Tragicall Tales translated by Tvrbervile :: :: University of Virginia Library

Symona likt of Pasquine passing well,
And he did frie as fast with egal flame,
In sorte, as on a time these louers fell
To make a match, of purpose for the same:
With one consent where time and place was set,
This louing couple in a garden met.

There ech to other vttered their deuise,
To salue the sores that fancy fixt in brest,
They kist, they colld, thus neither part was nice,
To take the time of both vvas compted best:
Amid their glee, tvvas Pasquines hap to spie
A bed of sage, that there vvas grovving by.

Whereof he pluckt a leafe to rubbe his iawes,
And presently fell dead vpon the deede:
The vvēch exclamde, whose soden crie did cause
The neighbours by to come avvay vvith speede:
The man vvas founde there senselesse as he lay,
And she (poore vvench) as captiue borne avvay.

The Crovvner sate, the iurie vvas in place,
The vvitesse came for triall of the truth,
The Iudge vvas there: vvho hearing all the case,
And hauing of the silly mayden ruth,
For pitie pausde, and to the garden vvent,
To learne the troth, and scan of her intent.

122

Symona straight vnto the border ranne,
Where grew the Sage, & pluckt a leafe or twaine,
And therewithall to frote her gummes began,
As one that would bene quit of murther faine:
Lo thus (quoth she) my Lord, did he before,
And thus was all, I sawe him doe no more.

And with the word before the Iudge his face,
The giltlesse maide fell groueling on the ground
And there she died before them all in place,
And then the cause of both their banes was found
The tale ensues, which more at large doth tell,
Both of their loues, and how their deathes befell.

[122]

The fame of Florence is so great,
That simple men do knowe
The brute thereof by true report:
Where dwelt not long agoe,

A virgin fresh and fayre to viewe,
A iolly lusty dame,
As any was in all the towne,
Symona was her name.

Whose beautie though were very braue
And kende had done as much
For her, as she mought well request,
Yet fortune seemde to grutche

And malice at her featurd shape:
For as the same did passe,
Euen so her father of the meane,
And basest order was.

A man not hauing welth at will,
The stately mistresse chaunce,
Would not voutchsafe from lowe estate
This miser to aduaunce.

And hereupon the fathers want,
With whom it went so harde,
Of force constrainde the mayde to get
Her liuing by the carde

And wheele, and other like deuice,
As selly maydens vse,
With handy worke shee wonne her bread,
She could none other chuse,

123

Who though to earne her meat & drink
In spinning spent the day:
Yet in this beggers brest of hers,
A Lordlike hart there lay,

That burst adventure to assay
The force of Cupides flame:
For by the iestures and the talke
Of one that daily came

Unto the house where she abode,
A passing pleasant lad,
One of her owne estate, for wealth,
That of his mistresse had

Both wool and yarne to spin and twist:
The wench Symona fell
In fancy with this merry Greeke,
And lykt the weauer well.

The virgin by his sweete regardes
Was entred very farre,
And masht within the net of loue:
But yet she did not dare

To further on that first attempt,
She fryde with secret fyre,
Of Pasquine (thus the youth was tearmd)
Whom she did so desire.

But euer as she twisted had
A threed vpon the wheele,
A thousand scalding sighes she fette:
The silly wench did feele

[123]

Them whotter farre than any flame
Thus issuing from her brest:
And euer as she went about,
She thought vpon the guest

That brought the wool, to haue it wrought,
The spinning bredde the spight,
The threedes did make her minde the man,
When he was out of sight.

And shall we deeme the weauer, whom
The mayden loude so well,
Quite voyde of wanton humors — no:
For he to liking fell,

And likewise eake as carefull woxe
As was the louing trull,
To see that thee did well dispatch
And spinne his mistresse wooll.

(As though the making of the cloth
All wholly did depend
And only of Symonas threed)
Which made him not to sende,

But often come him selfe, to see
How she her wheele applyde:
He neuer vsde to goe so ofte
To any place beside.

And thus the one, by making meanes,
The other by desire
She had to be thus sude vntoo,
It hapt, he felt a fyre

124

Unwonted, flaming in his brest:
And she had shifted feare
And shame aside, which still before
Her chiefest iewels were.

And hereupon they ioyntly fell
Each other well to leeke,
Both parties did so well agree,
Small neede it was to seeke

Which of them both should first assayle,
Each fancyde other so,
As by each others face, each friend,
Each others heart did know.

And thus from day to day it grewe,
And still enkindled more,
The flaming loue which she to him,
And he Symona bore.

Untill at length this Pasquine prayde
The mayden earnestly,
To worke such way and meanes to come
Unto a garden by,

Where he would tarrie her in place
Untill such time she came,
For that the garden was a plotte
Conuenient for the same,

And meerely voyde of all suspect:
There might they talke their fill.
Symona, like a gentle wench,
Did graunt him her good will.

[124]

One holyday at after noone,
Her father to deceiue,
Symona came with solemne sute,
Requesting him of leaue

To goe vnto saint Gallus Church,
To fetch a pardon there.
The selly aged syre agreed,
Whose eye the mayd did bleare:

For hereupon, another wench
Lagina cald, and she
Unto the garden went, where they
Had poynted him to bee.

But Pasquiue ere they came, was there,
And brought with him a mate,
Cald Stramba (Puccio was his name:)
This Stramba he should prate

And with Lagina chatte of loue,
The matche was pointed thus:
And whilst these two grosse louers did
Their matters so diseisse,

Unto the farther end of all
The garden, Pasquine went,
And with Symona there conferde
As touching his entent.

Heare leaue I (Ladies) both the talke
Which Stramba did deuise
Unto his late acquainted lasse,
Presume his tale was wise,

125

For as Cupido whets the tongue
So doth he sharp the braine
Of those that loue, and earnest are
Their Ladies to attaine.

And though perhaps this fellow wer
Not come of gentle kinde,
Yet being matcht with on he likt,
Perhaps coulde tell his minde.

For fansie makes the foolish wise,
And compasse in his hed,
By what deuice he may atchieue
His liked Ladies bed.

To Pasquine turne we now againe,
Who (as I said) of late
Was stept aside, of purpose with
His minion to debate.

There was, where he did sit, by chance
Conferring of the case,
A goodly bordered bed of sage,
Euen full beside the place,

Where as this louing couple coapt
In secret sport and play:
Who hauing long with merrie talke
Consumde the time away,

And made appointment eke to meete
Another day againe,
To banquet with Symona there
To feele a farther vaine.

[125]

This Pasquine to the sage resorts,
Whereof a leafe he strips
To rub his teeth and gummes withall,
Hee put it twixt his lips,

And so began to touch his teeth,
And therewithall did say
That Sage was very good to freat
The filthie flesh away

That stucke betwixt his hollow teeth.
Within a while that he
Had practisde thus vpon his gummes,
His countnance gan to be

Quite altred from the former forme,
And after that a space
That thus his visage swolne was
Unto an vglie face,

He lost the vse of both his eyes,
And of his speech beside:
And so at length in sodaine sort
This louing weauer dide.

Which when Symona had beheld,
She watred straight her eyes,
And (out alasse) to Stramba, and
Lagina lowde she cries.

The louers left the deep discourse,
And to the place they runne,
Where as so late this chaunce befell,
And deadly deed was done.

126

Ariuing there, and finding dead
The weauer in the grasse,
And more than this, perceiuing how
His body swollen was:

And seeing all his face bespangde
With spots as black as cole,
And that in all the body was
Not any member whole:

Then Stramba cried out aloude,
Oh vile vnthriftie wench,
what hast thou done? why hast thou giuen
Thy friend a poysoned drench?

What meanst thou by this deed of thine?
Which words were spoke so hie,
That all the neighbours heard the same
That were the dwellers by.

And in they pressed all in hast,
Into the garden, where
The showte was made, and being come
They found the body there

Both void of life, and fouly swolne,
An vgly sight to see.
And finding Stramba shedding teares,
And blaming her to be

The only cause of Pasquines death:
The wench vnable eke
For verie griefs of heart, a worde
In her defence to speake:

[126]

Though shee in deed were not the cause
Yet they that came to view
Did apprehend the girle, and thought
That Strambas wordes were true.

When thus the wench arested was,
Shee wrong, and wept a pace:
And so from thence, was brought before
The common Iudge his face,

Unto the pallace where hee dwelt.
The maidens accusers were
Exceeding earnest in the case,
Both Stramba that was there

With Pasquine as his faithfull friend,
And other moe beside,
That came into the garden, when
The faithfull virgin cride.

And hereupon the Iustice fell
To question of the fact,
Debating with the witnesses,
Who hauing throughlie rackt

The matter, and not finding her
As giltie of the deede,
Nor any proofe of malice that
Might from the maide proceede,

As touching murther of the man:
Hee thought it good to stay
His iudgement, and himselfe to goe
Where dead the carkasse lay,

127

To view the partie, and the place,
To beate the matter out:
For all the other euidence
Might not remoue the doubt

Within his head the Iudge conceivde
In this so strange a case.
The men that knew the garden, brought
The Iustice to the place

Where Pasquines carkasse puffed lay,
And strouting in such wise,
As made the Iudge himselfe amazde,
Hee could not well deuise

How such a mischiefe might bee done.
Which made him aske the maide
Symona, how the murther hapt.
To whom the virgin said,

Renowmed Iustice, after talke
Betwixt this man and me,
Hee stept aside vnto the bed
Of Sage that here you see:

And with a leafe thereof he rubd
His gummes: as I do nowe,
(And therewithall shee tooke a leafe
To shew the Iustice how

Her friend had done and this (quoth she)
He did, and died than.
Whereat this Stramba, and the rest
That records were, began

[127]

To scorne and laugh in presence of
The Iudge, and earnestly
Made sute that fire might bee fet,
Wherein the wench to trie,

To feele the penance of her fact,
Which like a wicked wretch
She had deuisde: shee earned death
That would her friend dispatch.

The virgin wofull for the death
Of him that latelie died,
And fearefull at the earnest sute
Which Stramba made beside:

Thus hauing rubd her tender iawes
With Sage before them all,
Without suspect of such mishap,
Bereft of life, dis fall

Unto the ground, where Pasquine lay,
And in like sort did swell,
From louely lookes, to loathsome limmes
A monstrous chaunce to tell.

And thus to shew the meane, how earst
Her louer lost his breath,
This sillie giltlesse wench her selfe
Euen there did die the death.

O happy soules, whose hap it was
In one selfe day to laue
So faithfully, and in selfe day
The pangs of death to proue.

128

And happier had you both ybin
If you had had the grace,
Some other where to spent the time,
And not within that place.

But farre more blessed are yee nowe,
If in this death of yours,
You loue ech other as in life
Your likings did endure.

But (thou Symona) happiest art,
For ending so thy dayes:
If we that liue may iudge aright,
And yeeld the dead their praise.

Whose innocent and giltlesse ghost
Dame Fortune did denie
By Strambas false surmised proofs
Without iust cause to die.

I count thee treble blest of God,
For Fortune found (I say)
A meane for thee by selfe same death,
That rid thy friende away.

To set thee free from misreports,
And slaunder that did growe,
And gaue thee leaue by losse of life,
Unto thy loue to goe.

The Iudge that saw this sodain chance
And all others eke
That present were, amazed stood,
And wist not what to speake

[128]

Or to coniecture in the cace,
The wisest tongues were domme.
At last, the Iudge as soone as hee
Was to his senses comme,

Thus said: by this it doth appeare
The Sage that here you see,
Infected is, and venim strong:
Though Sage by nature be

A very soueraigne holesome hearbe,
The proofe hath made it plaine.
But for because we will be sure
It shall not hurt againe,

Do delue it vp, and burne it here,
It may offend no more.
The Gardner therewithall was come,
Who digd it vp before

The Iudge, and all the standers by:
He had not parde the ground
Farre in, but that the cause of both
Those louers banes he founde.

For vnderneath this bed of Sage,
The fellow that did dig,
Turnd vp a toade, a loathsome sight,
A worme exceeding big.

The toade was of a monstrous growth:
Then euery man could tell
And iudge the cause of that mishap
Which both those friends befell.

129

Then could they say, the venomd worme
Had bealchd his poyson out,
And so infected both the roote,
And all the bed about

Where grewe the Sage, that bred their deaths:
Then sawe they playne the cause
And reason why the weauer dyde,
By rubbing of his iawes.

They made no more adoe, but forst
The gardner by and by
To make a fyre to burne the Sage,
And eke the Toade to frie

That was the cause of double spoyle.
The Iudge had nought to say
When this was done, but parted home,
The people went their way.

Straight Stramba, and his other mates
That gaue in euidence
Against Symona, brought a Beare,
And bare the bodies thence

So vgly swollen as they lay,
Unto Saint Paules, and there
Within one Tombe did burie both,
For of that Church they were.

[129]

Lenuoy.

As noble mindes to loue are kindly bent,
And haughty harts to fancie homage yeelde,
As Cupid makes the stoutest states relent,
And martiall men that daunt the foe in fielde:
So meanest mates are masht within the net,
That wily loue, to trappe his trayne hath set.

What Prince so prowde, what King for al his crown:
What sage so sadde, or solemne in his sawes,
What wight so wise, but Cupid brings him downe,
And makes him stoupe to nature and her lawes?
Both poore and rich doe loue by course of kinde,
The proofe whereof in all degrees we finde.

That Hector sterne that stroue to mayntayne Troy,
And slewe with sword full many a Greekish knight,
For al the warres, yet loude Andromache,
With her he slept, in her he tooke delight:
His manly brest that force of foe withstoode,
Was razde by loue, his Curage did no good.

Vlisses flie, for all his wilie wit,
Was lodgde in loue, by Cyrces sugred cuppe,
Plato deuine, whose stile the Starres dyd hit,
With learned lips of Venus sauce did suppe:
His graue precepts stoode him in slender sted,
Whome lawe of kinde, in lincke of fancie led.

Fell Dionyse with Alexander great,
Duke Iason, Paris, Pirrhus, Pompey take,
And he whome Dydo did so well entreate,
That to the curteous Queene his vowe did breake:
Yea Ioue him selfe, Apollo, Mars and all,
To Venus bowde, each one was Cupids thrall.

The noblest Nimphes that euer were aliue,
The queyntest queenes the force of fancie felt,

130

The dayntiest dames durst not with loue to striue,
The haughtiest harts, had Cupid made to mete:
Medea, Phillis, Helen, Phedra fierce,
Creula, Oenon, Lucrece loue did pierce.

Laodamie, Hermyon Hypsiphill,
Curst Clitemnestra, Brisies, Deyanire,
Semyrami, and Progne prone to kill,
With Mirrha Biblis lust to loue did stirre:
And thousands moe, of whome the Poetes tell,
Prouokt by loue, to flaming fancy fell.

Which sith is so, I may with better face
A pardon craue of you that Ladies be,
For bringing here a homely wench in place,
And ranking her with dames of gallant glee:
Who sith did rage in fancie as the rest,
Why should she not be plast among the best?

Put case her byrth was base, her linage lowe,
Her parynts poore, her liuelod bare and thin,
Sith Cupid did his golden shaft bestowe
Upon her brest, when liking entred in,
Let her receiue the guerdon that is dewe
To faithfull loue, and march with Cupids crewe.

Where leaue is lowed for each one to contend,
Where markes are made the cunningst hand to trie,
Without reproofe each one his bowe doth bend
And arrowes there without controlement flie:
Likewise sith loue at rendon roues his dartes,
We ought not scorne the meanest louing hartes,

When Cresus brings his gorgeous giftes in hand,
And slay an oxe to offer to the goddes,
A groome with gote by him may boldly stand,
In holy Church they little count of oddes:
The minde is all that makes or marres the thing,
A Carter loues as whotly as a King.