The Book of the Courtier
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Transcriber’s Note:
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. Supercripted
characters are prefixed with ‘^’.
The notes were printed as endnotes organized by chapters.
Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding
the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.
THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER
BY COUNT BALDESAR
CASTIGLIONE
Reduced from Braun’s photograph (no. 11.505) of the portrait in the
Louvre, painted in 1516 by Raphael (1483-1520). The original
belonged to Charles I of England, after whose death it was bought by
a Dutch collector and copied by Rubens. Later it became the property
of Cardinal Mazarin, from whose heirs it was acquired for Louis XIV
of France.
The medallion on the title-page is from a photograph, specially made by
Mansell, of a cast, kindly furnished by T. Whitcombe Greene, Esq.,
of an anonymous medal in his collection at Chandler’s Ford,
Hampshire. See the late Alfred Armand’s _Les Médailleurs Italiens_,
ii, 100, no. 10.
THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER
BY COUNT BALDESAR
CASTIGLIONE
(1528)
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN AND ANNOTATED
BY LEONARD ECKSTEIN OPDYCKE
WITH SEVENTY-ONE PORTRAITS AND FIFTEEN AUTOGRAPHS
REPRODUCED BY EDWARD BIERSTADT
LONDON
DUCKWORTH & CO.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1902
Copyright 1901, by
LEONARD ECKSTEIN OPDYCKE
THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER was written, partly at Urbino and partly at
Rome, between the years 1508 and 1516, and was first printed at the
Aldine Press, Venice, in the month of April, 1528.
There have since been published more than one hundred and forty
editions, a list of which will be found at page 417 of this volume.
The first Spanish version, by JUAN BOSCAN ALMOGAVER, was issued at
Barcelona in 1534; the first French version, by JACQUES COLIN, was
issued at Paris in 1537; the first English version, by THOMAS HOBY,
was issued at London in 1561; the first Latin version, by HIERONYMUS
TURLER, was issued at Wittenberg in 1561; the first German version,
by LORENZ KRATZER, was issued at Munich in 1566.
The present edition consists of five hundred numbered copies, of
which this is No.
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
The popularity long enjoyed by this old book, the place that it holds in
Italian literature, and the fact that it is almost inaccessible to
English readers, seem to furnish sufficient reason for a new
translation.
The art of the Italian Renaissance delights us by its delicate and
gentle beauty, and yet we know that life during this period was often
gross and violent. To understand this, we must remember that art is more
the expression of the ideal than of the actual, and that men’s ideals
are loftier than their practice. Castiglione gives utterance to the
finest aspirations of his time. His pages will lack interest only when
mankind ceases to be interesting to man, and will reward study so long
as the past shall continue to instruct the present and the future.
The few deviations that the present translator has ventured to make from
the letter of the Italian text are merely verbal, and were deemed
needful to render its meaning clear. The notes that he offers are
intended to explain obscure passages and to relieve the reader from the
tedium of searching in books of reference. Perhaps no one will regard it
as inopportune to be reminded of what all may have known but few are
able to remember with precision. Students who may wish to learn from
what Greek and Latin sources Castiglione derived material are referred
to Professor Vittorio Cian’s admirable edition.
The translator desires to express his thanks for the friendly
encouragement that he has received from Miss Grace Norton, at whose
suggestion his task was undertaken. He is indebted to Dr. Luigi Roversi
and Signor Leopoldo Jung for their patient aid, and to Signor Alessandro
Luzio and many other scholars, in Italy and elsewhere, for the kindness
with which they have helped him to gather portraits and bibliographical
data. He gratefully acknowledges, also, his frequent use of Professor
Cian’s erudite labours, of John Addington Symonds’s RENAISSANCE IN
ITALY, and of James Dennistoun’s MEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO.
CONTENTS
(The Arabic numerals given below refer to the numbered paragraphs
into which it has long been customary to divide the work)
Page
LIST OF PLATES xi
INTERLOCUTORS xiv
THE AUTHOR’S DEDICATORY LETTER 1
Reasons for writing the book, and for at first delaying and
afterwards hastening its publication. Lament at the recent
death of several persons mentioned in the book. Answer to three
objections: that the book was not written in the language of
Boccaccio; that, as it is impossible to find a perfect
Courtier, it was superfluous to describe one; and that the
author presumed to paint his own portrait.
THE FIRST BOOK OF THE COURTIER 7
1: The book written at the instance of Alfonso Ariosto and in
dialogue form, in order to record certain discussions held at
the court of Urbino. 2-3: Description and praise of Urbino and
its lords; Duke Federico and his son Guidobaldo. 4-5: The
Urbino court and the persons taking part in the discussions. 6:
Circumstances that led to the discussions; visit of Pope Julius
II. 7-11: Various games proposed. 12: Game finally chosen: to
describe a perfect Courtier. 13-6: Canossa begins the
discussion by enumerating some of the conditions essential to
the Courtier,—especially gentle birth. 17-8: Arms the true
profession of the Courtier, who must, however, avoid arrogance
and boasting. 19-22: Physical qualities and martial exercises.
