The Book of the Courtier
the house was to betake themselves straightway after supper to my lady
Duchess; where, among the other pleasant pastimes and music and dancing
that continually were practised, sometimes neat questions were proposed,
sometimes ingenious games were devised at the choice of one or another,
in which under various disguises the company disclosed their thoughts
figuratively to whom they liked best. Sometimes other discussions arose
about different matters, or biting retorts passed lightly back and
forth. Often “devices” (_imprese_), as we now call them, were
displayed;[40] in discussing which there was wonderful diversion, the
house being (as I have said) full of very noble talents; among whom (as
you know) the most famous were my lord Ottaviano Fregoso, his brother
messer Federico,[41] the Magnifico Giuliano de’ Medici, messer Pietro
Bembo,[42] messer Cesare Gonzaga,[43] Count Ludovico da Canossa,[44] my
lord Gaspar Pallavicino,[45] my lord Ludovico Pio,[46] my lord Morello
da Ortona,[47] Pietro da Napoli, messer Roberto da Bari,[48] and
countless other very noble cavaliers. Moreover there were many, who,
although usually they did not dwell there constantly, yet spent most of
the time there: like messer Bernardo Bibbiena, the Unico Aretino,[49]
Giancristoforo Romano,[50] Pietro Monte,[51] Terpandro,[52] messer
Niccolò Frisio;[53] so that there always flocked thither poets,
musicians and all sorts of agreeable[54] men, and in every walk the most
excellent that were to be found in Italy.
Reduced from Braun’s photograph (no. 41.121) of the portrait in the
Uffizi Gallery at Florence, variously ascribed to Andrea Mantegna
(1431-1506), to Lorenzo Costa (1460-1535), and to Francesco
Bonsignori (1455-1519).
6.—Now Pope Julius II, having by his presence and the aid of the French
brought Bologna under subjection to the apostolic see in the year 1506,
and being on his way back to Rome, passed through Urbino; where he was
received with all possible honour and with as magnificent and splendid
state as could have been prepared in any other noble city of Italy: so
that besides the pope, all the lord cardinals and other courtiers were
most highly gratified. And some there were, attracted by the charm of
this society, who tarried at Urbino many days after the departure of the
pope and his court; during which time not only were the ordinary
pastimes and diversions continued in the usual manner, but every man
strove to contribute something new, and especially in the games, to
which almost every evening was devoted. And the order of them was such
that immediately after reaching the presence of my lady Duchess,
everyone sat down in a circle as he pleased or as chance decided; and in
sitting they were arranged alternately, a man and a woman, as long as
there were women, for nearly always the number of men was by far the
greater; then they were governed as seemed best to my lady Duchess, who
for the most part left this charge to my lady Emilia.
So, the day after the pope’s departure,[55] the company being assembled
at the wonted hour and place, after much pleasant talk, my lady Duchess
desired my lady Emilia to begin the games; and she, after having for a
time refused the task, spoke thus:
“My Lady, since it pleases you that I shall be the one to begin the
games this evening, not being able in reason to fail to obey you, I will
propose a game in which I think I ought to have little blame and less
labour; and this shall be for everyone to propose after his liking a
game that has never been given; and then we will choose the one that
seems best worthy to be played in this company.”
And so saying, she turned to my lord Gaspar Pallavicino, requiring him
to tell his choice; and he at once replied:
“It is for you, my Lady, first to tell your own.”
“But I have already told it,” said my lady Emilia; “now do you, my lady
Duchess, bid him be obedient.”[56]
Then my lady Duchess said, smiling:
“To the end that everyone may be bound to obey you, I make you my deputy
and give you all my authority.”
7.—“It is a remarkable thing,” replied my lord Gaspar, “that women
should always be allowed this exemption from toil, and it certainly
would not be unreasonable to wish in some way to learn the reason why;
but not to be the first to disobey, I will leave this for another time,
and will tell what is required of me;” and he began: “It seems to me
that in love, as in everything else, our minds judge diversely; and thus
it often happens that what is very delightful to one man, is very
hateful to another; but none the less we all are ever alike in this,
that every man holds his beloved very dear; so that the over fondness of
lovers often cheats their judgment to such a degree, that they esteem
the person whom they love to be the only one in the world adorned with
every excellent virtue and wholly without defect; but since human nature
does not admit such complete perfection, and since there is no one to be
found who does not lack something, it cannot be said that such men do
not cheat themselves, and that the lover does not become blind
concerning the beloved. I would therefore that this evening our game
might be that each of us should tell what virtue above others he would
have the person whom he loves adorned with; and then, as all must have
some blemish, what fault he would have in her; in order that we may see
who can find the most praiseworthy and useful virtues, and the most
excusable faults and least harmful to lover and beloved.”
