Boccaccio

BOCCACCIO, Giovanni, Italian novelist: b. 1313, in Paris or Florence; d. Certaldo, 21 Dec. 1375. His family was originally of Certaldo, but his father being en gaged in commerce, removed to Florence, where he amassed wealth and filled several im portant public offices. Very early in life Gio vanni displayed a remarkable aptitude for learning, and before he was seven years old composed verses with perfect facility. He was placed under the care Of an eminent master, Giovanni da Strada, but his father having de termined on a commercial career for his son removed him from his tutor before his Latin course was completed, and as soon as he had acquired a sufficient knowledge of arithmetic apprenticed him to a merchant, with whom he remained six years. His master finding that he profited nothing, although he made in his several commercial journeys, finally in despair sent him back to his father, and was accustomed to regard him as a very nar row-minded youth. His father discovering that his son would never make a merchint, thought that his studious habits might serve him in the legal profession. But the law proved as distasteful as commerce, and the father, finding that the law had little attrac tion for Giovanni, forced him to return to commerce, and fix his residence in Naples. The King, Robert of Anjou, a friend and pa tron of Petrarch, was greatly devoted to liter ature and thus drew to his court the most emi nent scholars of Italy. Boccaccio was well acquainted with Giovanni Barrili, a man of erudition, and Paolo of Perugia, the King's librarian, and excited by their example and encouragement, he entirely abandoned com merce and gave himself up to the pursuit of learning. His father gave his consent only on the condition that he should study the canon law, and although against his disposi tion, he applied himself to it for some time, took his doctor's degree and after that found himself more at liberty to indulge his passion for poetry, while at the same time he devoted himself to the higher branches of philosophy, astrology, then a favorite study, and to the fathers of the Church. He remained eight years in Naples and during his stay there was filled with desire of distinction by the visit of Petrarch on his way to Rome, where he had been decreed the honor of the laurel crown. Boccaccio marked with delight the splendid re ception given to Petrarch, his examination of three days, his noble oration and the applause which followed, but was far more pleased in after years to make the acquaintance of the illustrious poet, with whom he formed a life friendship. Boccaccio was naturally fond of gay company and fell in love with the Princess Mary, illegitimate daughter of King Robert, and half-sister of the celebrated Joanna of Naples. She was married to a Neapolitan gentleman, but at once ardently returned Boc caccio's love and became his avowed mistress. At her instance, he composed his romance of Filocopo> and (L'Amorosa Fiammetta,' in the latter of which his lady, under the name of Fiammetta, bewails the loss of Pamphilo, supposed to represent himself. The (Filocopo) is not skilfully constructed and is filled with spectres and visions of every kind and the powers of darkness are summoned before the reader to account for its scenes and incidents. Yet it contains passages of that wondrous grace and vivacity afterward so signally dis played in the (Decameron,> and touches of human nature in which the whole character is pictured in a single sentence. While thus em ployed at Naples he was suddenly summoned to Florence by the illness of his father. His separation from the Princess Mary appears to have affected both .lovers with violent sor row, and it was only by the composition of the romance of (Amet& that he could console himself during his absence. His father's re covery and marriage set him again at liberty to return to the favors of his adored princess. He was not only happy from his connection with the Princess Mary, but possessed the favor of Acciajuoli, who had great power in Naples, and even the regard of Queen Joanna herself. It is asserted on respectable author ity that many of the most licentious passages in the were written in conform ity. with the taste and by the command of the Queen. His father died in 1350, leaving a son by his wife, Bice dei Bosticchi, who was also dead, to the care of Boccaccio. The poet faithfully attended to his trust, and becoming acquainted with Petrarch, the latter's example and influence began very shortly to act upon the mind of his younger friend, who from the date of their friendship commenced to.turn his thoughts more from licentious pleasures to purer fame. Being now permanently settled in Florence, Boccaccio, by Petrarch's advice, began to take some interest in the affairs of state. His motives were appreciated, however, and he was sent on an embassy to Padua, to invite Petrarch to accept the presidency of the university. Several other missions followed and in April 1353 he took part in one to Pope Innocent VI, the papal court then residing at Avignon. In the same year was published his Decarneron or (10 Days' Entertainment,' one of the most extraordinary works of genius ever written, and which after the lapse of five centuries is still regarded as one of the purest specimens of Italian prose, as an inexhaustible repository of wit, beauty and eloquence, al though unhappily marred with licentious de scriptions. While occupied with these popular compositions, Boccaccio did not lose sight of higher pursuits in literature. Like Petrarch he was a devoted collector of ancient manu scripts and a diligent student of the classics. On one occasion Boccaccio visited Monte Cas sino, within whose monastery he knew many works had been collected, which had escaped the ravages of the barbarians, but found, to his amazement, that they were suffered to rot in a damp loft exposed to the weather, and that frequently when the monks were in want of money, they took some of the manuscripts, obliterated the writing, replaced it by copying on the parchment some part of the ritual, and then sold the new productions among the peo ple of the neighborhood. To such collectors

