deed or testament by which a priest resigned his benefice or prebend in
favour of someone else.
Note 291 page 151. ANTONIO TORELLO, (died 1536), was private chamberlain
to Julius II and Leo X, who conferred a canonry and several prebends
upon him in 1514. In the briefs he is designated as a priest of the
diocese of Foglino, and is given certain benefices there, which had
fallen vacant on the death of another priest. We thus infer that Torello
must have been familiar with the subject referred to in the text. He was
made a Roman citizen in 1530.
Note 292 page 151. These two hunchbacks have not been identified. “The
Wheel” (_la Ruota_ or _Rota della Giustizia_, or simply _la Rota_) was
the highest civil and criminal court of Rome prior to 1870. Its name may
have originated in the circular arrangement of the judges’ (auditors’)
seats (compare the _hemicyclium_ of Cicero’s time), or possibly in a
wheel-shaped porphyry figure set in the pavement of the hall where they
sat. The play is of course on the double meaning of the word _torto_,
crooked, wrong.
Note 293 page 151. LATINO GIOVENALE DE’ MANETTI, (born 1486; died 1553),
was a native of Rome, and a canon of St. Peter’s, but being of minor
rank he had a wife and children. He held various offices, including that
of Commissary General of Roman Antiquities, and was employed in several
papal embassies. A writer of Latin and Italian verse, he was a friend of
Castiglione, Bembo and Bibbiena, and is mentioned in the autobiography
of Cellini, who says that he “had a pretty big dash of the fool in
him,”—apparently because he presumed to improve one of the sculptor’s
designs for a crucifix.
Note 294 page 152. PERALTA is regarded by Cian as probably identical
with a certain Captain Luijse Galliego de Peralta, who bore a letter
(1521) from Castiglione at Rome to the Marquess Federico of Mantua, then
fighting against the French. In this letter Castiglione speaks of having
known Peralta for years as “a man of character and a valiant.” Cian
regards him as identical also with a certain Colonel Peralta, whose
death at the battle of Frosinone is mentioned (in a letter of 1526)
among those of other Spaniards.
MOLART is identified by Cian as the French soldier of fortune, “Molard,”
who commanded a battalion of Gascons at the battle of Ravenna (11 April
1512), and who fell there bravely fighting by the side of Gaston de
Foix.
ALDANA afterwards served under the Marquess of Mantua at Pavia in 1522,
having been summoned (as was Castiglione also) from Rome at the head of
his company.
Note 295 page 152. The duel in question is thus described by Branthôme
in his Discourse on Duels: “The Grand Master de Chaumont, the King’s
Lieutenant in the State of Milan, also allowed a duel to two Spaniards
who had asked it of him. The name of one was Signor Peralta, who had
formerly been in the King of France’s service, ... and the other
Spaniard was called Captain Aldana. Their combat was on horse, _à la
genette_ (jennet), with rapier and dagger and three darts to each man.
Peralta’s second was another Spaniard, and Aldana’s was the gentle
Captain Molart. It had snowed so much that their encounter took place in
the Piazza at Parma, from which the snow had been cleared, and there
being no other barriers than the snow, each of the two combatants did
his duty right well. And at last my lord de Chaumont, who had appointed
the ground and was umpire, caused them to retire with equal honour.”
Note 296 page 152. Cian inclines to regard this Master MARCANTONIO as
identical with a certain eccentric physician of the same name, who lived
at Urbino and was the author of a fantastic law book and a long comedy.
Of BOTTONE DA CESENA nothing more is known than is contained in the
text.
Note 297 page 152. ‘Three sticks,’ i.e., the gallows.
Note 298 page 152. Of the three persons bearing the name ANDREA COSCIA
and known to have lived at this time, it is uncertain which one is here
referred to.
Note 299 page 152. A MS. copy of THE COURTIER contains the following
passage: “Again a Venetian (forgive me, messer Pietro), coming to visit
my lady Maddalena, sister to my lady Duchess,—as soon as he was near he
offered her his hand, but without removing his cap. My lady Maddalena
drew back a step, and drew back her hand too, saying: ‘Gentle Sir, put
on your cap; cover your head.’ He still advanced and offered his hand;
whereupon she replied: ‘I will never do it, unless you cover.’ Thus the
poor man was so put to shame that he at last removed his cap.” Under
similar circumstances Madame Bernhardt is said to have reproved Edward
VII (then Prince of Wales) by feigning not to recognize him with his hat
on.
