust) that her husband were made more in the
likeness of this handsome friar, and at the same time she began to think
and to deliberate that she would like to go some day to make con-
fession to Fra Nicolo. And thus, holding fast to this conceit of hers,
as soon as she saw him come down from the pulpit she threw herself
in his way, and besought him that he would vouchsafe to hear her.
The friar, though he was inwardly overjoyed at her request, made
answer to her, so as not to allow the corruption of his mind to show
itself on his countenance, that it was no part of his duty to hear con-
fessions. Whereupon the lady replied : " But may not I, for the
sake of Maestro Rogero, my good husband, ask to enjoy some privi-
lege at your hands ? " To this the friar answered : " Ah, then you
are the wife of our procurator ? For the respeól I bear to him I will
willingly listen to your confession." And when they had withdrawn
themselves somewhat aside, and the friar had taken up his position
in the place where they w^re accustomed to hear confessions, and the
lady had gone down on her knees before him, she began to confess
herself according to the accustomed rule. After she had laid bare a
certain portion of her offences, telling the friar of the inordinate
jealousy of her husband, she begged him of his kindness to let her

NOVEL in.] MASUCCIO. 51

know if there were any means within his power by which he could
manage thoroughly to clear out of her husband's head all such delu-
sions as these, believing perhaps that such ailments might be healed
by herbs and plasters as her husband was wont to heal the sick
folk under his charge. The friar set gladly to work to take into
consideration a proposition such as this, for it seemed to him that
now his good fortune was about to open for him the door which
would give him the means of entering the path he so keenly desired
to tread ; wherefore, after he had given Madonna Agata consolation
in somewhat flowery terms, he thus answered her : *' My daughter,
it is no marvel that your husband should be so jealous of you ;
indeed, were his mood otherwise, he would be held by me, and by
every other man as well, to be something less than the prudent
gentleman he is. Nor ought he to be charged with fault on this
account, seeing that this circumstance arises solely from the working
of Nature, who, having produced you adorned with so great and
angehc loveliness, has rendered it impossible that anyone should
ever be the possessor of you without suffering the sharpest pangs
of jealousy."

The lady, smiling somewhat at these words, saw that the time
had now come when it behoved her to return to the attendants
who were awaiting her ; so, after certain other soft words had been
spoken, she begged the friar to give her absolution. He therefore,
having heaved a deep sigh, turned towards her with a pitiful coun-
tenance, and thus made answer : " My daughter, no one who is
himself bound can give release to another, and for the reason
that you in so short space of time have made me a slave, I can
neither absolve you, nor loose myself, without aid from you." The
courteous lady, who was by birth a Sicilian, quickly comprehended
the real meaning of this ambiguous speech, remarking besides what a
good-looking young fellow he was, and feeling no small gratification
that he seemed to be so mightily taken by her beauty. Still she
was somewhat surprised to find that friars took thought of such
matters, because, on account of her youth and the careful guard kept
over her by her husband, she had not only been kept from all dealing
with religious persons of every sort, but had even been made to
believe that the making of men into friars differed nought from the
making of cocks into capons. However, she saw clearly enough
that Fra Nicolo was more of a cock than a capon, and with a long-

52 MASUCCIO. [novel hi.

ing such as she had never before known, and with the firm resolve to
give him her love at all hazard, she thus answered him : " My father,
leave all your cares to me, forasmuch as I, coming here a free woman,
must now return home the slave of you and of love." To this speech
the friar replied, his heart filled with the greatest joy he had ever
known : " Since then our desires run towards the same point, can you
not devise some way by which we both of us, breaking forth at the
same moment from this cruel prison, may taste the full joy our lusty
youth permits ? " To this she answered that she would willingly
agree to this, supposing that a way could be found for its accomplish-
ment, adding these words : *' And now at this moment I am reminded
of a plan whereby, in spite of the inordinate jealousy of my husband,
we may be enabled to carry out our intention. For you must know
that almost every month I am wont to be afflided with a very grave
distemper of the heart, so severe that it robs me of all power of
sensation, nor up to this present time have I been able in the least
degree to remedy the same by any device of the physicians. Indeed,
certain women of experience in such matters have declared that my
ailment proceeds from the womb, because I am young and fit to bear
children, but by reason of the age of my husband I am not able to
do this. Wherefore I have thought that on one of those days when
my husband goes to ply his calling in the country, I might feign to
be taken ill with one of my accustomed attacks. Then, having sent
for you in haste, I might beg you to lend me certain relics of San
Griffone, and you, on your part, must be prepared to come with them
to me secretly ; and afterwards, by the aid of a very trusty maid of
mine, we can meet and take our pleasure together."

To this the friar, overjoyed, replied : '^ My daughter, may you be
blessed by God for the excellent plan you have devised. It seems
clear to me that we are in duty bound to carry it out, and I forsooth
will bring with me a certain good friend of mine, who will not let
your trusty waiting-woman complain that she is negleéted while we
are enjoying ourselves." Then, having spent some time over the
conclusion of the business, they parted with many warm and amorous
sighs. As soon as she had returned home, the lady made known to
her maid the plan she had devised with the friar for their common
gratification and pleasure, whereupon the maid, who was mightily
pleased at the news, made answer that everything her mistress might
command should straightway be prepared.

NOVEL III.] MASUCCIO. 53

It chanced that fortune was very kind to them, forasmuch as the
very next morning Maestro Rogero betook himself to visit his patients
outside the city, according to the prescient surmise of his wife, who
at once, in order to let no delay interfere with the course of the affair,
began to call upon San Griffone to come to her aid, feigning to be
afflided with an attack of her customary distemper. Then straight-
way the maid addressed her, as if by way of counsel : " Why do you
not send for those sacred relics of the saint which have such miraculous
fame amongst men of all sorts? " Thereupon the lady, according to
the plan they had arranged between themselves, making believe that
she could speak only with great difficulty, turned towards the maid
and spake thus : " Nay, I beseech you to send and fetch them," and
to her the woman, as if she were filled with pity, replied : " I will go
myself for them." So, having set forth at the top of her speed, and
found the friar and given him the message which had been arranged.
Fra Nicolo, together with a certain companion of his, a sprightly
young fellow, and one well fitted for the business in hand, straightway
set forth on his errand. When they were come into the chamber^
and when Fra Nicolo, with a very devout look upon his face, had
drawn anear the side of the bed upon which the lady was lying alone,
she, who was tenderly awaiting him, received him with the greatest
humility, and said : " O father, pray to God and to the glorious San
Griffone on my behalf" To this the friar replied: " May the Creator
make you worthy of what you ask ; but you on your part must give
evidence of devout behaviour, and if you are willing to accept His
grace through the virtue of the holy relics I have with me, it is right
and becoming that first we should resort with hearts full of contrition
to the holy rite of confession, so that the soul, being brought back to
health, the body may with ease be cleansed of its distemper." The
lady answering, said : " Of a truth I have anticipated, and never wished
for aught else than what you speak of, and this grace I beg most
earnestly at your hands."

When they had thus spoken together, they gave courteous dis-
missal to all such persons as chanced to be in the chamber, so that
there remained therein no one else except the maid and the companion
who had come with the friar. Then, having securely locked them-
selves in, so that they might be in no danger of interruption, each lover
began incontinently to raise the flame of desire with his lady. Fra
Nicolo got upon the bed, and deeming that he might reckon on perfed

54 MASUCCIO. [novel m.

security, took off his breeches in order that he might the better use
his legs when freed from such impediment, and flung the garments afore-
said on the head of the bed. Then, having folded the lovely young
woman in a close embrace, he began with her the sport so full of delight
and so keenly desired by them both. The friar, who did not meet with
such good luck every day of his life, gave full proof of his manhood,
and once and twice reaped the full harvest of his desire ; but, just as
he was preparing for a third essay, he and Midonna Agata were
made aware that Maestro Rogero on horseback was down below, he
having come back sooner than they had anticipated from his journey.
The friar in great haste flung himself off the bed, overcome with fear
and vexation, and forgetting entirely the breeches which he had laid
at the bed's head, while the waiting-woman, not at all pleased that the
business she had begun with her swain must needs be abandoned,
unfastened the door of the chamber, and, having called to the people
who were waiting in the hall without, bade them come in at their
pleasure, adding that, by the grace of God, her lady was now well-
nigh entirely healed of her ailment, and praising God and San Griffone.

In this wise the matter stood when Maestro Rogero came into the
chamber, and, as soon as he realized that something strange had hap-
pened, he was no less disturbed at finding that friars had begun to
frequent his house than at the fresh indisposition of his beloved spouse;
but she, observing at a glance that his humour was mightily changed,
cried out : "Oh! husband, of a truth I should have been a dead woman
by this time if our good father the preacher had not come to my aid
with the relics of the most blessed San Griffone. These, as soon as
he brought them near to my heart, took away all the pain and agony I
suffered, just as a plentiful flood of water quenches a little fire." The
credulous husband, when he heard how a remedy had at last been
found for an ailment hitherto deemed incurable, fell a-thanking God
and San Griffone with no small satisfadtion, and at last, turning to
the friar, gave him unbounded thanks for the great benefit he had
wrought, and thus, after exchanging certain other speeches in devout
and saintly discourse, the friar and his companion took their leave in
the most seemly wise, and went their way back to the monastery.

Now, as they were walking along, Fra Nicolo began to feel some-
what cold about the breech, and then it came into his mind how he
had left behind him at the head of the bed the garment he usually
wore ; whereupon, overcome beyond measure with grief and con-

NOVEL III.] MASUCCIO. 55

fusion, he turned to his companion and told him of the accident
which had befallen him. His friend consoled him as best he could,
and bade him cease from disquieting himself, forasmuch as the maid,
who would be the first to find the breeches, would assuredly hide
them, and, laughing as he spoke, added these words : " My master,
it is quite clear that you are not wont to put up with inconvenience
of any sort, since it seems that you needs must, wherever you may
be, straightway clap clothing upon those parts of yours. But perhaps
you follow the example of the Dominican friars, who always take
their dogs about with them unconfined by leash of any sort, and,
although they often get fine sport, it is nevertheless a fa6l that
hounds that are leashed are always keener and more holding in their
grip when they come upon game." To this the friar replied: " What
you say is true enough, but would to God that no scandal may arise
on account of the fault I have committed ; and, tell me, how did you
fare with the prey I let fall into your clutches ì For my own part,
I know that in my hawking I managed to capture a brace of par-
tridges, and, just as I was trying for a third, Messer Rogero came
back." His friend answered: "I am no smith myself ; but what do you
say of a workman who managed to make two nails out of one heating
of the furnace, and had got one finished complete, and the other only
lacking the head thereto, when the girl, cursing the hour she was
born, cried out, ' Here is the maestro at the door' ? And thus the
work which you had put in my way was left incomplete." Said the
friar: *' May God be willing to grant me leave to go back to the
sport I was forced to give over, and then you, too, if you should still
be in the mood therefor, may turn out your nails by the hundred."
To this the friend replied : *' You will not find me wanting, but in
sooth I believe the feathers of those two partridges you took are
worth more than all the nails they make in Milan." At this speech
the friar laughed heartily, and with many other witty words concern-
ing their late adventure, they went on, joking between themselves.

As soon as the friars had left the chamber. Maestro Rogero, going
close up to his wife's side and caressing her neck and her bosom,
demanded to know from her whether the pain which had molested
her had caused her great suffering. In the course of their conversa-
tion over this and over other matters, it chanced that Maestro Rogero,
stretching out his hand to compose the pillows under his wife's head,
caught hold of the laces of the breeches which the friar had left there.

56 MASUCCIO. [novel in.

When he had drawn them forth, and observed of a surety they
were of the sort commonly worn by friars, he cried out with a face
changed mightily: " What the devil can be the meaning of this ? O
Agata ! for what reason are these friar's breeches here ? " But the young
wife, who was very wary and prudent (and love, moreover, had
recently aroused yet more her intelligence), made answer without
delaying her speech a moment : " And what can be the meaning of
the long story I have just told you, my husband, if these be not the
miraculous breeches which formerly belonged to the glorious San
Griffone, and which our good father, the preaching friar, brought
hither this morning as one of the most famous relics of the saint?
Wherefore Almighty God, by the virtue of these, has already shown
me great favour, and though I was fully assured of being entirely
freed from my trouble, yet for greater security, and for piety's sake
as well, I besought Fra Nicolo, when he was about to take it away,
that he would leave it with me until the time of vespers, at which
hour he or some others should send for it." The husband, when he
heard this answer so ready and so well fitted for the occasion, either
believed it in truth or made as if he believed it ; but, having within
him the nature of a jealous man, his brain was buffetted about
without ceasing by the two contrary winds which this accident had
stirred up; nevertheless, without giving any farther answer to the
remarks of his wife, he held his peace. The wily young woman,
being well assured that her husband was still somewhat disturbed in
his mind, now began to scheme how she might by a new stratagem
clear out entirely from his breast all the suspicious thoughts he there
nursed; so turning towards her maid, she said: "Go now at once to
the convent, and as soon as you shall have found the friar preacher,
tell him to send and fetch the relics which he left with me, for by
God's mercy I have had no occasion to use them more." The
discreet waiting-woman, comprehending fully what the lady in truth
wanted to say, went with all speed to the convent, and bade them
quickly summon the friar preacher, who came straightway to the
door, deeming peradventure that she had come to bring back the
keepsake which he had left behind him. But he put on a smiling
face as he spake to her, and asked her what news she bore. " No
good news, in sooth," she answered, with a very ill grace, " thanks
to your carelessness, and it would have been worse but for the
prudence of my mistress." " Tell me what it is," cried the friar ;

NOVEL III.] MASUCCIO. 57

and then the girl related to him, point by point, all that had happened,
adding that it seemed to her there was no better way out of the affair
than that they should send from the monastery to fetch the aforesaid
relics with a certain parade of ceremony without further delay. Then
the friar said, " Keep your mind at ease ; " and, having taken leave of her
and bidden her to hope that all things which had been ill done would
straightway be repaired, he sought out the superior, and spake to
him in these words : " Good father, I have just committed a most
grievous sin, one for which in due time you can punish me as I
deserve, but just now I beseech you to give me instant help, as the
needs of the case demand, in order that this mischance may be set
right without delay," and then Fra Nicolo set forth the whole story
in as brief a fashion is possible. The superior, finding himself per-
turbed in no small measure over the affair, took the friar sharply to
task for his imprudence, and thus addressed him : "See now what
comes of working miracles ! A clever fellow you are, in sooth ! You
fancied, indeed, that you could go safely to work ; but, if you found
you must needs take off your breeches, could you not think of some
other way of hiding them, either in the sleeves or in the breast of
your gown, or in some other secret place about your person ? You,
wonted as you are to be mixed up in such scandals as these, recked
naught as to the great burden of conscience and obloquy of the world
with which we of your order shall have to battle. Of a truth I
know not what reason there is why I should not forthwith send you
to prison as you richly deserve. Nevertheless, seeing that at the
present moment it behoves us to endeavour to mend matters rather
than to inflidl punishment, and that the affair concerns especially the
honour of the order, we will postpone your chastisement to some
future time."

Then, having set ringing the bell of the chapter house, and let
assemble all the friars, the superior told them how, in the house
of Maestro Rogero the physician, God had that very day wrought a
most evident miracle by the virtue of the breeches which formerly
belonged to San Griffone. Having told them the story in the fewest
possible words, he persuaded them that it behoved them to go forth-
with to the house of the aforesaid physician, and bring back there-
from the holy relic with high solemnities and a procession, whereby
they might give honour and glory to God, and cause the miracles of
the saint to be held in yet higher esteem.

J

58 MASUCCIO. [novel in.

When the friars were duly mustered and ranged two by two, they
took their way towards the house in question with the cross at
the head of the procession. The superior, clad in a sumptuous cope,
bore the tabernacle of the altar on his arm, and marching along in
silence they came to the physician's house. When Maestro Rogero
became aware of their presence he went out to meet the superior, and
demanded of him the cause of this unwonted visit, whereupon the
latter, with a joyous face, made answer to him in terms he had before
arranged : " Well-beloved Maestro, the rules of our order require
that we should carry in secret the relics of our saint to the house of
anyone who may wish to have them, and in like manner, if it should
happen that the sick person, through any failing of his own, should
receive no benefit from the ministration, that we should privily fetch
them home again, in order that the fame of miracles should not be
diminished thereby. But in cases in which God, through the means
of the above-named relics, may have willed to exhibit miracles past
gainsaying, it is our duty to fetch the holy relic back to our church
with all the ceremony and splendour we can afford, thus proclaiming
abroad the miracle which has been wrought, and recording it in
public form. And for the reason that your wife (as you must already
know) has been freed from the dangerous disease which afflióled her
through the working of our relic, we are now come in this solemn
fashion to bear it back to our house." The physician, when he
marked how the whole congregation of friars was come thither with
so great a show of devotion, at once settled in his mind that these
holy men would never have gathered themselves together to work
any ill purpose ; so, accepting as gospel truth the fiditious reasons of
the superior, and driving away entirely all suspicious thoughts from
his mind, he spake thus : " In sooth, you are all right welcome ; "
and, having taken the friar preacher by the hand, he led him into the
chamber where Madonna Agata still was. She, who had in no wise
gone to sleep over the business, had now the breeches all ready, and
wrapped in a white and perfumed linen cloth. The superior, when
they were displayed to him, kissed them with the deepest reverence,
and made the physician and the lady do the same, and in the end all
those who were assembled in the room kissed them likewise. Next,
after they had placed the breeches in the tabernacle which they had
brought with them for that purpose, and after a sign had been given
to the company, they all began to sing in unison Veni Creator sfirit us ^

NOVEL III.] MASUCCIO. 59

and in this order, traversing the city and accompanied by a huge
crowd, they bore the rehc back to their church and there placed
it above the high altar, letting it remain several days in order that all
those who had already heard of the miraculous occurrence might pay
their devotions to it. Maestro Rogero, being very keenly set on
increasing the reverence of the people round about towards the
order aforesaid, let pass no opportunity of telling the story to what-
soever gatherings of men he chanced to encounter as he went about
his praólice, both within and without the city, setting forth the solemn
miracle which God had wrought through the healing power of the
breeches of San Griffone. And while he occupied himself in the dis-
charge of this office, Fra Nicolo and his friend in no wise forgot
to make a fresh trial of that rich hunting-ground which they had
already explored, to the great delight both of the mistress and of
the maid. Madonna Agata, independent of any sensual delight she
might enjoy, came to the conclusion that this operation was in truth
the only one of any service to cure her acute attacks ; for the reason
that it brought relief to the very seat of her distemper. Besides this,
being the wife of a physician, she had often heard tell of that text of
Avicenna in which he lays down the diólum, " that those remedies
which are approximate and partial may give ease, but those which
are continuous will work a cure." Wherefore, having tasted both the
one sort and the other with much delight, she was duly conscious
that, through the opportune ministrations of the holy friar, she had
been entirely freed of the incurable mother-sickness which had plagued
her so long.

MASUCCIO.

OWBEIT the novel I have narrated above abounds in
pleasurable entertainment, and may well be re-read and
re-heard, nevertheless I would rather, if there be any
repetition of the same, that it should take place in the
presence of those who are wont to follow me up without
ceasing with their bows ready bent, taunting me with bitter words and
reproving me for writing against these false world-deceivers, in order
that (putting aside the deceit pradised and the adultery committed

6o MASUCCIO. [novel hi.

by this ribald monk) they might in their whisperings and murmur-
ings give full consideration to the faól that this open heretic, this
notorious despiser of Christ's faith and work and doólrine, should not
only have willed, but should have dared indeed to place within the
chosen vase and veritable receptacle of the most sacred body of the
Son of God, a pair of stinking breeches, lousy, and filled with a
thousand different kinds of dirt. Moreover, let any man read of
Christ's supreme agony, and he will not find that the traitorous Jews,
although they slew Him with the greatest iniquity and insult, ever
cast upon Him contempt equal to that which I have described. Let
the earth, therefore, open wide her mouth and swallow alive this
swarm of dastardly wretches, together with all those who support
them, not only as a punishment for present off^ences, but as a warning
and eternal example for all future ungodly men who may be like
unto them. However, so as not to allow for a moment that these
grumblers, styled my adversaries, have any power to restrain me
from saying, according to the style in which I have begun, what I
in sooth think concerning these soldiers of Lucifer, I will further
demonstrate — little as they may like it — how a most subtle scheme
was taken in hand by two accursed friars in order that they might
gather together money, and by means of their greed get made prelates.
You may learn clearly how this was done by the exhibition of their
fraudulent miracles which they made.

Cfje ISnti of tf)e Ei)ittJ iaobel.

Bom tfte jrourtl).

lI?o\3el tl)e Stoniti).

ARGUMENT.

dFra (Girolamo of Spoleto mafers tlje proplc of Soumto tflirbf ti^at ti)f tone
of a certain tirati iotiB tof)irf) t)c i)as Qottrn is t1)c arm of £t. ILufee.
ll?is arrompllrr rontratiirts tijis statement, totmupon dFra (fìtrolamo
prags to €Joti ttat ijc toill ticmonstratr tljf trutij cf ijis bjortis tj,) tijf
tDorfeing of a mirarle. Cfjrn tfjr arrcmpltrr frigns to fall tiobon tirati,
anti dFr a Girolamo tp pragrr rrstorrs ijim to lifr. ?i)abing tg ti)r famr
of tl)is t)Oui)le miracle collecteti a great sum of monej), JFxa. (Girolamo
fiecotitcs a prelate, anti fjereafter libes a lajg life toitf) ijis comratie.

Co tht magnificent cesser Antonello De pctruciisV rfje
sole anD toeU^ttusteo secretary to tbe l^ing.

EXORDIUM.

ESIRING to make a beginning of my letter to you,
I can but feel, my magnificent chief, that you — a
very ocean of rhetorical style — must needs look upon
my writing as nothing better than the vile bawling

\\ of a blind man of the common herd, even though
the lyre of Orpheus and the eloquence of Mercury
should be granted to me. This, then, is the only reason why I have
deferred until this present time to write the following novel ; and

' Antonello dc Petruciis was born of humble parentage at Teano. He was taken
into the service of the state by Giovanni Olzina, the secretary of Alfonso the Mag-
nanimous, and ultimately become secretary to Ferdinand I. Two of his sons

64 MASUCCIO. [novel iv.

now, being well assured that it is highly diverting and good of its
kind, I have resolved to send the same to you, all unadorned and un-
_^. polished as it is. And although it happens that this particular story
can be of little profit to you yourself, seeing that you have knowledge
enough and to spare concerning the ways of the world, nevertheless,
should it happen to be read by certain others, they will, I doubt not,
take therefrom some most useful counsel. Peradventure it may appear
to these to be a sufficient argument why they should guard themselves
carefully against the new and fraudulent se6t known as the Saints —
people who with all manner of guileful arts and subtle frauds make pre-
tence of performing miracles, and prepare the way to steal away from
others their honour, their wealth, and their peace of mind as well. Now,
although I do not anticipate that any eloquence would be of virtue
sufficient to sum up the whole volume of the wickedness of these
; men, nevertheless, merely by culHng one small flower out of a wide
plain, I may cause you to comprehend fully the details of a deceitful
trick praólised by a certain minor friar — a trick against which, accord-
ing to my judgment, no human shrewdness would have been of any
service.

THE NARRATIVE.

T that time when the French King James,^ heretofore known
as the Count de la Marc, became the husband of the last
princess of the house of Durazzo, there came to Naples
a certain minor friar who was called by name Fra Girolamo
da Spoleto ; and this man, according to outward seem-
ing, showed himself to be as holy as any of the saints, and was wont

perished in the conspiracy of the barons, and he himself was beheaded two years
after in 1487. It is probable that the crime for which De Pctruciis perished was
his great wealth, since it was a maxim of Ferdinand to let his officials fatten them-
selves by extortion, and then after their judicial murder to seize upon their estates.
In the edition of 1483, this novel is dedicated to Petruciis under the title of Messer
Antonio d'Aversa.

' Jacques, Comte de la Marche et de Castres. In 141 5 he married Queen
Joanna II., and shortly after the marriage he caused certain of her favourites to be
put to death, and tried to keep the queen herself a prisoner. A riot broke out,
and he fell into the queen's hands, and was thrown into prison. He escaped, fled
to France, and became a Franciscan friar.

NOVEL IV.] MASUCCIO. 65

to spend the whole of his time as an itinerant preacher, not only in
the city of Naples, but in the neighbouring towns as well. In all
these places he acquired an amazing reputation and reverence.

Hence it happened that one day when he chanced to be at Aversa,'
there was exhibited to him as a most wonderful spe6tacle the body of
a certain knight well known to fame, which corpse many years before
had passed into the keeping of a monastery of preaching friars. This
dead body, either because it had been very well preserved, or perad-
venture on account of the temperate manner of life used by the knight
while he was living, or for some other reason, was still in so sound
and perfeól a state, that not only was every bone thereof well settled
in its right position, but the skin was in so little degree fallen to decay
that, by touching the head, the lower parts of the body would move
themselves. Sir Friar, as soon as he had well and carefully surveyed
the sight before him, forthwith began to consider in his mind how he
might contrive to get into his possession some member or other of
the corpse aforesaid, in order that he might, by the aid of such
member, to be styled by him a sacred relic, sweep into his purse
hundreds and thousands of ducats. In the spending of these he deemed
that he might not only live a life of lazy self-indulgence, but might
even — as is the wont of such men — lay them out profitably enough to
win for himself the rank of a prelate.

For, in sooth, if we take good inquisition of those round about
us, we shall easily perceive how vast a number of friars have become
prelates at the cost of luckless and witless laymen ; this one rising to
the post of inquisitor into heretical opinions, and that one becoming
a colleólor of money for the furnishing of a crusade ; '^ to say nothing
of those others, who, by the instrumentality of papal bulls, whether
these be genuine or false, grant full remission of sins, or through the
power of money make promises to gain for anyone a safe abode in
Paradise ; thus, by hook or by crook, winning for themselves a belly-
ful of florins, in spite of the faél that such traffic is expressly forbidden
by the most sacred rules of their religion.

But we will now return to our brother Girolamo. As soon as ever
he had perfe(5led his design, and had suborned the sacristan of the
place, he contrived, although the latter was a Dominican, by the

* Petruciis, to whom this novel is dedicated, was brought up at Avcrsa.
^ Masaccio probably had in mind the attempt of Pius II. to promote a crusade
for the recovery of Constantinople at the Council of Mantua in 1459.

66 MASUCCIO. [novel iv.

favour of the Prior of Santa Croce, to get possession of the arm,
together with the right hand of the corpse aforesaid. Upon this
member not only might one see the skin intaft, and likewise some of
the fine hairs growing thereupon, but the nails thereof were so smooth
and firm that they might well have been taken for those of a living man.
And so as not to let there be any delay in despatching the business
Sir Friar forthwith swathed the holy relic in divers wrappings
fashioned out of fine taffeta, and placed it, together with certain
sweetly-smelling gums, in a casket, and then got his afi^airs in order
to depart thence.

When he arrived in Naples he there fell in with a certain trusty
comrade of his, and one no less skilled in the arts of cozening than
himself, a friar known by the name of Brother Mariano da Saona,
and these two made an agreement to betake themselves together into
Calabria, a province inhabited by a very gross and stupid race of
peasants, and one exadly fitted to serve them for the trial of their
tools. The following is the course they decided to adopt : Fra
Mariano, having disguised himself with great care in the habit of a
friar of the order of Saint Dominic, went down to the port, and there
searched about to find a ship in which he might make the voyage into
Calabria, and Fra Girolamo likewise, accompanied by other three of
his comrades, repaired to the seafaring parts of the town, laden with
wallets for travel, and there, having by chance come upon a bark
belonging to Amantea,^ the captain of which was minded to put to
sea at once, they all of them took passage in the same; the one party
of friars, meantime, showing themselves to be in no wise well aff^eóted
towards the other, in the same fashion as one set of cheats, of the sort
which haunts the country fairs, will bear itself towards another set,
what time the two may foregather in some wayside inn. Then, when
all things had been duly set in order, and when the sailors had dipped
their oars into the water and stretched the sails to the breeze, they set
forth on their voyage.

When they were come into the neighbourhood of Capri, on a
sudden there rose up behind them a squall of wind so violent and
so fraught with danger to them that all the sailors cried out forthwith
that they could in no wise make head against the same. Wherefore,
being almost shipwrecked, they came to a decision, albeit much

' Orig., Mantioti. Amantea is a small seaport of Calabria.

NOVEL IV.] MASUCCIO. 67

against their inclination, to run the ship ashore on a little strip of
beach near to Sorrento ; and having with no little difficulty drawn
the ship up to land at this spot, they all leaped on shore and took their
way into the town, where they determined to tarry until the weather
should have become more propitious for their voyage.

In this manner our good Fra Girolamo amongst the other travellers
went with those who were of his company to the monastery of the
Conventual Brothers, while Frate Mariano, who had become for the
nonce a Dominican, took lodging for himself at the inn amongst the
other laymen. When Fra Girolamo looked and saw how stormy the
sea still was, and knew therefrom that some time must yet elapse before
it could be calm, he made up his mind, worthy man, so as not to waste
any more time, to show to the world then and there his first experi-
ment with the virtues of that sham relic of his, bearing in mind more
especially how he had in times past heard tell that this aforesaid city
of Sorrento, over and above the faél that it was a place of great
renown, was a very ancient city, more ancient, indeed, than any
other in the kingdom. On this account, therefore, he came to the
decision that the inhabitants thereof, being as yet infeded with pristine
dulness of intelled, would serve his purpose equally well as would
the peasants of Calabria as subjeéls upon whom he might successfully
try the experiment he had devised.

Wherefore he took care to let his good comrade. Fra Mariano,
have privy information of what he was about to do, and then- — the
day following happening to be a Sunday — he begged the head of the
convent to go to the archbishop, and to let him know that he, Fra
Girolamo, had planned — with the sandtion and blessing of the arch-
bishop— to deliver a religious discourse on the following morning at the
great church. And for this reason he begged the archbishop that he
would cause intelligence of the same to be spread abroad, both within
and without the city ; forasmuch as he had determined in his mind
that, as soon as he should behold assembled in the church a sufficient
number of people, all showing themselves to be duly devout in their
demeanour, he would, for the sake of the honour and glory of God,
exhibit to their sight a certain holy relic, of a surety the most sacred
they had ever beheld.

The archbishop, who was himself of the true Sorrentine type,
straightway gave undoubting credit to Fra Girolamo's words, and at
once sent forth his decree, not only into the city itself, but into all the

68 MASUCCIO. [novel iv.

country parts lying round about, that everyone should, for the reason
aforesaid, betake himself to the place named in a reverent mind, in
order that he might give ear to the preaching, and behold the sacred
relic which was now to be shown to the people of Sorrento by a
servant of God. In the end it came to pass that the news aforesaid
was spread far and wide through all the country, so that on the
appointed morning there was gathered together round the church
such a vast multitude of people that within there was not space
enough to contain the half thereof. When the hour was come
for the preaching to begin, Fra Girolamo, accompanied by many
other friars performing the ceremonies meet for such an occasion,
went up into the pulpit and forthwith began to preach a long dis-
course concerning works of mercy and the holy duty of almsgiving.
Then, when it seemed to him that the right moment had come, he,
having first uncovered his head, began to speak in the following
words :

" Most reverend monsignore, and all you other noble gentlemen
and dames, and fathers and mothers of mine in Christ Jesus, I
doubt not but that some report of my preaching in Naples will
have come to your ears ; for in that place, by the help of God's
mercy, and not through any merits or virtues of my own, I have,
as often as I have preached, been listened to by an extraordinary
number of people. Wherefore, having heard of the fair fame of
this very noble city of yours, and of the humanity and piety dwelling
in the hearts of its citizens — together with other accounts which
have come to me concerning the beauty of your country — I have
many times set my heart upon coming hither to lift up my voice
and proclaim to you the word of God, and to take the while some
joy and pleasure with you in this fair and gracious air of yours — an
air which I, in good sooth, imagine is mightily well suited to my
temperament. Seeing, however, that there has been issued to me a
command from our Father the Vicar-general, that I should straightway
betake myself into Calabria, there to assume the charge of various
offices in certain of the towns to which I had been summoned, I
found that it was necessary for me to turn upon my path somewhat,
and to make my way towards that place whither I had already been
commanded to go. Now, as I believe is well known to you, I
myself, together with all the others who had embarked with me,
arrived lately in your city, for the reason that the ship in which we

NOVEL IV.] MASUCCIO. 69

took passage was driven into your gulf by the force of adverse winds
and tempestuous seas, in spite of all the strivings and labours of the
crew, all on board having narrowly escaped destruélion.

" But I do not believe that this coming of mine into your city
has been in any wise brought about by these contrary winds, but by
the sacred working of the will of the Creator, who has thus graciously
vouchsafed to satisfy in part my earnest wish. And in order, for-
sooth, that you also may be made participators in the aforesaid
bounty, I am now minded to bring before your eyes a most mar-
vellous relic, which thing cannot fail to serve for the increase of
religion and piety amongst you. This relic is nothing else than the
arm and the entire right hand of that most excellent and glorious
writer of the words and deeds of Christ Jesus our Redeemer, Saint
Luke the Evangelist, which precious thing the Patriarch of Constan-
tinople gave to our Father Vicar. Whereupon this latter despatched
me into Calabria therewith, for the reasons aforesaid, forasmuch as
there has never been in this province up to the present time either
the body or the limb of any saint whatever. On this account, my
friends here gathered together, let each one of you in devout fashion
uncover his head before looking at this precious treasure which our
great God, more through the working of a miracle than through any
aft of mine, has granted you leave to behold. Now, first I will notify
to you that I hold a bull from our lord the Pope, by the terms of
which he grants the highest indulgence and complete remission of
sins to every man who will give alms according to his ability in
honour of the relic aforesaid, in order that, with whatever treasure
can be thus gathered together, we may let construe a tabernacle of
silver, set and adorned with precious stones, to serve as a fitting
shrine for so excellent and precious a thing."

When the friar had made an end of this discourse, he drew
forth from his sleeve a sealed bull, forged according to a cunning
device of his own, and forthwith the whole of the people who were
there present believed with unquestioning faith in the instrument he
laid before them without ever having read a single letter of the same,
and then each individual person drew near to make his ofi^ering,
although it was no easy matter to do this on account of the crowd.
Fra Girolamo, as soon as he had delivered in due course the fiélitious
story which he had concoóled for the occasion, called to his associates
and bade them bring to him the casket wherein had been placed the

yo MASUCCIO. [novel iv.

holy arm. Then, having let kindle a great quantity of lights round
about, he went down on his knees, and, holding the sacred relic in his
hand with a mighty show of reverence and with his eyes full of
tears, he first of all kissed the border of the casket in which was shut
up this false relic which he had prepared for the beguiling of others.
Next he turned with great solemnity towards his companions, and
then straightway began to sing a pious laud of Saint Luke, with full
pontifical rites. At last, when he marked that all the people were
standing, as it were, wonder-stricken, he opened the casket, and
immediately there issued therefrom a most marvellous odour. Next
he removed the wrappings of fine taffeta, and, having taken up the
relic and uncovered the hand thereof and a small portion of the arm,
he spake in this wise :

" This thing which I have here is the blessed and holy hand of
that most faithful scribe of the Son of God; this is the blessed hand
which not only wrote down so many excellent things concerning the
glorious Virgin Mary, but likewise many times made a piéture of her
face and figure as she was in the flesh." And while he was thus
earnestly set upon recounting the praises of the saint aforesaid, lo and
behold ! from a distant corner of the church. Fra Mariano da Saona,
clad in the Dominican robes which he had lately put on, made all the
people clear a way for him with the greatest persistence, and, shout-
ing with a loud voice at Fra Girolamo his confederate, began to
declaim against him in the following wise : " Ah ! vile rogue that thou
art, coward and traitor both towards God and man, why art thou not
overwhelmed with shame as thou utterest so monstrous a lie in
affirming that this thing is in truth the arm of Saint Luke, forasmuch
as I myself know for certain that at this moment his most holy body
rests entire at Padua ? In good sooth, this rotten bone you have here
must have been dug up by you out of some grave, in order that you
might deceive others therewith. Indeed, I am mightily astonished at
the conduót of monsignore here and of these other reverend fathers
in the church, men who might with reason condemn thee to be
stoned, a punishment surely meet for thy offences."

The archbishop and all the people there assembled were not
a little amazed when they listened to this strange saying, and,
reproaching Fra Mariano with sharp words on account of his utter-
ance, they commanded him to hold his peace forthwith ; but he, in
spite of this rebuke, ceased not to bellow forth his exclamations; nay,

NOVEL IV.] MASUCCIO. 71

rather he showed himself all the more clamorous and persistent
in persuading the crowd assembled that they should lend no belief to
aught that Fra Girolamo might tell them. And now the affair had
been brought into this tangle, it seemed to Fra Girolamo that the
time had fully come when he should set himself to work the false
miracle he had so carefully prepared. Wherefore, feigning to be
somewhat disturbed in mind, he made a gesture with his hand to the
people, signifying thereby that they should keep silence, forasmuch
as they still continued to murmur; and when, after a short time had
elapsed, he marked that everyone present was anxiously bent on
hearing whatever he m.ight have to say, he turned towards the high
altar, where there stood an image of the Crucified, and, kneeling
down before the same, he took up his speech, weeping plentifully the
while :

" Jesus Christ my Lord, Redeemer of the human race, God as
well as man. Thou who hast moulded me in Thine own image, and
hast led me here through the merits of Thy most glorious body and
by Thy human flesh without spot or blemish, and hast ransomed me
by Thy most bitter passion, I now implore by the merits of those
marvellous wounds which at one time Thou gavest to our seraphic
Saint Francis, that it may he Thy pleasure to show forth a miracle ''
about which there can be no gainsaying, here in the presence of this
most devout concourse of people and of this valiant friar, who in
sooth, acfting the part of an enemy and of an antagonist to our
religion, has come hither to put a slight upon my truthfulness. Deal
with us in such a manner that, if I now say what is false. Thou shalt
hurl all Thy wrath upon me straightway, and slay me at this very ^
moment. But if, on the contrary, I speak nought but the truth in
declaring that this is indeed the arm of Saint Luke, the most worthy
recorder of Thy life and doings, then, O Lord! not for the sake of
vengeance, but that the truth may be clearly made manifest, send
down Thy judgment upon him in such a manner that, however
much he may wish to do it, he shall be able, neither by word of
mouth nor by gesture, to acknowledge his fault."

Scarcely had Fra Girolamo come to the end of this exorcism of
his, when, all on a sudden. Fra Mariano — according to the plan
already settled between the two — began to writhe all over, and to
twist his hands and his feet, to howl aloud and to babble with his
tongue in such wise that not a single comprehensible word issued

72 MASUCCIO. [novel iv.

from his lips. His eyes rolled from side to side, and his mouth was all
awry, and, giving himself the semblance of being drawn together in
all his limbs, he let himself fall backwards as one who had lost all
control. As soon as the people who were there in the church perceived
that a manifest and undoubted miracle had been wrought, they forth-
with began to cry one and all for mercy in such wise that had it
thundered aloud the sound thereof would scarcely have been heard
by reason of the shouting.

Fra Girolamo, perceiving that the people had been enticed into the
mood he desired, now began to cry out at the top of his voice, in
order to inflame them yet further and to complete the trick he had
set out, " Praised be God ! Silence, O my people ! " And when he
had calmed the excitement of the congregation by these words, and
had made certain of them take up Fra Mariano, who now seemed to
be as one dead, and lay him down in front of the altar, he began to
speak in this wise : *' Oh ! all ye of high estate, both ladies and gentle-
men— all ye peasants likewise — 1 beseech you, by the virtue of the
blessed passion of Christ, that you will all kneel down, and will
devoutly recite a paternoster in honour of Saint Luke, by the merits of
whom may God not only bring this poor man back to life, but may
He likewise restore to him the lost use of his limbs, and his speech
as well, in order that his soul may be spared the descent into eternal
perdition.''

No sooner had the friar uttered this command, than they all
straightway fell into the posture of prayer, and, on the other part,
Fra Girolamo, having come down from the pulpit and taken out a
little knife, pared off a small shred of the nail from the miraculous
hand, which thing he put in a beaker of holy water, and then, having
opened wide the mouth of Fra Mariano, he poured down his throat
the precious liquor, saying the while : " By the virtue of the Holy
Spirit, I command you that you rise up forthwith and return to your
former state of health." Now, Fra Mariano, who up to this present
moment had only with great difficulty kept himself from laughing
aloud, swallowed the beverage which was offered to him, and, per-
ceiving the full drift of the affair, he suddenly raised himself upright
on his feet, and opened his eyes like a man who had been stunned by
a blow, and began to cry aloud, "Jesus ! Jesus !" The assembled
multitude, as soon as they perceived this fresh and undoubted miracle,
likewise began to shout, one and all of them, " Jesus ! Jesus ! " like

NOVEL IV.] MASUCCIO. 73

those who are terror-stricken and stupified with amazement. Some
of them ran to ring the bells, and some to kiss and to touch the vest-
ments of the preacher, bearing themselves in such a manner that it
seemed as if each one of them was driven by some religious frenzy
to believe that the last and universal judgment of all men was indeed
at hand.

Fra Girolamo, who was now minded to make a quick despatch of
the business which had brought him hither, managed with no small
difficulty to make his way once more up into the pulpit, whereupon
he gave command that they should at once place the holy relic in
front of the altar ; and, when this had been done, he made all his
companions range themselves in order round about it, some holding
lighted tapers in their hands, and some busying themselves to clear a
space by the altar in such wise that every single person might be able,
without hindrance, to offer prayers or oblations, according as he would,
to the holy arm. And even after there had been colleóled from the
crowd — the greatest that had ever been seen gathered together in that
place — a vast sum of money, it chanced that certain women in the
congregation were seized with an unbridled access of charitable frenzy,
so violent that they tore off from their persons the pearls and the
silver and the other precious jewels which they were wearing, and
made an offering of the same to the holy evangelist.

And when they had in this manner kept the holy relic exposed to
view for the whole of that day, it seemed at length to Fra Girolamo
that the time had come for him to make the best of his way back to his
home with the booty he had already gathered together. Wherefore,
having made a signal to his companions in very cautious wise, they
dexterously packed up everything belonging to them, together with
the arm enclosed in the coffer. Then all the people assembled in the
church took their way towards the convent. Fra Girolamo, who by
this time was esteemed and reverenced almost as a saint by the arch-
bishop and all the people, was by them honourably escorted back to
this place, and, having had these notable miracles of his publicly
authenticated, he himself, with Fra Mariano and his other companions,
and the great store of booty they had colleóled, went on board their
ship the following morning, the weather being fine and propitious for
their voyage.

Thus, sailing before a favourable wind, in a few days they came
to Calabria, where they at once set to work with all kinds of fraudu-

L

74 MASUCCIO. [novel iv.

lent tricks, with so great success that, having filled their pcckets full
of money, and traversed all the regions of Italy, both those inland
and those lying on the sea-board, they gathered together very great
wealth by the virtue of the miraculous arm and by their many tricks
of knavery, and at last returned to Spoleto. Having come there it
seemed to them that they stood on safe ground ; so Fra Girolamo,
through the agency of a certain lord cardinal, bought for himself a
bishopric — not by simony, indeed, but by a new form of collusion
invented, and called by them " procuration." ^ Then he, together with
his colleague, Fra Mariano, passed a life of idleness, and indulged
themselves in every pleasure as long as they lived.

MASUCCIO.

HE last novel has in a measure shown us with what great
cunning these fraudulent and most rapacious wolves strive
and scheme to get possession of our goods, working for the
most part in such fashion that no human precaution is of
any value to defend us from their craft. And the praólice
of theirs which assuredly tends most strongly to kindle our anger and
contempt is their continual preaching in condemnation of avarice,
which thing they regard not only as a deadly sin, but also as an offence
as unpardonable as heresy itself. But we, on the other hand, may
see that avarice is not merely to be looked at as the universal and in-
born passion of those who have put on the religious habit, forasmuch
as we may behold them one and all following her closely, and em-
bracing her even, as if she were some beloved friend or sister, or as
if such doings had been expressly decreed and ordained as a precept
of obedience by their rules.

Thus, if I made the statement towards the end of the foregoing

' Masuccio probably means the delegation of ecclesiastical duties by the holders
of benefices to others who agreed to discharge these duties for a small portion of the
revenues. These were nearly always Mendicant Friars, and having got possession
of the benefices, they were confirmed in the same, notably by Sixtus IV., who had
himself been a Franciscan, by the bull of August 31st, 1474: Amplissimee gratia et
privilegia fratr urn minorum conventualium ordinis S. Francisci, qua propterea Mare Magnum
nuncupantur. On this account the real control of Church afi^airs fell almost entirely
into their hands.

NOVEL IV.] MASUCCIO. 75

novel that our Fra Girolamo bought a bishopric for himself, and
that in these days simony has changed its name, no one need be at
all astonished at this saying of mine, seeing that it must be plain to
the intelligence of anyone that no man, however eminent his virtues
may be, or however much of time and money he may have spent in
studying in the Roman courts, can ever hope to rise to any grade
whatever in the prelature save through the help and favour of the
master of the mint. Nay, indeed, a man will find that he must needs
purchase his prelature even as if he were purchasing by auólion a horse
at a fair, and he will find likewise that, over and above the bribes in
the shape of gifts and stipulated sums of money handed over to those
who favour his cause, he will also be obliged to pay liberally certain
others in order to be secure from molestation by them. Wherefore
we should not wonder when we find men speaking of this thing,
which is in sooth unlawful possession, as a due and deserved income.
From this fad, therefore, we can set forth the argument that friars
and priests and monks have invented a new language full of strange
idioms, forasmuch as now, in speaking of the most heinous crimes,
they add to, and trick out, the names of these with some well-known
words out of the Holy Scriptures. And thus eating and drinking
at the cost of the crucifix, and living a life of idleness at our charges,
they make a mock both of God and man.^

Since these men are wont to describe as " the secret of their rule "
the most abominable sins which can be wrought on earth to the dis-
honour of God and of nature, and praótise these same offences with-
out sparing or fear or shame, each one may easily figure to himself
how they will aót with regard to other crimes which are less revolting.
I, who am minded to give farther intelligence concerning their doings
both public and private, am led on by the desire to let continue these
novels in the same strain which I have already taken up. Therefore
I will bring forward some other well-approved testimony against the
monks, and in the novel which follows — the fifth — I will let you know

^ In Masuccio's time the Mendicant Orders had the privilege of performing all
the sacraments, and likewise the very lucrative one of allowing sepulture in their
habit, thus giving direòl transit to Paradise. The Popes — Sixtus IV. especially —
sided with them in their disputes with the parish priests, and under this patronage
they became very aggressive and unscrupulous in their dealings with their opponents.
In a report made by Giovanni Francesco Carafa, afterwards Paul IV., to Clement
VII., there is a passage illustrating their methods: Si viene ad homicidi non solo col
venem, ?na apertamente col coltello e con la spada, per non dire con schiopetti.

