The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio

by Giovanni Boccaccio

  _Conclusion of the Author_

  Most noble damsels, for whose solace I have addressed myself to solong a labour, I have now, methinketh, with the aid of the Divinefavour, (vouchsafed me, as I deem, for your pious prayers and not formy proper merits,) throughly accomplished that which I engaged, at thebeginning of this present work, to do; wherefore, returning thanksfirst to God and after to you, it behoveth to give rest to my pen andto my tired hand. Which ere I accord them, I purpose briefly to reply,as to objections tacitly broached, to certain small matters that mayperadventure be alleged by some one of you or by others, sincemeseemeth very certain that these stories have no especial privilegemore than other things; nay, I mind me to have shown, at the beginningof the fourth day, that they have none such. There are, peradventure,some of you who will say that I have used overmuch license ininditing these stories, as well as in making ladies whiles say andvery often hearken to things not very seemly either to be said orheard of modest women. This I deny, for that there is nothing sounseemly as to be forbidden unto any one, so but he express it inseemly terms, as meseemeth indeed I have here very aptly done. But letus suppose that it is so (for that I mean not to plead with you, whowould overcome me,) I say that many reasons very readily offerthemselves in answer why I have done this. Firstly, if there be aughtthereof[484] in any of them, the nature of the stories required it,the which, an they be considered with the rational eye of a person ofunderstanding, it will be abundantly manifest that I could not haveotherwise recounted, an I would not altogether disfeature them. And ifperchance there be therein some tittle, some wordlet or two freer,maybe, than liketh your squeamish hypocritical prudes, who weigh wordsrather than deeds and study more to appear, than to be, good, I saythat it should no more be forbidden me to write them than it iscommonly forbidden unto men and women to say all day long _hole_ and_peg_ and _mortar_ and _pestle_ and _sausage_ and _polony_ and allmanner like things; without reckoning that no less liberty should beaccorded to my pen than is conceded to the brush of the limner, who,without any (or, at the least, any just) reprehension, maketh--let beSt. Michael smite the serpent with sword or spear and St. George thedragon, whereas it pleaseth them--but Adam male and Eve female andaffixeth to the cross, whiles with one nail and whiles with two, thefeet of Him Himself who willed for the salvation of the human race todie upon the rood. Moreover, it is eath enough to see that thesethings are spoken, not in the church, of the affairs whereof itbehoveth to speak with a mind and in terms alike of the chastest(albeit among its histories there are tales enough to be found ofanothergates fashion than those written by me), nor yet in the schoolsof philosophy, where decency is no less required than otherwhere, noramong churchmen or philosophers anywhere, but amidst gardens, in aplace of pleasance and diversion and among men and women, thoughyoung, yet of mature wit and not to be led astray by stories, at atime when it was not forbidden to the most virtuous to go, for theirown preservation, with their breeches on their heads. Again, such asthey are, these stories, like everything else, can both harm andprofit, according to the disposition of the listener. Who knoweth notthat wine, though, according to Cinciglione and Scolajo[485] and manyothers, an excellent thing for people in health,[486] is hurtful untowhoso hath the fever? Shall we say, then, because it harmeth thefevered, that it is naught? Who knoweth not that fire is most useful,nay, necessary to mortals? Shall we say, because it burneth houses andvillages and cities, that it is naught? Arms on like wise assure thewelfare of those who desire to live in peace and yet oftentimes slaymen, not of any malice of their own, but of the perversity of thosewho use them wrongfully. Corrupt mind never understood word healthily,and even as seemly words profit not depraved minds, so those which arenot altogether seemly avail not to contaminate the well-disposed, anymore than mire can sully the rays of the sun or earthly foulness thebeauties of the sky. What books, what words, what letters are holier,worthier, more venerable than those of the Divine Scriptures? Yet manythere be, who, interpreting them perversely, have brought themselvesand others to perdition. Everything in itself is good unto somewhatand ill used, may be in many things harmful; and so say I of mystories. If any be minded to draw therefrom ill counsel or illpractice, they will nowise forbid it him, if perchance they have it inthem or be strained and twisted into having it; and who so will haveprofit and utility thereof, they will not deny it him, nor will theybe ever styled or accounted other than useful and seemly, if they beread at those times and to those persons for which and for whom theyhave been recounted. Whoso hath to say paternosters or to make tartsand puddings for her spiritual director, let her leave them be; theywill not run after any to make her read them; albeit your she-saintsthemselves now and again say and even do fine things.