Note 300 page 152. MY LORD CARDINAL, i.e., Giovanni de’ Medici,
afterwards Leo X, (born 1475; died 1521). He was the second son of
Lorenzo de’ Medici and Clarice Orsini, and an elder brother of the
Magnifico of THE COURTIER. Made a cardinal at the age of thirteen, and
exiled from Florence with the rest of his family in 1494, he was present
at the election of Alexander VI, of whose character he is said to have
shown true appreciation at the time by remarking: “We are in the wolf’s
jaws; he will gulp us down, unless we make good our flight.” During the
reign of Julius II, he seems to have been subservient to that pontiff,
and in 1511 was a member of the court of six cardinals which acquitted
the young Duke of Urbino of the charge of murdering Cardinal Alidosi.
The pontificates of Alexander and Julius had exhausted Italy with wars,
and the Christian world, weary of their scandalous violence, hailed with
relief the accession of the cultivated and seemingly gentle young
prelate, Giovanni de’ Medici. Of his reign,—so brilliant in art and
letters, so disastrous to the Church,—it is enough to say that the key
is found in the famous phrase with which, on his elevation to the Chair
of St. Peter, he greeted his brother Giuliano: “Let us enjoy the Papacy,
since God hath given it us.” To him the immortality of the soul was an
open topic for debate, while he regarded sound Latinity and a ready
tongue as more important than true doctrine and pure living. Sincerely
zealous for the diffusion of liberal knowledge, he was extravagantly
munificent to artists, scholars and authors. Like all his family, after
the first Cosimo, he was a poor financier, and on his sudden death he
was found to have pawned the very jewels of his tiara. His reckless
expenditure led to the sale of indulgences, and thus in no small degree
to the progress of the Reformation.
[Illustration:
LUDOVICO SFORZA
DUKE OF MILAN
1451-1508
]
Enlarged from a part of Alinari’s photograph (no. 14351) of the marble
tomb sculptures, now in the Certosa di Pavia near Milan, by
Cristoforo Solari, known as _il Gobbo_, (died 1540).
Note 301 page 153. BIAGINO CRIVELLO was one of Duke Ludovico Sforza’s
captains, and is mentioned (July 1500) in a list of Sforza adherents who
had rebelled against Louis XII, and whose possessions were declared
forfeit. The list speaks of him as keeping himself at Mantua and in
Venetian territory, and as owning no attachable property in the
Milanese. In April of the same year an ineffectual demand had been made
upon the Marquess of Mantua for the surrender of Crivello and other
chiefs of the Sforza party.
Note 302 page 153. THE DUKE, i.e., Ludovico Sforza, “Il Moro,” (born
1451; died 1508), was the fourth son of the Francesco Sforza whom Duke
Federico of Urbino had helped to become Duke of Milan (and whose father,
a peasant condottiere, Muzio Attendolo, became known as Sforza by reason
of great personal strength),—and of Bianca Maria, a daughter of the last
Visconti duke of Milan. Early noted for his physical and mental
qualities, Ludovico read and wrote Latin fluently, had a tenacious
memory, and was a ready speaker. He was tall and of strongly marked
features. Unlike his horrible brother Galeazzo Maria, he shunned
bloodshed. Banished from Milan after his brother’s assassination in
1476, he returned in triumph in 1479, and assumed the guardianship of
his nephew Giangaleazzo, for whom he chose as bride his sister’s child,
Isabella (see note 396), daughter of Alfonso II of Naples. Having first
sought the hand of Isabella d’Este (see note 397),—who was already
betrothed to the Marquess of Mantua,—in 1491 he married her younger
sister Beatrice (see note 398), whose influence is by some said to have
led him to aggravate the humiliation of his young nephew and niece, the
rightful duke and duchess. Being threatened by the latter’s father, the
King of Naples, Ludovico invited Charles VIII to enter Italy (1494) and
assert the Angevine claim to Naples. His unhappy nephew died the same
year, not without suspicion of having been poisoned by the uncle’s
order, who thereupon assumed the title as well as the despotic power of
duke. Becoming alarmed at the rapid success of the French in Italy, he
joined the league formed against them, and was afterwards punished for
his treachery by being expelled from Milan by Louis XII and carried to
France. It is said that at the time of his capture, the only favour he
asked was to be allowed the use of a volume of Dante. He died a prisoner
in the Castle of Loches, where, after a vain effort to escape, he was
confined in an underground dungeon. At the height of his prosperity his
revenues exceeded those of any Italian state except Venice. Policy and
also his natural taste for intellectual pleasures led him to copy the
Medici in their patronage of art and letters. He aspired to make his
capital a modern Athens, and sought to attract men of fame and talent
from far and wide. Both Leonardo da Vinci and the architect Bramante
were in his pay.
