renato relates the history of the events that led him to the isle of the hermitages.
"when past sufferings are described in present prosperity, there is often greater pleasure in telling of them than there was pain in their endurance, but this cannot be said in my case, for i am not out of the trouble, but still in the depth of my sorrows.
"i was born in france, and i belong to a noble family, rich and worthy; i was brought up in the performance of all knightly exercises, and taught to regulate my thoughts by my condition; but nevertheless, i was bold enough to fix them upon the lady eusebia, a lady belonging to the queen's household, but it was only with my eyes that i ever gave her to understand that i adored her, and she, either from prudence or because she was not aware of it, never let me think, by word or look, that she understood me; and although disdain and indifference generally put an end to love, in its beginning for want of hope to sustain and feed it, in my case it had a contrary effect, for the silence of eusebia lent wings to my hopes, which bore me up to the very heavens to try and deserve her. however, the jealousy or undue curiosity of another gentleman, also a frenchman, named lisomir, not less favoured by fortune than by birth, discovered my secret feelings, and instead of viewing them with sympathy or pity, he felt nothing but envy and malice. it should have been quite otherwise, for there are two great griefs in love, which reduce one to the last extremity; one is, to love and not be beloved in return; the other, to love and be abhorred; neither absence nor jealousy can equal these. one day lisomir went to the king, though i had never given him any cause of offence, and told him that i and eusebia entertained a secret and illicit correspondence, offending against their majesties, and against my vow as a loyal and true knight.
"the king on hearing this was greatly disturbed; he sent for me and told me what lisomir had said; i declared my innocence, and to prove it, and clear the honour of eusebia, and also as the most suitable way in which to give my enemy the lie, i referred the proof to single combat. the king would not allow any spot of ground to be selected in his kingdom for our purpose, because it was forbidden by the catholic law, but he allowed us to take one of the free cities of germany as the scene of our encounter.
"the appointed day for the combat arrived; i appeared on the spot, with the weapons that had been determined upon, which were a sword and a shield. the judges and the seconds arranged the ceremonial according to the usual custom in such cases. the ground was measured, and they left us. knowing that i had the right on my side, i entered the lists, confident and in good heart; my adversary, i well know, met me more full of pride and arrogance than of a good conscience. but o ye inscrutable ways of providence; i did my utmost; i put my hope and trust in god, and in the innocence of my cause, i was neither overcome by fear, nor was my arm weak, nor were its motions irregular; yet how it was i know not; i suddenly found myself on the ground, with my enemy's sword threatening me with instant death. 'strike,' i exclaimed, 'o thou who hast conquered more by luck than valour, and let loose the soul that has so ill defended the body in which it dwells; but hope not that i am subdued, or that i shall confess a crime i have never committed. many are the sins for which i deserve punishment, but i will not add to them by bearing false witness against myself; better far, death with honour, than to live dishonoured.'
"'if thou dost not yield, renato,' answered my enemy, 'this sword shall pierce thy brain, and with thy blood i will make thee confess my truth and thy guilt.'
"but here the judges interfered, and supposing me dead, they declared my adversary conqueror. he was borne by his friends in triumph from the field, and i was left alone with my shame and my sorrow; more grief than wounds, and yet not grief enough, since it was insufficient to destroy the life my enemy's sword had spared.
"i was sought out and removed by my servants; i returned to my own country, not daring to raise my eyes from the earth, so heavy was the sense of my dishonour, and the weight of my infamy: in the looks of my friends i fancied i read their condemnation; the heavens themselves seemed obscured for me. hardly could two or three neighbours meet to chat together in the street, but i fancied their discourse must be about my disgrace; and at length i grew so oppressed with melancholy and my sad fancies, that to escape from, or at least alleviate their bitterness, i determined to quit my native land, and renouncing my inheritance in favour of a younger brother, to banish myself entirely from my native country and home. i went away in a vessel, with a few servants, and came to these northern parts, to seek some spot where the story of my shameful defeat should be unknown, and where my name might be buried in obscurity.
"by chance i found this little isle—its appearance pleased me; with the assistance of my servants i built this hermitage, and shut myself up in it; i then dismissed them, but desired that once in each year they would come and see me, in order to bury my remains. the love they bore me, and the gifts which i bestowed on them, made them willingly obey my requests, for i will not call them commands. they departed, and left me to my solitude, wherein i found such pleasant company in these trees, herbs, and flowers, clear streams, and babbling brooks, that i lamented i had not sooner escaped from my sorrows. o sweet solitude! friend of the unhappy! o silence, how welcome art thou, without fear of the voice of the flatterer, or the slanderer. how much could i not say, sirs, in favour of this holy solitude and wholesome silence; but i must stop myself to tell you, how in a year my servants returned, and brought with them my adored eusebia, whom you see in this sister hermit. she had heard from my servants of the retreat which i had found; and in recompense for my love, and compassion for my disgrace, she resolved to bear me company in my trouble, as we had both been innocent of all guilt, and had not been companions in crime: so embarking with them, she left her home and her country, her wealth and comforts, and what was more than all, she left her good name and honour to become the public talk, since by her flight she confirmed the report of our mutual fault.
"i received her as she had hoped i should, and the beauty and solitude of this place, instead of increasing those wishes and thoughts i had once indulged, had now a contrary effect. thanks to heaven, and to her purity and goodness, we consider ourselves as lawfully husband and wife, and in peace and love; like two living statues, have we dwelt here for ten years, during which time, not one has passed without a visit from my servants, bringing us the necessaries which in this desert place we require; and sometimes they are accompanied by a priest, who confesses us. we have in our hermitage everything proper for celebrating the holy offices; we sleep apart, take our meals together, and converse upon heavenly things, despise the world, and, trusting in god's mercy, we look forward with hope to life eternal."
here renato ended his discourse, and all his hearers expressed their pleasure and admiration at the incidents he had related, not because it seemed a new thing that heaven should send chastisements contrary to human expectations, since they knew that these are sent frequently for two causes;—to the wicked as punishment, and to improve and try the good, amongst whom they considered renato, and bestowed on him many kind and consolatory words, nor did they omit to do the same by eusebia.
"o life of solitude!" here exclaimed rutilio, (who had listened to the hermit's story with most profound attention,) "o solitary life; holy, free, and safe, are they who embrace thee, choose thee, and enjoy thee!"
"true, friend rutilio," said maurice, "but only in certain cases, for there is no great marvel if a humble shepherd retires into the solitude of the country; nor when a poor wretch, who is half starved in a town, takes refuge in a retreat where he knows he shall find sustenance. these ways of living are often only a means of fostering idleness and sloth, and it is no small idleness if a man leaves his troubles to be remedied by others. if i were to see a carthaginian hannibal leave the world to shut himself up in a hermitage, as we have seen a charles the fifth retire into a monastery, i should feel astonishment and admiration; but if a plebeian goes into obscurity, or a poor unknown being retires from society, i neither wonder nor admire. however, renato is not one of these, since it was neither poverty nor necessity that led him into these solitudes, but his own good feelings; here he finds in scarcity, abundance, and in solitude, society, and lives the more securely, having but little to lose."
"and," added periander, "if i was old instead of very young, so many perils and dangers have been my share, that i should look upon a peaceful hermitage as the extreme of felicity, and in the tomb of silence to bury my name; but i cannot relinquish the object for which i have hitherto lived, nor change the mode of life i was following at the time when the horse of king cratilius appeared, where my history left off last."
they heard him say this with great delight, for they perceived by his manner that periander was willing to return to his so oft begun and never ended story, which in fact he did, as follows.
