If it was in the prose of the Filocolo that the hypertrophic superfoetation of themes and motives from courtly and chivalrous tradition was born, in the Filostrato we find the inverse operation, of the concentration of the plot on a single theme, drawn from that ample source that is the story of Troy.
The duplicitous formative quête of Florio, who achieves maturity and regal power by making it through a series of adventures and encounters, contrasts with the psychological involution of Troilus, so destructive as to end up with the death of the protagonist on the battlefield. In the Filostrato it is the motions of the soul that are placed under the author’s magnifying lens, which eulogises an erotic event in continual evolution, from falling in love to amorous passion, from the pain at being parted to the tragic desperation of betrayal.
Also the female character Criseyde can be said to be diametrically opposite to Biancifiore, not just because one is a mature widow, the other young and inexperienced, but also for the resolute pragmatism that typifies the first, in contrast with the other’s complete submission.
The so called questions of love found in the Filocolo, so central to the accomplishment of Florio’s courtly education, are in part retracted in the Filostrato and this takes place at particular points, in the dedicatory letter for the work and the end of the poem. In the incipit we find a reappraisal of the eleventh question where the preference shown in the Filocolo for amor de lohn is capsized. The poem ends with a dissertation on whether it is better to choose a young woman, one of high lineage or one that is “perfect”, that is mature, and, favouring this last, it would seem that the ninth question is also repudiated, in which the female types in competition were the “pulcella” or young maid, the married woman and the widow. The original lady to whom the Filostrato was dedicated, Fiammetta-Maria d’Aquino, was supplanted by Filomena-Giovanna, who was the recipient of the prefatory letter with which Boccaccio consecrated the poem to his new mistress.
Filostrato: An anti-Filocolo
