The Book of the Courtier
subterranean caverns, which had anciently been rooms, chambers, studios,
halls and the like. Since these scholars found them in these cavernous
places (which had been built by the ancients on the surface and had
become low), and since such low places are known at Rome by the name
Grottoes, for that reason they received the name grotesques.” Cellini
here tries to explain the origin of the name applied to ornaments (such
as the arabesques of the Renaissance) in which figures, human to the
waist, terminate in scrolls, leafage, etc., and are combined with animal
forms and impossible flowers. In this sense the word was used as early
as 1502 in a contract between the Cardinal of Siena and the painter
Pinturicchio. It had of course not yet reached its modern signification,
so fully discussed in the appendix to Volume IV of Ruskin’s “Modern
Painters.” In Castiglione’s time it was not known that the catacomb
decorations were Christian, and in any case they were founded on pagan
models.
Note 136 page 69. DEMETRIUS I of Macedon, (died 283 B.C.), was the son
of Antigonus, who was one of Alexander’s most illustrious generals and
succeeded to the Macedonian throne.
Note 137 page 69. Of METRODORUS, nothing more is known than Pliny’s
account of the incident recorded in our text.
Note 138 page 69. LUCIUS ÆMILIUS PAULUS, (died 160 B.C.), was a Roman
general, Consul, and statesman of the aristocratic party. The incident
mentioned in the text occurred after his victory over King Perseus of
Macedon in 168 B.C.
Note 139 page 70. CAMPASPE, according to Pliny, was the name of the
beautiful slave given by Alexander to Apelles, as narrated at page 68.
Note 140 page 70. ZEUXIS, (_flor._ 400 B.C.), belonged to the Ionian
school of Greek painting, which was characterized by sensuous beauty and
accurate imitation of nature. He lived at Athens, and his idealism is
said to have been rather of form than of character. The picture referred
to in the text represented Helen of Troy, was regarded as his
masterpiece, and was probably identical with a picture mentioned as
being at Rome. The story of the five maidens is said to have been cited
by Tintoretto in support of his maxim, “Art must perfect Nature.”
Note 141 page 71. The Marquesses FEBUS and GERARDINO DI CEVA were sons
of the Marquess Giovanni (who was living as late as 1491), and belonged
to one of the most illustrious families of Piedmont and indeed of all
Italy. They were born towards the close of the 15th century and died
about the third decade of the 16th, having obtained the investiture of
their fief in 1521. They sided sometimes with the Emperor and sometimes
with France, as best suited them, and left rather a bad name. To escape
punishment for killing a cousin, Gerardino stabbed himself, and Febus
also died “_disperato_,” leaving two daughters in grief and shame.
Note 142 page 71. ETTORE ROMANO GIOVENALE was a cavalier of whom little
more is known than that he was in Francesco Maria’s service, fought
successfully as one of the thirteen Italian champions at Barletta, was
afterwards in the service of the Duke of Ferrara, who dismissed him for
an act of treachery.
Note 143 page 71. COLLO VINCENZO CALMETA of Castelnuovo, (died 1508),
was a courtly poet and prose writer, who had been secretary to the
Duchess Beatrice d'Este of Milan. Later he enjoyed the especial favour
of this lady’s sister, the Marchioness Isabella d'Este of Mantua, and
also of the Duchess of Urbino, who protected him from the displeasure of
her brother the Marquess of Mantua, and at whose court he improvised
verse somewhat after the manner of the Unico Aretino. In a letter (1504)
from Urbino to Isabella d'Este, Emilia Pia wrote: “Of news here there is
none that is not known to you, except that Calmeta is continually
composing songs and divers other things, and this carnival has written a
new comedy, which he would have sent you if he had thought it would give
you pleasure.” Among Calmeta’s works were a verse compendium of Ovid’s
_Ars Amandi_, and a biography of his friend and fellow improvisatore,
Serafino Ciminelli d'Aquila (see note 255). As known to us, his poetical
writings do not rise above mediocrity, and wholly fail to explain the
esteem in which they were held.
Note 144 page 71. ORAZIO FLORIDO was a native of Fano, one of the
Adriatic coast towns nearest to Urbino. Having been chancellor to Duke
Guidobaldo, he became secretary to Duke Francesco Maria. When Francesco
was combating the usurper Lorenzo de' Medici in 1517, he sent one of his
officers with Florido under protection of a safe-conduct to challenge
Lorenzo to personal combat. In spite of the safe-conduct, Florido was
detained and sent to Leo X at Rome, where he was basely tortured in the
hope of extorting political secrets from him. He remained steadfastly
faithful to his master, and afterwards made a tour of the courts of
Europe seeking aid for his lord.
Note 145 page 73. MARGARITA GONZAGA was a niece of the Duchess of
Urbino, being a natural daughter of the Marquess Gianfrancesco of
Mantua. She was for many years one of the ornaments of the Urbino court.
Various mentions of her in contemporary letters show her as a woman of
unusual beauty, sprightly wit and gay disposition. She had several
suitors, apparently including Filippo Beroaldo, who is mentioned later
in THE COURTIER (page 139).
Note 146 page 73. Of BARLETTA nothing more is known than what is
contained in this and another shorter mention of him in THE COURTIER
(page 87).
