Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019

Three hundred novels
Franco Sacchetti (1330-1400)

In the foreword to his book, the author admits that he wrote it, following "the example of the superb Florentine poet, Messer Giovanni Boccaccio." "I, the Florentine Franco Sacchetti, a man ignorant and rude, was instructed to write the book you are offering, collecting in it stories about all those extraordinary cases that, whether in the past or now, took place, as well as some of those I myself watched and watched as a witness, and even about some, in which he himself participated. " In the short stories act as actually existing and fictitious faces, often this is another embodiment of a "vagrant story" or a moral story.

In the novel, the fourth Messer Barnabo, the ruler of Milan, a cruel man, but not devoid of sense of justice, was angry once upon the abbot, who did not have enough of the two legendary dogs entrusted with his care. Messer Barnabot demanded payment of four thousand florins, but when the abbot asked for mercy, he agreed to forgive him the duty, provided that he would answer four of the following questions: far to heaven; how much water is in the sea; what is done in hell and how much he himself costs Messer Barnabo. The abbot, in order to win time, requested a delay, and Messer Barnabo, taking a promise from him to return, let him go to the next day. On the way, the abbot met a miller, who, seeing how sad he is, asks what is the matter. After listening to the abbot's story, the miller decides to help him, for which he changes clothes with him, and, shaved his beard, is to Messner Barnabo. The dressed midnight claims that up to the sky 36 million 854 thousand 72.5 miles and 22 steps, and on the question, as he will prove it, recommends to check, and if he is mistaken, let him hang it. Water in the sea is 25 982 million horses *, 7 barrels, 12 mugs and 2 glasses, in any case, according to his calculations. In hell, according to the mill, "cut, quartered, grab hooks and hang", just like on the ground. At the same time, the miller refers to Dante and suggests referring to him for verification. Messer Barnabo Miller's price is set at 29 dinars, and Barnabot's angry mistress explains that this is one srebrenik less than what Jesus Christ estimated. Recognizing that he was not an abbot before him, messenger Barnabo explains the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller. that to the sky 36 million 854 thousand 72.5 miles and 22 steps, and on the question, as he proves this, recommends to check, and if he was wrong, let him hang it. Water in the sea is 25 982 million horses *, 7 barrels, 12 mugs and 2 glasses, in any case, according to his calculations. In hell, according to the mill, "cut, quartered, grab hooks and hang", just like on the ground. At the same time, the miller refers to Dante and suggests referring to him for verification. Messer Barnabo Miller's price is set at 29 dinars, and Barnabot's angry mistress explains that this is one srebrenik less than what Jesus Christ estimated. Recognizing that he was not an abbot before him, messenger Barnabo explains the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller. that to the sky 36 million 854 thousand 72.5 miles and 22 steps, and on the question, as he proves this, recommends to check, and if he was wrong, let him hang it. Water in the sea is 25 982 million horses *, 7 barrels, 12 mugs and 2 glasses, in any case, according to his calculations. In hell, according to the mill, "cut, quartered, grab hooks and hang", just like on the ground. At the same time, the miller refers to Dante and suggests referring to him for verification. Messer Barnabo Miller's price is set at 29 dinars, and Barnabot's angry mistress explains that this is one srebrenik less than what Jesus Christ estimated. Recognizing that he was not an abbot before him, messenger Barnabo explains the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller. recommends checking, and if he was wrong, let him hang it. Water in the sea is 25 982 million horses *, 7 barrels, 12 mugs and 2 glasses, in any case, according to his calculations. In hell, according to the mill, "cut, quartered, grab hooks and hang", just like on the ground. At the same time, the miller refers to Dante and suggests referring to him for verification. Messer Barnabo Miller's price is set at 29 dinars, and Barnabot's angry mistress explains that this is one srebrenik less than what Jesus Christ estimated. Recognizing that he was not an abbot before him, messenger Barnabo explains the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller. recommends checking, and if he was wrong, let him hang it. Water in the sea is 25 982 million horses *, 7 barrels, 12 mugs and 2 glasses, in any case, according to his calculations. In hell, according to the mill, "cut, quartered, grab hooks and hang", just like on the ground. At the same time, the miller refers to Dante and suggests referring to him for verification. Messer Barnabo Miller's price is set at 29 dinars, and Barnabot's angry mistress explains that this is one srebrenik less than what Jesus Christ estimated. Recognizing that he was not an abbot before him, messenger Barnabo explains the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller. according to the mill, "cut, quartered, grab hooks and hang", just like on the ground. At the same time, the miller refers to Dante and suggests referring to him for verification. Messer Barnabo Miller's price is set at 29 dinars, and Barnabot's angry mistress explains that this is one srebrenik less than what Jesus Christ estimated. Recognizing that he was not an abbot before him, messenger Barnabo explains the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller. according to the mill, "cut, quartered, grab hooks and hang", just like on the ground. At the same time, the miller refers to Dante and suggests referring to him for verification. Messer Barnabo Miller's price is set at 29 dinars, and Barnabot's angry mistress explains that this is one srebrenik less than what Jesus Christ estimated. Recognizing that he was not an abbot before him, messenger Barnabo explains the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller. that before him is not the abbot, Messer Barnabo finds out the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller. that before him is not the abbot, Messer Barnabo finds out the truth. After listening to the story of the miller, he tells him to continue to remain an abbot, and the abbot appoints a miller.

