Read The Decameron, Volume II Page 3

were, no account of them, and animated by love,hurled himself, sword in hand, with prodigious force among the enemy, andcutting and thrusting right and left, slaughtered them like sheep;insomuch that the Rhodians, marking the fury of his onset, threw downtheir arms, and as with one voice did all acknowledge themselves hisprisoners. To whom Cimon:--"Gallants," quoth he, "'twas neither lust ofbooty nor enmity to you that caused me to put out from Cyprus to attackyou here with force of arms on the high seas. Moved was I thereto by thatwhich to gain is to me a matter great indeed, which peaceably to yield meis to you but a slight matter; for 'tis even Iphigenia, whom more thanaught else I love; whom, as I might not have her of her father inpeaceable and friendly sort, Love has constrained me to take from you inthis high-handed fashion and by force of arms; to whom I mean to be evensuch as would have been your Pasimondas: wherefore give her to me, and goyour way, and God's grace go with you."

  Yielding rather to force than prompted by generosity, the Rhodianssurrendered Iphigenia, all tears, to Cimon; who, marking her tears, saidto her:--"Grieve not, noble lady; thy Cimon am I, who, by my long love,have established a far better right to thee than Pasimondas by the faiththat was plighted to him." So saying, he sent her aboard his ship,whither he followed her, touching nought that belonged to the Rhodians,and suffering them to go their way. To have gotten so dear a prize madehim the happiest man in the world, but for a time 'twas all he could doto assuage her grief: then, after taking counsel with his comrades, hedeemed it best not to return to Cyprus for the present: and so, by commonconsent they shaped their course for Crete, where most of them, andespecially Cimon, had alliances of old or recent date, and friends not afew, whereby they deemed that there they might tarry with Iphigenia insecurity. But Fortune, that had accorded Cimon so gladsome a capture ofthe lady, suddenly proved fickle, and converted the boundless joy of theenamoured gallant into woeful and bitter lamentation. 'Twas not yet fullfour hours since Cimon had parted from the Rhodians, when with theapproach of night, that night from which Cimon hoped such joyance as hehad never known, came weather most turbulent and tempestuous, whichwrapped the heavens in cloud, and swept the sea with scathing blasts;whereby 'twas not possible for any to see how the ship was to be workedor steered, or to steady himself so as to do any duty upon her deck.Whereat what grief was Cimon's, it boots not to ask. Indeed it seemed tohim that the gods had granted his heart's desire only that it might beharder for him to die, which had else been to him but a light matter. Notless downcast were his comrades; but most of all Iphigenia, who, weepingbitterly and shuddering at every wave that struck the ship, did cruellycurse Cimon's love and censure his rashness, averring that this tempestwas come upon them for no other cause than that the gods had decreed,that, as 'twas in despite of their will that he purposed to espouse her,he should be frustrate of his presumptuous intent, and having lived tosee her expire, should then himself meet a woeful death.

  While thus and yet more bitterly they bewailed them, and the marinerswere at their wits' end, as the gale grew hourly more violent, nor knewthey, nor might conjecture, whither they went, they drew nigh the islandof Rhodes, albeit that Rhodes it was they wist not, and set themselves,as best and most skilfully they might, to run the ship aground. In whichenterprise Fortune favoured them, bringing them into a little bay, where,shortly before them, was arrived the Rhodian ship that Cimon had let go.Nor were they sooner ware that 'twas Rhodes they had made, than daybroke, and, the sky thus brightening a little, they saw that they wereabout a bow-shot from the ship that they had released on the precedingday. Whereupon Cimon, vexed beyond measure, being apprehensive of thatwhich in fact befell them, bade make every effort to win out of the bay,and let Fortune carry them whither she would, for nowhere might they bein worse plight than there. So might and main they strove to bring theship out, but all in vain: the violence of the gale thwarted them to suchpurpose as not only to preclude their passage out of the bay but to drivethem, willing nilling, ashore. Whither no sooner were they come, thanthey were recognized by the Rhodian mariners, who were already landed. Ofwhom one ran with all speed to a farm hard by, whither the Rhodiangallants were gone, and told them that Fortune had brought Cimon andIphigenia aboard their ship into the same bay to which she had guidedthem. Whereat the gallants were overjoyed, and taking with them not a fewof the farm-servants, hied them in hot haste to the shore, where, Cimonand his men being already landed with intent to take refuge in aneighbouring wood, they took them all (with Iphigenia) and brought themto the farm. Whence, pursuant to an order of the Senate of Rhodes, towhich, so soon as he received the news, Pasimondas made his complaint,Cimon and his men were all marched off to prison by Lysimachus, chiefmagistrate of the Rhodians for that year, who came down from the city forthe purpose with an exceeding great company of men at arms. On such wisedid our hapless and enamoured Cimon lose his so lately won Iphigeniabefore he had had of her more than a kiss or two. Iphigenia wasentertained and comforted of the annoy, occasioned as well by her recentcapture as by the fury of the sea, by not a few noble ladies of Rhodes,with whom she tarried until the day appointed for her marriage. Inrecompense of the release of the Rhodian gallants on the preceding daythe lives of Cimon and his men were spared, notwithstanding thatPasimondas pressed might and main for their execution; and instead theywere condemned to perpetual imprisonment: wherein, as may be supposed,they abode in dolorous plight, and despaired of ever again knowinghappiness.

