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Boccaccio’s Decam eron in 138 4
he so-called “Man n elli Codex” (Biblioteca Medicea Lauren zian a, m s. Plut. 42.1) is an im portan t early m an uscript of Boccaccio’s
Decam eron an d Corbaccio.1 The scribe, on e Fran cesco d’Am aretto
Man n elli, records his iden tity in a colophon an d dates his work to 138 4. The book is of large dim en sion s (m easurin g 392 x 28 5 m m ) in two colum n s, written in a fluen t m ercan tesca script; rubrics are in serted an d in itials are executed decoratively in red an d blue. Man n elli had access to a text of a very high quality: in deed, the greater part of critical atten tion to the m an uscript has con cen trated on philological an d textual questions. The text con tain ed in the m issin g quires in the on ly autograph of the Decam eron (Staatsbiblio-thek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, m s. Ham ilton 90 ) is supplied by the “Man-n elli Codex” i“Man-n the sta“Man-n dard m oder“Man-n editio“Man-n , while Padoa“Man-n ’s editio“Man-n of the
Corbaccio uses the m anuscript for its base text.2 No less rem arkable than
the quality of the texts copied in the m an uscript is the apparatus of n otes an d m argin alia added by Man n elli.3 While the glosses to the Decam eron
have been in the public dom ain for a con siderable tim e an d were recorded, for exam ple, by Vittore Bran ca in his stan dard and widely available Ein audi edition , they have suffered strikin g neglect in scholarsh ip on the early re-ception of Boccaccio’s work.4 Bran ca m ade reference to the glosses in his
1 See Cursi 20 0 7, 18 0 – 8 2 (n um ber 15), with previous bibliography. See also Cursi’s scheda
(n um ber 24) in De Robertis et al. 20 13, 140 – 42. Th e m an uscript m ay be con sulted on lin e in digital reproduction at:
<http:/ / teca.bm lon lin e.it/ Im ageViewer/ servlet/ Im ageViewer?idr=TECA0 0 0 0 624150 & keyworks=plut.42.0 1# page/ 0 / m ode/ 1up>.
2 On the Berlin autograph , see Cursi 20 0 7, 161– 64 (n u m ber 1); for a facsim ile, see
Boccac-cio 1975. The CorbacBoccac-cio is in BoccacBoccac-cio 1994, 5.2:413– 614.
3 On Man n elli’s glosses in th e m argin s of h is Corbaccio, see Clarke 20 10 . For a tran
scrip-tion of the Decam eron glosses, see Clarke 20 11, 165– 73.
4 See Boccaccio 1976 an d 1992. Am on gst the on ly critical work on the glosses is Carrai 20 0 2.
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 10 2 critical edition publish ed with the Accadem ia della Crusca, describin g Man-n elli as “quasi prim o com m eMan-ntatore del Decam eroMan-n.”5 The neglect suffered
by these glosses is not easy to explain fully when on e con siders, first, how uncom m on it is to fin d such con tem porary n otes in m argins of Decam eron m an uscripts, an d, secon d, how un usual an d revelatory som e of the glosses are in recordin g a near-con tem porary reader’s respon se to the text.6 In deed,
the m an uscript presen ts a rich m atrix of intersectin g con cern s: m aterial philology, authorship, textual criticism , reader reception . Doin g justice to the com plexity of it as Book/ Text, as testo-n el-tem po, requires not just the tradition al tools of textual philology, but also what has been term ed a “filo-logia del Lettore.”7
Though few biographical certain ties are available with regard to Fran -cesco d’Am aretto Man n elli, we do kn ow that he was from a bookish fam ily an d that his father was the author of a chron icle, written in the vernacular. He has also been associated with the copyin g an d com m ission in g of books in Floren ce in the secon d half of the fourteen th cen tury, m ost notably the illum in ated copy of Villan i’s Cron ica in Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica Vatican a, m s. Chig. L. VIII. 296.8 The fam ily was prom in en t in Florentin e
civic an d econ om ic life, in volved in trade an d com m erce. Man n elli, then, is a reader an d copyist who can be placed in a prosperous, m ercan tile, bookish m ilieu.
