Belisa receives Arsileo’s love letter written on his father’s behalf and falls in love with Arsileo

Belisa’s receipt of Arsileo’s letter, secretly commissioned by his father Arsenio, redirects a courtship that had lasted for years: the intended instrument of Arsenio’s suit instead awakens Belisa’s love for Arsileo. In her account to the Nymphs, the letter marks the moment when she understands the difference between the father’s persistence and the son’s expressive gifts—and finds herself attached to both.

The Long Courtship Behind the Letter

Arsenio first saw Belisa near the market in their village and fell deeply in love with her. For more than four years he repeatedly contrived to meet her: in the fields while she carried food to the shepherds, by the river when she went to wash clothes, and at the spring when she fetched water. Belisa, inexperienced in love, sometimes pretended not to understand his advances, sometimes treated them as jokes, and sometimes grew angry at his persistence. Neither her words nor her refusal of even the smallest favor ended his pursuit.

Arsileo’s return from his studies gave Arsenio a new means of approaching her. Arsileo was admired throughout the village for his learning, poetry, music, grace, and good character. His father concealed his own love for Belisa from him; when Arsileo noticed his father’s sadness, he mistook it for lingering grief over his mother. Arsenio wanted a letter in his son’s hand, but did not want Arsileo to know its real destination or purpose.

A Letter with Two Authors in Effect

Arsenio confided his plan to Argasto, a friend from the village, and asked him to obtain a letter from Arsileo. Argasto presented the request as a favor for a shepherd who loved a distant woman that would not accept him, and supplied the sentiments Arsenio wanted included. Arsileo wrote accordingly, unaware that his work would reach Belisa. Arsenio then arranged for the letter to be delivered to her, although she received it against her will.

Belisa’s suspicion prompted her to look beyond the circumstances of its delivery. Reading the letter, she concluded that it came more from Arsileo’s understanding than from Arsenio’s own feeling. That recognition altered the letter’s meaning: the father had arranged its production and supplied its purpose, but the son’s language disclosed a mind and sensibility that could move Belisa in their own right.

Belisa’s Divided Attachment

Belisa describes the change as love taking possession of her freedom. She came to love Arsileo by surrendering herself to him, while loving Arsenio in return for the affection he had shown her. The two attachments were not equivalent: her feeling for the father answered his long devotion, whereas her love for the son became an involuntary surrender. The letter therefore did not simply soften her toward the persistent suitor; it opened a second, more consuming attachment through the very means he had chosen to advance his own.

Arsenio interpreted Belisa’s new softness as a response to his courtship. He sent her numerous presents and jewels, each accompanied by an ardent message. Belisa felt burdened by the resulting obligation. Her replies did not display great love, though her heart was no longer as resistant as before; meanwhile, Arsileo’s love took firmer hold of her and occupied her thoughts. In her later retelling, she recalls reading the letter with visible distress, lingering over some verses, repeating others, and turning her eyes upward as if her heart were being torn from her.

The Courtship Continues Through Arsileo’s Gifts

Arsenio extended the strategy of using his son’s talents to win Belisa. One summer evening, he sat with Arsileo and several neighbors beneath a large ash tree in the square opposite her lodging. Arsenio praised his son’s singing and playing in a way intended to prompt the company to ask for a harp. When Arsileo was urged to perform, Belisa heard the music and understood that his father meant to charm her through abilities that belonged to the son.

The scene confirms the reversal initiated by the letter. Arsenio’s plan could place Arsileo’s writing and music before Belisa, but it could not control whom those gifts made her love. Belisa recognizes the father’s design even as the son’s artistry deepens her attachment to him, leaving the intended courtship entangled in the difference between Arsenio’s persistence and Arsileo’s appeal.