Lothario

Role: gentleman · First appears: Part 1, Ch. 33.1

In Part 1, Ch. 33, Lothario is a gentleman of Florence and Anselmo’s closest friend, so closely joined to him that they are known as “The Two Friends.” With Anselmo’s approval, he negotiates his marriage to Camilla, then limits his visits to protect the couple’s honour, though Anselmo persuades him to return regularly. Lothario also advises that a married man should have a friend who will correct his faults, but he is eventually drawn into Anselmo’s plan to test Camilla’s virtue.

At first Lothario agrees only to satisfy Anselmo without harming Camilla, and devises a way to deceive him while leaving her untouched. After Anselmo discovers that he has lied about courting her, however, Lothario begins passionately pursuing Camilla during her husband’s absence. Camilla initially rejects him, but soon yields, and Lothario continues concealing their affair by telling Anselmo that she has refused him and by helping maintain the fiction of Chloris. When jealousy leads him to accuse Camilla and arrange for Anselmo to spy on her, he confesses the scheme to her and joins her staged confrontation, helping make her feigned rejection appear genuine.

After Anselmo accepts the deception as proof of Camilla’s fidelity, Lothario remains involved in the concealed affair until the guilt becomes known and Anselmo dies. That same night, Lothario takes Camilla to a convent overseen by his sister and then leaves the city; not long afterwards, he is killed in a battle in the kingdom of Naples.