The Decameron (Translated by Rebhorn 2013) by Giovanni Boccaccio

Author:Giovanni Boccaccio [Boccaccio, Giovanni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature
ISBN: 9780393241280
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 1353-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

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* The two expressions in this sentence were proverbial: andare in zoccoli per l’asciutto (“go in [his] clogs up [lit., through, along] the dry [path]”) for homosexual love; and for heterosexual love, portare altrui in nave per lo piovoso (“get others to board my boat and carry them through the rain”). The first saying may involve the idea that since clogs had high soles, there was no need for them when walking on a dry surface—i.e., homosexual love is superfluous or irrelevant. But clogs, in and of themselves, generally evoked homosexual love in the period, perhaps through their association with friars. “The dry path” is suggestive in its own right, of course, and the second saying about heterosexual love, involving carrying people on board one’s boat when it is raining, should need no comment.

* According to popular legends recounting the life of Saint Verdiana Attavanti (1182–1242), the most venerated saint in Castelfiorentino, Tuscany, two serpents entered the nun’s cell there, and since she thought they were sent by God to tempt her, she fed them and took care of them. The saint’s name was thus synonymous with devotion and asceticism.

* Dioneo’s final comment repeats almost exactly a comment made by one of the merchants when they are talking together at the start of 2.9. The point of the comment is that when an ass bumps into a wall, he is, in a sense, bumped back by the wall. In short, Dioneo’s advice is that it is a game of tit for tat: women should feel free to cheat on their husbands since their husbands feel free to cheat on them.

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