It is, indeed, strange how often, when some subtle move of statecraft is being made whereof secrecy12 is the very vital essence, though those that be in that secret keep their lips truly sealed, some inkling of what is going on seems by some mysterious intuition to be given to folk that have neither need of such knowledge, nor right nor title to it. So it certainly proved in Florence on the morning after the ride against Arezzo. Every man that came out into the streets—and the streets were soon full of people, as a pomegranate is full of seeds—was positive that something had happened of importance, or no less positive that something of importance was going to happen, or that something of importance was actually happening. In some occult manner it had leaked out that a number of the youths of Florence were absent from their dwellings13. It gradually became known that all those that were thus absent were members of the same party, and that party the one which was held in no great affection by Messer Simone, the party of the Reds. Furthermore, the story of the formation of the Company of Death had become known, and it [Pg 268]needed no very elaborate process of speculation14 to assume that the youths whose lodgings15 lacked their presence had overnight, in Messer Folco's palace, inscribed16 their names in Messer Simone's great book of enrollment17.
It being established, therefore, definitely, beyond doubt or cavil18, that something had happened, the next great question for the expectant Florentines was, What thing had happened? But the answer to this question was not yet, and in the meantime the expectant Florentines had another matter of interest to consider and to discuss. Through all the noise and babble19 and brawling20 of that agitated21 morning there came a whisper, at first of the very faintest, which breathed insidiously22 and with much mystery a very amazing piece of news. Men passed the whisper on to men, women to women, till in a little while it had swelled23 into a voice as loud as the call of a public crier, carrying into every corner of the quarter where Messer Folco lived, and from thence into every other quarter of the city its astonishing message of amazing wedlock24. Gossip told to gossip, with staring eyes and wagging fingers, that Messer Folco's daughter, Monna Beatrice, she that had been the May-day queen, and was so young and fair to look upon, she was to be married at nine of that morning to Messer Simone dei Bardi, the man that so few Florentines loved, the man that so many Florentines feared. It had, [Pg 269]of course, long been known in Florence, where the affairs of any family or individual are for the most part familiar to all neighbors, that Messer Simone wished to wed25 Monna Beatrice. It was known, too, that Messer Folco was in nowise opposed to the match. Yet, for the sake of the girl's sweetness and loveliness, all were ready to hope that such ill nuptials26 would never come to pass. Thus, when the news of the immediate27 marriage fluttered through Florence streets, it was the cause of no little astonishment28 to those that first heard it, and they carried it on the very edge of their lips to the nearest ears, and so made the circle of astonishment greater.
I am proud to say it, to the credit of my fellow-citizens, that the greater part of those that heard the tidings shook their heads and sighed. And, indeed, it needed no very great niceness of feeling or softness of heart to recognize that a marriage between a man like Messer Simone and a maid like Monna Beatrice was no admirable marriage, however much the wish of a parent was to be respected. Every one recognized that Beatrice was a maid as unusual in her goodness as Simone was a man, thank Heaven, unusual in his badness. Wherefore, all detested29 the undertaking30. Yet disbelief in the story, a disbelief that was popular, had perforce to change into unpopular belief when the very church was named in which the ceremony was to [Pg 270]take place—the Church of the Holy Name; and those that hastened thither did indeed find all preparations being made for a wedding, and learned from the sacristan that Messer Simone did, indeed, upon that very morning, mean to marry the daughter of Folco Portinari. Yet, as I learned afterward31, for all these assurances and all these preparations, the marriage was, up to a certain moment, no such sure a matter as Messer Simone wished and Messer Folco willed and the good-hearted folk of Florence regretted.
I have always accepted the customs of my time, and found them on the whole excellent, and it has ever been our custom for us to wed our daughters as we will, and not according to their wishes, our view being that elders are wiser than youngsters, and that it is more becoming and orderly that a maid should marry to please her father than that she should marry to please herself. For there may be a thousand reasons for a certain marriage, very obvious to a prudent32 parent, such as land, houses, plate, linen33, vineyards, florins, and the like, all of which are of the utmost importance in the economy of a well-domesticated household, but are unhappily little calculated to attract the dawning senses of a nubile34 girl. Yet in a little while, when she has become a matron and got used to her husband, with what a complacent35, with what a housewifely approving eye she will behold36 her treasures of gold [Pg 271]and silver and pewter and fine linen and the rest of her possessions. So, for the most part, it should always be; but there is no rule that has not its exception, and if ever there were a case in which a daughter might be justified37 for resisting the will of her parent in the matter of a marriage, I think the case of Folco's daughter is the case, and I for one can never be brought to blame her in the slightest degree for her conduct, or call it misconduct.