76 MASUCCIO. [novel IV.

ho A' a ribald priest, besides singing the " Gaudeamus," and the " Per
incarnati Verbi misterium," and the "Veni Sponsa Christi," and
working other iniquities, was wont to call the sword which he carried
about with him " Salvum me fac " ; and likewise how, having trans-
ferred this name to another weapon, he cried out that he was bent on
seating the Pope in Rome, and in driving out the Turk from Con-
stantinople.

Ci)e iHnti of t!)c ,iFourtf) Nobel.

iBotjel tbe jFiftb.

ARGUMENT.

[assimilla, tmq amorouslp looì^ftì upon fig a priest, anti ig a tailor as
toell, promisrs t)fr fabours ioti) to tlje one atìt) ti)e otter. 515H|)iIe gfje
is tafeing i)er pleasure in ijer touse Unti) ti)e tailor, tije priest eoines for
Uiijat f)as teen promiseti t)im,ajiti tries to gain entit) ì;d fcree. 515iltjerr^
ripon tije tailor, iieing migijtilj) alauiirti, seetss sfjelter in tije garret. CTje
priest eomes in anti sags tfiat te tas a toisj) to senti tije ^ope to ìvome.
Cije tailor, seeing ti)at a festibal is at tanti, tieems tijat it ougijt not to
te ungraeeti fig nuisie, so ije filoU)s a note on tije pipes, toijieij puts to
fligi)t tfie priest. Cijen ti)e tatlor tafees possession of tije fiootg left
fieijint).

Co tbe magnificent tesser angelo Caracciolo/

EXORDIUM.

MONGST people of the common sort there is a say-
ing, times and often to be heard in the course of
conversation, that one may find other ways of pay-
ing debts than with money ; and if anyone has ever
held this proverb in esteem, or has had cause to
make use thereof, I, assuredly, shall be the one now
to have recourse to it in my dealings with you. And as it happens

' Besides this Novel Masaccio dedicates two others — No. VII. and No. XX. —
to various members of this noble family, and likewise makes one of them a charatìer
in Novel XLIV.

8o MASUCCIO. [novel v.

that, from the beginning of our friendship to this present time, I find
myself under so many and divers obligations to you that not only
am I altogether unable to enumerate them, but am unable even to call
all of them to mind. And because to people of magnificent estate
like yourself things of small value, ofl^ered by those to whom you are
bound by ties of true friendship, are wont to be more acceptable than
sumptuous gifts, I have resolved to acquit myself of a small portion
of the debt which I owe you by offering for your acceptance the novel
which follows. I beg you, therefore, to receive it with all affeélion ;
and, if the uncouth idiom of my mother tongue ^ should be entirely,
or even in part, displeasing to you, I beg you to pluck only the fruit
of my uncultivated and unskilled handiwork, and leave the blossom
thereof alone. Farewell.

THE NARRATIVE.

^N the most authentic records, and those most worthy of
being kept in remembrance, we may read concerning the
high estate and the wealth which in times past existed in
that delightful region lying on the sea-coast by Amalfi ; and
although, in dealing with these bygone days, we may speak
in this, or even in a more boastful strain, nevertheless, when we look
upon its present condition, we must see that not only is the wealth
gotten through mercantile enterprise greatly diminished, and the
sumptuous palaces fallen to ruin, but that the inhabitants thereof can
to- day only get them a sustenance with great difficulty. Therefore,
coming back to our story, I will tell you that not far from the city,
the name of which (so delightful is the site thereof) in a certain sense
describes it, there was situated a village in which, not a great time
ago, lived a priest, Don Battimo by name, a man who, albeit he was
country bred, was in no wise lacking in skill and understanding. He
was young, and very robust in body, and on the whole was more given
to the service of the ladies round about than to the celebration of the

^ Materno. This is a favourite word with Masuccio, especially as applied to the
language in which he wrote. In the Exordium of the First Novel it occurs, and in
the edizione della Gatta was changed into volgare. He likewise calls h.\n\icU materno
poeta in the heading to the Proem,

NOVEL v.] MASUCCIO.

8i

holy office and the prescribed services of the hours. Wherefore
through the frequent following of sport of this kind, he brought it
to pass that divers poor wights of the neighbourhood found their
brows decked with ram's-horn crowns.

At last it came to pass that one day he let his eyes fall upon
a certain young woman, a neighbour of his, whose name was Massi-
milla, the wife of a poor carpenter; but she, although on account of
her great beauty she was wont to pique herself not a little whenever
she might ensnare the fancy of a lover, when she became aware that
the priest was in no small degree taken with her, never deigned to
bestow upon him any greater favour than a single pleasant glance ;
perhaps because she had let her thoughts stray in another direólion.
The priest, a man by nature both eager and fickle, as soon as he
realized that he pleased the young woman but little by making eyes
at her, and that his prayers and flattering speeches had no effedl upon
her, began to follow her up with the greatest importunity with cries,
and even with threatening words, in such a manner that she, more
through weariness and fear for herself than through any longing she
felt for him, at last gave him her promise that one day, when her
husband might happen to be out of the way, he might have his will
of her.

On this account the priest rested content to let affairs go on as
she had promised; and while he, in good faith, kept back awhile his
ardour, it happened that a young man belonging to another village
near by, a tailor, Marco by name, fell in like manner very hotly in
love with Massimilla. Now this young man, being gifted with very
moderate skill at his craft, spent the greater part of his time in fre-
quenting the feasts round about, and making very pleasing music upon
a bagpipe which belonged to him, and, seeing that he was both in
face and person a very seemly fellow — and, besides this, always fur-
nished with a store of fresh quips — he was readily welcomed wherever
he might go. Wherefore he found far greater reason for following
business of this sort than for exercising his original trade. And
because, as I have already said, he was enamoured beyond all bounds
with the aforesaid young woman, spending his time in ogling her after
the most courtly and gentle fashion he knew how to use, in order to
cause her to regard him in the same wise, and because he was so
mightily persistent in his amorous pursuit, it came to pass that one
day he got from Massimilla a promise like to the one she had given

M

82 MASUCCIO. [novel v.

with so much distaste to the importunate priest. On this account
Maestro Marco was almost beside himself with delight, and looked
forward to the departure of the luckless husband with no little pleasure
and longing, a thing which both the priest and the wife herself awaited
with just as great anxiety. As their good luck, which forsooth was
bad luck for the poor husband, would have it, not many days passed
before he had occasion to go as a sailor on board a caravel which was
bound on a voyage to Palermo.

A very short time after his departure there happened to be held a
festival in a certain place which lay quite near to his home, and
Maestro Marco, having been bidden to the same to make music
with his pipes, was delighted beyond all measure when he found there
Massimilla, who had gone thither with some other peasants. Where-
fore, having given each other many loving glances during the day,
when the hour came for the ending of the revels Maestro Marco made
his way to the young woman's side very cautiously, and with as few
words as he could make serve his purpose, begged her that, of her
kindness, she would keep the promise she had made to him some
time agone. The young woman, to whom the mere promise had
seemed an affair light enough, now in discreet and wary fashion pre-
pared to fulfil the same, a matter which likewise offered little difficulty ;
so, after exchanging all sorts of soft speeches in the manner of rustic
lovers, she said to the young man: " In a very short time from now I
shall go my way hence, and shall pass along the road which cuts across
from here. Therefore, do you keep good watch, and, as soon as I
shall have gone away, follow me at once, so that we may contrive to
come into some safe and well-chosen spot such as our business demands."

Now there belonged to Massimilla a little house with a garden
attached thereto, situated upon the side of the mountain above the
hamlet, in which place her husband plied his calling instead of in a
shop, working there at timber for ship-building. Now and then,
indeed, in the time of summer, he would go with all his household
and abide there altogether, and to this place the young woman deemed
she might go with safety and take her pleasure with Maestro Marco,
not only for the portion of the day which had yet to run, but likewise
for a good part of the following night. Maestro Marco, highly
delighted with this march of affairs, turned to a little boy of his who
was with him, and, having given him the bag belonging to his pipes,
bade him carry the same back to his house, while he stowed away the

NOVEL v.] MASUCCJO. 83

mouthpiece in his girdle. Then, when he had marked that Massi-
milla had left the festival, he followed quickly upon her track, as soon
as he thought that he had given her time enough. And, having each
traversed the country intervening in about the same time, they met once
more at the cottage which had already been designated as the place of
their foregathering, and, having entered therein and made fast the door,
they duly settled themselves to the pleasant task they had in hand.

The priest, knowing nothing whatever of all this, and harbouring
not the least suspicion of such a man as Marco, was only aware that the
husband of Missimilla had taken ship to Palermo, and that she herself
had been at the merry-making. Wherefore he, deeming that she would
by this time have returned home, and foreseeing that he would find
her at her wonted dwelling-place in the village, made up his mind to
put his fortune to the touch ; so, having set himself upon the road,
accoutred with a huge cutlass which he styled his " Salvum me fac,"
he took his way with leisurely steps, as though he was walking for
his pleasure, towards the dwelling of Massimilla. This he found to
be fast shut from the outside ; whereupon he at once settled in his
mind that she would surely be in the place where she really was, for-
asmuch as she was accustomed often to go thither. He knew the
spot well enough, and the sort of path which led thereto, and,
although this seemed to him somewhat hard to tread on account of
the fierce heat, he turned his steps towards the hillside, and, urged on
by love, at last arrived at the cottage aforesaid, puffing and blowing
not a little from shortness of breath.

Thus, at the very same moment when Maestro Marco was just be-
ginning to kiss and fondle his lass, the priest, believing that she was
within and alone, knocked at the door with no little deligh t in his heart.
The young woman, giving over her kissing for the nonce, cried out,
" Who is without there ? " And to this the priest made answer :
"It is I — your own Don Battimo." "In sooth that might be good
hearing at any other time," replied the young woman. Thereupon
the priest answered : "And do you mean to say you know not what my
will is, at such a time as this when, forsooth, there is neither your
husband nor anyone else to stand in the way ? Open to me, I pray
you." Hearing these words she cried, " Ah ! go away, and God
go with you, my good man, for the reason that I am, at present,
in no way ready to do what you propose." The priest, mightily
upset at this answer, cried out, without taking further heed of his

84 MASUCCIO. [novel v.

words : " By God's faith, if you do not open to me forthwith, I will
be.it your door down to the ground, and will then have my will of
you, whether you like it or not ; and afterwards I will go and proclaim
your disgrace through all the country,"

Massimilla, understanding clearly from the nature of the words
spoken by the priest that he must surely be in one of his headstrong
moods, ^ and that he would as soon carry out his threat as utter it,
turned to Maestro Marco, who was shaking with fear in every limb
just like herself, through knowing what a reckless, giddy-pated fellow
the priest was, and thus addressed him : " Dear heart of mine, you
must understand clearly enough how great is the peril in which we
both of us are placed on account of this unchained devil and accursed
of God. Therefore I beg you, for the safeguarding of us both, to
get yourself quickly up that little ladder into the pigeon loft. Then,
when you shall have mounted to the upper floor, and drawn up
the ladder after you, you must stay there for a little time, being
careful the while to make no sound of any sort. Meantime I hope
that by one method or another I may get him to quit this place — and
may bad luck go with him ! — without suspeding aught as to how we
have been occupying ourselves, and without taking away with him
anything that is ours."

Now Maestro Marco, who, as far as courage was concerned, was
much more like a sheep than a lion, straightway agreed to carry out
exaólly the hasty advice of the young woman, and at once set himself
to follow all the direótions she had given him, and as soon as he had
gained the loft he put his eye to a crack that there was in the floor, and
waited with no slight pangs to see what indeed might be the issue of
the jest. Meantime the priest still kept on clamouring that the door
should be opened to him ; and as soon as the young woman saw that
her lover was safely stowed away, she ran with a smiling face to undo
the door, and, putting her hand upon him with a merry laugh, she
let him see clearly that she had a mind to talk with him. The priest
was inflamed with desire to possess her as fierce as that of the starving
wolf for the timid kid, and without either good manners or restraint
he began not only to cover her with kisses — as forsooth Maestro
Marco had done a minute ago — but even to bite her in his amorous
rage, neighing aloud as if he had been some fierce war horse. Feel-

Orig., e cognoiciuto avere il cervello sopra ti cappucio.

NOVEL v.] MASUCCIO. 85

ing himself now fully ready for the fray, he declared that, come what
might, he was determined to send the Pope to Rome. Hereupon
Massimilla, who knew well enough that she was all the while observed
by Maestro Marco, cried out, " What Pope may this be, and what
merry words are these which you speak ? " And though she put on
an angry look, she made but a weak defence of herself. The priest,
who every moment became more and more inflamed with desire, cut
short his words and straightway determined to proceed to deeds ; so,
having dexterously turned her over upon a little couch and got him-
self valiantly in order for the first course, he placed his hand upon
his sword and cried out, " Now the Pope is going into Rome."
And this time, in sooth. His Holiness wore the pallium meet for such
festivals, and presented himself more than once before the very altar and
the tribune of Saint Peter. Maestro Marco, whose vexation had by
this time in some degree driven away his fear, was, as it has already
been noted, a very witty fellow; wherefore, finding himself now in
perfeél safety from any assault, and seeing what manner of game it
was that was going on, albeit it was to him a very hateful speólacle,
he took counsel with himself how he might play some new jest ; so,
having taken out from his girdle the pipe he carried there, he said to
himself, " By my faith, this is not the sort of festival they hold when
the Pope makes his entry into Rome — not a note of music of any sort
do I hear." And then forthwith he put the pipe to his mouth and
began to blow thereon a most wonderful entrance march, making all
the while a huge clamour and stamping on the floor, which was made
of planks. The priest, who had not yet come to the end of his
sporting, as soon as he heard the music and the loud confused
clatter which was going on over his head, was at once seized with the
fear that the kinsfolk of the young woman and of her husband must
be at hand, cum gladiis et fustibusy with the view of putting injury
and shame upon him ; so, mightily dismayed and using greater
speed than he had ever yet put forth, he gave over the game which
he had begun without being able to finish. Calling to mind the
whereabouts of the door and finding the same open, he gave play to
his legs the swiftest he knew how to employ, and made his way home
without once stopping or turning his head to look behind him.
Maestro Marco, as soon as he was assured that this fresh scheme of his
had come to a happier issue than he had ever deemed it could attain,
made his descent with a gladness of heart much greater than had been

86

MASUCCIO.

[novel v.

the fear with which he had gone up, and found the young woman
ahnost choking; with excessive laugjhter, so much so that she had not
yet risen from the couch. Wherefore he at once resumed possession
of the booty which awhile ago he had lost ; and as the Pope had been
duly honoured with music when he had made his entry into Rome,
so Maestro Marco now brought the Turk into Constantinople with
a mighty pleasant spell of dancing.

MASUCCIO.

AKING a quip of my own, I will say that there are
grounds for the belief that Massimilla got far more
pleasure from the retreat of the Turk out of Constan-
tinople than from all the pomp of the Pope's entry into
Rome. But for the reason that she by herself cannot give
judgment I will leave it to be reckoned out in considering a similar
spedacle of two nuns in a story which I intend to set before you at
once — these ladies, having given reception both to clerics and to lay-
men without taking any trouble about the music, made it abundantly
clear how, in causa scienti^, they knew readily how to play their part
in saving themselves.

C^e 3Ent) of tf)e J^ift^ laobd.

jf3otìel tìie ^ìrt6.

iI?ot)el tl)e éijctl).

ARGUMENT.

©n a certain nig^t ttoo nuns fafee tfipu- pleasure iriitf) a prior anli toiti) a
priest. C|)is ttjing coming to tf)e fenotoletige of tt)e iistop, i)f sets \)m'
self on ti)e batct anti seijes tije prior at tlje gate of lije moiiasur),). rije
priest remains toitljin, anij tfte r.un toto is bitt) 1)im is matie atoare tljat
tf)e ftisfjop is tiemantiing entrg. .^Ije, fig means of a trirfe, intiucfs tlje
atbess to get out of ijer fieli, anti tljen conceals tlje priest tljerem. iTtje
fiisijop liiscobeis film : tfie nun remains free of all filame; ilje atfiess is
tisgraceti, anti togetijer toitf) t$e priest confiemnei) to paj) a ftne of moneg.

Co tbc most serene iRoberto ni ^anseDerino, iprince of
Salerno anti aDmival of tbe iiingDom.i

EXORDIUM.

^ N no one of my novels, most serene prince, have I as
yet discoursed, either in great measure or small, con-
cerning the amazing cunning and the subtle devices
which are so often brought into play by a good
number of the women under religious vows, when
sudden emergency may make a call therefor. On
this account it seems to me that it would serve a useful or even

' Roberto di Sanseverino was Masuccio's great friend and patron. San Severino,
the town from which the family takes its name, is situated between Salerno and
Avellino, and in the principal church there are tombs commemorating certain
notable bearers ot the name— Tommaso di San Severino, high constable ot the king-

N

90

MASUCCIO.

[novel vi.

necessary purpose to give you some news concerning their manners
and customs, seeing that I desire greatly to dedicate to you some
fresh essay in story-telling from my pen ; in order that, if you should
at any past time have heard tell of divers good works wrought by
such as these, you may now be confirmed in your belief as to their
virtues by the account I shall give you of certain performances of
theirs wrought in this present day, and furthermore that you may be
brought to see clearly how these women, by means of the tricks they
learn in the monasteries, manage to overcome the defeds of nature
in spite of the weakness of their sex, and occasionally by their clever-
ness confound the counsels of very prudent men. The following
tale will bear full testimony to the truth of what I have said. Fare-
well.

THE NARRATIVE.

ifc^^*^

m

§5feTT

Su

nmi

ifjgr-y-TK

N that noble and ancient city, your own Marsico,^ as
perchance may be w^ell known to you already, there is a
most famous convent of ladies of the very highest worth
and repute, in which, during the year which has just
passed, there were no more than ten nuns, all of them in the
flower of their youth and adorned with great beauty of person, and at
their head an abbess, an old lady of very good and holy life. Now the
abbess, though assuredly she had not let pass in vain her own days

dom in 1553, and several of the princes of Salerno. This Roberto was the son of
Giovanni, who bore the title of Count of Marsico. The last-named died early,
leaving his young children to be brought up by his wife, who seems to have educated
them in all the arts necessary to enable young noblemen to play their parts in those
turbulent times. Roberto had come to man's estate in 1459, when the war broke
out between Ferdinand I. and the Angevin faftion, headed by the Prince of Taranto
and the Duca di Sessa. He at once entered the service of the king, and distin-
guished himself so greatly in the successive campaigns, that when peace was restored
after the defeat of the Angevin forces at Troia in 1462, Ferdinand created him
Prince of Salerno, dispossessing Felice Orsini, who had joined the rebels. Masuccio
was secretary to this prince, and seems to have been profoundly attached to him,
judging from the terms he uses in alluding to his death in the "Parlamento" at the
end of "II Novellino." Prince Roberto died in 1474.

' A town in Calabria and a noted haunt of brigands. Sanscverino was Count
of Marsico when the lordship of Salerno was conferred upon him,

NOVEL. VI.] MASUCCIO. 91

of youthful bloom, nevertheless was wont without ceasing to exhort
the company of nuns under her care that they ought not, in the flight
of time, to spend and to waste the early stage of their life, affirming,
with numberless arguments, that there was no grief so sharp as that
which arises from the consciousness of time spent in vain, and from
making such discovery only when there is available little or no space
left for repentance or amendment. And although, considering the
excellent disposition of her charges in general, there was no cause
for her to weary herself greatly over a matter of this sort, still
amongst the other nuns there were two of high family and gifted
with marvellous shrewdness of wit, one of whom — although she was
never baptized by the name of Chiara — I will nevertheless, by a
change of style, call Chiara. And hereby I shall only be giving her
her desert, seeing that she knew very well, whenever occasion might
demand, to make clear any business she might have in hand like a
wise and discreet damsel. The other I will christen on my own
account, and will call her Agnesa. These two nuns, either because
they may have been fairer to look upon than any of the others, or
perhaps because they were more observant of the precepts and
ordinances of their superior, as soon as they perceived that the bishop
of the city had, in a very severe and special letter, forbidden the
intercourse of their own monastery with any person of whatever sort,
made up their minds that they would in no wise submit to any such
command, but on the contrary they would, with increased care and
scheming, call up all their wits to the task of satisfying their wanton
desires, and to employ various and strange expedients therefor.

On this account, letting such thoughts as these rule them, the
natural effeól followed in due course, so that in a short space of time
certain plots of ground, having been well cultivated the while, brought
forth abundant fruit in the shape of divers little monks. Thus
there was established between these two an indissoluble friendship
and perpetual alliance, and so carelessly did they set about wielding
the razor, that they seemed rather to be flaying than shaving.*
Seeing that they took small care to keep these doings of theirs
hidden and secret, but let them come to the knowledge of divers
people, the whole matter was made known to Messere the bishop,
as to many others. Now it chanced one day that he betook
himself to this reverend and holy house, peradventure in order to

' Orig., che piuttosto vorticare che radere sarin stato giudicato.

92 MASUCCIO. [novel vi.

confirm and strengthen the dwellers therein in well-doing, and, as
fate would have it, he too found himself hotly inflamed by the
charm and the beauty of Sister Chiara ; and, after having laid upon
them many commands of his, and certain new provisions, he went
back to his hous^ a man differing vastly from what he was when he
had set forth. As soon as he was come there he began to indite billets
and to compose sonnets to let his Chiara know, in a few words, how he
was altogether consuming away on account of the love he had for
her. Chiara, when she had for several days held him in her lures in
order to make his passion burn yet more fiercely, and when she had
perceived that he had a countenance like the work of unskilful
artist, delineated peradventure after the similitude of one of the
earliest of Adam's stock,^ she made up her mind, once for all, to
place his name in her tablets as one to be held in ridicule. Over
and above these imperfeótions, he was miserly beyond all measure — a
quality which did not at all commend itself to the grasping claws of
Madonna Chiara.

The bishop having been made aware of this fa6l, and likewise
that he had been gulled by his ladylove ; and furthermore that,
though she was as bright as a diamond to all the rest of the world,
she was as thick as mud to him,^ took it into his head to learn who
might be the gallant upon whom this lady had direded her thoughts ;
and seeing that he was himself a lover to whom very few roads of
this sort were strange ground, he very astutely made an inquiry into
the matter, and discovered that the reverend Prior of San Jacobo
was wont to take his pleasure with Sister Agnesa, while Chiara would
hold high festival with another priest called Don Tanni Salustio, a
man of much wealth. Moreover, he ascertained that, for the sake of
companionship, these two were accustomed to betake themselves
together almost every night to the monastery to find pleasure and
contentment with their paramours. Wherefore, having gotten par-
ticular knowledge of the affair, the bishop made up his mind that
he would set to work with all possible means to get these two artificers
into his hands, not only so that he might famously well pluck out of
them the luxuriant plumes which they carried, but also that he might
take vengeance for the insult which had been wrought to himself, a

^ Orig., da li primi di Adam.

^ Orig., e che questa era Chiara per altri ma torbida per lui — a pini upon the lady's
name.

NOVEL VI.] MASUCCIO. 93

man who had proved to be more fortunate and adept in gaining his
bishopric than in winning a way into the good graces of Madonna
Chiara. And thus, while he made it his praólice to go every night
in person, talcing with him a troop of ravenous clerical wolves, to the
neighbourhood of the monastery to carry out as best he could his
twofold plan, it happened that on a certain night, when the prior was
taking his departure, he stumbled into the lair of his enemies, and
was by them taken in hold. Then, being brought before Caiaphas
the high-priest, trembling the while with something else than cold,
although he had not yet been questioned as to aught, the thought
came into his mind that, by making a charge against his comrade, he
might ward off from himself the anger of the bishop. Wherefore he
straightway declared he had come thither to do naught that was
blameworthy, but had simply gone into the monastery with Don
Tanni Salustio, whom he had just left with Chiara in her cell.

The bishop, who was not a little gratified in that he had got his
hand upon the prior, was at the same time no less eager to capture
his companion as well ; so, having bound the prior securely and sent
him back to his house, he placed in order his artillery, so that
he might be able to win an entrance undisturbed into the monastery,
and next considered how he might, without risk, lay a firm grip upon
Salustio, should such a thing be found possible.

Now Agnesa, who had been in a watchful and suspicious mood
since the prior had left her, at once heard sounds outside which told
her of his capture, and although she grieved for him from the
bottom of her heart, nevertheless, as soon as she became aware how
the bishop was seeking to gain admission to the monastery, she ran
with all speed to the cell of Chiara and made known to her in as few
words as possible what business was afoot. Chiara, albeit she heard
the aforesaid news with the utmost disgust and confusion, being fully
aware of how great evil might ensue thereanent, nevertheless in no
way lost heart over the business, but like a shrewd and courageous
woman, and reinforced by a sudden counsel of resource, determined
upon a way by which she might free herself from the quagmire so
full of peril which lay manifest before her. So, having made stand
up on his feet the priest, who as luck would have it had already dis-
charged his crossbow more than once, and had made several fine marks
on the target, and given him direólions to hold himself in full
readiness, she betook herself at the top of her speed to the chamber

94" MASUCCIO. [novel VI.

of the abbess, and calling upon her with a voice trembling with fear,
she cried, " Madonna, run, run, for a snake or some other hurtful
beast has broken in amongst your young chickens, and is eating
them all." The abbess, being alike old, and one vowed to religion,
and a woman, was monstrously avaricious, and, although it irked
the old lady greatly to be thus disturbed, nevertheless, in order
to defend her own possessions, she quickly threw herself out of bed,
and betook herself with the gait of a wolf towards the farmyard where
her fowls were kept.

Chiara, who was meantime standing keenly on the watch, when
she perceived that her scheme had come to the issue she desired,
without farther delay haled the priest forth from her cell, and, having
taken him by the tail of his shirt — his clothes all bundled round his
neck — she led him with nimble steps to the chamber of the abbess
just as if he had been a beast going to the shambles. Then, when
she had made him get into the abbess's own bed, she hurried swift as
the wind back to her chamber.

Now almost at this very same moment the bishop with his band
of followers gained an entrance to the monastery, and, having gone
into the dormitory, he came by chance across the abbess, who with a
stick in her hand was coming back from the farmyard viólorious,
though she had found there no serpent. As soon as she saw the
bishop with so disturbed a visage, she said to him, glancing towards
him in turn the while, " Messere, what strange doings are these, that
I find you here at such an hour ? " The bishop, who by the savagery
of his hideous face might well have struck terror into a bear, there-
upon turned to the abbess, and related to her point by point every-
thing that had occurred, saying in conclusion that he was firmly fixed
in the determination to lay hands on Salustio, and on Chiara as well,
by one means or another. The abbess, mortally grieved that an
accident like this should have happened, and proclaiming her own
innocence in the business as well as she was able, made answer that
she was ready to satisfy his wishes in every way, and at the same
time very well contented with all he had asked. The bishop, who
was very much disturbed in mind at being thus forced to lose more
time, forthwith led the way, with the abbess and his band of
assistants following, to the cell of Chiara, and, having come there,
they knocked at the door and called out to her that she should open
to them forthwith.

NOVEL VI.] MASUCCTO. 95

Now Chiara in sooth had not slept at all that night ; nevertheless,
making believe to have risen from her couch all heavy with sleep,
without arraying herself completely in her habit, and rubbing her
eyes, she came to the door of her cell, and displayed herself in no
wise troubled by what had happened, and said, smiling somewhat the
while, " What is the meaning of all this array ?" The bishop, now
more fiercely inflamed than ever with love of her, and finding her
more beautiful than ever when viewed under so searching a light,
nevertheless, by way of giving her a strong shock of terror, cried out :
" Ah ! worthless wench that you are, we are come here to deal out
to you the punishment meet for those guilty of sacrilege, and you
begin to give us your japes and your jokes, just as if we did not know
that Salustio has been lying with you this very night, and is, indeed,
now inside there." The abbess, who was a prudent dame, was incited
by the ill turn which seemed to have come to Chiara's fortunes;
wherefore, before the latter could say a word in reply, she assaulted
her with a torrent of injurious words, showing plainly that in her
fury she was quite ready to lay hands on her. Chiara, knowing all
the while that she had already settled her own bear in the other's lair,
answered the abbess in the following terms, speaking somewhat dis-
dainfully, " Madama, you have come running here in too great a rage
against me, and have sought to throw stain upon my good name in
a fashion contrary to all honour and duty ; but I place my hopes in
God and in the glorious apostle Saint Thomas, to whose service we
are vowed, and entreat them so to bring it about that Messere shall
not go forth from this place until he shall have gained clear and open
knowledge of my innocence, and of another's guilt. Indeed, he who
delivered Susanna from the false accusation of those villainous elders,
will likewise deliver me from this infamy which is now cast upon me."
And having thus spoken, with feigned tears and much show of anger,
she went on to say, " Ravening wolves as you are, come into my
cell according to your habit." The bishop, who was fully satisfied
in his mind that the priest was indeed within, by a quick movement
entered the room with all his followers, and searched every part there-
of so narrowly that they left unvisited no corner in which even a hare
could have hidden itself, but by no amount of searching could they
find him whom they wanted to find. Wherefore the bishop, having
left the cell full of wrath and anger, cried out : " In good faith,
we will leave no spot unsearched till we find him." The abbess,

96 MASUCCIO. [novel vi.

SO as they might forthwith make inquisition of the cells of all the
nuns, cried out : " Sirs, in God's name search every place, and make
a beginning in my own chamber." And in the same strain spake all
the other nuns, who had run together to the spot on hearing the
uproar which was being made.

Since the bishop seemed inclined to entertain this suggestion in
the sense in which the abbess spoke, he straightway gave orders to two
of his own followers to enter at once the chamber of the blameless
abbess, direéling them at the same time that they should only make
a pretence of searching the chamber, as a place in no way to be sus-
peded, in order that they might quickly be able to come to the other
apartments. Whereupon they at once entered the room, and mark-
ing that the surface of the bed showed that someone was beneath,
that at once decided within themselves that there must be a man
therein; so, having drawn back the clothes, they found there the
wretched Salustio half dead. As soon as they recognized who the
man was, they fastened upon him like so many hounds of the chase,
at the same time crying out '^ Ecce homo." As soon as the noise of
this hurlyburly came to the ears of the bishop, he quickly made his
way into the chamber with as many of his men as yet remained with
him. Everyone will easily be able to judge for himself how com-
pletely overcome with amazement they all must have stood when they
thus came upon the priest, clad only in his shirt, lying in the bed of
the abbess, and more especially to figure the grief-stricken and be-
trayed abbess herself, who, standing as if she had been thunderstruck
and stupified by this dire calamity, seemed to all those who looked
upon her to be in sooth dead. She searched her memory, and was sure
that no such man was in the bed when she had left it. Neither did she
know whether this speftacle which she saw was to be reckoned as a
dream, or as the truth, and it seemed to her that it was alike for-
bidden to her either to deny or to acknowledge this thing as real.

Madonna Chiara, as soon as she saw how the defence she had
devised had been brought to serve as a remedy, and had come to the
issue she desired, now dared, without taking much heed of what she
said, to let burst forth over Messere the bishop, and over the poor
beguiled abbess as well, a torrent of unseemly and monstrous words,
saying, amongst other things, " By God's cross, I will send word to-
morrow to my kinsfolk to bid them come and fetch me out of this
public brothel, where priests are wont to come at night and to be

NOVEL VI.] MASUCCIO. 97

found in the very bed of the woman whose bounden duty it is to
hold up a good example to the others of the monastery. Hag of
Satan, would that fire might fall down from heaven, and by a miracle
take her away from the face of the earth !" And uttering these words,
and others of a like nature, she betook herself to her cell, and, angered
amain, made fast the door thereof, leaving without the bishop and all
the others overcome with amazement. The bishop, his rage now trans-
formed into the deepest shame and grief, turned upon the wretched
woe-begone priest, and made his followers quickly tie his hands and
legs as if he had been a thief. Then, without saying another word
by way of farewell to the grief-stricken and disgraced abbess, or to
the other nuns, he went home to his house.

On the following morning, after he had considered the institution
of a trial which should set to work to condemn both the prior and
the priest to the flames, he made it appear to them, by the means of
certain good friends, that he had abated somewhat the fury of his rage,
and accordingly the fire, which, together with divers other dreadful
torments, he was anxious to heap upon these sacrilegious sinners,
became something vastly different through the working of the greedy
humour of San Giovanni Bocco d'oro,^ and thus his word proved to
be of such great and singular virtue that not only were the peccant
clerks freed from the death penalty which they so well deserved, but
over and beyond the remission of their sins, there was granted to them
plenary authority by means of which they were able to sail at will the
seas which they had hitherto ploughed, and likewise over any other
sea which might offer itself to their valour, without any penalty
whatsoever, because, like true children of obedience, they made to
Messere the bishop an offering of the tenth part which was due from
them, in such wise that God ever multiplied their gains from good to
better.

Behold, then, my most illustrious lord, in what manner the saga-
cious Chiara by her ready resource delivered herself out of the snare
set for her by Messere the bishop, and, bringing under censure those
who had threatened her with death by fire, came forth unharmed
from her perilous situation.

' The sum of money given for a bribe, or bribery in general. See Busk's
" Folk Lore of Rome," for an account of the saint.

98 MASUCCIO. [novel vi.

MASUCCIO.

N order that I may not appear, in this my task of story-
telling, to swerve backwards and forwards from one
subjeól to another, I have passed over, and still intend to
[tfrr^'J pass over, certain secret matters of some value, and even
liWifiFwg^7,7ri indispensable, which are to be learned concerning divers
of our cloistered women ; and amongst the aforesaid I would include
all those who are under the heel of the friars. I will therefore keep
silence about the various secfts and the mortal feuds which take
rise between the friars and the seculars, and likewise how those nuns
who perchance entangle themselves with laymen are held and esteemed
to be worse even than Jewesses ; how they are without respite
imprisoned, chased from one place to another, and persecuted as if
they were heretics; while certain others, laden with favours and
dignities, are put in office, granted full leave to do whatsoever they
list, and, lastly, enjoy the greatest prerogative of all. Ì keep silence,
likewise, concerning all that might be said on the subjeél of the
marriage of these women with friars, cases of which I myself have
chanced to fall upon more than once, and have seen the evidence
thereof, and have touched the same with my own hands. How they
make sumptuous marriage feasts, inviting thereto from this convent
and that their friends, who present themselves with equipages laden
with all manner of rich goods. They sing the mass, and they forget
not to hold high revel, and to pass all manner of scoffing quips, and
to dance to the sound of hidden instruments. With the consent of
the abbess and of their prelate they execute marriage contrads, duly
written and sealed ; and then, having supped off all manner of
sumptuous meats, and performed every other ceremony pertaining to
the rite of marriage, they go to bed one with another without showing
any fear or shame, just as if their union had been contradled with the
full sanftion of their own fathers, and by the laws of marriage.

Now, although in the novel which I have just told you I have
written with knowledge and forethought a certain thing in incorred
fashion — inasmuch as I said that the well-cultivated gardens of the
amorous nuns were wont to produce much fruit in the shape of divers
little monks — I am now determined, let this contrary statement cost me
what it may, that I will not be longer silent concerning a matter which

NOVEL VI.] MASUCCIO. 99

ought assuredly to be regarded with the utmost severity and detestation.
I declare, therefore, that these women, in order that they may not
become pregnant, make use of innumerable devices of a nature such
as decency forbids me to mention. And what shall I say of them,
when, the ass having escaped from his head-stall and the prolific seed
having engendered its natural foetus, they employ, so as not to suffer
their offspring to come to its full maturity, an immense variety of
medicines, and, both above and below, make use of so many other
detestable and poisonous beverages, that by this continual vexation
the innocent souls of their children are slain and violently sent down
into the pit of hell before ever they have had time to taste their
mother's milk, or to behold the eternal light of the skies, or to be
sprinkled with the waters of holy baptism ? And if any man shall
declare this thing which I have written here to be a lie, let him cast
his eyes upon the foetid sewers which run from the convents, and he
will find there clear proof of the murders committed therein, and he
may furthermore find a burying-ground full of the tender little bones
of the vidims hitherto slain, not smaller than that which Herod made
when he slew the innocent children of the Jews.

I know not what more I can say about this matter, save only to
declare that the patience of God endures too long, and that I, having
neither the ability nor the knowledge to write fully concerning the
thing which I have set before you, am minded to come to the telling
of my next novel in the briefest fashion I can compass; of which
same novel I not long ago gave certain intelligence to the magnificent
Marino Caracciolo, a most noble Parthenopean. And although grief
for my dear and worthy brother ^ darkened my wits in such manner
that I myself knew not at all what path I ought to follow in order to
make a beginning of my writing; nevertheless, being now comforted
by his prayers, and incited to my task by his many letters, I have
persuaded myself at last to put pen to paper.

' Francesco Guardati, brother of the writer, was a priest.

Ei)c JBn^ of tte ^iitf) i^obel.

Bo\}zi tì)Z ^etjentf).

^^

S

^

^P

r^^S^^^

1

Mli^

^

S

ARGUMENT.

jFra ^artniopfo is SfiKti toitij lobe of itìarctfsa, antj tnafefs prrtfnrp of trtng
an at)i)mnt to tf)e fting in ortifr to toin tije fabour of tf)e court. 13g ti)r
means of a trlrk ijr ofts possession of a tni of tije monasters, anti a
companion of ijis brings itìarr|)fsa to t)"n \w f)is rell. %\t gibes i)er
monej), botiff) sije entrusts to anotijer lober offers. Cfje matter is noiseti
abroati : tfje friar is caught in bisgraeeful case, anti contiemneti to per^
petual imprisonment.

Co tf)e maonififcnt ann i)i'gf)=torn parino Caracciolo.^

EXORDIUM.

O weighty, and so just and reasonable as well, are the
^ causes through which I find myself drawn into cir-
cumstances of heavy and unwonted affliólion — cir-
cumstances which make my life appear to be naught
else than a continual weariness to me, that there
should be no need for you to be in any way amazed,
my illustrious Marino, by the faft that up to this present time I have
kept silence with you, and have written to you no line. For you
may clearly observe that the hostile assaults of my spiteful fortune
have not in the end prevailed so as to hinder the great love which I
bear you from finding a dwelling-place in my heart, but on the

' Marino Caracciolo is the subjeft of Novel XLIV. He was a favourite of
Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, and filled many high offices of state. He fell at Otranto
in 14.80, fighting against the Turks,

I04 MASUCCIO. [novel vii.

Other part have stirred up my anguish-stricken mind and nerveless
hand to write to you this present letter, and to give you a full account
of a certain event which has lately come to pass here. This I propose
to do, not only to satisfy to some extent your just and reasonable
wishes, but also to serve as a lasting warning for yourself, and for
anyone else who in future times may happen to read it, illustrating in
what fashion we should be on our guard, without ceasing, against the
snares and ambushes of malignant hypocrites, and men whose religion
is a counterfeit. Forasmuch as these, under the fraudulent seeming
of their religious garb, resemble, not the savage wild beasts, who,
driven by the barking of dogs and the uproar of the huntsmen,
take refuge in their wonted haunts in the forest, but rather are like
to tamed woIves,which, having become domesticated, will, when flouted
and rebuked, seek the shelter of our inmost chambers, and there,
proteéled by the cover of their natural and ill-advised presumption,
encroach upon our honour and our very flesh and bones, as well as
everything else we possess. Wherefore, in addition to many other
experiences, this one I am about to relate shall serve you as another
and a most certain proof.

THE NARRATIVE.

HE clear-voiced rumour, which has already made itself
fi heard throughout the universe, will carry a true report to
those who come after, how, following upon the death of
that exalted and glorious prince. King Don Alfonso of
Aragon, King Don Fernando the Vidorious, as the heir
and only-begotten and dearly-loved son of the above-named monarch,
occupied the throne of this our Sicilian realm as peaceful king and lord.
In a very brief time from the date of his accession, he was duly invested
with the kingdom by our most holy father the Pope,^ and crowned
and anointed as the most worthy sovereign thereof. When he had
taken from all his barons, and from the people as well, the homage

' Calixtus III. was Pope at King Alfonso's death in 1458, and died in the autumn
of the same year. The Pope here referred to must be Pius II., as Calixtus claimed
Naples as a fief of the Church, and incited the nobles to rebel in favour of the
Angevins. Pius at once favoured Ferdinand's cause, and crowned him in 1459.

NovEi, VII.] MASUCCIO. 105

that was due to him, and had entered into complete and peaceful
possession of his kingdom, it was the will of envious and wicked fate
— fickle and ill content that such perfeét peace and quiet should pre-
vail— that the flame of a deadly and pestilential war' should be kindled
throughout the whole realm before the second year of his tranquil rule
had elapsed.

Now in the course of all these convulsions of the state and vicis-
situdes of fortune the magnificent and most illustrious city of Naples
showed itself more constant in faith than any other city of Italy,
harassed and oppressed as it was by the perpetual sight of its enemies
delivering their assaults and pursuing their depredations even in the
portions of the town which they had been unable to subdue. For
these, and for many other reasons as well which I find it needless here
to mention, the city aforesaid became as a place wellnigh depopulated.
And, amongst the other fugitives, a large proportion of the members
of the religious orders — of whom the number was exceedingly great
— finding no longer in the city those fertile feeding grounds to which
they were accustomed, and feeling the greatest distaste for discomfort
of any kind, abandoned whatever rule of order they may have adopted,
and betook themselves whithersoever it might appear they would
enjoy the greatest facilities for playing the sluggard, albeit they had
proclaimed themselves openly vowed to hunger and cold and travail
for the sake of the love of Christ.

Some few of them, however, remained behind in the city, and
amongst these was a certain holy friar, by birth a Neapolitan, a
preacher of great force, and holding the first place as a father confessor.
In sooth, he was in no less degree inclined to examine narrowly the
various beauties of the ladies and inform himself as to their riches,
than he was to spy out in them any vices or want of faith which might
peradventure exist. And although I know and am well acquainted
with the name of this man, and of the order to which he belonged —
an order of which he falsely pretended to be an obedient member — I,
nevertheless, for the sake of decency, will keep silence thereanent, and
will simply speak of him in this place as Fra Partenopeo. This
friar, unlike the others of his kind, showed no inclination to betake
himself out of the city, but chose rather to remain within the walls,
in order that he might be able without any restraint to have a more

' The war between Ferdinand and the Angevin leaders.

P

io6 MASUCCIO. [novel vii

ample field for the prosecution of divers wicked pradices of his which
he had, up to that time, kept hidden and secret. In this manner,
having changed himself from a shepherd into a wolf disguised under
the gentle semblance of a lamb, he went about with bent neck, bare-
foot, and clothed in rags, so that to anyone who did not know what
kind of man he really was, he would have appeared to be another
Saint Ilarione/ Wherefore, after he had claimed for himself a mar-
vellously great fame and santìity through putting on this outward
seeming, he beguiled not only many people of private estate, but even
our lady the queen,"^ by the course he pursued. Now he would feign
himself to be a headstrong partisan of the Aragonese, and now would
bring into play various other deceptive tricks, working with such
subtlety that in the course of time he made himself the master of all
the secrets of state, however private they might have been.

It chanced that in the course of his wicked life — which, in sooth,
was entirely pleasing to his own taste — he one day garnished his purse
with several hundred florins, and taking with him as an associate
another friar, Ungaro by name, and a rascal just as worthless as him-
self, the two passed by the Pendino de' Scigliati, where they saw a
certain damsel, a Sicilian by birth, and endow'ed with a beauty which
was a marvel to behold, who abode there, and was accustomed — albeit
much against her will — to make public traffic of herself for the sake
of gain. The reverend father, although he had just come back, from
a piratical emprise which had yielded him rich gain— gain which he
had in friendly wise shared with his partner — as soon as he caught
sight of and closely scanned these exquisite beauties which were ex-
posed for sale so cheaply, and for the smallest price, was seized with
the desire forthwith to secure for himself this tempting bit of mer-
chandise at one stroke, so fiercely was he inflamed with desire to
possess the damsel. Wherefore, having drawn anigh her, he addressed
her in these words, spoken in devout wise : " My daughter, will you
endeavour to come to-morrow to our church for the health of your soul,
and for your own satisfadion ? " To him the damsel made answer
that she would willingly betake herself whither he asked her to go.

Taken thus in the toils, and inflamed with desire, he went back
to his house, and, having made manifest to his dear friend Ungaro how

' One of the earliest followers of Antony of the Thebaid. He lived forty-
eight years in a morass near Gaza.

■^ Isabella di Chiaromonte, wife of Ferdinand I.

NOVEL VII.] MASUCCIO. 107

great was his passion, and informed him of all the schemes he pro-
posed to carry out thereanent, he awaited with the greatest impatience
the coming of the following morning in order that he might bring his
work to its completion. And when the aforesaid time had come, and
when he had gone up into the pulpit, he had scarcely made a be-
ginning of his sermon when his eyes fell upon the looked-for damsel
as she entered the church, attired in such comely and modest fashion
that the amorous flames in his captured heart — now, in sooth, newly
bound by love's fetters — were kindled two thousandfold. As soon
as his sermon had come to an end, there gathered around him quickly
a crowd of people, both of men and of women, some to ask advice
of him, and some to beg favours. But he, having firmly fixed his
thoughts upon another matter, said to them : " My children, have
you not heard the words of Christ in the gospel which was read to
you this morning, telling you how there is more rejoicing and praise
in the celestial choir over the conversion of one soul which has wan-
dered astray, than there is over ninety-nine of those who are perfed
and stand in no need of repentance ? And now for this reason I am
taken with the desire to see whether I cannot cause to enter one single
spark of spiritual love into the frozen heart of this poor young girl
here."