  However, it so befell that, Pasimondas accelerating his nuptials to thebest of his power, Fortune, as if repenting her that in her haste she haddone Cimon so evil a turn, did now by a fresh disposition of eventscompass his deliverance. Pasimondas had a brother, by name Hormisdas, hisequal in all respects save in years, who had long been contract to marryCassandra, a fair and noble damsel of Rhodes, of whom Lysimachus was inthe last degree enamoured; but owing to divers accidents the marriage hadbeen from time to time put off. Now Pasimondas, being about to celebratehis nuptials with exceeding great pomp, bethought him that he could notdo better than, to avoid a repetition of the pomp and expense, arrange,if so he might, that his brother should be wedded on the same day withhimself. So, having consulted anew with Cassandra's kinsfolk, and come toan understanding with them, he and his brother and they conferredtogether, and agreed that on the same day that Pasimondas marriedIphigenia, Hormisdas should marry Cassandra. Lysimachus, getting wind ofthis arrangement, was mortified beyond measure, seeing himself therebydeprived of the hope which he cherished of marrying Cassandra himself, ifHormisdas should not forestall him. But like a wise man he concealed hischagrin, and cast about how he might frustrate the arrangement: to whichend he saw no other possible means but to carry Cassandra off. It did notescape him that the office which he held would render this easilyfeasible, but he deemed it all the more dishonourable than if he had notheld the office; but, in short, after much pondering, honour yieldedplace to love, and he made up his mind that, come what might, he wouldcarry Cassandra off. Then, as he took thought what company he should takewith him, and how he should go about the affair, he remembered Cimon,whom he had in prison with his men, and it occurred to him that he couldnot possibly have a better or more trusty associate in such an enterprisethan Cimon. Wherefore the same night he caused Cimon to be broughtprivily to him in his own room, and thus addressed him:--"Cimon, as thegods are most generous and liberal to bestow their gifts on men, so arethey also most sagacious to try their virtue; and those whom they find tobe firm and steadfast in all circumstances they honour, as the mostworthy, with the highest rewards. They have been minded to be certifiedof thy worth by better proofs than thou couldst afford them, as long asthy life was bounded by thy father's house amid the superabundant wealthwhich I know him to possess: wherefore in the first place they so wroughtupon thee with the shrewd incitements of Love that from an insensatebrute, as I have heard, thou grewest to be a man; since when, it has beenand is their intent to try whether evil fortune and harsh imprisonmentmay avail to change thee from the temper that was thine when for a short
while thou hadst joyance of the prize thou hadst won. And so thou provethe same that thou wast then, they have in store for thee a boonincomparably greater than aught that they vouchsafed thee before: whatthat boon is, to the end thou mayst recover heart and thy wontedenergies, I will now explain to thee. Pasimondas, exultant in thymisfortune and eager to compass thy death, hastens to the best of hispower his nuptials with thy Iphigenia; that so he may enjoy the prizethat Fortune, erstwhile smiling, gave thee, and forthwith, frowning, reftfrom thee. Whereat how sore must be thy grief, if rightly I gauge thylove, I know by my own case, seeing that his brother Hormisdas addresseshimself to do me on the same day a like wrong in regard of Cassandra,whom I love more than aught else in the world. Nor see I that Fortune hasleft us any way of escape from this her unjust and cruel spite, save whatwe may make