The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio (e reader manga .txt) π
[Footnote 199: Lit. and so I hope (spero), a curious instance of the ancient Dantesque use of the word spero, I hope, in its contrary sense of fear.]
There was in the kingdom of France a gentleman called Isnard, Count of Roussillon, who, for that he was scant of health, still entertained about his person a physician, by name Master Gerard de Narbonne. The said count had one little son, and no more, hight Bertrand, who was exceeding handsome and agreeable, and with him other children of his own age were brought up. Among these latter was a daughter of the aforesaid physician, by name Gillette, who vowed to the said Bertrand an infinite love and fervent more than pertained unto her tender years. The count dying and leaving his son in the hands of
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[225] Lit. of those who was held of the greatest casuists (di quelli che de' maggior cassesi era tenuto). This is another very obscure passage. The meaning of the word cassesi is unknown and we can only guess it to be a dialectic (probably Venetian) corruption of the word casisti (casuists). The Giunta edition separates the word thus, casse si, making si a mere corroborative prefix to era, but I do not see how the alteration helps us, the word casse (chests, boxes) being apparently meaningless in this connection.
[226] Venetian contraction of Casa, house. Da Ca Quirino, of the Quirino house or family.
[227] cf. Artemus Ward's "Natives of the Universe and other parts."
[228] Mo vedi vu, Venetian for Or vedi tu, now dost thou see? I have rendered it by the equivalent old English form.
[229] i.e. not of the trap laid for him by the lady's brothers-in-law, but of her indiscretion in discovering the secret.
[230] Che xe quel? Venetian for che c'e quella cosa, What is this thing?
[231] i.e. semble "an you would wish them nought but an ill end."
[232] i.e. to anger.
[233] i.e. to the proposal I have to make.
[234] i.e. the possession of their mistresses.
[235] Sic (di che veleno fosse morto), but this is probably a copyist's error for che di veleno fosse morto, i.e. that he had died of poison.
[236] i.e. that night.
[237] Or, in modern parlance, "laying certain plans."
[238] i.e. for lack of wind.
[239] i.e. of each other.
[240] This is the proper name of the heroine of the story immortalized by Keats as "Isabella or the Pot of Basil," and is one of the many forms of the and name Elisabetta (Elizabeth), Isabetta and Isabella being others. Some texts of the Decameron call the heroine Isabetta, but in the heading only, all with which I am acquainted agreeing in the use of the form Lisabetta in the body of the story.
[241] i.e. to the place shown her in the dream.
[242] i.e. in their service.
[243] Lit. unhung (spiccΓ²).
[244] The following is a translation of the whole of the song in question, as printed, from a MS. in the Medicean Library, in Fanfani's edition of the Decameron.
Alack! ah, who can the ill Christian be,
That stole my pot away,
My pot of basil of Salern, from me?
'Twas thriv'n with many a spray
And I with mine own hand did plant the tree,
Even on the festal[A] day.
'Tis felony to waste another's ware.
'Tis felony to waste another's ware;
Yea, and right grievous sin.
And I, poor lass, that sowed myself whilere
A pot with flowers therein,
Slept in its shade, so great it was and fair;
But folk, that envious bin,
Stole it away even from my very door.
'Twas stolen away even from my very door.
Full heavy was my cheer,
(Ah, luckless maid, would I had died tofore!)
Who brought[B] it passing dear,
Yet kept ill ward thereon one day of fear.
For him I loved so sore,
I planted it with marjoram about.
I planted it with marjoram about,
When May was blithe and new;
Yea, thrice I watered it, week in, week out,
And watched how well it grew:
But now, for sure, away from me 'tis ta'en.
Ay, now, for sure, away from me 'tis ta'en;
I may 't no longer hide.
Had I but known (alas, regret is vain!)
That which should me betide,
Before my door on guard I would have lain
To sleep, my flowers beside.
Yet might the Great God ease me at His will.
Yea, God Most High might ease me, at His will,
If but it liked Him well,
Of him who wrought me such unright and ill;
He into pangs of hell
Cast me who stole my basil-pot, that still
Was full of such sweet smell,
Its savour did all dole from me away.
All dole its savour did from me away;
It was so redolent,
When, with the risen sun, at early day
To water it I went,
The folk would marvel all at it and say,
"Whence comes the sweetest scent?"
And I for love of it shall surely die.
Yea, I for love of it shall surely die,
For love and grief and pain.
If one would tell me where it is, I'd buy
It willingly again.
