friend they have in the world, on meeting a man who is better dressed,
at once attach themselves to him, and then if they happen on one still
better dressed, they do the like to him. And later, when the prince is
passing through the squares or churches or other public places, they
elbow their way past everyone until they reach his side: and even if
they have naught to say to him, they still must talk, and go on
babbling, and laugh and clap their hands and head, to show they have
business of importance, so that the crowd may see them in favour. But
since these fellows deign to speak only with their lords, I would not
have us deign to speak of them.”
26.—Then the Magnifico Giuliano said:
“As you have mentioned those who are so fond of the company of well
dressed men, I should like you to show us, messer Federico, in what
manner the Courtier ought to dress, and what costume is suitable to him,
and in what way he ought to govern himself in all matters of bodily
adornment. For in this we find an infinite variety: some who dress after
the French fashion, some after the Spanish, some who wish to appear
German; nor is there lack of those who even dress after the style of
Turks: some who wear their beards, some not. Hence in this medley it
were well to know how to choose the best.”
Messer Federico said:
“Indeed I should not know how to give a precise rule about dress, except
that a man ought to follow the custom of the majority; and since (as you
say) this custom is so various, and the Italians are so fond of arraying
themselves after foreign fashions, I think every man may dress as he
pleases.
“But I do not know by what fate it happens that Italy has not, as it was
wont to have, a costume that should be recognized as Italian: for
although the putting of these new fashions into use may have made the
former ones seem very rude, yet the old ones were perhaps a badge of
freedom, as the new ones have proved an augury of servitude, which I
think is now very clearly fulfilled.[167] And as it is recorded that
when Darius had the Persian sword which he wore at his side fashioned
after the Macedonian style, the year before he fought with Alexander,
this was interpreted by the soothsayers to signify that they into whose
fashion Darius had transformed his Persian sword, should come to rule
over Persia.[168] So our having changed our Italian garb for that of
strangers seems to signify that all those for whose garb we have
exchanged our own must come to conquer us: which has been but too true,
for there is now left no nation that has not made us its prey: so that
little more is left to prey upon, and yet they do not cease preying upon
us.
27.—“But I do not wish to touch on painful subjects. Therefore it will
be well to speak of our Courtier’s clothes; which I think, provided they
be not out of the common or inappropriate to his profession, may do very
well in other respects if only they satisfy him who wears them. True it
is that I for my part should not like them to be extreme in any wise, as
the French are sometimes wont to be in over amplitude, and the Germans
in over scantiness,—but as they both are, only corrected and improved in
form by the Italians. Moreover I always like them to tend a little
towards the grave and sober rather than the gay. Thus I think black is
more suitable for garments than any other colour is; and if it is not
black, let it at least be somewhat dark. And this I say of ordinary
attire, for there is no doubt that bright and cheerful colours are more
suitable over armour, and for gala use also dress may be fringed, showy
and magnificent; likewise on public occasions, such as festivals, shows,
masquerades, and the like. For such garments carry with them a certain
liveliness and gaiety that accord very well with arms and sports. But
for the rest I would have our Courtier’s dress display that sobriety
which the Spanish nation greatly affect, for things external often bear
witness to the things within.”
Then messer Cesare Gonzaga said:
“This would give me little concern, for if a gentleman is of worth in
other things, his attire will never enhance or lessen his reputation.”
“You say truly,” replied messer Federico. “Yet what one of us is there,
who, on seeing a gentleman pass by with a garment on his back quartered
in divers colours, or with a mass of strings and knotted ribbons and
cross lacings, does not take him for a fool or a buffoon?”
“Neither for a fool,” said messer Pietro Bembo, “nor for a buffoon would
he be taken by anyone who had lived any time in Lombardy, for all men go
about like that.”
“Then,” said my lady Duchess, laughing, “if all men go about like that,
we must not cast it at them as a fault, since this attire is as fitting
and proper to them as it is for the Venetians to wear puffed
sleeves,[169] or for the Florentines to wear the hood.”
