Tunis

Tunis is the setting for the decisive reversal in the story of Costanza and Martuccio Gomito in the Fifth Day of the Decameron. Martuccio arrives there as a prisoner and rises to royal favor through an ingenious military stratagem; Costanza, who has long believed him dead, reaches the city from Susa and finds him alive. Tunis thus joins political service to private reunion: the counsel that changes Martuccio’s fortunes also makes possible the lovers’ marriage and return to Lipari.

A Political Center in the Story

The city appears during a succession conflict. Mariabdela, king of Tunis, faces a challenge from a young man of high birth and considerable power who claims the kingdom for himself and gathers a large force against him. Martuccio, imprisoned with his companions, hears that the king is preparing to defend his rule. He asks his keeper to convey that he can offer advice capable of winning the war, and the message reaches the king.

Tunis is not elaborated through a description of its streets or buildings. Its importance comes instead from the concentration of authority there: the king can summon a prisoner, hear his proposal, put it into practice, and reward the man whose knowledge proves valuable. The city’s narrative character is therefore political and practical, defined by the court’s capacity to turn an imprisoned stranger into a trusted adviser.

Martuccio’s Stratagem and Rise

Martuccio’s plan depends on the different equipment used by the opposing archers. He knows the region’s language and has observed the king’s manner of fighting, which relies heavily on archers. He proposes that the king’s forces use thinner bowstrings and arrows with narrow notches made to fit them. The enemy’s arrows, with wider notches, will still fit the thinner strings; the king’s narrower-notched arrows, however, will not fit the enemy’s thicker strings.

The advantage is intended to emerge as the battle continues and both sides gather up arrows to reuse. The king’s archers can make use of the enemy’s ammunition, while the opposing archers cannot use theirs. Mariabdela accepts the counsel and follows it; the king wins the war, and Martuccio rises into great favor and wealth. His change in status is tied to a specific, carefully reasoned intervention: the prisoner becomes valuable because he understands how to make the enemy’s resources unusable to them.

Costanza’s Arrival and Their Reunion

While Martuccio’s reputation spreads through the land, Costanza is living at Susa, where she has been taken in by an elderly woman after the winds carried her alone in a boat to the coast. At home she is mourned as lost and dead. When she hears that Martuccio is alive and prospering at Tunis, her love, which had grown cool, suddenly flames up again, and the news restores a hope she had abandoned.

The elderly woman approves Costanza’s wish to see him and travels with her to Tunis, treating her as a daughter. They are received at the house of the woman’s kinswoman. The helper Carapresa is sent to discover what has become of Martuccio and confirms that he is alive and in high estate. Rather than send a message through others, the elderly woman goes herself to tell him that a servant from Lipari wishes to speak with him privately. Her tact brings him to the house without disclosing Costanza’s presence in advance.

When Costanza sees Martuccio, she runs to him with open arms and, overcome, cannot speak; she weeps both for the suffering they have endured and for the happiness of finding him. Martuccio, astonished because he had heard that she was lost, embraces and kisses her. Their reunion connects Tunis’s public and private plots: the city’s reports of Martuccio’s success are what reach Costanza, while its royal household provides the setting in which their separation is finally ended.

Royal Consent and Departure

After hearing Costanza’s account of her adventures and the honorable treatment she received at Susa, Martuccio tells the king that he wishes to marry her according to their law. Mariabdela summons Costanza, hears her confirm Martuccio’s story, and declares that she has well earned him as a husband. He gives substantial gifts to both and grants them leave to do as they please together.

Before the couple depart, Martuccio thanks the elderly woman who sheltered Costanza and rewards her according to her standing. He and Costanza then leave Tunis with Carapresa in a small ship and sail with a fair wind to Lipari. There they marry in a joyful celebration and live together in peace. In the story’s geography, Tunis is the place where military success, news, recognition, and royal approval converge; the couple’s settled life begins only after they leave it.