Page 116 - THE DECAMERON: A Visionary Journey in 100 Stories and 100 Etchings by Petru Russu

The Decameron The Fifth Day | The First Novell Many stories, dear ladies, come to mind as fitting for ushering in a
joyous day like this. One story stands out because it not only has a
Storyteller: Panfilo
happy ending but also demonstrates the holy, mighty, and salutary
forces of Love, which many unjustly reprobate and revile. I believe
Cimon, by loving, waxes wise, wins his wife Iphigenia by capture
this story will be welcome to you, as I take you to be enamored.
on the high seas, and is imprisoned at Rhodes. He is delivered by
Lysimachus; and the twain capture Cassandra and recapture Iphigenia
Once upon a time, as we have read in the ancient histories of the
in the hour of their marriage. They flee with their ladies to Crete, and
Cypriotes, there was a great noble named Aristippus in the island
having there married them, are brought back to their homes.
of Cyprus. He was rich in worldly goods beyond all others in his
country, and he might have deemed himself incomparably blessed,
but for a single affliction that Fortune had allotted him. Among his
sons, he had one, the best grown and handsomest of them all, who
was nearly a hopeless imbecile. His true name was Galesus, but
as neither his tutor's efforts, his father's coaxing or chastisement,
nor any other method had availed to imbue him with any tincture
of letters or manners, he remained gruff and savage of voice, and
in his bearing more like a beast than a man. All, in derision, called
him Cimon, which in their language means "brute."

The father, grieved beyond measure to see his son's life thus
blighted, abandoned all hope of his recovery and, not wanting
the cause of his mortification ever before his eyes, bade him go
to the farm and stay with the husbandmen. To Cimon, the change
was very welcome, as the manners and habits of the uncouth
hinds were more to his taste than those of the citizens. So, Cimon
went to the farm and addressed himself to the work there. One
afternoon, as he passed from one domain to another, he entered
a beautiful plantation, a mass of greenery in the month of May. As
he traversed it, he came to a meadow surrounded by tall trees,
with a fair and cool fountain in one corner. There, he saw a most
beautiful girl lying asleep on the green grass, clad only in a vest
of such fine stuff that it scarcely veiled the whiteness of her flesh,
and below the waist, nothing but a fine white apron. At her feet
slept two women and a man, her slaves.

No sooner did Cimon catch sight of her than, as if he had never
before seen a woman, he stopped short and, leaning on his cudgel,
regarded her intently, lost in admiration. In his rude soul, which
1985 HAND COLORED AQUA TINTA / AQUA FORTE had remained impervious to every delight of urbane life despite a
29,5X19,5 CM. | 11¾X7½ IN. (IMAGE SIZE).
112
The Decameron