The hero of the sixth novella, Marquis Aldobrandino, the ruler of Ferrara, wants to have some rare bird to keep her in the cage. With this request, he appeals to a certain Florentine Basso de la Penna, which contained a hotel in Ferrara. Basso de la Penn is old, a small heir, enjoys the reputation of being an extraordinary and great joker. Basso promises the marquis to fulfill his request. Upon returning to the hotel, he calls the carpenter and orders him a large and sturdy cage "to be suitable for the donkey" if Basso suddenly comes to his head to put him there. As soon as the cage is ready, Basso enters her and tells the porters to attribute themselves to the marquise. Marquis, seeing Basso in the cell, asks what it should mean. Basso replies that, thinking over the request of the Marquis, he realized how much he was a rare person, and decided to give the Marquis itself as the most unusual bird in the world. The marquis tells the servants to place the cage on a wide window sill and rock it. Basso exclaims: "Marquis, I came here to sing, and you want me to cry." The Marquis, holding Basso all day on the window, releases him in the evening, and he returns to his hotel. Since then the Marquis has been sympathetic to Basso, often invites him to his table, often orders him to sing in the cell and joke with him.

In the eighth novella, Dante Alighieri acts. It is precisely to him that he calls on the advice of a very scholar, but a very skinny and small-breed Genoese who has specially come to Ravenna for this purpose. His request consists in the following: he is in love with a single lady who never even honed him with a glance. Dante could offer him only one way out: wait until his beloved lady gets pregnant, as it is known that in this state there are various fads in the women, and maybe she will have a tendency toward her timid and ugly fan. The Genoa was vulnerable, but realized that his question did not deserve another answer. Dante and the genoa are friends. Genoese man is intelligent, but not a philosopher; otherwise, having looked at himself mentally, he could understand that "a beautiful woman, even the most decent, wishes that the one whom she loves had the appearance of a man, not a bat.”

In the eighty-fourth novella Sacchetti depicts a love triangle: the wife of the Sieninian painter, Mino, makes her lover and accepts his home, taking advantage of the absence of her husband. Unexpectedly Mino returns, as one of the relatives told him about the shame that his wife covers.

Hearing a knock at the door and seeing her husband, the wife hides her lover in the workshop. Mino mainly painted the crucifixes, predominantly carvings, so the wrong wife advises her lover to lie down on one of the flat crucifixes, spreading her hands, and covering it with a canvas, so that in the darkness she was indistinguishable from other carved crucifixes. Mino is unsuccessfully looking for a lover. Early in the morning, he comes to the workshop, and, observing the two toes pushing out from under the canvas, he guesses that it is there that the man lies. Mine chooses from the tools used by the cutting of the crucifix, the ax and approaches the lover to "cut off from him the main thing that led him to the house." A young man, realizing Monom's intentions, leaps from his place and runs away, shouting: "Do not joke with an ax!" A woman can easily put clothes to her lover, and when Mino wants to beat her, she herself crushes with him so that he has to tell his neighbors that a crucifix fell on him. Mino tolerates his wife, and thinks about himself: "If a wife wants to be bad, then all people in the world will not be able to make her good."

