Stanza 4

Boccaccio:

il quale, essendo senza moglie e senza figliuoli, niuna altra cosa il suo tempo spendeva che uccellare e in cacciare, di prender moglie d'aver figliuoli alcun pensiero avea; di che egli era da reputar molto savio.

who, having neither wife nor child, passed his time in nought else but in hawking and hunting, and of taking a wife and begetting children had no thought; wherein he should have been accounted very wise:


Petrarch:

nisi quod presenti sua sorte contentus, incuriosissimus futurorum erat. Itaque venatui aucupioque deditus, sic illis incubuerat ut alia pene cunta negligeret; quodque in primis egre populi ferebant, ab ipsis quoque coniugii consiliis abhorreret.

– save that he was so contented with his present lot that he took very little care for the future. Devoted to hunting and fowling, he so applied himself to these arts that he neglected almost all else; and – what his subjects bore most ill – he shrank even from a hint of marriage.



Chaucer:

I blame hym thus, that he considereth noght
In tyme comynge what hym myghte bityde,
But in his lust present was al his thoght,
As for to hauke and hunte on every syde.
Wel ny alle othere cures leet he slyde;
And eek he nolde - and that was worst of alle -
Wedde no wyf, for noght that may bifalle.

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Stanza 3

Boccaccio:

Già è gran tempo, fu tra' marchesi di Sanluzzo il maggior della casa un giovane chiamato Gualtieri,

There was in olden days a certain Marquis of Saluzzo, Gualtieri by name,


Petrarch:

marchionum arbitrio nobilium quorundam regitur virorum, quorum unus primusque omnium et maximus fuisse traditur Valterius quidam, ad quem familie ac terrarum omnium regimen pertineret;et hic quidem forma virens atque etate, nec minus moribus quam sanguine nobilis, et ad summam omni ex parte vir insignis,

It is ruled over by noble marquises, the first and greatest of whom, according to tradition, was a certain Walter, to whom the direction of his own estates and of all the land pertained. He was a man blooming with youth and beauty, as noble in his ways as in his birth; marked out, in short, for leadership in all things,


Chaucer:

Therwith he was, to speke as of lynage,
The gentilleste yborn of Lumbardye;
A fair persone, and strong, and yong of age,
And ful of honour and of curteisye,
Discreet ynogh his contree for to gye,
Save that in somme thynges that he was to blame,
And Walter was this yonge lordes name.

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Stanza 2

Boccaccio:

Già è gran tempo, fu tra' marchesi di Sanluzzo il maggior della casa un giovane chiamato Gualtieri,

There was in olden days a certain Marquis of Saluzzo, Gualtieri by name, a young man, but head of the house,


Petrarch:

Inter cetera, ad radicem Vesulli, terra Salutiarum vicis et castellis satis frequens, marchionum arbitrio nobilium quorundam regitur virorum, quorum unus primusque omnium et maximus fuisse traditur Valterius quidam, ad quem familie ac terrarum omnium regimen pertineret;

Among others, at the very foot of Mount Viso, is the land of Saluzzo, thick with villages and castles. It is ruled over by noble marquises, the first and greatest of whom, according to tradition, was a certain Walter, to whom the direction of his own estates and of all the land pertained.


Chaucer:

A markys whilom lord was of that lond,
As were his worthy eldres hym bifore,
And obeisant and redy to his hond
Were alle his liges, bothe lasse and moore.
Thus in delit he lyveth, and hath doon yoore,
Biloved and drad thurgh favour of Fortune,
Bothe of his lordes and of his commune.

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Stanza 1

Boccaccio:

(no analogue)


Petrarch:

Ceterum pars illa terrarum de qua primum dixi, que et grata planitie et interiectis collibus ac montibus circumflexis, aprica pariter ac iocunda est, atque ab eorum quibus subiacet pede montium nomen tenet, et civitates aliquot et opida habet egregia.

Now that part of these lands, of which I spoke first, is sunny and delightful, as much for the hills which run through it and the mountains which hem it in, as for its grateful plain. From the foot of the mountains beneath which it lies, it derives its name; and it has many famous cities and towns.


Chaucer:

Ther is, at the west syde of Ytaille,
Doun at the roote of Vesulus the colde,
A lusty playne, habundant of vitaille,
Where many a tour and toun thou mayst biholde
That founded were in tyme of fadres olde,
And many another delitable sighte,
And Saluces this noble contree highte.

