1.—We read that Pythagoras very ingeniously and cleverly discovered the measure of Hercules’s body; and the way was this: it being known that the space where the Olympic games were celebrated every five years, before the temple of Olympian Jove near Elis, in Achaia,^[331] had been measured by Hercules, and a stadium made six hundred and twenty-five times the length of his own foot; and that the other stadia which were afterwards established throughout Greece by later generations, were likewise of the length of six hundred and twenty-five feet, and yet were somewhat shorter than the first one: by this proportion Pythagoras easily reckoned how much larger Hercules’s foot was than other human feet; and thus, knowing the measure of the foot, from this he argued that the whole body of Hercules was larger than other men’s in the same proportion that the first stadium bore to the other stadia.

So you, my dear messer Alfonso, by the same reasoning may clearly see, from this small part of the whole body, how superior the court of Urbino was to all others in Italy, considering how much the games that were devised for the refreshment of minds wearied by the most arduous labours, were superior to those that were practised in the other courts of Italy. And if these were of such sort, think what were the other worthy pursuits to which our minds were bent and wholly given; and of this I confidently make bold to speak with hope of being believed; for I am not praising things so ancient that I might be allowed to invent, but can prove what I affirm by the testimony of many men worthy of faith, who are still living and personally saw and knew the life and behaviour that one time flourished in that court: and I hold myself bound, as far as I can, to strive with every effort to rescue this bright memory from mortal oblivion, and by my writing to make it live in the hearts of posterity.

Wherefore perhaps in the future there will not be lacking some to envy our century for this also; since no one reads the wonderful exploits of the ancients, who in his mind does not conceive a somewhat higher opinion of those that are written of than the books themselves seem able to express, however divinely they be written. Even so we desire that all to whose hands this work of ours shall come (if indeed it shall ever be worthy of such favour as to deserve being seen by noble cavaliers and virtuous ladies) may assume and take for certain that the court of Urbino was far more excellent, and adorned by men of singular worth, than we can express in writing; and if we had as great eloquence as they had merit, we should have no need of other proof to make our words believed by those who saw it not.

2.—Now the company being assembled the next day at the accustomed hour and place, and seated in silence, everyone turned his eyes to messer Federico and to the Magnifico Giuliano, waiting to see which of them would begin the discussion. Wherefore my lady Duchess, having been silent awhile, said:

“My Lady, if I deemed her beautiful, I should display her all unadorned and in the same fashion wherein Paris chose to view the three goddesses;^[332] but if these ladies here, who well know how, do not aid me to deck her forth, I fear that not only my lord Gaspar and Frisio, but all these other gentlemen, will have just cause to say ill of her. So, while still she stands in some repute for beauty, perhaps it will be better to keep her hidden, and to see what messer Federico has left to say about the Courtier, which without doubt is far more beautiful than my Lady can be.”

“What I had in mind,” replied messer Federico, “is not so necessary to the Courtier that it may not be omitted without any harm; nay, it is rather different matter from that which has thus far been discussed.”

“And what is it, then?” said my lady Duchess.

Messer Federico replied:

“I had thought of explaining, as far as I could, the origin of these companies and orders of knighthood established by great princes under different ensigns: as that of Saint Michael in the House of France;^[333] that of the Garter, which bears the name of Saint George, in the House of England;^[334] the Golden Fleece in that of Burgundy:^[335] and in what manner these dignities are bestowed, and how they who deserve them are deprived thereof; whence they arose, who were the founders of them, and to what end they were established: for even in great courts these knights are always honoured.

“I thought too, if I had time enough, to speak not only of the diversity of customs that are in use at the courts of Christian princes in serving them, in merry-making and in appearing at public shows, but also to say something of the Grand Turk’s^[252] court, and much more particularly of the court of the Sophi king of Persia.^[336] For having heard, from merchants who have been long in that country, that the noblemen there are of great worth and gentle behaviour, and that in their intercourse with one another, in their service to ladies and in all their actions, they practise much courtesy and much discretion, and on occasion much magnificence, much liberality and elegance in their weapons, games and festivals,—I was glad to learn what ways they most prize in these things, and in what their pomp and finery of dress and arms consist; in what they differ from us, and in what they resemble us; what manner of amusements their ladies practise and with what modesty show favour to lovers.