“I am not speaking,” said messer Federico, “more of Lombardy than of
other places, for both the foolish and the wise are to be found in every
nation. But to say what I think is important in attire, I wish that our
Courtier may be neat and dainty throughout his dress, and have a certain
air of modest elegance, yet not of a womanish or vain style. Nor would I
have him more careful of one thing than of another, like many we see who
take such pains with their hair that they forget the rest; others devote
themselves to their teeth, others to their beard, others to their boots,
others to their bonnets, others to their coifs;[170] and the result is
that these few details of elegance seem borrowed by them, while all the
rest, being very tasteless, is recognized as their own. And this kind of
dress I would have our Courtier shun, by my advice; adding also that he
ought to consider how he wishes to seem and of what sort he wishes to be
esteemed, and to dress accordingly and contrive that his attire shall
aid him to be so regarded even by those who neither hear him speak nor
witness any act of his.”
28.—Then my lord Gaspar Pallavicino said:
“Methinks it is not fitting, or even customary among persons of worth,
to judge men’s quality by their dress rather than by their words and
acts; for many would make mistakes, nor is it without reason that we
have the proverb, ‘dress makes not the monk.’”
“I do not say,” replied messer Federico, “that fixed opinions of men’s
worth are to be formed only in this way, or that they are not better
known by their words and acts than by their dress: but I do say that
dress is no bad index of the wearer’s fancy, although it may be
sometimes wrong; and not only this, but all ways and manners, as well as
acts and words, are an indication of the qualities of the man in whom
they are seen.”
“And what things do you find,” replied my lord Gaspar, “from which we
may form an opinion, that are neither words nor acts?”
Then messer Federico said:
“You are too subtle a logician. But to tell you what I mean, there are
some acts that still endure after they are performed, such as building,
writing, and the like; others do not endure, such as those I have now in
mind. In this sense, therefore, I do not say that walking, laughing,
looking, and the like, are acts,—and yet all these outward things often
give knowledge of those within. Tell me, did you not judge that friend
of ours, of whom we were speaking only this morning, to be a light and
frivolous man as soon as you saw him walking with that twist of his
head, wriggling about, and with affable demeanour inviting the
by-standers to doff their caps to him? So, too, when you see anyone
gazing too intently with dull eyes after the manner of an idiot, or
laughing as stupidly as those goitrous mutes in the mountains of
Bergamo,[171]—do you not set him down a very simpleton, although he
neither speak nor do aught else? Thus you see that these ways and
manners (which I do not for the present regard as acts) in great measure
make men known to us.
29.—“But another thing seems to me to give and to take away from
reputation greatly, and this is our choice of the friends with whom we
are to live in intimate relations; for doubtless reason requires that
they who are joined in close amity and fast companionship, shall have
their desires, souls, judgments and minds also in accord. Thus, he who
consorts with the ignorant or wicked, is deemed ignorant or wicked; and
on the contrary, he who consorts with the good, the wise, and the
discreet, is himself deemed to be the like. Because by nature everything
seems to join willingly with its like. Therefore I think we ought to use
great care in beginning these friendships, for he who knows one of two
close friends, at once imagines the other to be of the same quality.”
Then messer Pietro Bembo replied:
“I certainly think we ought to take great care to limit ourselves to
friends of like mind with us, as you say, not only because of the gain
or loss of reputation, but because there are to-day very few true
friends to be found, nor do I believe that the world any longer contains
a Pylades and Orestes, a Theseus and Pirithous, or a Scipio and
Lælius.[172] On the contrary, by some fatality it happens every day that
two friends, who have lived in very cordial love for many years, yet in
some way cheat each other at last, either through malice, or jealousy,
or fickleness, or some other evil cause: and each gives the other the
blame which perhaps both deserve.
“Therefore, since it has more than once happened to me to be deceived by
him whom I most loved above every other person, and by whom I was sure I
was loved,—I have sometimes thought to myself that it would be well for
us never to trust anyone in the world, nor so to give ourselves up to
any friend (however dear and loved he be) as to reveal all our thoughts
to him, as we should to ourselves; for there are so many dark corners
and recesses in our minds that it is impossible for human wit to
penetrate the deceptions they conceal. Hence I think it were well to
love and serve one more than another according to merit and worth; yet
never to be so sure of friendship’s sweet enticement, that we at last
have cause to rue our trust.”
