Res humiles: Boccaccio and Biblical Allegory

Boccaccio's&nbsp;<em>Decameron</em> appears to engage with the themes and problems associated with deception in Augustine's moral treatises <em>De mendacio&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>Contra mendacio</em>, which have not previously been recognized as sources or intertexts. Augustine's hierarchical typology of lies is dramatized in the tale of Ciappelletto (<em>Dec.&nbsp;</em>I, 1). Augustine is troubled by a group of biblical narratives in which deception appears met with divine approbation, and Boccaccio restages each of these narratives in his tales. Finally, Augustine's theory of figural allegory specialized for deception stories opens a new interpretation of the&nbsp;<em>Decameron</em>'s last story and frame as a return to the uncertainty of the figural present.