The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-06-22
GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO.
Something OF the Life of the Great
Italian Story Teller.

Is: What manner OF man was ne
who wrote II? OF outward events
there Is enough. thought not too
much, to tell. Boccaccio was born in
1913, probably in Paris. OF a French
mother. lie was taken In his infancy
do banker. had married. and his
childhood was unhappy. At ten. or
not long after. ne went TO Naples 70
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 a street he
in green came and kissed him. 1t
was not till eight years later, when,
sick OF the office. he was learning ca
non law, that on a Holy Saturday,
coming out of church, he first saw
the real lady In her green robe. "all
shining with gold"-his Flammetta,
his love for whom remained with him
all his life. From passion 1t cooled to
sentiment. almost-one may say-ln
20 a literary sentiment. Had IL been
otherwise. II would surely have color
ed his conception of love and of wo-
men, which was remarkably low.
Flammetta's real name was Maria
Aquino. and she was the illegitlmate
daughter of King Robert of Naples.
princess married 70 a noble. Boccac-
clio got to know her at once and be-
came her devoted slave. serving her
from 1891 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 clas-
sizes; he had read Virgil "in the shad-
ow OF the poets tomb" And ne had
begun TO write himself. The "Floco-
To-" the "Filostrato." the "Flammet-
ta." and other works belong TO his last
ence. From that time onward he
devoted himself to literature and TO
scholarship: the more so. perhaps
that Flammetta died OF the plague in
1s4s.
IL was not until 1850 that the great
est event In his life-hls meeting with
Petrarch--occurred: greatest. because
most enduring. for II melted him TO
study Homer and to superintend the
first translation In Italy OF that poet
f-to ra''7 Th's ne would have call
ed the serious worl, ~ his fife. tie
Went oL Sovral embassies from Flor
euco---r,.' O. take purs. 90 pslt. .
daughter Heorlce tbcp in c,u ...
at ttavenna; another to Pope Urban at
Avignon. he held office In his native
city he lectured on Dante there; he
wrote "anto's life. In 1876; ne gave
The Decameron" to the public. But
:, honors civic and literary counted lit
tie with Petrarch beside honor. and
Boecaccio, as In most things, follow
ed his Judgment. Petrarch's death
came in 1874. and that OF Boccaccio
one year later. He died poor neglect
ed and alone in his house at Cartaldo.
; The best part OF Boccaccio was not
his love. but his frindship. 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 Pleiade, or the
feeling between Coleridge and Words
worth. or the bond that knit together
the Pre- -Raphaelites. The meeting be-
tween Petrarch and Boccaccio meant
the dawn of the classical Renaissance.
Tor though scholarship had revived
before them, II was they who gave the
impetus 20 the study Of Greek, which
had such far-reaching results. And
Il was noble companionship. The
passionate. vital, generous Baccaccio
needed the harmonious suavity. the
scholarly refinement. even the cool
ness OF Petrarch. He had loved him
Z 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" writes Petrarch
TO Boccaccio. II was hurrying across
: Central Italy IN mldwinter: Won has
> tened o. greet me. not only with ar-
lection, the message Of soul 10 soul
but In person. impclled by q wonder
ful desire To see one YOU had never
yet beheld. but whom. nevertheless
you were minded To- love"
During many davs." ,,.rot, r,....