He seem s to have been particularly in terested in the work of Boccaccio. Not on ly does the “Man n elli Codex” also con tain the Corbaccio, but a catch -word on its fin al charta suggests that the Elegia di m adon n a Fiam m etta was in tended to follow: “suolle a’ m iseri crescere” (c. 191v). In addition ,
there is evidence that he copied, am on gst other vern acular works, the
Am eto an d the Am orosa v ision e.9 It is possible (though by n o m ean s
cer-tain ) that Man n elli knew Boccaccio person ally, sin ce several rem arkably fa-m iliar glosses directly en gage with the author in an ifa-m agin ed fa-m argin al dia-logue, som etim es n am in g him . If he did not kn ow Boccaccio person ally, he certain ly was aware of the form at authorized by Boccaccio in the Berlin
5 Boccaccio 1976b, lxxix.
6 On early readers of the Decam eron , see Dan iels 20 0 9.
7 On th is, see An ton elli 20 12; see also An ton elli 20 12b. For testo-n el-tem po, see Con tin i
198 6, 9– 12, 14– 15 (an d cited by An ton elli 20 12, 23– 24 an d n . 38 ). For an excellen t over-view, see An ton elli 198 5.
8 Cursi 20 0 2.
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 10 3 tograph, m s. Ham . 90 , an d it is sign ifican t that Man n elli should have care-fully replicated the autograph in term s of its size, its m ise en page an d bi-colum n ar ordin atio.
Man n elli could well be described with the term coin ed by Malcolm Parkes, as a “profession al reader.”10 In the Middle Ages such “profession al”
readin g was not a casual, passive activity. Man n elli’s en gagem en t with Boc-caccio in this m an uscript is not sim ply that of readin g the text; he is also producin g that text, copyin g it out. The dyn am ic between readin g an d copy-in g, copycopy-in g an d readcopy-in g, leads to a highly textualized, philological en gage-m ent with the Decagage-m eron. As Walter Benjagage-m in (higage-m self an inveterate copy-ist) said in a beautiful section entitled “Chin ese Curios” (Chin aw aren ) in
One-W ay Street (Ein bahn straße), written between 1923 an d 1926 but only
published in 1928 , “the power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out.”11 For him the difference was like flyin g over a lan dscape
an d lookin g down , rather than m akin g on e’s way through the terrain , con stan tly reactin g to its everchan gin g form s: “On ly the copied text th us com -m an ds the soul of hi-m who is occupied with it. 12 This sentim en t is echoed
by Michel Foucault who, in his “Afterword to The Tem ptation of St An-thon y” (a piece also kn own un der the title of “Phan tasia on a Library”), boldly asserted that “to copy is to do n othin g; it is to be the books being copied.”13 Naturally, such observation s m ust be tem pered with due con
sid-eration paid to the m aterial realities of the pre-m odern con text, but in the m argin s of the Man n elli codex it is clear that the act of copyin g an d readin g com prise a richly intim ate an d m utually in tense en gagem en t.
The copyin g an d readin g of Man n elli is decidedly critical in articulation . Often his glosses will sim ply be n otae; som etim es he will offer a correction to Boccaccio’s prose, or m ake other lin guistic or philological com m en ts on the text; som etim es he will place a crux in the m argin , in dicatin g a poin t of in terest. An abidin g con cern in his readin g is centred on gender, on the wom en in the Decam eron , their behaviour an d how to in terpret it.14 His
m argin al intervention s are often m arked with a highly em otion al
10 Parkes 1991, 275 (first published in Daiches an d Thorlby 1973).
11 “[D]ie Kraft ein es Textes eine andere, ob ein er ih n liest oder abschreibt” (Benjam in 1991,
4.1:90 ); Ben jam in 1996, 1:448 .
12 “So kom m an d iert allein d er abgesch rieben e Text d ie Seele dessen , der m it ihm
beschäf-tigt ist” ibid.
13 “[C]ar copier, c’est n e rien faire; c’est être les livres qu ’on copie” (Foucault 1994, 1:312);
Foucault 1997– 20 0 1, 2:121.
