How we cite our quotes: (Day.Story.Page)
Quote #10
'What more needs to be said, except that celestial spirits may sometimes descend even into the houses of the poor, whilst there are those in royal palaces who would be better employed as swineherds than as rulers of men?" (X.10.794-795, Dioneo's tale of Griselda)
What Dioneo says here may not sound revolutionary to us, but it does go against a long established understanding that those who are born to nobility are actually, well, noble people. Boccaccio allows Dioneo the opportunity to say what everyone's thinking and understands from personal experience: nobles can be jerks while lowly maidens can be truly celestial.