30.—Then messer Federico said:
“Verily the loss would be far greater than the gain, if human
intercourse were to be deprived of that highest pitch of friendship
which in my opinion gives us all the good our life has in it; and
therefore I will in no wise admit that what you say is reasonable, nay
rather I venture to assert, and for the clearest reasons, that without
this perfect friendship men would be far unhappier than all other
creatures. And if some profanely stain this sacred name of friendship,
we ought not on that account to uproot it from our hearts, and for the
guilt of the wicked deprive the good of such felicity. And for my part I
think there are here among us more than one pair of friends, whose love
is steadfast and without deceit and lasting unto death with like
desires, no less than if they were those ancients whom you mentioned
awhile ago; and it happens thus when a man chooses a friend, not only
from heaven-born impulse, but like himself in character. And in all this
I am speaking of the good and virtuous, for the friendship of the wicked
is not friendship.
“I am well pleased that so close a tie as this should not join or bind
more than two, for otherwise perhaps it would be dangerous; because, as
you know, it is harder to attune three musical instruments together,
than two. Therefore, I would that our Courtier might have one special
and hearty friend, if possible, of the kind we have described; then that
he might love, honour and respect all others according to their worth
and merits, and always contrive to consort more with such as are in high
esteem and noble and of known virtue, than with the ignoble and those of
little worth; in such wise that he may be loved and honoured by them
also. And he will accomplish this if he be courteous, kind, generous,
affable and mild with others, zealous and active to serve and guard his
friends’ welfare and honour both absent and present, enduring such of
their natural defects as are endurable, without breaking with them for
slight cause, and correcting in himself those that are kindly pointed
out; never thrusting himself before others to reach the first and most
honoured places; nor acting like some, who seem to despise the world and
insist with a kind of tiresome preciseness on laying down the law for
everyone, and who, besides being unseasonably contentious in every
little thing, censure that which they do not do themselves, and are
always seeking occasion for complaint against their friends,—which is a
very odious thing.”
31.—Messer Federico pausing here, my lord Gaspar Pallavicino said:
“I should like to have you speak a little more in detail than you do
about this matter of converse with our friends; for in truth you keep
much to generalities, and show us things in passing, as it were.”
“How ‘in passing’?” replied messer Federico. “Perhaps you would have me
tell the very words that you must use? Do you not think we have talked
enough about this?”
“Enough I think,” replied my lord Gaspar. “Yet I should like to hear a
few more details about the manner of intercourse with men and women; for
the thing seems to me of great importance, seeing that most of our time
at courts is given to it; and if it were always the same, it would soon
become tedious.”
“I think,” replied messer Federico, “we have given the Courtier
knowledge of so many things, that he can easily vary his conversation
and adapt himself to the quality of the persons with whom he has to do,
presupposing he has good sense and governs himself by it, and sometimes
turns to grave matters and sometimes to festivals and games, according
to the occasion.”
“And what games?” said my lord Gaspar.
Then messer Federico replied, laughing:
“Let us ask advice of Fra Serafino, who invents new ones every day.”
“Jesting apart,” answered my lord Gaspar, “do you think it would be a
vice in the Courtier to play at cards and dice?”
“Not I,” said messer Federico, “unless he did so too constantly and
neglected more important matters for them, or indeed unless he played
for nothing else but to win money, and cheated the company, and showed
such grief and vexation at losing as to argue himself a miser.”
“And what,” replied my lord Gaspar, “do you say of the game of chess?”
“It is certainly a pleasant and ingenious amusement,” said messer
Federico. “But I think there is one defect in it. And that is, there is
too much to know, so that whoever would excel in the game of chess must
spend much time on it, methinks, and give it as much study as if he
would learn some noble science or do anything else of importance you
please; and yet in the end with all his pains he has learned nothing but
a game. Therefore I think a very unusual thing is true of it, namely
that mediocrity is more praiseworthy than excellence.”
My lord Gaspar replied:
“Many Spaniards excel in this and divers other games, yet without giving
them much study or neglecting other things.”