14 Fem in ism has been a rich vein in Boccaccio criticism : see Stillin ger an d Psaki 20 0 6,
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 10 4 m en t with the author, the text an d its ch aracters. This affectivity is som e-tim es expressed in wh at m ight be called “optative” term s; that is, wishin g that thin gs were differen t for a particular ch aracter. For exam ple, at Dec. 7.9.53, just as Pan filo describes the scen e where the credulous Pyrrhus is havin g a (healthy) tooth extracted by Lydia, Man n elli glosses it with: “hor t’avess’ella cavato l’ochio” (c. 117rA). The foolishn ess of Pyrrhus has struck
a chord with Man n elli, an d he an grily wish es that thin gs could have turn ed out worse for him . A sim ilar kin d of rem ark is found in th e m argin s of the fin al story of the Decam eron , that of Griselda an d Gualtieri. When Gualtieri asks Griselda if she will have him for a husban d, she m eekly assen ts: “Sign or m io, sì” (Dec. 10 .10 .21). At this very m om en t Man n elli’s em otions can n ot be con trolled an d he writes in the m argin s of c. 168vA: “De hora avess’ella decto
‘Io n on vo’ pazo per m arito.’”15 If only she’d said no, is Man n elli’s respon se.
He even provides Griselda with a kin d of altern ative script in the m argin s where her resistan ce is registered.
Man n elli also resists elsewhere in his engagem ent with the Decam eron. The pithy novella open in g Day 10 has Neifile describe how m esser Ruggieri de’ Figiovan n i entered the service of Kin g Alphon so of Spain but feels in suf-ficiently rewarded by the kin g for that service; after tim e away from the court, he is recalled, whereupon the kin g proceeds to explain that fortun e has bestowed rewards an d not the kin g. He takes him to a cham ber with two sealed chests, on e filled with earth, the other filled with the kin g’s riches, an d is asked to choose. Ruggieri chooses the chest full of earth an d learn s a hard lesson in fortun e. The kin g, however, in spite of fortun e, gives him the other chest in recogn ition of his virtues. The slightly sententious ton e of the tale, an d the n arrative role of fortun e in the choice of chest, leave Man n elli with an arched eyebrow. His gloss on c. 150rB, at §18 , reads: “O s’egli avesse
preso l’altro, che aresti tu decto, beccon e?” Th e grav itas of the kin g’s m oral m essage is hum orously un dercut by this reader, who won ders how the story would have gon e if Ruggieri had chosen the chest of riches.
The glosses in the m argin s of Man n elli’s book show him often in terested in style. For exam ple, Boccaccio h as the open in g of Pam pin ea’s story of Master Alberto of Bologn a (Dec. 1.10 ) echo the open ing of Filom en a’s story of Madon n a Oretta (Dec. 6.1). This h as been m uch discussed by critics, who n ote the them atic an d in terpretive strategies at work.16 Man n elli, too,
regis-ters the echo, but is som ewhat less sym pathetic: “n ota ch e questo m edesim o prolago usa l’autore di sopra nella decim a novella decta da Pam pin ea, il che pare vizioso m olto” (c. 97vA). In con trast to Man n elli’s un ease with style is
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 10 5 his ease an d fam iliarity with the structure of the Decam eron , referrin g to the story as “the ten th story told by Pam pin ea”; that is, by n um ber an d teller an d om ittin g reference to it being the first day. Pam pin ea has on ly on ce told a tenth story, sin ce in each of the followin g days Dion eo claim s the privilege of goin g last.
