THE EIGHTH STORY
[Day the Fourth]
GIROLAMO LOVETH SALVESTRA AND BEING CONSTRAINED BY HIS MOTHER'S PRAYERS TO GO TO PARIS, RETURNETH AND FINDETH HIS MISTRESS MARRIED; WHEREUPON HE ENTERETH HER HOUSE BY STEALTH AND DIETH BY HER SIDE; AND HE BEING CARRIED TO A CHURCH, SALVESTRA DIETH BESIDE HIM
Emilia's story come to an end, Neifile, by the king's commandment,began thus: "There are some, noble ladies, who believe themselves toknow more than other folk, albeit, to my thinking, they know less, andwho, by reason thereof, presume to oppose their judgment not only tothe counsels of men, but even to set it up against the very nature ofthings; of which presumption very grave ills have befallen aforetime,nor ever was any good known to come thereof. And for that of allnatural things love is that which least brooketh contrary counsel oropposition and whose nature is such that it may lightlier consume ofitself than be done away by advisement, it hath come to my mind tonarrate to you a story of a lady, who, seeking to be wiser thanpertained unto her and than she was, nay, than the matter comported inwhich she studied to show her wit, thought to tear out from anenamoured heart a love which had belike been set there of the stars,and so doing, succeeded in expelling at once love and life from herson's body.
There was, then, in our city, according to that which the ancientsrelate, a very great and rich merchant, whose name was LionardoSighieri and who had by his wife a son called Girolamo, after whosebirth, having duly set his affairs in order, he departed this life.The guardians of the boy, together with his mother, well and loyallyordered his affairs, and he, growing up with his neighbour's children,became familiar with a girl of his own age, the daughter of thetailor, more than with any other of the quarter. As he waxed in age,use turned to love so great and so ardent that he was never easy savewhat time he saw her, and certes she loved him no less than she wasloved of him. The boy's mother, observing this, many a time chid andrebuked him therefor and after, Girolamo availing not to desisttherefrom, complained thereof to his guardians, saying to them, as ifshe thought, thanks to her son's great wealth, to make an orange-treeof a bramble, 'This boy of ours, albeit he is yet scarce fourteenyears old, is so enamoured of the daughter of a tailor our neighbour,by name Salvestra, that, except we remove her from his sight, he willperadventure one day take her to wife, without any one's knowledge,and I shall never after be glad; or else he will pine away from her,if he see her married to another; wherefore meseemeth, to avoid this,you were best send him somewhither far from here, about the businessof the warehouse; for that, he being removed from seeing her, she willpass out of his mind and we may after avail to give him some well-borndamsel to wife.'
The guardians answered that the lady said well and that they would dothis to the best of their power; wherefore, calling the boy into thewarehouse, one of them began very lovingly to bespeak him thus, 'Myson, thou art now somewhat waxen in years and it were well that thoushouldst begin to look for thyself to thine affairs; wherefore itwould much content us that thou shouldst go sojourn awhile at Paris,where thou wilt see how great part of thy wealth is employed, more bytoken that thou wilt there become far better bred and mannered andmore of worth than thou couldst here, seeing the lords and barons andgentlemen who are there in plenty and learning their usances; afterwhich thou mayst return hither.' The youth hearkened diligently andanswered curtly that he was nowise disposed to do this, for that hebelieved himself able to fare as well at Florence as another. Theworthy men, hearing this, essayed him again with sundry discourse,but, failing to get other answer of him, told his mother, who, soreprovoked thereat, gave him a sound rating, not because of hisunwillingness to go to Paris, but of his enamourment; after which, shefell to cajoling him with fair words, coaxing him and praying himsoftly be pleased to do what his guardians wished; brief, shecontrived to bespeak him to such purpose that he consented to go toFrance and there abide a year and no more.
Accordingly, ardently enamoured as he was, he betook himself to Parisand there, being still put off from one day to another, he was kepttwo years; at the end of which time, returning, more in love thanever, he found his Salvestra married to an honest youth, a tent maker.At this he was beyond measure woebegone; but, seeing no help for it,he studied to console himself therefor and having spied out where shedwelt, began, after the wont of young men in love, to pass beforeher, expecting she should no more have forgotten him than he her. Butthe case was otherwise; she had no more remembrance of him than if shehad never seen him; or, if indeed she remembered aught of him, shefeigned the contrary; and of this, in a very brief space of time,Girolamo became aware, to his no small chagrin. Nevertheless, he didall he might to bring himself to her mind; but, himseeming he wroughtnothing, he resolved to speak with her, face to face, though he shoulddie for it.
Accordingly, having learned from a neighbour how her house stood, oneevening that she and her husband were gone to keep wake with theirneighbours, he entered therein by stealth and hiding himself behindcertain tent cloths that were spread there, waited till, the twainhaving returned and gotten them to bed, he knew her husband to beasleep; whereupon he came whereas he had seen Salvestra lay herselfand putting his hand upon her breast, said softly, 'Sleepest thou yet,O my soul?' The girl, who was awake, would have cried out; but he saidhastily, 'For God's sake, cry not, for I am thy Girolamo.' She,hearing this, said, all trembling, 'Alack, for God's sake, Girolamo,get thee gone; the time is past when it was not forbidden unto ourchildishness to be lovers. I am, as thou seest, married and itbeseemeth me no more to have regard to any man other than my husband;wherefore I beseech thee, by God the Only, to begone, for that, if myhusband heard thee, even should no other harm ensue thereof, yet wouldit follow that I might never more avail to live with him in peace orquiet, whereas now I am beloved of him and abide with him in weal andin tranquility.'