Note 303 page 153. Cervia is a little town on the Adriatic (between
Ravenna and Rimini). A Dominican, Tommaso Cattanei, was bishop of the
diocese from 1486 to 1509. The pope referred to in the text was Julius
II.
Note 304 page 155. ‘Montefiore Inn’ was a proverbial expression for a
bad hostelry. The rustic inns of Italy at this period were usually
wretched and for the most part kept by Germans.
Note 305 page 156. One ANDREA CASTILLO was secretary to Leo X, and died
in 1545.
Note 306 page 156. Cian identifies this CARDINAL BORGIA as the Francesco
(born 1441; died 1511) who was raised to the purple by Alexander VI, and
s’ known as a schismatic.
Note 307 page 156. The modern form of _ballatore_ is _ballerino_.
Although the distinction is not free from doubt, there seems to be
reason for believing that _danzare_ was the term applied to the more
stately forms of dance, while _ballare_ was reserved for more animated
movements. See note 147.
Note 308 page 157. The Bergamasque was and still is regarded as the
rudest and most rustic of the Italian dialects.
Note 309 page 157. Except as applied to a small Tuscan stream or torrent
(flowing near Acquapendente and Orvieto, and finally tributary to the
Tiber), the name Paglia does not occur in modern Italian geography. In
his autobiography, Cellini mentions crossing the little stream on his
first journey from Siena to Rome. Later in the 16th century, Montaigne
records (in his diary of a trip into Italy) having spent the night at
“_La Paille_” (Italian, _Paglia_), and describes it as “a small village
of five or six houses at the foot of several barren and ill-favoured
mountains.”
Note 310 page 157. They seem to have been playing _primero_ (the modern
_primiera_), a game much in vogue at this time.
Note 311 page 158. Loreto is a small hill town near Ancona, and is
celebrated for its pilgrimage shrine of the Sacred House (_Santa Casa_),
which was reputed to have been the veritable dwelling of the Virgin,
miraculously transported by angels from Nazareth, and set down in Italy
in 1294. In 1511 and again in 1524 Castiglione wrote to his mother that
he was preparing to go to Our Lady of Loreto in fulfilment of a vow. The
name was said to be derived from that of the widow upon whose land the
house was deposited by the angels.
Note 312 page 158. Acquapendente is the name of a small town sixty-seven
miles north-west of Rome.
Note 313 page 159. MONSIGNOR OF SAN PIETRO AD VINCULA was the title of
Cardinal Galeatto della Rovere; see note 189.
Note 314 page 159. MONSIGNOR OF ARAGON was the title of Cardinal
Ludovico of Aragon, (born 1474), a natural son of Ferdinand I of Naples,
and a half-brother of Alfonso II (see note 31) and Federico III of
Naples (see note 401). He was not elevated to the purple until 1519;
Castiglione’s mention of him as a cardinal in dialogues supposed to take
place twelve years earlier, doubtless arose from a natural confusion
between the time when and the time of which they were written.
Note 315 page 159. ‘The _Banchi_’ (Banks) was the name of a street in
Rome well known in the 15th and 16th centuries. Containing the offices
of the papal Curia and magistrates, it became a preferred neighbourhood,
and was enriched with fine buildings, among which was the counting-house
of Julius II’s finance minister, Agostino Chigi, the greatest banker of
his day.
Note 316 page 159. ‘The Chancery’ (_Cancelleria_) was a palace designed
about 1500 by Bramante for Cardinal Riario, but at this time used for
public offices and as the residence of Cardinal Galeotto della Rovere,
who had enlarged and embellished the building. It was not far from the
Banks.
Note 317 page 159. San Celso was the name of a street and church near
the Banks. The saint (Celsus) whose memory is thus perpetuated was born
at what is now Cimiez, near Nice, suffered martyrdom at Rome under Nero,
and was finally put to death (together with his master, St. Nazarius) at
Milan in the year 69.
Note 318 page 160. CESARE BECCADELLO is regarded by Cian as possibly
identical with a certain Bolognese, who was the son of Domenico Maria
Beccadello, married Landomia Fasanini, and was living at the papal court
as late as 1559. The Spanish annotator Fabié suggests that he was the
father (1502) of the author Ludovico Beccadello, who was a follower of
Bembo and wrote biographies of Petrarch and others.
Note 319 page 161. These are characters occurring in the third, sixth
and ninth tales of the Eighth Day, and in the fifth tale of the Ninth
Day.