“But indeed it is not fitting to enter upon this discussion now, especially as there is something else to say, and far more to our purpose than this.”

3.—“Nay,” said my lord Gaspar, “both this and many other things are more to the purpose than to describe this Court Lady; seeing that the same rules that are set the Courtier, serve also for the Lady; for she, like the Courtier, ought to have regard to time and place, and (as far as her stupidity permits) to follow all those other ways that have been so much discussed. And therefore, in place of this, perhaps it would not have been amiss to teach some of the details that pertain to the service of the Prince’s person, for it is well befitting the Courtier to know them and to show grace in practising them; or indeed to tell of the method to be pursued in bodily exercises, such as riding, handling weapons and wrestling, and to tell wherein consists the difficulty of these accomplishments.”

Then my lady Duchess said, laughing:

“Princes do not employ the personal service of so admirable a Courtier as this: and as for bodily exercises and physical strength and agility, we will leave to our friend messer Pietro Monte the duty of teaching them, when he shall deem the season more convenient; for now the Magnifico must speak of nothing but this Lady, of whom, methinks, you are already beginning to be afraid, and so would make us wander from our subject.”

Frisio replied:

“Surely it is irrelevant and little to the purpose to speak of women now, especially when more remains to be said about the Courtier, for we ought not to mix one thing with another.”

“You are much in errour,” replied messer Cesare Gonzaga; “for just as no court, however great it be, can have in it adornment or splendour or gaiety, without ladies, nor can any Courtier be graceful or pleasing or brave, or perform any gallant feat of chivalry, unless moved by the society and by the love and pleasure of ladies: so, too, discussion about the Courtier is always very imperfect, unless by taking part therein the ladies add their touch of that grace wherewith they perfect Courtiership and adorn it.”

My lord Ottaviano laughed, and said:

“There you have a taste of that bait which makes men fools.”

4.—Then my lord Magnifico, turning to my lady Duchess, said:

“Since so it pleases you, my Lady, I will say what occurs to me, but with very great fear of not satisfying. And in sooth it would be a far lighter task to describe a lady worthy to be queen of the world, than a perfect Court Lady: because of the latter I know not where to take my model; while for the queen I should not need to go far, and it would be enough for me to think of the divine accomplishments of a lady whom I know,^[337] and, lost in contemplation, to bend all my thoughts to express clearly in words that which many see with their eyes; and if I could do no more, by merely naming her I should have performed my task.”

Then my lady Duchess said:

“Do not wander from your subject, my lord Magnifico, but hold to the order given you and describe the Court Lady, to the end that so noble a Lady as this may have someone competent to serve her worthily.”

The Magnifico continued:

“Then, my Lady, to show that your commands have power to induce me to essay even that which I know not how to do, I will speak of this excellent Lady as I would have her; and when I have fashioned her to my liking, not being able then to have another such, like Pygmalion I will take her for my own.^[338]

“And although my lord Gaspar has said that the same rules which are set the Courtier, serve also for the Lady, I am of another mind; for while some qualities are common to both and as necessary to man as to woman, there are nevertheless some others that befit woman more than man, and some are befitting man to which she ought to be wholly a stranger. The same I say of bodily exercises; but above all, methinks that in her ways, manners, words, gestures and bearing, a woman ought to be very unlike a man; for just as it befits him to show a certain stout and sturdy manliness, so it is becoming in a woman to have a soft and dainty tenderness with an air of womanly sweetness in her every movement, which, in her going or staying or saying what you will, shall always make her seem the woman, without any likeness of a man.

