of a singular adventure and peril which befell periander through the malice of a fair courtezan.
with good manners, great personal charms, and a richly adorned and splendid house, many defects will be overlooked, because a well-bred person does nothing that offends the eye, and rich ornaments and beauty of person are always pleasing to look upon, and every one likes a fine house.
now hippolyta possessed all these things. she was a courtezan, who might have vied in wealth with the flora of ancient days; and in courteous manners, with good breeding itself. it was impossible for those who knew her, not to love her in some degree, for her beauty enchanted them, her riches gave her power, and she made herself adored by the winning courtesy of her manners. when love meets three such charms as these, it melts even hearts of iron, opens the closest purse, and breaks through a determination, though it were made of marble, and still more, when to these three things you add deceitfulness, and a flattering tongue,—very convenient qualities for those who desire to win the admiration of all men by their charms. is there by chance a man of such sharp wits, that seeing one of these charmers, such as i have painted, setting aside her mere beauty, would not be tempted by her winning and gentle ways. beauty partly blinds and partly dazzles; with those it blinds, the senses are run away with; with those who are only dazzled, it is the mind that receives pleasure. none of these things were in periander's thoughts, as he entered hippolyta's house; but as love sometimes builds his structure on a careless foundation, he now fabricated one suddenly, not in periander's, but in hippolyta's heart; for in the bosoms of such as she, it does not require much time or trouble to light the flame.
hippolyta had already seen periander in the street, and his beauty, grace, and above all, the idea of his being a spaniard, had pleased her fancy. from a spaniard might be expected the most unheard-of liberality, and the most refined taste. she had made known her thoughts to zabulon, and desired that he would bring him to her house, which was always in such order and so adorned, as to look more like preparations for a wedding than the reception of pilgrims.
the lady hippolyta had a friend, called pyrrhus, a calabrian, a bully, of a hot temper and bad disposition, and whose living was gained by his sword, his dexterous fingers, and hippolyta's contrivances; for he often performed a job for her, without the help of any one. but what he gained most from was the nimbleness of his legs, which he prized more than his hands, and what he chiefly valued himself on was, that he could always keep hippolyta in fear of him, in whatever mood he might be, amorous or severe; for these tame doves are never without hawks to pursue them, nor birds of prey to tear them to pieces,—a miserable treatment for these poor foolish creatures!
i would tell you, then, that this gentleman (of whom it is enough to know the name) happened to be in hippolyta's house at the very time that the jew and periander entered it. hippolyta took him aside and said to him, "go, my friend, and take with thee this chain of gold which has been sent me by the pilgrim; it was brought me by zabulon this morning."
"look well what you are about, hippolyta," said pyrrhus, "for, as i conjecture, this pilgrim is a spaniard, and a chain of gold sent from his hand, worth at least a hundred crowns, without having even touched yours, seems much to me, and a thousand fears alarm me."
"do thou, o pyrrhus," said she, "take away the chain, and leave it to me to support the weight, and not to give it back in spite of thy spanish manners."
pyrrhus took the chain which hippolyta gave him, and which she had brought expressly for this purpose that morning, and stopping his mouth with it, she got him out of the house. then, free and disembarrassed from all restraint, she hastened to meet periander, and, with a sort of easy gracefulness, she threw her arms about his neck, saying, "truly glad shall i be to see whether spaniards are as brave as fame reports."
when periander saw this freedom of manner, he thought the whole house was upside down, and repulsing hippolyta with his hand, he put her away and said to her, "the dress i wear, o lady hippolyta, forbids all profanation, at least i can permit none of any sort, and pilgrims, even if they are spaniards, are not obliged to show their valour unnecessarily: but prove to me, lady, in what way i can show my courage without prejudice to either of us, and i will obey you without a word more."
"it seems to me, sir pilgrim," answered hippolyta, "that you are as valiant in mind as in body; but since you say you will obey my bidding, if it be not to the hurt of either of us, enter this room with me, for i wish to show you a gallery and dressing closet of mine;" to which periander replied, "spaniard though i be, yet i am very fearful, and more have i to fear from you alone, than from a whole regiment of enemies. let some one serve as a guide, and i will go with you where you please."
hippolyta called two of her maids and zabulon the jew, who were present, and ordered them to lead the way to the gallery and to throw open the saloon, which, as periander afterwards said, was the most splendidly adorned apartment any prince on earth could possess. parrhasius, polygnotus, apelles, zeuxis, and terriantes, some of the most perfect of their productions bought with the treasures of hippolyta, might there be seen, and there too were the works of the devout raphael de urbino, and those of the divine michael angelo, riches such as only great princes can and ought to show. royal buildings, superb palaces, magnificent temples, and exquisite paintings are fit and true signs of the rich and the great. they are, indeed, pledges, against which time hurries on and quickens his flight, as if they, his rivals, are showing in spite of him the magnificence of past ages.
