[43] Filocolo, ed. cit., Vol. II, p. 243. He says: "Io semplice e lascivo" (cf. Paradiso, v. 82-4) "come già dissi, le pedate dello ingannator padre seguendo, volendo un giorno nella paternale casa entrare, due orsi ferocissimi e terribili mi vidi avanti con gli occhi ardenti desiderosi della mia morte, de' quali dubitando io volsi i passi miei, e da quell' ora innanzi sempre d' entrare in quella dubitai. Ma acciocchè io più vero dica, tanta fu la paura, che abbandonati i paternali campi, in questi boschi venni l' apparato uficio a operare." Crescini in Kritischer Jahresbericht über Fortschrifte der Rom. Phil. (1898), III, p. 396 et seq., takes these two bears to be old Boccaccio and Margherita, but Della Torre, op. cit., pp. 18-30, asks very aptly how could Boccaccio speak thus of a father he allows in the Fiammetta "per la mia puerizia nel suo grembo teneramente allevata, per l' amor da lui verso di me continuamente portato." Della Torre takes the two bears to be Margherita and her son Francesco, born ca. 1321. See op. cit., p. 24, and document there quoted.
[44] See [Appendix I], where the whole question is discussed. Cf. Della Torre, op. cit., p. 30, note 1, and caps. ii. and iii.; Casetti, Il Boccaccio a Napoli in Nuova Antologia (1875); and De Blasiis, La Dimora di Gio. Boccaccio a Napoli in Arch. St. per le prov. Nap. (1892), XXII, p. 11 et seq.
[45] It seems strange that Boccaccio did not follow the Via Francigena for Rome, as Henry VII and all the emperors did, till we remember that the Pope was in Avignon and the City a nest of robbers. The route given above is, according to De Blasiis, the one he took, though of course there is no certainty about it. Cf. De Blasiis, op. cit., pp. 513-14.
There is also this to be considered that, according to Della Torre's theory, which we accept, Boccaccio's journey took place in December, 1323. But Mr. Heywood informs me that at that date the country about Perugia was in a state of war. Spoleto was then being besieged by the Perugians, and the Aretine Bishop was perpetually organising raids and incursions for her relief. In the autumn Città di Castello had revolted and given herself to the Tarlati, and even if (owing to the season of the year and the consequent scarcity of grass for the horses of the milites) military operations were impossible on a large scale in the open country, the whole contado must still have been full of marauding bands. This route then via Perugia would have been dangerous if not impossible. The explanation may be that the Florentines and Sienese were allied with the Perugians. Certainly in the spring of 1324 there were Florentine troops in the Perugian camp before Spoleto. Perhaps the boy found protection by travelling with some of his military compatriots. In 1327 (see infra) the route suggested by De Blasiis and accepted by Della Torre would have been reasonable enough.
[46] Ameto (Opere Minori, Milano, 1879), p. 225.
[47] My translation is free; I give therefore the original: "... le mai non vedute rughe con diletto teneano l' anima mia, per la quale così andando, agli occhi della mente si parò innanzi una giovane bellissima in aspetto, graziosa e leggiadra, e di verdi vestimenti vestita ornata secondo che la sua età e l' antico costume della città richiedono; e con liete accoglienze, me prima per la mano preso, mi baciò, ed io lei; dopo questo aggiugnendo con voce piacevole, vieni dove la cagione de' tuoi beni vedrai."
[48] One may contrast this vision of welcome with that which had driven him away. Of such is the symmetry of Latin work. He himself calls this a prevision of Fiammetta. We cannot help reminding ourselves that the Vita Nuova was already known to him when he wrote thus.
[49] G. Villani, Cronica, Lib. VIII, cap. 112.
[50] Ibid., Lib. IX, cap. 8.
[51] Ibid., Lib. IX, cap. 39.