“Now, if this precept be added to the rules that these gentlemen have taught the Courtier, I certainly think she ought to be able to profit by many of them, and to adorn herself with admirable accomplishments, as my lord Gaspar says. For I believe that many faculties of the mind are as necessary to woman as to man; likewise gentle birth, to avoid affectation, to be naturally graceful in all her doings, to be mannerly, clever, prudent, not arrogant, not envious, not slanderous, not vain, not quarrelsome, not silly, to know how to win and keep the favour of her mistress and of all others, to practise well and gracefully the exercises that befit women. I am quite of the opinion, too, that beauty is more necessary to her than to the Courtier, for in truth that woman lacks much who lacks beauty. Then, too, she ought to be more circumspect and take greater care not to give occasion for evil being said of her, and so to act that she may not only escape a stain of guilt but even of suspicion, for a woman has not so many ways of defending herself against false imputations as has a man.

“But as Count Ludovico has explained very minutely the chief profession of the Courtier, and has insisted it be that of arms, methinks it is also fitting to tell what in my judgment is that of the Court Lady: and when I have done this, I shall think myself quit of the greater part of my duty.

5.—“Laying aside, then, those faculties of the mind that she ought to have in common with the Courtier (such as prudence, magnanimity, continence, and many others), and likewise those qualities that befit all women (such as kindness, discretion, ability to manage her husband’s property and her house and children if she be married, and all those capacities that are requisite in a good housewife), I say that in a lady who lives at court methinks above all else a certain pleasant affability is befitting, whereby she may be able to entertain politely every sort of man with agreeable and seemly converse, suited to the time and place, and to the rank of the person with whom she may speak, uniting with calm and modest manners, and with that seemliness which should ever dispose all her actions, a quick vivacity of spirit whereby she may show herself alien to all indelicacy; but with such a kindly manner as shall make us think her no less chaste, prudent and benign, than agreeable, witty and discreet: and so she must preserve a certain mean (difficult and composed almost of contraries), and must barely touch certain limits but not pass them.

7.—Having so far spoken, the Magnifico was silent and sat quiet, as if he had ended his discourse. Then my lord Gaspar said:

10.—My lord Gaspar then said, laughing:

“Perhaps even this would not be amiss.” Then he added: “Do you not know that Plato, who certainly was no great friend to women, gave them charge over the city, and gave all other martial duties to the men?^[339] Do you not believe that there are many to be found who would know how to govern cities and armies as well as men do? But I have not laid these duties on them, because I am fashioning a Court Lady and not a Queen.

“I well know you would like to repeat tacitly that false imputation which my lord Ottaviano cast on women yesterday: namely, that they are very imperfect creatures, incapable of doing any good act, and of very little worth and no dignity by comparison with men: but in truth both he and you would be greatly in the wrong if you were to think this.”

11.—Then my lord Gaspar said:

“I do not wish to repeat things already said; but you would fain lead me to say something to offend these ladies’ feelings in order to make them my enemies, just as you wish to win their favour by flattering them falsely. But they are so much above other women in discretion that they love truth (even if it be little in their favour) more than false praises; nor do they take it amiss if anyone says that men are of greater dignity, and will admit that you have recounted great miracles and ascribed to the Court Lady certain absurd impossibilities, and so many virtues that Socrates and Cato and all the philosophers in the world are as nothing by comparison. To tell the plain truth, I marvel that you were not ashamed to go so far beyond bounds; for it ought to have been quite enough for you to make this Court Lady beautiful, discreet, chaste, gracious, and able (without incurring infamy) to entertain with dancing, music, games, laughter, witticisms, and the other things which we see used at court every day. But to insist on giving her knowledge of all the things in the world, and to attribute to her those virtues that are so rarely seen in men even in past centuries, is something that cannot be endured or hardly listened to.

“Now, I am far from willing to affirm that women are imperfect creatures, and consequently of less dignity than men, and not capable of those virtues that men are,—because these ladies’ worth would suffice to prove me wrong:^[340] but I do say that very learned men have left it in writing that since nature always aims and designs to make things most perfect, she would continually bring forth men if she could; and when a woman is born, it is a defect or mistake of nature, and contrary to that which she would wish to do: as is seen also in the case of one who is born blind or halt or with some other defect; and in trees, many fruits that never ripen. Thus woman may be said to be a creature produced by chance and accident; and that this is so, mark a man’s acts and a woman’s, and judge therefrom the perfection of both. Yet, as these imperfections of women are the fault of nature who has made them so, we ought not on that account to hate them or fail to show them that respect which is their due. But to esteem them above what they are, seems to me plain errour.”

