g to the vagueness of the word _affezioni_ (syn.
_affetti_) in this position, and may be rendered, with about equal
probability, in more than one way.]

You must know, then, dainty dames, that near unto Sicily is an islet
called Lipari, wherein, no great while agone, was a very fair damsel
called Costanza, born of a very considerable family there. It chanced
that a young man of the same island, called Martuccio Gomito, who was
very agreeable and well bred and of approved worth[268] in his
craft,[269] fell in love with her; and she in like manner so burned
for him that she was never easy save whenas she saw him. Martuccio,
wishing to have her to wife, caused demand her of her father, who
answered that he was poor and that therefore he would not give her to
him. The young man, enraged to see himself rejected for poverty, in
concert with certain of his friends and kinsmen, equipped a light ship
and swore never to return to Lipari, except rich. Accordingly, he
departed thence and turning corsair, fell to cruising off the coast of
Barbary and plundering all who were weaker than himself; wherein
fortune was favourable enough to him, had he known how to set bounds
to his wishes; but, it sufficing him not to have waxed very rich, he
and his comrades, in a brief space of time, it befell that, whilst
they sought to grow overrich, he was, after a long defence, taken and
plundered with all his companions by certain ships of the Saracens,
who, after scuttling the vessel and sacking the greater part of the
crew, carried Martuccio to Tunis, where he was put in prison and long
kept in misery.

[Footnote 268: Or "eminent" (_valoroso_), _i.e._ in modern parlance,
"a man of merit and talent."]

[Footnote 269: _Valoroso nel suo mestiere._ It does not appear that
Martuccio was a craftsman and it is possible, therefore, that
Boccaccio intended the word _mestiere_ to be taken in the sense (to me
unknown) of "condition" or "estate," in which case the passage would
read, "a man of worth for (_i.e._ as far as comported with) his [mean]
estate"; and this seems a probable reading.]

The news was brought to Lipari, not by one or by two, but by many and
divers persons, that he and all on board the bark had been drowned;
whereupon the girl, who had been beyond measure woebegone for her
lover's departure, hearing that he was dead with the others, wept sore
and resolved in herself to live no longer; but, her heart suffering
her not to slay herself