Page 93 - THE DECAMERON: A Visionary Journey in 100 Stories and 100 Etchings by Petru Russu

and brought in Guiscardo. They went to bed, and Tancred awoke
to see and hear them. Troubled, he decided to remain hidden You should have remembered, Tancred, that your daughter is
and carry out his plan later. The lovers eventually parted, and also a creature of flesh and blood, not of stone or iron. It was
Tancred, unseen, returned to his room. your duty to consider the nature and power of the laws governing
youth. Though you spent your best years in martial exercises,
That night, Tancred had Guiscardo arrested as he left the grotto you should not have been ignorant of the influence of ease and
and brought to him. Tancred, almost weeping, said, "Guiscardo, luxury, even on the aged, let alone the young. I am still young
my kindness to you is ill-requited by the dishonor you have done and thus doubly susceptible to fleshly desires, especially since I
me through my daughter. Love is more potent than either you or have known the pleasure that comes from satisfying such desires.
I." Guiscardo was kept under guard, and the next day, Tancred Unable to resist these forces, I acted naturally for a young woman
confronted his daughter. He spoke tearfully, "Ghismonda, I and yielded to love.
never would have believed you would yield to any man but your
husband. The memory of your fall will grieve me for the rest of I took great care to ensure that my sin would bring shame neither
my life. If you had to demean yourself, you should have chosen to you nor to me. Love and Fortune found a secret way for me
a man of noble birth, not Guiscardo, whom we raised in charity. to fulfill my desire without anyone knowing. I do not deny this,
I am distraught between my love for you and my just indignation. regardless of how you learned it. I did not love Guiscardo at
My love prompts me to pardon you, but my indignation bids me random, as many women do. I chose him deliberately and lured
harden my heart. Before I decide, I want to hear what you have him to my love with forethought. Through our discretion and
to say." He then wept bitterly. constancy, we have long enjoyed our love. You seem to chide
me more for choosing a man of low condition than for my sinful
Her father's words, revealing that her secret love had been love. You do not see that you are blaming Fortune, which often
discovered and that Guiscardo had been captured, caused raises the unworthy and leaves the worthy in low estate.
Ghismonda immense grief. She was on the verge of expressing
her sorrow through cries and tears, as most women would, but Consider the principles of things: we are all made of the same
her strong spirit triumphed over this weakness. With great effort, substance, and all souls are endowed by the same Creator
she composed herself, assuming that Guiscardo was no more. She with equal faculties, powers, and virtues. Merit made the first
resolved to face death rather than plead for her life. With tearless distinction between us, and those with the greatest merits were
eyes and a fearless demeanor, she responded to her father: called noble. This law, though overlaid by contrary usage, is still
"Tancred, I will not deny your accusation, nor will I beg for mercy, traceable in nature and good manners. Those who act with merit
for neither denial nor supplication would benefit me. I will not show themselves to be gentlemen, and if anyone calls them
try to win your humanity and love. My only concern is to confess otherwise, the fault is theirs. Compare Guiscardo's qualities with
the truth, defend my honor with reason, and then act resolutely those of your nobles. If you judge without prejudice, you will find
according to my high spirit. It is true that I have loved and still him noble in the highest degree and your nobles churls.
love Guiscardo, and I will continue to love him for the brief time
I have left to live. Even after death, if love exists, I will still love I trusted your commendation of Guiscardo's merits and
him. My love for him is not due to my womanly frailty but to your worth, which my own eyes confirmed. You praised him for his
lack of zeal in finding me a husband and to Guiscardo's own worth. excellences, and I saw him practice them admirably. If I was

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