The Heptameron: Translated With an Introduction by P.A. Chilton (Penguin Classics). by Marguerite De Navarre

Author:Marguerite De Navarre
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Proquest LLC
Published: 2011-07-15T05:22:29+00:00

*

‘Ladies, the story I’ve told you is very true, and now you’ve heard it, I don’t think there’ll be one amongst you who won’t think twice before giving that sort of pilgrim shelter under your roof. Remember, too, that the most venomous poison is the poison that has been kept concealed.’

‘But what a great fool the husband was,’ said Hircan, ‘to invite a gallant like that to supper with a wife as beautiful and good as his was!’

‘I remember a time,’ said Geburon, ‘when there wasn’t a house in the country that didn’t have a room dedicated to the use of the good fathers. Nowadays though, everyone knows what they’re like, and people are more frightened of them than they are of outlaws and bandits.’

‘In my opinion,’ said Parlamente, ‘if a woman is in bed, she should never let a priest in her room unless it’s to administer the sacraments of the Church. If I ever have one in my room, you can take it as a sure sign that I’m about to breathe my last!’

‘If the whole world were as severe as you,’ observed Ennasuite, ‘the poor priests would be worse than excommunicated, being separated from women in that fashion.’

‘No need to worry about that!’ Saffredent said. ‘They’ll never want for women!’

‘It’s extraordinary!’ said Simontaut. ‘They’re the ones who tie us to our wives in the bonds of matrimony, and then they’re low enough to try to undo those bonds and make us break the very vows they made us take in the first place!’

‘It is a great shame,’ said Oisille, ‘that men who are in charge of the administration of the sacraments should play about with them in this frivolous way. They ought to be burned alive!’

‘You’d do better to show them respect than to [burn them,]’ Saffredent said. ‘Flattering them would be more advantageous than insulting them. After all, they’re the ones with the real power to do the dishonouring and the burning. So, sinite eos, * and let’s see who’s going to take over from Oisille.’

‘I call upon Dagoucin,’ said Oisille. ‘I can see that he’s falling into deep contemplation – he must have something interesting to tell us.’

‘Since I cannot and dare not say what is in my mind,’ he answered, ‘I will tell you instead about a certain man who suffered because of a certain lady’s cruelty, but later on benefited greatly from it. Love, when he is powerful and strong, holds himself in such high regard that he wishes to walk around completely naked and finds it irksome, even unbearable to be covered up. Yet, Ladies, often it happens that those who follow his counsel and venture to uncover their love too soon, receive little return on their pains. And that is exactly what happened to a gentleman of Castile, whose story you shall hear forth with.’

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