Guido

“the Savage,” son of Amon and Constant i a. He was the younger brother of Rinaldo. Being wrecked on the coast of the Am´azons, he was compelled to fight their ten male champions, and having slain them all, to marry ten of the Amazons. From this thraldom Guido made his escape, and joined the army of Charlemagne.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516). Guido [ Franceschini ], a reduced nobleman, who tried to repair his fortune by marrying Pompilia, the putative child of Pietro and Violantê. When the marriage was accomplished, and the money secure, Guido ill-treated the putative parents; and Violantê, in revenge, declared that Pompilia was not their child at all, but the offspring of a Roman wanton. Having made this declaration, she next applied to the law-courts for the recovery of the money. When Guido heard this tale, he was furious, and so ill-treated his child-wife that she ran away, under the protection of a young canon. Guido pursued the fugitives, overtook them, and had them arrested; whereupon the canon was suspended for three years, and Pompilia sent to a convent. Here her health gave way, and as the birth of a child was expected, she was permitted to leave the convent and live with her putative parents. Guido, having gained admi ion, murdered all three, and was himself executed for the crime.—R. Browning, The Ring and the Book .