Part 50

Then messer Bernardo and all the others began to urge him anew; and the Magnifico said, laughing:

“You wish to tempt me. All of you are too well practised in love: yet if you would know more, go read it in Ovid.”

“And how,” said messer Bernardo, “should I hope that his precepts are of any service in love, when he recommends and says it is a very good thing that a man should pretend to be drunk in the presence of the beloved? See what a fine way of winning favour! And he cites as a fine method of making one’s love known to a lady at a banquet, to dip a finger in wine and write it on the table.”

The Magnifico replied, laughing:

“In those days it was not amiss.”

“And therefore,” said messer Bernardo, “since such a filthy trick as this was not offensive to the men of that time, we may believe that they did not have so gentle a manner of serving women in love as we have. But let us not forsake our first subject, of teaching how to keep love secret.”

73.—Then the Magnifico said:

“In my opinion, in order to keep love secret it is needful to avoid the causes that make it public, which are many; but there is one chief cause, which is the wish to be too secret and not trust any person whatever. For every lover desires to make his passion known to his beloved, and being alone he is forced to make many more and stronger demonstrations than if he were aided by some loving and faithful friend; because the demonstrations that the lover himself makes arouse much greater suspicion than those he makes through intermediaries. And since the human mind is naturally curious to find things out, as soon as a stranger begins to suspect, he employs such diligence that he learns the truth, and having learned it, makes no scruple to publish it—nay, sometimes delights to do so; which is not the case with a friend, who besides helping with comfort and advice, often repairs those mistakes which the blind lover commits, and always contrives secrecy and provides for many things for which he himself cannot provide. Moreover very great relief is felt in telling our passion and unburdening it to a trusty friend, and likewise it greatly enhances our joys to be able to impart them.”

74.—Then my lord Gaspar said:

“Another cause discloses love more than this.”

“And what is it?” replied the Magnifico.

My lord Gaspar continued:

“The vain ambition joined with madness and cruelty of women; who, as you yourself have said, try to have as great a number of lovers as they can, and if it were possible would have all of these burn and (once made ashes) after death return alive to die once more. And even although they be in love, still they delight in their lover’s torment, because they think that pain and afflictions and continual calling for death give good proof that they are loved, and can, by their beauty, make men wretched and happy, and bestow death and life, as they please. Hence they feed only on this food, and are so eager for it that (in order not to be without it) they do not satisfy or ever quite dishearten their lovers; but to keep these continually in anguish and desire, they use a certain domineering severity of threats mingled with encouragement, and fain would have a word, a look, a nod of theirs esteemed as highest bliss. And to be deemed modest and chaste, not only by their lovers but by all the rest, they take care to make their harsh and discourteous behaviour public, to the end that everyone may think that if they thus maltreat those who are worthy to be loved, they must treat the unworthy much worse.

“And in this belief, thinking they thus have artfully made themselves secure against infamy, they often spend every night with vilest men whom they scarcely know; and so, to enjoy the calamities and continual laments of some noble cavalier whom they love, they deny themselves those pleasures which they might perhaps attain with some excuse; and they are the cause that forces the poor lover in sheer desperation to behaviour which brings to light that which every care ought to be taken to keep most secret.

“Some others there are, who, if by trickery they succeed in leading many a man to think himself loved by them, nourish the jealousy of each by bestowing caresses and favour on one in the presence of another; and when they see that he too whom they most love is nearly sure of being loved because of the demonstrations shown him, they often put him in suspense by ambiguous words and pretended anger, and pierce his heart, feigning to care nothing for him and to wish to give themselves wholly to another; whence arise hatreds, enmities and countless scandals and manifest ruin, for in such a case a man must show the passion that he feels, even though it result in blame and infamy to the lady.

“Others, not content with this single torment of jealousy, after the lover has given all proofs of love and faithful service, and after they have received the same with some sign of returning it with good will, they begin to draw back without cause and when it is least expected, and pretend to believe that he has grown lukewarm, and feigning new suspicions that they are not loved, they give sign of wishing to break with him absolutely. And so, because of these obstacles, the poor fellow is by very force compelled to go back to the start and pay court as if his service were beginning; and daily to walk the earth, and when the lady stirs abroad to accompany her to church and everywhere she goes, never to turn his eyes another way: and now he returns to plaints and sighs and heaviness of heart, and if he can speak with her, to supplications, blasphemies, despairings, and all those ragings to which unhappy lovers are put by these fierce monsters, who have a greater thirst for blood than tigers have.

75.—“Such woeful demonstrations as these are but too much seen and known, and often more by others than by her who occasions them; and thus in a few days they become so public that not a step can be taken, nor the least signal given, that is not noted by a thousand eyes. Then it happens that long before there are any sweets of love between them, they are believed and judged by all the world; for when women see that the lover, now nigh to death and overwhelmed by the cruelty and tortures inflicted on him, is firmly and really resolving to withdraw, they at once begin to show him that they love him heartily, and to do him all manner of kindness, and to yield to him, to the end that (his ardent desire having failed) the fruits of love may be less sweet to him and he may have less to thank them for, in order to do everything amiss.

“And their love being now very well known, at the same time all the results that proceed from it are also very well known; thus the women are dishonoured, and the lover finds that he has lost time and pains and has shortened his life in sorrows, without the least advantage or pleasure; for he attained his desires, not when they would have made him very happy with their pleasantness, but when he cared little or nothing for them, because his heart was already so deadened by his cruel passion that it had no feeling left wherewith to enjoy the delight or contentment which was offered him.”

76.—Then my lord Ottaviano said, laughing:

“You held your peace awhile and refrained from saying evil of women; then you hit them so hard that it seems as if you were gathering strength, like those who draw back in order to strike the harder; and verily you are in the wrong and ought henceforth to be gentler.”

My lady Emilia laughed, and turning to my lady Duchess, said:

“You see, my Lady, that our adversaries are beginning to quarrel and differ among themselves.”

“Call me not so,” replied my lord Ottaviano, “for I am not your adversary. This contest has displeased me much, not because I was sorry to see the victory in favour of women, but because it has led my lord Gaspar to revile them more than he ought, and my lord Magnifico and messer Cesare to praise them perhaps a little more than their due; besides which, owing to the length of the discussion, we have missed hearing many other fine things that remained to say about the Courtier.”

“You see,” said my lady Emilia, “that you are our adversary after all; and for that reason you are displeased with the late discussion, and fain would not have had so excellent a Court Lady described; not because you had anything more to say about the Courtier (for these gentlemen have said all they knew, and I think that neither you nor anyone else could add anything whatever), but because of the envy that you have of women’s honour.”

77.—“Certain it is,” replied my lord Ottaviano, “that besides the things that have been said about the Courtier, I should like to hear many others. Still, since everyone is content to have him as he is, I also am content; nor should I change him in aught else, unless in making him a little more friendly to women than my lord Gaspar is, albeit perhaps not so much so as some of these other gentlemen.”

Then my lady Duchess said:

“By all means we must see whether your talents are so great that they can give the Courtier greater perfection than these gentlemen have given him. So please to say what you have in mind: else we shall think that even you cannot add anything to what has been said, but that you wished to detract from the praises of the Court Lady because you think her the equal of the Courtier, who you would therefore have us believe could be much more perfect than these gentlemen have described him.”

My lord Ottaviano laughed, and said: