an to have converse with a man is
a sin of nature; but to rob him or slay him or drive him into exile
proceedeth from malignity of mind. That you robbed Tedaldo I have
already shown you, in despoiling him of yourself, who had become his
of your spontaneous will, and I say also that, so far as in you lay,
you slew him, for that it was none of your fault,--showing yourself,
as you did, hourly more cruel,--that he slew not himself with his own
hand; and the law willeth that whoso is the cause of the ill that is
done be held alike guilty with him who doth it. And that you were the
cause of his exile and of his going wandering seven years about the
world cannot be denied. So that in whichever one of these three things
aforesaid you have committed a far greater sin than in your converse
with him.

But, let us see; maybe Tedaldo deserved this usage? Certes, he did
not; you yourself have already confessed it, more by token that I know
he loveth[187] you more than himself. No woman was ever so honoured,
so exalted, so magnified over every other of her sex as were you by
him, whenas he found himself where he might fairly speak of you,
without engendering suspicion. His every good, his every honour, his
every liberty were all committed by him into your hands. Was he not
noble and young? Was he not handsome among all his townsmen? Was he
not accomplished in such things as pertain unto young men? Was he not
loved, cherished and well seen of every one? You will not say nay to
this either. Then how, at the bidding of a scurvy, envious numskull of
a friar, could you take such a cruel resolve against him? I know not
what error is that of women who eschew men and hold them in little
esteem, whenas, considering what themselves are and what and how great
is the nobility, beyond every other animal, given of God to man, they
should rather glory whenas they are loved of any and prize him over
all and study with all diligence to please him, so he may never desist
from loving them. This how you did, moved by the prate of a friar,
who must for certain have been some broth-swilling pasty-gorger, you
yourself know; and most like he had a mind to put himself in the place
whence he studied to expel others.

[Footnote 187: _Sic_; but the past tense "loved" is probably intended,
as the pretended pilgrim had not yet discovered Tedaldo to be alive.]

This, then, is the sin that Divine justice, the which with a just
balance bringeth all its operations