There was in a country not very far hence, a monastery more abounding in sanctity and monks than it is nowadays, and therein, among others, was a young monk, whose vigor and lustiness neither fasts nor vigils availed to mortify. It chanced one day, when all the other monks slept, that, as he went all alone round about the convent, which stood in a very solitary place, he espied a very well-favored lass, belike some husbandman's daughter of the country, who went about the fields culling certain herbs, and no sooner had he set eyes on her than he was violently assailed by carnal appetite. Wherefore, accosting her, he entered into parley with her and so led on from one thing to another that he came to an accord with her and brought her to his cell, and with her he proceeded to take of that pleasure which both most desired, unperceived of any; but whilst, carried away by overmuch ardor, all taken up as he was with the wench and his exceeding pleasure and delight in her company, he clapped on all sail and disported himself with her less cautiously than was prudent, laying her aboard in a trice, and had with her the rarest sport ever man had with woman, to the no small contentment of the lady. Now it chanced that the abbot arose from sleep and softly passing by the monk's cell, heard the racket that the twain made together; whereupon he came stealthily up to the door to listen, that he might the better recognize the voices, and manifestly perceiving that there was a woman in the cell, was at first minded to cause open to him, but after bethought himself to hold another course in the matter and, returning to his chamber, awaited the monk's coming forth.
from The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio.
“The book contains 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived of The Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353…In addition to its literary value and widespread influence (for example on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales), it provides a document of life at the time. Written in the vernacular of the Florentine language, it is considered a masterpiece of classical early Italian prose.”