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One, however, puts a fine defense of remarried
widows into the mouth of a young Florentine. In the Paradiso
degli Alberti, written around 1425 by Giovanni Gherardi of Prato,
a courtly discussion arises among a group of people of polite
society. The problem posed is whether paternal love or maternal
love is the better. One young man argues heatedly that mothers
are not worth much since, contrary to fathers, they abandon their
children. In any event, as they arc inferior beings, their love
could not possibly be as "perfect" as that of men.
One young woman "of great wit and of most noble manners"
is then charged by the women to respond to him She cleverly turns
his arguments against him by placing herself in his logic: since
women are less "perfect" than men, they must obey men
and follow them; and "since (women) cannot take their children,
nor keep them with them, and they cannot remain alone without
harm, especially if they are young, nor remain without masculine
protection, it is almost perforce that mothers see themselves
constrained to choose the best compromise. But it is not to be
doubted that they think constantly of their children and remain
strongly attached to them in spite of this separation." |