The Decameron · Chapter
The Second Story explained
Jehannot de Chevigné, a Christian merchant in Paris, repeatedly urges his Jewish friend Abraham to convert to Christianity.
What happens
Jehannot de Chevigné, a Christian merchant in Paris, repeatedly urges his Jewish friend Abraham to convert to Christianity. Abraham agrees to consider conversion only after visiting the papal court in Rome to observe the clergy's conduct. Despite Jehannot's warnings about the corruption he will find, Abraham goes to Rome, witnesses widespread depravity among the clergy, yet is paradoxically convinced that the Christian religion must be divinely supported since it thrives despite such corruption. He returns to Paris and is baptized, becoming a devout Christian.
Themes in this chapter
Religion and Hypocrisy
The story starkly contrasts the depravity of the clergy with the divine truth of Christianity, using Abraham's journey to expose hypocrisy while affirming faith.
Wit and Cunning
Abraham's clever plan to observe the clergy firsthand and his logical conclusion that Christianity must be true despite its corrupt leaders demonstrates shrewd reasoning.
Fortune and Fate
The unexpected outcome—Abraham's conversion after witnessing corruption—suggests a providential or fateful design beyond human expectation.
Characters to notice
- Jehannot de Chevigné
A wealthy and upright Christian merchant in Paris who persistently urges his Jewish friend Abraham to convert.
- Abraham the Jew
A rich and honest Jewish merchant who, after witnessing the corruption of the Roman clergy, is paradoxically convinced of the truth of Christianity and converts.
- Neifile
The queen of the day who commands Neifile to tell the next story; Neifile narrates this tale.
Key passages
“Pamfilo hath shown us in his story that God’s benignness regardeth not our errors, when they proceed from that which is beyond our ken; and I, in mine, purpose to show you how this same benignness—patiently suffering the defaults of those who, being especially bounden both with words and deeds to bear true witness thereof yet practise the contrary—exhibiteth unto us an infallible proof of itself, to the intent that we may, with the more constancy of mind, ensue that which we believe.”
Pamfilo's story showed that God overlooks our mistakes when they come from ignorance; now I want to show how God's mercy, even when church leaders act contrary to their teachings, gives us clear proof of the faith so we can believe more firmly.
Neifile introduces the moral of her story, framing it as a demonstration of divine mercy despite clerical hypocrisy.
“Manifest simony they had christened ‘procuration’ and gluttony ‘sustentation,’ as if God apprehended not—let be the meaning of words but—the intention of depraved minds and would suffer Himself, after the fashion of men, to be duped by the names of things.”
They openly called simony 'administration' and gluttony 'maintenance,' as if God couldn't see through their clever renaming and would be fooled like humans are by fancy words.
Abraham observes the clergy's hypocrisy in disguising their sins with euphemisms.
“And for that I see that this whereafter they strive cometh not to pass, but that your religion continually increaseth and waxeth still brighter and more glorious, meseemeth I manifestly discern that the Holy Spirit is verily the foundation and support thereof, as of that which is true and holy over any other.”
Because I see that despite their efforts to destroy it, your religion keeps growing and becoming more glorious, I clearly recognize that the Holy Spirit must be its true foundation, making it the one true and holy faith.
Abraham explains his paradoxical conclusion: the clergy's corruption proves Christianity's divine origin, since it thrives despite them.