I learned that she was an Italian by birth, a native of a small village in the environs of Porto Fiero, a seaport not far from Genoa.

She had no relatives who could pay her ransom, and she had consequently been fastened to the plough like a beast of burden until death should come to deliver her.

The frightful fate of this miserable slave so filled me with compassion, that I shed tears of grief and rage when I heard afar off her piercing cries as the rod of the overseer descended upon her.

One day my indignation was so roused, when the pagan wretches had knocked her down and were treating her even more cruelly than usual, that I dared to defend her by force.

Had not my master expected a large sum for my ransom, a frightful death would have been the punishment of my audacity.