The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-03-23
GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO.
Something of The Life of The Great
Italian Story Teller.
From The London Times.

meron" Is: What manner of man
was he whe wrote it? Of outward
events there is enough, though not
too much to tell. Boccaccio was
born in 1913, probably in Paris, or a
French mother. He was taken in
his infancy to Florence, but his
father, a wellto-do banker had mar
ried, and his childhood was unhappy.
At 10, or not long after, he went to
Naples to work in a merchants office.
AS he neared the city, the tired boy.
stopping to rest, fell asleep and
dreamed that he was passing through
street he had never seen before.
and that a lady in green came and
kissed him. 1t was not till eight
years later, when sick of the office,
he was learning canon law, that he
first saw the real lady, in her green
robe, "all shining with gold"-his
Fiammetta, his love for whom re-
mained with him all his life. From
passion it cooled to a sentiment, al
most-one may say-into a literary
sentiment. Had it been otherwise,
1t would surely have colored his con-
ception of love and Of women, which
was remarkably low.
Fiammetta's real name was Maria
Aquino, and she was the illegitimate
daughter of King Robert of Naples a
princess married to noble. Bocca-
ccio got to know her at once and be-
came her devoted slave, serving her
from 1881 till 1888, when he found
out her infidelity. Not long after, his
fathers ruin called him back to Flor
ence. But meanwhile he had been
in worthier service than hers In the
cultured town of Naples he had found
men Of learning and of letters; he
had been plunged in the study Of the
classics; he had read Virgil "in the
shadow Of the poets tomb" and he
had begun to write himself. The
other works belong to his last years
In Naples and his first in Florence
From that time onward he devoted
himself to literature and to scholar
ship; the more so, perhaps, that
Fiammetta, died of the plague in
1348.
It was not until 1850 that the
greatest even in his lfe-his meeting
with Petrarch-occurred; greatest,
because most enduring, for it melted
him to study Homer and to superin-
tend the first translation in Italy of
that poet into Latin. This he would
have called the serious work of his
life. He went on several embassies
from Florence-one to take a purse
to Dante's daughter Beatrice, then in
a convent at Ravenna; another to
Pope Urban at Avignon; he held
office in his native city; he lectured
on Dante there; he wrote Dante's life
In 1858 he gave THE Decameron" to
the public. But honOrs civic and lit
erary counted little with Petrarch be-
side honor, and Boccaccio, as in mos!
things, followed his judgment Pc
trarch's death came in 1874, and that
of Boccaccio one year later. He died
poor, neglected, and alone in his
house at CertaldO
The best part of Boccaccio was not
his love, but his friendship. His in.
timacy with Petrarch was one of the
great friendships in the annals of art
friendships such as have produced
new movements; like that between
ROnsard and Du Bellay, which gave
us the poetry of the Peiade, or the
feeling between Coleridge and Wards
worth, or the bond that knit together
the Pre-Raphaleties The meeting
between Petrarch and BoccacciC
meant the dawn Of the classical Rem
aiSsance, for though scholarship haG
revived before them, it was they wh'
gave the impetus TO the study O1
Greek which had such far-reachine
results. And it was a noble compap
ionship. The passionate, vital. gener
Gus BOccacciO needed the harmonious
SuaVity, the shorarly refinement, ever
the GOODNESS of Petrarch. He haC
loved him from afar before he knew
him. They did not see one another
for eight years after their first coming
together, but when they did, it was
with the same ardor.
"In days gone by" wrote Petrarcf
TO BocCaccio, 81 was hurrying acrOs:
Central Italy in midwinter; you hast
ened to greet me. not only with af.
fection the message of soul to soul
| but in person, impelled by wondc =.