23: Short bantering digression. 24-6: Grace. 27-8: Affectation.
29-39: Literary and conversational style. 40: Women’s
affectations. 41: Moral qualities. 42-6: Literary
accomplishments; arms vs. letters. 47-8: Music. 49: Painting.
50-3: Painting vs. sculpture. 54-6: Arrival of the youthful
Francesco Maria della Rovere; the evening’s entertainment ends
with dancing.
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COURTIER 75
1-4: Reasons why the aged are wont to laud the past and to
decry the present; defence of the present against such
aspersions; praise of the court of Urbino. 5-6 Federico Fregoso
begins the discussion on the way and time of employing the
qualities and accomplishments described by Canossa: utility of
such discussion. 7-8: General rules: to avoid affectation, to
speak and act discreetly and opportunely, to aim at honour and
praise in martial exercises, war, and public contests, 9-10:
Other physical exercises. 11: Dancing and masquerading. 12-3:
Music of various kinds, when to be practised. 14: Aged
Courtiers not to engage publicly in music and dancing. 15-6:
Duty of aged and youthful Courtiers to moderate the faults
peculiar to their years. 17-25: Conversation, especially with
superiors; how to win favours worthily. 26-8: Dress and
ornament; lamentable lack of fashions peculiarly Italian.
29-30: Choice and treatment of friends. 31: Games of cards and
chess. 32-5: Influence of preconceived opinions and first
impressions; advantage of being preceded by good reputation.
36: Danger of going beyond bounds in the effort to be amusing.
37: French and Spanish manners. 38: Tact, modesty, kindness,
readiness; taking advantage of opportunities; confession of
ignorance. 39-41: Self-depreciation, deceit, moderation. 42-83:
Pleasantries and witticisms expounded by Bibbiena. 84-97:
Practical jokes; to be used discreetly, particularly where
women are concerned; use of trickery and artifice in love;
dignity and nobility of women. 98-100: Giuliano de’Medici
chosen to describe the perfect Court Lady.
THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER 171
1: Excellence of the court of Urbino to be estimated in much
the same way in which Pythagoras calculated the stature of
Hercules. 2-3: Bantering preliminaries to the discussion on the
Court Lady. 4: Qualities common to the Courtier and to the
Court Lady. 5-6: The Court Lady to be affable, modest and
decorous; to follow a middle course between prudishness and
over-freedom; to avoid scandal-mongering; her conversation to
have variety. 7-9: Physical and mental exercises of the Court
Lady; her dress. 10-8: Women’s importance; certain aspersions
refuted. 19-20: Examples of saintly women contrasted with
hypocritical friars. 21-7: Examples of women famous for virtue,
manly courage, constancy in love, pudicity. 28-33: Examples of
women who in ancient times did good service to the world in
letters, in the sciences, in public life, in war. 34-6: More
recent examples of women noted for their virtue. 37-49:
Chastity and continence. 50: Dangers to which womanly virtue is
exposed. 51-2: Further praise of women. 53-5: The Court Lady’s
demeanour in love talk. 56-9: Her conduct in love. 60-73: The
way to win and keep a woman’s love; its effects and signs;
secrecy in love. 74-5: Pallavicino’s aspersions against women.
76-7: Ottaviano Fregoso is deputed to expound the other
qualities that add to the Courtier’s perfections.
THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE COURTIER 243
1-2: Eulogy of several other interlocutors whose death had
recently occurred. 3-6: Ottaviano Fregoso resumes the
interrupted discussion, considers the Courtier’s relations with
his prince, and urges the duty of employing his qualities and
accomplishments so that his prince may be led to seek good and
shun evil. 7-10: Princes’ need to know the truth, their
difficulty in finding it, and the Courtier’s duty to encourage
them in the path of virtue. 11-2: Virtue not wholly innate, but
susceptible of cultivation. 13-6: Ignorance the source of
nearly all human errour. 17-8: Temperance the perfect virtue,
because it is the fountain of virtues. 19-24: Monarchy vs.
commonwealth. 25-6: Whether a contemplative or an active life
is more befitting a prince. 27-8: Peace the aim of war; the
virtues befitting each. 29: Right training of princes to begin
in habit and to be confirmed by reason. 30: Humourous
digression. 31: _Governo misto_. 32-5: Attributes of a good
prince: justice, devoutness, love of his subjects, and mild
sway. 36-9: Grand public works; the Crusades; eulogy of several
young princes. 40: Princes must avoid certain extremes. 41:
Princes must attend to details personally. 42: Eulogy of the
youthful Federico Gonzaga. 43-8: Arguments supporting the