Prince of the Morea

The Prince of the Morea is a ruler at Chiarenza whose brief relationship with Alatiel offers her a reprieve from danger before the Duke of Athens murders him and abducts her. He receives her with honor and treats her as his wife, but his affection also places him in the path of a kinsman whose desire turns into violence.

Place in Alatiel’s Story

Alatiel reaches Chiarenza after a violent struggle aboard the ship carrying her. Marato has been thrown into the sea, and the two men who then dispute which of them will possess her fall upon each other with knives; one dies, while the other survives gravely wounded. Alatiel fears that the dead and wounded men’s relatives will punish her. Their arrival at Chiarenza and their decision to send her to the Prince of the Morea deliver her, for the moment, from that danger.

The prince welcomes Alatiel after hearing how she came to the city. Her beauty exceeds the reports that have reached him, and her royal manners lead him to conclude that she is a noblewoman, though he cannot discover her identity. He consequently treats her not as a mistress but as his wife. For Alatiel, who believes herself freed from immediate peril and well provided for, this reception brings comfort and restores her spirits; her beauty again becomes the subject of widespread talk.

The Duke’s Betrayal

The Prince’s position among Alatiel’s protectors is undone by a visitor he trusts. The Duke of Athens, the prince’s young, handsome kinsman and friend, comes to Chiarenza ostensibly to visit him. After hearing the prince praise Alatiel’s beauty, the duke sees her for himself and becomes passionately enamoured. His desire outweighs both honor and kinship: he conspires with the prince’s chamberlain, Ciuriaci, to leave secretly with horses and baggage, then enters the prince’s chamber at night with an armed companion.

With Alatiel asleep, the prince stands naked at a window overlooking the shore, seeking relief from the heat. The duke stabs him through the small of the back and throws his body from the palace window, which faces deserted houses undermined by the sea. His companion strangles Ciuriaci with a halter and casts him down beside the prince. Believing that neither Alatiel nor anyone else has heard them, the duke brings a light to the bed and looks upon the sleeping woman. His hands still bloody from the murders, he lies beside her; she mistakes him for the prince. He then has his companions carry her out through the secret door by which he entered, places her on horseback, and rides away with his men. The prince’s courtesy and protection thus end in murder and abduction, and Alatiel’s brief security gives way to another forced departure.

Narrative Function

The prince’s episode marks a temporary pause in Alatiel’s repeated exposure to danger, not a lasting rescue. His reception gives her safety and honor at Chiarenza, but the Duke of Athens converts the prince’s household into the setting for a new seizure. The abrupt reversal makes the protection contingent: Alatiel’s fortunes depend on the men who control her passage, while the prince’s death removes the refuge he had offered.

Rank and the Limits of Protection

The prince’s failure to discover Alatiel’s identity matters alongside the respect he shows her: he reads her bearing as evidence of noble birth, yet can offer no account of who she is or where she belongs. His response is therefore grounded in her apparent rank and beauty rather than knowledge of her past. Treating her as a wife grants her honor within his household, but does not secure her future. The attack exposes the limits of his authority at its most intimate point: even in his own chamber, the ruler is vulnerable to a kinsman’s concealed ambition, and the status that surrounds Alatiel cannot protect either of them from violence.