My lord Gaspar having spoken thus, my lady Emilia made sign to madonna
Costanza Fregosa[57] to follow after, because she sat next in order, and
she was preparing to speak; but my lady Duchess said quickly:
“Since my lady Emilia will not make the effort to invent a game, it were
only fair that the other ladies share this ease and that they too be
exempt from such exertion for this evening, especially as there are here
so many men that there is no danger of lack of games.”
“So be it,” replied my lady Emilia; and imposing silence on madonna
Costanza, she turned to messer Cesare Gonzaga, who sat next, and bade
him speak; and he began thus:
8.—“Whoso will carefully consider all our actions, will ever find
various defects in them; the reason whereof is that nature, variable in
this as in other things, has given to one man the light of reason in one
thing, to another man in another thing; and so it happens that, the one
knowing what the other does not know and being ignorant of what the
other understands, each readily perceives his neighbour’s fault and not
his own, and we all seem to ourselves very wise and perhaps most of all
in that wherein we most are foolish. Thus we have seen it happen in this
house that many, at first accounted very wise, were in course of time
recognized as very foolish, which came about from nothing else but our
own watchfulness. For, as they say that in Apulia musical instruments
are used for those bitten by the tarantula,[58] and various tunes are
tried until the humour that causes the malady (through a certain
affinity it has for some one of those tunes) is suddenly stirred by the
sound, and so excites the sick man that he is restored to health by
virtue of that excitement: so when we have perceived a hidden touch of
folly, we have stimulated it so artfully and with such various
persuasions and diverse means, that at length we have learned whither it
tended; then, the humour once recognized, so well have we excited it
that it has always reached the perfection of open folly. Thus one man
has waxed foolish over poetry, another over music, another over love,
another over dancing, another over inventing mimes,[59] another over
riding, another over fencing,—each according to the native quality of
his metal; whence, as you know, great amusement has been derived. I hold
it then as certain that there is some grain of folly in each of us,
which being quickened can multiply almost infinitely.
“Therefore I would that this evening our game might be a discussion upon
this subject, and that each one tell with what kind of folly, and about
what thing, he thinks I should make a fool of myself if I had to make a
fool of myself openly, judging of this outburst by the sparks of folly
that are daily seen to issue from me. Let the same be told of all the
rest, keeping to the order of our games, and let each one try to found
his opinion upon some actual sign and argument. And thus we shall each
derive from our game the advantage of learning our defects, and so shall
be better able to guard against them; and if the vein of folly that is
discovered proves so rich that it seems incurable, we will assist it,
and according to fra Mariano’s[60] teaching, we shall have saved a soul,
which will be no small gain.”
There was much laughter at this game, nor were there any who could keep
from talking; one said, “I should make a fool of myself over thinking;”
another, “Over looking;” another said, “I have already made a fool of
myself over loving;” and the like.
9.—Then fra Serafino[61] said, laughing after his manner:
“That would take too long; but if you want a fine game, let everyone
give his opinion why it is that nearly all women hold rats in hatred,
and are fond of snakes; and you will see that no one will guess the
reason except myself, who learned this secret in a strange way.” And he
began to tell his stories; but my lady Emilia bade him be silent, and
passing over the lady who sat next, made sign to the Unico Aretino whose
turn it was; and he, without waiting for further command, said:
“I would I were a judge with power to search the heart of evil-doers by
every sort of torture; and this that I might fathom the deceits of an
ingrate with angel eyes and serpent heart, who never lets her tongue
reveal her soul, and with deceitful pity feigned has no thought but of
dissecting hearts. Nor is there in sandy Libya to be found a serpent so
venomous and eager for human blood as is this false one; who not only in
the sweetness of her voice and honeyed words, but in her eyes, her
smiles, her aspect and in all her ways, is a very siren.
“But since I am not suffered, as I would I were, to use chains, rope and
fire to learn a certain truth, I fain would learn it by a game,—which is
this: let each one tell what he believes to be the meaning of that
letter S which my lady Duchess wears upon her brow;[62] for, although
this too is surely an artful veil to aid deceit, perchance there will be
given it some interpretation unthought of by her perhaps, and it will be
found that fortune, compassionate spectatress of men’s martyrdoms, has
led her against her will to disclose by this small token her secret wish
to slay and bury alive in calamity everyone who beholds her or serves
her.”
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.
My lady Duchess laughed, and the Unico, seeing that she wished to defend
herself against this imputation, said:
“Nay, my Lady, do not speak, for it is not now your turn to speak.”
My lady Emilia then turned and said:
“Sir Unico, there is no one of us here who does not yield to you in
everything, but above all in knowledge of my lady Duchess’s mind; and
since you know it better than the others (thanks to your divine genius),
you love it better than the others, who like those weak-sighted birds
that fix not their eyes upon the sun’s orb, cannot so justly know how