what passed between the king and his daughter sinforosa.
there are in nature many things, of which we do not know the cause. some persons have their teeth set on edge when they see a loaf cut with a knife; sometimes a man trembles at sight of a rat; i have seen another shudder over the cutting of a radish: and others leave the table, at a formal dinner, on seeing olives placed upon it. ask the cause? no one can tell it; and they who fancy they can best solve the mystery, say, that the stars have a certain antipathy with the temperature of the man, inclining him to certain actions, fears, and aversions, touching the before-mentioned things, and others similar that occur every day. one of the definitions of man, is to say that he is a laughing animal, for man only laughs, and no other animal; and i think that we may also say, he is a weeping animal—an animal that weeps.
it is lawful for a wise man to weep for three things. for having committed a sin; when he asks pardon for it; and for jealousy. no other tears suit the dignity of a grave man.
let us return then to the fainting periander; and although he weeps neither as a sinner nor as a penitent, he sheds the tears of a jealous lover; but he lacks not one who will both excuse his tears, and even wipe them away, as auristella did, who had thrown him into this condition more from artifice than honestly meaning all she said. he at length recovered his senses, and hearing steps in the apartment, he turned his head and saw beside him ricla and constance, who were come to visit auristella. he seized the opportunity of departing, not finding words wherewith to answer his mistress, so he retired to consider the advice she had given him.
sinforosa, meanwhile, was longing to hear the sentence that had been pronounced in the court of love, on the first hearing of her suit; and she would, doubtless, have been first to visit auristella instead of ricla and constance, but that she was prevented doing so, by receiving a message from the king her father, who required her immediate presence. she went to him, and found him alone. polycarp made her sit near him; and, after a few moments' silence, in a low voice (as if he feared being overheard) he said, "daughter, although thy tender youth has probably kept thee in ignorance of that passion which is called love; and although my maturer age might well preserve me from its jurisdiction, yet nature will sometimes deviate from its regular course, lighting up the flame of love in the bosom of a mere girl, and consuming with its blaze the dry heart of the old man."
when sinforosa heard her father speak thus, she never doubted but that he knew her wishes, nevertheless she was silent, not liking to interrupt him, until he should have spoken more clearly; in the meantime her heart was beating quickly. her father went on, saying, "after i lost your mother, o my daughter, i devoted myself to the study of your gratification and comfort. i have done in all things as you advised, and as you well know have hitherto preserved strictly and carefully the state of widowhood, as much for the sake of my own character as to keep the catholic faith which i profess; but since the arrival of these new guests in our city, all the former regularity of my mind has been disconcerted, and the steady course of my life has been disturbed; and, finally, i have fallen from the summit of my boasted discretion, to the very lowest abyss of i know not what desires, which i must die of, if i keep silence, and if i declare them i am disgraced. no longer will i keep you in suspense, daughter, no longer will i be silent. if you would hear further, know that i am dying for love of auristella; the rays of her bright beauty have penetrated even to the depths of my dried-up heart. i would wish, if it were possible, in giving to you and your sister a step-mother, that her great merits should excuse my so doing; if you agree with me, i care for nothing else that will be said; and as to that, if people think me mad, i will leave my kingdom, and reign only in the heart of my auristella. there would then be on earth no monarch who could be compared to me. now, daughter, it is my wish that you should tell her of this, and learn from her what is very important for me to know, (although i do not believe she will make many difficulties,) whether her prudence will esteem my station and authority enough counterpoise to my age, and whether my riches may be set against the difference of our years. it is a great thing to be a queen; it is a great thing to command. honours are enjoyable things; and amusement and pleasure are not only to be found in marriages where the ages are equal. in reward for this embassy that i employ you in, i am thinking of improving your own condition; if you are as wise as i think you are, you will scarcely desire anything better. look you, now, there are four things which a person of high rank requires; these are, a good wife, a good house, a good horse, and good armour. the two first are equally necessary for a woman, and even more so, for the wife does not raise her husband, but the husband does raise the wife; so, auristella, let her be who she may, being my wife will become a queen; and her brother, periander, being my brother-in-law, and i giving him to you as a husband, and honouring him with the title of my brother, you will be as great in being his wife, as in being my daughter."
"but," said sinforosa, "how do you know, sire, that periander is not already married, and even if he is not, that he wishes to marry me?"
