The Decameron

reconquest, it having remained in the hands of the Muslims till the second half of the thirteenth century. This supposition is confirmed by the course taken by Alatiel’s ship, which would naturally pass Sardinia and the Balearic Islands on its way from Alexandria to Portugal. ↩

The modern Klarentza in the northwest of the Morea, which latter province formed part of Roumelia under the Turkish domination. ↩

I.e. sister to the one and cousin to the other. ↩

Non vogando, ma volando. ↩

Sic (contò tutto); but this is an oversight of the author’s, as it is evident from what follows that she did not relate everything. ↩

Lit. Ponant (Ponente), i.e. the Western coasts of the Mediterranean, as opposed to the Eastern or Levant. ↩

I.e. AD 912, when, upon the death of Louis III, the last prince of the Carlovingian race, Conrad, Duke of Franconia, was elected Emperor and the Empire, which had till then been hereditary in the descendants of Charlemagne, became elective and remained thenceforth in German hands. ↩

Anguersa, the old form of Anversa, Antwerp. All versions that I have seen call Gautier Comte d’Angers or Angiers, the translators, who forgot or were unaware that Antwerp, as part of Flanders, was then a fief of the French crown, apparently taking it for granted that the mention of the latter city was in error and substituting the name of the ancient capital of Anjou on their own responsibility. ↩

I.e. of her excuse. ↩

Lit. thou holdest (or judges); but giudichi in the text is apparently a mistake for giudico. ↩

I.e. of discernment. ↩

Sic (aggiunsero); but semble should mean “believed, in addition.” ↩

I.e. that the secret might be the better kept. ↩

Paesani, lit., countrymen; but Boccaccio evidently uses the word in the sense of “vassals.” ↩

I.e. that it was not a snare. ↩

Quaere, the Count’s? ↩

Rimane. The verb rimanere is constantly used by the old Italian writers in the sense of “to become,” so that the proverb cited in the text may be read “The deceiver becometh (i.e. findeth himself in the end) at the feet (i.e. at the mercy) of the person deceived.” ↩

Lit. Whatsoever an ass giveth against a wall, such he receiveth (Quale asino da in parete, tal riceve). I cannot find any satisfactory explanation of this proverbial saying, which may be rendered in two ways, according as quale and tale are taken as relative to a thing or a person. The probable reference seems to be to the circumstance of an ass making water against a wall, so that his urine returns to him. ↩

From this point until the final discovery of her true sex, the heroine is spoken of in the masculine gender, as became her assumed name and habit. ↩

Here Boccaccio uses the feminine pronoun, immediately afterward resuming the masculine form in speaking of Sicurano. ↩

I.e. her. ↩

I.e. her. ↩

I.e. hers. ↩

I.e. her. ↩

Sic (meglio). ↩

Lit. fabulous demonstrations (dimostrazioni favolose), casuistical arguments, founded upon premises of their own invention. ↩

According to one of the commentators of the Decameron, there are as many churches at Ravenna as days in the year and each day is there celebrated as that of some saint or other. ↩

A trifling jingle upon the similarity in sound of the words mortale (mortal), mortaio (mortar), pestello (pestle), and pestilente (pestilential). The same wordplay occurs at least once more in the Decameron. ↩

See previous note. ↩

Il mal foro, a woman’s commodity (Florio). ↩

I.e. Cunnus nonvult feriari. Some commentators propose to read il mal furo, the ill thief, supposing Ricciardo to allude to Paganino, but this seems farfetched. ↩

I.e. semble ran headlong to destruction. The commentators explain this proverbial expression by saying that a she-goat is in any case a hazardous mount, and a fortiori when ridden down a precipice; but this seems a somewhat “sporting” kind of interpretation. ↩

I.e. Friday being a fast day and Saturday a jour maigre. ↩

I.e. generally upon the vicissitudes of Fortune and not upon any particular feature. ↩

Industria, syn. address, skilful contrivance. ↩

I.e. half before (not half after) tierce or 7:30 a.m. Cf. the equivalent German idiom, halb acht, 7:30 (not 8:30) a.m. ↩

I.e. as a whole (tutto insieme). ↩

Sollecitudine. The commentators will have it that this is an error for solitudine, solitude, but I see no necessity for the substitution, the text being perfectly acceptable as it stands. ↩

Hortyard (orto) is the old form of orchard, properly an enclosed tract of land in which fruit, vegetables and potherbs are cultivated for use, i.e. the modern kitchen garden and orchard in one, as distinguished from the pleasaunce or flower