Note 269 — THE SECOND STORY
John Payne translation
Valoroso nel suo mestiere. It does not appear that Martuccio was a craftsman and it is possible, therefore, that Boccaccio intended the word mestiere to be taken in the sense (to me unknown) of "condition" or "estate," in which case the passage would read, "a man of worth for (i.e. as far as comported with) his [mean] estate"; and this seems a probable reading.