The youth, hearing these words, was grievously endoloured and recalledto her the time past and his love no whit grown less for absence,mingling many prayers and many great promises, but obtained nothing;wherefore, desiring to die, he prayed her at last that, in requital ofso much love, she would suffer him couch by her side, so he might warmhimself somewhat, for that he was grown chilled, awaiting her,promising her that he would neither say aught to her nor touch her andwould get him gone, so soon as he should be a little warmed.Salvestra, having some little compassion of him, granted him this heasked, upon the conditions aforesaid, and he accordingly lay downbeside her, without touching her. Then, collecting into one thoughtthe long love he had borne her and her present cruelty and his losthope, he resolved to live no longer; wherefore, straitening in himselfhis vital spirits,[252] he clenched his hands and died by her side,without word or motion.
[Footnote 252: _Ristretti in se gli spiriti._ An obscure passage;perhaps "holding his breath" is meant; but in this case we should read"_lo spirito_" instead of "_gli spiriti_."]
After a while the young woman, marvelling at his continence andfearing lest her husband should awake, began to say, 'Alack, Girolamo,why dost thou not get thee gone?' Hearing no answer, she concludedthat he had fallen asleep and putting out her hand to awaken him,found him cold to the touch as ice, whereat she marvelled sore; then,nudging him more sharply and finding that he stirred not, she felt himagain and knew that he was dead; whereat she was beyond measurewoebegone and abode a great while, unknowing what she should do. Atlast she bethought herself to try, in the person of another, what herhusband should say was to do [in such a case]; wherefore, awakeninghim, she told him, as having happened to another, that which hadpresently betided herself and after asked him what counsel she shouldtake thereof,[253] if it should happen to herself. The good manreplied that himseemed the dead man should be quietly carried to hishouse and there left, without bearing any ill will thereof to thewoman, who, it appeared to him, had nowise done amiss. Then saidSalvestra, 'And so it behoveth us do'; and taking his hand, made himtouch the dead youth; whereupon, all confounded, he arose, withoutentering into farther parley with his wife, and kindl
ed a light; then,clothing the dead body in its own garments, he took it, without anydelay, on his shoulders and carried it, his innocence aiding him, tothe door of Girolamo's house, where he set it down and left it.
[Footnote 253: _i.e._ what course she should take in the matter,_consiglio_ used as before (see notes, pp. 2 and 150) in this specialsense.]
When the day came and Girolamo was found dead before his own door,great was outcry, especially on the part of his mother, and thephysicians having examined him and searched his body everywhere, butfinding no wound nor bruise whatsoever on him, it was generallyconcluded that he had died of grief, as was indeed the case. Then wasthe body carried into a church and the sad mother, repairing thitherwith many other ladies, kinswomen and neighbours, began to weepwithout stint and make sore moan over him, according to our usance.What while the lamentation was at it highest, the good man, in whosehouse he had died, said to Salvestra, 'Harkye, put some mantlet orother on thy head and get thee to the church whither Girolamo hathbeen carried and mingle with the women and hearken to that which isdiscoursed of the matter; and I will do the like among the men, so wemay hear if aught be said against us.' The thing pleased the girl, whowas too late grown pitiful and would fain look upon him, dead, whom,living, she had not willed to pleasure with one poor kiss, and shewent thither. A marvellous thing it is to think how uneath to searchout are the ways of love! That heart, which Girolamo's fair fortunehad not availed to open, his illhap opened and the old flames revivingall therein, whenas she saw the dead face it[254] melted of a suddeninto such compassion that she pressed between the women, veiled as shewas in the mantlet, and stayed not till she won to the body, andthere, giving a terrible great shriek, she cast herself, facedownward, on the dead youth, whom she bathed not with many tears, forthat no sooner did she touch him than grief bereaved her of life, evenas it had bereft him.
[Footnote 254: _i.e._ her heart.]
The women would have comforted her and bidden her arise, not yetknowing her; but after they had bespoken her awhile in vain, theysought to lift her and finding her motionless, raised her up and knewher at once for Salvestra and for dead; whereupon all who were there,overcome with double pity, set up a yet greater clamour oflamentation. The news soon spread abroad among the men without thechurch and came presently to the ears of her husband, who was amongstthem and who, without lending ear to consolation or comfort from any,wept a great while; after which he recounted to many of those who werethere the story of that which had befallen that night between the deadyouth and his wife; and so was the cause of each one's death madeeverywhere manifest, the which was grievous unto all. Then, taking upthe dead girl and decking her, as they use to deck the dead, they laidher beside Girolamo on the same bier and there long bewept her; afterwhich the twain were buried in one same tomb, and so these, whom lovehad not availed to conjoin on life, death conjoined with aninseparable union."