Several glosses en gage directly with Boccaccio person ally, creatin g an im agin ary dialogue between the glossator an d the author. This engagem ent is often in flected with gen der con cern s, which Man nelli is frequently quick to note. The story of the agin g scholar Rin ieri and the youn g and beautiful Elen a is told by Pam pin ea as the seven th of Day 8 . The scholar explain s to the wom an th at youth is often preferred by wom en when , in fact, age an d experien ce m ake for better lovers:
Voi v’an date in n am oran do et disiderate l’am or de’ giovan i, perciò ch e al-quanto co˙lle carni più vive et con le barbe più nere gli vedete et sopra sé an dare et carolare et giostrare: le quali cose tutte ebber coloro che più al-quan to attem pati son o et quel san n o che coloro àn n o ad im parare. Et oltre a ciò gli stim ate m iglior cavalieri et far d i più m iglia le lor giorn ate che gli uom in i più m aturi. (Dec. 8 .7.10 2, c. 129vB).17
The en tire passage is m arked in the m argin s by Man nelli, an d a gloss reads: “m esser Giovan n i m io tu predich i n el diserto, quan tun que a m e paia ch e dica il vero” (gloss to §10 2; c. 129vB, lower m argin). The voice of the scholar
Rin ieri is associated with that of Boccaccio, who is figured here as a St J ohn the Baptist, preachin g in the wildern ess to an un willin g or n on-existen t au-dien ce. The tale has figured in autobiographical readin gs of Boccaccio’s work, con n ected too with the Corbaccio in this respect.18 The ton e is on e of
exasperation , of two old m en shakin g their heads at the way they are no lon ger in the gam e. It is not only a Man n elli who sees the truth of Boccac-cio’s text, but it is also a recogn ition of the variousn ess of reception , an d of the wilfuln ess an d resistan ce of readers. Th is fam iliarity with Boccaccio is expressed in a gloss to Dec. 6.4.11, where Currado Gian figliazzi, h avin g been presented with din n er prepared by h is cook Chich ibio, n otices that it has on ly on e leg, the other havin g been eaten already by Chichibio. Told that cran es have on ly on e leg, he reacts an grily with: “Com e dyavol n on àn n o che un a coscia e un a gam ba? Non vid’io m ai più gru che questa?” The phrase “com e diavol […]” prom pts Man n elli to n ote in the m argin s of c. 99rB:
17 In the in terests of en gagin g with Man n elli’s read in g experien ce, citation s to the text of
the Decam eron are to that of his own m an uscript, rath er than the edited text of Bran ca. Pun ctuation , u/ v d istin ction an d accen ts are added for ease of readin g, but otherwise Man n elli’s text is represen ted.
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 10 6 “m odo usato di parlare, e dello autore.” If on e m ust be cautious in su ggest-in g that the two m en kn ew each other, this gloss im plies, at least, that he is fam iliar with how Boccaccio swore.
In a rather curious gloss in the m argin s of Dec. 6.7, Man n elli directly addresses Boccaccio as autore. When Boccaccio describes the illegal, adul-terous relation ship between Madon n a Filippa an d Lazzarin o de’ Guazza-gliotri bein g discovered by her husban d, they are described reciprocatin g each other’s affection s: “il quale ella quan to se m edesim a am ava” (Dec. 6.7.5).19 Man n elli here in tervenes with: “Messer Giovan n i m io, tu ài tagliato
lo scilinguagn olo” (c. 10 0vA). What prom pts this gloss an d how is it to be
in terpreted? The rare expression , which is u sed on ce by Boccaccio in Dec. 3.1.36 (rom per lo scilin guagn olo), m eans “to begin to speak,” “to speak m uch an d fran kly,” perhaps also “to decide to speak after a silen ce,” in the sense of gettin g over on e’s tim idity to do so.20 Perhaps Man n elli is com
-m entin g on the expression used to describe their -m utual love, which often recurs in the Decam eron.21 In Dec. 3.1.36, the expression is used wh en
Ma-setto speaks up an d fin ally con fron ts the abbess, explain in g that he can no lon ger keep up with their sexual dem an ds. Masetto, the m an who has noth-in g m ore to give, is, noth-in a sense, an swered by Madon n a Filippa, who has plenty m ore to give. It is a feature of the lexicon of Man n elli’s glosses that it is drawn from the Decam eron itself. That is, we see the book develop Man-n elli’s critical eMan-n gagem eMan-nt aMan-n d the words he uses to iMan-n teract with the stories an d their ch aracters.
If Boccaccio is addressed directly here, at the en d of the story it is with Madon n a Filippa that Mann elli en ters in to dialogue. In an extraordin ary m om en t of self-possession , Madon n a Filippa blun tly asks the judge what she is to do with the sexual appetite left over after her husban d has been satisfied, “lasciarlo perdere o guastare?” Man n elli directly addresses her:
19 Bran ca (1992, 746 n . 2), a d loc., n otes that in the Decam eron these are n ot espression i
peregrin e, citin g Dec. 4.6.22n , which in turn refers to the expression as “quasi un a for-m ula,” poin tin g to exafor-m ples in Dec. 2.7.8 3; 2.10 .30 ; 3.3.10 ; 3.6.41; 3.7.47; 3.9.26; 4.2.41; an d an alogous to that used in 2.8 .52.
