[90] i.e. make her a solemn promise of marriage, formally plight her his troth. The ceremony of betrothal was formerly (and still is in certain countries) the most essential part of the marriage rite.
[91] i.e. cannot hope to tell a story presenting more extraordinary shifts from one to the other extreme of human fortune than that of Pampinea.
[92] The Genoese have the reputation in Italy of being thieves by nature.
[93] It seems doubtful whether la reggeva diritta should not rather be rendered "kept it upright." Boccaccio has a knack, very trying to the translator, of constantly using words in an obscure or strained sense.
[94] i.e. for nothing.
[95] i.e. son of Pietro, as they still say in Lancashire and other northern provinces, "Tom o' Dick" for "Thomas, son of Richard," etc.
[96] i.e. ill hole.
[97] i.e. a member of the Guelph party, as against the Ghibellines or partisans of the Pope.
[98] Charles d'Anjou, afterwards King of Sicily.
[99] i.e. Frederick II. of Germany.