o hippolyta! good only for this, if among all the pictures thou dost possess, there was but one of thy own good conduct, and that thou wouldst leave periander his, who amazed, confused and astonished, walked on, gazing at the abundance of sights which this gallery contained. from one end to the other was heard the music of many different sorts of birds, which, in splendid cages, filled the air with a mixed but pleasing melody. it seemed to verify whatever he had heard tell of the gardens of the hesperides, of the fairy falerina, of the famous hanging gardens, or of any of the other celebrated wonders ever known in the world, none of which came up to the decorations of this gallery and hall; but as he went about with a disturbed and amazed spirit, wearied with the sight of so much pleasure and luxury, and troubled to find everything so contrary to his taste; setting courtesy aside, he endeavoured to leave the apartment, and would have gone away if hippolyta had not prevented him, in such a manner that he was obliged to use some rather discourteous words. she laid hold of his pilgrim's gown, and the doublet being opened thereby, discovered the diamond cross, which until then had escaped so many perils, and dazzled the eyes as well as the mind of hippolyta. she, finding that he was determined to go, in spite of her gentle force, proceeded to show her intentions of detaining him still more plainly; but periander by no means approving this, made his escape, flying from the danger and leaving his gown in the hands of this new egyptian. he gained the street without hat, staff, belt or gown, for the best mode of coming off victor in such combats is flight. she immediately opened the window and began calling out loudly to the people in the street, crying, "seize that robber who, entering my house under a peaceful guise, has stolen from me a precious treasure worth a whole city."
there happened to be two of the pope's guards in the street, who thinking they had taken him in the very act, hearing the cry of "robbers," seized periander and tore the cross from his breast,—a treatment which justice uses with new offenders, although the crime may not be proved.
periander, on finding himself thus crossed,[t] spoke to the germans in their own language, and said, he was no thief but a person of consequence, and that the cross was his own; that they might see by its richness it could not be hippolyta's, and he asked to be taken before the governor; where he hoped shortly to prove the truth of the matter. he offered them money, and with that, and with having spoken in their own tongue, which will always gain the heart even of those who know you not, the germans paid no attention to hippolyta, and so carried periander before the governor.
on seeing this she left the window, and, almost ready to scratch her own eyes out, she said to her servants, "ah! what folly is this that i have done! i have vexed him i meant to honour; i have offended where i wished to serve. he is taken as a thief; he who has stolen my heart. what kind of caresses are these? what kindness? to attack his liberty, and to defame his honour." and then she told them how he had been carried off by two of the pope's guards, and ordered her coach to be got ready directly, that she might follow and exculpate him, for her heart could not bear to wound one who was the very apple of her eye; and she preferred appearing as one who had accused falsely, rather than be cruel, for there was no excuse for cruelty, though for the false accusation there might be pleaded the force of love, which so often causes a thousand follies, and offends even those it loves best.
when she arrived at the governor's house, she found him with the cross in his hands, examining periander on the matter, who, seeing hippolyta, said to the governor, "this lady who is just come in, has said that the cross now in your lordship's hands is hers, and was stolen from her by me: i will acknowledge this is the fact when she has declared of what the cross is made, what is its value, and how many diamonds compose it; for unless the angels or some spirit has revealed it to her, she cannot know, for she never saw it but in my bosom, and once only."
"what says the lady hippolyta to this?" said the governor, so covering the cross that she could not see it.
she answered, "i say that i am in love—blindly and madly in love—and the pilgrim is exculpated, and i await the sentence which my lord the governor thinks due for my crime." and she related the whole of what had passed between her and periander, which made the governor perfectly amazed, more at the boldness of her conduct than at her love, for such sudden passions are common with ladies of her class. he dismissed the case, and entreated periander's pardon; pronounced him at liberty, and restored his cross to him, without a line having been written about the case,—no small piece of good luck.
the governor wished to know who were the pilgrims that had offered the jewels in pledge for auristella's picture, and moreover, who she and he were; to which periander answered, "the portrait is that of my sister auristella; those two pilgrims could easily have offered far more costly jewels. this cross is mine, and when the proper time comes, and necessity forces me to do it, i shall say who i am, but at present neither i nor my sister wish to declare this. the picture which is now in your lordship's possession is mine. i bought it from the painter at a suitable price, without any of those extravagant outbiddings, which are founded more on rancour and fancy than on reason."
the governor said that he would gladly keep it himself, to add to the pictures in rome one more admirable than any she now possessed.
"i will give it to your lordship," said periander; "for it seems to me that it will be duly honoured by giving it such an owner." the governor thanked him, and that day he restored arnoldo and the duke to their liberty, and gave them back their jewels, he himself keeping the picture, for it was quite reasonable that it should belong to somebody.
