The Decameron

The Decameron

by

Giovanni Boccaccio

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Decameron makes teaching easy.
Nathan is the protagonist of Filostrato’s tenth tale (X, 3). He is a wealthy nobleman living in the East who builds a splendid palace from which to generously share hospitality and wealth with travelers. In this tale, he is an example of Christ-like generosity since he is willing to give up his life to make his sworn enemy, Mithridanes, happy. But his example inspires Mithridanes to become a better person.

Nathan Quotes in The Decameron

The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Nathan or refer to Nathan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love and Sex Theme Icon
).
Day 10: Third Tale Quotes

Fear me not, then, and rest assured that in view of the loftiness of your motives, no other living person loves you as greatly as I, for you do not devote your energies to the accumulation of riches, as misers do, but to spending what you have amassed. Nor should you feel ashamed for having wanted to kill me to acquire fame, or imagine that I marvel to hear it. In order to extend their dominions, and hence their fame, the mightiest emperors and greatest kings have practiced virtually no other art than that of killing, not just one person as you intended, but countless thousands, setting whole provinces ablaze and razing whole cities to the ground.

Related Characters: Nathan (speaker), Filostrato, Mithridanes
Page Number: 716
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Decameron LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Decameron PDF

Nathan Quotes in The Decameron

The The Decameron quotes below are all either spoken by Nathan or refer to Nathan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love and Sex Theme Icon
).
Day 10: Third Tale Quotes

Fear me not, then, and rest assured that in view of the loftiness of your motives, no other living person loves you as greatly as I, for you do not devote your energies to the accumulation of riches, as misers do, but to spending what you have amassed. Nor should you feel ashamed for having wanted to kill me to acquire fame, or imagine that I marvel to hear it. In order to extend their dominions, and hence their fame, the mightiest emperors and greatest kings have practiced virtually no other art than that of killing, not just one person as you intended, but countless thousands, setting whole provinces ablaze and razing whole cities to the ground.

Related Characters: Nathan (speaker), Filostrato, Mithridanes
Page Number: 716
Explanation and Analysis: