Dioneo’s Privilege to Choose His Own Story Topic

Dioneo’s privilege gives the final teller a choice unavailable to the others: he may tell the story that most pleases him instead of observing the day’s assigned theme. The privilege is not simply a license to depart from the company’s subject; Dioneo’s own stories show that he may also elect to remain within it, making the rule a flexible exception rather than an obligation to differ.

Position and Scope

The privilege belongs to Dioneo in his capacity as the company’s last storyteller. On the Sixth Day, after the others have finished, he recognizes that it is his turn and begins without waiting for a more formal command. He openly acknowledges his freedom to speak about whatever he likes, establishing both his place at the end of the day’s sequence and his exemption from the usual topical constraint.

The rule shapes the storytelling routine without determining what Dioneo must say. His freedom is discretionary: the subject may be chosen for his own pleasure, but he can still follow the direction taken by the preceding tales. This distinction is clearest in the contrast between his choices on the Sixth and Seventh Days.

Choosing to Follow the Theme

On the Sixth Day, Dioneo says that, although he could depart from the matter the others have treated, he will follow their lead. He tells of Fra Cipolla, a friar of the Order of Saint Anthony, who uses a sudden improvisation to escape a trap set by two young men. His choice demonstrates that the privilege does not require a new or unrelated topic: Dioneo can exercise the right to choose by freely choosing conformity.

The episode also shows how his position affects the pacing of the gathering. He notes that the sun is still midway in the sky and uses this as a reason to lengthen his telling somewhat. His freedom thus concerns not only subject matter but the manner and extent of his contribution, within the shared occasion of the day's storytelling.

Invoking the Exception

On the Seventh Day, Dioneo takes a different course. As king, he had set the subject for that day’s tales, and he initially intended to accept the same obligation as the other storytellers. But he says that the stories already told have covered the matter so fully, and with such distinction, that he cannot recall anything on the subject to match them. Rather than offer a weaker repetition, he announces that he will accept whatever penalty the company may impose and fall back on his customary privilege.

He then turns from the day’s subject of wives’ deceptions of foolish husbands to a short tale about the people of Siena. The change is deliberate: the privilege gives him a way to respond to the exhaustion of the assigned theme, while his declaration of willingness to submit to a forfeit acknowledges that he is departing from a rule he himself established.

Function in the Storytelling Routine

Dioneo’s two choices make the privilege part of the company’s ordered play. His final position is regular, but his topic is not fixed; the exception preserves room for an unexpected tale without erasing the day’s common theme. On the Sixth Day, he demonstrates that freedom by staying with the others’ subject. On the Seventh, he invokes it when he judges that the subject has already been fully worked through.

The rule therefore allows both continuity and variation. It lets Dioneo join the company’s developing conversation when he wishes, and gives him a recognized means of changing course when he does not. His appeal on the Seventh Day also makes the privilege visible as a social compact: he claims the freedom, explains why he is using it, and leaves the company to determine any penalty.