“Right glad am I, madam, to find you esteem your honour so highly that,
to exalt it, you would not spare the life of a man who, for the love
he bears you, has put it to this risk. But it often happens that one
lessens what one thinks to increase; wherefore, I pray you, madam, tell
me the truth of the whole matter.”
When the lady had fully related the business, the lady of honour said to
her--
“You assure me that he had nothing from you save only scratches and
blows?”
“I do assure you that it was so,” said the lady; “and, unless he find a
rare surgeon, I am certain his face will bear the marks tomorrow.”
“Well, since it is thus, madam,” said the lady of honour, “it seems to
me that you have more reason to thank God than to think of vengeance;
for you may well believe that, since the gentleman had spirit enough
to make such an attempt, his grief at having failed will be harder
of endurance than any death you could award him. If you desire to be
revenged on him, let love and shame do their work; they will torment
him more grievously than could you. And if you would speak out for your
honour’s sake,(10) beware, madam, lest you fall into a mishap like to
his own.
10 In Boaistuau’s edition this passage runs: “Let love and
shame do their work, they will know better than you how to
torment him; and do this for your honour’s sake. Beware,”
&c.--L.
He, instead of obtaining the greatest delight he could imagine, has
encountered the gravest vexation any gentleman could endure. So you,
madam, thinking to exalt your honour, may perchance diminish it. If you
make complaint, you will bring to light what is known to none, for you
may rest assured that the gentleman on his side will never reveal aught
of the matter. And even if my lord, your brother, should do justice
to him at your asking, and the poor gentleman should die, yet would it
everywhere be noised abroad that he had had his will of you, and most
people would say it was unlikely a gentleman would make such an attempt
unless the lady had given him great encouragement. You are young and
fair; you live gaily with all; and there is no one at Court but has seen
the kind treatment you have shown to the gentleman whom you suspect.
Hence every one will believe that if he did this deed it was not without
some fault on your side; and your honour, for which you have never had
to blush, will be freely questioned wherever the story is related.”
On hearing the excellent reasoning of her lady of honour, the Princess
perceived that she spoke the truth, and that she herself would, with
just cause, be blamed on account of the close friendship which she had
always shown towards the gentleman. Accordingly she inquired of her lady
of honour what she ought to do.
“Madam,” replied the other, “since you are pleased to receive my
counsels, having regard for the affection whence they spring, it seems
to me you should be glad at heart to think that the most comely and
gallant gentleman I have ever seen was not able, whether by love or by
force, to turn you from the path of true virtue. For this, madam, you
should humble yourself before God, and confess that it was not through
your own merit, for many women who have led straighter lives than you
have been humiliated by men less worthy of love than he. And you should
henceforth be more than ever on your guard against proposals of love;
for many have the second time yielded to dangers which on the first
occasion they were able to avoid. Be mindful, madam, that love is blind,
and that it makes people blind in such wise that the way appears safest
just when it is most slippery. Further, madam, it seems to me that you
should give no sign of what has befallen you, whether to him or to any
one else, and that if he seeks to say anything on the matter, you should
feign not to understand him. In this way you will avoid two dangers,
the one of vain-glory in the victory you have won, and the other of
recalling things so pleasant to the flesh that at mention of them the
chastest can only with difficulty avoid feeling some sparks of the
flame, though they strive their utmost to escape them. (11)