12.—The Magnifico Giuliano waited for my lord Gaspar to continue further, but seeing that he kept silent, said:

“As to women’s imperfection, methinks you have adduced a very weak argument; to which, although perhaps it be not timely to enter upon these subtleties now, I reply (according to the opinion of one who knows and according to truth) that the substance of anything you please cannot receive into itself more or less. For just as no one stone can be more perfectly stone than another as regards the essence of a stone, nor one piece of wood more perfectly wood than another,—so one man cannot be more perfectly man than another; and consequently the male will not be more perfect than the female as regards its essential substance, because both are included in the species man, and that wherein the one differs from the other is an accidental matter and not essential. In case you then tell me that man is more perfect than woman, if not in essence, at least in non-essentials, I reply that these non-essentials must pertain either to the body or to the mind; if to the body (as in that man is more robust, more agile, lighter, or more capable of toil), I say that this is proof of very slight perfection, because even among men, they who have these qualities more than others have, are not more esteemed therefor; and even in wars, where the greater part of the work is laborious and a matter of strength, the strongest are yet not the most prized; if to the mind, I say that all the things that men can understand, the same can women understand too; and where the intellect of the one penetrates, there also can that of the other penetrate.”

13.—Having here made a little pause, the Magnifico Giuliano added, laughing:

“Do you not know that in philosophy this proposition is maintained, that those who are tender in flesh are apt in mind? So there is no doubt that women, being tenderer in flesh, are apter in mind, and of capacity better fitted for speculation than men are.” Then he continued:

“But leaving this aside, since you have told me to argue concerning the perfection of both from their acts, I say that if you will consider the workings of nature, you will find that she makes women what they are, not by chance, but adapted to the necessary end: for although she makes them not strong in body and of placid spirit, with many other qualities opposed to those of men, yet the characters of both tend to one single end conducive to the same use. For just as by reason of that feebleness of theirs women are less courageous, so for the same reason they are also more cautious: thus the mother nourishes her children, the father instructs them and with his strength earns abroad that which she with anxious care preserves at home, which is not the lesser merit.

“Again, if you examine the ancient histories (albeit men have ever been very chary of writing women’s praises) and the modern ones, you will find that worth has continually existed among women as well as among men; and that there have even been those who waged wars and won glorious victories therein, governed kingdoms with the highest prudence and justice, and did everything that men have done. As for the sciences, do you not remember having read of many women who were learned in philosophy? Others who were very excellent in poetry? Others who conducted suits, and accused and defended most eloquently before judges? Of handicrafts it would be too long to tell, nor is there need to bring proof regarding that.

“Therefore, if in essential substance man is not more perfect than woman, nor in non-essentials either (and of this, quite apart from argument, the effects are seen), I do not know in what consists this perfection of his.

14.—“And since you said that nature’s aim is always to bring forth the most perfect things, and that she therefore would always bring forth man if she could, and that the bringing forth of woman is rather an errour or defect in nature than of purpose,—I reply that this is totally denied; nor do I see how you can say that nature does not aim to bring forth women, without whom the human species cannot be preserved, whereof this same nature is more desirous than of everything else. For by means of this union of male and female she brings forth children, who repay the benefits received in childhood by maintaining their parents when old; then in turn they beget other children of their own, from whom they look to receive in old age that which they in their youth bestowed upon their parents; thus nature, moving as it were in a circle, fills out eternity and in this way grants immortality to mortals. Woman being therefore as necessary in this as man, I do not see how the one was made more by chance than the other.

“It is very true that nature aims always to bring forth the most perfect things, and hence means to bring forth man after his kind, but not male rather than female. Nay, if she were always to bring forth male, she would be working imperfection; for just as from body and soul there results a compound more noble than its parts, which is man,—so from the union of male and female there results a compound which preserves the human species, and without which its members would perish. And hence male and female are by nature always together, nor can the one exist without the other; thus that ought not to be called male which has no female, according to the definition of each; nor female, that which has no male. And as one sex alone shows imperfection, the theologians of old attribute both the one and the other to God:^[341] wherefore Orpheus said that Jove was male and female; and we read in Holy Writ that God formed men male and female in his own likeness; and often the poets, speaking of the gods, confuse the sex.”