  [Footnote 484: _i.e._ of overmuch licence.]

  [Footnote 485: Two noted wine-bidders of the time.]

  [Footnote 486: Lit. living folk (_viventi_).]

  There be some ladies also who will say that there are some storieshere, which had been better away. Granted; but I could not nor shouldwrite aught save those actually related, wherefore those who told themshould have told them goodly and I would have written them goodly.But, if folk will e'en pretend that I am both the inventor and writerthereof (which I am not), I say that I should not take shame to myselfthat they were not all alike goodly, for that there is no craftsmanliving (barring God) who doth everything alike well and completely;witness Charlemagne, who was the first maker of the Paladins, but knewnot to make so many thereof that he might avail to form an army ofthem alone. In the multitude of things, needs must divers qualitiesthereof be found. No field was ever so well tilled but therein ornettles or thistles or somewhat of briers or other weeds might befound mingled with the better herbs. Besides, having to speak tosimple lasses, such as you are for the most part, it had been folly togo seeking and wearying myself to find very choice and exquisitematters, and to use great pains to speak very measuredly. Algates,whoso goeth reading among these, let him leave those which offend andread those which divert. They all, not to lead any one into error,bear branded upon the forefront that which they hold hidden withintheir bosoms.

  Again, I doubt not but there be those who will say that some of themare overlong; to whom I say again that whoso hath overwhat to do dothfolly to read these stories, even though they were brief. And albeit agreat while is passed from the time when I began to write to thispresent hour whenas I come to the end of my toils, it hath nottherefor escaped my memory that I proffered this my travail to idlewomen and not to others, and unto whoso readeth to pass away the time,nothing can be overlong, so but it do that for which he useth it.Things brief are far better suited unto students, who study, not topass away, but usefully to employ time, than to you ladies, who haveon your hands all the time that you spend not in the pleasures oflove; more by token that, as none of you goeth to Athens or Bologna orParis to study, it behoveth to speak to you more at large than tothose who have had their wits whetted by study. Again, I doubt not ajot but there be yet some of you who will say that the thingsaforesaid are full of quips and cranks and quodlibets and that it illbeseemeth a man of weight and gravity to have written thus. To these Iam bound to render and do render thanks, for that, moved by a virtuousjealousy, they are so tender of my fame; but to their objection Ireply on this wise; I confess to being a man of weight and to havebeen often weighed in my time, wherefore, speaking to those ladies whohave not weighed me, I declare that I am not heavy; nay, I am so lightthat I abide like a nutgall in water, and considering that thepreachments made of friars, to rebuke men of their sins, are nowadaysfor the most part seen full of quips and cranks and gibes, I conceivedthat these latter would not sit amiss in my stories written to easewomen of melancholy. Algates, an they should laugh overmuch on thataccount, the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the Passion of our Saviour andthe Complaint of Mary Magdalen will lightly avail to cure themthereof.

  Again, who can doubt but there will to boot be found some to say thatI have an ill tongue and a venomous, for that I have in sundry plac
eswritten the truth anent the friars? To those who shall say thus itmust be forgiven, since it is not credible that they are moved byother than just cause, for that the friars are a good sort of folk,who eschew unease for the love of God and who grind with a full headof water and tell no tales, and but that they all savour somewhat ofthe buck-goat, their commerce would be far more agreeable. Natheless,I confess that the things of this world have no stability and arestill on the change, and so may it have befallen of my tongue, thewhich, not to trust to mine own judgment, (which I eschew as most Imay in my affairs,) a she-neighbour of mine told me, not long since,was the best and sweetest in the world; and in good sooth, were thisthe case, there had been few of the foregoing stories to write. But,for that those who say thus speak despitefully, I will have that whichhath been said suffice them for a reply; wherefore, leaving each ofyou henceforth to say and believe as seemeth good to her, it is timefor me to make an end of words, humbly thanking Him who hath, after solong a labour, brought us with His help to the desired end. And you,charming ladies, abide you in peace with His favour, remembering youof me, if perchance it profit any of you aught to have read thesestories.

  HERE ENDETH THE BOOK CALLED DECAMERONAND SURNAMED PRINCE GALAHALT