Having thus spoken he took the damsel by the hand, and led her
to the seat where confessions were wont to be heard ; and, after he had
wrapped himself in his cloak, he began, with a great show of kind-
ness, to put questions to her as to the cause which had led her to
place herself at the service of whatever man might desire her, and to
submit to be the slave of those who make a traffic in human flesh. ^
The damsel, albeit through the charaéter of her life she was in no
wise lacking in understanding, was unable to fathom the deep malig-
nity of his hidden heart; so, weeping plentifully, she recounted to
him in the briefest fashion she could use the complete history of the
unfortunate thing which had come to pass with her. Thereupon,
in answer to her, the friar spake : " My daughter. He who alone is
privy to the secrets of all men shall be my witness as to how great is
the bitterness of heart with which I have listened to the story of your
ill-starred fate, and likewise how great an injury I rate it that I see
you still abiding in this guilty condition. And on this account,

^ Orig., e fattasi serva degli beccarini di carne umana.

io8 MASUCCIO. [novel vii.

whenever you may make provision to withdraw yourself entirely from
the same, and to become worthy of a husband, I now make to you
the offer of all my wealth, which you will find great enough in itself to
suffice amply to furnish you with a fair and most convenient estate.
Over and beyond this, I desire that, from this day forth, you should take
into your entire possession both this body and this soul of mine, pro-
vided that I may behold you delivered from that gloomy prison in
which, according to what you have yourself told me, you abide
with such great distaste ; giving you good assurance that, with
your gracious and prudent seeming and with your loveliness — which,
in sooth, is more divine than human — you have taken possession of
me in such wise that, in the last few minutes, I seem to have become
your property much more than my own ; in short, I am yours
entirely. Therefore I beseech you, my sweetest life, to let your pity
move you, both on your own account and on mine as well, to con-
sent to seek retirement in the house of a certain widow lady, who is
devoted to our order, with whom you can continue to abide without
any ill- fame or scandal whatsoever. When you are there it shall be
my care to see that you enjoy all those things in which you take the
greatest delight, until such time as the Creator shall be pleased to
send to us some worthy and discreet youth to whom I may give you
for his wife, which thing I, in my heart, desire most keenly."

The damsel, who up to this present moment had been very far
indeed from gathering any inkling of this matter, which, in working
upon the friar's gross lasciviousness, had made him burn thus
ardently to disclose to her his passion, now, like a prudent girl, saw
clearly that a certain report which she had heretofore judged to be a
false one was indeed true, to wit, that this infernal crew of worthless
poltroons held the better part of Christendom as their prey. Wherefore
she, who knew well enough how to dispose of the wares she had to
sell, as soon as she perceived how the friar was so keenly set on pur-
chasing them for his use, forthwith made up her mind that, not only
would she be careful not to give them away for nought, but that she
would only sell them at the very highest price. So she answered
him in these words: " My father, I thank you, forsooth, for your great
goodness and charity, but I must tell you, so that you may know
the truth of the matter, that I am on terms with my good man such
as will in no wise suffer me to do always the thing I would; for the
reason that he, being a sprightly youth and rich, as well as much loved

NOVEL VII.] MASUCCIO. 109

and very popular in this our city, would, I doubt not, cast a thou-
sand lives in jeopardy to keep me for himself, should he find that
there was any danger of losing me ; and then, after that, might spoil
the look of my face by way of saving his honour.^ Nevertheless, time
has a way of setting things right, and on this account you will see
that I, if I may be able to serve you in any way whatever, shall be
no less eager to give myself to you than you have shown yourself
eager to be mine."

The friar, perceiving that the affair would at least come to the
issue of satisfying the greater part of his desire, and caring very little
for aught besides, then made answer to the girl, whose name was
Marchesa, in this fashion : " You speak very wisely, O my daughter,
and may God bless you; but when shall we find occasion and com-
modity to be together, seeing that I am in no wise inclined to put
faith in that bravo of yours?" To this the damsel replied, "There
is no need at all to be fearful on the score of him ; for, over and
beyond the fa6l that he is by nature much given to secrecy, and is in
the way of gaining for himself no little profit thereby, it is beyond
all belief, as you indeed have already said, that he should seek to give
himself a blow on the foot with the mattock.^ Wherefore, make your-
self easy on this account, and leave the rest of the trouble to me."
Then said the friar, " Since the view you take is one which also pleases
me, there remains nothing more to be done for the carrying out of
our design than that, at the hour to-night when I shall send a trusty
companion of mine to you bearing with him a dress of our order, you
should betake yourself in his company to me disguised in the habit
of a friar, while I will devise means by which I may, aóling with all
due caution, give you reception in my cell."

The damsel was quite content with this proposal, and agreed to
abide by the direétions which the friar gave her. Then he, filled with
desire, besought her that she would let him have a kiss by way of
earnest; whereupon Marchesa, in order that she might thereby
make burn still more violently the flame of his passion, put out to
him, in as pleasing fashion as she could, her serpentine tongue, being
prevented by the iron grating which was fixed to the seat of confes-
sion from bestowing upon him the full boon of her delicious mouth.
With this touch of sweetness she stole away and went forthwith to

^ Orig., e doppo per suo onore guastarmi della persona.
■ Orig., cercane donarsi la zappa ne lo piede.

no MASUCCIO. [novel vii.

her own house, where by chance she found the man who was her
keeper, and him she at once began to address in the following words:
" My good Griffone, I went this morning into the street, hoping that
someone or other would take me for his pleasure; but now, if you
will be wise and prudent, you will see that I have caught a bird by
the beak, one well furnished with feathers, the plucking out of which
will be fine sport for us for many months to come." Then, having
made a beginning at the very first, she told to him the whole story,
point by point, to the end thereof. Griffone, when he had listened
to it, was mightily diverted with the same, and in sooth the time
seemed to him to be as long as a thousand years until there should
come in sight that Hungarian flyboat, sent to take in tow the Sicilian
bark.^

Now to come to the other part of the story. Brother Wolf, who
was all this while in a state of the greatest joy, and at the same time
keenly set upon bringing into speedy execution the project he had
framed, went quickly into the presence of the queen, so as to make
sure of securing himself from any molestation on the part of the other
friars, and began to address her in these words: "Sacred majesty, it
is a thing clearly known to me that no man occupying a station like
mine finds it seemly and convenient to wait upon the favour of any
earthly power. Wherefore I, looking at myself only as a Christian
man, find myself obliged perforce to conform to the will of our lord
the Pope, as the Vicar of Christ upon earth, and the most holy Shep-
herd of our blessed mother the Church.^ Nevertheless, though it
seems to me that I am right in doing this, I am not only bound as a
faithful partisan to our lord the king and to your majesty, but am
also eager to undergo in your service the most cruel of martyrdoms,
just as I should desire to suffer the same for the sake of our holy
Catholic faith. It occurs to me, therefore, my sovereign lady — not
thereby to speak evil of others, which thing may God forbid — that
the greater part of our brothers are men such as might be rated by
the world as of little or no account, for the reason that they are not
endowed with the same righteous and prudent purposes as I myself

^ Orig., mille anni gli parca che la fasta di Ungaria venesse a rimbarcare la Siciliana
barca.

" Pius II. favoured Ferdinand, for the reason that he was unwilling to stir up a
war which might tempt the Turks to invade Italy. Calixtus III., during the few
months he lived after Ferdinand's accession, favoured the Angevin cause.

NOVEL VII.] MASUCCIO. Ill

harbour. In any case, therefore, some irretrievable cause of offence
may very well arise, and on this account I, knowing well enough
that I must needs guard myself very carefully against them, find that
it behoves me to provide myself with some safeguard in the business
I propose to undertake. Wherefore, if I should bring into my cell
by night any faithful partisan of yours, and devoted to me as well, who
might let it be known to me what men are thinking of or doing in
the city, or perchance to instru6t me by what secret and hidden means
we may be able to put our hands upon moneys for the service of our
lord the king, or to hold converse with me on a thousand other things
which may come up for discussion, I would fain have such as these
conduced into my presence, this one dressed in the habit of a friar,
and that one and the other under various disguising garbs. Moreover,
the gatekeepers at our convent are so exceedingly sharp, that in their
curiosity to spy and to peer minutely into the smallest particulars attend-
ing the coming of anyone to our gates, they would bring it to pass that
any such visitors as these I have spoken of would assuredly determine in
their minds to return whence they came, rather than to trust them-
selves in the hands of those they know not. Now in what measure,
from one hour to another, an accident such as this might work, either
for the wrecking or the furtherance of the fortunes of our lord the
king, your majesty may find it easy to determine. At any rate, it
seems to me — and on this matter I make my prayer to you in the most
urgent terms I can find — that in order that we may free ourselves from
all aólual and all possible dangers as well, you should without delay
give your command to our prelate, and bid him furnish me, for my
absolute use, a key of the monastery, to be employed by me in the
service of your interests. 1 would likewise beg you to direól him to
give due admonition to all those dwelling within the convent, that no
one of them should, under any pretence whatever, give trouble or
molestation to any person who may come to have speech with me,
whether by night or by day; and furthermore that he should assign to
me, for my sole use, a chamber apart from the others, in which I
may at any hour give private audience to my visitors without letting
them be put to any inconvenience thereanent."

The queen, who put the fullest and the most unquestioning faith
in all that the good friar told her, was at once persuaded that his
most adroit speech was based upon true and sincere motives, where-
fore she first thanked him abundantly in return for the same, and

112 MASUCCIO. [novel vii.

then, having summoned into her presence a certain courtier who had
her fullest confidence, she despatched him forthwith to the superior of
the convent with the command that the aforesaid request of Fra
Partenopeo should at once be complied with, without any exception
whatever being made thereto.

When, therefore, everything which the friar demanded was thus
fully carried out according to his wishes in a very brief time, and
when, having got possession of the key, and without any delay fur-
nished with all requisites a chamber fitted for any gallant, the night
so keenly longed for came at last. Then Fra Partenopeo despatched
his friend Fra Ungano to bring thither Marchesa disguised in the
habit of a friar; and he was not called upon to suffer any long delay,
for he soon saw returning this trusty hunter of his, who, without the
aid of hounds of any sort, was already bringing home the booty. He
went at once to meet them, and, having taken the lady in his em-
brace, he covered her with the most passionate and burning kisses and
led her within into the chamber, uttering the while a thousand sweet
and loving words. When they had despatched the feast, which was
fully worthy of the occasion, the friar gave leave to his friend
Ungaro to depart, whereupon the two lovers went to bed to take
their pleasure, and there to give tangible proof that friars still knew
full well how to make others dance to the sound of the drumsticks,
forasmuch as it may be remarked that before the matin bells began
to ring the cock had nine times crowed.

Now Fra Ungaro was stationed all this time without the chamber,
and hearing within so much sportive clatter like the beating of a
paper-mill, and being himself vastly unlike a man of stone such as
Medusa might have made, but, on the other hand, one full of lusty
life, his own amorous fancies began to arise and to torment him
somewhat. Finding himself assailed by these lecherous heats even
more than was his wont, he was mindfd forthwith to have recourse
to the same practice which the scullions use in the kitchen when,
overcome by their greedy appetites, and fearful lest they should mar
and befoul the meat meant for their masters, they eat dry bread
savoured merely by the smell of the roast. Now in what fashion
the business was brought about by the friar I ween anyone will he
able to understand without farther explanation from me.

And when at last the morning was come, and the reverend father
was minded to send the young woman back to her home well con-

NOVEL VII.] MASUCCIO. 113

tent with the result of her errand, he, having given her certain of
his more precious jewels, and opened his strong box filled to the
brim with money, said to her, laughing the while : " Dear soul of
mine, men of our condition are not wonted ever to touch money,
wherefore do you now take as much thereof as may please you from
this my store." After hearing these words she did not wait for
many invitations, or show herself unwilling to do as the friar asked;
but, having stretched forth her delicate hand, she straightway caught
up therein as much of the coin as she could seize. Then, after she
had once more put on all her attire and given the friar a close and
amorous kiss, she took her way back to her own house under the
conduél of Fra Ungaro, and, having come thither, she threw the
money into the lap of Griffone, discoursing to him at the same time
as to what point the affiiir had come already, and how she had set a
bait for the friar in such wise that they must assuredly capture him,
and in a very short time strip every bit of flesh from his bones.

Thereupon they together regaled themselves with a sumptuous
feast, and, being keenly set upon laying their hands upon the residue
of the friar's money, it came to pass that Marchesa let her feet travel
full often in the road she had begun to tread. To her, and to the
friar as well, sport of this kind gave much content, though for
different reasons. Howbeit, the amorous passion of the friar grew
stronger day by day. and the charges therefor and the gifts to the
young woman showed no sign of waning. However, that strong
box we have before mentioned as brimful was now emptied of its
contents to such degree that a blind man might with ease have cis-
cerned the bottom thereof; whereupon Marchesa, for the reason that
she was one well versed in traffic of this nature, soon found out how
things were going with him, and then, with feigrcd pretexts of all
sorts, began to refuse to continue her visits to the friar, for which
reason he, who was entirely under the sway of his unbridled lust,
perforce became aware, albeit very late, that the young woman was
attracted to come to him for the sake of his goods, and not for his
own sake. Therefore he began to sharpen his wits and to cast about
as to how he should set to work to fill up once more that empty
chest of his with a fresh store of money, and having, through the
assistance of his friend Fra Ungaro, discovered in the church of their
monastery a vast quantity of coin which had been hidden therein by
a certain citizen who was now banished the state, he took possession

114 MASUCCIO. [novel vii.

of about five hundred florins of the same, and gave the residue
thereof into the keeping of the court, betaking himself after this to
the prosecution of his interrupted amours.

Then, having secured himself with the greatest care with regard
to those about him, he would not only repair by night to the ill-famed
house of Marchesa in the company of his friend Fra Ungaro, but
they would even go thither often by day, demeaning themselves
in such wise that the report of their iniquitous doings was spread
abroad by the mouth of everyone, and was made a public scandal.
When things' had come to this pass, particular information of the
same was given to the prelate of Fra Partenopeo's monastery by the
mouth of a certain noble youth, who perchance may have been one
of those beloved by Marchesa. The prelate, in order no longer to
suffer the perfeft religion he professed to be sullied by association
with such a son of perdition, got information how, on a certain night,
Fra Partenopeo was going unaccompanied by Fra Ungaro to take
his pleasure with Marchesa ; wherefore he betook himself secretly at
the same hour to the house of the young woman, accompanied by a
large number of the friars of his monastery and of other gentlemen,
devoted friends of the order. And when they had got the culprit
safe in hand, over and above the cruel scourging which they gave to
Fra Partenopeo, whom they found stark naked in the bed with Mar-
chesa, they condemned him to lie for the rest of his life in prison,
where he finished his days in bitter misery.

MASUCCIO.

F the severe and altogether merited punishment dealt out
to our brother Fra Partenopeo may have been in the past,
or may prove in the future, to be the cause of making
other men withdraw themselves from reprobate vices, and

(ffi>'iitF#wri from working every day some fresh evil, it may not only
be called laudable in itself, but may be held up to high commenda-
tion, and be kept in lasting memory by men of righteous lives. But
forasmuch as the contrary may peradventure come to pass, it seems
to me that we must not on any account suffer men in such case
to live their lives in peace while thus steeped in wickedness. And
since that we may in all truth set down a generation so froward as this

NOVEL VII.] MASUCCIO. 115

as being endowed with a nature like to that of wolves — which beasts,
when through some accident or other a certain member of the wolfish
pack may chance to meet with a wound, and therefore be unable to
follow with the others, will all turn upon him and mangle him
in their rage as if he had been one of their foes — so in like manner
these reverend signors bear themselves at those seasons when there may
chance to fall upon any member of their order some grave and
manifest scandal, some offence too glaring to be shielded from view
by the fraudulent cover of their religious habit. Then no amount of
cruel and continuous scourgings, or endless persecutions, or sentences
of lifelong imprisonment, will suffice for his condemnation ; and for
their adoption of such a course as this there are two most manifest
reasons. The one is to give warning and affright to the other friars,
so that they may not by their heedless carriage let their doings
of this sort get into the mouths of the crowd and become common
scandal ; the other is that they, as persecutors of ill-deeds, may
obtain yet greater credit and trust from the laity. And to show you
that such is the truth, I will tell you that, not many days agone,
finding myself with certain members of this order, and talking with
them concerning this very same matter, one of the number — and one
moreover by no means the least in credit and repute, and a man on
very familiar footing with me — addressed me in these words : " My
good Masuccio, if on account of one ship which may have suffered
shipwreck on the voyage from Alexandria all the other vessels should
refuse to go to sea, not a single grain of pepper should we ever eat.
Of a truth the gibbet is put up for the unlucky ones."

From discourse such as this one may take as evidence the fad
that the most nefarious wickedness which these men commit appears
to them to be nothing more than what is permitted by well-approved
usage, so that they give themselves up to the praólice thereof without
feeling the least prick of shame or of conscience. Neither the fear of
God, nor the risk of a shameful death, has any power to hold them
back when once they begin to throw off the cowl. And therefore,
to bring forward more cogent evidence than that given above, I will
set forth clearly in the novel which follows certain words spoken,
without any regard to decency whatever, by a famous preacher and
reverend master in the Holy Scriptures, in answer to certain scholars,
words as bad as any lewd soldier could have uttered.

Cl)e ISnli of ti)e 5;fbcntf) iRobel.

il3ot)el tbe (ZEigi)tf),

ARGUMENT.

goung latoger, tabmg no tastf for i)i0 stu^ifs, srlls tts tccfes ant librs
iobiallj,) U3iti) tijf iiionrj) ije rrrribfs tljrrffor. a prradjiiiQ friar promlsrs
tijat fje toiU mafef tijr tirati arise from t^fir Qrabrs on a rfrtam tin|) totjrn
ttf goung laUigrr anti tiibfrs rompanions of tis iiapprn to tie prrsfnt In
ti)e rijurri), toftrrfupon tfjrsf ronsii^rr toto tljfj) iiiaj; annog tf)f prrarijcr
tolti) a totttj) pifagantrj), iut ijr tafers t)is nbcrgc upon ttrm aftcrtcarts
t)g a prompt anti appropriate replg.

Co tf)c Jl^otle ant) Oirtuous jTrancisco Scales, tbc
^ccretarp to tl)c IBiing.

EXORDIUM.

AM of opinion, my most courteous Scales, that at the
opening of this our friendship it appertains to me as a
duty to make a beginning of our written intercourse
according to the custom which friends well agreed are
wont to follow amongst themselves. On this account
I, not wishing to appear in any way ungrateful for all
the honours and choice fruits which have come to me through your
most pleasant friendship, propose to approach you at this present
season, not merely with such familiar correspondence as men are
accustomed to hold one with another, but in the light of an excep-
tional friend. And, in addition to this, it has occurred to me that it

I20 MASUCCIO. [novel VIII.

would prove to you a seemly diversion, and one worthy of consideration,
were I to tell you, out of the store I have, a certain tale. This same
story, when you shall read it over at your leisure, may serve to remind
you of the discreet conversation we have held one with another. And
albeit it is never a matter of praise for a man to be on over-intimate
terms with those vowed to religion, you shall, nevertheless, be brought
to see clearly how much less blameworthy in certain men is the con-
versation which they show to the world every day in their outward
seeming, than the things which abide in the core of their hearts.
Farewell.

THE NARRATIVE.

APLES, that noteworthy city, deservedly set down as the
chief place of this our Sicilian kingdom, is, and will ever
remain, most flourishing in arms and in letters, as exem-
plified in the excellences of its highborn citizens. There,
not many years agone from this our time, lived a certain
do(5lor of laws, of honourable descent, very rich, and of excellent
manners and repute. This man, over and above the other goods
granted to him by fortune, was blessed with one only son, who was
called by name Jeronimo di Vitavolo. Now, seeing that the father
had bestowed all his love upon this youth, and was greatly desirous
to leave him, when he himself should pass to another world, endowed
with divers virtues which — putting riches on one side — should abide
with him as immutable possessions, he set himself with all diligence
to lead the youth's steps into the paths of study. And when the father
was brought to understand that his son's head was one by no means
fitted for a career of this sort, and had, moreover, many times poured
out his grief thereanent, both to himself in solitude, and to his near
kindred as well, he seiit word to his son Jeronimo, and bade him come
to his bedside, he being withal full of years, and bound in a very short
time to taste of death. Thereupon he appointed h's son the inheritor
of all his goods, and, having laid a charge upon the youth how that
it was his bounden duty to give good heed to the study of the law,
he bequeatheci to him also all his books, which were of very great
value. Thus, having put in order all his affairs, in a very short space

NOVEL Vili.] MASUCCIO. 121

of time he passed away from this perishable life, leaving behind him
a highly honoured name, and was borne to the tomb with high and
sumptuous ceremonies.

Jeronimo, who now occupied the place of master and head of the
house, found himself in possession of many thousand florins in ready
money. Wherefore the youth, seeing that he himself had endured
no labour and weariness in gathering together the same, forthwith
made up his mind not to place his affeólions in possessions of this
sort, and at once began to array himself in sumptuous garments, to
taste the pleasures of the town in the company of certain chosen com-
panions of his, to indulge in amorous adventures, and in a thousandother
ways to dissipate his substance abroad without restraint of any kind.
Not only did he banish from his mind all thought and design of con-
tinuing his studies, but he even went so far as to harbour against the
books, which his father had held in such high esteem and reverence
and had bequeathed to him, the most fierce and savage hatred. So
violent, indeed, was his resentment against them that he set them
down as the worst foes he had in the world.

On a certain day it happened that the young man, either by accident
or on account of some occasion of his own, betook himself into the
library of his dead father, and there his eye fell upon a vast quantity
of fair and well-arranged books such as are wont to be found in places
of this sort. At the first sight of these he was somewhat stricken
with fear, and with a certain apprehension that the spirit of his father
might pursue him ; but, having recolleéted his courage somewhat, he
turned with a look of hatred on his face towards the aforesaid books
and began to address them in the following terms: " Books, books,
so long as my father was alive you waged against me war unceasing,
forasmuch as he spent all his time and trouble either in purchasing
you, or in putting you in fair bindings; so that, whenever it might
happen that there came upon me the need of a few florins or of certain
other articles, which all youths find necessary, he would always refuse
to let me have them, saying that it was his will and pleasure to dispense
his money only in the purchase of such books as might please him.
And over and beyond this, he purposed in his miind that I, altogether
against my will, should spend my life in close companionship with
you, and over this matter there arose between us many times angry
and disordered words. Many times also you have put me in danger
of being driven into perpetual exile from this my home. Therefore

R

122 MASUCCIO. [novel VIII.

it cannot but be pleasing to God — since it is no fault of yours that I
was not hunted forth from this place — that I should send you packing
from this my house in such fashion that not a single one of you will
ever behold my door again. And, in sooth, I wonder more especially
that you have not before this disordered my wits, a feat you might
well have accomplished with very little more trouble on your part, in
your desire to do with me as you did with my father, according to
my clear recolleiflion. He, poor man, as if he had become bemused
through conversing with you alone, was accustomed to demean him-
self in strange fashion, moving his hands and his head in such wise
that over and over again I counted him to be one bereft of reason.
Now, on account of ail this, I bid you have a little patience, for the
reason that I have made up my mind to sell you all forthwith, and
thus in a single hour to avenge myself for all the outrages I have
suffered on your behalf, and, over and beyond this, to set myself free
from the possible danger of going mad."

After he had thus spoken, and had packed up divers volumes of
the aforesaid books — one of his seivants helping him in the work —
he sent the parcel into the house of a certain lawyer, who was a friend
of his, and then in a very few words came to an agreement with the
lawyer as to the business, the issue of the affair being that, though he
had simply thrown the books out of his house and had not sold them,
he received, nevertheless, on account of the same, several hundred
florins ; and with these, added to those which still remained in his
purse, he continued to pursue the course of pleasure he had begun.

And on this account, either because he was now very rich, or
because of his wit and pleasant humour, it came to pass that he was
always to be seen in the company of the most proper young men of
the city. Wherefore, happening to repair one day with certain of his
friends to the venerable church of San Lorenzo, he found there in the
pulpit a very learned father preaching to the people, and giving notice
that, on the following morning, he purposed to deliver a sermon on
the subjeft of the Last Judgment, in the course of which he intended
to make rise up again the dead kinsfolk of anyone who might chance
to be there. On hearing this, it came into the mind of the aforesaid
Jeronimo to frame in appropriate wise a witty saying which should
bear on the matter in question.

When the morning was come, the young man, with his band of
friends and a certain docftor of laws whom thev had taken into their

NOVEL Vili.] MASUCCIO. 123

company, made their way into the church, and, having withdrawn
themselves apart in modest fashion, waited with pleasure for the
moment when the preacher should make a beginning of his sermon.
When at last the preacher went up into the pulpit, and with the
utmost fervour began to discourse concerning the Last Judgment,
standing with his head uncovered, and moving himself in exadlly the
same manner as a falcon uses when it is freed from the hood, he
turned himself without ceasing towards a part of the church where
there was sitting a certain widow lady with whom he was deeply
enamoured, managing the while to continue his sermon without
break or interruption of any sort. Now when he had come to that
terrible phrase, " Venite mortui ai judicium," as soon as the words
had passed his lips a couple of trumpeters, whom he had concealed
in the pulpit, began to blow a harsh and frightful blast in such
fashion that the whole congregation was altogether astonished and
amazed — nay, they were even as people thunderstricken and con-
founded. I will not here stop to mention certain good folk (who
had come perad venture from Grosseto), who, as soon as they heard
the sound, began to run about, now here, now there, amongst the
tombs, expeding that, in good sooth, the dead would then and there
arise from their graves.

Jeronimo, in the meantime, was standing apart with the com-
panions who had come in with him, and laughing heartily at the
brutishness of the stupid crowd of peasants. As soon as he per-
ceived how there arose from thsm on every side weeping and
lamentation and cries for mercy, without understanding in any way
the cause of what they did, it seemed to him that the time had at
length come when he might let forth that witty speech of his which
he had duly fashioned in his mind ; so, having drawn from his purse
a counterfeit florin, he turned towards the doólor of laws, who was
still in the company, and spake to him in this wise : " I am well
assured that amongst those who will first rise from the dead will be
my father, for the reason that no one could possibly match him in
the scanty provision he made for ms, and that he will certainly want
to know from me the reason why I have not prosecuted my studies,
and will now and again require at my hands those books of his, and
will lay to my charge a thousand other complaints. Wherefore take
this florin as your fee, and then as my advocate you can reply in my
name this morning in such wisi that we shall for certain win our

124 MASUCCIO. [novel vin.

cause." When he had brought this speech to an end, and when all
those standing by had listened to this witty jest of his, they were all
so struck with admiration at the grace and the finish of his words,
that the do6tor of laws, and all the others as well, began to laugh so
loudly that it seemed as if they must split their sides. The preacher,
who was high up in his pulpit, and some distance removed from the
spot where the young men stood, turned himself round in the fashion
which prudent steersmen use when they would know from which
quarter the wind blows, and without any difficulty perceived what
Jeronimo had done, and heard the loud laughter which the young
men in his company sent up on account of the weeping and lamenta-
tion of the rest of the uncouth crowd in the church. At the same
time he was in no wise sure that they suspeéled aught as to the trick
he himself had just played ; so, seeing that he was a very astute
praélitioner, a ready and excellent speaker, and over and beyond this
a man entirely free from hypocrisy, he determined in his mind that
he would get to know from them the cause of their laughter, and,
if it should prove to be that which he suspeded, to cap their jest
with a ready and well-fitting answer of his own. Wherefore, as soon
as the sermon had come to an end, he betook himself without a
moment's delay to the place where Jeronimo and his troop of friends
were posted, and, having saluted them all with a friendly smile, he
addressed them in these terms : *' My good young gentlemen, if it
be not an unseemly request to make, I beg you that you will let me
know the reason why, when all the rest of the people in the church
were weeping and lamenting, you were all laughing so merrily."
Jeronimo, deeming that the priest was curious to know this thing on
account of some silly conceit, as is the wonted behaviour of many of
those holding similar rank, and knowing naught what the lining of
his cloak was like, came forward and answered him in the following
words, desiring at the same time to give him a smart hit by way of
repartee : " My father, you have in sooth made us feel absolute faith
in the fulfilment of your promises, wherefore we are here awaiting the
resurredion from the dead of a very lovely young woman who died
of the plague when our city was last visited by that pest. She, when
the sickness was on her, was abandoned by her husband, a man void
of all merciful feeling ; wherefore she sent for me, who loved her
more than I loved my own life, and I straightway did all I could on
her behalf by the calling in of physicians, and by the employment of

NOVEL Vili.] MASUCCIO. 12,

every remedy I could think of as fitted for the case, and such as
would naturally be suggested by the great love I had for her. On
account of what I had done in her behalf, and to show her gratitude
for the benefits she had received at my hands, she gave herself
entirely to me in the presence of several witnesses, promising that
when she should be restored to health she would choose to belong to
me, and not to her husband. The poor young woman, however,
died on account of her sickness, and she lies buried in this your
church. Now I am possessed with the thought that peradventure
her husband may by this time feel a tardy repentance for his niggard
cruelty, and that, when the report of this resurrection of the dead,
which you proposed to bring about, should come to his ears, he
would repair hither, accompanied by the whole of his kinsfolk, in
order to lead back his wife to his house. Therefore I, bearing in
mind these faóts, on my part brought hither my advocate, and paid
him a very high fee, in order that he might defend this most just
cause of mine, and lay the same plainly before you with all boldness
and confidence, knowing well that you are a veritable adept and most
excellent arbiter in everything conneóted with the amorous passion.
Wherefore, if it had come to pass that the marvel you promised had
really happened, my advocate would have laid down publicly a most
righteous exposition as to what ought to be done. But when in the
end we saw how this feat you promised to do turned out to be
nothing more than a vain fidion, coming to the same issue which
your plausible speeches so often find, we laughed thereanent, and
made sport in such fashion as you perceived."

The crafty friar, as soon as he heard this egregious and well-
composed version of the story — albeit he no longer entertained the
suspicion he had originally taken up — determined in his mind that the
speech he had just listened to should not remain without a rejoinder
which should be worthy of it, or even go beyond it, and at the same
time he resolved to teach these young men what kind of fat his brain
was made of.^ Wherefore, having turned himself towards Jeronimo, he
spake in these words : " You there, who are laymen, are accustomed
to take your pleasure with your ladies as long as they remain young,
but as soon as old age comes upon them, and they are tound fit for
no better task than to charm worms out of children or to nurse the

' Orig., de che grasso il suo cervello fosse condito.

126 MASUCCIO. [novel VIII.

mother sickness/ you hand them over to us in order that we may
flay them. And when they come to us, confessing their sins, and
telHng us long stories of all the delights they enjoyed with you
whilst they were in the flower of their youth, we get nothing else
from Hstening to such discourses but a redoubled increase of our
troubles, already too heavy for us to bear. And when it happens
that some one or other of these may quit this life, they are
quickly despatched to the care of the friars, and then we, wrapping
up the decaying corpse greatly against our will, are bound to bury it.
In this wise, therefore, you take your delight in women while their
flesh is soft and delicate, and we are vexed and troubled through
having to care for their decaying bones. Now, on account of such
reasons as these, you may well understand in what fashion we poor
friars are tormented by such as you, and how it is that, of all the
things there are in the world, we can win by our industry naught but
such rewards as I have just described to you. But we have one griev-
ance which we find it hard work to bear with patience, and by this I
mean the fadl that we are not allowed to keep for ourselves in peace and
quiet those women who have put on the monastic garb, whom we from
the beginning of time have most justly claimed as our own. And
would to God that you might find it enough only to lay hands on
that one portion of womankind which does not already by the claims
of reason belong to you, and that you would give over your incite-
ments to them to rob us, as is their habit, and then to hand over
their plunder to you. If indeed there be anyone who can give true
testimony of this thing, I surely am he, forasmuch as, since I have
been in this city of yours, to my own great concern I have come to
know well in what fashion the matter is brought to pass. And our
religion would assuredly be in a perilous state were it not that certain
fellows of our kind, and not of the best complexion — to whom you
with scant wit give far too much credit, albeit that they take upon
themselves the style of Observantists — have assumed the task of
reviling your honour and your estate as well, and for the love of our
order infliét upon you vengeance for the aforesaid injuries. And you,
unsatisfied still with the deeds above recited, now come and put into
our hands dishes filled with dead and putrifying things, so as not to
turn in any way from the path which you have begun to travel.

' Orig., medicare le matrone.

NOVEL Vili.] MASUCCIO. 127

Nevertheless, if it should chance that any one of you may desire to
make a final trial as to whether or not I am a worthy judge of all
varieties in amorous commerce, and a supreme arbiter of the humours
thereof, let him bring to me a handsome girl alive and healthy, and,
after I shall have set her apart for my own uses — as I hope reason
will allow — and after the inquiry shall have been brought to its
appointed end, I will deliver concerning the question in hand a decision
so complete and so just, that it cannot fail to be pleasing in the
highest degree to the girl herself; and, however much every one of
the litigants may cry out for an appeal, no appeal of any sort will be
permitted. May you all live in peace, and may God be with you! "
Jeronimo and all his companions were astonished and even con-
founded by the commendable and witty reply of the friar, and all
agreed in declaring that this one, at least, could claim to be somewhat
less base than the others of the lazy crowd of rascals of the same sort;
but I myself, with the scanty wit I call my own, would persuade
everybody to drive them all as far as possible away from the bounds
of their dwelling-places without making any distinélion whatever.

MASUCCIO.

DOUBT not but that there will be found many men of
this our time, of the sort which takes great delight in re-
proving others, who will seize this opportunity of leóluring
me, and will condemn me inasmuch as I declared that the
preacher described in the foregoing novel ought to have
had some measure of censure dealt out to him on account of his
lascivious remarks. Although I could easily, by my own reasoning
powers, make answer to such as these, still, in order to give greater
weight to my statement, and as an example to posterity, I find
I shall do well to bring forward as a defender of my position the irre-
proachable authority of our new Saint Paul. I speak of Fra Roberto
da Lecce,^ the herald of truth. He, forsooth, holds as a firm convic-

1 He was a Franciscan of the Observantist Order. There is a notice in Oraziani
of his preaching in Perugia in 1448. He preached from a stone pulpit, which is
still to be seen outside the cathedral, to a crowd of I 5,000 people in the piazza
below. On Good Fridav he commeroorated the Crucifixion by a sort of theatrical

IS

W^

w

Mm

1 ro*"^

128 MASUCCIO. [novel vin.

tion, and one which he proves by the most valid arguments, that
those priests who observe perftélly all the precepts of their several
rules in such wise as they were settled and appointed by their holy
founders, have, in these our days, grown very scarce on the
earth. Then, coming at last to give particular information concern-
ing his own minor friars, he declares that, amongst these, those friars
who are eager to be known as Observantists are notoriously found
wanting in those most weighty duties which were laid upon them by
their seraphic Saint Francis, while they keep inviolably certain useless
and superstitious praólices. That is, they themselves wear sandals
more coarse and ill-made than ever Saint Francis saw, so as to show
themselves humble and poor and obedient in the sight of the ignorant
multitude. They garb themselves in patched cloaks of various
colours, with a leather strap for a buckle and a bit of wood for
a button, and use all manner of other similar marks of hypocrisy,
such as were never written down or thought of in their holy rules.

Nor, on the other hand, will I keep silence as to how these men
— disobeying the necessary rules of humility — trespass on all that is
necessary for the cultivation of the same, and become not only proud,
puffed up, and full of ostentation, but also more covetous of fame and
rewards than any other men who live — how every day that passes they
rebel in their obedience towards their prelates. These last offenders
are for the most part those who, having taken up the calling of
preaching, ride about the country on mules, attended by servants
on foot, and with asses laden with provender — men who might
be more readily taken for herbalists or quacks than for the servants
of God.

But what shall I say of those confessors who observe the precepts
of religious piety so far as these forbid them to touch money which
they know to be counterfeit, but at the same time heap up as much
of good coin as they can lay hands on ; in sooth it seems as if the
insatiable voracity of such as these can never be satisfied. And thus,

show — a barber of the city, naked, bearing a cross on his shoulder, and a crown
of thorns on his head, came out of the cathedral and went in procession through the
city. His preaching led to a vast increase in the ranks of his order. In 1482 he
was in Rome when the Orsini and Colonna feuds threatened to become a civil war,
and on one occasion, when the piazza in front of the Pantheon was filled with fighting
men, Fra Roberto came out of the church of Sta. Maria sopra Minerva, and merely
by holding out the crucifix and praying tor peace put an end to the confliil.

NOVEL VIM.] MASUCCIO. 129

openly going astray from the two distinól precepts and solemn vows
aforesaid, they maintain that they have been dispensed therefrom by
the authority of the supreme Pontiffs ; from the third vow, that of
chastity, they daily grant unto themselves dispensation without papal
authority of any kind whatever. Wretched indeed is the lot of those
who allow their households to hold any intercourse with them.
We may begin, therefore, by laying it down as certain that such of
these as do not practise aught of superstition or hypocrisy should
be honoured and held dear and commended as being the least
wicked of the breed, and that all the others should be hunted out
and banished by us into exile for life by a perpetual decree. But to
leave off talking about them for the present, I will go on to speak in
this next ninth novel of mine about a certain priest who, having
been denied the privilege of taking carnal knowledge of a young
woman, the wife of his gossip, brought all his wits into play in order
to compass the objed of their common desire.

Cf)p ìBnìi of tfjf iSigfitt iaobel.

nuotici tfie l^intt).

ARGUMENT.

rertain piicst i)ais an intrigue b)it!) tf)c toife of ijis gossip, «injts Ijabing
come to tijc ijustanti's rais, ijc m f)is lealousj,) foibitis tljf piarticf ; b)j)err=
upon tfjc goung luoman pcftfntis tf)at sije is posscssrt bg a spirit, ©n
tf)is account tijcy senti tlje tuslianti on a pilgrimage, an^ tijen tfje priest
goes fiacfe to take ijis pleasure toitf) tfje bife iuttijout being suspecteti t}}
angtiotig.

Co tbe nobl])^born a^csgcc Drajortetto ^Bonifacio/

EXORDIUM.

^N calling back to memory, my nobly-born and distin-
guished cavalier, how we two together have many times
and often considered, while confabulating on various
subjeóls, how very limited and scanty is the faith that
one can and ought to give to anything concerned either
with priests or with monks or with friars, I am now
reminded that I might, for the further confirmation of these opinions,
while telling you the story of a mighty humorous adventure, furnish
to all well-advised listeners tidings concerning the unwonted craft
which priests have lately learned to use in their goings and comings.
These men forsooth, perceiving that the society and conversation of

' In the later editions this novel is dedicated "Al magnifico Mcsser Cavalerino
d'Arezzo."

'3 +

MASUCCIO. [novel IX.

women are denied to them because of their religious vows, now scheme
to become aUied to young and beautiful women by the tie of spiritual
brotherhood, thereby making no account of the violation of the most
glorious sacrament of baptism — a rite which contains within itself so
large a portion of the essence of our Christian faith. Therefore,
with regard to such men as these, who go about betraying Christ,
making a mock of San Giovanni,^ and cheating and flouting their
neighbours, it may be said that, neither living nor dead, can we
manage to deliver ourselves out of their clutches. For these reasons
may God by a lasting miracle give light to the minds of each
one of us, so that we may be able clearly to spy out the hidden
treachery of these wretches, even as thou, most sagacious Cavalier,
hast most excellently done in thine own case.

THE NARRATIVE.

lETRA PULCINA is the name of a village situated in the
Valle Beneventana, a place inhabited by a clownish race of
people, fitted for the labour of the fields, or the tasks of
the dairy and the cattle-shed, rather than for any other
kind of traffic or profitable calling. Now in this place
there lived, some time ago, a priest who was young, and a very good-
looking fellow to boot ; and, although all his learning consisted in
being able to read a little, nevertheless, by the assistance of Madonna
Santa Croce," the special protestor of the ignorant, he was appointed
archpriest of the village aforesaid. Though it happened that he was,
by a very long way, more fitted to be a feller of trees in the forest^
than a shepherd of human souls, nevertheless he set himself to the
discharge of his new calling in the best fashion he knew how to use,
and, over and beyond the faél that in a very short space of time he
became the spiritual brother of the greater part of all the men and
women in the village aforesaid, it may be recorded that on all needful
and prescribed occasions he gave to every one of his parishioners the

' St. John the Baptist.

^ Probably an allusion to the "Santa Croce " spelling-book, the earliest manual
for children. This was still used in Italy a few years ago.
^ Orig., inversatore di bosco.

NOVEL IX.] MASUCCIO. 135

spiritual sacraments. The end of it was, that this young man, after
the manner of those who think it but a trifle to enjoy a bout of
amorous sport whenever opportunity offers, cast his eye over a certain
young woman of the place, the wife of a gossip of his, and one
endowed with extraordinary beauty. Her name was Lisetta, and in a
very short time the priest found himself hotly in love with her.

The aforesaid young woman was the wife of a peasant, also a
youth, who was called by name II Veneziano, and he, after having
followed the calling of a mercenary foot-soldier in the wars not long
past, at last came back to his own country, bringing with him the
rewards which peace gives commonly to those who serve for gain ; and
then, subduing the earth with the mattcck and the plough in the sweat
of his brow, he passed his life honestly in the company of his fair wife.
It chanced, however, that Lisetta very soon discovered how this
gossip of hers was enamoured of her, and, recognizing him in his
new office and dignity as the first man of the place, she ascribed to
him the attributes of the highest station, and often, when communing
with herself alone, felt no little pride thereanent. Indeed, she would
willingly have given him all he asked for, had it not been that her hus-
band, as one well versed in such affairs, became in a way jealous of her,
insomuch that he never missed taking her with him to bear him com-
pany whenever he went, according to his wont, to his daily labour in
the fields.

Now it happened one day that the young woman fell ill, and had
perforce to remain at home in the house while her husband went
forth to labour with his oxen. The archpriest, as soon as he got
intelligence of this, straightway began to lay his plans for no other
end than to make love to his gossip's wife, and, walking past the
house where Lisetta dwelt, he called out, " Good day, gossip mine."
She, having come to the window all filled with gladness at the sound
of his voice, and having given him back a fitting salute, demanded of
him whither he was bound at such an early hour. To her the priest,
laughing the while, answered in this wise : "I in sooth am come
hither this morning, now that your husband is gone afield and you for
once left behind at home, to beg of you that you will give me the
loan of his mare to go as far as the vineyard, for the reason that he
himself is so much of a niggard that not only does he refuse to let
any man mount her except himself, but scarcely allows another to set
eyes upon her save when he may be present.' Lisetta, who was very

136 MASUCCIO. [novel IX.

well advised, understood perfeélly what sort of mare it was he was
alluding to, and made answer to him, smiling as she spoke : " Good
gossip, your thoughts have assuredly played you fiilse to-day, foras-
much as you are come hither at a time when, however willing I might
be to make you the loan you ask for, I am unable to do so, seeing
that the mare has hurt her back in such a way that she may not, on
any account, go out of the stable ; indeed, this very morning, as soon
as it was dawn, my husband wanted to have a ride for his pleasure,
but on account of the failing I have just described to you he found
that he could in no wise do what he willed,"

The archpriest, who understood quite well what thing it was that
I isetta alluded to, then replied : " But this thing indeed is really a
stroke of good luck for us, seeing that I cannot imagine that such a
chance should have happened at a better time, I being especially well
furnished at this present moment with a supply of fodder which I will
presently put before the mare ; nay, I will take such good care of her
that another time you will, I am well assured, be all the more ready
to lend her to me." "Alas!" cried the young woman, " you men
are all alike, saucy fellows and boasters as you are. I, for my part,
have never yet set eyes on a mare which, being ill, was in any way
made well again by the boon of a grain of corn." " And why not ? "
said he ; " but now pray to God that He may soon let her be fit for
riding, so that there may ensue some actual deeds which shall bear yet
stronger witness of the truth of what I say." " Now go your way,
and God go with you," said Lisetta. " By the time five or six days
shall have passed I hope the mare will again be fit for the saddle, and
we will make a trial to see whether it is so." And after they had
conversed together some time longer in a similar strain, the priest took
his departure and went home.

After a short space of time had elapsed the mare was found to be
so far restored that she was able to sustain any burden, however heavy,
which might be put upon her, and II Veneziano made such use of her
as pleased him. Then the young woman determined in her mind
that she would carry out the promise which she had given to the
priest, and on this account she remained at home one day alone for
some trumped-up reason which she gave to her husband, instead of
going to the fields with him. As soon as the archpriest knew what
had happened, he betook himself, without losing a moment of time,
to the door of the farm where the young W'Oman dwelt, and entered

NOVEL IX.] MASUCCIO. 137

therein without being observed by a single person. There he found
the mare all in order, and, as soon as he had with a very few words
arranged the stirrups to his liking, he mounted and rode so shrewd a
bout, that before he had given over using his spurs he found that he
had ridden a good two miles and a half, so that in a very short time he
had fared a longer distance than he needed. And if the mare had not
chanced to stumble and fall down in the course of the journey, on
account of the great speed at which they went, he would with perfeft
ease have come to the end of the third mile, according to the purpose
he had originally formed. And in order that his deeds might not be
out of harmony with his words, he showed himself mighty generous
of his provender at the end of every mile. Wherefore, with the
greatest delegation to himself, he went on his course all through that
day without having any notion, when evening at last began to fall,
what number of miles he had covered since he set forth, and in this
wise they continued the journey they had begun.

Now, when at last the hour had come when II Veneziano would
be returning from his fields, the archpriest went his way in right and
proper fashion, having left the mare somewhat wearied, but not yet
satiated with fodder, in the stable. But when it came to pass, some-
what later, that Lisetta's husband, either stirred thereto by the vice
of jealousy or through having been made acquainted with what had
passed, warned her, and forbade her, unless she might wish to meet
her death at his hands forthwith, that for the future she should take
good care to hold no intercourse whatever with the archpriest, the
goodwife, calling to mind how vastly more abundant and generous
were the favours provided by her good gossip than those of her
husband, who forsooth was mightily niggard in this respecfl, was as
one half dead with grief and vexation, and straightway let the arch-
priest know the turn affairs had taken — news which was to him fully
as irksome as it was to her. Then, after many and varied expedients
put in praélice by them in order to find a secure means of foregather-
ing, they hit at last upon a plan which was of a surety more diverting
than dangerous.

By way of putting this projeft of theirs into execution without
farther delay, our good Lisetta, when she was going out of church
on a certain Sunday morning, made believe, in the presence of all the
people there assembled, that she was possessed by some spirit or other,
and straightway began to twist about her hands and her eyes and her

T

J 38 MASUCCrO. [novel ix.

mouth in the strangest fashion, howling and crying in such wise that
all the people who were there fled from her presence as fast as they
could. Now her husband, who indeed loved her more than he loved
his own life, as soon as he saw what strange thing had come to pass,
was stricken with wellnigh mortal grief, and, weeping bitterly the
while, he led her back with him to his house. His grief having
by this time in a measure chased away his jealousy, he let summon
forthwith his gossip the archpriest, and, shedding abundant tears,
he entreated him that he would quickly speak some conjuration
against the possessing spirits, and consider what holy prayers he
might use in order to compel them to go forth from his wife. The
archpriest, coming forward with an air of the deepest gravity, and
beginning his rite of exorcism with the accustomed forms, thereupon
demanded to know of the spirit whom he might be. To this question
the young woman, according to the pad: between the two, made
answer in these words : " I am the spirit of the father of this poor
young woman, and am condemned to go wandering wretchedly about
this world for the space often years."