Fivescore gold crowns, that in my pouch have I,
I'd proffer him full fain,
And eke a kiss, if so it liked the swain.
[A] QuΓ¦reβnatal?βperhaps meaning her birthday (lo giorno della festa).
[B] Or "purchased" in the old sense of obtained, acquired (accattai).
[245] i.e. these two classes of folk.
[246] i.e. to the encouragement of good and virtuous actions and purposes.
[247] Or "lap" (seno).
[248] Lit. what meaneth this? (che vuol dire questo?)
[249] Lit. complaining, making complaint (dolendosi).
[250] i.e. to attend the ecclesiastical function called a Pardon, with which word, used in this sense, Meyerbeer's opera of Dinorah (properly Le Pardon de PloΓ«rmel) has familiarized opera-goers. A Pardon is a sort of minor jubilee of the Roman Catholic Church, held in honour of some local saint, at which certain indulgences and remissions of sins (hence the name) are granted to the faithful attending the services of the occasion.
[251] i.e. Bandy-legs.
[252] Ristretti in sè gli spiriti. An obscure passage; perhaps "holding his breath" is meant; but in this case we should read "lo spirito" instead of "gli spiriti."
[253] i.e. what course she should take in the matter, consiglio used as before (see notes, pp. 2 and 150) in this special sense.
[254] i.e. her heart.
[255] Or surfeited (svogliato).
[256] This is the well-known story of the Troubadour Guillem de Cabestanh or Cabestaing, whose name Boccaccio alters to Guardastagno or Guardestaing.
[257] A proverbial way of saying that he was fast asleep.
[258] i.e. about half-past seven a.m.
[259] Or "having risen from the grinding" (levatasi dal macinio).
[260] i.e. the theme proposed by her.
[261] i.e. on my heart.
[262] i.e. death.
[263] Or farm (villa).
[264] i.e. of music, vocal and instrumental.
[265] Per fortuna. This may also be rendered "by tempest," fortuna being a name for a squall or hurricane, which Boccaccio uses elsewhere in the same sense.
[266] i.e. thy spirit.
[267] Syn. inclinations (affezioni). This is a somewhat obscure passage, owing to the vagueness of the word affezioni (syn. affetti) in this position, and may be rendered, with about equal probability, in more than one way.
[268] Or "eminent" (valoroso), i.e. in modern parlance, "a man of merit and talent."
[269] Valoroso nel suo mestiere. It does not appear that Martuccio was a craftsman and it is possible, therefore, that Boccaccio intended the word mestiere to be taken in the sense (to me unknown) of "condition" or "estate," in which case the passage would read, "a man of worth for (i.e. as far as comported with) his [mean] estate"; and this seems a probable reading.
[270] Lit. necessity (necessitΓ ).
[271] i.e. to use a new (or strange) fashion of exposing herself to an inevitable death (nuova necessitΓ dare alla sua morte).
[272] i.e. knew not whether she was ashore or afloat, so absorbed was she in her despair.
[273] Or "augured well from the hearing of the name." Carapresa signifies "a dear or precious prize, gain or capture."
[274] This name is apparently a distortion of the Arabic Amir Abdullah.
[275] Clement V. early in the fourteenth century removed the Papal See to Avignon, where it continued to be during the reigns of the five succeeding Popes, Rome being in the meantime abandoned by the Papal Court, till Gregory XI, in the year 1376 again took up his residence at the latter city. It is apparently to this circumstance that Boccaccio alludes in the text.
[276] Lit. stand (stare), i.e. abide undone.
[277] i.e. a native of Faenza (Faentina).
[278] A questo fatto, i.e. at the storm of Faenza.
[279] i.e. the owner of the plundered house.
[280] Iron., meaning "with how little discretion."
[281] Gianni (Giovanni) di Procida was a Sicilian noble, to whose efforts in stirring up the island to revolt against Charles of Anjou was mainly due the popular rising known as the Sicilian Vespers (a.d. 1283) which expelled the French usurper from Sicily and transferred the crown to the house of Arragon. The Frederick (a.d. 1296-1337) named in the text was the fourth prince of the latter dynasty.
[282] William II. (a.d. 1166-1189), the last (legitimate) king of the Norman dynasty in Sicily, called the Good, to distinguish him from his father, William the Bad.
[283] Apparently a pleasure-garden, without a house attached in which they might have taken shelter from the rain.
[284] i.e. of her sin.
[285] Syn. your charms (la vostra vaghezza).
[286] i.e. she was grown so repulsively ugly in her old age, that no one cared to do her even so trifling a service as giving her a spark
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