"i think," said the king, "that one may presume he is unmarried, from his wandering life through foreign countries, a thing incompatible with domestic life. that he will love you, i feel assured, both from his well-known sense and prudence, which will point out the advantages of such an alliance; and since the beauty of his sister makes her a queen, it would not be wonderful that yours should make him wish to be your husband."
with these last words, and with this fair prospect, did the king delight sinforosa's fancy; thus gratifying all her desires; and she, without crossing those of her father, promised to undertake his negotiation of a marriage with auristella, and accepted the offer of the yet unnegotiated one with periander; only she said that it was best to be cautious in giving him to her as a husband; for even if the qualities of his mind equalled his valour, it would be as well not to be too hasty till the experience of a few more days should have confirmed their opinion; and yet at this moment, to obtain him for a husband, she would have given all she had or desired to have in the world; so in the case of illustrious ladies, the tongue says one thing while the heart feels another.
while this was passing between polycarp and his daughter, in another room a conversation was going on between rutilio and clodio. "look you, now, friend rutilio, what is this arnoldo doing here, following auristella like her shadow, and leaving his country to the care of his old father, who is nearly in his dotage—almost beside himself at one moment, overwhelmed at another, weeping here, sighing there, and bitterly complaining of the fate he himself has worked out? what are we to think of this auristella and her brother; a pair of vagabonds, concealing their birth, perhaps, to make it doubtful whether they may not be of an illustrious family; for he who quits his country, and goes where nobody knows him, may easily give himself any parentage he pleases, and even if he be sufficiently skilful may pretend to come from the sun or moon. i don't deny that they are both worthy of being admired and praised, but they may be this without prejudice to a third person. honour and praise are due to virtue, but not to deceit and hypocrisy. who can he be, this wrestler and fencer, this runner and leaper, this ganymede, this charmer, who is bought here and sold there, who acts as an argus to the delicate auristella, and will hardly let anybody look at her too near? no one knows who they are, or whence they came, or where they are going? but that which disturbs me most of all is, that, by the eleven heavens, which they say there are, i swear to you, rutilio, i cannot persuade myself they are brother and sister; even if they are, i cannot divine why they are journeying about by sea and land; they have nothing to spend but what comes out of the wallets and sacks full of golden ingots that belong to the barbarians, ricla and constance. it is true that the diamond cross and the two pearls, which auristella wears, are an immense treasure, and of great value, but they are not things to be changed or pledged by little and little. then to think that they always find kings to give them hospitality, and princes to make favourites of them, as if they were privileged ones! and then, rutilio, what are we to think of the fancies of transila and of the father, who imagines himself the first astrologer of the age? i would lay any wager that ladislaus would gladly be at home in his own country, in peace and quiet, instead of being forced to live upon the charity of others. and this our spanish barbarian, whose arrogance is so excessive, i would lay anything that if heaven should restore him to his own country he would be a fine boaster, going about showing his wife and children in their skin dresses, making plans and pictures of the barbarous isle, and pointing out with a rod the place where he was shut up for fourteen years; the dungeon of the captives; and telling the whole history of the ridiculous ideas and expectations of the barbarians, and the sudden conflagration of their island. he would just do like those who, when freed from turkish slavery, carry their chains on their backs, having got rid of them on their legs and relate the tale of their misfortunes with piteous voices and humble prayers for charity in christian lands. but this shows that although it appears as if they told us very improbable things, yet that the human race is subject ever to greater perils, and the histories that are related by exiles however marvellous, are yet credible."
"to what does all this lead, o clodio?" said rutilio.
"i was going on to show thee, o rutilio, that in these regions thou canst not well avail thyself of thy profession where the inhabitants neither dance nor enjoy any other pastimes save such as bacchus offers in his jocund cup and wanton drinks: it seems to me, that having by the blessing of heaven and the courtesy of arnoldo, escaped death i would neither thank one nor the other, till i had tried to amend my lot, although it should be at the price of displeasing the latter. friendship may endure between the poor, for equality of fortune helps to link hearts together. between the rich and the poor friendship can never last, there is too much difference between them."
"thou art a philosopher, clodio," said rutilio, "but i cannot imagine what means we can take to amend our lot, as thou sayest, supposing it to have been bad from our birth. i am not so learned as thou art, but i plainly see that those who are born of lowly parentage, if heaven does not sufficiently aid them, very seldom rise to any very notable situation, unless their own great virtue and merit assists them. now, how canst thou expect such assistance, if thine consists chiefly in speaking ill of thy fellow men? and what is to elevate me, when the utmost that i can do is to cut a caper? i am a dancer; thou art a backbiter. i, condemned to the gallows in my own country; thou, banished from thine for evil speaking. how can we expect to improve our condition?"
clodio was silent, and paused before he replied; with which pause the author ends this chapter of his history.
