The night following this pious ceremony Fra Mino dreamed that the witches, bending over his bed, were tearing his heart out of his bosom. He rose at dawn, tortured with sharp pains and devoured by a raging thirst. He dragged himself as far as the cloister well, where the doves used to drink. But no sooner had he drained down a few drops of water that filled a hollow in the well-head than he felt his heart swell within him like a sponge, and with a stifled cry to God, he choked and died. MESSER GUIDO CAVALCANTI TO JULES LEMAÎTRE MESSER GUIDO CAVALCANTI _Guido, di Messer Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, fu un de' migliori loici che avesse il mondo, et ottimo filosofo naturale.... E perciò che egli alquanto tenea della opinione degli Epicuri, si diceva tra la gente volgare che queste sue speculazioni eran solo in cercare se trovar si potesse che Iddio non fosse._[1] (The _Decameron_ of Messer Giovanni Boccaccio, Sixth Day, Novella IX.) DIM NON. FVI. ME. MINI. NON. SVM. NON. CVRO. DO. NNIA. ITALIA. AN. NORVM. XX. HIC. QVIESCO.[2] (Inscription from the _Cippus of Donnia Italia_ as read by M. Jean-François Bladé.) [Footnote 1: "Guido, son of Messer Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, was one of the best Logicians the world held, and a most finished Natural Philosopher.... And forasmuch as in some degree he held by the opinion of the Epicureans, it was therefore said among the vulgar folk how that these his speculations were only pursued for to discover if it might be there was no God."] [Footnote 2: "To the Gods of the Lower World.--I was not. I remember. I am not and I heed not. I, Donnia Italia, a maid of twenty, rest here."]