The Book of the Courtier
“Listen,” replied the Magnifico; “and do you, madonna Margarita, take
care to keep it in mind.
26.—“This Camma was a very beautiful young woman, adorned with such
modesty and gentle manners that she was admirable no less for this than
for her beauty; and above other things with all her heart she loved her
husband, who was called Synattus. It happened that another gentleman,
who was of much higher station than Synattus and almost tyrant of the
city where they lived, became enamoured of this young woman; and after
having long tried by every way and means to possess her, and all in
vain, he persuaded himself that the love she bore her husband was the
sole cause that hindered his desires, and had this Synattus slain.
“So then urging her continually, he was never able to gain other
advantage than he had done at first; wherefore, his love increasing
daily, he resolved to take her for his wife, although she was far
beneath him in station. So, her parents being asked by Sinoris (for thus
the lover was called), they began to persuade her to accept him, showing
her that her consent would be very advantageous, and her refusal
dangerous to her and to them all. After resisting them awhile, she at
last replied that she was willing.
“Her parents had the news brought to Sinoris, who was happy beyond
measure and arranged that the marriage should be celebrated at once.
Both having accordingly come in state for the purpose to the temple of
Diana, Camma had a certain sweet drink brought which she had prepared;
and so before Diana’s image she drank half of it in the presence of
Sinoris; then with her own hand (for thus it was the custom to do at
marriages) she gave the rest to her spouse, who drank it all.
“When Camma saw that her plan had succeeded, she knelt all joyful at the
foot of Diana’s image, and said:
“‘O Goddess, thou who knowest the secrets of my heart, be thou sure
witness for me how hardly I refrained from putting myself to death after
my dear consort died, and with what weariness I bore the sorrow of
remaining in this bitter life, wherein I felt no other good or pleasure
beyond the hope of that vengeance which now I find I have attained.
Joyful and content, then, I go to seek the sweet company of that soul
which in life and in death I have loved more than myself. And thou,
wretch, who thoughtest to be my husband, instead of the marriage bed
give order that thy tomb be made ready for thee, for I offer thee as a
sacrifice to the shade of Synattus.’
“Aghast at these words, and already feeling the effect of the poison
stir pain within him, Sinoris tried many remedies; but they were of no
avail, and Camma had such great good fortune (or whatever else it was),
that before dying herself she knew that Sinoris was dead. Learning which
thing, she very contentedly laid herself upon her bed with eyes to
heaven, continually calling the name of Synattus, and saying:
“‘O sweetest consort, now that I have given both tears and vengeance as
last offerings for thy death, nor see that aught else is left me to do
for thee, I hasten from the world and this life,—cruel without thee and
once dear to me only for thy sake. Come then to meet me, my Lord, and
receive this soul as gladly as it gladly comes to thee.’
“And speaking thus, and with arms opened as if she would already embrace
him, she died. Now say, Frisio, what do you think of her?”[359]
Frisio replied:
“I think you fain would make these ladies weep. But even supposing this
were true, I tell you that such women are no longer to be found in the
world.”
27.—“Indeed they are to be found,” said the Magnifico; “and that this is
true, listen:
“In my time there was a gentleman at Pisa, whose name was messer
Tommaso; I do not remember of what family, although I often heard it
mentioned by my father, who was a great friend of his. Now this messer
Tommaso, crossing one day in a small vessel from Pisa to Sicily on
business, was surprised by some Moorish galleys which had come up so
stealthily that those who commanded the vessel did not suspect it; and
although the men who were in her defended themselves stoutly, yet as
they were few and the enemy many, the vessel fell into the hands of the
Moors, together with all who were in her, both wounded and whole as it
chanced, and among them messer Tommaso, who had carried himself bravely
and slain with his own hand a brother of one of the captains of the
galleys. Wherefore enraged, as you may believe, by the loss of a
brother, the captain claimed him as special prisoner, and beating and
maltreating him every day, carried him to Barbary, having resolved to
keep him there in great misery a captive for life and with grievous
pains.
“All the others got free after a time, some in one way and some in
another, and returned home and reported to his wife (whose name was
madonna Argentina) and to his children, the hard life and sore
affliction in which messer Tommaso was living and was like to go on
living without hope unless God should aid him miraculously. After she
and they were informed of this and had tried several other means to
deliver him, and when he himself was quite resigned to die, it came to
pass that watchful love so kindled the wit and daring of one of his
sons, who was called Paolo, that the youth took no heed of any kind of
danger and resolved either to die or to free his father; and this thing
was brought about in such sort that the father was conveyed away so
privily that he was in Leghorn before it was discovered in Barbary that
he had departed thence. From here messer Tommaso wrote in safety to his
wife, and informed her of his deliverance and where he was and how he
hoped to see her the next day. Overwhelmed with great and unexpected joy
at being (through the dutifulness and merit of her son) so soon to see
her husband, whom she so dearly loved and firmly believed she would
never see again,—the good and gentle lady raised her eyes to heaven when
she had read the letter, and calling her husband’s name fell dead upon
the ground; nor in spite of all the remedies that were employed upon her
did the departed spirit return again to her body. Cruel spectacle, and
enough to moderate human wishes and restrain their over-longing for too
much joy.”
