[Voice: author]
[001] Beginneth here the book called Decameron, otherwise
Prince Galeotto, wherein are contained one hundred
novels told in ten days by seven ladies and three
young men.
The Decameron -
PROEM.
[Voice: author]
[002] 'Tis humane to have compassion on the afflicted; and as it
shews well in all, so it is especially demanded of those who have had
need of comfort and have found it in others: among whom, if any
had ever need thereof or found it precious or delectable, I may be
numbered; [003] seeing that from my early youth even to the present I
was beyond measure aflame with a most aspiring and noble love
more perhaps than, were I to enlarge upon it, would seem to accord
with my lowly condition. Whereby, among people of discernment
to whose knowledge it had come, I had much praise and high
esteem, but nevertheless extreme discomfort and suffering, not indeed
by reason of cruelty on the part of the beloved lady, but through
superabundant ardour engendered in the soul by ill-bridled desire;
the which, as it allowed me no reasonable period of quiescence,
frequently occasioned me an inordinate distress. [004] In which distress
so much relief was afforded me by the delectable discourse of a friend
and his commendable consolations, that I entertain a very solid
conviction that to them I owe it that I am not dead. [005] But, as it
pleased Him, who, being infinite, has assigned by immutable law an
end to all things mundane, my love, beyond all other fervent, and
neither to be broken nor bent by any force of determination, or
counsel of prudence, or fear of manifest shame or ensuing danger,
did nevertheless in course of time abate of its own accord, in such
wise that it has now left nought of itself in my mind but that
pleasure which it is wont to afford to him who does not adventure
too far out in navigating its deep seas; so that, whereas it was used
to be grievous, now, all discomfort being done away, I find that
which remains to be delightful. [006] But the cessation of the pain has
not banished the memory of the kind offices done me by those who
shared by sympathy the burden of my griefs; nor will it ever, I
believe, pass from me except by death. [007] And as among the virtues
gratitude is in my judgment most especially to be commended,
and ingratitude in equal measure to be censured, therefore, that I
show myself not ungrateful, I have resolved, now that I may call
myself free, to endeavour, in return for what I have received, to
afford, so far as in me lies, some solace, if not to those who succoured
me, and who, perchance, by reason of their good sense or good
fortune, need it not, at least to such as may be apt to receive it.
[Voice: author]
[008] And though my support or comfort, so to say, may be of little
avail to the needy, nevertheless it seems to me meet to offer it most
readily where the need is most apparent, because it will there be
most serviceable and also most kindly received. [009] Who will deny, that
it should be given, for all that it may be worth, to gentle ladies
much rather than to men? [010] Within their soft bosoms, betwixt fear
and shame, they harbour secret fires of love, and how much of
strength concealment adds to those fires, they know who have proved
it. Moreover, restrained by the will, the caprice, the commandment
of fathers, mothers, brothers, and husbands, confined most part of
their time within the narrow compass of their chambers, they live,
so to say, a life of vacant ease, and, yearning and renouncing in the
same moment, meditate divers matters which cannot all be cheerful.
[011] If thereby a melancholy bred of amorous desire make entrance into
their minds, it is like to tarry there to their sore distress, unless it be
dispelled by a change of ideas. Besides which they have much less
power to support such a weight than men. For, when men are
enamoured, their case is very different, as we may readily perceive.
[012] They, if they are afflicted by a melancholy and heaviness of mood,
have many ways of relief and diversion; they may go where they
will, may hear and see many things, may hawk, hunt, fish, ride, play
or traffic. By which means all are able to compose their minds,
either in whole or in part, and repair the ravage wrought by the
dumpish mood, at least for some space of time; and shortly after, by
one way or another, either solace ensues, or the dumps become less
grievous. [013] Wherefore, in some measure to compensate the injustice
of Fortune, which to those whose strength is least, as we see it to be
in the delicate frames of ladies, has been most niggard of support, I,
for the succour and diversion of such of them as love (for others
may find sufficient solace in the needle and the spindle and the reel),
do intend to recount one hundred Novels or Fables or Parables or
Stories, as we may please to call them, which were recounted in ten
days by an honourable company of seven ladies and three young men
in the time of the late mortal pestilence, as also some canzonets sung
by the said ladies for their delectation. [014] In which pleasant novels
will be found some passages of love rudely crossed, with other
courses of events of which the issues are felicitous, in times as well
modern as ancient: from which stories the said ladies, who shall read
them, may derive both pleasure from the entertaining matters set
forth therein, and also good counsel, in that they may learn what to
shun, and likewise what to pursue. Which cannot, I believe, come
to pass, unless the dumps be banished by diversion of mind. [015] And if
it so happen (as God grant it may) let them give thanks to Love,
who, liberating me from his fetters, has given me the power to
devote myself to their gratification.