Reduced from Braun’s photograph (no. 42.371) of the portrait, in the
Pitti Gallery at Florence, attributed to Piero della Francesca
(1420-1492). For an account of this and other portraits, see
_l'Archivio Storico dell'Arte_ for 1889, p. 264. Some of the events
of her short life are mentioned in note 398 at page 399 of this
volume.
Note 147 page 73. The original reads: _havendo prima danzato una bassa,
ballarono una Roegarze_. The _danza bassa_ was of Spanish origin and is
believed to have consisted of sliding steps and of posturing, in which
the feet were not lifted. The verb _ballare_ seems to be derived from
the low Latin _balla_, a ball. In the Middle Ages the game of ball was
accompanied with dance and song, and we may well believe that a class of
dances, thus originating and denominated generally _balli_, were more
animated than the _danza bassa_. Although a Greek derivation has been
ascribed to the word _roegarze_, Cian affirms that the dance thus named
was of French origin. The earliest French translator of THE COURTIER
renders the word by _rouergoise_, which is apparently derived from
_Rouergue_, the name of an ancient French province to the south-west of
Lyons.
Reduced from Giraudon’s photograph (no. 254) of a drawing, in the
Louvre, by Vittore Pisano, better known as Pisanello, (1380?-1451?).
NOTES TO THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COURTIER
Note 148 page 75. This passage reflects the medico-philosophical
theories which the Renaissance inherited from antiquity, and which
regarded “the vital spirits” as something far more tangible and material
than what we call the principle of life or vital spark. Compare the
early conception of electricity as a fluid substance. “Complexion” is of
course here used to mean temperament or constitution, and not the mere
colour and texture of the skin.
Note 149 page 77. Duke FILIPPO MARIA VISCONTI, (born 1391; died 1447),
was the son of Giangaleotto and Caterina Visconti, and brother of
Giovanni Maria Visconti, whom he succeeded as Duke of Milan in 1412. He
married Beatrice di Tenda (widow of Facino Cane), who brought him nearly
a half million of florins dowry, besides her husband’s soldiers and
cities, and thus enabled him gradually to win back the Lombard part of
his father’s duchy, which his brother had lost. He was very ugly in
person, and so sensitive that he rarely appeared in public. Wily but
unstable, he was continually plotting schemes that seemed to have no
object, and he mistrusted his own generals, even Francesco Sforza, who
turned against him, forced him to a ruinous peace, and after his death
was soon able to seize his duchy. In him the cruel selfishness of the
Renaissance tyrant did not degenerate into mad thirst for blood, as in
the case of his terrible brother. He read Dante, Petrarch and French
romances of chivalry, and even dallied with the Latin classics, but
genuine learning was neglected and despised at his court.
Duke BORSO D'ESTE, (born 1413; died 1471), like his brother and
predecessor, was a natural son of Duke Niccolò III. Kindly and just, he
was idolized by the Ferrarese and especially by the women. He patronized
letters and art and was fond of splendid living, yet in spite of the
luxury of his court, he left a treasure of about a million pounds
sterling. The art of printing was established at Ferrara shortly before
his death. He appears to have been himself ignorant of Latin, and
encouraged the literary use of Italian and the study of French romance.
Histories of Ferrara, as well as the writings of contemporary humanists,
are full of his generous deeds. His mild sway passed into a proverb, and
the time of “the good Duke Borso” was long remembered as a kind of
golden age.
Note 150 page 77. NICCOLῸ PICCININO, (born 1380; died 1444), was so
humbly born as to possess no other surname than that conferred on him in
ridicule of his small stature. Having served under the famous Braccio da
Montone, he married the latter’s niece, and achieved such distinction as
a soldier as to share with Francesco Sforza the fame of being the first
_condottiere_ of his day. He became the friend and general of Duke
Federico of Urbino. His rough wit was highly esteemed.
Note 151 page 77. This consciousness of the corruption then prevailing
in Italy is even more frankly expressed by Machiavelli: “It is but too
true that we Italians are in a special degree irreligious and corrupt.”
(_Discorsi_, I, 12.)
Note 152 page 78. The reference here is to Plato’s _Phædo_, c. 3.
Socrates is said to have turned Æsop’s fables into verse.
Note 153 page 83. The Italian noun _fierezza_ (rendered “boldness”) and
the adjective _fiero_ (more anciently _fero_, the epithet applied by
Petrarch to Achilles, see note 120) are derived from the Latin _ferus_
(wild, untamed, impetuous), the root of which we see in our English word
_fer_ocious. While retaining its etymological signification, _fiero_ was
used to mean also: haughty, intrepid, strong, sturdy.
Note 154 page 87. “Brawls” (Italian, _brandi_; French, _branles_) were a
kind of animated figured dance, said to be of Spanish origin and to have
resembled the modern _cotillon_. A letter by Castiglione mentions this
dance as having been performed by figures dressed as birds in one of the
interludes when Bibbiena’s _Calandra_ was first presented at Urbino.
This and other passages suggest that the use of masks was even more
common in Italian society of the author’s time, than at the present day.
Note 155 page 88. Castiglione’s letters show that he possessed and
played upon a variety of musical instruments, and it is known that in
Duke Federico’s time, the palace of Urbino was well supplied with
instruments and musicians.
Note 156 page 88. Viol is the generic name for the family of bowed
instruments that succeeded the mediæval fiddle and preceded the violin.
Invented in the 15th century, it differed from a violin in having deeper
ribs, a flat back, and a broad centre-piece on which the sound post
rested. Its neck was broad and thin; it had from five to seven strings,