15.—Then my lord Gaspar said:

“I would not have us enter upon such subtleties, because these ladies will not understand us, and although I answer you with excellent arguments, they will believe (or at least pretend to believe) that I am wrong, and straightway will pronounce judgment to their liking. Yet since we are already begun, I will say merely this, that (as you know is the opinion of very wise men) man resembles form, and woman matter; and therefore, just as form is more perfect than matter,—nay, gives it its being,—so man is far more perfect than woman. And I remember having once heard that a great philosopher says in some of his problems:^[342] ‘Why is it that a woman always naturally loves the man who first tasted the sweets of love with her? and on the contrary a man holds that woman in hatred who was the first to give herself to him?’ And adding the reason, he affirms it to be this: because in this matter the woman receives perfection from the man, and the man imperfection from the woman; and therefore everyone naturally loves that thing which makes him perfect, and hates that which makes him imperfect. And besides this, a great argument for the perfection of man and for the imperfection of woman is that every woman universally desires to be a man, by a certain natural instinct that teaches her to desire her perfection.”

16.—The Magnifico Giuliano at once replied:

“The poor creatures do not desire to be men in order to be perfect, but in order to have liberty and to escape that dominion over them which man has arrogated to himself by his own authority. And the analogy that you cite of matter and form does not apply in everything; for woman is not made perfect by man, as matter by form: because matter receives its being from form and cannot exist without it; nay, the more matter forms have, the more they have of imperfection, and are most perfect when separated from it. But woman does not receive her being from man; nay, just as she is made perfect by him, she also makes him perfect. Hence both join in procreation, which neither of them can effect without the other.

“Therefore I will assign the cause of woman’s lasting love for the first man to whom she has given herself, and of man’s hatred for the first woman, not at all to that which your Philosopher alleges in his problems, but to woman’s firmness and constancy, and to man’s inconstancy; nor without natural reason: for being warm, the male naturally derives from that quality lightness, movement and inconstancy, while from her frigidity woman on the other hand derives quietness, firm gravity, and more fixed impressions.”

17.—Then my lady Emilia turned to my lord Magnifico and said:

“For the love of Heaven, leave these matters and forms of yours awhile, and male and female, and speak in such fashion that you may be understood; for we heard and understood very well the evil that my lord Ottaviano and my lord Gaspar said of us, but now we do not at all understand in what manner you are defending us: so it seems to me that you are straying from the subject and leaving in everyone’s mind that bad impression which these enemies of ours have given of us.”

“Do not give us that name, my Lady,” replied my lord Gaspar, “for it better befits my lord Magnifico, who by bestowing false praises upon women shows that there are none true of them.”

The Magnifico Giuliano continued:

“Do not doubt, my Lady, that answer will be made to everything. But I do not wish to utter such inordinate abuse of men as they have uttered of women; and if by chance there were anyone to write down our discussions, I should not like, in a place where these matters and forms are understood, to have the arguments and reasons that my lord Gaspar adduces against you, appear to have been without reply.”

“I do not see, my lord Magnifico,” my lord Gaspar then said, “how in this matter you will be able to deny that man is by his natural qualities more perfect than woman, who is frigid by temperament, and man warm. And warmth is far nobler and more perfect than cold, because it is active and productive; and, as you know, the heavens send down only warmth upon us here, and not cold, which does not enter into the works of nature. And hence I believe that the frigidity of women’s temperament is the cause of their abasement and timidity.”

18.—“So you too,” replied the Magnifico Giuliano, “wish to enter into subtleties; but you shall see that you will always have the worst of it: and that this is true, listen.