It seems that when the morning came Madonna Beatrice showed herself unexpectedly and unfamiliarly opposed, not merely to her parent's wish, but to her parent's commands. Messer Folco, who had not seen his daughter since the previous night, when she fell swooning in the arms of Messer Tommaso Severo, at first could not believe in her opposition38. She told him, astonished as he was at this amazing mutiny, that she could not and would not wed Messer Simone, because her heart was pledged to another, and that other one whom she would not name. Madonna Beatrice kept silence thus rigorously the identity of her lover, because of her certainty that the swords of her kinsmen39 would be whetted40 against him the moment that his name was known. In this she was right, for Dante was everything that the Portinari scorned, being poor with a poverty that tarnished41, in their eyes, his rightful nobility, being of the Reds, being of no [Pg 272]account in the affairs of Florence. That he was a poet would no more hinder them from killing42 him than the gift of song would save a nightingale from a hawk43. Messer Folco was at first very stern and then very angry at his daughter's attitude, but he was stern and angry alike in vain. The more Messer Folco stormed, the less he effected. Though Beatrice seemed to grow paler and frailer44 at her father's nagging46, she grew none the less stubborn, and Messer Folco's fury flamed higher at her unwonted obstinacy47. His naturally choleric48 disposition49 got the better of his philosophic50 training and his habitual51 self-restraint, and he threatened, pleaded, and commanded in turns without making any change in Beatrice's frozen resistance. The pitiable struggle lasted until Messer Maleotti, having ridden leisurely52 through the cool of the morning, chose, when within sight of Florence, to spur his horse to a gallop53 and to come tearing through the gates, reeling on his saddle, as one that bore mighty54 tidings, which must be delivered to Messer Simone dei Bardi without delay.
What these tidings were Folco was soon enough to learn. Messer Simone hastened to Messer Folco's house and demanded audience of the lady Beatrice. He found her and her father together, Messer Folco still fuming55, Madonna Beatrice still pale and resolved. Simone stayed with a large gesture Messer Folco's protestations of regret at [Pg 273]having so unmannerly a daughter, and, addressing himself to Beatrice, asked her if it was true that her affection for another stood in the way of her obedience56 to her father's wishes. She seemed to be almost past speech after the long struggle with her father, but she made a sign with her head to show that this was so. Thereupon Simone, making his voice as gentle and tender as it was possible for him to make it, went on to ask her if by any chance the man she so favored was young Messer Dante of the Alighieri. Madonna Beatrice would not answer him this question, either by word or sign. Then Simone, allowing his voice to grow sad, as one that sorrows for another's loss, assured her that if that were so, there could be no further obstacle to her father's wishes, because he was at that moment the bearer of the bad news that Messer Dante and all those that were with him had been killed that morning by treason in a wood half-way to Arezzo. While Messer Simone was telling this tale to Beatrice, the same story was running like fire through the streets of Florence, for Messer Maleotti was very willing to tell what had happened, or rather what he thought had happened, to whomsoever cared to ask or to listen, and I take it that there was not a man or woman in all Florence who did not seek to have news at first hand of the disaster.
It seems that at this news the unnatural57 resistance of Madonna Beatrice to her father's orders [Pg 274]broke down entirely58. I use the term "unnatural" as one in nowise implying any censure59 of Madonna Beatrice for her resistance to her father's wishes, but rather as describing the strength beyond her nature which she put into that resistance. For I hold that the dominion60 of parents on the one side, and the obedience of children and the deference61 of children to that dominion on the other side, may be made too much of and thought too much of, and in no case more so than when a controversy62 arises concerning matters of the heart. All this wisdom by the way. If Madonna Beatrice had been pale before, she was paler now, and for a breathing-while it seemed as if she would swoon, but she did not swoon. They sent for her physician, Messer Tommaso Severo, who could do nothing, and said as much. Madonna Beatrice, he declared, was very weak; it were well not to distress63 her over-much. Beyond that he said little, partly because he was naturally enough in agreement with Messer Folco in his views as to the rule of parents over children, and partly because he was aware how frail45 a spirit of life was housed in her sweet body, and knew that no art of his or of any man's was of avail to strengthen it or to hinder its departure when the time must be.
While all this was toward, Madonna Beatrice seemed to come out of the silent fit into which the false news of Dante's death had cast her, and when [Pg 275]her father asked her again, something less sternly than before, but still peremptorily64, if she would have Messer Simone for mate, she did no more than incline her head in what Messer Folco took to be a signal of submission65 to his will. At this yielding he, being by nature an authoritarian66, seemed not a little pleased. For the death of Dante, and the effect that death might have upon his daughter's welfare, he did not care and did not profess67 to care in the least. Dante as a human being was nothing to him—nothing more, at least, than a young man who belonged to an opposite party, had no money or family backing, and owed what little esteem68 he had gained in the public mind to his writing some clever verses and making a mystery about their authorship, the said verses being particularly offensive to him, Folco Portinari, because they had the insolence69 to be aimed at his daughter. So having carried his point and enforced his authority, Messer Folco straightway sent a messenger to the church chosen for the ceremony to have all in readiness for the immediate nuptials.
