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Day 2: Eighth Tale
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Decameron, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Sex
Men and Women
Moderation and Excess
Intelligence
Class and Character
Faith vs. Religion
Summary
Analysis
It’s now Filomena’s turn, since Dioneo has permission to tell the day’s last tale. She recalls a proverb which says that “a dupe will outwit his deceiver,” which her tale will prove.
Dioneo’s exception shows that sometimes balance and moderation are achieved through bending the rules slightly: the day’s sovereign has the ability to pick the order of narrators, except that Dioneo always has permission to go last—and he usually tells a tale that balances out any seriousness in the rest of the day’s tales.
Active
Themes
A group of Italian merchants at a Parisian inn brag about their sexual exploits while on the road. They all assume that their wives don’t let the “grass … grow under their feet” either. Only one, Bernabò Lomellin, disagrees. He believes that his wife (whose name is Zinerva) is without equal: she is beautiful, excellent at handicrafts, a “paragon of intelligence and good manners,” as capable on a horse or with a falcon as any man, an avid reader and writer, and—above all—the most chaste woman anywhere. He’s sure that even if he went missing for ten years, she’d be faithful.
The merchants boast about their own sexual prowess—and since they’re presumably sleeping with other men’s wives, they take it for granted that their own wives are also probably cheating. Their rather nonchalant attitude towards sex contrasts with the emphasis placed on female chastity in other tales—but then again, these men are merchants. While great lords must worry about having legitimate children to inherit their wealth, titles, and power, throughout the tales, middle- and lower-class characters consistently demonstrate a more casual attitude towards sex. The narrator, Filomena, doesn’t reveal whether Bernabò joins with his fellow merchants in womanizing while on the road, but he does expect his wife to be chaste in his absence. And, since ideas about sexual continence and class are frequently linked, it’s notable that his description of her explicitly positions her as a fine, noble lady who outclasses the rest of the merchants and their wives. And it’s also important to note that one of her good qualities is intelligence—another important theme that threads between the tales of The Decameron. Notably, this entertaining and beautiful tale was the inspiration for William Shakespeare’s play, Cymbeline.
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A young merchant named Ambrogiuolo, laughs at Bernabò and asks who gave him such an unnaturally good wife. He is sure that Bernabò believes what he’s saying, but Ambrogiuolo doesn’t. He thinks Bernabò is a credulous fool, ignorant of human nature. Specifically, everyone knows that men are more perfect than women, and that they consequently have greater willpower. But if men can’t control themselves around beautiful women, how can they expect women to control themselves when faced with the sexual advances of an intelligent lover?
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Bernabò, a merchant rather than a philosopher, accepts that foolish women are weak but maintains that those who truly want to guard their honor (like his wife) are stronger than men. Ambrogiuolo questions how anyone would know, since horns don’t actually sprout on adulterers’ heads. He boasts that he could easily seduce Zinerva. Bernabò puts money against that claim, and the two men formalize their bet with a contract. Ambrogiuolo has three months to seduce Zinerva and prove his conquest with lovers’ tokens or secret knowledge.
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In Genoa, Ambrogiuolo learns (to his dismay) that Zinerva is as upright as Bernabò claimed. Winning the bet will require trickery, so he befriends Zinerva’s friend and bribes her to secretly convey him into the house in a chest. At night, he opens the lid, memorizing the details of Zinerva’s bedroom, then uncovering her while she sleeps. He sees a distinguishing mole under her left breast. Although he’s tempted to have his way with her, he resists because of the reports of her moral rectitude. Finally, he steals some of her jewelry and trinkets.
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Themes
After the old woman retrieves the chest, Ambrogiuolo hurries to Paris where he describes Zinerva’s bedroom and displays his prizes to Bernabò, who demands more proof, since anyone could get a description of the room or some stolen rings from the servants. Ambrogiuolo describes the mole, and this convinces Bernabò. His heart broken at her alleged betrayal, he pays the wager, then goes home with murder in his heart. From his estate outside of the city, he sends a servant to murder Zinerva.
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Luckily, quick-thinking Zinerva convinces the servant to spare her life. Disguised as a man, she runs away while the servant brings her torn clothing to Bernabò as proof of her death, claiming that wolves devoured her body. Zinerva begins to call herself Sicurano da Finale and she sails as a cabin boy on a Catalan merchant’s ship. When they deliver a shipment to the Sultan of Alexandria, Sicurano’s impressive manners earn him a spot in the Sultan’s household, where Sicurano quickly earns respect and admiration.
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Because Sicurano (Zinerva) can speak the language of Christian merchants, the Sultan sends him to the Acre trade fair, where he stumbles on Ambrogiuolo’s stall and discovers some of his stolen belongings. Ambrogiuolo, not recognizing Zinerva, explains that he acquired them after sleeping with Bernabò’s wife and proving that all women are untrustworthy and fickle. Zinerva understands what has happened to her and she vows to punish Ambrogiuolo.
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Zinerva—still disguised as Sicurano—befriends Ambrogiuolo, convincing him to go to Alexandria with the promise of a sizeable investment. She also entices Bernabò, who has fallen into poverty, to Alexandria. With both men in place, she asks Ambrogiuolo to tell his story to the Sultan of Alexandria, where Bernabò will be in attendance. The Sultan laughs at first, but then demands the truth; terrified to be the subject of the Sultan’s interrogation, Ambrogiuolo tells the truth.
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Still in her disguise, Zinerva turns on Bernabò and demands to know what he did after hearing falsehoods about his wife. Bernabò confesses that he had her killed because he was enraged by his loss of money and honor. Zinerva, heaping shame on Bernabò for his stupidity and Ambrogiuolo for his lies, promises to reveal the lady in question if the Sultan of Alexandria will pardon the dupe and punish the deceiver. She then reveals herself to be Zinerva, displaying her breasts (with their identifying mole) as proof.
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The Sultan of Alexandria, recovering from his shock, praises Zinerva’s virtue and strength of character, and he immediately gives her gifts of fine clothes and servants. Bernabò begs for forgiveness, which she graciously offers. Then the Sultan has Ambrogiuolo fixed to a pole, smeared with honey, and left to be devoured by insects. He bestows the deceiver’s wealth on Zinerva along with many presents from his own treasury. When the greatly esteemed Zinerva and her husband return to Genoa, Ambrogiuolo’s bones hang from their post as an ongoing testimony to his wickedness.
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