II Veneziano, when he heard these words, straightway believed it
was his father-in-law who spoke, and addressing him he said, with
much weeping and tears : *' Alas ! I beseech you, for God's sake,
that you will come forth from where you are, and that you will no
longer torment your own daughter." Then the spirit in answer
spake thus: "In a few days, indeed, I will go hence ; but I tell you
plainly that I will then take up my abode in your own body, where
I shall remain all the residue of the time during which, as I told you,

I am condemned to purge away my sins. This I will do because
you yourself were glad when I died."

Poor Veneziano, as soon as he heard these terrible tidings, took
no farther concern as to the trouble which at present molested his
wife, being entirely occupied with the woes which threatened his own
person in the future; wherefore he cried out, altogether overcome by
his fears: "Ah, wretch that I am, is there indeed to be found no
cure for my troubles.'' Cannot this doom, which has been pro-
nounced against me, be revoked either by the way of almsgiving or
by the offering of some other possessions of mine ?" '* Yes, indeed,"
replied the spirit; "that is, if you are inclined thereto." Then said

II Veneziano: "What do you mean by talking of my inclination.''
Surely I would sell everything 1 have, down to my jackass." To

NOVEL IX.] MASUCCIO.

139

this the spirit made answer : " Your task then will be to go on a pil-
grimage of forty days, and to visit forty churches, at every one of
which you shall cause to be said a mass for the remission of my sins ;
and you shall furthermore leave due direótions to the archpriest, your
good gossip, against whom you have in very wicked wise taken up a
jealous suspicion, that in the meantime he shall say the same number
of masses in this place, and that he shall come hither every day and
recite the canonical hours in the hearing of your wife, for the reason
that his prayers are much more acceptable in the presence of God, he
being so much more a righteous man, and one full of the gifts of the
spirit. Therefore, from this time forth, I charge you that you show
towards him the highest trust and devotion, forasmuch as by the
virtue of his prayers I have good hope that you will not only receive
the gift of grace, but that God will always in the future give rich
increase to your flocks and your herds."

II Veneziano, hearing that after all there was to be found a
remedy for the terrible misfortune which he, without the least doubt
or suspicion, believed had been prepared for him, made answer with-
out hesitation that he would at once let everything be duly carried
out. Then addressing himself at once to his reverend gossip, he
besought him that he would without fail let ensue all the above-
named diredlions, promising at the same time to sell the finest pig he
possessed for the forwarding thereof. Then, without further tarry-
ing, he set forth on his journey.

The archpriest, who all this time had feigned to let fall tears from
his eyes, while he was in truth laughing inwardly, took up forthwith
the charge which had thus been laid upon him by his gossip, and,
having resumed possession of the good wife and of what few goods
she had about her, it may be held for certain that, before the husband
made his way back from the devout pilgrimage he had undertaken,
it was necessary, in order to drive out from the affl idled body of the
young woman the evil spirit aforesaid, to lay a whole hundred of
blessed ones, which work these two accomplished with the greatest
pleasure and delight to themselves. And thus at one and the same
time the masses — which in sooth were never begun — were finished;^
II Veneziano returned, having accomplished his pilgrimage ; Lisetta
was freed from her trouble; and the spirit expelled by the archpriest.

' Orig., le non cominciate messe furono finite — an Italian bull.

I40 MASUCCIO. [novel IX.

For the future II Veneziano ever bore himself most complaisantly
towards his reverend gossip, so that never again from this time for-
ward was he in any way jealous of his pretty wife. And she, for-
sooth, in the season of her affliótion, had laid bare, after the fashion
which spirits are accustomed to use, all the secrets both as to men
and as to women which had given her annoyance, telling such secrets
after the similitude of certain others which the archpriest had more
than once imparted to her during the pradice of confession, thus fol-
lowing the infamous usage and damnable habit of this most wicked
generation.

MASUCCIO.

N sooth the things which I have set before you in this last
novel of mine are mightily diverting, and such as may
not be passed over without much laughter. Amongst
other matters there is the stumbling of the mare which
prevented the worthy horseman from coming to the end
of that third mile — a sort of journeying which may well seem hard of
belief to all those who have not had experience of the same. But,
the humour notwithstanding, we may and we must ever regard as
things to be held in the deepest hatred that most malignant nature
and that nefarious way of life of this village archpriest, and of the
greater part of the whole body of the clergy. For they treat as a
thing of no account the most holy sacrament of baptism, and make no
more difficulty about breaking through and violating the same, or in
laying bare the secrets confided to them in the sacred practice of con-
fession, than they would feel over the most trifling mistake committed
during the repetition of any of the offices of religion. And when
they make confession one to another concerning any of these exe-
crable vices aforesaid, or even of worse sins (if, indeed, worse can be
committed), for which they richly merit the penalty of perpetual im-
prisonment, or even the painful and horrible death of burning by
fire, they will impose upon each other such a trifling penance as a
single paternoster, just as if the offence had been no worse than
spitting in church. But if by chance there should fall into their
clutches any layman charged with offences similar to the above-

NOVEL IX.] MASUCCIO. 141

named, then, besides raising a terrible storm about his head, they
would launch condemnation against him as a heretic, and would on
no account consent to grant him absolution unless he should first
hand over to them divers of the possessions of Madonna Santa Croce.
That these words of mine are the truth I will show you in my tenth
novel, which I will let follow forthwith (the last, moreover, which
shall deal with the doings of this folk), how an old confessing priest
— not in any village or rude country place, where his ignorance might
in a way have been his excuse, but in the mighty city of Rome itself,
and in the very centre of Saint Peter's — made, with the utmost
wickedness and cunning, a market of the joys of Paradise to what-
soever persons might be willing to purchase the same, just as if they
had been mere chattels belonging to himself. This thing was told
to me as a true fad: by a man whose word is worthy of all credit.

CDc ÌBìiì} of tlje iamt!) iRobd.

Ji^otìel tbe Ccntb.

iI5ot)eltJ)e Centi).

ARGUMENT.

^ra lantonio tie *an ifiarcello in tf)e course of |)partng ronfesstons sells ti)e
gift of ^aratilsr, an^ arrumulatfs bast sums of mom) tig tf)is prartlre.
Ctoo mm of dFmaia rontribf, ig putting upon tim a most sufitlc c^eat,
to sell f)im a false letoel. mAf}tn f)e comes to fenob) of tiie fvau^, i)t ties
bjretcfietilg, almost mabteneti fig tf)is troutle.

Co tfie noble ano bigb^fiotn e^esser jTrancesco arcella/

EXORDIUM.

Y most righteous Arcella, if we mortals would only
well and carefully consider the full extent of the
sublimity and immensity of the mercy and the
abundant grace of the most high God towards the
generations of men, we should have it clearly made
known to us how, from the very first moments of
our procreation. He did not deem it enough merely to make us after
His own image and similar to Himself; but, in addition to this,
desired to confer upon us full domination over sea and land, hills and
plains, and to make all generations of beasts, which reason not, to be
our tradlable subjedls and useful for our being. And notwithstand-
ing that our first parents, by their foolhardy greed, sought to bring

In the later editions this novel is dedicated to Messer Francesco Lavagnuolo.

V

1+6 MASUCCIO. [novel X.

upon themselves, and upon all those who should come after them, in-
evitable and eternal death, God, in order to demonstrate to us in all
His deeds His abundant liberality and sublime love, deigned to send
down to us His only Son, in His desire to redeem us from condem-
nation, and to let this Blessed One suffer a death of most bitter pain
upon the wood of the cross, thus opening to us straightway the
closed doors of Paradise. And over and beyond all this, so as
to leave undone naught by which He might make clear to us all how
true was the kindly affection He felt towards us in His benignant
love, He left to comfort us here on earth, when He Himself willed
to return to the Father whence He came, that most glorious bishop
Saint Peter, his worthy successor, conferring upon him ample powers
which should afterwards go down for ever to all the sacerdotal clergy
as the workers of His will, whereby they might always be able to give
us our share in the true city of Paradise, at whatever time we might
call upon them for the same.

But one thing there is which must needs cause us the greatest
astonishment when we regard it, to wit, the infinite patience which
God the Creator of all shows in allowing still to live upon earth
certain of these aforesaid agents of His holy mysteries, men who by
this same authority sell the reward of Paradise in their office as con-
fessors, as if it were a thing belonging to themselves, to others who
look upon it as a chattel to be bought and sold. According to the
means of the would-be buyer, and the sum of money he may be
willing to spend, these men will pretend to give away or to withhold
a higher or a lower place round about the throne of the most high
God, never considering in their dealings the difference which there
may be between one man and another — whether he may be a homi-
cide, and of most wicked hfe, and given to every vice, or one
of seemly carriage, and honoured by all, on account of his good and
decent way of living. All they require is that their greedy avaricious
hands should be abundantly salved with coin.^ And were it not for
the faót that I have made up my mind to molest these wretches

' Baptista Mantuanus, who is cited by Bayle to illustrate the vices of SixtusIV.,
writes in his poem, "Dc Calamitatibus Tcmporum " :

" Vcnalia nobis
Tempia, sacerdotcs, altaria, sacra, corona;
Igncs, terra, preces, coeliim est venale, Deusque."

Under Innocent VIII., his successor, the system of spiritual corruption was farther

NOVEL X.] MASUCCIO. 1+7

no more by the pricks of my pen, I would here bring before you so
many instances well worthy of belief from times past, and, in addi-
tion to these, so many true witnesses as to their doings in these days,
that you yourself, and many others besides, \vould wonder beyond
measure how it is that divine justice does not straightway consent to
let all such men be blasted by lightning, and sent down to the lowest
centre of the abyss. Nevertheless, I will set before you one instance,
showing you what manner of deed was wrought by a certain old
priest in order to gather together money, and how he, after having
sold Paradise to an enormous number of innocent Christian people,
and thereby opened to them the gates thereof,^ found these same
gates, according to his deserts, shut m his face when the time came
for him to depart from this life.

THE NARRATIVE.

N the days of Pope Eugenius IV.,'- that most worthy
prince of the Christian state, there lived in Rome a certain
priest full of years, a good Catholic, reputed to be a
man of pure and holy life, who was called by name Fra
Antonio de San Marcello, and was a member of the
Order of the Servites.^ For many years past he had exercised his

elaborated by the establishment at Rome of a bank for the sale of pardons, and every
sin had its price. In the chronicle of Infessura there is a story ot the Vice-
Chancellor, who, being asked why criminals were allowed to pay instead of suffering
for their misdeeds, replied, " God wills not the death of a sinner, but rather that he
should pay and live."

^ It is somewhat remarkable that Masuccio should allow a corrupt sale of spiritual
privileges to be valid for its purpose.

" Formerly Cardinal Condolmieri. He succeeded Martin V. in 143 1. He
was a Celestine monk, and a man of hard and stubborn charafter. His first aft as
pope was to attack and despoil the Colonnas, the kinsfolk of his predecessor. The
Cardinal Prospero and Antonio, Prince of Salerno, were the chief vidims. He
summoned the Council of Basel for the reform of the clerg}-, and the Councils of
Ferrara and Florence for the re-union of the Eastern and Western Churches. He
died in 1447.

' The Servites were founded in 1233 by an association of Florentine citizens.
They adopted the Augustinian rule, with certain variations. They received the
sanftion of the Pope in 1255, and in 1487 Innocent V^III. put them on a level with
the other mendicant orders.

148 MASUCCIO. [novel X.

office amongst the other penitentiary priests who served the confes-
sionals at St. Peter's, and he always continued the praólice of his
calling without putting on a stern and wrathful face, as is the custom
of some. He, on the other hand, by his kindly greetings and gentle
manners, persuaded all the penitents to come to him to confess their
sins; for, as surely as water will extinguish a burning fire, so holy
almsgiving, done through the means of sincere confession, will purge
away sin both as regards this world and the next as well. Indeed, if
by chance there should have gone to him any penitent who had been
guilty of all the misdoings and unpardonable crimes which lie within
the possibilities of the sinful spirit of man, if only this sinner should
have filled his hand full of anything besides wind, the friar straight-
way brought the penitent face to face with Saint John the Baptist.^

And thus, while the friar went on for many years heaping up this
enormous gain, and being held and reputed by all those who knew
him to be little short of a saint, it came to pass that the greater
part of those coming from foreign lands, and of the Italians as well,
would under no circumstances let themselves be shriven by any
other than he, thus filling his pockets every day with various sums
of money. Although he had by such practices as these heaped
together many thousands of florins, and was often wont, with a hypo-
critical look upon his face, to make some pretence of adding to the
buildings of his monastery, still, so rare and so insignificant were
the sums he gave away, that, compared with the huge revenues he
enjoyed, they stood for nothing more than the taking of a beaker-
ful of water out of the Tiber.^

Wherefore, after a certain time had elapsed, there arrived in
Rome from Ferrara two youths, the one named Ludovico and the
other Biasio, who, as is the practice of men of their sort, were
accustomed to travel without ceasing through the world from one
place to another, carrying with them false money and counterfeit
jewels, and many other artful frauds, for the beguiling of all those
people who might be to the leeward of them.'' Before long these

^ Orig., pur che la 7nano d\iltro che di vento gonfiata li avesse^ di botto dirimpetto a
San Giovanni Battista il collocava. The first of these allusions is a parallel to the other
Italian saying : stare colle mani piene di tnosche. The reference to St. John the Baptist
is probably a suggestion of bribery money, as in Florence coins were struck bearing
the image of the saint, the patron of the city.

" Orig., altro non era che un bicchiero iacqua di Tevere aver tolto.

'' Orig., che gionger si poteano sotto vento.

NOVEL X.] MASUCCIO. 149

two received intelligence of the great riches of Fra Antonio, and
likewise how he was more avaricious than any other old priest in the
place — how the only reason why he still went on taking his seat in
that penitentiary of his arose from his intense passion of greed.
And as for the seat itself, seeing that he continually made therein a
trade and barter of places in Paradise, it might have been called more
appropriately a publican's counter. Over and beyond this, it came
to their knowledge how the good friar maintained a close intercourse
and commerce with certain changers of money — men well versed in
every language, and such as trouble themselves with the praélice of
no other calling than to change the money of their own country,
sitting thus always in front of St. Peter's for the convenience of
those strangers who nowadays come from the other side of the
mountains. The two Ferrarese found out that not only did Fra
Antonio seek the services of these men for the exchange of the
various money he received into Italian coin, so that he might the
better hoard them up, but that he also went to them for advice with
regard to certain gems which, from time to time, came into his hands
as offerings.

Wherefore, after they had got possession of minute information
as to his ways and dealings, they took counsel together as to how they
might best add Fra Antonio to the number of those whom they had
cozened. For this reason Biasio, being well skilled in the language of
Castile, pretended to be a Spanish money-changer, and, having hung
a money-changer's tray about his neck, took up his station early one
morning with his stock of coins amongst the others of his calling in
front of St. Peter's. Then, whenever Fra Antonio might happen
to pass either into or out of the church, Biasio with a merry face
would salute him by taking off his cap. For several days he con-
tinued to use this behaviour towards the priest, who, on his part,
began to wish to know more of the man who greeted him so
courteously ; so one day he called to the fellow in good-humoured
wise, and bade him tell straightway what was his name and from
what country he came. Biasio, as soon as he perceived how things
were going, was overjoyed thereanent, forasmuch as it seemed to him
that the fish was at last beginning to scent the bait; wherefore
in cunning fashion he thus made answer to Fra Antonio : '^ Messere,
my name is Diego de Medina, and I hold myself at your pleasure.
I am come hither forsooth, not so much to ply the trade of a money-

I50 MASUCCrO. [novel X.

changer, as to purchase any fine precious stones, either set or unset,
which may fall into my hands, seeing that of such wares as these, I,
by God's mercy, am a very skilful judge, through having lived for a
good portion of my life in Scotland, where I managed to master a
number of secrets conneóled with the jeweller's art. But in any case,
my father, I am altogether at your disposition, and, if there should
come into your hands any of the money of my country, I am pre-
pared to assist you in the changing thereof for a very small profit. I
will do this both on account of the respeót I have for your cloth, and
on account of the afFeótion I have towards you in this acquaintance
of ours, so recent and to me so very dear."

The friar, when he perceived how becoming was the speech of
this man, and when he furthermore ascertained how great was his
skill and knowledge as a lapidary, was in no small measure pleased
with him; wherefore, reckoning that he had met with a great stroke
of luck in finding such a friend, made answer to him in these words, his
face beaming with joy the while : " Now see, my Diego. You must
know that all good and true love is reciprocal. On this account,
seeing that I am held here to be a man of particular authority, and
one to whom, psradventure, more penitents come than to any other
confessor of this church, I beg you, if such a request may not seem
irksome to you, that, should any man of your nation, or, indeed, of
any other, come before you, you will send him to me. And anyone
coming to me in such wise, I will hold to be specially recommended
on account of the love I bear to you ; and, besides this, I myself will
do as much or even more on your behalf if ever you should require
it." And in this manner, after they had mutually thanked one another,
and had determined to treat one another exadly as if they were father
and son, each one went about his own business.

Now Ludovico, in furtherance of the scheme devised between him
and Biasio, had put on the disguise of a Provencal sailor who had
fled from the galleys, and was now spending his time in going about
St. Peter's, begging from this one and from that. Indeed, he knew
so well how to play the part of a cozening knave, that, putting on
one side the business he had chiefly in view, he picked up ^ from
almost everyone he met a great quantity of alms, what though the
sums themselves were but trifles. Meantime, as he went rambling

^ Orig., arravogliava — Neapolitan dialed.

NOVEL X.] MASUCCIO. 151

about the church he did not fail to keep his eye fixed constantly on
the pennant/ and when at a certain moment he perceived that Fra
Antonio was unencumbered by any duty at the confessional, he
humbly crept towards him with loitering steps, and besought him that
of his goodness he would deign to listen for a few moments.

The good friar in sooth had a purse for every man's money,
and although, judging by appearances, he deemed the fellow before
him to be mightily poor, he nevertheless turned towards him, and,
having made him kneel down at his feet, he signed over him the sign
of the holy cross; whereupon Ludovico addressed him in the following
words : "My father, although my sins are very great and heinous,
I have not been n.oved to come to you so much to unburden myself
of these, as to reveal to you a great secret which I would sooner
commit to your keeping than to the keeping of any man in the world,
for I clearly perceive that you are endowed with every virtue, and
devoted to the service of God. I know not what spirit it may be
within me which is urging me, either by my own good luck or by the
fortune in store for you, to do this thing. I only know that I feel my-
self compelled to make it known to you alone. But there is one favour
I ask and implore of you, by the true God and by the holy sacrament
of confession, and this is that it may please you to keep my secret
close. Of the necessity of this request of mine you, I am well assured,
will be convinced forthwith when you shall have heard the nature
thereof."

Fra Antonio, who comprehended clearly enough from the ring of
the words that there was some gain to be made out of the fellow before
him, immediately turned towards him, and, having made mental
appraisement of his value, he thus addressed him in benignant wise :
" My son, it was surely the good counsel of your soul which per-
suaded you to trust to my keeping this thing you mention. Still, I
will not refrain from reminding you that you may lay bare before me
this, and any other secret matter you may have, without any doubt
or suspicion ; for you must know that when you speak your confes-
sion will be made to God and not to me. And no form of death, let
it be ever so shameful — to say nothing of the eternal damnation which
would follow the same — would be held to be an adequate punishment
in this world for the man who would be base enough to reveal the
secrets told to him in holy confession."

' Orig., con rocchio sempre al pennello.

152 MASUCCIO. [novel x.

Ludovico, who in sooth was a very cunning knave, here began
to let fall plentiful tears, saying the while, " Messere, I believe all
that you say, but still the fad remains that the matter in question
must needs prove to be a mighty dangerous one as far as I am con-
cerned, and that 1 am troubled with many doubts as to whether
it can ever be brought to pass without letting fall dishonour upon me,
or even putting me in danger of my life." On the other hand, the
friar, whose greed was now keenly aroused, went on without pause
to bring into play all his cunning, and persuaded Ludovico as best he
could, with all sorts of cogent arguments, to stand in no doubt in a
case of conscience. When Ludovico, with just as great cunning on
his part, had kept back the secret from the friar for a considerable
time, and when he saw at last how keen the old man's curiosity was
to have knowledge of the same, he began to tell a story, in very
timid fashion, as to how he had been detained by force on board
a Catalonian galley for a long time, setting forth everything in due
order, and ending by confessing how he had at the present time
concealed on his person a carbuncle stone of immense value, which
jewel he himself, while on board of the galley aforesaid, had stolen
from the dead body of one of his comrades, a Greek, who had died
of fever, and how he alone, of all the people on board the galley,
knew that the Greek was wont to keep sewn up in the bosom of his
coat this precious jewel, which he and a certain German had very
cunningly stolen, together with certain other articles of great value,
out of the treasury of St. Mark. Ludovico next went on to tell
how by their evil fortune they had been made prisoners by this said
galley, and how, the ship having been wrecked through missing
sight of the lighthouse, he and divers others had made good their
escape therefrom, and by the help of God had managed to find their
way to Rome.

Now when Ludovico had brought to an end this well-planned
discourse of his, he added, weeping as he spoke, " My father, I
know well enough that if I carry about me this precious jewel on
such a long journey as I needs must make to reach my home from
this place, it may very easily come to pass that, by reason of this stone,
I may some day be taken and hanged by the neck. Wherefore I
would not mind parting with it for a sum much less than its just
value. And because, as you yourself must see, that God has appa-
rently sent His spirit upon me in such wise that I have been led

NOVEL X.] MASUCCIO. 153

Straight to you, and because peradventure He may have ordained, on
account of those many good works of yours of which I hear the
fame, that so great a treasure as this carbuncle of mine should sooner
belong to you than to any other man, I implore you, for all the
reasons aforesaid, that you will do your best to let this business
of mine come to an issue in such manner that no scandal of any kind
may arise thereanent. I will let you see the jewel I have told you
of, and, if it should chance to please you, you shall give me therefor
just as much money as will suffice, when I shall have returned to my
home, duly to bestow my three daughters in marriage; for I have
this very day heard intelligence of them, letting me know that they
are still alive, but reduced to a state of extreme misery and want. I
ask you to give me so much and nothing more in exchange for my
precious gem."

Fra Antonio, when he had heard the end of this skilfully con-
coded story, not only gave full credit thereto, but was so much
delighted with the news that it seemed as if he would jump out
of his skin for joy, and, after he had given his promise, with many
flowery speeches, to keep secret whatever might be told to him, he
asked Ludovico to let him see the gem in question. The fellow still
pretended to be in a timid and reluélant mood, but, after the friar
had gone on for some time urging his request, he drew out at last
from his breast, feigning to be shaking with fear the while, a
piece of crystal set in fine gold with a bit of ruby-coloured foil at
the back thereof, the whole thing being arranged in such masterly
wise that it seemed of a truth to be a carbuncle of the finest. From
its size and from its beauty it was indeed a marvellous thing to the
eye, and it was so well draped in cloth of taffetas, and so cunningly
disposed, that every passer-by looking at it would have taken it for
real, and no one but a lapidary would have deteded the underlying
fraud. Then Ludovico, taking the stone in one hand and carefully
shading it with the other, cast a glance around him, and finally dis-
played his gem to the gaze of the greedy and rapacious wolf before
him.

Fra Antonio, as soon as he had looked at it, was altogether con-
fused and amazed at the sight thereof, for indeed it seemed to him
as if it must be of even greater value than he had at first thought
possible, and it straightway occurred to him that in this matter
it would be well for him to seek the counsel of his Castilian friend;

X

15+ MASUCCIO. [novel x.

wherefore, turning to Ludovico, he said, " In truth the gem seems to
be a very fine one ; nevertheless, it may happen that your companion
told you a falsehood. But that there may be no doubt in the affair,
I will, if it pleases you, show it privately to a friend of mine who has
great skill as a lapidary, and, if it should veritably prove to be what
it is in outward seeming, I will give you not only what you ask for it,
but as much as lies in my power to disburse."

To this speech Ludovico replied: "No, you must not do this
thing, for it may happen that I shall be thereby condemned to suffer
as a thief." Then the friar answered : " Of a truth you need have
no doubts on this score, for I give you my promise that I will not
leave the church, but only go as far as the great door, where there
is, as I know well, a certain Castilian, an eminent lapidary, a very
worthy person, and my son in the spirit to boot. To him I would
wish to show the gem, using the greatest caution over the business,
and when he shall have inspeéted it I will come back to you." To
this Ludovico replied, by way of answer : " Alas, alas ! it seems cer-
tain to me that you will be the death of me, and that this is my last
day of life. Indeed, I would never grant your request were I not
forced thereto. But, at the same time, if I grant it, I beg and warn
you to take good care how you trust Spaniards, seeing that they are
men to whom little faith is due." The friar replied: "Ah! leave
the care of this to me, for, were he to prove to be the greatest villain
the world holds, he would not get the better of me, forasmuch as he
loves me as well as he does his own self."

Thus, leaving Ludovico in the church. Fra Antonio hurried
away to the place where Diego was awaiting his coming with no
small longing. As soon as the rogue saw him he greeted him with
his accustomed salute, which the friar duly returned, and then the
latter, having taken Diego aside somewhat, displayed to him the
precious gem, begging him at the same time that he would, for the
sake of the love he had for him, tell him truly what might be the
value thereof. As soon as Diego saw the stone he began to feign to
be overcome with the greatest astonishment, and then, with a smile,
he said : " Messere, is it possible that you want to make a gull ot
me, seeing that this is assuredly the Pope's own carbuncle i" The
friar, overjoyed at these words, then said : "Do not trouble yourself
over that matter, but simply tell me what, according to your judg-
ment, might be the value of it." Whereupon Diego, still laughing

NOVEL X.] MASUCCIO. 155

in his sleeve, replied : " What need is there for me to do this, since
you know the gem better than I do. But I see how the thing stands:
you are anxious to put my skill to the test; and, since it pleases you
that it should be so, I am well content. So, without keeping you any
longer waiting, I will tell you that no one in the world save the Pope
or the Venetians could pay for this gem the price which it is really
worth." The friar replied: *'By the love that you have for me in
your soul, I beg you to tell me what might be the value of it."
"Alas!" said Diego, ''although at this present time gems are of very
small value,^ I, poor as I am, would nevertheless rather be the owner
of this carbuncle than of thirty thousand ducats." And after gazing
upon the stone once more he kissed it, saying, "Blessed be the earth
which produced thee!" Then, when he had restored the carbuncle
to the friar, he went on : " Bat tell me, by your faith, does this gem
indeed belong to the Pope ?" " It does indeed," the friar answered;
" but I must tell you that it is absolutely necessary this thing should
be kept a secret, forasmuch as His Holiness does not wish that any-
one should cast eyes upon it until it shall be set in his mitre, and I
am now about to have it inlaid therein."

When he had thus spoken Fra Antonio took his leave, and,
rejoicing in his heart at what he had heard, returned to Ludovico,
and said to him : " My son, the gem is in sooth a very fine one ;
still it is not of such great value as you deem. Nevertheless, I will
take it, and let it be set in a crucifix for our church. How much,
therefore, have you determined in your mind to ask for it ?" Ludo-
vico answered: "Ah! do not talk in this fashion. I indeed know
quite well what the thing is worth, and if I could carry it away with
me without putting my life in peril thereby I should assuredly become
one of the richest men in the world. But I have determined rather to
bestow it safely in some private place here, than to take it away with
me and to sell it at a risk in other parts. To get me some aid in this my
extreme need I therefore place myself entirely in your hands, and beg
you that you will ad towards me in such wise as God and your con-
science may inspire you, especially as you stand in need of the gem for
the use of your church." The friar answered : " May you be blessed,
my son ! but, seeing that we poor priests have no other source of in-
come than the alms which are bestowed upon us by devout persons, and

^ Orig., ancor che oggi le gioie sieno a terra.

156 MASUCCIO. [novel X.

seeing likewise that you yourself are a poor man, it will be necessary
that we should use some sort of discretion in our dealings one with
another. And in order that you may have some experience as to
how things are with me, I will tell you that I can now at this present
time hand over to you two hundred ducats; and, if it should happen
that at some future time you should come back to this place,
I will not fail to make you a partaker in whatever grace God may
have sent to me in the meantime."

Ludovico, when he listened to this speech, began to weep afresh,
and cried : " Alas, alas ! Messere, you call yourself a man of God,
and yet you have the conscience to mention so small a sum. May
it never be the will of God that I should fall into such an oversight
as this!" Then said the friar in answer: "Now do not distress
yourself, my good man, and weep in this fashion without reason, but
tell me plainly what sum you want for your jewel." " What do I
want for it ?" cried Ludovico, " I trow that if I should let you have
it for a thousand ducats I should be bestowing a greater benefadlion
upon your church than all those who have raised it up from the lay-
ing of the first stone," Fra Antonio, who on one side was moved by
the vilest avarice, and on the other by greedy desire to be the pos-
sessor of this most magnificent gem, began to bear up to the wind,
and Ludovico was fain to strike his sails somewhat;' so that at last,
after a long bout of haggling, they both stopped half-way — that is,
they agreed the price should be five hundred ducats.

Thereupon they took their way together towards San Marco, and
Fra Antonio, as soon as he had come into his chamber, put the fine
carbuncle safely away in a casket, and gave Ludovico in exchange for
the same five hundred ducats in fine gold. Having received these
and a benedi6lion as well, Ludovico, with the friar's assistance, straight-
way sewed the money up in his coat, and this done, he departed, mak-
ing his way swifter than the wind towards St. Peter's. When he
arrived there he gave a signal to his companion, who was awaiting his
coming, doubting somewhat the while. They met later on at a certain
place which had already been settled between them ; and now that
they have set their sails to the wind, I beg you, good Fra Antonio, to
find them if you can.

' Orig,, Frate Antonio che da un catito la pessima avaritia, e da P altro la gulosità de la
ricchissima gioia Io stimolaz'a, de Porza a montare incominciato^ e Ludovico a calare in poppa.
Masuccio keeps up tlie nautical metaphor throughout this story.

NOVEL X.] MASUCCIO.

57

The friar, as soon as the bargain was completed, found himself
mightily well content therewith, deeming that this purchase of his had
made a very rich man of him. Furthermore, he was minded to sell
the aforesaid jewel into the service of our Lord by the help of a
certain lapidary, who was his dearest friend and also his gossip.
Therefore, having sent for this man and bade him come straightway,
he showed him this magnificent stone, using no little parade and cere-
mony the while, and thus addressed him: " What think you of this,
my good gossip ? have I not made a fine purchase, although I am
naught but a friar ?" As soon as the gossip saw the stone, he began
to laugh, and when the friar perceived this he demanded, albeit he
himself was still smiling, *' What are you laughing at?" To him the
lapidary answered, "I laugh in considering the multitudinous and
multiform cheats which men versed in the world's ways contrive for
the beguiling of those who are gifted with little forethought, and at
the same time I declare that there are very few men who would not
have known this stone to be a false one." " How !" cried the friar;
*'is not this stone a good one? What may its value be? Examine
it well and narrowly, for the love of God." The gossip made answer
to him : " I have already examined it, and I now tell you for certain
that there is naught of value about it save the gold in which it is set,
and that would not amount to more than ten ducats at most ; and,
in order that you may yourself be assured of this, I will make it
clear to you forthwith." Then, having taken in hand a knife, he
dexterously wrenched the stone out of the setting therewith, and took
away the foil which was there, and straightway let Fra Antonio see
that the stone was perfeólly clear crystal, which appeared in the rays
of the sun as something little better than a lighted candle.

When the friar fully realized the trick it seemed to him as if the
heavens were falling on his head, and that the solid earth were being
rapt from beneath his feet. Then, in his savage fury and overwhelm-
ing grief, he raised his hands and began to lacerate his face with his
nails, which were old and crooked. His gossip marvelled greatly at
what he saw, and spake thus to him : " What ails you, my good
gossip?" "Alas! my son," Fra Antonio replied, "lam a dead -
man, for I have paid for that thing there a price of five hundred
golden ducats. But, for God's sake, give me your company as far as
St. Peter's, where I trow we may find a certain Castilian money-
changing thief who assured me that the stone was genuine. Of a

158 MASUCCIO. [novel x.

surety he must be in fraudulent league with the one who sold it to
me." The gossip made a mock of this scheme ; nevertheless, to give
the friar satisfadion, they took to horse, and spent the whole of that
day in searching for Mary all over Rome ; ^ and in the end, when they
failed to find her, the good friar made his way back to his home sad
and grieving amiin. Then he took to his bed, and, through lamenta-
tions and scourging himself, and beating his head against the wall, he
brought himself into such a state of fever, that, without taking any
heed to provide for the reception of the blessed sacrament, he passed
away from this life in the course of a very few days.

In this wise, therefore, the great sums of money heaped up by him
in making a barter of the celestial home, proved — most justly, be it
said — in the end to be the cause which operated most powerfully in
procuring his eternal exile therefrom. Indeed, at this last setting forth
of his he was not able to carry away with him coin enough to satisfy
the claims of Charon — that dread steersman — in order that he might
make the passage from the river's bank to the city of Dis. From
which voyage may God deliver me and every other faithful Christian
man ! Amen.

MASUCCIO.

O numerous are the hidden and secret tricks and the frau-
dulent wiles which these men who wear the garb of religion
are wont every day to put upon ill-fated laymen, that there
is no need to marvel if they themselves should now and
again be cheated likewise in artful and ingenious fashion
by certain others no less wary. Indeed, so little are they accustomed
to be duped themselves, that they get into the way of presuming over
much, and lose restraint over themselves in the matter of knowledge,
holding it to be a question beyond dispute that no man could ever
have the will or the power to put a cheat upon them. Wherefore, if
it should happen at any time that one of them should fall into the
snare which has been set for him by a layman, he will suffer so much
bitter grief thereanent that he will be like to fall a vidim to death,

^ Orig., e tutto il d'i cercata Maria per Roma ni finalmente trovatala, a saying
equivalent to the English "To look for a needle in a haystack."

NOVEL X.] MASUCCIO. 159

and be bereft of all hope — according to the instance set forth in the
foregoing novel.

For the reason that I have fully determined to write no more of
the doings of this perverse and wicked generation (although, indeed,
I have not said half enough about them), and for the future to put
the bar of silence upon my lips and to molest them no more, I find
that I must needs leave unnoticed an enormous mass of their secret
doings, such as could only by the rarest chance come to the know-
ledge of laymen. Nor will I enlarge, however much my pen may
lead me on thereto, upon the deadly and cruel enmities and the
depraved jealousies which exist, not only between one form of religion
and another, but between the inm.ates of the self-same convent, or
concerning those, just as great, which prevail in the courts of the
great princes of the Church. And we can say nothing worse of them
than to mark down how they seduce certain besotted laymen to take
up their quarrels, so that about the tribunals and in the piazzas these
latter contend publicly over the same, the one becoming a partisan of
the Franciscans, and the other of the Dominicans, besides causing a
thousand other beastlinesses concerning which I will be here silent.
Wherefore, leaving them henceforth in full possession, without any
hindrance whatsoever, of the many hundred years they have enjoyed,
we will direél the course of our pleasant travel into other parts, and
let him who may in the future desire to follow up the search as to
their conversation and habits, continue the same for himself, and bear
the burden of the pursuit. This one thing, however, I will declare
and firmly maintain, that all those deeds of theirs which I have set
forth in the past ten novels, and in other places, have in no wise
been recorded with the intention of wounding those priests and friars
who duly observe to the full the approved and holy rules laid upon
them — men who, although it happens that they are few in number,
and on this account difficult to be judged by us, are without doubt
the light and the sustenance both of our faith and of the Christian
religion. And if we come to consider the matter with care, there
will be found no cause for marvelling that in such a vast multitude
very many wicked and vicious men should exist ; seeing that,
although it chanced that the great and omnipotent God created in the
first instance the whole of the angelic choir good and perfeól, no small
wickedness was afterwards found even amongst the most exalted ones
thereof, so that they were hurled down from heaven by divine justice

i6o MASUCCIO. [novel x.

into the nethermost centre of the pit. And, also, what shall be said
of Christ, our true and only Redeemer, who came to take upon Him
our human flesh on account of the sins of our first parents? Was
there not found amongst the small flock which He Himself had
chosen that most wicked traitor, Judas, who sold Him for a price
into the hands of the perfidious Jews ? But in these instances neither
the sin of the angels nor that of Judas prevailed in any way to stain
the righteousness of those who remained faithful. By the aforesaid
arguments we may in truth come to the conclusion that the monstrous
vices of those priests who are wicked hypocrites can in no wise
wound or offend the virtues and perftdlions of those who are
righteous ; nay, rather, the more egregious the exhibition made of
the sins of the wicked, the brighter will be the glory with which the
integrity of the just will shine. Forasmuch as a black crow, when
placed beside a white dove, will only serve to enhance the purity of
the dove's plumage, so in like manner the detestable doings and the
manifest ill deeds wrought by these iniquitous wretches against the
majesty of the eternal God will without ceasing exhibit the worth
and beauty of the righteous life.

But because in these latter days it is no easy matter to distinguish
the good from the b?.d, who, as I have already said, transform them-
selves from pastors into wolves wrapped round with the raiment of
the gentle lamb, I will continue instant in my chiding of them until
I make an end of my reproofs against them altogether, at the same
time declaring that it would be more convenient and advantageous
if we could contrive to live without these scandals, and that it would
be well if their ofiicers — who should naturally be the best judges of
the coin they let circulate — were to mark them all with some strange
and novel stamp, so that at a first glance it would be an easy matter
for each one of us to recognise the counterfeits as branded traitors.^
But seeing that such a matter would have to be proposed in their
general chapters, I, having many other things to attend to, will leave
the world as I found it. Wherefore, having brought this first part
of my book to a happy end, we will, with the permission of the
Creator and the good pleasure of my listeners, pass on to the second.

' Orig., come signati giudei fossero.

Itjm rnlris tf)e JlFirst IJnrt.

Part t&e ^econn.

^^^p

^^^"ffi

i

W^^^^.

'^^^^^^^M

H

^È

jérologue

Co tbe ^cconD IPart of tfjc n^otìellino.

Itjfif kgms auspiriouslj) tfjc ^rroiiti yavt of tfjc jaobdlino, tn bljirlj toill
fit fount) ten ot^ci- nobrls setting fortfj, toittjout offence to angone, tfje
i)lstorifS of tiibfifl flouts anii sratf)ps put upon jealous men, togetljei
luitf) mang otf)fr tiehgl)tsome atibentures, in surt ortei as luill be founti
belob).

==^ OW indeed I have at last in my defenceless bark come
out from amongst the dreadful waves and the raging
winds which have vexed it during the narration
of the nefarious and unbounded crimes told in the
foregoing stories — not indeed without bodily hurt
and much weariness of spirit — and have steered my-
self into the longed-for harbour of safety, there to relax my tired
bones and worn-out limbs. Having repaired my rent sails and set
in order all the other tackle and rigging of my ship, having taken
heed that the season has put on a new aspeól, and that the sea, now
calmed down, will allow me under the fresh breath of the gentle
zephyr to plough its depths in peace, having marked likewise that
all the planets and the fair seeming of the skies show themselves
friendly and favourable to my emprise, it seems that I ought straight-
way to dired the course of my bark into these joyous and delightful
regions, giving my sails to the wind while this prosperous calm pre-
vails. Then, having entered into these charming and gracious parts,
I will gladden my hearers with pleasant and dainty discourse, and
make myself an occasion for mirth and gratification to them. For
their consideration— and before this benign star of mine shall have

1 6+

MASUCCIO.

[prologue.

come to its appointed end and ceased to let shine the light under
which I have begun this work — I will now set down ten other novels,
which will form the second part of my Novellino. In these I
purpose to tell divers other pleasurable jests, set forth in a strain
which ought to give offence to no man. And my manner of pro-
cedure will be to intermingle the stories in such wise that the one to
follow shall depend on the one just told. Wherefore in the beginning
— and I do this not without good cause — I will deal in a due and
fitting manner with the vicious infirmity of jealousy, and the poisonous
results issuing therefrom, a subjedl which will be set forth after a
droll fashion in the first novel, dedicated by me to the most illustrious
lord, Don Federico of Aragon.

il3ot)el tfje (Blz\)zntì).

51?ot)el tl)e 6let)entl).

ARGUMENT.

SJoannt Covnrsr, h)} rraison of ijis jfalousj), rausrs i^is toiff to tiesuisc
j^rriself in man's attire toljfnrber B\}t gors abroati toitf) i)tm ; tut a rertain
rabaltrr, ijrr lobrr, nijo^s 1)f^^ i« t^f pipsmrc of a friniti of ti)f gustanti,
to^o m a state of frrnjB tafefs i)is totfe |)oiiif aftcrtoarlis : tl)r tiolngs of
tije toife are noiscti airoai), anti ifoanni i}m of baation, b)f)frfupon tijc
toifc again marries anti leatis a merrj) life.

Co tfje most illustrious prince, Don jFetierico D^aragona,
tbe seconti son of tbe i^ing.^

EXORDIUM.

Y most goodly prince, although jealousy has been
described by many of our poets as a kind of amorous
passion brought into being by the soft and gentle
flames of love which has become somewhat excessive,
nevertheless, on account of the untoward efi^edls
which arise therefrom, this distemper must be judged
as an intolerable punishment, and one only to be borne with the
greatest mental and bodily suffering. Wherefore, so harsh and so
biting to the taste are the fruits which this poisonous plant produces,

' He was the last king of the Aragonese dynasty who ruled in Naples. The
second son of Ferdinand I., he succeeded his nephew Ferdinand II. in 1496. He
was deposed in 1501, and died at Tours in I5O4.

i68 MASUCCIO. [novel xi.

and so sharp and cruel is the bitterness thereof, that rarely or never
is there to be found one fallen under the sway of it who, while deem-
ing that he will steer clear of the furies of Charybdis, will escape
destruélion in the whirlpool of the barking Scylla. In the novel
which follows you will be instruóled concerning a new form of jealousy,
and a very strange sort of safeguard employed by a foolish and jealous
fellow, who was bent not merely on preventing his wife from being
regarded with amorous looks by gallants and lovers, but bent also on
contriving so that she should not be espied by anyone in feminine
dress: and likewise how it happened that, through his own handiwork,
she was one day enjoyed as it were under his very eyes by a certain
cavalier who was her lover.

THE NARRATIVE.

O come therefore to the matter I propose to deal with, I
will tell you that in the times of my most illustrious
lord, Duke Filippo Maria Visconti,^ there lived in Milan
a certain handsome and noble cavalier called by name
Messer Ambrosio del Andriani. This same cavalier was
young, rich, of very goodly person, and of excellent manners ; and,
being led by the generous bent of his rare intellecft to become
acquainted with the dignities and the famous deeds of the various
princes of Christendom, he went searching after the same in many
places both within and without the bounds of Italy. At last there
was brought to him report of the magnificent state and the triumphal
feasts which King Alfonso of im.mortal memory, your grandfather,
was accustomed to maintain and to celebrate without intermission in
the city of Naples, and on this account he determined to be a witness
of these likewise, and thereby to satisfy his desires to the full. So,
having put a thousand florins in his purse and furnished himself with
horses and servants and raiment worthy of his condition, he took his
way towards Naples.

' The last of the Visconti and grandfather of Ippolita of Aragon. He died in
1447. The terms used in speaking of him in this place have been held to imply
that Masuccio was at one time in his service.

NOVEL XI.] MASUCCIO. 169

When he had come there, and had well surveyed the many stately-
quarters of the city and the delightsome surroundings thereof, he
came to the conclusion that the Naples in which he was now abiding
was no less fair than the Naples he had prefigured in his mind. Thus
for this reason, and for that which had originally led him thither, he
determined in his mind to tarry there, enjoying himself and living
merrily as long as the money he had brought with him should serve
his needs. It happened that he foregathered with certain gentlemen
of Capuana,^ and, having been taken by these now to festivals, now
into churches, and now to joustings, places where great crowds of
ladies were gathered together, he said one day to his companions,
after he had well considered the dames around him, that in his
opinion the ladies of Naples were better furnished with graceful
presence and with womanly worth than rich in superabundant beauty.
Whilst he was discoursing in this strain, a certain youth, one of his
most intimate companions, Tommaso Caracciolo by name, who
chanced to be present, affirmed that what the cavalier had just said
was no other than the truth, and added somewhat on his own
account, speaking thus : " If it should ever be your fate to catch sight
of a young woman living at Nola, the wife of a certain shoemaker
named Joanni Tornese, I doubt not at all but that you, following the
example of divers others I have already heard speak on the matter,
would straightway confess that this young woman is the most beautiful
you have ever seen in Italy. But to bring this thing to pass seems
to me almost impossible, seeing that the husband keeps her shut up
in such fashion that no one, however closely related to her, can ever
get sight of her, on account of his unheard-of jealousy, and on account
of certain suspicions which have been kindled in his mind from a
report that the Lord Duke of Calabria, having been inflamed by the
fame of her marvellous beauty, seeks to put her to the proof And
if another tale be true which a neighbour of his, who is also a servant
of mine, told me for certain (but I know not in sooth whether I ought

* That is, of the Seggio di Capuana, which was the aristocratic quarter of
Naples. The Seggi of Naples and of the other southern cities were relics of the
Greek foundation. They were, according to Giannone, " Istoria Civile del Regno
di Napoli," particular districts, generally situated somewhere near the gates, in
which certain influential families were wont to congregate for social intercourse and
for political union. They were pra6lically the same as the (ppa-puii of Athens. In
Naples there were four, Capuana, Forcella, Montagna, and Nido — the last a corrup-
tion of Nilo.

Z

170

MASUCCIO. [novel XI.

to lend any credence to the same), you will hear a very strange report
concerning her, and this is that the husband, so as not to leave her at
home alone in his absence, is in the habit of always taking her with
him to whatever place he may visit disguised in man's attire; and
thus, without incurring any suspicion, he goes on his way rejoicing,
and enjoys the merriest time that is possible for a peasant in this
our land. Wherefore, if it would meet your wishes, I would suggest
that we might go and make an attempt to get sight of her beauty."

Thereupon, without any farther parley, they set forth in company
and betook themselves to the shoemaker's shop. Having come
there, Tommaso said: *' Master cobbler, have ycu by chance seme
pairs of neatly-made shoes which you can show to Messer Ambrosio
here?" Whereupon Joanni replied: "Assuredly I have, at your
pleasure." And having let enter the cavalier, he made him sit down
on a bench, and began to fit certain shoes on his feet. Tommaso, who
sought to lengthen out the time of such business, turned to them and
said: "Come now, I will go on and despatch some affairs of my own at
a place near by, while you are engaged in finding a well-fitting pair of
shoes." And excusing himself with these words he went his way,
and the shoemaker began forthwith to try the shoes on Messer
Ambrosio, keeping his head bent down low as it is necessary for a
man to do when engaged on such a task.