“I grant you that warmth is in itself more perfect than cold; but this is not the case with things mixed and composite; for if it were so, that body which is warmer would be more perfect, which is false, because temperate bodies are most perfect. Moreover, I tell you that woman is of frigid temperament by comparison with man, who by excess of warmth is far from temperate; but as for her, she is temperate (or at least more nearly temperate than man is) because she has in her a moisture proportioned to her natural warmth, which in man usually evaporates by reason of excessive dryness and is consumed. Furthermore, her coldness is of the kind that resists and moderates her natural warmth and makes it more nearly temperate; while in man the surplus warmth soon raises his natural heat to the highest pitch, which wastes away for lack of sustenance. And thus, as men lose more in procreation than women do, it often happens that they are less long lived than women; wherefore this perfection also may be ascribed to women, that, living longer than men, they perform better than men that which is the intent of nature.

“Of the warmth that the heavens shed upon us I do not speak now, because it is of a different sort from that which we are discussing; for being preservative of all things under the moon’s orb, warm as well as cold, it cannot be hostile to cold. But timidity in women, although it shows some imperfection, yet springs from a praiseworthy source, that is, from the subtlety and readiness of their wits, which picture images to their minds quickly and thus are easily disturbed by things external. You will very often see men who fear neither death nor anything else, and yet cannot be called courageous, because they do not know the danger and go like fools where they see the road open, and think no further; and this proceeds from a certain grossness of dull wits: wherefore we cannot say that a fool is brave. But true loftiness of mind comes from a due deliberation and determined resolve to act thus and so, and from esteeming honour and duty above all the dangers in the world; and from being of such stout heart and courage (although death be manifest), that the senses are not clogged or frightened, but perform their office in speech and thought as if they were most quiet. We have seen and heard that great men are of this sort; likewise many women, who both in ancient and in modern times have displayed greatness of spirit and have wrought upon the world effects worthy of infinite praise, not less than men have done.”

19.—Then Frisio said:

“Since you too are pleased to enter upon sacred things, do you not know that this transgression was repaired by a Woman, who brought us much greater gain than the other had done us injury, so that the guilt is called most fortunate which was atoned by such merits? But I do not now mean to tell you how inferior in dignity all human creatures are to our Lady the Virgin (in order not to mingle things divine with these light discussions of ours); nor to recount how many women have, with infinite constancy, suffered themselves to be cruelly slain by tyrants for Christ’s name, nor those who by learned disputation have confuted so many idolaters. And if you told me that this was a miracle and grace of the Holy Spirit, I say that no virtue merits more praise than that which is approved by the testimony of God. Many other women also, of whom there is less talk, you yourself can see,—especially by reading Saint Jerome, who celebrates certain ones of his time with such admiring praises as might well suffice for the saintliest man on earth.^[343]

20.—“Then consider how many others there have been, of whom no mention is made at all, because the poor creatures are kept shut up, without the lofty pride to seek the name of saint from the rabble, as many accursed hypocrites do to-day, who,—forgetful or rather regardless of Christ’s teaching, which requires that when a man fasts he shall anoint his face in order that he may not seem to fast, and commands that prayers, alms, and other good works shall be done, not in the market-place nor in synagogues, but in secret, so that the left hand shall not know of the right,—affirm that there is no greater good thing in the world than to give a good example: and so, with averted head and downcast eyes, noising it abroad that they will not speak to women or eat anything but raw herbs,—dirty, with cassocks torn, they beguile the simple. Yet they abstain not from forging wills, setting mortal enmities between man and wife, and sometimes poison, using sorceries, incantations and every sort of villainy. And then they cite a certain authority out of their own head, which says, si non caste, tamen caute;^[344] and with this they think to cure every great evil, and with good arguments to persuade anyone who is not right wary that all sin, however grave it be, is easily pardoned of God, provided it remain secret and do not give rise to bad example. Thus, under a veil of sanctity and in secret they often turn all their thoughts to corrupt the pure mind of some woman; often to sow hatred between brothers; to govern states; to raise up one and cast another down; to get men beheaded, imprisoned and proscribed; to be ministers of the villainies and as it were receivers of the thefts that many princes commit.