20 For defin ition s see Battaglia 1996, 18 :37, s.v . scilin guagn olo: “in com in ciare o decidersi a
parlare dopo un silen zio per lo più alquan to lun go e aven do superato ogn i tim idezza, rem ora o im barazzo,” citin g Dec. 3.1.36; see also Cortelazzo an d Zolli 1999, 1474, s.v . scilin guagn olo. The word is recorded in the first edition of the Vocabolario degli Acca-dem ici della Crusca (1612), an d its defin ition is am plified in each subsequ en t edition . See the website <www.lessicografia.it> for an electron ic in terface perm ittin g a com parative con sultation .
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 10 7 “Mon n a Filippa, tu ài ragion e, che tristo faccia Dio che vi puose la vergogna, però ch e il dan n o è m olto piccolo” (c. 10 1rA). The question of ton e im m
edi-ately presents itself. Is Man n elli lacin g this supportive gloss with iron y, or is he supportin g her sexual freedom , cursin g whoever has m ade her feel guilty an d assertin g that the dan no is really on ly very little? If it is iron ic, it is n ot en tirely clear how the iron y is in ten ded to steer an im agin ed reader in the right direction . If we read this “straight,” then the text is havin g precisely the effect on this reader (Man n elli) that Boccaccio an d the cen sors feared, in citin g attitudes that do not accord with the m orally acceptable.22 Monn a
Filippa, in other words, has m an aged to con vin ce n ot on ly the assem bled crowd an d the podestà, but also Fran cesco d’Am aretto Man n elli, who is m akin g h is way through her story, carefully recordin g her words as if he were a n otary present at her trial.
In the glosses, Man n elli en visages a diverse readership, in cludin g wom en . On a n um ber of occasion s, he addresses fem ale readers, in partic-ular those who are pron e to vices such as gossipin g. For exam ple, in the space of two chartae con tainin g the story of Master Alberto of Bologn a (Dec. 1.10 ; the fam ous m edic who falls in love with a younger wom an ), Man n elli glosses in the in n er m argin , at §3: “Nota tutto il Prolago di questa n ovella qualun que sè don n a lisciatrice o ciarlatrice” (c. 17vB); shortly afterwards, in
the left-han d m argin , to §6, he writes: “n ota tu fem in a ciarlatrice” (c. 18rA).23 A sim ple gloss to §12, “n ota,” in the right m argin , draws atten tion
to the statem en t that the wom en in the tale “quasi credessero questa pas-sion e piacevolissim a d’am ore solam ente nelle scioch e an im e de’ giovan i et n on in altra parte capere et dim orare.” In a n ote to Dec. 4.8 .20 , durin g a n octurn al en coun ter between Salvestra, her form er lover Girolam o, an d her sleepin g husban d, Salvestra urges Girolam o to leave so as n ot to be discov-ered by her husban d, thus destroyin g the happy life she shares with him :
Per che io ti priegho per solo Idio che tu te n e vada, ché se m io m arito ti sen tisse, pogn iam o che altro m ale n on n e segu isse, sí n e seguirebbe che m ai in pace n é in riposo collui viver potrei, dove hora am ata da∙llui in ben e et in tran quillità con lu i m i dim oro (Dec. 4.8 .20 )
Man n elli, clearly approvin g of Salvestra’s chaste reaction to the sudden ap-pearan ce of her old flam e, glosses this with: “n ota ben e don n a che leggi” (c.
22 On this, see the letter sen t by Boccaccio to Main ardo Cavalcan ti about the wom en in his
household readin g Boccaccio’s work (Epistle 22): Boccaccio 1992b, 70 0 – 11. On th is let-ter, see Clarke 20 11, 10 5– 0 7; Dan iels 20 11.
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 10 8 76vA). He seem s to be to be pre-em ptin g a fem ale reader, drawin g her
at-tention to a m om ent of m oral virtue. There is a stron g sense here th at Man-n elli is eMan-nvisagiMan-n g real fem ale readers.
