Salvestra Dies Upon Girolamo’s Body

Salvestra Dies Upon Girolamo’s Body brings Neifile’s tale of Girolamo and Salvestra to its tragic close: the sight of the dead lover rekindles the feeling Salvestra had denied him in life, and grief kills her beside him. Their shared burial makes death the union that their lives did not achieve.

The Night Before

Girolamo dies in Salvestra’s home. Her husband judges that the dead man should be carried quietly to his own house, and that Salvestra has done nothing deserving blame. At her suggestion, he touches Girolamo’s body; then, without further argument, he lights a lamp, dresses the young man in his own garments, and carries him on his shoulders to Girolamo’s door. He leaves him there, his innocence protecting him from suspicion.

Salvestra at the Church

When Girolamo is found dead before his door the following day, physicians examine his body and find no wound or bruise. The general conclusion is that he has died of grief. As the lamentation gathers in the church, Salvestra’s husband asks her to cover her head with a mantle, join the women, and listen for any accusation; he will listen among the men. Salvestra agrees, but she also wants to see the young man she had refused even a single kiss while he lived.

Veiled among the mourners, Salvestra makes her way to the body. The sight of Girolamo’s dead face suddenly opens the heart that his good fortune had not opened. She gives a great cry and throws herself face down upon him. She has scarcely time to weep: as soon as she touches him, grief takes her life too.

Discovery and Burial

The women initially do not recognize Salvestra. When they try to raise her and find her motionless, they lift her veil and realize that she is dead. News reaches her husband, who weeps and tells those present what happened during the night, making clear the cause of both deaths. The mourners lay Salvestra beside Girolamo on the same bier, and the two are buried in one tomb.

Narrative Significance

The episode turns the church’s public mourning into the final scene of a private love. Salvestra enters under a veil to discover what others are saying, but the journey instead exposes the depth of the attachment she had kept from Girolamo. The narrative makes recognition bodily and immediate: seeing his face, touching him, and dying are joined in a single movement. Its ending reverses the lovers’ separation in life, granting them in death an inseparable union.