Messer Ambrosio in the meantime held his head ereót, turning
his face around on all sides, for the reason that every thought of
his was bent on catching a glimpse of the beautiful mistress of the
house ; and, as his good fortune would have it, he fixed his eyes
upon a little latticed window, and saw at the same the woman herself,
who was looking down upon him in the shop below. As he had
good space of time wherein to get a clear and perfeól sight of her, he
looked well at her, and in the end, after he had feasted his eyes on
the rich and priceless beauties which were exhibited in her face, it
seemed to him that she was in sooth endowed with an excellence of
beauty far greater than that which his friend Tommaso had led him
to exped. Thus, on account of the length of time which Master
Joanni took in settling him with a pair of well-fitting shoes, he found
plentiful opportunity not only of scanning closely her face, but also
of letting her know by various soft and amorous signs how hotly he
was burning with love for her sake.

Now the young woman, who was of a very wary temper, was

NOVEL XI.] MASUCCIO. 171

well assured that, on account of her husband's extreme watchfulness,
she would never find an opportunity of satisfying the cavalier's wishes
by any aél of hers, and, although she was filled with delight at the
thought that she herself had seemed pleasant in the sight of such a
gracious gentleman, she determined not to exhibit to him any sign of
her goodwill or to return him any gracious answer. And in this
fashion the fitting on of the shoes at last came to an end ; whereupon
the cavalier, having paid to the shoemaker double price for his wares,
thus addressed him, with a merry look on his face : " In good sooth,
I have never in all my life worn shoes which, according to my taste,
have fitted me so well as these ; wherefore see that you have ready
for me every day a fresh pair of the same fashion, for which I will
not fail to pay you always the same price." The shoemaker, over-
joyed at his good luck, held it to be indeed a most fortunate accident
which had led so gallant and magnanimous a cavalier to come into
his shop, and, deeming that he might draw great profit from such
custom in the future, he said : " So be it, in God's name ! and I, on
my part, give you promise that each time you come to my shop you
shall find yourself served better and better."

In the meantime Messer Ambrosio returned to his friend Tom-
maso, rejoicing mightily, and telling him in what generous wise his
kind fortune had dealt with him at the outset of the adventure,
affirming at the same time that the face of this woman was by far the
most lovely he had ever seen, but that with regard to the rest of her
person he could give no opinion, for the reason that he had been able
to get no glimpse thereof. He summed up his speech by begging
his friend to give him freely whatever prudent counsel he might
have to offer concerning the affair in question. Tommaso, although
he harboured but little hope that the business would come to the issue
the other desired, began, like the exceptional friend he was, to try
to be of some service to Messer Ambrosio, and to sharpen his wits
as best he could, without in any way letting drop the discussion or
leaving the spot. In their conversation they ran over all such ways
and means as fervent lovers are wont to dream of in crises of this
sort, and when at last they fixed upon a particular one which seemed
to them propitious and fitted to their needs, they proposed to bide
their opportunity until the conditions of time and place should prove
to be such as would let them conveniently carry their scheme into
effed.

172 MASUCCIO. [novel XI.

Now, seeing that the cavalier followed without fail his purpose
of going every day to buy a fresh pair of shoes at the wonted price,
it happened that the shoemaker, in order to lure him on to further
spending, began to address him in yet more servile fashion, and
would now and again invite him in the morning to partake of a light
collation in a private apartment he had at the back of his shop, the
cavalier feeling no small gratification at these blandishments. The
friendship thus begun between the two men continued, and when
the day of .Santa Catarina had come, a day upon which great
crowds of people are wont to betake themselves to Formello, Messer
Ambrosio began to walk up and down in front of the Castello,^ his
lodging being very near thereto, and to speculate as to whether he
might catch sight of Joanni Tornese at the festival, with his fair wife
arrayed in the fashion already noticed. He had not waited there
long when he espied from a distance Joanni Tornese with a young
scholar leaning on his arm coming towards him ; whereupon he
straightway understood that the thing upon which he had already
reckoned had indeed come to pass.

Now, as Joanni was going along, it chanced that there met him
on the way a very close friend and gossip of his, and as they walked
on in company this latter demanded to know who might be the
young man he had with him ; whereupon Joanni answered him, as he
nad answered divers others before, that the youth was a brother-in-
law of his, a student of medicine from Nola, who had come thither
on a visit to his sister. Whilst they were talking in this strain they
came to the spot where the cavalier was walking backwards and
forwards, and after they had all saluted him by doffing their caps, and
had been saluted by him in return, he fixed his eyes steadfastly on the
face of the young scholar, and was soon well assured that the one he saw
was she whom he had been awaiting with such keen desire. Then, with
a joyful look on his face, he asked them whither they were bound,
and they replied that they were on their way to Santa Catarina; where-
upon Messer Ambrosio, having joined himself to their company,
went along with them, and in the course of the way spake thus :
" And I too on my part had purposed to go thither, and I was tarry-
ing here by myself, awaiting the coming of my servants or of certain

' The Castello Capuano, which was built by the Hohenstauteiis, and was their
principal residence. Opposite to it is the church of Santa Catarina a Formello.

NOVEL XI.] MASUCCIO. 173

of my acquaintance's who might bear me company ; but, seeing that
none of them have come, I will go with you." Then, having set out
all together on their way, they arrived at last at the place where the
festival was being celebrated, and found there assembled a vast crowd
of people. On this account the cavalier had now and again a chance
of pressing the hand of the young scholar to let her know clearly that
he had recognized her, and when she, knowing perfeótly well who he
was, made answer to him in the same fashion, it seemed to him that
his wishes were about to be fully accomplished, and he was satisfied
beyond measure thereanent.

Early that same morning Messer Ambrosio had given full in-
strudions to the host with whom he lodged as to everything that was
necessary to be said and done for the carrying out of the projeól he
had in hand, and had likewise despatched all his servants on various
errands, so that not one of them would bs seen until late in the day.
Therefore he kept company with these people until the festival had
come to an end, and then took his way back with them towards his
lodging. When they had arrived in front of the house where he was
staying, he took Joanni by the hand and began to speak to him in
these words : " Good maestro, you have so often bidden me to your
board, and have done me so much honour in your own house, that
now it seems to me right and seemly that you, together with your
companions, should stay here and take your breakfast with me this
morning, although I am a stranger in these parts." Joanni, who, as
we have heard before, was of a very jealous temper, and feared the
very birds of the air for his wife's sake no less than men, felt very
little in the humour to take her into an inn, albeit she had changed
her woman's garb for that of a man. So more than once he refused
the proffered invitation, and demurred to accept it; but at last,
moved by the fear of giving offence to his friend, and urged on by
the eager persuasions and promptings of his worthy gossip, he was
induced to accede to Messer Ambrosio's request.

When all the company had gone together up to a small terrace
where they found ready prepared a well-decked table, the cavalier
called for the landlord forthwith, and demanded of him what had
become of all his servants ; whereupon the host answered and said
that they were all gone to the market to buy oats and fodder.
Hearing this, Messer Ambrosio feigned to be mightily disturbed,
and said : " Though they should all be hanged by the neck we will

174 MASUCCIO. [novel xi.

carry out the affair we have in hand ; wherefore do you have a care to
give us something of the best for our repast." To this the host made
answer in words which had been previously settled : " Messere, I have
here prepared no delicate viands of the sort that would suit your
taste." "How is that, you lazy rascal?" cried the cavalier. "In
sooth I have a good mind to scoop out your eyes with this very hand.
I have spent in your house more than two hundred florins, and now
that I have brought hither with me these friends of mine, at whose
hands I have received a thousand tokens of honour and kindness, you
are not ashamed to tell me that you have nothing that is fit for us to
eat." Whereupon the host, feigning to be frightened out of his wits,
answered : " Do not be angry, messere, for were the king himself in
the house you should be served straightway." But the cavalier,
turning towards him in a furious rage, said to him : " Be off with you,
then, beast that you are, and see that you put to roast for me some of
the best capons you have." The landlord forthwith departed to carry
out these orders, and the cavalier still kept up the show of being in a
raging mood; whereupon his guests exhorted him to have patience,
forasmuch as in any case he might, without fail, regard them as his
devoted servants. Messer Ambrosio thanked them kindly and said :
"In sooth, I am well minded to hang up one or other of these varlets
of mine, when they shall come back, for having left me, as you see,
alone by myself all day ; and this over and beyond the fiilure of
his duty on the part of the landlord."

Now Joanni saw nothing of the snare which lay hidden beneath
these words; so, in order to appease him and to show himself willing
to do aught which would gratify him, he said : "Is there anything
you want, for we too all hold ourselves as being bound to serve you ? "
To this Messer Ambrosio replied : " And I look upon you as my
brothers; but it happens that to-day I am in want of a little sauce or
relish which is called mustard ; indeed, I am in such a humour this
morninor that I could not eat roast meat without some of the same
therewith. One of my servants knows the place where they sell it at
a fair price and good in quality — somewhere, I think, in the old
market. Now, seeing that I have no one here to send for this
mustard, how can I be otherwise than angry with my servants on
account of this fault of theirs ? " Joanni had already begun to be
somewhat out of humour with himself with regard to the offer of
service he had made, for he would assuredly have felt monstrously ill

NOVEL XI.] MASUCCIO. 175

at ease at leaving his wife alone for so long a time. Wherefore,
without making any other proposition, he kept his tongue between
his teeth. Messer Ambrosio, seeing the course things were taking,
turned towards Joanni and spake thus : "Ah, my good maestro, if
the task will not be very irksome to you, I beg you that you will go
fetch for me this sauce, and by the timic you shall have come back
our dinner will be ready."

Poor Joanni as he listened was mightily ill-pleased, but it seemed
to him that he would be behaving in an unseemly fashion were he to
refuse to do so slight a service. And again he searched his brains in
vain for any plausible excuse he might advance why he should take
his wife along with him. Wherefore, not being able to hit upon any
safeguard other than the help of his gossip, he went up to him and in
a whisper recommended the young scholar to his care; and then,
having taken from the table a sauceboat, he flew as quickly as he
cculd to fetch the sauce. The cavalier, as soon as he saw that he was
gone, turned towards the gossip who had been left on guard, and cried
out: '' Alas ! after all I have forgotten the best part of what I wanted
totellhim." Said the gossip :" And what do you still want. '^" Then
the cavalier answered : " I wanted some oranges, but in my rage I
quite forgot to tell Joanni of my need." The other replied, deeming
the request to be made in good faith: " I myself will go and fetch
you some forthwith, for as it happens I have some of the finest
oranges in the world at my shop, which were brought to me yesterday
from. Salerno."

Having thus spoken, he forthwith went on his errand; whereupon
Messer Ambrosio, being left alone with the young woman, and
thinking there was no time to be lost, took her by the hand, and
said: "And now, master physician, I am minded to tell you privily
concerning a certain ailment with which I am troubled." Then, hav-
ing led her aside into a chamber and taken her up to the bed which
was therein, after that weak demur and resistance which those whose
desire is solely towards praftice of this kind are accustomed to put
forward, they made upon the swiftest wings of desire a flight of
supremest rapture, and scarcely was this finished when the gossip
came back with the oranges. Finding the chamber door locked, he
marvelled greatly within himself thereat, and having put his eye to a
chink which he discovered, he beheld the cavalier, after he had taken
his pleasure with the young woman, holding her in his arms, and

176 MASUCCIO. [novel XI.

giving her many secret and tender kisses. This thing which he saw
caused him no little trouble, and, having turned himself away with
an indignant face, he v^as rssailed with the thought that the cavalier,
overcome by nefarious vice, had borne himself lasciviously towards
the fair young scholar who had been left in his keeping.

Accordingly he went down to the entrance door, where he met
Joanni ; and the latter, not seeing his wife in company with the
gossip, at once asked where his brother-in-law, the young scholar,
might be, bearing himself the while like a man stunned and almost
beside himself To him the gossip answered in the following words:
*' Would to God that I had bitten out my tongue this morning, rather
than have persuaded you to tarry in this place, forasmuch as I have
now no longer any faith in that cavalier with whom you are on such
intimate footing. At first, indeed, I reckoned him to be a man
endowed with all the virtues, but I have lately discovered him to be
as great a villain as ever lived." " Alas ! " cried Joanni, " and what
may have happened.^" The other answered: "May God send
him a bad year, forasmuch as this man, putting in pradlice the same
guileful tricks by which he induced you to leave this place, also de-
spatched me to fetch these oranges ; and when, on my return, I found
him locked in the bedchamber with your brother-in-law, I played the
spy upon him through a chink of the door, and found that he was
dealing with the young scholar as though with a fair and beautiful
woman."

When poor Joanni heard this terrible news, he stood like a man
who is neither dead nor alive, overwhelmed with confusion and quite
beside himself. In this humour he went upstairs, where he found
the cavalier seated at the table, and holding the young scholar in
conversation as if nothing out of reason had happened. Then, turn-
ing towards him, and carried away by his grief and anger, he said, in
a voice broken by sobs: "By my faith, sir, the Milanese courtesy^
which you have shown towards me has indeed been great. But,
seeing that you have been fain to eat the meat without waiting for
the sauce, you shall now relish the sauce as best you may without
ever again enjoying another taste of such a dish." Then Joanni,
having dashed the sauceboat down on the table and seized his wife by
the hand in a tempest of rage, cried : "Get up now, in the devil's

' Orig., una gnui cortc'uì Milanese,

NOVEL XI.] MASUCCIO. 177

name, and let us return home, seeing that we have paid our shot^
without eating our meat, and I, to make things worse, have brought
you the sauce." Then, threatening her with a downright blow, he
went his way with her.

The gossip, who did not fathom the depth of the inward grief of
Joanni, followed him down the stairs and kept on reproaching him
that he should have cast so great an ignominy upon so distinguished
a man, and all for the sake of a boy. " What can it matter ? Do you
mean to say you think he will become with child ? Well, if it is done,
it is done, and what need was there to fall into so grave an error,
and to lose such a friend on account of so small an offence." But
Joanni, as he made his way with hasty steps, was thinking of naught
else than how he might convey his wife back to his house, and for
this reason, and because of the fierce anger which was raging within
him, he did not trouble to give his gossip a word in reply. The good
gossip, however, would not on this account give over his reproaches,
but kept on urging him straightway to repair the fault which he had
committed on such trifling ground of offence. At last his molesta-
tions became more than Joanni could bear, so, all trembhng with rage,
he spake to his gossip thus: "Alas ! my gossip, it will not be any
fault of yours if 1 do not this morning curse God and all those who
dwell in the courts of Paradise. Cannot you see that this is my
wife ? " " But how can that be i" said the other. " Why should you
take her about with you in this fashion ?" Thereupon Joanni, with
plentiful tears, told him the reason why he had aded in this wise.

The gossip, who was a shrewd fellow, first read Joanni a severe
lesson for his folly, and then went on to counsel him thus : " My
Joanni, you were indeed ill-advised; and, on account of the crazy
scheme you fashioned, a heavy and a deserved punishment has fallen
upon you. You wanted to jump out of the frying-pan and you have
fallen into the fire.^ Alas, my poor fellow ! How is it that you
were not warned how wicked and corrupt the world is grown in these
our days, and that it is much more difficult to keep guard over pretty
boys than over women, and especially over such an one as this, who is
in truth a lure for these hawks incarnate ì In good sooth I have won-
dered a thousand times this morning that she was not snatched away
from your arms. But now that the thing is done, and that you can

^ Orig., c^e senza mangiare noi avemo pagato lo scotto.
^ Orig., cercasti saltare della patella per dare in su la brasa.
A A

178 MASUCCIO. [novei. xi.

blame 110 one there anent except your own self, I will say that it
befell you through your ill luck, and that in the future you had
better make use of some other safeguard. If God has given you a
woman for a wife it is not meet that you should seek to transform
her into a man. I do not say that you should negled to use what-
ever guard and precaution may be necessary with a young and beau-
ful woman, but of a surety you ought not to employ methods so
unheard-of and so strange. In the end, forsooth, they will be found
of little advantage ; for when wives are fully minded to deceive their
husbands, there never has been found in human ingenuity any pre-
caution which has availed aught for the frustration of their inten-
tion. And be well assured that you are not the first, nor will you
be the last, to receive buffets of this kind. Do but take an example
from those men of eminent worth who have often fallen into snares
like this. These prudently hide their mishaps whenever they can,
so as not to add a lasting shame to the grief they feel already."

Thus, with exhortations and arguments such as these, and with
divers others to boot, the good gossip went with Joanni as far as his
house, pacifying him as best he could, and having left him there —
for the reason that he saw no cause why he himself should be
counted in the number of the duped ones — he made his way as
quickly as he might back to the inn, where, having found the
cavalier in the company of his good friend Tommaso, he joined
himself to the party, and they all together made merry over the joke
that had been played and over the dinner which had been ordered.
Joanni, after long weeping and lamentation, died of grief; whereupon
his wife, glad to be rid of him, married again, and tasted all the
pleasures which belong to blooming youth without being transformed
from her own and most comely seeming.

NOVEL XI.] MASUCCIO. 179

MASUCCIO.

HE jest which was put upon Joanni Tornese for having
let go abroad his wife disguised as a man induces me to
go on from the beginning I have made in similar strain, and
to tell of another most artful trick played by one of our
Salernitans upon a certain host who was as inordinately
jealous of his wife — a story which will differ indeed somewhat from
the one I have just told, inasmuch as in it the lover put on the dis-
guise of woman's attire. This lover, for the reason that all other
methods of putting into execution his longed-for projeft were denied
to him, brought his marvellous craft into adlion in such fashion that
the husband himself was induced to conduót him to the very bed in
which he afterwards lay with the wife, over whom the closest watch
was kept. For the reason, however, that this husband never in
after times came to know aught of what had occurred, he was not
bound to let his life come to an end therefor, as was the case with
the wretched Joanni, who, as soon as he was aware of the shame
which had been put upon him, died outright.

C^e iSnti of tfje iSlfbentf) iHobrl.

J13ot)Cl tì)z Ctoelftl).

5I?ot3el t\)t Ctoelftl).

ARGUMENT.

^ rertaiti gout^, Itrnq ntntnourftj of t|)e totfc of an mtiferrijfr, puts ctt ttie
gari) of a toitiob) tooman, ant) arril)fs one niQtt toit!) all ^is attcntiants
at tf)e tousf of tt)f innixfcprr aforcsaiii. Ct)e iiost, tnlurrti fcg plausiile
aroumcnts, puts t1)e prrtfnlif"ti toitioto to fif^ toitij f)ls Inifp, toi^o, aftrr
bjitfjstantiing somrtoijat, tafers plrasuie iuiti) tier lobrr, anti tte i)ost,
untoitttng of toijat f)as tffallrn, is patti ttoofolli.

Co tbc ercellent Signor jFctcrico C^aDolos/ tbe most
Itjor^bipful Count anti Chamberlain.

EXORDIUM.

msn^M

1

AM persuaded, excellent and most virtuous signor,
that if we take into account the chief philosophizing
investigators of those higher intelligences which guide
the vicissitudes of the heavens and the order of the
planets, as well as the great inventors and adepts who,
working both by argument and judgment, deal with
every produól of Nature — I say, if we take the aforesaid, each one
by himself or all together, we shall find that they have never been
endowed with such subtlety of intelleél and lively ingenuity as Love,

' He was the husband of the lady to whom Novel XXI. is dedicated. He
came from Spain to the service of Alfonso the Magnanimous, with whom he was
a prime favourite.

1 84 MASUCCIO. [novel xh.

our great lord, has lent and will for ever lend to the better part of
those who in their fervent passion follow the glorious course of his
vi(5lorious banner. And in sooth those who consider well how
amazing, and altogether beyond comprehension, are the wiles of
wicked women when they are minded to play their husbands false,
will likewise find therein no small reason for wonderment. Where-
fore we may assuredly give judgment and affirm that, in cases where
the foresight of a crafty lover is conjoined with the evil nature of a wary
woman, no human knowledge or circumspection will ever be found
to supply a sufficient rampart against it. All this, my most prudent
signor, you will be able to understand on your own part, and you
may likewise give instru6lion, the truth of which no one can call in
question, anent the same to all the rest of mankind now living on
earth.

THE NARRATIVE.

^N the years when this our city of Salerno was ruled by the
sway of that glorious Pope, Martin V.,^ the traffic of the

place increased to a mighty volume, and merchandise in
enormous quantities was brought thither without ceas-
ing from every nation under the sun. On this account a
vast number of outland handicraftsmen and others gathered together
there and took up their abode, and amongst the rest came a certain
worthy fellow from Amalfi, called by name Trifone, who was minded
to follow the calling of an innkeeper in his new home. He brought
with him his wife, a young woman endowed with no small beauty,
and hired an inn in the street of our Seggio del Campo,"^and likewise
acquired another house in the quarter of the Porta Nova, situated in

' Ottavio Colonna, elcftcd pope at the Council of Constance in 1417, under
the title of Martin V. His cledion is a landmark in the history of the papacy,
inasmuch as it put an end to the Great Schism, John XXIII., Bencdift XIII., and
Gregory XII. being deposed in his favour. In one of her many disputes with
Sforza, Joanna II. conferred Salerno upon Antonio Colonna, who held the city in
the name of his uncle the Pope, by way of enlisting the papal influence on her side.
Her successor, Alfonso of Aragon, took the city from the Colonnas and gave it to
Raimondo Orsini.

^ Salerno, like Naples, was divided into Seggi. The Seggio del Campo was
Masuccio's own quarter of the city.

NOVEL VII.] MASUCCIO. 185

a very decent and secluded court — a spot near which no one would
pass unless he should have some colourable reason therefor.

After he had duly settled his wife and his family in the aforesaid
house, it happened that a certain gentleman of our city of the most
honourable lineage, whose name for many good reasons I have deter-
mined not to disclose in this place, fell deeply in love with this young
woman, the wife of Trifone. Now this gentleman, who in sooth was
tormented with the fiercest pricks that ever lover felt, could devise no
method whereby he might find some place in which he might satisfy
his desires ; nor was he bold enough, seeing in what close custody
the over-jealous husband kept his wife, to patch up a conspiracy with
her in order to procure their foregathering. Wherefore he deter-
mined to employ in this affair the arts of a certain old woman who
was well known to him, one of those pedlars who go wandering
about the streets offering for sale such trifles and gewgaws as
ladies love. One day, after he had made his wishes known to her,
and given her all necessary instruólions for the forwarding of the
same — together with promises of liberal reward in case of success —
she, who was both ready and anxious to serve him, went her way to
set about the business. After having traversed divers of the quarters
of the city she came at last to the one in which the young woman
dwelt, and having come there, she addressed now this woman and
now that, offering her wares for sale the while, until she at last
approached the door where stood the innkeeper's wife ; whereupon,
without letting anyone hear what she said, she spake thus : " And
you, my pretty lady, cannot I sell you any of my dainty wares? I
know full well that if I were as young and handsome as you are I
would not fail to buy some new thing every day, and thus, by letting art
improve what nature made, render myself beautiful beyond compare."
" Alas ! " cried the young woman, " you only wish to make a jest of
me." Then replied the pedlar, " By the Lord, I speak no more than
the truth when I declare that there is a rumour spread all through the
parts hereabout that you are by far the most beautiful woman in the
kingdom. And although I heard certain gentlewomen, in a house
where I chanced to be of late, speak in envious and unreasonable wise
in disparagement of your beauty (so that they might thereby com-
mend their own) and declare that you were not of high birth, and
divers other things of a like character — remarks such as women of this
class are wont to utter, forasmuch as their eyes are ever ready to start

B B

1 86 MASUCCIO. [novel xu.

out of their heads when they espy beauty in one of our condition,
nevertheless there was present a young man of a noble house (I know
not whether you may have acquaintance with him), who made answer
to them in such terms as their speech deserved, and ended by declaring
that, as far as beauty was concerned, not one of them was worthy to
pull off your shoes."

The young woman, when she listened to these words, replied :
'' God help them then ! and, if it be not unseemly to ask, it would
please me mightily to know the names of these said gentlewomen,
and also that of the noble youth who spoke in my defence." The
old woman, who was all the time craftily spreading her nets, replied:
" 1 will not just now let you know the names of these ladies, foras-
much as I am not minded to speak ill of anyone, but I feel I need
not hold back from you the name of the young man." And then,
without awaiting farther speech from the other, she gave both his
name and his family, and added : " But what words he spake to me over
and beyond what I have told you, I do not mean to reveal to you
unless you shall first swear to me that you will hold them secret."

The young woman, after the fashion of her sex, was altogether
overborne with curiosity to know what these words might be, and
gave her promise never to reveal them to anyone ; whereupon the
crone, using the deepest cunning the while, began to speak in this
wise: "My daughter, I would in sooth be unwilling to counsel you
in any matter which might perchance come to an issue fraught with
dishonour to you, and, besides this, I would remark that it is not wise
to give ear to everything men may say. He indeed told me that he
loves you more than he loves himself; that he is enamoured of you in
such fashion — so he swore — that he had, for love of you, lost both
his sleep and his appetite as well, and was consumed like a burning
taper. And although I have reminded you, and still remind you,
that it behoves you to keep guard over your honour and good name,
than which there is no more precious possession in all the world, still
I cannot keep silent my tongue and hold back from telling you that,
as I view it, you could commit no more heinous sin than let such a
youth as this die of his pain. Indeed, it seems still worse, when one
considers how praiseworthy and amiable are his ways ; how well-
mannered he is, how liberal, and how honest. He was, in sooth,
most anxious to give me a pretty little ring, in order that I might
convey the same to you on his behalf; but I, being doubttul about your

NOVEL XII.] MASUCCIO. 187

feelings towards him, told him 1 could not, at present, do such a
thing. If you only knew what it is that he desires of you so
ardently, I am assured you might easily find a way of granting it to
hitn without letting your honour suffer at all thereby. He declares
to me that he asks for naught else than that you should be willing to
accept his love; that, as a reward for this devotion of his, you should
show some disposition to give him a little love in return ; and that, if
at any time he should send you some small gift, you will deign to
accept the same and to wear it for his sake. Now, my daughter,
prayers like these do not seem to me to be very difficult to grant,
and you, forsooth, ought to give ear to them sooner than any
o!:hjr young woman I know, so that you may not let your youth slip
by without plucking some ot the flowers thereof, remembering always
that, for the sake of your honour, you are forbidden to taste its
luscious fruits."

The young woman, when she listened to these tender words,
tricked out with so many specious arguments by the cunning go-
between, felt that she was, as it were, almost constrained by necessity
to take the young mm for her lover, albeit she was most honest by
nature and in no wise disposed to overstep the bounds of her innate
goodness. Wherefore, turning to the old woman, she spake to her
thus : " Come now, Madonna, I will let you go back to the gentle-
man and tell him that for love of his worth and goodness I am willing
to accept him as my one and only admirer, but let him be well assured
that this is all he need ever exped to get from me. Tell him, like-
wise, to have good heed that he keep the matter a secret, and not
fall into the error which besets most young men, who, as soon as they
find themselves amongst their merry companions, go boasting, not
only of the things they do, but also of the things they have never done
and never seen. Tell him, too, that I would sooner die than that
this matter should come to the knowledge of my husband, who is
more jealous than any other man in the world."

When she heard this the crone was satisfied that in this first
essay of hers she had worked to some good purpose, marking that the
affair was certainly moving in the right direction ; so she made answer
to the young woman in this wise : " My daughter, your words are
indeed most prudent ; but I would wish you to know that this young
man,amongst his other remarkable virtues, is gifted with a most secreti ve
nature, and, as God may let me make a good end, I swear that when

1 88 MASUCCIO. [novel xh.

he laid bare this secret of his to me, he not only made me promise
him with more than a hundred oaths that I would never let it become
known to anyone, but also on his own part trembled like a reed, and
the colour of his face took to itself a thousand varying hues with every
moment that passed. Wherefore I beg you not to let any doubt as
to his secrecy keep you back from giving him your love, for of a
surety the day will come when you will pique yourself on having the
handsomest and the worthiest gallant in the world, and one, moreover,
upon whose silence and secrecy you may fully rely. And although
the favour which you here concede to him may seem a great one —
and indeed you have given him all he asked— nevertheless I will not
cease to call up in your mind the thought of the loss you will suffer
if you should thus persist in letting waste your flowering youth in such
wretched fashion. If, forsooth, ill fortune and the aótion of your
parents have been the means of giving you so ugly and so baseborn a
man for your husband, that is no reason why you should insist on
being your own enemy; nay, it is rather a cause why you should cast
about to find some means of giving yourself pleasure, seeing that
there is no grief so bitter as the regret of old age over the neglected
opportunities of youth." And then, putting on an air somewhat of
mystery, she went on, saying : " Do you know what I will say to him
as coming from you.'' I will tell him that it will be all his own fault
if he does not find out for himself some way by which you and he
may foregather."

To these words of the crone the young woman replied, putting
on some show of indignation as she spoke : " By my faith, you will
do well to have a care that you tell him no such words as these. It
will suffice well enough if you tell him those which I directed you to
bear to him and no more." Then said the old woman : " I beseech
you that you will not be angry with me, nor wonder why it is that
I am thus importunate ; but I swear to you, by the sign of the cross^
which 1 now make, that if I should not bear back to him some good
news he will assuredly make an end of himself However, I now
recommend him to you as much as ever I can ; and, in order that he
may lend belief to the gracious answer you have giv^en me to bear to
him, I now beg you to take care to let yourself be seen by him to-
morrow in the church of Saint Agostino, and when he shall rub his

' Orig., ic ti giuro per questa croce.

NOVEL XII.] MASUCCIO. 189

nose in this wise and say to you, ' I commend myself to you,' you
shall reply to him as you brush your hair aside from your face, 'And
I myself to you likewise.' In such fashion you shall pass the time
until Fortune shall send you a better way of enjoyment." To this
the young woman answered : " And I, too, on my part, will be
generous to him and commend myself to him a thousand times. Tell
him to come to-morrow morning, and tell him likewise that I cannot
remain long in the church."

Therefore, when the crone had gone her way, the young woman
stood some time letting fresh fancies engage her heart, in which, by
reason of the impressive words she had just listened to, she seemed
to feel a worm gnawing without ceasing. The old woman went
straightway in search of the lover, and when she had found him she
told him, point by point, everything that had happened, and what
had been the result of her embassy. The youth, hugely delighted
at the news she brought to him, was early astir the following morn-
ing, and went without delay to the appointed spot, where he at once
espied the young woman, who had made herself even more lovely
than she was as she stood, fresh from the hand of nature. And not
only did he get from her a greeting vastly more gracious than ladies
are wont to give on such occasions, but he was also granted the pro-
mised answer to his covenanted signal ; wherefore he found himself
in such a state of joy and delight as he had never before known.

To pass briefly over the affair, the lady at last left the church, and
the lover made his way home to ponder and to consider in what fashion
it would be granted to him to pluck that supreme fruit of love which
he so greatly desired, and having run over many and various ex-
pedients for the compassing of this end, he settled at last after much
deliberation upon a certain one. By this he determined that, happen
what might, he would make his way into her house in such a manner
that she should perforce grant him that boon which he desired
beyond anything else in the world, and indeed had already begun to
taste in anticipation. Having laid bare his plan to certain gentle-
men of Capuana,' who had come into the city to spend the holy season
with the archbishop, who was their kinsman, they sent off late one
evening a number of mules and horses great enough for the purpose
they had in view to a certain spot outside the city. Then, when the

' Ot the Seggio di Capuana in Naples.

190 MASUCCIO. [novel XII.

lover, in the garb of a widow woman, and wearing a riding-hood and
a bonnet, and two other youths similarly disguised in women's garb,
had gone thither and duly mounted the pack-horses which had been
prepared for them, they took their way, accompanied by the rest of
the party on horseback, towards the city as soon as the night had
fallen.

Now when they arrived at the Seggio del Campo they found
that the host of the inn aforesaid, as soon as he heard the trampling
of the horses, came out after the flishion of hosts and said to them :
"Sirs, are you minded to take up your lodging here?" And to this
one of the company replied : " In sooth we are. Have you good
stalls for our beasts and beds for ourselves ? " " Indeed, sir, I have,"
the host answered ; " you have but to dismount and you will be
served in the best fashion." The one who had spoken then drew the
host aside and said to him : " See, good host, the excellent charaéler
you bear has led us to seek your roof to-night; nevertheless, we find
it fitting to demand of you that guarantee of security which the
exigencies of our present affairs demand ; for you must know that we
have here with us the daughter of the Count of Sinopoh, who has
recently been left a widow through the death of the late Messer
Gorello Caracciolo, her husband. Now we are at present conducing
her back, in her mourning, as you see, to her father's house, and we
are unwilling for the sake of decency to allow her to sleep at an inn
this night, should it be found possible to bestow her elsewhere.
Wherefore, out of your courtesy, we beg you that you will do your best
to find some worthy woman with whom she may take her lodgment
this night, together with the two maids who attend upon her; and if
you shall do this we will pay you for such accommodation double
what it may be worth."

To him the host replied, saying : " My lord, I know no one in
this quarter of the city who is of condition good enough to do this
thing which you ask. Nevertheless, I will offer to do for you all
that lies within my power. The truth is, that my own house, where
my wife, who is a very young woman, resides, is not far distant from
here ; wherefore, if it be pleasing to you, the lady might well lodge
with her. As to the payment for the same, that shall be left to your
pleasure." Whereupon the gentleman, turning to the widow lady,
said: " You see. Madonna Francesca, how it is. It seems to me that
you will be vastly better lodged in the house of this worthy man in

KovEi. VII.] MASUCCIO. 191

the company of his wife and of your maids than here with us in the
inn." Then the lady, with a low voice, answered that she was quite
content with what had been suggested, and the host, having left them
in charge of a youth who would point out to them the way, ran for-
ward quickly to the house. When he came there he summoned his
wife, and gave her orders that she should, as quickly as she could,
get the bedchamber in order, forasmuch as a certain countess, a widow
still in her first youth, must needs find lodging with them for the
night. The young woman, whose thoughts were far removed from all
deceit and trickery, made answer to her husband in the sincerity of
her heart : " My husband, you know what the house is like. Never-
theless, I will do all that is possible." Then raid the husband : "See
that the place be put in readiness for her forthwith, and prepare for
her warm water with perfume thereto ; for she will assuredly have
great need of the same, seeing that she is covered with mud of the
roads."

In the meantime the lady, escorted by two gentlemen of the
company, had arrived at the door, and the two, having let her dis-
mount from the saddle and taken her in their arms, led her into the
bedchamber, the two attendant maids following after them. As soon
as she had come into the room she made a sign that she was minded
to undress herself, and straightway gave dismissal to those who had
come in with her. The host, when he perceived what she did, felt
that it became him not to remain ; for which reason he, turning
towards his wife, thus addressed her: '■' I commit the service due to
this lady into your hands ; wherefore look narrowly that everything
be daintily prepared for her supper and for her night's rest. See,
too, that you lock yourselves securely within the house. I meantime
will go back to the inn to see to the wants of her followers and of
the other guests who await me there." And having placed these
commands upon her he went his way, and for their better safe-
guarding he locked them in the house from the outside, and having
given the key of the door to one of the lady's attendants, he went
back with them towards the inn.

Thus the young woman was at last left alone with her lover, and,
holding him in very truth to be a woman like herself, she was mightily
eager to be of some service in helping the so-called lady to disarray
herself, and it seemed as if it were a thousand years before she could
indeed discover whether or not the lady was comely to look upon.

192 MASUCCIO. [novel XII.

She took away with her own hands the gear which concealed the
stranger's face, and then, after she had gazed upon the same atten-
tively, and had remarked therein somewhat of the seeming of her
lover, she drew back quickly, overcome with shame and timidity.
Now he, when he perceived that she stood thus confounded, began
to be fearful lest there might befall some danger of the sort which so
often arises through the imprudence of young women ; so he straight-
way determined that the season had now come when she might be
made privy to the trick he had devised. So, catching her by the hand,
he folded her in his arms, and began to speak to her in the following
words : " O sweetest life of mine, I am in truth your faithful and con-
stant lover, and I have come hither to you in this fashion because,
what with the great jealousy of your husband on the one part, and
your own exceeding honesty on the other, every way of accomplish-
ing my wishes seemed blocked to me, save and except this one
alone, which was disclosed and laid open to me by Love, our sovereign
lord. For the reason that I have been led by him, as you see, into
your sweet embraces, I implore you that, for the sake of the gocd name
of both of us, and for our gratification as well, that you should, in
discreet and cautious wise, allow me to have delight of the passionate
ardours which now consume me, and turn towards your one and
most devoted servant with all the concord and quietness which prudent
women use, so that we together may pluck those sweet and most
pleasant joys which are the fruit of our youth."

The young woman, what though she was sorely angered at what
had been done, and mere than once made trial to free herself from, her
lover's embrace, knew, nevertheless, that if she should cry out for help
it would only serve to bring lasting disgrace upon her. Moreover, from
the beginning she had been kindly afteéled towards the young man ;
so she straightway trok counsel with herself, and made up her mind to
give him what, peradventure, she would not have refused him had she
been quite free to follow her own wishes, and turning towards him
said : " As my husband's want of wit has proved to be the means of
bringing you here, I do not mean to drive you away, and thereby run
into disgrace which will last my life; and then, since I have been, as
it were, given into your hands, it seems to me that there is naught
left for me to say, but to beg you, in the name of heaven and of that
virtue to which your nobility binds you, that you will have good care
of my honour if you satisfy your desires with me." The lover

NOVEL XII.] MASUCCIO. 193

rejoiced greatly when he listened to these words, and kissed her
passionately, telling her at the same time there was no need for her
to doubt or fear at all, forasmuch as he would be ever ready to sell
his own life, should such a thing be necessary, for the preservation of
her honour and good fame.

Then, after he had subdued her spirit with this and with divers
other gentle and flattering speeches, these two lovers, before they
moved from the spot where they were, tasted the first fruit of their
love ; and then, when they had refreshed themselves with a delicate
repast, and gone to bed together, they spent the whole night in
delightful wise, being overcome with desire the one for the other.
Moreover, they came to an understanding together, in order that they
might in the future compass the satisfying of their desire in less
hazardous wise, and, when the daylight broke in the east, the gentle-
men who were escorting the newly-made countess having got in order
their pack-horse train, and found their lady ready dressed for the road,
set her on horseback at once, and paid the good host a sum of money
much greater than was his due. And, albeit they made as if they were
journeying towards Calabria, they nevertheless went back that same
night to their homes joking and making merry not a little. Lastly,
the lover gave a very generous guerdon to the crone who had adied
as go-between, and for a long time tasted much pleasure and delight
in the company of the young woman. And to such a happy fate may
Love lead you, my most worthy signor, whenever you may especially
desire to partake of the same.^

MASUCCIO.

HE trick which was put upon the Amalfitati innkeeper
may in sooth be set down as very singular and very neat
as well. The fellow, moreover, must have been beyond
measure stupid to have shown such complaisance. And
I doubt not that we shall find many ladies of the sort who
are chary of their words, and are over-nice in finding fault '^ in order

^ There is perhaps no other phrase in the "Novellino" which is so manifest a
borrowing from Boccaccio as this.

^ Orig., le quali parlano raro e sputano tondo.

C C

194 MASUCCIO. [novel xii.

that they may be rated as prudent dames, who will declare that if they
should ever happen to fall into such case as was the young woman's I
have just described, they would sooner kill themselves than consent
to yield to the wishes of their lover. Wherefore I know not for
the moment how to make answer to such as these, except to pray to
God that He will not grant to them such great favour as to bring
them into the condition of having that thing forced upon them which
they most earnestly desire above aught else. But in sooth their
wisdom and forecast are so great that they must rarely find them-
selves brought into such straits and perils as these ; moreover, they
are generally most studious to let follow whatever working the lover
may desire, concerning which matter I will speak more at length in
another place.

But what shall we say of the noteworthy craft and the masterly
methods discovered by the old crone who a(5led as go-between by
which the lover won his way into the good graces of his mistress.''
We might in sooth say much thereanent ; but, because in this our
time the artof the pandar has come to be such a fine and subtle one that
not only old people, but very young ones as well, are found who can
ply the same most skilfully even in their sleep, I will hold my peace,
and say no more about it. Wherefore, passing on to a fresh subjed,
I will tell a story of another noteworthy cheat put upon the person
of a governor of our city, a native of the Marches, by a young
Salernitan. This jest, forsooth, was so hugely fine and facetious that
even now as I write thereanent I cannot in any way keep back my
laughter ; and that it is true many who are now alive in our city
can bear me witness.

^f)e lEntr of tf)e Etoflfti) iaobfl.

Bo'otl tf)t Cbirteentb.

JlJotjel tl)e Ct)irteentl).

ARGUMENT.

ilantjolfo ti'Hscaci is ma^c (Sobeniov of 5alfnto. i^e tafeps a luife ant»
fails in |)is tiutfi totoarts fjer. a reitain goutf) of tf)e citg tpcoines
enamoucetj of ^rr, anij pla|)s a stianae jest in t^e mattfc of a stooclf of
l)is. ©ne tiat) t^r gobecnoi's toatcfj raptuirs t^ls goung man anij takes
tim feeforetfjf fOuvt,to!)fccupon tfjesluort aforcsaiti Is tjisplagcti to birb),
tf)e sobecitoc's luife being present. ^Tlje gobernoc Is migfjtili) inrenseb
anti ftanis^es tf)e goung man ; fiut, t|)e storg fieing noisei) aficoati in tf)e
citg, tf)e gobecnoi" tiles of bexation, tof)ereupon tis goung tolfe tafees fjec
pleasure bjitf) f)er lober.

Co tbat most ercellent gentleman, 15 emarno ^anseuecino,

Conte ni lautia/

EXORDIUM.

^ F, my most excellent and worthy sir, I have been some-
what remiss in writing to you up to this present time,
it has been for no other reason than because I am of
opinion that the matter with which I have hereto-
fore busied myself, would not only have failed to
give you any pleasure, but would even have called
up in your mind something of irksomeness or distaste. Wherefore,

' He was a younger son of Roberto di Sanseverino, and perished in the con-
spiracy of the barons. Masaccio has probably given him a wrong title, as Porzio
speaks of "Barnaba, Conte di Lauria" ("Congiura de' Baroni," p. 50; Florence, 1884.).

198 MASUCCIO. [novel xni.

in order to avoid any such unseemliness as the aforesaid, I have at last
found out a fashion of writing which will, I doubt not, assure me
that you will always in the future extend towards me that accus-
tomed courtesy of yours in benevolent and pleasing wise. Therefore
I will let you read in the following novel concerning the flout which
a certain governor of our city, a man jealous beyond all bounds, had
to endure — a jest which in the end brought upon him great loss and
injury. In this, too, you will be able to judge clearly how dangerous
and foolish an undertaking it is to go about equipped with arms which
are of no service, and to try to battle with weakly muscles against
that poisonous viper which is able to hold its own even in circum-
stances of the greatest peril. Assuredly likewise those, to whom both
powder and flint are lacking, will find it a sorely difiicult taskto fight
against the inexpugnable rocks. And although the lesson I teach may
not in any way concern yourself, for the reason that, however great
the quantity of artillery that might be needed for any enterprise, you
would always find yourself most excellently furnished with the same,
nevertheless it ought not to be in any way irksome to you, for that
I now bring before you good and valid proof of this same faót : to
learn how to provide for the future, and especially to secure yourself
against the instability of fickle fortune, so that such mischance as
happened to the governor aforesaid may never happen to you.

THE NARRATIVE.

T was formerly the custom of our princes of the house of
Orsini ^ to send us here as a governor a creature of the
sort which is, in sooth, vastly more familiar with the
management and feeding of cattle than in the exercise of
the funftions of a magistrate. On this account they once
sent us, amongst the rest, a certain man from the Marches, Pandolfo
d'Ascari by name, one not only penurious, as is the disposition of all
his countrymen, but miserly beyond all measure. Now this governor
brought with him a great crowd of ill-disciplined underlings, very

' For the grant of" Salerno to the Orsini, sec note, p. 184, to Novel XII. After
the rebellion of Felice Orsini the lordship of the place was given to Roberto
di Sanscvcrino, Count of Marsico.

NOVEL xiii.] MASUCCIO. 199

badly furnished with accoutrements, and divers men disguised after
some new fashion in masks. Nevertheless, amongst these of more
honour and repute, there was an old grey-headed man, his assessor,
who, albeit he had a long tale of years behind him, would still have been
found better stocked with knowledge as to how to manage or set a
pattern on the weft in the loom than to say aught, little or great,
concerning the laws.

Now the governor, having at last entered into the discharge of
his office with no little pomp and bravery, issued to the guard which
was wont to keep the watch a certain order by which he forbade any
frequenting of the streets by night, or the carrying of arms ; and, over
and beyond this, he put forth many other new rules and regulations.
And howbeit it happened that he and all those about him were, as it
has already been remarked, very ill furnished with arms of the sort
which are used in assaults upon men ; still, by reason of something
which in after time was made plain to the sight of all, it was
discovered, by a most unlucky accident, that there was in the
governor himself a similar lack in those other weapons and instru-
ments which are more especially at the service of the ladies. E non
ostante quello, come la sua disavventura volse, una certa infermità nel
suo piccolo e genital membro gli sopravenne, per medicamento de la
quale i medici in tal maniera il conciarono, che non ostante che
bifurcate gli remanesse, gliene avanzò si poco che per nulla saria da
essere stato giudicato. Now this man, when he was at last in a way
cured of his ailment, notwithstanding the faól that he was now old and
impotent, never ceased to follow out a certain projedl of his with
the utmost assiduity and care — the projeól aforesaid being nothing else
than the taking to himself a w^ife. At last he fell violently in love
with a young Genoese damsel of very high birth and exceedingly fair
to look upon, who, a few days before this, had come out from
a certain religious house into which her father by reason of his
poverty had sent her to become a nun.

