Capsa

Capsa is the Barbary city that frames Alibech’s story: she leaves it as a fourteen-year-old seeking religious instruction, and returns to it as the heir to her father’s estate and Neerbale’s wife. The city is both the point of departure for her mistaken spiritual quest and the place where that misunderstanding becomes a public joke and a circulating saying.

Setting and Departure

Capsa is introduced as the home of a wealthy man whose young daughter, Alibech, is not Christian. Hearing Christians in the city praise their faith and the service of God, she asks how God might be served with the least hindrance. Told that those who withdraw from worldly life in the Thebais Desert serve God most strictly, she slips away alone the next morning and eventually reaches the desert after considerable effort.

Return and Changed Circumstances

While Alibech is away, a fire in Capsa kills her father and the rest of his household, leaving her heir to his wealth. Neerbale, who has squandered his own substance, finds her before the authorities can claim the estate as property left without an heir. He brings her back to Capsa, marries her, and succeeds to the inheritance through her. Her return therefore reverses the circumstances of her departure: the girl who left seeking a religious life comes back with a fortune and a husband.

The Saying Associated with Capsa

Back in Capsa, women ask Alibech what service she performed in the desert. She explains Rustico’s sexual euphemism as though it were a form of devotion, and the women’s laughter turns her misunderstanding into a local joke. The story says that the women spread the phrase through the city until it became a common saying, which then crossed the sea and remained current elsewhere. Capsa thus gives the episode a second life: a private encounter in the desert becomes public speech rooted in the city to which Alibech has returned.