"That she may not lose the memory of this villain I cause her to be
served with his skull, (2) in place of a cup, when she is eating and
drinking at table, and this always in my presence, so that she may
behold, alive, him whom her guilt has made her mortal enemy, and dead,
through love of her, him whose love she did prefer to mine. And in this
wise, at dinner and at supper, she sees the two things that must be most
displeasing to her, to wit, her living enemy, and her dead lover; and
all this through her own great sinfulness.
2 It will be remembered that the Lombard King Alboin forced
his wife Rosamond to drink his health out of a goblet which
had been made from the skull of her father Cunimond,
sovereign of the Gepidae. To revenge herself for this
affront, Rosamond caused her husband to be murdered one
night during his sleep in his palace at Pavia.--Ed.
"In other matters I treat her as I do myself, save that she goes
shorn; for an array of hair beseems not the adulterous, nor a veil the
unchaste.
"For this reason is her hair cut, showing that she has lost the honour
of virginity and purity.
Pages:
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34