as Petrarch and Boccaccio, and to the latter pre-eminently, the world owes a debt of grati tude for the rescue of many of the great classic works which otherwise would have been irretrievably lost. In 1359 the author of the visited Petrarch at Milan, con versed with him, as he informs us, at great length on the subjects of morality and reli gion, and determined to devote himself more seriously to holy studies. This resolve re ceived additional stimulus in 1362 from a sin gular circumstance. A monk from the Car thusian monastery at Siena came to visit him, saying that he was charged with a message to him from Father Petroni, who on his death bed, although he had never seen Boccaccio, declared that he knew him in spirit, and com missioned the monk to exhort him to repent ance. In order to prove the truth of his words, the monk told Boccaccio of a circum stance in his life which the poet thought known only to himself. So great was the effect of this warning, that he determined to abandon poetry, sell his library and lead a life of penance and meditation. With this view he wrote to Petrarch, supposing that his sudden purpose would meet with kindred enthusiasm, but his friend answered in a strong, common sense letter, instructing him to receive the warning to repentance, but informing him that there was no necessity for selling his books or abandoning his studies. Boccaccio accordingly wrote in a strain altogether free from his former one, while he assumed the ecclesiastical habit and applied himself to the ology. With disinterested generosity a large part of his means was dissipated in the collec tion of Greek manuscripts, his emissaries vis iting many parts of Europe to procure them. His fortune was thus gradually impaired, and toward the decline of life he found himself poor and deserted by all his friends, except the noble-minded and constant Petrarch. That great poet wished his friend to take up his abode with him, but Boccaccio preferred independence, and declined the offer, although he visited Petrarch whenever he found an opportunity. In 1363 he was invited to Naples by the grand seneschal Acciajuoli, but was so hurt by his cold reception that he soon left and went to Venice to meet Petrarch. On re turning to Florence he found its turbulent state of society in little accordance with his wish of retirement, and took up his abode in a little cottage in Certaldo, in the vale of Elsa, dear to him as the birthplace of his family. From this retreat he was soon summoned by the chief citizens of Florence to undertake an embassy to Urban V at Avignon, and repair ing to the papal court he experienced the most flattering reception. He was again sent to Urban in 1367, after the pontiff had removed to Rome, when the character of Boccaccio had so changed from his former looseness that he was characterized by the bishop of Florence as one in whose purity of faith he had the utmost confidence. He was now hon ored by the Florentine magistrates with a professorship founded in memory of Dante, for the better explication of the 'Divina Commedia.> His lectures commenced in Oc tober 1373 and continued until his death, which was doubtless hastened by the demise of Petrarch 10 months before his own. In eloquent language he bewailed his loss. Boc caccio wrote numerous works in Italian and Latin, and both in prose and poetry, few of which are referred to at the present day; his great fame rests upon the 'Decameron.> In these hundred tales of love, displaying the most wonderful fertility of invention, the reader is perpetually delighted with the beauty of the narrative and the variety of the scenes, whether of intrigue, wit or pathos—no two stories, nor even their introductions, resem bling each other. The author's fondness for involving friars in every imaginable scene of mischief and ludicrous mishap created great scandal to the Church, and his famous romance, the 10th novel of the sixth day, in which "Friar Onion promises some country people to show them a feather from the wing of the angel Gabriel, instead of which he finds only some coals, which he tells them are the same that roasted Saint Lawrence,* drew down the solemn anathema of the Council of Trent. The editions of the 'Decameron' are almost innumerable and translations exist in all the languages of Europe. The earliest editions are extremely rare and of that of Valdarfer in 1471, only one copy is known. Boccaccio's poem, 'Il Teseide' is written in the ottava rima, of which he is usually considered as the inventor, and is the first Italian poem which presents a specimen of the epopee. Chaucer borrowed from this poem his 'Knight's Tale,' and Shakespeare a part of his 'Midsummer Night's Dream.' The great English dramatist has also, in some measure, availed himself of Boccaccio's 'Decameron,> as in Tymbeline) and 'All's Well that Ends Well.' With all his faults, we may consider Boccaccio one of the great revivers of learning and a benefac tor to mankind, as well as worthy of the third place in that great triumvirate with Dante and Petrarch, "which renders the 14th century so splendid an epoch in the history of literature (See DECA MERON ) . Consult Cochin, 'Boccac cio, etudes italiennes' (1890) ; Hutton, E., 'Giovanni Boccaccio: A Biographical Study' (New York 1910) ; Symonds, 'Giovanni Boc caccio as Man and Author' (1895) ; consult also complete edition of Boccaccio's works by Moutier (Florence 1827-34) ; and the 'De cameron,' expurgated edition by Fornaciari (Florence 1900).