A fascin atin g glim pse of how Man n elli sees wom en being authorized to read the book is found in a gloss to the story of Zin evra and Bern abò of Gen oa. The story open s with Bernabò an d Am brogiuolo discussin g wom en . Bern abò has just expounded upon the virtues of his wife; Am brogiuolo ex-plain s that if m en take every opportunity possible to be unfaithful, then how can on e expect wom en , who are weaker than m en, to behave m ore virtu-ously. Bern abò con cedes that foolish wom en m ay behave in such a m an n er, but “queste che savie son o àn n o tan ta sollecitudin e dello hon or loro, che elle diven tan forti più che gl’uom in i, che di ciò non si curan o, ad guardarlo” (Dec. 2.9.18 ).24 Man n elli’s respon se to this passage betrays a recogn ition
that Bern abò’s staun ch defen ce of wom en, an d of his own wife in particular, will appeal to potential fem ale readers. He glosses th e passage: “n ota ben e e m eglio questo decto, il quale ha forza di far con cedere alle don n e di leggere questo libro” (c. 39rA). That is, Man n elli sees Bern abò’s philogyn ous cham
-pion in g of virtuous wom en, especially his assertion that in respect of hon our they are superior to m en , as an authorially licen sed poin t of en try for fem ale readers. The story of Zin evra an d Bern abò as text, il detto, exerts a power,
ha forza, an d alm ost acts as a password for fem ale possession and use of the
book by bypassin g m asculin e con trol an d m ediation .25
Man n elli’s engagem ent with the story of Rin ieri an d Elena (Dec. 8 .7) has been n oted above for the gloss figuring Boccaccio as a St J ohn the Baptist preach in g in the wildern ess. But this engagem ent exten ds to several other glosses on the tale: two of these are especially n oteworthy because they are am on gst the relatively few Latin source glosses in the m argin s of the
Decam eron .26 The first appears to Dec. 8 .7.67, where Rin ieri, while secretly
watchin g the beautiful Elen a as sh e strips naked and prepares to clim b the tower an d begin her n ecrom an tic in can tation s, fin ds him self in a state of sexual excitem ent: “et d’altra parte lo stim olo della carn e l’assalì subita-m ente et fece tale in piè levare che si giaceva.” Man n elli sees here an allusion to the secon d book of Apuleius’ M etam orphoses, where Lucius sees Photis in the kitchen an d, un expectedly, “steterunt et m em bra que iaceban t an te”
24 Berlin , Staatsbiblioth ek Preussicher Kulturbesitz, m s. H am ilton 90 reads “quelle che
sa-vie son o” (c. 28vA); Man n elli copies “quelle ch e savie son o” in Am brogiuolo’s respon se, Dec. 2.9.19 (thus, too, in m s. H am ilton 90 , c. 28vA– B).
25 For som e com m en ts on wom en bein g granted a m ediated access to the Decam eron , see
Cursi 20 0 7, 44, 140 . On th e story, see also Clarke 20 12, 354– 59.
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 10 9 (c. 128vA, left m argin ). The placem en t of a Latin auctoritas in the m argin s
of Rin ieri’s behaviour is itself a fascin atin g im pulse, but its effect on the reader is m ultiple. If on the on e han d it bolsters Rin ieri, filterin g that be-haviour through a classical source, it also highlights the stark differences between Rin ieri an d Lucius: Lucius does n ot m iss the sexual opportun ity, while Rin ieri’s voyeurism em erges in high relief, not to m ention his ability to resist these desires in the service of vengean ce.
The secon d Latin gloss to this tale appears durin g a lon g diatribe by Ri-n ieri agaiRi-n st EleRi-na. Th e scholar ch alleRi-n ges what he says is her presum ptu-ous self-regard an d opin ion of her own beauty: “Et da che dyavol, togl[i]en do via cotesto tuo pochetto di viso, il quale pochi an n i guasteran n o riem pien dolo di crespe, sè tu piú che qualun que altra dolorosetta fan te?” (Dec. 8 .7.8 9). Man n elli sees here a (perhaps rather subtle) referen ce to Ovid’s Ars am atoria 3.73, which reads: “quam cito, m e m iserum , laxan tur corpora rugis” ‘How quickly, alas!, is the body furrowed by wrin kles.’ The n arrator of this lin e is sym pathetically en couraging youn g wom en to realize how quickly tim e passes, brin gin g old age an d physical declin e with it.27
Whatever on e m ay argue happen s to the scholar’s m isogyn ist abuse in light of this reference, on e aspect of Man n elli’s gloss rem ain s to be explored. In the m an uscript, on c. 129rB, Man n elli’s m argin al gloss reads: “quam cito m e
m iseram lassan tur corpora rugis.” That is, the exclam atory accusative “m e m iserum ” uttered by the m asculin e narrator of the Ars am atoria is ren-dered fem in in e in the gloss’s “m e m iseram .”28 On e approach to this varian t
is to treat it as a ban al slip, a m ere lapsus calam i of the kin d copyists so often com m it; it is an error in n eed of correction an d has no further m ean-in g. However, everythean-in g about the con text an d the kean-in d of em otion al ean- in-volvem ent of Man n elli in the m argin s of his m an uscript lead on e to won der if, rather than an error, this could be described as a slip with at least som e-thin g of the Freudian about it.29 If the voice is to be identified with Elena
(rather than a fem in ized Rin ieri), a voice th at thus echoes its agreem ent with Rin ieri, Man n elli con siderably lessen s the force of the scholar’s words. This is an Elena who is readin g the sam e book, who is as ethically en gaged in its con tents, an d wh o, in the en d, kn ows how to cite them when n eeded.30
