The Decameron, Volume II

comrades, who were likewise lodged in the palace, ofthe place where they were to await him on the ensuing day; which beingcome, Nathan, inflexibly determined to act in all respects according tothe advice which he had given Mitridanes, hied him forth to the copseunattended, to meet his death. Mitridanes, being risen, took his bow andsword, for other arms he had none with him, mounted his horse, and rodeto the copse, through which, while he was yet some way off, he saw Nathanpassing, quite alone. And being minded, before he fell upon him, to seehis face and hear the sound of his voice, as, riding at a smart pace, hecame up with him, he laid hold of him by his head-gear,exclaiming:--"Greybeard, thou art a dead man." Whereto Nathan answerednought but:--"Then 'tis but my desert." But Mitridanes, hearing thevoice, and scanning the face, forthwith knew him for the same man thathad welcomed him heartily, consorted with him familiarly, and counselledhim faithfully; whereby his wrath presently subsided, and gave place toshame. Wherefore, casting away the sword that he held drawn in act tostrike, he sprang from his horse, and weeping, threw himself at Nathan'sfeet, saying:--"Your liberality, dearest father, I acknowledge to bebeyond all question, seeing with what craft you did plot your cominghither to yield me your life, for which, by mine own avowal, you knewthat I, albeit cause I had none, did thirst. But God, more regardful ofmy duty than I myself, has now, in this moment of supreme stress, openedthe eyes of my mind, that wretched envy had fast sealed. The prompter wasyour compliance, the greater is the debt of penitence that I owe you formy fault; wherefore wreak even such vengeance upon me as you may deemanswerable to my transgression." But Nathan raised Mitridanes to hisfeet, and tenderly embraced him, saying:--"My son, thy enterprise,howsoever thou mayst denote it, whether evil or otherwise, was not suchthat thou shouldst crave, or I give, pardon thereof; for 'twas not inmalice but in that thou wouldst fain have been reputed better than I thatthou ensuedst it. Doubt then no more of me; nay, rest assured that nonethat lives bears thee such love as I, who know the loftiness of thyspirit, bent not to heap up wealth, as do the caitiffs, but to dispensein bounty thine accumulated store. Think it no shame that to enhance thyreputation thou wouldst have slain me; nor deem that I marvel thereat. Toslay not one man, as thou wast minded, but countless multitudes, to wastewhole countries with fire, and to raze cities to the ground has beenwell-nigh the sole art, by which the mightiest emperors and the greatestkings have extended their dominions, and by consequence their fame.Wherefore, if thou, to increase thy fame, wouldst fain have slain me,'twas nothing marvellous or strange, but wonted."

  Whereto Mitridanes made answer, not to excuse his wicked design, but tocommend the seemly excuse found for it by Nathan, whom at length he toldhow beyond measure he marvelled that Nathan had not only been consentingto the enterprise, but had aided him therein by his counsel. But Nathananswered:--"Liefer had I, Mitridanes, that thou didst not marvel eitherat my consent or at my counsel, for that, since I was my own master andof a mind to that emprise whereon thou art also bent, never a soul cameto my house, but, so far as in me lay, I gave him all that he asked ofme. Thou camest, lusting for my life; and so, when I heard thee crave itof me, I forthwith, that thou mightst not be the only guest to departhence ill content, resolved to give it thee; and to that end I gave theesuch counsel as I deemed would serve thee both to the taking of my lifeand the preservation of thine own. Wherefore yet again I bid thee, nay, Ientreat thee, if so thou art minded, to take it for thy satisfaction: Iknow not how I could better bestow it. I have had the use of it now forsome eighty years, and pleasure and solace thereof; and I know that, bythe course of Nature and the common lot of man and all things mundane, itcan continue to be mine for but a little while; and so I deem that 'tweremuch better to bestow it, as I have ever bestowed and dispensed mywealth, than to keep it, until, against my will, it be reft from me byNature. 'Twere but a trifle, though 'twere a hundred years: howinsignificant, then, the six or eight years that are all I have to give!Take it, then, if thou hadst lief, take it, I pray thee; for, long as Ihave lived here, none have I found but thee to desire it; nor know I whenI may find another, if thou take it not, to demand it of me. And if,peradventure, I should find one such, yet I know that the longer I keepit, the less its worth will be; wherefore, ere it be thus cheapened, takeit, I implore thee."

  Sore shame-stricken, Mitridanes made answer:--"Now God forefend that Ishould so much as harbour, as but now I did, such a thought, not to saydo such a deed, as to wrest from you a thing so precious as your life,the years whereof, so far from abridging, I would gladly supplement withmine own." "So then," rejoined Nathan promptly, "thou wouldst, if thoucouldst, add thy years to mine, and cause me to serve thee as I never yetserved any man, to wit, to take from thee that which is thine, I thatnever took aught from a soul!" "Ay, that would I," returned Mitridanes."Then," quoth Nathan, "do as I shall bid thee. Thou art young: tarry herein my house, and call thyself Nathan; and I will get me to thy house, andever call myself Mitridanes." Whereto Mitridanes made answer:--"Were Ibut able to discharge this trust, as you have been and are, scarce wouldI hesitate to accept your offer; but, as too sure am I that aught that Imight do would but serve to lower Nathan's fame, and I am not minded tomar that in another which I cannot mend in myself, accept it I will not."

  After which and the like interchange of delectable discourse, Nathan andMitridanes, by Nathan's desire, returned to the palace; where Nathan forsome days honourably entreated Mitridanes, and by his sage counselconfirmed and encouraged him in his high and noble resolve; after which,Mitridanes, being minded to return home with his company, took his leaveof Nathan, fully persuaded that 'twas not possible to surpass him inliberality.

  NOVEL IV.

  --Messer Gentile de' Carisendi, being come from Modena, disinters a ladythat he loves, who has been buried for dead. She, being reanimated, givesbirth to a male child; and Messer Gentile restores her, with her son, toNiccoluccio Caccianimico, her husband.--

  A thing marvellous seemed it to all that for liberality a man should beready to sacrifice his own life; and herein they averred that Nathan hadwithout doubt left the King of Spain and the Abbot of Cluny behind.However, when they had discussed the matter diversely and at large, theking, bending his regard on Lauretta, signified to her his will that sheshould tell; and forthwith, accordingly, Lauretta began:--Goodly mattersare they and magnificent that have been recounted to you, young ladies;nay, so much of our field of discourse is already filled by theirgrandeur, that for us that are yet to tell, there is, methinks, no roomleft, unless we seek our topic there where matter of discourse germane toevery theme does most richly abound, to wit, in the affairs of love. Forwhich cause, as also for that our time of life cannot but make usespecially inclinable thereto, I am minded that my story shall be of afeat of magnificence done by a lover: which, all things considered, will,peradventure, seem to you inferior to none that have been shewn you; soit be true that to possess the beloved one, men will part with theirtreasures, forget their enmities, and jeopardize their own lives, theirhonour and their reputation, in a thousand ways.

  Know, then, that at Bologna, that most famous city of Lombardy, theredwelt a knight, Messer Gentile Carisendi by name, worshipful alike forhis noble lineage and his native worth: who in his youth, being enamouredof a young gentlewoman named Madonna Catalina, wife of one NiccoluccioCaccianimico, and well-nigh despairing, for that the lady gave him but asorry requital of his love, betook him to Modena, being called thither asPodesta. Now what time he was there, Niccoluccio being also away fromBologna, and his lady gone, for that she was with child, to lie in at ahouse she had some three miles or so from the city, it befell that shewas suddenly smitten with a sore malady of such and so virulent a qualitythat it left no sign of life in her, so that the very physicianspronounced her dead. And for that the women that were nearest of kin toher professed to have been told by her, that she was not so far gone inpregnancy that the child could be perfectly formed, they, without moreado, laid her in a tomb in a neighbouring church, and after longlamentation closed it upon her.
br />   Whereof Messer Gentile being forthwith apprised by one of his friends,did, for all she had been most niggardly to him of her favour, grieve nota little, and at length fell a communing with himself on this wise:--So,Madonna Catalina, thou art dead! While thou livedst, never a glance ofthine might I have; wherefore, now that thou art dead, 'tis but rightthat I go take a kiss from thee. 'Twas night while he thus mused; andforthwith, observing strict secrecy in his departure, he got him to horsewith a single servant, and halted not until he was come to the placewhere the lady was interred; and having opened the tomb he cautiouslyentered it. Then, having lain down beside her, he set his face againsthers; and again and again, weeping profusely the while, he kissed it. Butas 'tis matter of common knowledge that the desires of men, and