In the novel, one hundred and thirty-sixth among several Florentine artists during the meal, a dispute arises who is the best painter after Giotto. Each of the artists calls a name, but they all agree that the skill "fell and falls with each passing day". They are opposed by the maestro Alberto, who masterfully carved out marble. Alberto says, "Human art has never been at such a height as today, especially in painting, and even more in the production of images from the living human body." The interlocutors meet Alberto's laughter, and he explains in detail what he means: "I believe that the best master who ever wrote and created was our Lord God, but it seems to me that many saw the great flaws in his figures and is currently fixing them. Who are these contemporary artists? fix These are Florentine women. "And further, Alberto explains that only women (no artist can do this) can be a dark girl, plastered there and there, to make a" whiter swan ". And if a woman is pale and yellow, using the paint to turn her into a rose. ("No painter, not excluding Giotto, could not apply paint better than them.") Women can bring the "donkey's jaw" to the order, lift the wounded shoulders with the help of wool, "Florentine women are the best masters of the brush and the cutter of all the ever- either existed in the world, for it is quite clear that they are doing what nature has not done. " When Alberto addresses the gathered people, wanting to know their opinion, they all shout out in one voice: that only women (no artist can do it) can be a dark girl, plastered there and there, to make a "whiter swan". And if a woman is pale and yellow, using the paint to turn her into a rose. ("No painter, not excluding Giotto, could not apply paint better than them.") Women can bring the "donkey's jaw" to the order, lift the wounded shoulders with the help of wool, "Florentine women are the best masters of the brush and the cutter of all the ever- either existed in the world, for it is quite clear that they are doing what nature has not done. " When Alberto addresses the gathered people, wanting to know their opinion, they all shout out in one voice: that only women (no artist can do it) can be a dark girl, plastered there and there, to make a "whiter swan". And if a woman is pale and yellow, using the paint to turn her into a rose. ("No painter, not excluding Giotto, could not apply paint better than them.") Women can bring the "donkey's jaw" to the order, lift the wounded shoulders with the help of wool, "Florentine women are the best masters of the brush and the cutter of all the ever- either existed in the world, for it is quite clear that they are doing what nature has not done. " When Alberto addresses the gathered people, wanting to know their opinion, they all shout out in one voice: ) Women can put the "donkey's jaw" in order, lift the wounded shoulders with cotton wool, "the Florentine women are the best masters of the brush and the cutter of all that ever existed in the world, for it is perfectly clear that they are doing what nature does not do" . When Alberto addresses the gathered people, wanting to know their opinion, they all shout out in one voice: ) Women can put the "donkey's jaw" in order, lift the wounded shoulders with cotton wool, "the Florentine women are the best masters of the brush and the cutter of all that ever existed in the world, for it is perfectly clear that they are doing what nature does not do" . When Alberto addresses the gathered people, wanting to know their opinion, they all shout out in one voice: "Long live Messer, who judged so well!"

In another two hundred and sixteenth, another maestro Alberto operates, "Come from Germany." One day, this dignified and holy man, passing through the Lombard area, stops in a village on the river Po, at a poor man who hosts a hotel.

Entering the house to have dinner and spend the night, maestro Alberto sees a lot of fishing nets and lots of girls. Asked the owner, Alberto finds out that this is his daughter, and he catches food for fishing.

The next day, before leaving the hotel, maestro Alberto makes a fish from a tree and gives it to the owner. Maestro Alberto tells her to tie her to the networks for catching time so that the catch would be great. Indeed, the grateful owner soon becomes convinced that the gift of the maestro of Alberto leads him to the network a huge amount of fish. He soon becomes a rich man. But one day the rope breaks out, and water drags the fish down the river. The owner unsuccessfully searches for a wooden fish, then he tries to catch it without it, but the catches prove to be insignificant. He decides to get to Germany, find the maestro Alberto and ask him to do the same fish again. Having arrived at him, the hostess of the hotel is kneeling before him and pleads with him and his daughters another fish to make him, so that the grace given to him earlier may be returned to him."

But Maestro Alberto, looking at him with sadness, replies: "My son, I would willingly do what you ask me for, but I can not do it, for I have to explain to you that when I did the fish you gave me, , the sky and all the planets were located that hour so as to inform it of this power ... "And such a minute, according to Maestro Alberto, may now happen not earlier than thirty-six thousand years.

The host of the hotel is flooded with tears and regrets that he did not tie the fish with iron wire - then she would not be lost. Maestro Alberto comforts him: "Dear my son, rest, because you were not the first to fail to keep the happiness that God has sent to you; there were so many people, and they not only failed to dispose of and take advantage of the short time that you used, but failed even to catch the moment when she introduced them."

After a long conversation and comforting, the hostess returns to his difficult life, but often glances down the river Po in the hope of seeing the lost fish.

"This is the fate: it often seems like a merry gaze to the one who knows how to catch her, and often the one who is cleverly able to grab her remains in one shirt." Others grab her, but they can only hold on for a short while, as our host of the hotel. And it is unlikely that anyone succeeds in regaining happiness unless he can wait for thirty-six thousand years, as maestro Alberto said. And this is perfectly consistent with what has already been noted by some philosophers, namely: "that, after thirty-six thousand years, the light will return to the state in which it is present."

* Konya is an ancient measure equal to 500 barrels.