As for Beatrice, though she still seemed like a woman that was stricken with a catalepsy, she was, by her father's orders, girded in a white gown and girdled and garlanded with white roses, and in such guise70 Messer Folco and Messer Simone between them—with my curse on them for a fool and [Pg 276]a knave—led their helpless victim from the Portinari house into the open air. There a litter awaited her, into which she went unresisting, and so with the people of her father's household about her, wearing her father's crest71 upon their coats, she went her way to the Church of the Holy Name.
I do not think that in all the tragic72 tales of old time there is one more lamentable73 than this of lady Beatrice. Monna Iphigenia, so piteously butchered in Aulis, that the Greek kings might have a soldier's wind toward Troy, was not more sadly sacrificed, and in the case of Beatrice, as in that of the Greek damsel, a father was a consenting party to the crime. The case of Jephthah's daughter was less pathetic, for there at least the parent was deeply afflicted74 by the darts75 of destiny, whereas old Agamemnon and our Folco were, whatever their reluctance76 to dedicate their daughters to an uncomfortable fate, quite prepared to do so. All of which goes to show that humanity is the same to-day as it was yesterday, and will, in all likelihood, be the same to-morrow. There will always be good and bad, kind and unkind, wise and foolish, always sweet lovers will be singing their songs in the praise of their sweethearts that are walking in the rose-gardens, and sour parents will be scowling77 from the windows. For my own part, I am always on the side of any lover, young or old, straight or [Pg 277]crooked, gentle or simple, for to my mind, in this muddle78 of a world, the state of being in love is at least a definite state, and, whenever and however gratified, a pleasant state.
I can honestly say, in looking back over the book of my memory, that I can find no page therein which is not overwritten with the name of some pretty girl. And though I will not be such a coxcomb79 as to assert that I was always favored by any fair upon whom it might please me to cast an approving eye, yet I must needs admit that I found a great deal of favor. This I attribute largely to a merry disposition and a ready desire to please, together with a very genial80 indifference81 if, by any chance, the maid should prove disdainful. For it may be taken as a general principle that maids are the less tempted83 to be disdainful if they guess—and they are shrewd guessers—that their disdain82 will be met with a blithe84 carelessness. Speaking of carelessness and disdain and the like, reminds me that I have never done what I meant to from the beginning, and tell you how I fared in my love-affair with Brigitta, the girl that gave me the cuff85 and had such strange eyes. But I fear now that I am too deeply embarked86 upon the love-affairs of another to have the leisure to digress into my own adventures. The world is more interested in love's tragedies than in the comedies of love, wherein I have ever played my part, and so I will go back to my Dante and [Pg 278]his sad affairs, and leave my little love-tale for another occasion. But at least I may be suffered to set down this much in passing—that Brigitta was a very attractive girl, and that I was really very fond of her.
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1
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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2
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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3
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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4
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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5
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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6
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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7
contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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8
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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9
doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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10
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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11
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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12
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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13
dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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14
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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15
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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16
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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17
enrollment
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| n.注册或登记的人数；登记 | |
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18
cavil
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| v.挑毛病，吹毛求疵 | |
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19
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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brawling
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| n.争吵，喧嚷 | |
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21
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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22
insidiously
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| 潜在地，隐伏地，阴险地 | |
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23
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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24
wedlock
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| n.婚姻，已婚状态 | |
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25
wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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26
nuptials
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| n.婚礼；婚礼( nuptial的名词复数 ) | |
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27
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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29
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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31
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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32
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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33
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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34
nubile
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| adj.结婚期的 | |
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complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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36
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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kinsmen
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| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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40
whetted
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| v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的过去式和过去分词 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等） | |
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41
tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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42
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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43
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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44
frailer
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| 脆弱的( frail的比较级 )； 易损的； 易碎的 | |
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45
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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46
nagging
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| adj.唠叨的，挑剔的；使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的现在分词 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
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47
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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48
choleric
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| adj.易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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49
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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50
philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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51
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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52
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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53
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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54
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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55
fuming
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| 愤怒( fume的现在分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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56
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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57
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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58
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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59
censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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60
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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61
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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62
controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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63
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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64
peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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65
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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66
authoritarian
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| n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者 | |
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67
profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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68
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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69
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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70
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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71
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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72
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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73
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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74
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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darts
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| n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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76
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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77
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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coxcomb
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| n.花花公子 | |
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80
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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81
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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82
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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83
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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84
blithe
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| adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的 | |
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85
cuff
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| n.袖口；手铐；护腕；vt.用手铐铐；上袖口 | |
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86
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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