Although the head of the order and all the chapter of the brother-
hood put forth all their efforts to save themselves the loss of so
valuable a booty, nevertheless, when they saw clearly that the damsel
was altogether determined to lay down her life sooner than go back
for any time into the convent, and were finally convinced that all
their toil would be futile, they put aside their grief and trouble
and began to rage violently against her, and ended by pronouncing

200 MASUCCIO. [novel xiii.

against her the public sentence of excommunication, seeing they
could in no other method work their vengeance upon her. On
this account the lovesick governor, taking no heed of the fad that
he was old and worn out, or that the girl had been a nun — which
thing should have been of no small weight — but considering solely
her youth and beauty, took her for his wife, all poor and penniless as
she was. Then with great feastings and rejoicings he brought her
home to his house, and gave her to wear the raiment suited to a
person of high estate. Wherefore his imagination, as it ever befalls
in the case of old men, swelled within him in such wise that he began
to let forth boasts and threatenings as to the wonders he was going
to work ; nevertheless on the bridal night it happened that his powers
were found wanting in such degree that, in lieu of the marvellous
deeds he had bragged about, he was able to accomplish nothing
better than kissings and bitings, on account of which, what though
he began to put forward a lot of fiólitious arguments in his own
defence, the young wife knew well enough, from this one trial, in
what most wretched state of life she was fated to pass her flowering
youth.

The governor, although it took him some time to learn that
kisses alone are of little avail in business of this sort, but rather a6t
upon ladies like a spoonful of lard thrown upon the fire, and that the
mare's appetite will not grow less lusty merely because there is a lack
of fodder, made up his mind at last to set about his task in no
niggardly fashion, however ill-accoutred therefor he might find him-
self. But in sooth his powers had declined to a point which would
suffice no more for the satisfying of the craving appetite of the lady,
than would a meal of falcons stay the hungry stomach of ravening
wolf. Now after she had spent her life for a certain time in this sad
and bitter wise, it chanced that a certain dodlor of laws of this our
city fell violently in love with her. He was young, of a seemly
person, of great worth, and of a very honourable family; and after
he had by many and various experiments tried all the roads by which
he might win an entry into her favour, and met with little success in
his enterprise on account of the extraordinary caution exercised by
the jealous husband, he made up his mind to commit his venture
entirely to the good offices of fortune, and to rid himself of all
trouble thereanent.

Wherefore, being of this mind, and having taken into his con-

NOVEL xiii.] MASUCCIO. 201

fidence a young man who was a citizen of the place, it came into his
mind to play off a noteworthy joke upon the governor, and in his
very presence to let the young wife know how well fitted he himself
was to give her succour in the particular need which pressed so
heavily upon her. The young man remarked how every day the
catchpoles of the court would make their rounds about the city, seizing
the arms of anyone they might meet, and taking the bearers thereof
straight off to the prison of the governor, who meantime was wont
to continue all day in his chamber with his fair young wife. Man-
dato il popolano secretamente ad un maestro lignaiuolo, e fatta fare
una forma virile oltra la naturai misura grossa e ben formata, e quella
fatta colorire e appropriare che quasi di vera carne parca, e a la coda
fatto acconciare un manico di spada, e postala dentro un lungo fodero,
a lato ce l'appicoe. And then with divers other companions of his
he set himself to walk boldly up and down in the presence of the
officers of the court, and they, as soon as they caught sight of him,
straightway gathered round about him like hungry wolves, and,
greedy for prey, called out to him, *' Give us here those arms of
yours, and come before the governor at once, and pay the fine
enjoined by the proclamation." The young man, highly pleased at
the turn things had taken, refused to give up his arms, but said that
he was quite willing that they should take him into the governor's
presence, where he would forthwith let them know what the reason
was which led him to carry arms. So, having placed him in the
midst of their band, they haled him along with much shouting and
violence towards the palace ; and, when the officers and their prisoner
had entered the apartment, they found there the governor playing
chess with his young wife, the grey-headed old judge bearing them
company.

When he heard the uproar made by the entry of this crowd of
people, the governor lifted up his eyes from the board and saw
before him a young man carrying arms ; whereupon, giving over his
game of chess, in which in sooth he had not done much more than
give his wife a kiss, he rose to his feet and turned to the young man,
deeming the while that he might make a good profit out of this
business, and thus addressed him : ''Tell me what authority allows
you to carry arms ; and, failing this, what presumption of your own
has thus stirred you up to break the law, seeing that no man of this
city, however high his rank may be, ever takes it upon himself to

D D

202 MASUCCIO. [novel XIII.

go armed ? " To this the young man, with a smile upon his face,
made answer : " Messer, the arms I carry are in no way those which
can do hurt or injury to any man, but are rather concerned with a
vow made by a certain gentleman of my acquaintance." Now when
the governor listened to these words he was seized with the belief
that the young man was making a mock of him, and, boiling with
rage, he caught hold of him by the breast with one hand, while
with the other he grasped the hilt of the counterfeit sword, and
strove with all his might to draw the same forth from its sheath.
The young man on his part clung tightly to his weapon, and called
out, " Messer, I beg you will not do me this wrong. I assure you
this is no deadly weapon which I have here. Let me go about my
business ; for if you still detain me, I will avail myself of the censure
of the Syndic."'

The governor thereupon became more inflamed with rage than
ever, and fully made up his mind that he would get possession of
this weapon, what though he might have to steal it. Therefore,
having called upon all his catchpoles to help him, he at last hauled it
out of its scabbard, whereupon the lady herself, and all those who
were present, were able to see what strange thing it was he held in
his hand. Then everyone began to laugh louder than he had ever
laughed in his life at the expense of the governor, upon whose face
every little vein might have been counted, so grievously was he
angered by what had happened. On this account he, inflamed with
no little rage from the fadl that he had found something difl^ering
vastly from what he had sought, was on a sudden struck by an idea
that he could fathom the reason how this thing had come to pass,
and for a while he stood all giddy and confused, bearing this strange
ensign gripped tight in his hand, and feeling that he could neither
with decency retain the same or put it away from him.

However, when he had got his wits back somewhat, and had
come to the determination to let the youth smart under a severe

* Orig., me ne aiuterì dal Sindacato. In the Italian cities there was a communal
right by which the people were able to pass in review and even to censure the aftion
of their rulers, whether they were under the head of the state, or under some baron
like the Orsini, Lord of Salerno, at this time. This right, the origin of which is hard
to trace, was jealously guarded, and was not finally abolished till 1805. Any citizen
who might feci himself aggrieved by anything done by the governor, might avail
himself of the Sindacato, and go to the municipal magistrates, who at the end of
the year would call upon the governor to give an account of his administration.

NOVEL xiii,] MASUCCIO. 203

punishment for having thus gone about bearing counterfeit arms, he
turned to the old judge and said : " Master Judge, quid videtur
vobis ? " The lubber-headed old man made answer to him in his
doggrel speech : " Messer, in good truth this man ought to be held
worthy of being visited with grievous chastisement, but ' De jure
longobardo,'^ we can in no way reach him." The governor, who
had, though very late, been brought to see that this assessor of his
was a fool, now made up his mind that he would on his 4inn
account make full inquisition into all the circumstances which could
have tended to bring to pass the matter now before him. Therefore,
turning towards the young man, he thus addressed him : " By God's
faith, you shall not go forth from this place until you shall have told
me, albeit against your will, all that it is expedient to tell concerning
this affair." The young man, seeing that now fortune, step by step,
was working favourably for the success of his enterprise, spake in
reply, without losing a moment of time, and said : " Messer, since
you are determined to know what there is to tell about this thing, I
will lay it before you with all respeól to Madonna, whom 1 see here
present. Non sono ancora molti dì passati che al cotal dottore
legista una fiera e pericolosa infermità del suo secreto membro gli
sopravenne ; al quale niuno argomento di medico non valendo, ed
essendone quasi disperato, ebbe ricorso ultimamente a quello che
tutti li fedeli cristiani deveno avere, e cosi fece voto a questi nostri
miraculosi santi martiri Ciro e Joanni, ogni anno una volta appiccare
una statua de cera a misura, ne più né meno de sua grossezza, di-
nanzi li loro devotissimi corpi, per li meriti de li quali è divenuto sano
come fosse mai. E volendo el suo voto mandare ad effetto, ne
trovando in questa città maestro alcuno che'l voglia o sappia fare, gli
è stato bisogno far scolpire la presente forma a la soa somigliante, e
commettere e pregare a me che la porti in Napoli, e qui ad un sin-
golare maestro mio amicissimo la faccia in cera formare : onde
parendomi disonesto portarla discoverta, l'avea acconciata al modo
di spada come voi vedete. Ecco dunque il gran male che io ho fatto,

^ In Italy the Gothic and Lombard legal systems introduced many new prin-
ciples into Roman jurisprudence. The Lombard laws were issued by King Rothans
in 643. The Lombards at this time were Arians, so the Church had no co-legislation
with the temporal rulers. For nearly five hundred years the Lombards ruled the
south of Italy from Capua to Tarentum — a faòt which will explain the survival of
their jurisprudence instanced in the text.

204 MASUCCIO. [novel xiii.

se di ciò si merita punitione, sia col nome di Dio che io sono per
riceverla apparecchiato." The lady in the meantime had found full
opportunity to look at and examine the weapon in question, and,
holding: it as a fadt that all this which her lover had referred to was
indeed the truth, she gave over the laughing mood which had until
now possessed her, and began to sigh very deeply, and, considering
how vastly what she saw differed from something else she knew
but too well, she cried out in a rage : *' Messer, I beg you to throw
away forthwith that wretched thing you have in your hand, and in
God's name let this man go, so that we may let finish our game of chess."

Hereupon the governor flew in a great rage, but knowing well
enough that he could not in the course of justice inflid any punish-
ment on the young man, and that, the more he should bandy words
with him, the more fresh cause of offence he would encounter, he
cast down the harmless weapon upon the floor with a furious gesture,
and then, turning towards the young man, said : " Down before me,
you gallows thief Of a truth you are of a villainous and execrable
breed, and, as far as I myself am concerned, I deserve all this and
worse because, having been informed that you were unwilling to
come here, and knowing, moreover, that the Salernitans will deceive
the devil himself, I ought never to have wanted to see what you
had to bring forward as a proof; but by my faith you shall never
trick me again, forasmuch as I will quit this town and betake myself
otherwhere. Now get you gone from here, and may bad luck
go with you, and see that this city be clear of you in the space
of two hours ; for if I catch you here after that time, I will have you
seized as a rebel against the state."

The youth, when he saw that the whole affair was likely to come
to an end in words, and that he had at the same time done excellent
service to his friend, took little care as to what might follow; and,
having picked up his weapon from the floor, and tendered his thanks
to the court, went out from the chamber. Then, having gone
round all the public places and the various quarters of the city, he made
bitter complaint on the subje6l of his exile, and on every side he told
over and over again the story of what had befallen him, causing the
while the greatest laughter and merriment amongst those who listened
to his words.

Now some time after this it chanced that the prince^ aforesaid

' Probably the Orsini prince who was then Lord of Salerno.

NOVEL XIII.] MASUCCIO. 205

made a journey to Nola, and while he was there in the presence of all
his courtiers and of a number of other people all carrying arms,
someone told to him from beginning to end the story aforesaid con-
cerning that governor he had sent from the Marches to rule Salerno,
and how the affair had come about. After he had laughed mightily
at hearing the story, he found himself so hugely diverted thereat,
that he caused the same to be related to him over and over again in
the presence of all the people standing round, and afterwards he gave
full licence to the young doélor of laws to return to the city. Not
only did the latter go back to Salerno, but he likewise, by virtue of
the favour aforesaid, always hereafter went about the city carrying
arms, and divers of his companions did the same. Henceforth none
of the catchpoles of the governor ever took upon themselves to seize
their weapons, fearing always lest they should have put upon them
another trick like the last. The governor, being well advised that
he was now become a byword and laughing-stock in the place, felt
as much regret that fate had ever led him to Salerno as he felt for
having taken to himself a young damsel for a wife. Wherefore, on
this account, or perhaps because he was stirred thereto by his exces-
sive jealousy, he contrived to have granted to him the favour of
changing his abode and going to Sarno, as soon as his time of office
had expired. And after he had gone thither, either through his
former illness, or by the fresh fatigues he underwent, or from some
other cause, he fell sick, and in the course of a few days breathed his
last. Therefore his wife, who grieved very little for his death, was
left without children and with a good store of wealth ; so she went
back to her father's house forthwith. Moreover, she bore in mind
the long and fervent love which the young doólor of laws had
nourished for her, and she did not forget that bird of his which
he kept in its cage. So, regarding herself as free, and a lady in her
own right, she contrived in very discreet and cautious fashion that he
should be introduced to her, and, being in no wise anxious to con-
trad fresh nuptials, they both together repaired the loss of their
time in the past, spending their days in the most blissful fashion as
long as their lives endured.

2o6

MASUCCIO.

[novel XIII.

MASUCCIO.

CAN call to mind that I have many times heard argued
between wise and learned men the question with regard
to vows of that sort which certain people are wont to
make in this world during those times when adversity
presses heavily upon them — vows which, through some
failing or other, they are unable to carry out afterwards. In
these discussions I have heard it maintained that these same vows
may by the power and authority of the Pope be changed, both in
respeób to their form and their nature. Now for this same reason I
am well assured that our doélor of laws, having had due instruólion
in this matter, and at the same time having been interdiéted by the
aólion taken in the case by the governor from letting fashion
his own ex voto in wax and hanging up the same once every year
before the shrine of the two sainted corpses aforesaid, was granted
a dispensation which allowed him, in such a sacred cause, to sub-
stitute for the same an offering made after the manner of the flesh,
in such fashion as men were wont to use in days past, not once a
year, but many times a month, making their oblations in the holy
temple of the valley of Jehoshaphat ; peradventure so that they
might be able to cite the same as more valid testimony in the day of
judgment.

But now, putting on one side jesting of every sort, I declare with
all assurance that he who finds himself plagued with the two vicious
infirmities above-named, to wit, avarice and jealousy, may indeed
hold himself to be the most ill-starred of men, because, over and
beyond the pricks which will without ceasing assault him within and
never let his life be guided for one second by content, it often happens
that he will meet disaster through the working of those troubles
which he has always dreaded and shunned, seeing that all the subtle
counsels and devices of thieves are laid so as to purloin cunningly
from him who keeps the closest watch. And that I may expound
the truth of the matter — over and beyond what I have said in the last
three novels here set down — I will go on in a similar strain with my
discourse, and will show in the next place a manifest example of this

NOVEL XIII.]

MASUCCIO.

207

truth by means of what befell a certain old man of great wealth,
avaricious and jealous beyond bounds. This same old wretch was
at the same moment beggared of his honour, his goods, and his peace
of mind, and, by reason of his jealousy, taken as if he had been a
fish upon the well-baited hook.

d)e ÌBriìi of t^e Cf)irteentJ) Nobel.

Boì)zl tbe jToutteenft.

EE

515ot)el tl)e jFourteentl).

ARGUMENT.

a rabalier of ifWrsstna falls in lobe tottf) a poung jarapolitan girl. it?e
learns tfiat i)fr fatf)pr is bcrj) abaririous, toficrrforc i)c contribes to
ficrome acquaints toit^ |)im, anti puts i)im in tf)p toag of mafeing bast
gain in traffer. Hftrr a time ^e pretentis ti)at ^e must nects return
i^ome, anti offers to leabe bef)intj f)im in pabn a slabe, tf)e sai^ slabe
fieing one toell instrueteti as to ti)e iitt'a i)e ijali in bieto. ^ijis slabe, a
tooman, beguiles ti)t goung girl, anU t|)e tbjo plunlier tfje olti fatljer antj
take to fligtt in eompang toitlj tf)e lober. jFinallg t1)e eabalier marries
tije tiamsel; tijeg return to iEaples, an^ are Ijappg in tfjeir lobe.

Co tbe most ercellent a^egser 3lacot)o Polimeria,
pfjpsician of Salerno/

EXORDIUM.

^ N what degree that most envious and rapacious sin of
avarice, with the detestable vices accompanying it, has
spread itself over the entire universe, and in what fashion,
when once it may have fixed its claws into a man, it seizes
hold of and tears out of him every virtue he may possess,
you, the new iEsculapius, will easily be able to judge by
the aid of those rare abilities which you possess. And again, because 1
have not, as it seems to me, touched sufficiently hitherto upon the efFeéls

' In " Tumulorum," Book II., Pontano refers to "Giacomo Solimene Medico."

212 MASUCCIO. [novel XIV.

produced by jealousy, I am inclined, before passing on to other themes,
to put on record my belief that this passion of jealousy is not always
to be regarded as the result of excessive love, but verily and indeed in
most cases may be set down as springing from extreme meanness of
spirit, seeing that the greater part of jealous people are either old, or
ugly, or impotent, or such chicken-hearted wretches that, whenever
by chance they may see a man of a better outward seeming than
their own, they regard him as one who would be able to give better
satisfadlion to their wives than they themselves can compass. And
because from my earliest years I have ever known you to be of the
number of migninimous and liberal-minded men, as well as an excel-
lent physician for the cure of every form of infirmity which may
beset us, it has seemed good to me, at the same time that I give you
intelligence as to the novel which follows, to implore you that, out
of your great knowledge and resource, you will proffer to your own
Masuccio wholesome remedies, and such as are fitted for the cure of
the one passion and the other, in order that he, having duly received
instruólion from you, may with no mean authority hand down to
posterity the fruits of your marvellous knowledge.

THE NARRATIVE.

ESSER TOMMASO MARICONDA,^ my grand-
father and a kinsman of your own, was, as no doubt
you know well, a very notable and elegant cavalier, and
one who in his time was held in no small repute and
esteem in this our city. Now this gentleman, when he
was aged and full of years, took vast delight, as is the habit of old
men, in telling to his listeners great numbers of very remarkable
stories, all of which he would set forth with the most distinguished
eloquence, and with the most marvellous memory. And amongst
others I well remember to have heard him tell, when I was a very
young child, as a real and undoubted faót, how, after the death of
King Charles III.," there arose in our kingdom grave and prolonged

' The Mariconda were a noble family both in Naples and Salerno.

* Charles III. of Durazzo, who deposed and murdered Joanna I., and was the

NOVEL XIV.] MASUCCIO. 213

warfare provoked by the habitual tyranny of the house of Anjou.
At this time there chanced to be in Naples a certain cavalier of the
city of Messina, called by name GiufFredi Saccano, a man who was a
vehement partisan of the house of Durazzo ; and one day when,
according to his habit, he was making a round of the city on horse-
back, he happened to espy at a window a very lovely young damsel,
the daughter of an old man, a merchant, whose name at this moment
I cannot rightly call to mind. Now, as he was beyond all measure
delighted with her appearance, he found himself straightway inflamed
with a violent passion for her, and, as the kindly fortune of both of
them willed it, the young girl, whose name was Carmosina, perceived
in her heart that she had found favour in the eyes of this gentleman.
Although she had never before known what manner of thing love
might be, and had scarcely ever set eyes on a man, the affair now
came to a strange issue, and one almost unheard of before, inasmuch
as one flame set those two hearts ablaze at one and the same moment.
Indeed, they were both stricken therewith in such fashion that neither
one nor the other could move from the spot. Nevertheless, after a
certain time had passed, being drawn away by modesty and bashful-
ness, they parted one from another, though not without sorrow and
regret on either side.

Whereupon Messer Giuffredi, being well assured how love had all
on a sudden levelled two mortals to the earth with a single blow, and
that nothing but the advent of some favourable opportunity was
needed ' to allow them to satisfy their sympathetic desires, gave him-
self up entirely, as is the habit of lovers, to the task of searching out
who the maiden might be, and what was her parentage. At last he
discovered who her father was, and learned besides that he was an
old man inordinately jealous and avaricious, inasmuch as he was
possessed by these vices even beyond the common measure of old
age. Furthermore he ascertained that the miser, in order to escape
the prayers of suitors to bestow his only daughter in marriage, was
accustomed to keep her always closely shut up in the house, treating
her the while worse than the meanest servant.

Now the cavalier, having thoroughly informed himself concerning

father of Ladlslas and Joanna II. The wars referred to were those waged by-
Margaret, his widow, on behalf of her son, against Louis of Anjou. Charles died
in 1386.

' Orig., e che altro che attitudine non gP impediva.

214 MASUCCIO. [novel xiv.

the things written above, began to feign to be enamoured, now with
one and now with another of the young women who dwelt near to
the damsel's abode, so that he might be able to advance some colour-
able reason for betaking himself into that quarter, and at least glad-
dening his eyes with the sight of the walls which contained her, if he
might not see her in person. When this became known he was set
down by many of his friends as nothing better than one who fills
himself with wind,"^ and his cunning sagacity was made a mock of by
all the fools of the place. But he, caring naught for all this, and
following resolutely the purpose he had framed, contrived to contract
a close and intimate friendship with the damsel's father, who was
engaged in the traffic of merchandise, purchasing very often from
the old man divers wares at a monstrous price, for which things he
had no need whatever ; and over and beyond this, in order to inveigle
the miser still more, he would not fail to bring other clients every
day into the warehouse, so that the old man made fresh profits
without ceasing.

Seeing that the old merchant drew very great advantage from his
traffic with the cavalier and his friends, he let grow up between him-
self and the young man so close a friendship and intimacy that
all those who knew him were mightily astonished thereat. However,
after a time the cavalier, being seized with the desire to bring his
scheme to the end he had designed, found opportunity one day
to shut himself up with the old merchant in the warehouse, where-
upon he began to address him in the following words : " For the
reason that I stand in need of counsel and help in my affairs, I feel
that I cannot do better than have recourse to you, whom, on account
of your goodness, I love and reverence as my own father. Where-
fore I will not hold back from laying bare all my secrets to you, and
I will first let you know that, at a season now many years past, I left
my father's house, and since that time I have been detained in this
city on account of the love I bear to your king and of the circum-
stances of the war. And things have fared with me in such wise
that, up to this present time, no chance has been offered to me of
going back to my country. But now for several days past I have
been urged by my father, who has sent many letters and messengers
to me concerning this matter, that I should forthwith betake myself

' Orig., no7i altro che per un pascivento giudicato.

NOVEL XIV.] MASUCCIO. 215

to see him once again before the season of his old age shall be sped.
As I cannot refuse to hearken to these commands of his or to the
voice of filial love, I have made up my mind to go to him straight-
way, and, after having tarried with him some short period, I intend
at once to return hither, and to take up again my service under my
lord the king. Now as I know of no one to whom I can more con-
veniently entrust my confidence on such an occasion than to you, I
come to ask you whether you would be willing to take under your
charge certain possessions of mine, and to keep the same for me till
the time of my return. And above all this, the chief concern I feel
is on account of a certain female slave of mine, one whom I am most
unwilling and aggrieved to sell by reason of her worth and goodness.
But, on the other hand, finding myself sorely beset by the lack of
thirty ducats, and being kept back by my honour from requesting
any friend of mine to make me a loan so trifling, I have determined,
finding myself placed in this doubtful position, rather to take security
of you alone in this business, and to give you the trouble to advance
me the sum aforesaid, leaving in your hands the slave as a pledge for
the same. If at any time before I shall return you may find an
opportunity of selling her for the price of seventy ducats, which is
the sum I gave for her, I will beg you to deal with her as if she were
your own."

The old man, who in sooth was far more of a miser than of a
sage, began to busy his brains in canvassing and considering what
possible profit might come to him if he should consent to do the
cavalier the service that was demanded, and, without deteóling aught
therein of the nature of fraud or debating the affair further with
himself, made answer in these words : " See here, Messer Giuffredi,
the love which I bear towards you is so great, that I assuredly could
never bring myself to answer no to any request you might make of
me, supposing that the thing demanded lay within my power to per-
form, and for this reason I am strongly disposed to accommodate you
with whatever sum of money you may want for your purposes.
And besides this, I will keep the slave on your behalf, in order that
you may not suffer ill through having to sell her. Then, when you
shall have come back here safe and sound — supposing always that
the slave should have done what was needed of her — I will settle my
account with you in such fashion that you will find you could not
have been better treated even if you had been my own son."

2i6 MASUCCIO. [novel xiv.

The cavalier, rejoicing greatly at the answer he received from the
old man, then replied to him saying, " In sooth I did not expeft any
other answer from you, and it seems to me that to render you thanks
therefor would be superfluous, but may our Lord God grant that I
may be able to lay before you clearly the producft of this our friend-
ship to our common profit and advantage." And after he had thus
brought his discourse to an end he took leave of the old man, and
having mounted his horse according to his wont, he made his way
along the street in which was the lodging of his lady-love ; and, as
he passed along, by the working of the fate which ruled the lives
of the one and the other, he espied by chance the form of the damsel
partially revealed at the casement of her chamber — a boon granted
perchance for the satisfaélion of both of them. Then drawing her-
self back from the window like one bewildered, she cast down upon
him a sweet and piteous glance; whereupon he, looking cautiously
around him and observing no one in the neighbourhood, and conscious
that he had no time to spare for the making of long speeches, said to
her, " My Carmosina, be comforted, forasmuch as I have at last
found a means by which I shall be able to deliver you from your
prison." And having thus spoken he went his way, God speeding
him.

Meantime the young damsel, who had understood quite clearly
the purport of her lover's words, was in no small measure comforted
therewith, and although it did not enter her head to hope that from
such a speech could ensue any working which might make for her
advantage, nevertheless the bare hope roused in her breast thereby
gave her heart, though she knew not wherefore. The cavalier, when
he had returned to his house, called his slave into his presence and
said, " My good Anna, the business which we discussed and arranged
is already set in order, wherefore see that you prove wary and pru-
dent in the affair which you will have to bring to pass." And
although the slave was already well instructed in all the arts and
methods she would be called upon to employ, nevertheless the cavalier
caused her to rehearse several times afresh the concerted plan of their
subtle stratagem.

When a few days had elapsed, and when he had set everything
duly in order, the cavalier went once more to the old merchant and
addressed him in the following words : " Alas ! how irksome it is to
me to withdraw myself for ever so limited a time from your friend-

NOVEL XIV.] MASUCCIO. 217

ship, which has been so precious and so profitable to me. Of this he
who truly knows all our secrets will be a witness. Nevertheless, as
it is convenient for my purpose that I should take my departure this
very night, for the reason that all preparations for my passage are
now complete, I have come hither to take my leave of you, and
besides this to fetch the money which I begged you to advance me as
a loan. Also I am come to bid you send for the chattel you wot
of." The old man, who could have prayed God for nothing better,
was overjoyed at this news, seeing that he had begun to feel some
apprehension lest the cavalier might have repented him of his pro-
posal. Whereupon, without further delay he counted out the thirty
ducats, and, having done this, he sent to fetch the slave, who forth-
with went to his house, taking with her certain small and delicate
things which were the property of the cavalier.

Now when the evening was at last come, Messer GiufFredi, accom-
panied by the old merchant and certain others of his friends, betook
himself to the seashore, and then, having embraced them all and bidden
them farewell, he embarked on board a light galley which was about to
set sail for Messina. But when the aforesaid ship had fared a short dis-
tance from the port of Naples, he made the shipmen place at his service
a small boat (which matter in sooth he had already arranged with the
captain), and in this he had himself conveyed to Procida.^ Having
come there, he found lodging in the house of a certain friend of his,
and there he tarried until three days had passed. On the night of
the third day, when the hour had come which he had appointed with
the slave and with other associates of his, Sicilian fellows keen to adi
and well set towards any deed of dangerous adventure, he returned
to Naples and made his way into the city in very cautious wise.
Having come there, he took secret lodging, together with his asso-
ciates, in a certain house hard by that of the old merchant — a dwelling
which, through the ill times brought about by the wars, was at that
period quite void of occupants, and there they all abode hidden and
silent until the following day came.

In the meantime the cunning and quick-witted slave had gone
to the merchant's house, and had there met with most friendly and
joyful reception from Carmosina. The last-named, knowing full
well from whom the woman had come, in a brief space of time

' An island lying between Ischia and the mainland.
F F

2i8 MASUCCIO. [novel xiv.

became on very intimate terms with her ; whereupon the slave,
spurred on by remembering how short was the time in which her
purpose would have to be accomplished, laid bare to the damsel point
by point the reasons for which she had come thither, using the while
the most consummate arts and the most skilful discourse, and further-
more telling her exaólly what her master had settled with her concern-
ing the matter in question, and heartening the damsel little by little
by the arguments she brought forward to carry out in daring fashion
the enterprise to its issue, so as to secure for herself and her lover
a lasting time of peace and happiness. The young girl, who for
many reasons was even more strongly minded than the cavalier
towards this end, did not suffer the slave to waste more time in add-
ing one lengthy argument to another, but told her straightway that
she was fully prepared to consent to every one of the proposals just
made by her, and likewise to follow all the direélions laid down by the
cavalier, whom she herself loved as she loved her own life.

To these words the slave replied: "My daughter, if it should
happen that you have a few Httle things of your own which you
would like to carry away with you, I would counsel you to get the
same in order at once, seeing that our plan will have to be put in
execution this very night. You must know also that my master and
his servant and certain other companions of his are now concealed in
the house next door to us. This faól I have learnt from a signal
which I have this day seen displayed from the house in question, and,
as you well know, it would be an easy task to get into it from our
paved courtyard." When the young girl heard how short was the
time before her flight, she gave the slave a hundred kisses, and told
her that she possessed nothing of her own, either great or small,
which she could take away with her, but that she had made up her
mind to abstraól from the store of her avaricious old father a much
greater sum of money than anyone could have reckoned sufficient
for her dowry.

When they had brought the matter to this conclusion, and when
the midnight hour had come, and the old man and everyone else in
the house were fast asleep, Carmosina and the slave broke open
a chest and took out therefrom jewels and money of a value exceed-
ing one thousand five hundred ducats, and, having bestowed these
safely away, they silently crossed over the courtyard and came to the
spot where the cavalier was awaiting them. He, with the greatest

NOVEL XIV.] MASUCCIO. 219

joy, took the young girl in his arms and covered her lips with ardent
kisses. Further pleasure they did not enjoy, seeing how preca-
rious was their present abiding-place ; wherefore the whole company
set out on their way, and took the road which led to the seashore.
Having cautiously issued from the city through a breach in the wall
behind the slaughter-houses, they found their bark ready armed and
fully equipped for a swift passage, and ready to cast off at a moment's
notice. Whereupon they all went on board the same, and, having
dipped their oars in the water, they found themselves at Ischia before
many hours had elapsed. Then the cavalier and all those accom-
panying him presented themselves before the lord of that place, who
chanced to be a particular friend of Messer Giuffredi, and one indeed
who had been made privy to the whole affair. From this gentleman
they all received most kindly and hospitable reception, and while they
were abiding there the lovers, deeming that they were now upon safe
ground, partook of the first and sweetest deHghts of their reciprocal
love, and rejoiced the one as well as the other with no less joy over
the circumstances of their flight.

In the meantime the old father, when the daylight came, first
found that neither his daughter nor the slave whom he had taken in
pledge were in the house, and then became aware that he had been
robbed of his money and of his jewels to boot, and for the last-named
loss he felt no less grief than for the first ; indeed, how sore were his
tears and lamentations each one may judge for himself Moreover,
no one need wonder to hear that he found his afflidion so sharp and
cruel that he was over and over again fain to hang himself by the
neck therefor. And thus, overcome by his losses and the shame that
had been put upon him, he spent his days in continual weeping shut
up in his house.

Meantime the enamoured couple in Ischia lived their lives in the
greatest delight, and by reason of their constant intercourse it came
to pass that the fair damsel became with child. Which thing,
when the cavaHer came to know it, caused him the greatest delight,
and he forthwith made a resolve to treat her with a worthy spirit of
generosity, and at the same time to give full satisfaótion to God, to
the world, and to himself. Wherefore, having despatched a message
through the intervention of the lord of Ischia to the father of
Carmosina and to divers of his own kinsfolk, these aforesaid all came
to Ischia, and, when they were all there assembled, and after certain

i

220 MASUCCIO. [novel XIV.

contraóls had been duly signed, the cavalier, by the favour of the
king and with the universal approval and general rejoicing of the
people of Naples, took Carmosina for his lawful wife. Thus, having
exchanged the secret sport of Venus for the career of marrieJ folk,
they went back to their Neapolitan home and passed their days in
great happiness as long as they both lived. In this manner it may be
seen how the jealous, miserly, and foolish old man atoned for the
deed after all the damage had been done.

MASUCCIO.

HE fortunate ending which I have let ensue to the story
I have just completed will, I make little doubt, give
cause to many of those who may read the same to hold
up for approbation with unbounded praises the great
foresight and sagacity of the young girl, who, marking
how she was thus kept in this wretched plight and held to be meaner
than the meanest hireling, contrived to procure for herself so seemly
and valiant a lover ; and, besides this, to obtain out of the hoard of
her miserly old father a greater sum of money than would have been
given to her as a dower, becoming in the end the wife of her lover
with honour and happiness. Now the things above written, although
in sooth they may be laid less to her charge than to that of Love,
who awakened her slumbering wits and thereby taught her how to
bring to an issue with the greatest courage those lessons which he
himself had taught her, I for my part do not intend to praise,
nor do I intend to advise any woman, however lavish may be the
promises of her lover, to imitate Carmosina in this matter, and suffer
herself to be carried away in such fashion. For, admitting that the
issue of the affair was a fortunate one for our Carmosina, it must
nevertheless be borne in mind that the tempers of men are not all
of the same quaUty and inclination, and that the course of aétion
which the cavalier followed, urged thereto by his innate goodness and
uncommon virtue, may perchance be censured as faulty and poor-
spirited by others, who are so minded that, if they should find
themselves in a similar case, would plume themselves upon having
done a valiant deed of prowess when they should have robbed their

NOVEL XIV.] MASUCCIO. 221

sweethearts of the flower of their virginity and afterwards left them
in scorn to their disgrace. And even though each individual girl
should feel well assured that in her own case the end must needs be
a fortunate one, I still judge that she would be taking the wiser
part who might follow a course opposite to that adopted by Car-
mosina, forasmuch as it is by far better never to put oneself in
peril of meeting ruin at the hands of another, than to escape the
danger though running near the precipice/

And furthermore I am persuaded that it is a fa6l to be contro-
verted by no one that the inordinate suspicion combined with the
senile avarice of ths old merchant were the real causes of the flout that
was put upon him, and of the heavy loss which accompanied it. If
afterwards there followed a reparation of the same in the creditable
issue of the matter, it was assuredly not because the execrable vices
of the old man did not exhibit their poisonous results, which results
seem to me so monstrous and horrible that I am driven, out of sheer
confusion, to cease to talk of them. And, for the reason that in the
novel which I will next let follow it will behove me to treat of things
greatly differing from, and even exaótly opposite to this suspicious
humour, I will for a season give over all discourse concerning this
mean imperfeélion, and, still holding myself in the company of
Madonna Avarice, I will exhibit to you the execrable condud; of a
greedy, avaricious loon, by the means of which discourse you will be
able to comprehend clearly how such a vice may become master of a
man's understanding, and rob him of all virtue, honour, and content.

^ Orig., che presso il pericolo non periclitare.

W^z iSnti of tf)e dFourteentf) iEobel.

Bom tfte jFiftcentft,

%

il^otoel tl)e jrifteeritt).

ARGUMENT.

a loto cartJtnal is enamoured of a rertatn latig, anti firtfifs tfie fiusliantj of
ti)e same tottf) a sum of moneg, in orter t^at f)e mag Ut tis toife fie
firougfjt info tf)t rartinars apartment, ©n tije morroto tfie t"sfianti
comes to tafee $er fiacfe, fiut tfje labg fietng bastlg rontenteti tottf) f)tt
present lotigment, refuses to arcompang ijim, t^ougt t)P urges f)er thereto
tottf) muei) fruitless titsrourse. f n tf)e enti t)e tafees tije moneg tufitcf)
teas promised to Ijim, an^ in tiespair goes into exile, b^ile i)is toife libes
a pleasant life toiti) t^e eartiinal.

Co tf)e most toot$t)ipful stesser antonio oa iBoIogna

IPanormita/

EXORDIUM.

NLY because there comes over me a desire to write
to you, most famous and illustrious poet, the light
and glory of our Italian nation, my wit and my
tongue, my hand and my pen, seem, as it were, to
be so confusedly involved fne one with the other
that no one of them can or will return to its accus-
tomed duties. Nevertheless, I am inspired with new confidence to
catch up my weapons from the ground, and am heartened to address

' Antonio Beccadelli was born in 139431 Palermo, and was afterwards named
from his birthplace, II Panormita. He was educated at Siena, where he had for a
fellow-student ^neas Sylvius Piccolomini, and ultimately became one of the

G G

226 MASUCCIO. [novel xv.

to you the novel which I send herewith, when I call to mind how I
have seen you on divers occasions take no little pleasure in listening
to the undisciplined variations and the coarse speech of the common
people, and thrust aside, in favour of these, writings in the most
elegant and meritorious style, as if no masterpiece of lofty rhetoric
could ever excite or command the admiration of you, who are our
new Apollo, or lead you to take pleasure therein. In the course
of reading this novel you will be told of a very strange contrail and
a very unusual adi of barter made between a certain Mantuan, who
was in sooth a foolish blockhead, and one of our new Pharisees.
This latter, deeming that he peradventure might one day win for
himself the succession to the chair of the glorious Peter, and being
in no wise disposed to allow the chief pastorate of the Church to fall
into the hands of men of outland nations, desired rather that the
same should remain fixed in those of his own descent, wherefore he
did his best to beget children of his own. And as with a certain
show of authority these cardinals have come to wear the crimson
mantle and hat in remembrance of the red blood of Christ which
was sprinkled upon the wood of the Cross, so in like manner they
affirm that it is lawful for them to have children of their own on the
strength of that other text in which God said, '^ Crescite et multipli-
camini." But for the reason that my falcon does not essay a flight
high enough to assail the life and the carriage of such as these, I will
not stop to censure them in this place, but will at once go on to tell
the story which I promised you.

leading humanists of the time. He went first as professor of history to Milan, at
the invitation of Filippo Maria Visconti, and later on became secretary to Alfonso
the Magnanimous. He was also tutor to Prince Ferdinand, afterwards king, and
died in 1471.

Panormita was a voluminous writer of the smooth and polished Latin verse so
fashionable in his day, but his name is chiefly remembered in conneftion with the
authorship of the "Hermaphroditus," a poem obscene enough to incur even the
censure of Poggio. There is a story told of him, to illustrate his enthusiasm for
the classics, how he sold a farm in order to purchase a MS. of Liv}-. His books
were condemned and forbidden by the Church and the Minor Friars ; Bernardino da
Siena and Roberto de Lecce publicly burned the " Hermaphroditus," and the
author's portrait as well. In spite of ecclesiastical censure Panormita enjoyed the
patronage and friendship of the Emperor Sigismond, Alfonso of Naples, and Cosmo
di Medici (he dedicated to the last-named the " Hermaphroditus "), and of many
scholars — Guarino and Poggio amongst them — who were fascinated by his elegant
style, while condemning the licentiousness of his subjeds.

NOVEL XV.] MASUCCIO. 227

THE NARRATIVE.

BELIEVE that it is a thing well known throughout
the universe, how that most blessed Pope Pius II. let
summon and constitute a sacred and general council in
the city of Mantua/ in order to set on foot an expedition
to be undertaken by all the Christian powers against the
Turk. Now the Pope having gone thither accompanied by his
whole college of cardinals, awaited the gathering together of the
princes and potentates of Christendom whom he had summoned
thither in order that he might give his diredlions concerning all the
needful preparations which he was persuading them to adopt for the
carrying out of so noble an emprise. It chanced that there was
amongst the others a certain lord cardinal, concerning whose name
and dignity I will keep silence,- who, although he had not yet passed
out of his flowering youth to the age which comes after, was never-
theless charged with the execution of the more weighty offices of the
apostolic court. In addition to this, he had been endowed by nature
with a most comely presence, I will not linger now to tell of the
sumptuous apparel he used, or of his fine and richly-decked horses,
or of the honourable troop of gentlemen who were in his train, or of
the magnificence of his kingly manner of life. And what shall I say
concerning his magnanimous spirit, which, being endowed with every
liberal virtue, was vastly unlike that of all the others, and in time
became most saintly and gracious through its abundance of every
grace and gentleness; so that in the end he was accounted to be the
most seemly and affable gentleman to be found in any of the chief
places of Christendom ì

It happened that this same cardinal took up his abode in a palace
belonging to a citizen of repute, round about which there dwelt a
vast number of ladies marvellously beautiful in person, and amongst

' In 1459.

^ Signor Settembrini puts forward a theory that this cardinal may have been
Roderico Borgia, afterwards Alexander VI. He was raised to the purple by
Calixtus III., his uncle, in 1456, as Cardinal ot Valenza ; and Summonte, "Storia
di Napoli," lib. v., p. 246, says, while treating of the Council of Mantua, " il Car-
dinal di Valenza restò con grandi entrate, e vicecancelliere della sede apostolica."

228 MASUCCIO. [novel xv.

these there was one who, without doubt, outdid all the others of the
city in beauty ; and she, as fate would have it, was more than once
observed by the lord cardinal aforesaid, who thereupon felt that
he could take pleasure in her and in her alone. Like the mighty
hunter that he was, he was powerfully attraéled by this fair booty,
and determined to leave nothing undone which might help him to
come out of this enterprise a viótor. And because the house where
the young woman dwelt was very near to his own, and the windows
opposite to each other, he found on this account abundant oppor-
tunity of gazing upon her, and of admiring her loveliness at his
convenience.

Now because he received information after a time that this lady
was more modest and virtuous than any of her neighbours, and
because he found himself unable to induce her to look upon him
even once with kindly eyes, while he used all kinds of gracious arts
to commend himself to her favour, he began to feel that the hopes
he had hitherto cherished were beginning to forsake him. Still,
being fiercely urged on by the pricks of love, and knowing well that
difficult undertakings are not to be brought to an issue without sore
travail; remembering, likewise, that those objeéls which men attain
with ease have but small savour and quickly pall, he at last fixed
upon a certain scheme after he had well canvassed divers others. He
determined to see whether he might not be able to entrap the husband
of the lady aforesaid by his love of gold, knowing as he did that this
man was very needy and very avaricious at the same time. Thus
the husband, having been summoned, without any farther delay went
to him forthwith, and was at once conduóted into the presence of the
lord cardinal in his chamber. After having welcomed him with
many words of civil and familiar greeting, the cardinal made him sit
down beside him, and then addressed him in these words: "Sir, as
I well know you to be a man of prudent nature, it does not seem to
me to be in any way necessary that I should use lengthy speeches
and persuasive reasonings in making clear to you a certain matter
which you may easily perceive to be one which must make for
your lasting peace and contentment, and at the same time enable
you to escape both from your present troubles and from those
which await you in the future. Wherefore I must let you know that
the charm of the great beauty of your most virtuous wife has seized
upon me in such wise that I can find for myself no rest on account of

NOVEL XV.] MASUCCIO. 229

the same. I know well enough that by no forethought or reasoning
can I bring forward any plea which would permit me to require such a
service at the hands of yourself, who are her husband ; but when I
considered how, for reasons of affedion and of upright dealing as
well, no other person would be able to set this affair in order so
well as you, or to keep the same a secret from all ears, I made up my
mind to have recourse to you, rather than to any other trusty agent,
to adi as a go-between on my behalf in the matter aforesaid, begging
you that for the sake of giving me the satisfadlion I so much desire,
and for the gathering into your own pockets such advantageous profit,
you will deign to grant me this boon which I long for so earnestly.
And although the thing I speak of is of so great value and worth
that I cannot be said to buy it, nevertheless you must understand that
this service I ask of you will not have been given to me for nothing,
but sold at a very high price, seeing that I desire no other thing than
that your wife should forthwith take full possession of myself and
you of all my wealth. Now if it seems good to you to do this thing,
I beg you to tell me so without delay and not keep me waiting, in
order that you may straightway perceive what will be the conse-
quences of all the bounty and the rewards which I intend to bestow
upon you."

The worthy man was, as I have before said, poor, and besides
this avaricious beyond measure ; wherefore, when he listened to the
magnificent off^ers made to him by the cardinal, whom he knew well
to be very rich and very liberal likewise, he at once considered that
assuredly a very great profit must accrue to him from this business,
and at the same time persuaded himself most confidently that with
his craft he would be able to lay the plot in marvellously subtle and
secret fashion. In sooth, the things afore-mentioned sufficed amply to
confound his wits, to break through the respeél he ought to have felt
for the matrimonial tie, to lead him to hold cheaply the good opinion
of the world, and to injure with such a disgraceful blow both himself
and his. eternal happiness. Therefore, without letting his thoughts
busy themselves longer over the affair, he made answer to the cardinal
in a few words: "Monsignor, I hold myself in readiness to do this
service you require of me, for the reason that it is your part to com-
mand and mine to fulfil your every wish and pleasure."

When the husband had thanked the cardinal many times for his
bounty, he took his leave with a joyous countenance, and, in order

230 MASUCCIO. [novel xv.

to let no long delay interpose before the business should be set in
progress, he began on the following night to canvass the same in
a very roundabout fashion with his wife, shielding himself as often as
he needed behind the pretext of their pressing poverty, concluding
his speech by affirming that a dishonest aótion, if it should be wrought
in such cunning wise that no one might be cognisant thereof, may
be held not to have been committed at all. The wife, who was a
very discreet woman, not only took this discourse of his in excessive
ill part, but likewise, being hotly inflamed with anger thereanent, she
poured out upon him the vilest abuse, ending by declaring that, if at
any future time he should allow himself to think of such a matter,
and much less to speak of it, she would without further paltering
make it known to her brothers.

The husband did not trouble himself greatly because his wife
made so haughty a reply the first time he spoke to her of the
affair; and, when he had allowed a few days to pass by, and when a
moment fitted for his purpose seemed to have recurred during a con-
versation with his wife over divers pleasant things, he once more pre-
ferred to her in well-considered fashion the same request as he had made
to her before. Whereupon she, showing herself more inflexible than
ever, went forthwith to the house of her brothers, and with great dis-
pleasure told them the whole story of her vile husband's doings, and
these, as soon as they had heard what she had to tell, were greatly
angered and caused their brother-in-law to come to them and let
him know what things they had heard concerning him, threatening
him sorely and casting foul words at him on account of the misdeeds
he had planned against the honour of them all.

But he, who had already pondered over and prepared the answer
he was minded to give, said, without aught of amazement, and even
smiling somewhat, *' Good brothers of mine, of a truth you might
have made inquiry of me with more decorum, and then I might well
have taken away all your suspicions, but since one is forced to endure
all manner of things when dealing with a number of others joined in
alliance, I will tell you the truth concerning the matter which your
sister and my wife has related to you. Wherefore you must under-
stand that I, having become suspicious that the cardinal, who has his
lodgings over against ours, was seized with an amorous passion for
her, and furthermore that he, by the help of certain of my household,
had secretly woven a plot against me, made up my mind to try a final

NOVEL XV.] MASUCCIO. 231

experiment in respeót to her, holding her, young and fair as she is, to
be an honest woman, what though I am somewhat uncertain as to the
chastity of women in general. Then, if she should be found honest,
as I have always found her, I resolved to praise her thereanent, and
to withdraw myself from all suspicious mood both in the present and
for the future as well. If, on the contrary, I should have discovered
in her any falling away from virtuous carriage, I should have set
myself, with your concurrence, to give her such usage as might be
meet for her deserts. But now, for the reason that I have, by
God's mercy, ascertained and proved her virtue, as you see for your-
selves, I have let vanish from my mind all suspicion of any kind, old
or new, and from this time forth I shall be careful to treat her with
still greater consideration than heretofore."

The brothers, after they had lent ear to this excuse thus set forth in
plausible wise, gave the husband high commendation for the prudent
arguments he had used with himself, deeming it quite possible that
he might in sooth have done this thing in consideration of the end
he anticipated, and, after some further discourse over the affair, they
brought about a reconciliation between him and his wife ; whereupon
she consented to go back with him to his house, holding the belief
that he would not again begin to speak to her of such matters as he
had lately been in the habit of discussing. The lord cardinal, when
intelligence was brought to him of what had happened, listened to the
same with great bitterness of spirit, for it seemed to him that his
glowing hopes were beginning to lose their warmth. Nevertheless,
coerced by the fierce passion which possessed him, he still went on
courting her with glances more amorous and fervent than ever, and
would, now by certain signs and now by spoken words, make offer
to her of everything he possessed in the world without imposing upon
her restraint or condition of any sort, letting her know in conclusion
that for the sake of the love he had for her he was letting himself
consume like ice in the rays of the sun.

Now the lady, in sooth, was made of metal which in no way
differed from that out of which the residue of the female sex is com-
pounded; wherefore she, notwithstanding that she was in every sense
a virtuous and honest woman, began to be conscious of some little
tenderness towards him on account of the continual hammering he
kept up, but she was careful at the same time to let him get no ink-
ling of her change of mind. Still she never negledled, whenever she

232 MASUCCIO. [novel x\'.

might be holding conversation with her husband, to heap commenda-
tion beyond measure upon the circumsped manner and the praise-
worthy carriage of the lord cardinal. Wherefore this discourse of
hers chanced to become the reason for the wretched knave of a hus-
band to pluck up his heart afresh, and to come back once more to
ply her with the arguments and persuasions he had used before. Thus,
having been careful to seize upon a certain time when he knew her
to be in a friendly mood, he addressed her in these words : " My
Giacomina, you yourself can truthfully bear witness of the faft that,
both in the past and at this present time, I have cordially and truly
loved you and still love you on account of the many virtues with
which you are adorned. Now if the day before yesterday I demanded
of you a certain thing you wot of, I should be unwilling indeed you
should still hold the belief that this request of mine was produced
by any want of esteem or resped for yourself. Indeed, I was urged
on to beg this favour of you against my own pleasure and inclination
by two very powerful reasons. The first of these is found in the
extreme necessity which has fallen upon us through the working of
our evil fortune — an ill for which we are ourselves in no way to blame,
and which does not let me see that there is available any other method
by which we may keep ourselves alive. The other, which in sooth
afflióls me with grief no less bitter,is the thought that in the approaching
festival which our marchioness is minded to give for the entertainment
of all the various princes who are now gathered together here in our
city, and to our neighbours as well, I shall not be able, through
lack of money, to provide for your appearance at the same in
such gear and fashion as I should desire, and such as is fitting to our
position and to your fine presence and beauty. Thus, when I
consider these things in my mind, I find in them such great force,
that I suffer myself to be borne along by their arguments, not only
to let ensue the affair I named to your hearing, but even to consent
to be haled off to eternal torture and a cruel death. And, forsooth,
nothing but the fear of consequent shame keeps us back from doing
this. Still, as I told you once before, no enterprise when it is under-
taken with caution and foresight can ever come home to us to our
prejudice or disgrace. In order that you may be assured that I am
speaking the truth, I would have you see that this lord cardinal is so
keenly sensible of his own honour and of ours as well that, albeit he
is pining away by reason of his passion, he could not bring himself to

NOVEL XV.] MASUCCIO. 233

take any other living man into his confidence as to this affair save
myself, seeing that I am the one most concerned in keeping it a secret.
Now therefore, not knowing of any farther consideration which I
might suggest to you concerning this affair, I will bring my words to
an end by saying that you must do what your soul counsels you to
do, and then I, on my part, will of a surety be contented. Still I
will not fail to remind you now, that hereafter, in the hours when we
shall be tormented by our wretched poverty, we shall have to let our
complaint be made, not to fortune, but to you."

In this fashion was the lady urged and persuaded without ceasing
by her wretch of a husband, who, by these fraudulent arguments of
his, led her on towards the verge of the abyss. And beyond this she,
being fully persuaded that she was loved above everything else in the
world by such a gracious, rich, handsome and liberal gentleman, made
up her mind that, for the aforesaid reasons and many others to boot,
she would forthwith break loose from all the bonds of virtue which had
hitherto restrained her, and at one and the same time gain for herself
the lasting gratification of her desires, and let her husband feel the prick
of that punishment which he was bringing upon himself. And when
she marked that he kept silence, she addressed him in these words :
" My husband, since it seemed good to my brothers not only to give
me to you for your wife in the first instance, but likewise to send me
back again to your house contrary to my will after I had departed thence,
having just and ample reason for what I did, and, seeing that we are
as we are, I dare not and cannot dispose of myself otherwise than in
such manner as all other beautiful women use in dealing with their
husbands. By this I mean that we must submit ourselves to our
husbands, and obey them as our superiors in all matters. Therefore,
as I see clearly that you have in your mind a set purpose to let this
person of mine be defiled in the embraces of another man, I will
submit in peace to do what you will ; that same thing which you have
persuaded me to assent to with so many pleas and arguments. Thus I
am now fully prepared to do your bidding when and in whatsoever
manner you may ordain. Nevertheless, I will not omit to give you
warning that it behoves you to give this affair mature refleélion, and
I will bid you take care, my husband, that you do not repent thereof
in that season when there will remain for you no opportunity of
remedying the same."

The husband, when he heard his wife answer in this unusual

H H

234 MASUCCIO. [novel xv.

strain, was mightily pleased, and, deeming that his words had indeed
borne fruit, said to her : " My wife, know that people never repent
of what is done after due forethought and in order. However, you
may safely leave the consideration of all this to me." And with these
words he went out of her presence and betook himself with all speed
to the cardinal, and, having given him salutation with a joyful face,
thus addressed him : " My lord, the affair is set in order for this
very night ; but I have assuredly met with a hard task in making her
say ' yes,' and I have besides promised her three hundred ducats for
this first visit, and of this sum she has instant need in order to
exchange the same for fine clothes and ornaments for her person,
wherewith to deck herself at the festival which is about to be holden.
Wherefore I beg you let it be your special care to send her home
well contented."

The amorous lord cardinal, who nevertheless was well experienced
and very circumspeél, understood at once that the baseness of this
fellow was as great as he could wish, and made answer that not only
would he with the utmost pleasure hand over to him the three
hundred ducats, which sum indeed he looked upon as a mere trifle,
but that he wished him to have as much money as his pockets would
hold. And then, after divers other kindly and courteous words, they
came to an agreement one with the other as to the time and the manner
in which the husband himself should condud the lady into the car-
dinal's lodging. And when he had returned to his wife he set forth
to her an account of what he had settled for her to do, but he could
not get her to make any reply thereto save saying, " My husband,
my husband, think over and consider well what thing it is you do."
And when the appointed time had come for them to set forth she
still kept on carping at him as they went on their way with the same
discourse : " My husband, I greatly fear me you will repent of what
you are after." But he, thinking the while of naught besides the
three hundred ducats which he would win for himself in so short a
space of time, troubled himself very little thereanent, and even less
did he understand the drift of these words of hers, seeing that the
passion of avarice had in no small degree blurred and darkened his
understanding, and in this wise he led his wife to the cardinal.

When the young woman had come into the chamber, and when
she found herself in the loving arms of so gracious a gentleman, who,
besides kissing her times out of number, caressed her over and over

NOVEL XV.] MASUCCIO. 235

again in a fashion which proved the sincerity of his affedlion, she was
seized with the desire, even before they had come to taste together
the delicious fruits of love, to confirm herself in the purpose she had
already formed, that is, to submit to die rather than to go back to
that worthy husband of hers. Then, when the lord cardinal had
given to the husband polite dismissal, and had bidden him to return
betimes in the morning and take back his wife with him, he entered
the soft and luxurious bed with the young woman, and when they
had come to that junfture in which love holds out to us his supreme
consolation, they wandered all that night in the delightful gardens of
Venus overcome by mutual desire. So that the lady, who had never
hitherto tasted such a dainty repast, thought within herself that she
must assuredly have come to the place where alone the highest bliss
was to be found. And for the reason that she had no desire to depart
from where she was, she, with discreet manner and with fitting words,
made known to the lord cardinal what were her wishes, and what
course would be expedient for them to take to secure their common
contentment and satisfaótion, saying in conclusion that, if he should
not be satisfied to keep her with him, he might for the future think
of her and set her down as lost entirely, and of her husband as being
still bereft of her, for she had determined never to return to him.

The lord cardinal, who had never before had sense of such sweet-
ness as flowed from these words of hers, and from the purport thereof,
before he made her any reply gave her some earnest of his intentions
by the many sweet and loving kisses he showered upon her, and at
last addressed her in these words : " Sweet soul of mine, in sooth I
know of naught else to say to you save that, because I have given to
you my very soul, and because you have given your beautiful and
delicate body to me, you have only to command and to dispose of
me in any fashion which may seem good to you. Whatever you may
ordain, I shall be content therewith." Then, after he had turned to
her and kissed her again, he bade her get up and put on her attire,
seeing that it was by this time broad daylight, and when this was done
he let her be conduced into another room. Having heard that the
husband had been there since the dawn in readiness to take his wife
with him back to his house, the cardinal bade a servant bring him
hither. The husband, after he had come into the room and seen his
wife there, and given her good morning with a smiling face went
privily up to her side and spake to her in the following words :

236 MASUCCIO. [novel XV.

" Ah, my Giacomina, know that I indeed sorely repent me for having
brought you to this place, forasmuch as never before have I endured
such bitter grief as I have endured this accursed niglit, wherein I have
not been able to sleep at all through thinking of you." The lady,
who had already got in order the reply she was minded to give,
then said to him : " My husband, I too have been full of regrets, but
my regret has been that I did not say 'yes' the first time you pro-
posed that I should come hither, seeing that for the rest of my life-
time I shall never be able to make up for all those delicious nights
which I have lost. And if, forsooth, you have slept badly, have I
not also been kept awake, albeit most pleasantly, for the reason that
my lord here has treated me to more caresses during this one single
night than you have bestowed upon me during the whole time I have
been your wife. Again I see quite well that through my ill luck in
having such a husband as you, this gentleman's liberality, concerning
which you discoursed to me in such an ardent tone, has been con-
ferred upon me more than two thousandfold, for you must know
that this morning when I made known to him my final resolve to
remain entirely with him, he handed over to me at once the keys of
all his treasures. And for this reason take whenever you like the
price for which you bargained away the honour of our relationship
one with the other, and assuredly I wish that this same matter may
be the last venture you undertake with regard to me or to any other
aflPair of mine, seeing that I would vastly prefer to let myself be torn
in four quarters rather than return to you."

The wretch of a husband, who now indeed was fain to believe
that the very heavens were falling down about his head, answered
her in these words : " Giacomina, my fairest one, do you mean to
mock me, or are you indeed speaking the truth? " She answered
him, " Yes, certes, I make a mock of you, and with good cause, too.
But you perhaps have made yourself believe that I am now minded
to make a trial of your love, after the fashion by which, as you told
my brothers, you once sought to put my constancy to the proof.
Now I wish that, having made this trial of yours once for all, you
should rest satisfied with the result of your essay, and that for the
future you should look to have nothing further to do with me or my
affairs. In sooth, you ought to remember how many times I said to
you, ' My husband, have a care of what you are doing,' and to these
words of mine you always made answer that I was to leave all such

NOVEL XV.] MASUCCIO. 237

considerations to you. Wherefore I aéled in this wise, and thus
I intend to ad for the future. The thought which gave rise to this
thing was your own, and sprang from no other brain than yours, so
find a remedy therefor if you can. I, for my part, shall in the mean-
time, without wasting a single thought over the matter, find myself
becoming ever more beautiful and fresh in the delightful embraces of
my new lord."

Having spoken these words she opened a cabinet and drew there-
from a purse into which she had shortly before counted the sum
of three hundred ducats, and said to her husband, '' Here, take the
price for the wife you held in such light esteem, and tarry here not a
moment longer." Then, as she moved away to go into another
room, she said, '' Now, good-bye, my husband, and another time
consider well the thing you would do." Then she locked the door
upon him, and never more as long as he lived was a sight of her
granted to him. The wretched husband failing to find remedy
of any sort for this disastrous barter of his, took the three hundred
ducats, so as to make the best of a bad bargain, and overflowing with
tears and sighs returned to his home, but being no less terrified by the
fury of his brothers-in-law than overwhelmed by the burden of his
own shame, he shortly after fled therefrom. How the lady fared,
and how she spent the residue of her days in joyance and pleasure,
anyone may easily understand.

MASUCCIO.

^T might be looked upon as a rash and presumptuous deed
on the part of any man who should set to work to visit
with condemnation this young Mantuan lady on account
of what she did for the chastisement of her base wretch of
a husband, and for the securing for herself of a life of
lasting pleasure, or to blame her because she showed herself in-
disposed to abandon those many delights, the existence of which she
had discovered all unexpededly and even against her will — delights
which perchance had been foreordained as her portion from the very
beginning of time. At the same time no one could or ought to feel
any pity for the deceived husband, seeing that he himself pur-

238 MASUCCIO. [novel XV.

chased the befooling he got at his own price. In like manner, too, no
one can with justice lay blame on the cardinal because he did not
shut the door in the face of kindly fortune when she placed in his
hands that one thing which he desired more than aught else in the
world. Nay, it seems to me that we should rather hold him to be
praised, in that, after having satisfied his desire with her, he did not
allow himself to be conquered by avarice so as to withhold from the
good easy husband the money he had covenanted to give him, as in
sooth many others might have done.^

But now, seeing that we have spoken enough concerning all of
these, and that there is no cause for us to wonder at the fadt that
men cannot always defend themselves from the snares which are set
for them by others, I will in another novel let you hear of a most
subtle cheat put upon one who was a saint by two of our Salernitan
townsmen, and in what fashion they contrived to extraót many
hundreds of florins out of the pockets of the wary people of
Florence.

^ Masuccio seems here to show that he has one law for a cardinal and another
for a mendicant friar.

€f)e ÌBrOi of tf^t dFiftfentf) iEobcI.

Bom tòt ^irteentf).

lI?o\3el t\)t é)ijcteentl).

ARGUMENT.

San ibernarti Ino ' Is trirfert ftj) tm Salcrnltans, one of toijom makes tte
saint tellfbe tf)at 1)e Das founti a purse containing fibe ijuntireti tiucats,
U)ijilc tf)f otijff affirms tl)at ije tas lost tl)e same, anti ftj) gibing a
bfsrrlptlon of Its contents rccobers tije purse. Sl^iitjereupon tt)e saint,
tabing In a sermon of fjis maTje mention of tije pobertjj of tte firsts
namet) man to tlje ^Fiorentine people, collects a large sum of moneg,
b)|)lci) ije ijantis ober to tfje feuabe, toijo, fjnbing foregatfjereti once more
mitt f)ls colleague, tilbllies tolti) ijim ti)e bootjj.'

' San Bernardino was born at Massa-Carrara in 1380, of a noble family. He
was trained for high office in the Church, but in 1404 he was moved by the vice
and degradation he saw around him, to give up all thought of the career of wealth
and ease which had been chosen for him, to sell all he had, and become a preaching
Franciscan. For forty-two years he preached without ceasing in every part of
Italy. In Florence he anticipated Savonarola's "bonfire of vanities," and vast
crowds of listeners in Perugia were converted. He began to work for the reform of
his order as soon as he joined it, seeing that the rule had grown very lax, and in
1438 became vicar-general. Afterwards he founded the Obscrvantist branch of
the Franciscans. He died in 1444, and was canonized by Nicholas V. in 1450.

^ In the "Epoca" of Madrid, January 15, 1884, there is an account of a trick
somewhat like the one dealt with in this novel.

I I

242

MASUCCIO.

[novel XVI.

Co inp most illustrious ant) tjerp rcucrcnD lorn,
Don 3lof)n of aragon/

EXORDIUM.

MIND me, my illustrious and most reverend lord,
that I have many a time determined within myself that
I would dedicate to you, before making an end of my
story-telling, a novel which should be full of diverting
and seemly incident — to you as the highest ornament
and bright particular mirror of those who follow in
the footsteps of Peter, and afterwards to write down the same and
include it amongst the others already written. And for the reason
that I am wishing to carry the projedl afore-named into effeól, I now
send you this novel which I have recently set down, one which you
will find no less true than it is diverting. In the same, moreover, you
will be led to understand how, not only men of the world, but also
those who are rated as saints can be tricked, and indeed often are
tricked in their lifetime here on earth by those who go about under
the mask of feigned righteousness.

THE NARRATIVE.

NGELO PINTO,^ one of our Salernitan citizens, must in
his day have been, according to what old men who
knew him affirm, a most renowned master in the art of
cheating others by means of every different sort of
knavery, so that, if you had searched all Italy through,
you would not have found his peer.^ Wherefore this said man, after
he had made quest in divers parts of Italy, both within and without,

' He was the third son of Ferdinand I. by Isabella da Chiaromonte. He was
born in 1456, and became a cardinal in 1478. He died in 1485.

■ According to Signor Settembrini the family of this name still survives in
Salerno.

■' The Salernitans had a reputation for being clever knaves. The men of Sorrento,
on the other hand, were proverbial dullards. See Novel IV,

NOVEL XVI.] MASUCCIO. 243

and had employed his tools to good service in almost every place,
betook himself at last to Florence during that very same time when
our most holy San Bernardino was preaching there — a time when
indeed the greater part of the dwellers in Tuscany were running after
the saint aforesaid, on account of the many and manifest miracles
which he worked without ceasing, and of the fame which was noised
abroad in public concerning his perfeft manner of life.

Now, mixed with the vast multitude who were listening to
the saint's preaching, the aforesaid Angelo met one day by chance
another young fellow, also a Salernitan, called by name II Vescovone,
who, taking into consideration his age, was marvellously well learned
in the arts which Angelo Pinto praélised. When these two recognized
one another, and called back to remembrance the city from which
they both of them sprang, they exchanged many caresses and embraces,
and set about relating a good part of the adventures which had
befallen each one of them. At last, while they were conversing,
II Vescovone said : " My Angelo, you must know that I tarry here
in Florence so that I may be able to put into execution a marvellously
fine trick I know of; but, up to this present time, I have not been
able to light upon any man in whom I could put full trust, and who
might be the master of a few hundred florins."^ Whereupon, after
the young man had duly set forth the method of this trick of his,
and after Angelo had highly approved of the same, the latter made
answer and said that he was quite prepared to play his part in so note-
worthy a cheat as he found this to be, and to lend his aid in the form
of money and of all the cunning he possessed.

Thereupon, so as not to let any further delay stand in the way of
this plan of theirs, they procured a very big satchel, having divers
small pockets withinside, and into this they put five hundred golden
ducats — which was all that remained to Angelo out of a much
greater sum, the residue of which he had expended — carefully separat-
ing the Venetian ducats from those of Florence. Besides this they
divided all the other coins, according to the stamp which they bore,
and placed each lot in a separate pocket ; and then, having taken an
exa(5l account of them and written down a memorandum of the same
on a piece of paper, II Vescovone put this away carefully so as to
have it at hand when it might be wanted. This done, they rehearsed
together the scheme which they had agreed to carry out.
^ Orig., che ita forte di qualche centìnaro di fiorini.

2^^ MASUCCIO. [novel XVI.

On the following morning, Angelo, having put on the disguise
of a pilgrim, and with the satchel concealed in the breast of his mantle,
went to the preaching, and when San Bernardino had come to the
end of his sermon and had withdrawn to his cell, the feigned pilgrim
followed him thither closely and threw himself down at his feet,
begging him of his charity to grant a compassionate hearing, seeing
that the matter he had in hand was one which brooked no delay.
Whereupon San Bernardino made answer in benignant wise, and said
that he was fully prepared to hear whatever his petitioner might have
to say. Then Angelo, weeping the while, began to speak in the
following words :

" My father, I would have you understand that within the last
few days I have received at Rome plenary absolution of my sins, which
in sooth were well-nigh unpardonable, and although I was thereby
almost restored to that state of innocence which I enjoyed when I
received the water of holy baptism, nevertheless, as a farther atone-
ment for my most execrable misdeeds, an additional task of penitence
was put upon me, to wit, that I should set forth on a pilgrimage to
San Giacomo di Compostella. Now, after I had duly got myself in
order to embark on this journey, it chanced that yesterday morning
I allowed myself to be drawn to listen to your most righteous dis-
course, whereupon the devil, who was peradventure greatly angered
because I had wrested myself out of his hands, threw down before my
feet a halter with which I might well hang myself by the neck. By halter
I mean this satchel here which I now hold in my hand, and in which
are contained at least five hundred ducats. And while he showed
me this satchel, he showed me at the same time all the many cruel
ills which affliét me through my poverty, and brought before my eyes
the pifture of my three daughters, now come to a marriageable age,
and very beautiful withal, but clad in sordid rags. Moreover, by
calling to mind all the possible ills and dangers which might well be
their portion through the want of all things necessary, and by many
other persuasions, I was incited to turn back to my home, and to
enjoy together with my poor family the many good things which
have been here sent to me by fortune. However, being armed and
equipped with the stout shield of the Holy Spirit, I was enabled to
resist these temptations, deeming that the greatest treasures earth can
afford are as naught when put in comparison with a soul which God
is willing to redeem with the price of His most precious blood.

NOVEL XVI.] MASUCCIO. 245

Now, having brought myself to have recourse to you, having this
resolve in my heart the while, I beg you, in God's name, that you
will forthwith take charge of these moneys I have brought here, so
that to-morrow, when you are preaching your sermon, you may
declare this matter to the people assembled. If you shall do this,
without doubt the owner of the satchel will be found, and then, when
he shall have described to you by certain signs and tokens what may
be within the same, you shall return it to him. Now, in case it should
not seem just to you that I may with a good conscience take aught
in the way of guerdon^ thereanent from the owner, I implore you
that of your kindness you will recommend my poverty to the good
people of this city in such manner as may seem best to your fatherly
kindness."

The illustrious saint, when he listened to the discourse of the
suppliant thus tricked out in such plausible and sanólimonious wise,
and when he saw how indeed there was money in the satchel as the
pilgrim had said, gazed at him attentively in every feature, and, as the
man seemed to him to be old in years and of an honest seeming, he not
only gave undoubting credit to all the words he had just listened to,
but he likewise said within himself that this thing must in sooth
prove to be a miracle such as had never before been heard of, seeing
that in the world as he saw it, marred and corrupted by wolfish
avarice and insatiable greed of money, there should still be found a
human spirit of such worth and excellence. Wherefore, after the
saint had heaped upon the man before him many words of extra-
ordinary praise in respefl to the honest dealing he had practised, he
said to him : " My son, I can find nothing more to say to you than
to assure you that, if you had crucified Christ with your own hands,
you would well deserve pardon therefor only by the merits of this
righteous deed which you have wrought, without any further need
of going on this pilgrimage. Nevertheless, I must hearten you on to
follow the blessed path upon which your mind is set, and bid you be
of good cheer, for assuredly God will not suffer this good deed of
yours to pass away without its reward. On my own part I will, as
you will be able to see for yourself, do my duty to-morrow in such
a fashion that, the mercy of my Creator aiding me, I hope you will
soon have provided for you a more liberal aid for your poor estate —

' Orig., pigliare alcun beveraggio.

246 MASUCCIO. [novel XVI.

to say nothing of keeping a good conscience — than any which would
have come to you through following the course which the accursed
enemy of God had prepared for you in order the better to hurl you
down into perdition." When the saint had finished speaking
Angelo thanked him in unmeasured terms for his goodness, and more
especially for the offer which he made of his willingness to address
an appeal on his behalf to the people in church on the following
morning. Then, having left in the hands of the saint the satchel
full of ducats, he said to him : " My father, I beg that you will let
me know in what manner I must bear myself, for I must tell you,
not that I am minded in any way to make a boast thereof, but
merely to speak the truth, that I am, in spite of my present poverty,
sprung from a noble stock, and it would go much against my will if
it were to come to the knowledge of men how I have to go about
begging for alms ; wherefore, if it be possible, let this be kept secret."
San Bernardino, giving ready belief to these last words, which indeed
only caused him to feel still greater compassion for the speaker,
straightway commanded him that he should not quit the cell where
he at present found himself.

And when the morrow had come, the saint according to his wont
mounted into the pulpit, and having changed the text which he had
already chosen for his sermon, he gave out another in these words,
" Fecit mirabilia in vita sua: quis est iste, et laudabimus eum ? " and
then went on to say : " Fellow-citizens, seeing that a marvellous cir-
cumstance has lately come under my notice — something which, in its
working, partakes assuredly more of the miraculous than of the human
— it has seemed convenient to me to trespass somewhat on the set order
of the sermon I had promised to deliver to you, and to place before
you the text which you have just heard me repeat. Now the circum-
stance to which I have made reference is that a certain poor man,
who was bound on a pilgrimage to San Giacomo di Compostelia in
order to cleanse him of his sins, happened to find himself on the
morning of the day before yesterday in the midst of a great crowd,
and, standing there, he turned over with his feet a purse which was
lying on the ground filled full withinside with a sum of several
hundred florins — a lure which had probably been placed there by the
art of the devil. Now, on account of this occurrence he has been
assailed by a vast multitude of temptations, and has had to wage a
fierce war against the consciousness of his own extreme poverty and

NOVEL XVI.] MASUCCIO. 247

the thought of his family left behind him, for whom he can with
difficulty provide food enough for their nutriment, and against the
other numerous miseries which afflici him. But in the end,
strengthened thereto by the love of Christ, he made the sign of the
cross, and blew all these temptations aside and scattered them afar.
Then, weeping bitterly the while, he came to me, bringing with him
in his hand the satchel full of florins, which I still hold in my keep-
ing. In truth I know not what more Saint Peter himself could have
done, or even our own seraphic Saint Francis,^ the one and only
despiser of earthly riches, and thereby the imitator of Christ, in that
he would not claim any earthly possession as his own. Could these
have done anything more than, having found this treasure I speak
of, have sought to restore it to its owner ? How, therefore, can
we give greater praise to this man, who, being altogether perplexed
with worldly troubles, steeped in poverty, burdened with the care of
daughters, and, beyond all, debarred by shame from seeking alms by
begging from the faél that he is of noble birth, praélises nevertheless
virtue in such high degree that it seems to me the Church might
most deservedly this day sing on his behalf alone the text in the
words of which I now appeal to your charity, ' He has wrought
wondrous things in his life.'"

And after this the saint began to declaim with a loud voice the
following words : '* And you, most rapacious of wolves, most greedy
of misers, men of lust all defiled with the dregs of this deceitful
world, every day you praólise usury and false contradls, and go after
your ill-gotten gains. By your crafty dealing you keep as your own
the goods of others, you rob the Church, you usurp the rights of the
helpless, you drain the blood of the poor, you negled: to carry out
the testaments with which you are charged, and in a thousand other
most wicked deeds you go astray from the paths of Christ to follow
those of the devil."

And thus the saintly old man, wrathful and burning ardently
with the fire of love, having become somewhat awearied with much
speaking, calmed himself, and having repeated the words of his text,
went on to say : " I could never write down with my pen nor
repeat with my tongue the words of praise which might most de-

' According to the "Golden Legend," the epithet "seraphic" was applied to
Saint Francis because in the vision during which he received the stigmata the marks
were imprinted on his body by a crucified seraph.

2+8 MASUCCIO. [novel xvi.

servedly be applied to this man ; nevertheless I would that you should
here grasp the full meaning of one single instance of his goodness
and purity of heart. He, when he was holding speech with me con-
cerning this matter, made a great pohit of telling me that he willed
not to ask for any guerdon in respedt to the money which he had
found, believing as he did that he could not with a good conscience
accept the same. Wherefore now, my brethren, if the man who
has lost this satchel be amongst you, let him come to me forthwith,
and let him bring a description of the satchel and of the sum of the
florins which are therein, and furthermore let him tell me exacftly the
number of coins of each separate impression, for you must know that
they are already all divided the one sort from the other. If he shall
do this, he may take the satchel and the blessing of God therewith,
without having to disburse a single penny. Still I would not on this
account cease from urging you to follow the teaching of Jesus our
Redeemer, who has let us know it to be His will that, as every ill deed
should be punished, albeit mercifully, so likewise no good deed should
be allowed to pass by without its due reward. So it seems to me,
my children, that this poor gentleman ought by right to have granted
to him some reward in respetì: of the virtue he has shown in this
matter ; and, as I feel also that I am constrained in righteousness to
commend his poverty to you, I pray that all those who are marked
with the triumphant ensign of the cross of Christ will cast down
upon this my cloak whatever alms God may inspire him to give, and
let no one negleól to give his mite. For from the thousands of
people 1 behold here before me, we shall surely colled a sum large
enough to extricate him finally from his wretched condition, and to
this good deed I exhort you, and I affirm that by it you will work
greater weal than in lending aid to the needs of our hospitals, or in
giving your alms to mendicants of any other sort whatever."

Having thus spoken, he threw his mantle down on the ground,
and scarcely had it fallen before all the people, the greatest crowd
that had ever been seen in that place, moved towards it, every man
who was there reaching out the alms he desired to give in so holy
a cause; and, in such fashion as I have described, the companions
of San Bernardino during the whole of that day kept the mantle of
the saint to receive the offerings which were made in answer to his
request. By the time the evening had come, it was found that they
had coUedted a good sum of a thousand florins or thereabout.

NOVEL XVI.] MASUCCIO. 249

Now while all this was being brought to pass, II Vescovone had
put on the disguise of a Genoese merchant, for the reason that he
knew excellently well the idiom of that city, and now he came for-
ward, and, crying and shouting aloud amongst the great crowd of
people round about, he caused them to stand aside and make a pas-
sage for him. Then, having thrown himself weeping the while before
the feet of the holy friar, he spake thus : '' Sir, these moneys are
mine, and here or elsewhere I will give you a complete description of
the stamps they may bear, for I have the same all written down here."
So, taking from his breast the memorandum concerning the coins
which he had kept there for this purpose, he gave it into the hands
of the saint. San Bernardino, looking at him with a joyful smile,
said : " My son, you have assuredly had more luck in finding your
money than you had sense in keeping it safely. However, you
shall come with me, and we will see whether the coins be yours or
not. If they be yours, you shall have them back without the cost
of a penny."

Thereupon the saint, after he had pronounced the benedidlion
over the people, went into his cell, and having poured out the coins
from the satchel, he found that they tallied exaólly with the descrip-
tion given by II Vescovone in his memorandum ; wherefore he handed
over the money with much satisfadion to the cheating knave. As
soon as the latter had pocketed the same, he went as fast as he could
to the place w^here the servants of Angelo were lodging, and, accord-
ing to the plan which they had already devised between themselves,
they all withdrew from Florence together and tarried for Messer
Angelo at a given spot. And on the following morning there was
handed over to Angelo the entire sum of money which had been col-
leéled, and this, in order to make the deception yet more complete,
was, through the agency of the saint, converted into gold by certain
bankers who were greatly devoted to him. Then Messer Angelo
bestowed all the money about his person and took leave of the saint,
returning to him many grateful words and receiving his benedidion.
He then went forthwith to the spot where his comrades were await-
ing him ; whereupon they all took their way to Pisa, holding high
revel on the road, and having come there they made a friendly
division of the booty between themselves, and then each one went
his own way. From this we may easily believe that for the rest of
their days they both went on living in jovial fash'on at other men's cost.

K K

250

MASUCCIO.

[novel XVI,

MASUCCIO.

NE may say with truth that the jest which has been
narrated in the foregoing story will seem quite as art-
fully constru(5led and diverting to its hearers as it was
serviceable and full of profit to the knaves who carried
it out, because, forsooth, it was such a fine trick that by
it two common men were able to beguile not only a holy man of
great experience, but likewise nearly all the citizens of Florence, who
are of a very wily sort. Nor will you find any less laughable the
story of another cheat which I am about to narrate to you, devised
and carried out by two illiterate Roman fellows. This, albeit it was
not of such serious moment as that which I have just told, may
nevertheless be held to be in a certain sense more noteworthy, inas-
much as it was brought to pass in Bologna, a town to which nearly
all the people in the world resort in order to buy their wit,^and from
this place everyone assuredly might carry away a walletful, if, on
departing therefrom, he did not leave too wide open the mouth of
the wallet. But that this is the usage of the greater part of those
who repair thither, is made manifest to us by the plainest signs.

^ Orig., dove quasi tutto il tnondo manda a comparar senno.

^i)f 32nti of ti)f Sùtffntl) iSobfl.

Jl3Jotìcl tbe ^etìentcentf).

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5]5otoel tl)e é)et)enteentt).

ARGUMENT.

tortor of latos sen^s tome to i)is i)ouse a cup, an^ is toatrfirt fig ttoo
tijifbfs. One of tf)ese takes a fisf) to ti^e doctor's btfe, firingtng tjer at
tije same time a fetgneti message from ijec Ijusfianti, bfilc!) tiirerts f)er to
prepare tf)e fislj anti to telibei up tl)e rup. Efjts sije gibes to tf)e rogue, anti
\ììf)tn tJ)e Ijusfianti comes fiacb f)e fintis fjts cup gone, anti ijurries off to
recobcr it. Cf)en tfje otfjcr rogue goes to t^e f)ouse antj sags t^at t^e cup
tas fieen fountr, anti tijat Ije ^as come for tfje fisi). Cte toife fieliebes
i)im anti gibes i)im tt)e fisi), toijici) ^e straigi)ttoag carries off; anb,
tabing met i)is frienti, ti)e ttoo togetfier enjog tl^e trick anti ti)e gains
thereof.

Co tbe mo0t reuerenD o^onsignore, tfte mo0t illustrious
CarOinal of iBaples/

EXORDIUM.

OST reverend Monsignore, if it be that every claim
of reason must urge and persuade those who may
have given voluntary promises to their creditors to
] satisfy the same, I, seeing that I have made myself a
debtor to your lordship's reverence by the offer of
one of my novels, am forced not only by justice but
3y every becoming argument to carry out this promise of mine, and

Oliviero Carafa, of the house of Maddaloni. He was elevated to the archi-

2 5+ MASUCCIO. [novel xvii.

thus to discharge myself of my debt. Wherefore, in the account of
the doings which follows, you will be told the story of a very divert-
ing and audacious trick which was played by two Roman rogues
at the expense of a very wise and learned doólor of laws in Bologna.
This man, although he had taught an enormous number of students
in what manner they should sell wisdom to others, nevertheless knew
not how to impart enough of the same to his wife to enable her,
either in the first case or in the last, to defend herself against the
frauds of these Romans aforesaid.

THE NARRATIVE.

ESSER FLORIANO DA CASTEL SAN PIERO

was known in his own day amongst the people of Bologna
as a most famous and excellent dodor of laws; and he,
after he had come out of church one morning, was walk-
ing up and down the great piazza of the city with
certain other dodors of law, his friends, and in passing it chanced
that he entered the shop of a silversmith living in those parts to
whom he had given orders to make for him a rich and beautiful cup
of silver gilt, and before he went any further, and without holding
any other discourse with the silversmith thereanent, he made out his
account with the craftsman and paid it. Then, when he turned
round to call his servant and bid him take the cup home, he found
that the varlet was not there ; so he begged the silversmith that he
would as a favour send the cup to his house by the hand of his
apprentice, which thing the silversmith undertook willingly to do.

Now at that time there were in Bologna two young men
from the Roman states, who had come from the parts round about
Trevi. These two were wandering through Italy from one place to
another, carrying with them a store of false money, and loaded dice,
and a thousand other crafty beguilements wherewith to defraud
whomsoever they might meet, contriving the while to eat and drink

episcopal see of Naples in 1458, and made a cardinal by Paul II. in 1467. It was
under his patronage that Giovanni Pietro Carafa, afterwards Paul IV,, went to Rome,
and was made chamberlain to Alexander VI. He died in 1511, and was buried in
the Cathedral of Naples, where there is a splendid tomb to his memory.

NOVEL XVII.] MASUCCIO. 255

and live a merry life by sponging upon others/ Of these one was
named Liello de Cecco and the other Andreuccio di Vallemontone ;
and these two, finding themselves by chance in the great piazza at
that very same time when Messer Floriano had bidden the silver-
smith let despatch the cup to his house, forthwith proposed one to
the other to make an attempt to get this cup into their hands when
they heard what orders had been given about it. It happened
that they knew quite well the house where the dodor lived ; and as
soon as they perceived that the apprentice had come back from the
discharge of his errand, Liello straightway gave command to his com-
panion as to what course they must follow. First he betook himself
to a tavern, and, after he had bought a very fine lamprey from a heap
of large ones which was lying there and hidden the same care-
fully beneath his mantle, he hurried at full speed to the house of
Messer Floriano. Then, having knocked at the door, he asked for
the mistress of the house, and when he had been brought into her
presence he said : " Madonna, your husband sends you this fish,
and bids me tell you to have it daintily prepared at once for the
table, as he is minded to dine here to-day with certain other doólors
who are friends of his ; and, moreover, he told me that you were to
send back to him the same cup which the apprentice of the Bear-
brought to you a little time agone, for the reason that he finds he
has made an unprofitable bargain with the master silversmith there-
anent, and wishes to have it taken back to the shop in order that it
may be weighed again."

The simple woman, lending easy belief to the knave's words,
immediately handed over to Liello the cup, and commanded her
maidservants to lose no time in letting prepare the fish ; and, having
duly set in order such apparel as was needful for the reception of
strangers at dinner, she awaited their coming with no little pleasure.
Liello, as soon as he had got the cup safely in his possession, quickly
made his way towards San Michele in Bosco,"^ where there dwelt a
prior who was a Roman and a friend of the two sharpers, and an
artist no less skilled in knavery than they themselves. This man

^ Orig., mangiare e godere a spese del crocifiiso.

' Orig., 2/ garzone de/I' Orso. The silversmith must have used a bear for the sign
of his shop.

^ San Michele in Bosco is an Olivetan monastery about a mile outside the
gates of Bologna.

256 MASUCCIO. [novel XVII.

gave Liello a friendly reception, and when he had heard the whole
story, they both made merry over the good stroke which had been
played, while they awaited the coming of Andreuccio, who had tarried
behind in the piazza to listen to whatever might be said concerning
the deed they had just wrought.

When the dinner hour had come Messer Floriano, having taken
leave of his companions, went to his house, and as he drew nigh
thereto his wife, observing that he was alone, went towards him and
said : " Messere, and where are the guests you have invited ì " The
dodlor, greatly amazed at such a question as this, made answer to
her, " What guests are these concerning whom you ask ? " " Know
you not what guests I mean ? " said the wife. " I, for my part, have
prepared everything for dinner in very handsome fashion." Messer
Floriano, now more astonished than ever, cried out : " It seems to
me that you must have lost your wits this morning," Then said
the wife: "Nay, I am well assured that my wits fail me not at all.
You, in sooth, sent me a fine lamprey with diredlions for me to get
the same ready, seeing that you intended to bring hither with you
several other doctors to dinner; and all the things you ordered me to
do by your message I have done, and I hope these may be to your
pleasure, otherwise we shall have lost our time and our trouble in no
small measure." The husband replied : " Certes, my wife, I do not
comprehend the meaning of what you are saying, but may God ever
go on sending to us people who use us in this kindly fashion — people
who bring us something out of their own store without taking away
in turn aught from ours. This time, in sooth, we must have been
mistaken for someone else."

Now when the wife, whb with such scant caution had handed
over the cup to the knave, heard that in truth her husband knew
nothing at all about the matter, she said, with her mind greatly dis-
turbed : " Messere, in my opinion it is exaélly the opposite to what
you say, forasmuch as the man who brought hither the fish asked me
in your name to hand over to him the silver cup which the apprentice
of the Bear had brought here only a short time before, and he
described to me so exaélly all the marks thereof that I handed it over
to him forthwith." When Messer Floriano heard that the cup had
thus been cozened away from him, he understood at once that he had
lost it by means of treacherous dealing ; wherefore he cried out :
'* Ah, senseless numskull that you are ! You have in sooth allowed

NOVEL XVII.] MASUCCIO. 257

yourself to be nicely tricked." Then he departed straightway out
of the house, and when he had come to the piazza he went searching
about on every side without knowing why, demanding of everyone
he met if any man had been seen going in the direólion of his house
and carrying in his hand a fish. In sooth, the dodtor gave vent to a
thousand other crazy humours without getting any good therefrom.
He went from place to place playing the fool and sending people to
the four winds, asking all sorts of questions bearing upon the
business in hand, and sometimes trying to believe, with faint hope,
that it was only a harmless trick which someone had played him.

In the meantime Andreuccio was standing at the corner of the
piazza with all the outward seeming of a man of good repute, and
although he deemed that by this time his comrade and the cup as
well must have gained a harbour of refuge, he felt nevertheless no
little vexation that he himself should have lost the good round sum
he had spent in the purchase of the lamprey without ever tasting a
mouthful of the same. Wherefore he made up his mind to get
into his possession the lamprey by means of another trick no less
astute than the first. Thus, taking advantage of the time when he
perceived that Messer Floriano was most hotly engaged in his search
for the cup, he betook himself at the top of his speed to the doctor's
house, and mounting the steps with a joyful face he said to the wife:
" Madonna, I bring to you good news, forasmuch as your husband
has found the cup which certain friends of his caused to be stolen
from him by way of playing a jest with him ; therefore he has sent
me hither to fetch the fish which you have got in order, and to take
it to him, seeing that he is minded to make good cheer with the
same in the company of those who snatched the cup out of his
sight."

The wife, who had been overwhelmed with grief and trouble for
the reason that she had been the cause of the loss of the cup, rejoiced
mightily when she heard that it had been found, and having taken
two large dishes of pewter, with a white and scented tablecloth, she
placed the well-dressed fish withinside, and, glad at heart at the turn
of affairs, she delivered it into the hands of the worthy Andreuccio.
And he, as soon as he was clear of the house, wrapped up everything
carefully under his cloak and flew as fast as his legs could carry him
towards San Michele, and, having arrived there, he met the prior and
Liello, and the three held high revel over the excellent lamprey,

L L

258 MASUCCIO. [novel xvii.

laughing and jesting heartily the while. They afterwards handed
over the pewter dishes to the prior, and then, using the greatest
cunning, they sold the cup and went their way to another place
without raising any hue and cry with regard to their exploit.

Messer Floriano, who had spent the whole of the day in vainly
seeking to get some intelligence as to the matter, went back to his
house late at night hungry and sorely out ot humour ; whereupon his
wife, going forward to meet him, addressed him in these words :
" Glory be to God ! seeing that by His help you have at last found
the cup, through losing which I was called a numskull." But he, with
a heart filled with cruel resentment, replied : " Get out of my sight, con-
ceited fool that you are ! if you do not wish to know what bad luck
really is; for it appears that, over and beyond working a grievous
wrong and injury to me by reason of your brutish folly, you now are
minded to make a mock of me." The wife, utterly confounded by
what she heard, answered, all trembling with fear : " Messere, in
good sooth I do not mean to jeer at you ; " and then she went on to
tell him all about the second trick which had been put upon her.
Messer Floriano when he heard this fell into a humour so overwrought
and grief-stricken that he came little short of losing his wits entirely;
and, after he had spent a great deal of time, and tried every scheme,
with all sorts of most subtle investigations, to lay his hands on the
thieves, he lived for a long season with his wife in sore hatred and
ill-will, having failed altogether to discover anything about those
who had duped him. And in this fashion the Romans enjoyed the
fruit of their cunning deceit, and left the dodtor, tricked and flouted,
with his sorrow and loss.

MASUCCIO.

ILTHOUGH, according to the novel which has just been
related, the schemes employed by the cunning tricksters
came to a successful issue, nobody will be able to deny
that the said schemes were most dangerous and full of
risk. And as it is a common saying in the mouths of
men that the richest gains give rise to the greatest rejoicings, never-
theless it sometimes comes to pass that foxes are caught in the snare.

1

NOVEL XVII.] MASUCCIO. 259

and at the same time are mulded both as to the loss and the profits
as well. Wherefore I would the rather give my praise to those
artists who know better how to work than to put their lives at
stake for the sake of any trifling gain, and will gather an example
from the friars of Saint Antony, who, when they set forth on one of
their piratical excursions, put nothing on the table in the way of stakes
except words, and never fail to draw therefrom so much profit that
they always return to their homes safe and sound, and filled to the
eyes with plunder. Of this saying the novel which follows next in
order will give you clear and open testimony.

C^e ìBnìi of tf)e Sebenteenti) iEobel.

Boì)zì tbz OBìgbteentf).

iI2Dl3el tl)e €is\^ttmtì).

ARGUMENT.

friar of Saint ^ntoiij? fig meatis of flirtante arorns sabes ttoo pigs from
tging, toljfVfupon tfje tooman to to|)om tt)fB ielong gibes i)im a piece of
linen clotf). C^e f)us6an^ eomes tacfe, antj, being greatlp angereb at
tofjat sfie i)as bone, follows tf)e friar to recober from tint tf)e linen.
^|)p fria^ sees tint coming from afar, anb itrotos a ligtteb branb into tf)e
clotf), anb tfien gibes it back to tte otoner. Cf)e fire burns tf)e clotf),
anb all tf)e people fjolb it for certain tf)at a miracle must tabe been
brougtt; so ttej) bring tte friar back to tte farm, totcre tf collects a
gooblg (juantitg of ctattels.

Co tfje ercellent LotD Antonio Di ^angctierino,' tfte cltie0t
son of tbe most serene IPrince of Salerno.

EXORDIUM.

Y excellent and virtuous lord, until the time shall
come when I may, with my meagre faulty lyre,
endeav^our to sound in my writings the praises of the
abundant virtues which dwell in that youthful and
noble mind of yours, in which they must needs find
their most fitting abode, I have been wishing to send
you this present laughable novel as an earnest. From reading it you
may at least be able to learn, by way of caution, what vast numbers

^ He was the eldest son of Roberto di Sanseverino (sec note, p. 89), and in-
herited his father's dignities when he was a child in 1474. He married Costanza,

264 MASUCCIO. [novel xviii.

of pirates of different sorts go roving about the world, and with what
various tricks these fellows persuade each fool they may meet to
fill their bellies with florins, and to look upon them as true saints.
All these things will be made clear to you in a fashion that will
divert you amain by the time you shall have come to the end of this
novel. Farewell.