“Believe me,” replied messer Federico, “they do give much study thereto,
although covertly. But those other games you speak of, besides chess,
are perhaps like many I have seen played (although of little moment),
which serve only to make the vulgar marvel; wherefore methinks they
deserve no other praise or reward than that which Alexander the Great
gave the fellow who at a good distance impaled chick-peas on the point
of a needle.[173]
32.—“But since it appears that fortune exerts immense power over men’s
opinions as over many other things, we sometimes see that a gentleman,
however well conditioned he may be and endowed with many graces, is
unacceptable to a prince, and goes against the grain as we say;[174] and
this without any apparent reason, so that as soon as he comes into the
prince’s presence and before he is known by the others, although he be
keen and ready with retorts, and display himself to advantage in
gestures, manners, words, and all else that is becoming,—the prince will
show small esteem for him, nay will soon put some affront upon him. And
thus it will come about that the others will follow the prince’s lead,
and everyone will regard the man as of little worth, nor will there be
any to prize or esteem him, or laugh at his amusing talk or hold him in
any respect; nay, all will begin to deride and persecute him. Nor will
it be enough for the poor man to make good retorts or take things as if
said in jest, for the very pages will set upon him, so that even if he
were the sturdiest man in the world, he must perforce remain foiled and
ridiculed.
“And on the other hand, if the prince shows favour to a very dolt, who
knows neither how to speak nor how to act,—his manners and ways (however
silly and uncouth they be) will often be praised by everyone with
exclamations and astonishment, and the whole court will seem to admire
and respect him, and everyone will appear to laugh at his jests and at
certain rustic and stupid jokes that ought to excite rather disgust than
laughter: to such degree are men firm and fixed in the opinions that are
engendered by the favour and disfavour of lords.
“Therefore I would have our Courtier set off his worth as best he can,
with cleverness and skill, and whenever he has to go where he is strange
and unknown, let him take care that good opinion of him precedes him,
and see to it that men there shall know of his being highly rated in
other places, among other lords, ladies and gentlemen; for that fame
which seems to spring from many judgments, begets a kind of firm belief
in a man’s worth, which, in minds thus disposed and prepared, is then
easily maintained and increased by his conduct: moreover he escapes that
annoyance which I feel when asked who I am and what my name is.”
33.—“I do not see how this can help,” replied messer Bernardo Bibbiena;
“for it has several times happened to me, and I think to many others,
that having been led by the word of persons of judgment to imagine
something to be of great excellence before I saw it,—on seeing it I
found it paltry and was much disappointed of what I expected. And the
reason was simply that I had put too much trust in report and formed in
my mind so high an expectation, that although the real thing was great
and excellent, yet when afterwards measured by the fact, it seemed very
paltry by comparison with what I had imagined. And I fear it may be so
with our Courtier too. Therefore I do not see the advantage of raising
such expectations and sending our fame before us; for the mind often
imagines things that it is impossible to fulfil, and thus we lose more
than we gain.”
Here messer Federico said:
“The things that you and many others find inferior to their reputation,
are for the most part of such sort that the eye can judge of them at a
glance,—as if you had never been at Naples or Rome, and from hearing
them so much talked of, you were to imagine something far beyond what
they afterwards proved to be when seen; but such is not the case with
men’s character, because that which is outwardly seen is the least part.
Thus, on first hearing a gentleman speak, if you should not find in him
that worth which you had previously imagined, you would not at once
reverse your good opinion of him, as you would in those matters whereof
the eye is instant judge, but you would wait from day to day to discover
some other hidden virtue, still holding fast to the good impression you
had received from so many lips; and later, if he were thus richly
endowed (as I assume our Courtier to be), your confidence in his
reputation would be hourly confirmed, because his acts would justify it,
and you would be always imagining something more than you saw.
34.—“And surely it cannot be denied that these first impressions have
very great weight, and that we ought to be very careful regarding them.