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Prologue II

Boccaccio:
(no analogue)

Petrarch:

[3] Est ad Italie latus occiduum Vesullus ex Apenini iugis mons unus altissimus, qui, vertice nubila superans, liquido sese ingerit etheri, mons suapte nobilis natura, Padi ortu nobilissimus, qui eius e latere fonte lapsus exiguo, orientem contra solem fertur, mirisque mox tumidus incrementis brevi spatio decurso, non tantum maximorum unus amnium sed fluviorum a Virgilio rex dictus, Liguriam gurgite violentus intersecat; dehinc Emiliam atque Flaminiam Venetiamque disterminans multis ad ultimum et ingentibus hostiis in Adriacum mare descendit.

In the chain of the Apennines, in the west of Italy, stands Mount Viso, a very lofty mountain, whose summit towers above the clouds and rises into the bright upper air. It is a mountain notable in its own nature, but most notable as the source of the Po, which rises from a small spring upon the mountain's side, bends slightly toward the east, and presently, swollen with abundant tributaries, becomes, though its downward course has been but brief, not only one of the greatest streams but, as Vergil called it, the king of rivers. Through Liguria its raging waters cut their way, and then, bounding Aemilia and Flaminia and Venetia, it empties at last into the Adriatic sea, through many mighty months.

Chaucer:

Er he the body of his tale writeth,
A prohemye in the which discryveth he
Pemond, and of Saluces the contree,
45 And speketh of Apennyn, the hilles hye,
That been the boundes of Westlumbardye;
And of Mount Vesulus in special,
Where as the Poo out of a welle smal
Taketh his firste spryngyng and his sours,
50 That estward ay encresseth in his cours
To Emele-ward, to Ferrare, and Venyse;
The which a long thyng were to devyse.

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Prologue I

Boccaccio:

Il marchese di Sanluzzo da' prieghi de' suoi uomini costretto di pigliar moglie, per prenderla a suo modo piglia una figliuola d'un villano, della quale ha due figliuoli, li quali le fa veduto d'uccidergli; poi, mostrando lei essergli rincresciuta e avere altra moglie presa a casa faccendosi ritornare la propria figliuola come se sua moglie fosse lei avendo in camiscia cacciata e a ogni cosa trovandola paziente, piú cara che mai in casa tornatalasi, i suoi figliuoli grandi le mostra e come marchesana l'onora e fa onorare.

Finita la lunga novella del re, molto a tutti nel sembiante piaciuta, Dioneo ridendo disse: "Il buono uomo che aspettava la seguente notte di fare abbassare la coda ritta della fantasima, avrebbe dati men di due denari di tutte le lode che voi date a messer Torello"; e appresso, sappiendo che a lui solo restava il dire, incominciò:

Mansuete mie donne, per quel che mi paia, questo d'oggi è stato dato a re e a soldani e a cosí fatta gente: e per ciò, acciò che io troppo da voi non mi scosti, vo' ragionar d'un marchese, non cosa magnifica ma una matta bestialità, come che ben ne gli seguisse alla fine; la quale io non consiglio alcun che segua, per ciò che gran peccato fu che a costui ben n'avenisse.


The Marquis of Saluzzo, overborne by the entreaties of his vassals, consents to take a wife, but, being minded to please himself in the choice of her, takes a husbandman's daughter. He has two children by her, both of whom he makes her believe that he has put to death. Afterward, feigning to be tired of her, and to have taken another wife, he turns her out of doors in her shift, and brings his daughter into the house in guise of his bride; but, finding her patient under it all, he brings her home again, and shews her her children, now grown up, and honours her, and causes her to be honoured, as Marchioness.


Ended the king's long story, with which all seemed to be very well pleased, quoth Dioneo with a laugh: "The good man that looked that night to cause the bogey's tail to droop, would scarce have contributed two pennyworth of all the praise you bestow on Messer Torello:" then, witting that it now only remained for him to tell, thus he began:

Gentle my ladies, this day, meseems, is dedicate to Kings and Soldans and folk of the like quality; wherefore, that I stray not too far from you, I am minded to tell you somewhat of a Marquis; certes, nought magnificent, but a piece of mad folly, albeit there came good thereof to him in the end. The which I counsel none to copy, for that great pity 'twas that it turned out well with him.


Petrarch:

(no analogue)


Chaucer:

I wol yow telle a tale, which that I
Lerned at Padwe of a worthy clerk,