THE NARRATIVE.

S may be well known to everyone, it is a fad that a set
of crafty and subtle knaves and charlatans^ are at all
times to be found going up and down in every part of
Italy in the guise of fat, filthy friars of Saint Antony,
making very sharp quest, and sweeping into their bags
those votive offerings and gifts which may have been promised to
their saint. Under pretexts of this sort they roam about from
one place to another, feigning to work miracles, and with such pre-
tences, and with every other kind of crafty beguilement which they
employ, they fill themselves amazingly well with money and with
chattels of all sorts, and then go back to their houses, where they
lead a life of idleness. Now of this kind of men there are more
to be met every day in this kingdom of ours than in any other
region, and in Calabria and Apulia they especially abound — provinces
in which much almsgiving and little wisdom are to be found ;

the daughter of Federico di Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. He was the leader of
the conspiracy of the barons, and after its defeat he fled to Paris. In 1493 he was
joined by the Count of Cajazzo, his kinsman of the bastard line, who was at that
time in the service of Lodovico il Moro, and they were given high command by
Charles VIII. in the invading army. Antonio led the attack on Recco, where the
first blood was shed in the war. He recovered his estates, and rebelled a second
time against Frederick. He fled and died in Sinigaglia, 1499.

^ Orig., gli Spoletani e Cerretani. "Cerretano" is the common terra for a
knavish pedlar. The people of Spoleto seem to have been famed for their shrewd-
ness. Another use of the term in this sense is in Bandello, Part I., Nov. 34 :
// Careiixone che era astutissimo e laverebbe fatta la salsa à gli Spoletini. The
Roman ciarlatani, according to Capponi, are the lineai descendants of the earliest
mimes, who come from Atella, now S. Elpidio, near Naples — their name Ciarla-
tani being a corruption of Atcllanas.

NOVEL XVIII.] MASUCCIO. 265

wherefore these men are for ever making their way towards the
distridls aforesaid/

It chanced that last year, in the month of January, there arrived
in Cerignola a certain charlatan of this sort, riding on horseback and
having in his train an ass laden with wallet bags and a manservant
on foot. He went about colleéling alms all through the country,
making his horse to go down on his knees, and thus do reverence
to the good knight Misser Saint Antony, according to the usage of
his kind. When they had come one day into a certain village, it chanced
that the fellow caught sight of two very fine pigs in front of the house
of a rich farmer. The farmer himself was away from home, but his
wife did not fail to give the friar an offering, and she did her alms,
moreover, with a demeanour even more reverential than others were
wont to use, whereupon he told himself straightway that he had here
come upon soil which he might till to excellent purpose with his
wonted implements. Therefore, putting on a look which seemed to
tell that he was bursting with Christian charity, he turned towards
his servant and whispered to him softly, but not so softly as to
prevent the good woman from hearing what he said, and spake thus :
" What a great pity and shame it is that such fine pigs as these must
almost immediately die a sudden death!" The woman, who had
stretched out her ears at the sound of these words, then said :
" Missere, what is it that you are saying about these pigs of mine ì "
To this the friar answered : '' In sooth I was saying naught else con-
cerning them than to remark that it seemed to be a great failing of
Nature's handiwork that such fine pigs as these should have to die
in a few hours' time, without letting you draw aught of profit there-
from." Whereupon the woman, whose heart was wrung with grief
at hearing this news, said : " Alas, man of God ! I beg you that you
will have a care to let me know by what working such a curse may
have fallen upon them, and whether we can by any means find a
remedy therefor." The friar replied, *' My good woman, I can tell
you naught else as to the causes and the reasons of this thing. I
only know that, by certain signs which I observe about them, it is
bound to come to pass — signs which no living person could recognize
except friars of our order, who enjoy the grace and favour of our

' Calabria was proverbially the stupid province of Italy. In Novel IV. Fra
Girolamo and his confederate go there with their arm of Saint Luke : e fra loro
conchiuso di andarsene in Calabria, provincia da grossa e incolta gente abitata.

M M

266 MASUCCIO. [novel xviii.

good knight, Misser Saint Antony. I indeed should be able to
find a remedy for them easily enough, had I only with me a few of
our enchanted acorns."^ Then said the woman : " Oh, see, for the
love of God ! whether you may not have one of the same about you,
for I will pay you a very high price therefor."

The friar, when he heard these words, turned towards his
servant, a fellow very well instruded in all tricks of this sort, and
said : " Martino, look and see inside our saddle-bags, and search
whether we have not therein two or three of these acorns, which I
kept back for that ass of ours which so frequently falls sick in the
same fashion. If you should find any, let us of our generosity
give the same to this poor woman, in order that she may not lose
these fine pigs through want of a remedy ; then, I am well assured,
she will not show herself so ungrateful as to forget that we have a
hospital, or to refuse us the gift of a small quantity of linen sheets
for the service of our poor sick people." In answer to this the
woman said : " For the love of the cross of Christ save these poor
pigs of mine from such an evil fate, and I will give you in return a
quantity of new and fine linen, out of which you may make not one
but two pairs of sheets for your hospital."

Then the friar forthwith contrived that Martino should hand
over to him some acorns of the kind aforesaid, and having made him
likewise bring a vessel of water, the friar put therein the acorns
together with a good quantity of bran,^ and, after he had mixed
all the contents well together and had said a number of prayers
over the mess, he placed it before the pigs, who straightway set
themselves to devour the whole of it as if they had been famished.
Then the friar, turning towards the woman, said : " Now, in sooth,
you may rest assured that these beasts of yours will be safely
delivered from the cruel death which they were bound to suffer, and
if it should still please you to bear in mind the benefit which we have
worked on your behalf, will you of your kindness hand over to me
at once the reward, for I wish to depart forthwith and to go my way
with God's blessing ? "

Now this hurry on the part of the friar was caused by fear lest
the husband should return and bid him take his hands off the prey

' This prafticc of the friar is striftly in accordance with tradition, Saint
Antony being the proteftor of animals, and of pigs especially.
^ Orig., caniglia or canetiglia.

NOVEL XVIII.] MASUCCIO. 267

he hoped to snatch. But the woman with the greatest wilHng-
ness made haste to give him the linen she had promised him, and he,
as soon as he had received the same and had duly stored it away,
mounted his horse forthwith and rode away from the farm, taking
the road which led to Tre Santi, with the view of journeying afterwards
into Manfredonia, a region wherein he found every year the best of
pasturage. Not long after the friar had taken his departure the
farmer came back to his house from working in the fields. His wife
at once went out to meet him with a joyful countenance, and told
him the news how his pigs had been delivered from a sudden death
by the marvellous virtue of the enchanted acorns of Saint Antony,
and went on to say how she had given to the good friar some linen
cloth for the hospital in remembrance of the poor and as a reward
for the great benefit he had done on their behalf.

The husband, although he was mightily pleased to hear that his
pigs had been delivered from the great danger which had threatened
them, was nevertheless vexed and angry beyond measure when he
learned that the piece of linen had changed owners, and, if he had
not been held back therefrom by the great haste which drove him on
to get hold of his property, he would of a surety have given his wife
a good basting over the back with a stout oak sapling. So, in order
that he might without delay set about that part of the business which
called for more immediate attention, he asked his wife, without say-
ing anything further about the linen, how long time had elapsed since
the friar had taken his leave, and in which direélion he had gone.
To this the wife made answer that he had not departed thence a
quarter of an hour, and that he had taken the road leading to Tre
Santi. The wary farmer gathered together six others, young fellows
and v/ell armed, and in their company he set forth, following without
delay in the friar's wake. They had scarcely gone a mile when they
caught sight of him from afar, and then they straightway began to
throw out to him a lure, calling upon him with a loud voice to await
their coming, forbearing not the while to advance towards him.

The friar, turning round at the sound of their shouting, and
marking how the clamorous band was drawing anigh him, imme-
diately divined what must be the reason of their coming ; whereupon,
assisted at this junólure by his wonted craft and foresight, he imme-
diately bade Martino hand over to him the linen cloth. Then, having
put this in front of him on the saddle-bow, and turned his back

268 MASUCCIO. [novel xvm.

towards his adversaries, he took the steel and dexterously struck
a light and kindled therewith a piece of tinder. As soon as he
heard that his pursuers were now almost upon him, he care-
fully put the lighted tinder withinside the folds of the linen, and
then, turning himself towards those who had by this time come up
to him, he said : " What would you with me, my worthy men ? "
The farmer, when he heard these words, came forward and said :
" Vile, cowardly knave that you are, I have in sooth a good mind to
run this partisan through the middle of your body. Were you not
ashamed to make your way into my house, and, by means of your
lying cheat, to rob my wife of a piece of linen .'' May a curse fall
upon you^ for what you have done ! "

At these words the friar, without making any reply thereto, threw
the linen into the farmer's arms and said: "My good man, I trust
God will pardon you. I did not get this linen from your good wife
by robbery ; on the other hand, she gave it to me of her own free
will for the use and benefit of the poor folk we have in our hospital;
but here, take the linen, in God's name. I hope, moreover, that our
good knight, Misser Saint Antony, may in a very short space of
time let you be witness of a miracle about which there can be no
doubt, that he may rain down his fire not only into the folds of this
linen, but likewise upon all the rest of your chattels." But the
farmer, when once he had got the linen safely into his hands, felt
very little concern about any of the curses or the hocuspocus of the
friar, and straightway took the road back to his house. Scarcely,
however, had he gone a stone's throw on his homeward way when
he began to be conscious of a smell of burning and to see smoke
rising from the linen, and those who were with him smelled and saw
the same things. Thereupon the farmer, being seized with a fear
more terrible than any he had ever known, immediately threw the linen
down upon the ground, and then, having opened the folds thereof,
found that it was all ablaze. Being now altogether overcome with
fear, and terrified beyond measure lest some worse evil might befall
him, he called aloud upon the friar, and besought him that, for the

^ Orig., da la quale eke vermieane ti nasca. Verfnocane is literally a creeping ulcer,
and is sometimes used for a vine canker, but its chief" use in the novelists seems to
be as an imprecation. In Sacchetti, Nov. 4, mo li nasca il vermocanc, and in 140,
che vermocane e questo. Bandcllo, Part II., Novel i, uses it in a vulgar and blas-
phemous sense : Tu dici il vero al Corpo del Vermo Can.

NOVEL xvm.] MASUCCIO. 269

love of God, he would turn back and offer up a prayer to his
miraculous Saint Antony, so that the cruel doom which had so
quickly fallen upon him might be revoked.

Then the friar, who was in no wise anxious that the cloth should
be consumed entirely, went back forthwith, and, without allowing
them to spend any great time in supplicating his grace, gave orders
to Martino to let quench the flames, and threw himself down upon
the ground, making believe to pray devoutly with many feigned tears
the while. Having done this, he gave the farmer good assurance that
he need have no farther fears for his property on account of the fault
he had committed, and then went back with the company to the farm.

As soon as the news of this manifest and undoubted miracle which
the friar had worked became known in those parts, all the people
round about, men and women, and even the young children, went
running towards him crying aloud for mercy, so that on his entry into
the village he was greeted with a reception no less glorious than that
which Christ met when He rode into Jerusalem. And the gifts and
offerings which were made to him were so abundant that ten sumpter
asses would not have sufficed to carry them away ; wherefore the
friar, after he had converted the better part of the goods he had
received into hard cash, went on his way rich and rejoicing, and took
no farther care to return and fill his wallets.

MASUCCIO.

HAT the arts by which all living men make it their study
to gather for themselves rich spoil, without vexing their
bodies with labour therefor, are very numerous and
varied, the three novels which I have last told to you will
give you clear demonstration. These tricks may like-
wise be said with truth to have been very laughable, and carried out
with much astuteness and subtle ingenuity. However, the one
which I propose to tell in the next place will be found no less divert-
ing, and so much the more laughable since those who took part in it
made great profit without using any device or labour thereanent, and
with little or no travail of mind.

Ei^t iSnti of ti)e ISiflfjtfcntf) i^obel.

Bo\)Z\ tje !I3ineteentf).

HJotjel ti)e 5l5ineteentl).

ARGUMENT.

Ctoo men of ILa OTaba journrg to TSTaplfS. <©ne of t^ftn, ifina torarp, i^alts
at 3La Covrr, anti tfje otijcr arribfs late at r\iqi)t at ^otiteitvirriartio, antj
lies tf)ere. ;Hnot|)er man, an Emalfi'tan, passes tijat toap tiurinfl tf)e
niflijt, one to!)0 is migfjttlp in fear of men to^o tate lieen eieruteti, anti
scouts to a corpse ta^^fltng on a gitfiet ; toi)ereupon tlie man of ?La
Olaba, tjeemtng ti)at it is f)is comratie toi)0 calls, runs totoaitis i)tm.
Wi)t Emalfttan ttinfes l)e is fieing greeteti ftp ti)e i)angetj man, anti tafees
to fligfjt, foUotoeti ip tt)e otljer. ?t?e lifeetotse flings atoap a tag ije is
carrping, antJ tijis tf)e man of Ha (Caba picfes up, anti tijen, tabing
ieen joinetr bp |)is companion, tfiep return i^ome.

Co tbe Virtuous anti magnificent ^mtxt TBernartio

ne IRogieri/

EXORDIUM.

EEING that in this my task of novel-telHng I desire
to keep in remembrance my most perfeét friends,
and to engrave in deep charaélers their names on
this little work of mine, to serve as a lasting re-
membrance, I feel myself constrained by this obliga-
tion, before I may go any farther, to call back to
memory the name of such a rare and perfed friend as yourself, and

' In the later editions this novel is dedicated to " Messer Sestilio Aurelio Ali-
prando, reale armigero."

N N

274 MASUCCIO. [novel xix.

to dedicate to you this little novel, made up of very laughable
matter, which I have lately finished. In reading this, over and above
its diverting humour, you will be able to study the breeding and
descent of the men of La Cava — who, in sooth, are almost like our
own compatriots — in such complete fashion that you, who are their
present most discreet Podestà and Redlor, may be able to give a
valid judgment as to whether those who are now under your charge

have in any way gone aside from treading in the footsteps of their

predecessors.'

THE NARRATIVE.

A CAVA, a most ancient and very loyal town, which has
in recent days, as is well known to everyone, attained in
some measure to a noble status, has always been most
plentifully supplied with master-masons and workers in
pavement of exceptional merit. In these handicrafts
they achieved such a mastery that they gathered together great stores
of wealth in ready money and in household chattels and in landed
estates, so that it was always held that of all the dw^ellers in this
our kingdom there would be found none so rich as were those of
La Cava.

Wherefore, if the sons had been wise enough to follow in the
footsteps of their fathers, and had gone on without swerving after
the manner of their ancestors of old time, they would never have
been reduced to that extreme and immeasurable poverty which now
afflifts them. But perhaps the younger men, looking down upon the
riches which had been gathered together by so laborious a handicraft,
and regarding them merely as transitory gifts of fortune which can
lead to nothing, have given themselves up to follow virtue and
nobility, as the only things which change not and last for ever ; and
for this reason some have settled to become our new legists and
doólors and notaries, others men-at-arms, and others cavaliers. Be that
as it may, you cannot now enter a house of that sort, wherein formerly

^ Signor Settembrini remarks in a note that the people of Salerno and of
Amalfi and of La Cava have always been in the habit of playing jokes one with
another, and that the La Cavans as a rule get the better nf the others.

NOVEL XIX.] MASUCCIO. 275

you would have found nought else but implements of the pavior's or
the mason's trade, without finding there, instead of these tools, stirrups
and spurs and gilt sword-belts lying around on every side. Which
one of the two courses it would better have profited them to avoid
and which to follow, I leave to be decided, not merely by you yourself,
but by all those others who, having no other concern with them
except to read this story, may be disposed to give a righteous judg-
ment concerning the same.

Now I, following the course of my story, go on to say that in
the days when the famous master Onofrio de Jordano undertook
the task of the marvellous building of the Castello Novo,^ the greater
part of the master-builders and workmen of La Cava betook them-
selves to Naples to work at the building aforesaid, and amongst the
others there were two young fellows from the hamlet of Priato, who,
attradled no less by their anxiety to see Naples (where they had never
been hitherto) than by the desire to earn money, set out on their way
on a certain Sunday morning in the wake of one of the master-
builders mentioned before. And it happened that as they went thus
on their way in the company of a number of other men of La Cava,
that these two young fellows, who were not used to the fatigue of a
long march, were left some distance behind the others, following the
track of those who were in advance. And for the reason that they
were ignorant of the way, they wearied themselves so greatly that it
was very late when they arrived at last at Torre del Greco, and there
one of them, who was very much more awearied than his comrade,
proposed that he should tarry for the night. Whereupon the other
took heart, and, thinking that he might perchance be able to overtake
his companions, took to the road again and set out walking with the
utmost speed he could put forth, but in the end his strength did not
prevail to take him farther than a certain point between Torre del
Greco and Naples before he was overtaken by the darkness of the
night.

By this time he began to regret mightily that he had not remained
with his companion, but he still kept walking on, and, without know-

^ The Castello Novo was begun in 1283 by Charles I. of Anjou, from a design
supposed to be from the hand of Giovanni da Pisa. Alfonso the Magnanimous
added the five round towers in 1442, and this work is probably the one alluded to.
The triumphal arch in his honour is from the design of Pietro di Martino.

276 MASUCCIO. [novel XIX,

ing where he was, arrived at the Dritto of the Ponte Ricciardo/
When he caught sight of the walls and the doors thereof he imagined
forthwith that it must be a house of entertainment; so, overcome with
weariness and desiring to take shelter from a fine rain which was
falling at the time, he drew near to it and began to knock at the
door with a stone. After having knocked for some time without
bringing anyone to open to him, he straightway made a virtue of
necessity," and stretched himself at full length on the ground, and
found a resting-place for his head against the door, having made up
his mind to remain there until the morning, when his comrade would
pass thereby. Having thus settled himself, a light sleep soon came
over him.

Now it chanced that on that selfsame morning there had likewise
set forth from Amalfi a certain poor little tailor, carrying on his
shoulders a sackful of doublets which he had made and was minded
to sell on the following morning in the market at Naples; and he,
like the young man of La Cava, had also been overtaken by fatigue
and by nightfall when he had travelled as far as Torre del Greco, and
had tarried there to rest over the night, having purposed in his mind
to set forth betimes in the morning, so as to arrive at the place of sale
at an hour which might let him have a good chance to dispose of his
poor wares at a profit. As luck would have it, he woke from sleep
when it was but little past midnight, and, deceived by the exceeding
brightness of the light of the moon, he thought it must be near day-
break, and at once set out on his journey. He walked on and on
without halting and without marking any sign of the coming of the
dawn, and at last began to traverse the gravel pits which lie just
beyond the monastery of the Orti, and by the time he had gone so
far he plainly heard the friars singing their matins,' and for this
reason he became aware that a good portion of the night had yet to
elapse. At this moment by chance there flashed across his brain the
thought of the malefadors who had been hanged upon the Ponte
Ricciardo, and, because he came from Amalfi, where men are
known to be timorous by nature and faint-hearted, he began to be
mightily afraid, and picking his way with loitering steps he did not

' Now the Ponte della Maddalena, crossing the Sebeto between Naples and
Portici. The Dritto was probably the house of the colleòtor of dues, e.g.^ Dritto,
per tassa 0 Dazio che di dovuto si paga al pubblico.

'^ Orig., convertito il bisogno in pazie?iza. '' About 3 a.m.

NOVEL XIX.] MASUCCIO. 277

dare to go far forward, and at the same time had a horrible dread of
turning back on his path.

And being thus bewildered and filled with fear (for it seemed to
him with every step he went that one or other of the hanged corpses
must be on his traces), he came close to the spot the thought of which
had smitten him with such dire terror. Then, when he had come
right face to face with the gallows, and marked that not one of the
criminals hanging thereon stirred at all, it seemed to him that he had
by this time left behind him the most pressing part of the danger ;
wherefore, to rouse up some of the bravery which was within his
breast, he cried : " Aha, master gallows-bird ! will you go with
me to Naples ? " The young man from La Cava, who had slept
but little during the night and very badly, when he first heard the
sound of the approaching footsteps thought that they must be those
of his companion, and then when he heard a voice inviting him to go
on to Naples he felt quite certain that it must be as he had imagined,
and promptly made answer to the invitation : " Here I am ; I will
soon be with you."

When the Amalfitan heard this answer given to his speech he
became straightway possessed with the belief that it was the corpse
of the man hanging on the gallows which had spoken, and on this
account he fell into such a gruesome fit of terror that he ran no light
risk of falling down dead on the spot. However, when he turned
round and looked back and saw that a certain one was coming
towards him, it did not appear to him that the time was a meet one
for halting; wherefore, having flung away the pack which he was
carrying, he began to flee at the top of his speed towards La
Maddalena, crying out without ceasing in a loud voice as he went,
" Jesu ! Jesu ! " The man of La Cava, when he heard these cries
and marked how rapidly the other was fleeing, at once deemed that
he must be attacked by some others ; so he straightway followed him
as quickly as he could go, also shouting at the top of his voice and
saying : " Here I am ; I am coming to you. Wait for me, and do
not be afraid." These words only served to strike still greater terror
into the heart of the fugitive. After following him some distance
the La Cavan saw lying upon the ground the pack of wares which
the other had thrown away, whereupon he forthwith picked up
the same. When he had estimated the value of the excellent goods
therein, knowing at the same time that his companion had no such

2/8 MASUCCIO. [novel xix.

pack in his possession, he was well assured that the man who had
fled at his approach could not possibly be his friend ; wherefore,
troubling himself no farther about the fellow, he made his way back
to the spot where he had spent the night in no very comfortable
fashion, bearing with him the booty he had captured. Then he
stretched himself out once more to rest, and waited there so that at
the coming of the day he might go on his way to Naples, either in
the company of his friend or of some other.

In the meantime the Amalfitan, uttering the most horrible cries
and sobbings, arrived at the Taverne del Ponte, and when he had
come opposite to the same the colleólors of the city dues demanded
to know of him what might be the reason of the clamour he was
making, and to them he answered and affirmed it to be the truth that
he had just seen the corpse of a man who had been hanged separate
itself from the gallows and give chase to him, pursuing him as far as
the brink of the river. To this tale they all of them gave full belief,
and, terrified no less than the fellow himself, they took hold of him
and drew him into the house. Then, having carefully closed and
locked all the doors and duly signed themselves with the sign of the
cross, they did not issue forth again until it was broad daylight.

Now the other man from La Cava, who had remained behind for
the night at La Torre, together with another wayfarer, also a
townsman of the aforesaid place, arrived at the Dritto by the
Ponte Ricciardo when the day had broken and it was quite light.
The first man, who was still tarrying there, when he heard the sound
of their voices knew who they were, and having gone to meet them
he told them the whole story of his adventure. Whereupon his com-
panion, who was well versed in all the ways of the country round
about, perceived forthwith how the affair might have come to pass,
and, so as not to let slip the booty which was inside the sack, they
determined amongst themselves to go back straightway to their homes
by the way of Somma/ This plan they duly carried out, and, when
they had divided the plunder amongst themselves, they set out once
more for Naples after a little time.

In the course of a few days the story of what had happened
was spread by report through all the country, and it was told
as a sure and certain fad how the corpses of the men who had

' Somma lies on the north side of Vesuvius. The travellers could make a long
detour by this road, but would meet none of their townsfolk on the way to Naples.

NOVEL XIX.] MASUCCIO. 279

been hanged were wont to give chase to any solitary wayfarer who
might chance to cross the Ponte Ricciardo, each one who repeated
the tale compounding many and divers fresh fables thereanent. By
reason of this it came to pass that there was to be found no peasant
who would go by that spot before daylight without first having signed
both his beast and himself with the sign of the cross. Thus, with
this and with divers other precautions the common people hereafter
took their way through this perilous region.

MASUCCIO.

ARIED, indeed, and strange are the terrors which the
presence of the dead is wont to give to the living, a thing
which we may see clearly for ourselves every day that passes.
And it will happen now and again to some men who may
be travelling by night, that, being assailed by an access of
fear, they will see all the objeóls around them so indistindly, and in
such fashion that they judge one thing to be another, and, working
afterwards upon this foundation, they compound a mass of the
strangest and most marvellous fables that ever man heard — an in-
stance of which the past novel has given us a sample. This one, in
sooth, has let come back into my memory the thought that I ought in
the next place to write concerning another form of fear, differing from
the story I have just told, inasmuch as the timorous man, being
spurred on by the ardent flames of love, went of his own free will in
quest of fear ; from which adventure there followed many noteworthy
pleasantries, as will be declared to you in the coming discourse.

€f)p iSntj of tf)e i^tnetfetitf) i^obel.

'kÉm^^màm^

iI3ot)cl ti)Z Ctocntietf).

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iI5o\3el ti)t 31^tjperttietl).

ARGUMENT.

©iaromo X^into is cnamoureti of a crrtatn tottiobj (atjp, tof)fmtpon Mmn
angelo gibes fjim a promise tf)at fje toill (ct fjim ^abe possession of f)a
i)}} tJje b30iking of neccomancg. ?t?e takes (Giacomo, to^o fuUg teliebes
tf)is tale, to ijoltj conbei'se b)it^ ì3arabbas, anti likewise gibes tiin certain
animals as offerings. ì5ut ({Giacomo takes to fligfjt tljrougf) fear in tf)e
enti. E\)t nature of tfje cfjeat comes to ligfjt, anti (Giacomo goes to tf)e
toars, b)f)frein t? serbes for pag, anti comes tiack tljerefrom a bjise man
anti a ric^.

Co tbe gooDl^ Joan jTtancisco Caracciolo/

EXORDIUM.

MOWING full well the high merits of your wit, my
most worthy Joan Francisco, I can readily bring
myself to believe that you will not fail to understand
how many and how mighty are the difficulties which
the man must needs encounter who sets himself to
investigate the powers of Love, our mighty lord ;
and how, through his working, it continually happens that the witless
become wise, and discreet men become fools ; the bold are turned into
cowards, and the timid into men of mettle. And over and beyond

^ This may be the same as the Duke of Melfi, to whom the forty-eighth novel
is dedicated.

zS^ MASUCCIO. [novel xx.

this, Love, afling belike as the doomsman of fortune, leads the rich
down to the lowest pit of misery, and sometimes restores the poor to
a prosperous estate. And because it does not seem to me that I need
in any way give to you, who have been instant in your service to
mighty Love from your very earliest youth, any fresh intelligence
concerning his rule, or to tell you how often it has chanced that men
and women — wise and prudent though they be — have let themselves
rush headlong to inflid a bitter and cruel death upon themselves with
their own hands when scorched by the flame of their burning passion,
I will only at this present moment set before you a fresh instance of"
his power, brought to pass in the case of a certain noble fellow-citizen
of ours — one, indeed, not very richly endowed either with wit or
courage — who, having been transfixed by love, became forthwith a
man of the highest prudence, and acquired a degree of courage such
as is scarcely to be looked for in a human soul. As a consequence of
this, though he was a very poor man, he found an opportunity
of enriching himself, and being freed from his many misfortunes, to
lead a pleasant life in happy wise. Farewell.

THE NARRATIVE.

OT many years have passed since there lived in Salerno a
youth of noble and ancient lineage, who was called by name
Giacomo Pinto. He, although he sprang from the Seggio
di Porta Nova, a distriti: which is commonly reckontsd
to be the school of good sense in our city, would have found
a dwelling more fitting and agreeable to his condition in the mountain
regions of our land, whence, according to what men say, the greater
part of our ancient families derive their origin. Now this young
man, albeit his purse was ill garnished and his brain not overcharged
with wit, was nevertheless endowed with the spirit of a gentleman,
which led him to become enamoured of a certain widow lady, still
young and very fair, and mother-in-law ' to the governor of our city.
It chanced that he had never before this been in love ; wherefore he
began to set about his wooing in such crafty wise that there was not

' Masuccio writes suocera ; possibly suora is meant.

NOVEL XX.] MASUCCIO. 285

a child in all Salerno who was not advised thereof, and on every side,
and in every place where ladies and gentlemen were wont to foregather,
they discoursed concerning the same in marvellously pleasant strain,
everyone framing jests thereanent. But he, being pierced by a dart
which he had never felt before, took little or no heed of their jesting,
and pursued, albeit with no success, the emprise he had begun, inflamed
the while by the strongest passion.

Amongst the other young men of the quarter in which he dwelt
who were wont every day to go gathering up some fresh matter of
diversion from the folHes he committed, was a certain one named
Loisi Pagano. He, being a man of great talents, a pleasant com-
panion, and of the finest manners, soon won the complete confidence
of poor Giacomo, so that the latter would frequently discourse with
him concerning the passion which was consuming him. Loisi, becom-
ing every day more fully acquainted with the wanderings of Giacomo's
brain, was seized with the notion that he might, by turning to
mischievous jest the humours of his lovesick friend, bring to bear by
means of these a sound chastisement upon a certain rascal, another
Gonnella,^ albeit he was a Salernitan, This fellow, who took to
himself the name of Misser Angelo, had never yet been punished as
was his due for the cheats and juggling tricks he had been wont to
put in pradice all his life. Though he was nothing better than a
farrier, he would go running about all parts of Italy, now in the
charaéter of a physician and now in that of a merchant, and would
ofttimes return home with a pocketful of money.

It chanced one day that while Loisi was holding converse with
Giacomo on the wonted topic, he addressed the lover in these words :
" My Giacomo, you must in sooth feel little or naught of discomfort
by reason of your amorous pains, and have no wish to have done with
the same, seeing that you might so easily put an end to them all.
You know well that Misser Angelo is the most mighty and potent
necromancer now alive on the earth ; in good sooth I myself can
bear you worthy testimony of this, seeing that in many adventures
which I have taken up I have brought the same to a successful issue
by reason of his aid. Moreover, this man is a natural kinsman of

^ Gonnella seems to have been a professional buffoon at the court of the
Marchese Niccolo d'Este. Sacchetti makes frequent mention of him, generally
bringing in his name to let finish a pun, Gonnella meaning a gown. Bandello
also names him. His "Book of Jests" was printed in 1506.

286 MASUCCIO. [novel xx.

yours on the side of your mother. Why do you not betake yourself
to him, and, plying him well with flattering words, beg him to exercise
his art on your behalf, so that this afi^air of yours may come to a
prosperous issue ? As far as this matter is concerned, you will
assuredly be fully satisfied with the result, supposing that Misser
Angelo should be willing to help you. But, on the other hand, if it
should happen that he should show himself minded to add you to the
score of those others whom he may possibly have duped in the past,
see that you lay hands upon him in such fashion that for the future
he may never scheme how to put a trick upon a gentleman without
calling you to his memory. "

Giacomo, when he heard these words, was mightily glad of heart
thereanent, and gave to his companion unbounded thanks. In sooth,
he was half persuaded that everything he desired was already accom-
plished, and declared that he would not fail to do everything which had
been commanded. Then Loisi, after he had laid bare his projeél with
considerable trouble, went as fast as his legs could carry him to find
Misser Angelo, and, overjoyed the while, gave him a full account
of the trap which he proposed that they two, working together,
should duly set in the course of the next few days. Misser Angelo,
rejoicing greatly over this new prey thus delivered into his hands,
and recking naught that Loisi was to the full as desirous that he
should get his hide well basted as that a trick should be put upon
Giacomo, did not quit the company of his new comrade until they
had duly set the affair in order and come to an agreement as to when
and how it should be carried out by them.

Not many days after this, Giacomo sent for Misser Angelo, and,
almost choked with tears, laid bare to him the secret of his amorous
passion, which was already known at the four corners of the market-
place, and then spake to him thus : " Good kinsman, in our need
those who are in truth our friends offer their help. I have just
lately heard that you yourself are a great necromancer ; wherefore I
doubt not at all that by the help of your knowledge you will be able,
supposing that you are disposed that way, to extricate me from all
my troubles. So, in the name of God, I beseech you that it may be
your good pleasure to set about the satisfying of my need in such
fashion that I may be able to tell all men that I have not only got
possession of the lady through your help, but that, along with her, I
have received from you my very life as a gift."

NOVEL XX.] MASUCCIO. 287

Hereupon Misser Angelo spake with a friendly face, and made
answer that he, on his part, was fully equipped with everything he
would need for the complete execution of the service which was
demanded of him, and, passing on from one subjeél of talk to another,
he said at last, " My Giacomo, I do not fully know whether you are to
be trusted in this affair, seeing that what you will have to endure will
require the most dauntless courage to face." Then answered Gia-
como, *' But how can such a thing be? I would have you know
that I am ready to go to the depths of hell itself, so much has love
fired my spirit for this enterprise." Misser Angelo answered him
and said : *' But then a worse thing than this must needs be done,
forasmuch as it will be necessary for you to go and speak face to face
with a very fierce demon whose name is Barabbas, a demon whom I alone
have power to make subject to my will." Then answered Giacomo,
" If it be your will, and if necessity demands, I will hold speech with
Satan himself, who assuredly is the greater." "Well, may God grant
that it shall be as you say ! " replied the necromancer ; " but tell me how
are we to furnish ourselves with the other implements which are
necessary for the despatch of our business ? To begin, we must have
a sword with which a man has been slain." Giacomo hastened to
answer, " Oh, I have a sword, one belonging to my brother, which
has been the death of ten men or more." Then said Misser Angelo,
" Since we have got this, we have got the thing which seems to
me the hardest to come by ; everything else we may need we
shall find without difficulty. Nevertheless, see that you have in
readiness, at the time when I shall require them of you, a black
wether of good size, and four capons well fattened. For the rest, you
must wait patiently till the moon shall be on the wane, and leave all
else to be done by me. I, in sooth, will deliver the spoil into your
clutches, and you may make of her your mistress or your wife, which-
ever you list."

Giacomo, almost out of his wits for joy at the offer of such service
as this, made answer that he would duly set himself to work to get
everything in readiness according to the directions laid upon him.
Misser Angelo then left him and went straightway in search of Loisi,
to whom he set forth a complete account of the instruélions he had
given to Giacomo, in order that there might arise between himself
and Loisi no misunderstanding as to the business, and they frequently
came together, before the day came when they should set to work,

288 MASUCCIO. [novel xx.

rejoicing mightily the while upon the task they had in hand. When
a few days had passed, during which time Giacomo never ceased im-
portuning Misser Angelo to make a beginning, the necromancer said
one day, " Good kinsman, I on my part have all things in readiness;
now have you sought out everything I direded you to provide ? "
" In sooth I have," replied Giacomo, '' and in this case fortune has
assuredly been kind to me, forasmuch as my sister-in-law chanced to
have just now some of the finest capons in the world, and out of these
I have made them bring four of the best. And, besides this, I have
happened," by a very strange chance, to come upon a wether as big
as a bull and as black as night, and, as he has got four horns on his
head, he is indeed a thing of terror to behold." Misser Angelo,
mightily pleased at what he heard, then answered, " Kinsman, since
the last few days you seem to have become quite another man ; it
appears, indeed, that Love has sharpened your wits in such marvellous
wise that you might well go teaching sea-crabs the art of arithmetic.^
What man besides yourself would have known how to get in readi-
ness so many things and in so short a time ? Now I, for my part,
will set you in the way we have laid out, and this very night I will
come to fetch you."

Misser Angelo then left Giacomo and went to settle with Loisi
how he should await their coming at the place already determined
between them when he should be assured that the appointed hour had
struck. As soon as night had fallen, he went to Giacomo's house and
said to him, " Shall we set forth, forasmuch as the time is now
come .'' " " Certainly, Misser Angelo," replied the lover. And thus
Misser Angelo, when the man-slaying sword had been handed over
to him, and when he had hoisted the wether on his shoulder and
hung a pair of the capons on his arm, led the way towards a spot
where stood divers ruined houses, in one of which was already con-
cealed Loisi, who had brought thither with him certain other gentle-
men so that he might not enjoy such fine sport without letting others
share it. When they had come to the place, Misser Angelo, turning
towards Giacomo, said, '* Good kinsman, you must understand that
we are now come to such a point in this affair that we cannot turn
round and retreat without the gravest danger to ourselves ; therefore
see that your courage fail not. And I must not refrain from exhort-

' Orig., c^e insegnereste P abaco ai granchi.

NOVEL XX.] MASUCCIO. 289

ing you at all times, that however dreadful may be the things you see
or hear, you will never utter the name of God or of the Virgin, or even
make the sign of the cross, for if you do we shall all of us be hurled
forthwith into the jaws of Lucifer. If, indeed, you should feel some
qualms of fear, such as are wont to creep over men in cases like these,
then you may commend yourself to the burden which the ass in Egypt
bore upon his back, which burden was the Holy Mother and her Son,
your Redeemer, and by these means we may, peradventure, deceive
this one accursed of God."

In answer to this speech Giacomo promised that he would well
observe everything which had been arranged. " Come now," said
the necromancer, " and take care that you repeat after me every word
which you hear me say; and, as soon as we shall have conjured up
Barabbas, and you have heard him cry out, ' Give me the things with
tails,' you shall at once throw to him the capons. Likewise you
shall throw him the wether as soon as he cries out for the thing with
horns." All these diredions Giacomo promised most willingly to
carry out, and Misser Angelo, having fully given his orders, drew
forth the sword, and made a great circle on the ground, inscribing
also certain mystic charadlers therein. Then, by means of some fire
which he had brought with him for the purpose, and certain boxes of
fetid gums, he made a horrible smell, and making believe to mutter
his incantations with strange movements of his head and his mouth,
of his hands and his feet, he said to Giacomo : " Now put your left
foot within the circle, and tell me truly which of these two things you
would prefer : to see him here close before you in all his horrible
deformity, or to hear him speak from that house over there.? "

The poor young fellow, who, showing no little courage the while,
had been led thus far by love and by his own simple nature, when he
saw that the beginning of the sport promised to be of a very fearsome
charaóler, began now to feel somewhat of dread and horror, and
gave answer to the magician and said that it would suffice him in the
meantime to hear the demon speak. Then he put forward one of
his feet within the circle, and, shaking with fear from head to foot,
clean forgot all about the Jerusalem ass and called upon every saint
in Heaven for succour without leaving out the name of a single one.
The necromancer, perceiving by this time that the lover was per-
suaded they were transported into another world, said to him: " Now
call three times for Barabbas." Whereupon Giacomo, fearing lest

p p

290

MASUCCIO. [novel XX.

something worse should happen to him, called out the name for the
first time. Loisi, who was garbed in the disguise of a devil, here
made a blaze of fire, and then let follow the noise of an explosion
terrible enough in sooth to have stricken fear into the breast of the
bravest man you can think of It is not for us to inquire whether
or not Giacomo may have wished himself safe at home ; in any case,
he, being nerved to the deed by Misser Angelo, called out the name
of Barabbas a second time; whereupon Loisi, in the charader of the
devil, let blaze up a greater fire than before and frightened the poor
wight more than ever.

Misser Angelo, although he failed not to perceive that the little
wretch was half dead, did not give over urging him to keep his heart
up and to say to him : " Have no fear, good kinsman, for we have
bound him in such fashion that he will not be able to do you
mischief of any sort or kind ; therefore now call upon him the third
time." Giacomo, however, in obeying the direótion made his invocation
greatly against his will, and spoke so faintly and his voice trembled
so that his words could only be heard with difficulty. Then Loisi
cast forth his third thunderbolt, and made such a horrible screeching
that it wanted little more to let poor Giacomo fall to earth a dead
man. Said Misser Angelo: "Stand firm and do not fear, for he is
our captive. Besides this, you must know that through me you
must work the conjuration ; wherefore I bid you give out in a loud
voice the words which I shall tell you under my breath." Then,
having concofted a conjuration of his own, he once more bade
Giacomo take courage, and urged him on to recite the same ; where-
upon Giacomo, as soon as he made ready to open his mouth, felt his
teeth chatter mightily and his legs quake in such wise that he could
not maintain himself upright on his feet. In sooth, in such piteous
case did he show himself to be, that Misser Angelo began to fear
whether the poor wretch might not die of alarm, and, perceiving
that they had at least let the afl^air go far enough this time, he him-
self began to invoke Barabbas.

In the meantime Loisi and his companions were half dead with
laughing over the fool's play, and as soon as they perceived that the
disposition of things which had been settled by Misser Angelo was
not like to go on to its appointed issue, they, in order not to be
tricked out of their sport by Misser Angelo, cried out, yelling
fiercely : " Give me now the things with tails and the thing with

NOVEL XX.] MASUCCIO. 291

horns." Then said the necromancer: "Throw him at once every-
thing you have, and take to your heels the quickest you can, and, as
you do not wish to be struck dead on the spot, do not turn to look
behind you." Giacomo, who indeed fancied by this time that he
was in the infernal world, was pleased amain to hear these words,
and having flung the capons and the black wether into the ruined
house, he gave his legs such free play that not even the Barbary
horses who are viftors in the races could have kept pace with
him.

Giacomo having got back to his house, Misser Angelo after a
short space of time made his appearance there, and said to him :
" Well, good kinsman, what think you now of my skill as a necro-
mancer? Keep a good heart, however, and the next time we will
carry out our intention to the full." Then answered Giacomo :
" Nay, I would rather that those who wish me ill should go there,
for I would not go back thither were I to gain the empire thereby ;
and on this account, good kinsman, see and use your best efforts to
bring my desire to pass by some other method. Then I shall be
beholden to you in an eternal obligation." Misser Angelo answered :
" So let it be, in God's name ! I will go back to my house at once
to consider the cure of your passion, so that you may in the end be
thoroughly satisfied with what I shall do on your behalf." And
after treating Giacomo to many other cozening speeches he went his
way to his home.

Now Loisi, having taken possession of the animals which had
been offered to him as a precious oblation, and bidden farewell to his
companions, went home to get some rest. And when the morrow
came he gave orders to his servants that they should, with the pro-
visions aforesaid and with divers other good things, get ready a
sumptuous repast to which he might bid Giacomo, and, besides him,
certain of his friends who were privy to the aff"air. When they
were seated at the banquet it seemed that not a single one of them
could contain his laughter, and, going beyond this even, they all
began to cry out, '* Barabbas ! Barabbas ! " and to utter gibes of all
sorts and of such a nature that Giacomo straightway perceived how
he was being mocked and flouted by every one of his convives.
Whereupon Loisi, taking note of what he saw, determined that the
moment had now come when his original and foreordained projeól
might be put in execution, meaning thereby that the trickster should

292 MASUCCIO. [novel XX.

be punished on account of his cheating in the past by the hands of
his vidim.

Therefore, as soon as the banquet was finished, Loisi called
Giacomo and recounted to him in friendly wise, in the presence of a
good number of the company, in what fashion Misser Angelo had
contrived to befool him ; whereupon Giacomo, keeping well in mind
the chief purport of Loisi's words, believing entirely in the truth
thereof, and with his mind filled with a deadly purpose, started
off at once at the top of his speed in search of the pretended magician.
Having found him, without uttering a word concerning aught else,
he seized him by the hair of the head, and, having cast him down
upon the ground, he set to work to beat him in such savage fashion,
and with such a shower of blows and kicks, that it was a marvel how
the man attacked could endure them. And for the reason that his
blood became mightily heated over his work, he caught up a stone
with which, if he had not been seized and bound by the hands, with
no small difficulty, by the crowd which assembled, he would assuredly
have treated Misser Angelo in a way which would have put an end
to all his knavish tricks for the future.

When he had shaken off the fit of rage which had thus taken
hold of him, and had become conscious of all the follies he had com-
mitted, he was overcome with so great shame thereanent that he no
longer felt he had the heart to sally forth from his abode, and on
this account he made up his mind to depart from the city for good.
Wherefore, having sold a little farm of his which was all the pro-
perty he possessed, he bought with the proceeds thereof a horse and
arms, and then took his way to the wars in certain regions beyond
our borders, where, by the favour of fortune and by his own vigour
and valiant deeds, he acquired a great sum of money in a short space
of time, being reputed likewise a famous man-at-arms and mar-
vellously wise and prudent. And, seeing that Love and Misser
Angelo together were the cause of all this good luck, and that one
of them received just payment for his deeds at the hands of Giacomo,
it now only remains for us to ratify for ourselves the truth of the
words we spoke in the beginning, to wit, one may well say that
wonderful, incomprehensible, and miraculous is the power of the
quiver- bearing god. How happy are they upon whom he and
fortune look with smiling faces !

NOVEL XX.] MASUCCIO. 293

MASUCCIO.

HAVE heard it said by many people at many different
times that when a man's wit becomes enfeebled, and he,
on this account, is found an easier prey to tricksters, he
will often set to work to take revenge at one stroke,
and thus punish the cheater and get satisfadion for the
cheat at the same time ; without taking firther thought of the
matter, he will fall to the use of violence, and will make the one
who may have beguiled him smart well therefor. And a certain
portion of the foregoing novel will let us see that the saying I have
alluded to is a true one ; forasmuch as we may notice that Misser
Angelo, being well advised of the slender wit of the headstrong lover
Giacomo, used all his art to put a trick upon the silly fellow, but the
latter, as soon as he perceived in what fashion he was being used,
not being well enough endowed with cunning to pay Misser Angelo
back in his own coin, or to return more than he had received, at once
flew to violent means. This, in sooth, he did in such a manner that,
if the succour had delayed ever so little, he would assuredly have
despatched the necromancer to keep company with Barabbas.

Now, seeing that in this second part of my work which has just
come to an end, I have told you enough of the accidents and the
potency of love, of many singular and laughable tricks and jests,
and of divers other fresh and strange occurrences, I think that it is
now my duty to turn my pen to other themes, and, as I puzzle mv
brains in settling which target I shall now shoot at with my arrows,
the faót recurs to my memory that when I began to set down in
writing what I knew about those sham professors of religion, I
was annoyed in cruel fashion by the complaints and reproaches of
certain would-be wise, lawyer-like women ; and, although at the time
I gave back to them an adequate reply to all their stupid chattering,
still I made myself their debtor by giving them a promise that, before
I should have come to the end of this work of mine, I would not
fail to let the world have full intelligence concerning their faulty and
most imperfeól sex, adding thereto somewhat by telling of the innate
corruption, the treachery, and the wickedness of the greater number
of them. And, seeing that I am now minded to acquit myself of this
debt, there has come up in procession before me so many perfidies, so

294 MASUCCIO. [novel xx.

much unheard-of baseness, so many deeds more fiendish than human,
which have been wrought by the many lawless, unbridled, and wicked
women in the world, that I was almost persuaded to refrain my steps
from the path I had proposed to tread. Nevertheless, feeling myself
more potently urged on by the sense of justice than held back by
vexatious or hostile speech, I am induced, albeit somewhat disgusted
with my task, to set down here some of the failings which come to
women by nature.

END OF VOLUME I.

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