27 See Ovid 20 0 3, 116.
28 On “m e m iseru m ,” see previous n ote, and also H in ds 1998 , 29– 34; Kn ox 198 6, 56: “Th is
colloquialism becom es a favorite device in Ovid.” For “m e m iseram ” in Ovid, see Am ores, 1.8 .26 an d 2.18 .8 ; H eroides 5.149, 7.98 , 15.20 4, 17.18 2, 19.65, 19.121 an d 19.18 7; Fasti, 3.48 6 an d 4.456; an d M eta m orphoses 8 .138 , 8 .50 9, 9.474 an d 10 .334.
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 110 Halfway through the journ ey of the Decam eron is told the story of Pietro di Vin ciolo, whose sexual disin terest in his wife (an d wom en in general) leads her, after con sultin g an old wom an and carefully con siderin g th e prob-lem , to take a lover. A din n er with Pietro’s friend Ercolan o is interrupted when the hidden lover of Ercolan o’s wife is discovered, an d h e return s hom e early, forcin g his own wife, who had been takin g advan tage of his absen ce, to quickly hide her own lover. She reacts with vehem ence when told of the escapades of Ercolan o’s wife, com plain in g of the bad behaviour of wom en an d wives, an d suggestin g they should be burn ed at the stake. At this m o-m ent, a don key steps on the protrudin g fin gers of the hidin g lover, an d his subsequen t cry of pain reveals his presence to Pietro. The story is resolved when Pietro’s wife, seein g that her husban d is rather taken with the beauti-ful young m an , devises that they en d up sleepin g together, so that the fol-lowin g m orn in g the youn g m an is left un certain as to what, precisely, he got up to the previous n ight.
The story has attracted a certain am ount of critical atten tion for its rep-resentation of disruptive desire an d un con ven tion al (hom o)sexual behav-iour.31 The Berlin autograph is even furn ished with a catchword in which
Boccaccio is respon sible for a portrait bust of Pietro.32 The tale’s resolution ,
where all three figures are h appy with the way thin gs turn out, is as surpris-in g for the reader as it is effective for Pietro an d his wife. On e m ight expect the tale to elicit certain kin ds of respon ses in a con tem porary Florentin e reader. For exam ple, the subject of hom osexuality, at least, m ight be seen as a likely topic for com m en t. This turn s out not, in fact, to be the case. Man -n elli m akes three com m e-nts i-n the m argi-n s of Dec. 5.10 , a-n d they are a po-tent rem in der that n othin g can readily be taken for gran ted when recon-structin g “the m edieval reader.”
Dion eo asserts that though som e of the story is “m eno ch e hon esta,” it n evertheless “dilecto può porgere,” sin ce h e tells the story to those inn am
o-rate giov ani “ad niun o altro fin e […] se non ad dovervi torre m alin con ia, et
riso et allegreza porgervi” (Dec. 5.10 .4). Those who are listen in g, Dion eo says, “cogl[i]ete le rose et lasciate le spin e stare” (§5). Taking a cue from this, Man n elli respon ds by assertin g in the upper m argin of c. 94vB: “Questo
m odo si vuole usare per tutto questo libro, pigliandon e il ben e et lascian do il m ale.” Th at is, takin g that which is good, leavin g that which is bad, is the
31 See Ferguson 20 0 8 , 55– 77, for a very good discussion an d bibliography; see also Con
o-scen ti 20 0 8 .