28.—Then Frisio said, laughing:
“How do you know that she did not die of grief at hearing that her
husband was coming home?”
The Magnifico replied:
“Because the rest of her life did not comport with this; nay, I think
that her soul, unable to brook delay in seeing him with the eyes of her
body, forsook it, and, drawn by eagerness, quickly flew whither her
thought had flown on reading the letter.”
My lord Gaspar said:
“It may be that this lady was too loving, for women always run to
extremes in everything, which is bad; and you see that by being too
loving she wrought evil to herself, and to her husband and children, for
whom she turned to bitterness the joy of his perilous and longed-for
deliverance. So you ought by no means to cite her as one of those women
who have been the cause of such great benefits.”
The Magnifico replied:
“I cite her as one of those who bear witness that there are wives who
love their husbands; for of those who have been the cause of great
benefits to the world, I could tell you of an endless number, and
discourse to you of some so ancient that they almost seem fabulous, and
of those who among men have been the inventors of such things, that they
deserved to be esteemed as goddesses, like Pallas and Ceres; and of the
Sibyls,[360] by whose mouth God has so often spoken and revealed to the
world events that were to come; and of those who have instructed very
great men, like Aspasia,[361] and like Diotima,[362] who furthermore by
her sacrifices delayed for ten years the time of a pestilence that was
to come upon Athens. I could tell you of Nicostrate,[363] Evander’s
mother, who taught the Latins letters; and of still another woman,[364]
who was preceptress to the lyric poet Pindar;[365] and of Corinna[366]
and of Sappho,[367] who were excellent in poetry; but I do not wish to
seek out matters so far afield. I tell you, however (leaving the rest
apart), that women were perhaps not less the cause of Rome’s greatness
than men.”
“This,” said my lord Gaspar, “would be fine to hear.”
29.—The Magnifico replied:
“Then listen to it. After the fall of Troy many Trojans fled who escaped
that great disaster, some in one direction and some in another; of whom
one part, who were buffeted by many storms, came to Italy at that place
where the Tiber flows into the sea. Landing here in search of
necessaries, they began to roam about the country: the women, who had
remained in the ships, bethought themselves of a good plan that would
put an end to their perilous and long wandering by sea and give them a
new fatherland in place of that which they had lost; and after
consulting together in the absence of the men, they burned the ships;
and the first to begin the work bore the name Roma. Yet fearing the
wrath of the men, who were returning, they went out to meet these; and
embracing and kissing, some their husbands, some their kinsmen, with
tokens of affection, they softened the first impulse of anger; then they
quietly explained to the men the reason of their wise device. Whereupon
the Trojans, either from necessity or from having been kindly received
by the natives, were well pleased with what the women had done, and
dwelt there with the Latins in the place where afterwards was Rome; and
from this arose the ancient custom among the Romans that the women
kissed their kinsfolk when they met.[368] Now you see how much these
women helped to make a beginning of Rome.
30.—“Nor did the Sabine women contribute less to its increase than the
Trojan women did to its beginning. For Romulus, having excited general
enmity among all his neighbours by the seizure of their women, was
harassed by wars on every side; which (he being a man of ability) were
soon brought to a successful issue, except that with the Sabines, which
was very great because Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines, was very
powerful and wise. Wherefore, a severe conflict having taken place
between Romans and Sabines, with very heavy loss on both sides, and a
new and cruel battle making ready, the Sabine women,—clad in black, with
hair loose and torn, weeping, sorrowful, fearless of the weapons that
were already drawn to strike,—rushed in between the fathers and
husbands, imploring them to refrain from defiling their hands with the
blood of fathers-in-law and sons-in-law. And if the men were still
displeased with the alliance, let the weapons be turned against the
women, for it were better for them to die than to live widowed or
fatherless and brotherless, and to remember that their children were
begotten of those who had slain their fathers, or that they themselves
were born of those who had slain their husbands. Lamenting thus and
weeping, many of them carried their little babes in their arms,[369]
some of whom were already beginning to loose the tongue and seemed to
try to call and to make merry with their grandsires; to whom the women
showed the little ones, and said, weeping: ‘Behold your blood, which
with such heat and fury you are seeking to shed with your own hands.’
“The women’s dutifulness and wisdom wrought such great effect at this
pass, that not only were lasting friendship and union established
between the two hostile kings, but what was stranger, the Sabines came
to live at Rome, and of the two peoples a single one was made. And thus
this union greatly increased the power of Rome, thanks to those wise and
lofty-minded women, who were rewarded by Romulus in such fashion that in
dividing the people into thirty wards he gave thereto the names of the
Sabine women.”