_TALE XLVI.(B)_.
_Concerning a Grey Friar who made it a great crime on the part of husbands to beat their wives_. (1)
In the town of Angouleme, where Count Charles, father of King Francis,often abode, there dwelt a Grey Friar named De Valles, (2) the samebeing a learned man and a very great preacher. At Advent time this Friarpreached in the town in presence of the Count, whereby his reputationwas still further increased.
1 This is the tale inserted in Gruget's edition in lieu of the previous one.--Ed.
2 We had thought that Friar Valles might possibly be Robert de Valle, who at the close of the fifteenth century wrote a work entitled _Explanatio in Plinium_, but find that this divine was a Bishop of Rouen, and never belonged to the Grey Friars. In Gessner's _Biographia Universalis_, continued by Frisius, mention is made of three learned ecclesiastics of the name of Valle living in or about Queen Margaret's time: Baptiste de Valle, who wrote on war and duelling; William de Valle, who penned a volume entitled _De Anima Sorbono_; and Amant de Valle, a Franciscan minorite born at Toulouse, who was the author of numerous philosophical works, the most important being _Elucidationes Scoti_.--B. J.
It happened also that during Advent a hare-brained young fellow, who hadmarried a passably handsome young woman, continued none the less torun at the least as dissolute a course as did those that were stillbachelors. The young wife, being advised of this, could not keep silenceupon it, so that she very often received payment after a different anda prompter fashion than she could have wished. For all that, she ceasednot to persist in lamentation, and sometimes in railing as well; whichso provoked the young man that he beat her even to bruises and blood.Thereupon she cried out yet more loudly than before; and in a likefashion all the women of the neighbourhood, knowing the reason of this,could not keep silence, but cried out publicly in the streets, saying--
"Shame, shame on such husbands! To the devil with them!"
By good fortune the Grey Friar De Valles was passing that way andheard the noise and the reason of it. He resolved to touch upon it thefollowing day in his sermon, and did so. Turning his discourse to thesubject of marriage and the affection which ought to subsist in it, hegreatly extolled that condition, at the same time censuring those thatoffended against it, and comparing wedded to parental love. Among otherthings, he said that a husband who beat his wife was in more danger, andwould have a heavier punishment, than if he had beaten his father or hismother.
"For," said he, "if you beat your father or your mother you will be sentfor penance to Rome; but if you beat your wife, she and all the women ofthe neighbourhood will send you to the devil, that is, to hell. Now lookyou what a difference there is between these two penances. From Rome aman commonly returns again, but from hell, oh! from that place, there isno return: _nulla est redemptio_" (3)
After preaching this sermon, he was informed that the women were makinga triumph of it, (4) and that their husbands could no longer controlthem. He therefore resolved to set the husbands right just as he hadpreviously assisted their wives.
3 This was the Pope's expression apropos of Messer Biagio, whom Michael Angelo had introduced into his "Last Judgment."--M.
4 The French expression is _faisaient leur Achilles_, the nearest equivalent to which in English would probably be "Hectoring" It is curious that the French should have taken the name of Achilles and we that of Hector to express the same idea of arrogance and bluster.--Ed.
With this intent, in one of his sermons he compared women and deviltogether, saying that these were the greatest enemies that man had, thatthey tempted him without ceasing, and that he could not rid himself ofthem, especially of women.
"For," said he, "as far as devils are concerned, if you show them thecross they flee away, whereas women, on the contrary, are tamed byit, and are made to run hither and thither and cause their husbandscountless torments. But, good people, know you what you must do? Whenyou find your wives afflicting you thus continually, as is their wont,take off the handle of the cross and with it drive them away. You willnot have made this experiment briskly three or four times before youwill find yourselves the better for it, and see that, even as the devilis driven off by the virtue of the cross, so can you drive away andsilence your wives by virtue of the handle, provided only that it be notattached to the cross aforesaid."
"You have here some of the sermons by this reverend De Valles, of whoselife I will with good reason relate nothing more. However, I will tellyou that, whatever face he put upon the matter--and I knew him--he wasmuch more inclined to the side of the women than to that of the men."
"Yet, madam," said Parlamente, "he did not show this in his last sermon,in which he instructed the men to ill-treat them."
"Nay, you do not comprehend his artifice," said Hircan. "You are notexperienced in war and in the use of the stratagems that it requires;among these, one of the most important is to kindle strife in the campof the enemy, whereby he becomes far easier to conquer. This mastermonk well knew that hatred and wrath between husband and wife mostoften cause a loose rein to be given to the wife's honour. And when thathonour frees itself from the guardianship of virtue, it finds itself inthe power of the wolf before it knows even that it is astray."
"However that may be," said Parlamente, "I could not love a man who hadsown such division between my husband and myself as would lead even toblows; for beating banishes love. Yet, by what I have heard, they [thefriars] can be so mincing when they seek some advantage over a woman,and so attractive in their discourse, that I feel sure there would bemore danger in hearkening to them in secret than in publicly receivingblows from a husband in other respects a good one."
"Truly," said Dagoucin, "they have so revealed their plottings in alldirections, that it is not without reason that they are to be feared;(5) although in my opinion persons who are not suspicious are worthy ofpraise."
5 From this point the dialogue is almost word for word the same as that following Tale XLVI. (A).--Ed.
"At the same time," said Oisille, "people ought to suspect the evilthat is to be avoided, for it is better to suspect an evil that does notexist than by foolish trustfulness to fall into one that does. For mypart, I have never known a woman deceived by being slow to believemen's words, but many are through being too prompt in giving credenceto falsehood. Therefore I say that possible evil cannot be too stronglysuspected by those that have charge of men, women, cities or states;for, however good may be the watch that is kept, wickedness andtreachery are prevalent enough, and for this reason the shepherd who isnot vigilant will always be deceived by the wiles of the wolf."
"Still," said Dagoucin, "a suspicious person cannot have a perfectfriend, and many friends have been parted by bare suspicion."
"If you should know any such instance," thereupon said Oisille, "I willgive you my vote that you may relate it."
"I know one," said Dagoucin, "which is so strictly true that you willhear it with pleasure. I will tell you, ladies, when it is that closefriendship is most readily broken off; it is when the security offriendship begins to give place to suspicion. For just as to trust afriend is the greatest honour one can do him, so is doubt of him thegreatest dishonour, inasmuch as it proves that he is deemed other thanone would have him to be, and in this wise many close friendships arebroken off and friends turned into foes. This you will see from thestory that I am now about to relate."
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[The Gentleman reproaching his Friend for his Jealousy]
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