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 111 way in which the book should be used. The reader is placed in an ethically charged position of ch oosin g how to use the m aterial, an d the effect is to diffuse an y poten tial blam e directed at the author. It echoes Boccaccio’s own in dication in the Proem io that he has endeavoured to em power readers with in form ative rubrics so that they “potran n o cogn oscere quello che sia da fug-gire et ch e sia sim ilm en te da seguitare” (Dec. proem .14).
When Pietro’s wife, unhappy with his lack of sexual atten tion, con sults an old wom an on h er option s, the old wom an assures h er there is no greater pain than to realize that tim e has been wasted an d opportun ities lost. She tells the youn ger wom an that she speaks from personal experien ce: “et bene che io n ol perdessi tutto, ché n on vorrei che tu credessi che io fossi stata un a m ilensa, io pur n on feci ciò che io avrei potuto fare” (Dec. 5.10 .17). So, while she did n ot m iss every opportunity that presented itself, she could in deed have taken m ore lovers an d she regrets not havin g don e so. The advice is fran k, an d exactly what Pietro’s wife n eeded to hear. Man n elli glosses the old wom an ’s assertion that not every opportun ity passed her by with: “ben facesti et io ti credo” (c. 95rA). Even adm ittin g of som e hum our or iron y,
this is a rem arkable m om en t of readerly assen t in support of the old wom an. The m om en t of clim ax in the tale is the sudden discovery that Pietro’s wife is hidin g a lover. She defends herself vigorously from opprobrium an d, seekin g to set the record straight (“farei un poco ragion e”), m akes her case. She is well provided for by Pietro, but she says that she would gladly go about in rags if it m ean t sharin g a sex life with him : “et io vorrei in n an zi an dar con gli stracci in dosso et scalza et esser ben tractata da te n el lecto, che aver tutte queste cose tractan dom i com e tu m i tracti” (Dec. 5.10 .57). It is a powerful statem ent an d it reson ates with Man n elli. He glosses this pas-sage thus: “elle son frasche: brievem ente il m al furo n on vuol festa, et debesi fare alle m ogli buon a giacitura rim ettendo spesso il diavolo in in fern o” (c. 96rB). The sense is that wives should not be deprived of con jugal relation s,
but Man n elli expresses him self in a lively m an n er with reference to two other stories in th e Decam eron. The first part of the gloss repeats a prover-bial sayin g that occurs in Dec. 2.10 .42, where Messer Riccardo explain s that his wife does not wan t him back (preferrin g her lover Pagan in o da Mon aco) with “Il m al furo n on vuol festa.” In deed, the word furo for foro m ay have been an intention al caricature of the Pisan pron un ciation , an d Mann elli, perhaps not fully recogn izin g the lin guistic play, places a gloss in th e m ar-gin s here statin g: “credo che voglia dire foro” (c. 42vB, in n er m argin ). The
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 112 The severely ascetic an d the exuberan tly sexual clash spectacularly in the n ovella, an d the scan dalous use of a religious lan guage to describe sex adds to the frisson of Dion eo’s risqué storytellin g.33 In talkin g about sex,
Man-n elli derives his lexicoMan-n from the Decam eroMan-n itself. IMan-n other words, the book teaches him how to talk about sex an d furn ishes him with a way of readin g the tales.
The m argin s of Fran cesco d’Am aretto Man n elli’s copy of the Decam eron offer scholars a rich resource for thin kin g about how Boccaccio’s Floren tin e contem poraries read th e hun dred tales. Man n elli’s respon ses are highly var-iegated, stratified alon g (am on gst others) linguistic, philological, literary, an d ethical lin es. H e reads texts side by side, recogn izes sources, an d m akes cross-references between stories an d between texts in the m an uscript. But those ch aracters that populate his book are m uch m ore th an fiction s built upon previous texts. With con siderable energy, he em otion ally engages with them , en ters into a dialogue. For him the Decam eron was a vibran t an d liv-in g text dem an dliv-in g im pegno, drawliv-in g upon all of his resources, liv-intellectual an d em otion al. As such, he join s the ran ks of m an y who have foun d in the
Cen ton ov elle a book of stories celebratin g la “suprem a arte […] del saper
vivere.”34
K. P. CLARKE UNIVERSITY OF YORK
33 On Dion eo in the Decam eron see Grim aldi 198 7.
34 Getto 1972, 33. For support towards this research, m y gratitude is warm ly extend ed to
http:/ / w w w .heliotropia.org/ 14/ clarke.pdf 113
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