And to the end that you may see how important they are, I tell you that
in my time I knew a gentleman, who, while he was of very gentle aspect
and modest manners and also valiant in arms, yet did not so greatly
excel in any of these things but that he had many equals and even
superiors. However, fate so willed that a lady chanced to fall most
ardently in love with him, and her love increasing daily with the signs
that the young man gave of loving her in return, and there being no way
for them to speak together, she was moved by excess of passion to reveal
her desires to another lady through whom she hoped to secure some
assistance. This lady was in no wise inferior to the first in rank or
beauty; whence it came to pass, that on hearing the young man (whom she
had never seen) spoken of so tenderly, and perceiving that he was
extravagantly loved by her friend (whom she knew to be very discreet and
of excellent judgment), she straightway imagined him to be the
handsomest and wisest and most discreet and in short the most lovable
man in the world. And thus, without having seen him, she became so
passionately enamoured of him, that she began making every effort to
secure him, not for her friend but for herself, and inducing him to
return her love: which she succeeded in doing with little effort, for in
truth she was a lady rather to be wooed than to woo others.
“Now hear the end of my tale. Not long afterwards it happened that a
letter, which this second lady had written to her lover, fell into the
hands of still another lady, also very noble and of good character and
rarest beauty,—who, being like most ladies curious and eager to learn
secrets and especially other ladies’, opened this letter, and on reading
it saw that it was written with the fervour of ardent love. And the
sweet, impassioned words that she read first moved her to compassion for
that lady, for she well knew from whom the letter came and to whom it
was going; then they gained such power, that as she turned them over in
her mind and considered what sort of man he must be who could arouse
such love in the lady, she too straightway fell in love with him; and
the letter had perhaps a greater effect than if it had been sent by the
young man to her. And as it sometimes happens that a poisoned dish,
intended for a prince, kills the first comer who tastes it, so in her
over greediness this poor lady drank the love poison that had been
prepared for another.
“What more shall I say? The affair became well known, and spread abroad
so that many other ladies besides these, partly to spite the others and
partly to imitate them, used every effort and pains to possess
themselves of the man’s love, and contended for it with one another as
boys contend for cherries. And all this began with the first impression
of that lady who saw him so beloved by another.”
35.—Here my lord Gaspar Pallavicino replied, laughing:
“To give reasons in support of your opinion, you cite the doings of
women, who for the most part are quite unreasonable. And if you cared to
tell the whole truth, this favourite of so many women must have been a
dunce and at bottom a man of little worth. For their way is always to
favour the meanest, and like sheep to do what they see others doing,
whether it be good or evil. Moreover they are so jealous among
themselves, that even if the man had been a monster, they would have
tried to steal him from one another.”
Here many began to speak, and nearly everyone wanted to contradict my
lord Gaspar; but my lady Duchess imposed silence on all, and then said,
laughing:
“If the evil you say of women were not so far from the truth, that the
saying of it casts blame and shame on him who says it rather than on
them, I should allow you to be answered. But I am not willing that, by
being confronted with the arguments which it is possible to cite, you
should be cured of this evil habit, in order that you may suffer very
grievous punishment for your fault: which shall be the bad opinion
wherein you will be held by all who hear you argue in such fashion.”
[Illustration:
GIACOPO SANNAZARO
1458-1530
]
Head enlarged from a photograph, specially made by Alinari, of a part of
the fresco, “Leo X’s Entry into Florence,” in the Palazzo Vecchio at
Florence, by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574). See Milanesi’s edition of
Vasari’s _Opere_, viii, 142.
Then messer Federico replied:
“My lord Gaspar, do not say that women are so very unreasonable, even if
they are sometimes moved to love by others’ judgment rather than by
their own; for gentlemen and many wise men do the same. And if I may say
the truth, you yourself and all the rest of us here do often and even
now trust more to the opinion of others than to our own. And in proof of
this, it is not long ago that certain verses, handed about this court
under the name of Sannazaro,[175] seemed very excellent to everyone and
were praised with wonder and applause; then, it being known for certain
that they were by another hand, they promptly sank in reputation and
were thought less than mediocre. And a certain motet,[176] which was
sung before my lady Duchess, found no favour and was not thought good
until it was known to be the work of Josquin de Près.[177]