On Time, Theologians, and Virgins. A Note on Decameron, II. 7

This article outlines the interdiscursive connections between Decameron, ii. 7, and one of the most debated quaestiones de potentia Dei, highlighting the parodic dimension of Boccaccio’s discourse. In Boccaccio’s story, which according to the intentions of the narrator Panfilo should demonstrate the infallibility of divine action, Alatiel ‘re-establishes’ her lost virginity with a false account of her past adventures. In the first half of the fourteenth century, the topic of infallibility was closely associated with the consideration of God’s omnipotence and related to the quaestio as to whether God can undo the past and restore virginity. Boccaccio borrowed from the quaestio de corrupta the motifs of chastity lost and restored, and of the possibility of erasing a past event. In this tale, parody does not issue from a reversal of the source but from abasement of the original theme: the power to annul a past event does not pertain to God, but is instead a human prerogative, which is exerted amongst humankind.