Note 320 page 161. This knavish student seems to be identical with a
certain CAIO CALORIA PONZIO, who was born at Messina. Of his life little
more is known than that he studied law at Padua between 1479 and 1488,
and, after residing two years at Venice, returned to Sicily. For an
account of a short poem by him in praise of Venice, and of his dialect
comedy dedicated to the Marquess of Mantua, see Vittorio Rossi’s _Caio
Caloria Ponzio, e la poesia volgare letteraria di Sicilia nel Secolo
XV_, reprinted (Palermo, 1893) from the _Archivio Storico Siciliano_, N.
S., A., xviii.
Note 321 page 161. The only belfry at Padua answering to this
description is said to be that of San Giacomo.
Note 322 page 162. GONNELLA. This name was borne by two famous jesters
employed by the d’Este family. The one here referred to was probably the
later of the two, who lived at the courts of Dukes Niccolò III and
Borso, was the son of a Florentine glover Bernardo Gonnella, and married
one Checca Lapi. The next buffoon referred to was probably LUDOVICO
MELIOLO, who acted as steward to the court of Mantua about 1500, and was
a brother of the goldsmith and sculptor Bartolommeo Meliolo (1448-1514).
He was called “the father of jests.”
Note 323 page 163. This is an instance of the use of the word _calunnia_
(rendered ‘imputation’) in its primitive sense of malicious accusation
without reference to truth or falsity.
Note 324 page 164. These characters occur in the sixth tale of the Third
Day, and in the seventh and eighth tales of the Seventh Day of
Boccaccio’s “Decameron.”
Note 325 page 164. The queen here mentioned is of course Isabella the
Catholic; see note 391.
Note 326 page 164. Fabié says that this COUNTESS OF CASTAGNETA was
Brazaida de Almada, daughter of a Portuguese cavalier Juan Baez de
Almada and Violante de Castro (of the same nation). She was a
lady-in-waiting to Queen Isabella, and her husband Don Garci Fernandez
Manrique (third Count of Castagneta and first Marquess of Aguilar) took
part in the conquest of Granada.
Note 327 page 167. If unconvinced by the “Decameron,” readers of the
_Corbaccio_ will surely be persuaded of the justice of this opinion.
Note 328 page 167. According to one form of the legend of Orpheus, his
grief at the final loss of his wife Eurydice, when his lyre had all but
enabled him to recover her from Hades, led him to treat contemptuously
the Thracian women, who avenged the insult by tearing him in pieces
under the excitement of their Bacchanalian orgies.
Note 329 page 167. ‘Braccesque leave’ (_una licentia bracciesca_ in the
Aldine folio of 1528, and _una licentia Bracciesca_ in the more
correctly printed Aldine folio of 1545) is a phrase derived from the
name of Braccio Fortebracci, a captain who was famous for his violence
to friend and foe, and whose followers were called Bracceschi. To give a
man Braccesque leave meant to dismiss him with blows.
Note 330 page 169. Although in this and a few other passages,
Castiglione uses _virtù_ in the sense of our “virtue,” he more often
gives it its etymological meaning of “manliness,” which the present
translator has generally rendered by “worth.” In considering a word like
this, we must take into account the character of him who uses it. To
Machiavelli, as no doubt to most of his contemporaries in Italy, _virtù_
meant simply that combination of strength, courage, tenacity and cunning
that enables a man to achieve his ends,—whether good or bad.
NOTES TO THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER
Note 331 page 171. Achaia, here used as synonymous with Greece, was the
name given to that country when conquered by the Romans and made a
province. Olympia was not in Achaia proper, but in the adjoining
district of Elis, some forty miles south of the modern Patras. The site
has been thoroughly excavated by German archæologists, the most noted
discovery being that of the “Hermes” of Praxiteles and the “Victory” of
Pæonius.
Note 332 page 172. That is to say, nude. According to the familiar Greek
myth, Eris (goddess of discord), to avenge her exclusion from the
nuptials of Peleus and Thetis, threw among the wedding guests a golden
apple inscribed “To the Fairest.” A dispute arising between Aphrodite,
Hera and Athena concerning the apple, Zeus appointed the shepherd Paris
to decide their claims. The prize having been awarded to Aphrodite, she
aided Paris to carry off the beautiful Helen of Sparta, and thus gave
rise to the Trojan War.
Note 333 page 173. The Order of St. Michael was instituted in August
1469, by Louis XI of France, and was highly esteemed down to
Castiglione’s time, but later suffered in estimation, owing to the
freedom with which membership was bestowed. Francis I wore the insignia
of the order at the battle of Pavia, 1525.
Note 334 page 173. The Order of the Garter was instituted by Edward III
of England in 1344. He assigned to its use the chapel (at Windsor) of
St. George, who was its patron saint. Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino having,
like his father, been made a knight of the order, Castiglione went to
England in 1506 to receive the insignia on the duke’s behalf.
Note 335 page 173. The Order of the Golden Fleece was instituted by Duke
Philip the Good of Burgundy (paternal grandfather of Charles V’s
paternal grandmother) in 1429 in honour of his third marriage, to
Elizabeth of Portugal. Its badge, a golden ram, is shown in our
portraits of Charles V and his grandfather Maximilian I.
Note 336 page 173. The king of Persia at this time was Ismail Sufi I,
(born 1480; died 1524). He was descended from a family of noted piety,
whose peculiar beliefs became the origin of the national Persian faith.
Having been proclaimed shah in 1499, after nearly a century of
disorderly government by the successors of Timur the Tartar, he spent
most of his reign in enlarging and assuring his dominions, and founded
the dynasty that was to rule Persia until 1736. He waged an unsuccessful
war with Selim I of Turkey, the son and successor of Bajazet II, and
died while on a pilgrimage to his own father’s tomb. His subjects
revered him as a saint.
Note 337 page 174. The ‘Lady whom I know’ is of course the Duchess.
Note 338 page 175. PYGMALION will be remembered as the legendary
sculptor-king of Cyprus, who fell in love with an ivory statue that he
had made of a beautiful girl, and prayed to Aphrodite to breathe life
into it. His prayer being granted, he married the girl, who was called
Galatea.
Note 339 page 181. The opinions here ascribed to Plato, are found in the
Fifth Book of his “Republic,” but seem to have undergone serious change
when he wrote his “Laws.”
Note 340 page 182. The comparative merits of man and woman were much
discussed in Greek antiquity and during the Renaissance, and form the
subject of a copious literature in which Castiglione’s contribution
occupies no unimportant place.
Note 341 page 184. The reference here is to a fragment of the so-called
Orphic Hymns, beginning: “Jove the End, Jove the Beginning, Jove the
Middle, all things are of Jove: Jove Male, Immortal Virgin Jove.” In
this and other respects the theogony to which the name of Orpheus is
attached, is closely related to the most ancient religious systems of
India.
Note 342 page 185. The author probably refers to Aristotle’s Tenth
Problem.
Note 343 page 188. The reference here is doubtless to Jerome’s 54th
Epistle (on Widowhood), and to his first tract against Jovinianus, both
written about 394 A.D. He was born in what is now the Hungarian town of
Stridon about 340, and died in a monastery at Bethlehem 420 A.D. Perhaps
his best remembered work is the Vulgate or Latin translation of the
Bible.
Note 344 page 189. “If not chastely, then discreetly.”
Note 345 page 190. OCTAVIA, (born 70; died 11 B.C.), was a great-niece
of Julius Cæsar, and became the second wife of the triumvir Mark Antony
for the purpose (ultimately vain) of cementing the alliance between him
and her brother Augustus. Her beauty, accomplishments and virtues proved
unavailing against the wiles of Cleopatra, who induced Antony to divorce
her. After Antony’s death, she remained true to the interests of his
children, including those by his first wife and by Cleopatra. Through
the two daughters that she bore to Antony, she became the grandmother of
the Emperor Claudius, and great-grandmother of his predecessor Caligula
and of his successor Nero.
Note 346 page 190. PORCIA’S first husband was Marcus Bibulus, who was
Consul with Cæsar in 59 B.C. She inherited her father’s republican
principles, courage and firm will, and was her second husband Brutus’s
confidante in the conspiracy against Cæsar. On his death at Philippi in
42 B.C., she put an end to her life.
Note 347 page 190. CAIA CÆCILIA TANAQUIL appears in Roman legend as the
second wife of King Tarquinius Priscus, endowed with prophetic powers,
closely connected with the worship of the hearth-deity, expert in
healing, and a model of domestic virtues. The traditional date of her
husband’s reign is 616-578 B.C.
Note 348 page 190. CORNELIA, the mother of the Gracchi (born about 189
B.C.; died about 110 B.C.), wrote letters that had survived in Cicero’s
day and were prized for their style. Even in her own lifetime the Romans
erected a statue in honour of her virtues. Left a widow with twelve
young children, she devoted herself wholly to their training, and
rejected all offers of marriage, including that of Ptolemy.
Note 349 page 191. Plutarch (from whose history the narrative in the
text is a paraphrase) describes ALEXANDRA as being actuated in her
regency solely by ambitious motives. Her husband, Alexander Jannæus, was
the son of Johannes Hyrcanus and brother of Aristobulus I, whom he
succeeded as second King of the Jews after the Babylonish Captivity. His
reign (104-78 B.C.) was marked by atrocities.