“Others shamelessly delight to appear dainty and fresh, with well-shaven crown and garments fine, and in walking lift the cassock to display their neat hose and their comeliness of person in making salutations. Others use certain glances and gestures even in saying mass, whereby they imagine they are graceful and attract attention. Villainous and wicked men, utter strangers not only to religion but to all good behaviour; and when they are reproved for their loose living, they make a jest of it and laugh at him who speaks to them of it, and almost make a merit of their vices.”

Then my lady Emilia said:

“You take such pleasure in speaking ill of friars, that you have entered upon this subject without rhyme or reason. But you are very wrong to murmur against ecclesiastics, and you burden your conscience quite needlessly; since, but for those who pray to God for us, we should have much greater scourges than we have.”

Then the Magnifico Giuliano laughed, and said:

“How did you guess so well, my Lady, that I was speaking of friars, when I did not name them? But in truth what I do is not called murmuring, for I speak very openly and plainly; nor am I speaking of the good, but of the bad and guilty, of whom moreover I do not tell the thousandth part of what I know.”

“Do not speak of friars now,” replied my lady Emilia; “because for my part I esteem it grievous sin to listen to you, and so I shall go away in order not to listen to you.”

21.—“I am content,” said the Magnifico Giuliano, “to speak no more of this; but returning to the praises of women, I say that my lord Gaspar shall not find me an admirable man, but I will find you a wife or daughter or sister of equal and sometimes greater merit. Moreover, many women have been the cause of countless benefits to their men-folk, and sometimes have corrected many a one of his errours. Wherefore, women being (as we have shown) naturally capable of the same virtues as men, and the effects thereof being often seen, I do not perceive why,—in giving them what it is possible for them to have, what they more than once have had and still have,—I should be regarded as relating miracles, whereof my lord Gaspar has accused me; seeing that there have always been on earth, and now still are, women as like the Court Lady I have fashioned, as men like the man these gentlemen have fashioned.”

22.—“Verily,” replied the Magnifico Giuliano, “no other thing could make me embarrassed save their multitude; and had I time enough, I should tell you here the story of Octavia,^[345] wife of Mark Antony and sister of Augustus; that of Porcia,^[346] Cato’s daughter and wife of Brutus; that of Caia Cæcilia,^[347] wife of Tarquinius Priscus; that of Cornelia,^[348] Scipio’s daughter; and of countless others who are very celebrated: and not only of our own, but of barbarian nations; as that of Alexandra,^[349] wife of Alexander king of the Jews, who,—after her husband’s death, when she saw the people kindled with fury and already up in arms to slay the two children that he had left her, in revenge for the cruel and grievous bondage in which the father had always kept them,—so acted that she soon appeased their just wrath, and by her prudence straightway won over for her children those minds which the father, by countless injuries during many years, had made very hostile to his offspring.”

“At least tell us,” replied my lady Emilia, “how she did it.”

“Seeing her children in such peril,” said the Magnifico, “she at once caused Alexander’s body to be cast into the middle of the market-place. Then, having called the citizens to her, she said that she knew their minds to be kindled with very just wrath against her husband, because the cruel injuries that he had iniquitously done them deserved it; and that, as she had always wished, while he was alive, that she could make him abstain from such a wicked life, so now she was ready to give proof of it, and as far as possible to help them punish him after death; and therefore let them take his body, and give it as food for dogs, and outrage it in the most cruel ways they could devise: but she prayed them to have mercy upon her innocent children, who could not have either guilt or even knowledge of the father’s evil deeds. Of such efficacy were these words, that the fierce wrath before conceived in the minds of all that people was quickly softened and turned to a feeling of such pity, that they not only with one accord chose the children for their rulers, but also gave most honourable burial to the body of the dead.”

Here the Magnifico made a little pause; then he added:

“Do you not know that the wife and daughters of Mithridates showed much less fear of death than Mithridates?^[350] And Hasdrubal’s wife than Hasdrubal?^[351] Do you not know that Harmonia, daughter of Hiero the Syracusan, chose to perish in the burning of her native city?”^[352]

Then Frisio said:

“Where obstinacy is concerned, it is certain that some women are occasionally to be found who never change their purpose; like the one who being no longer able to say ‘Scissors’ to her husband, made the sign of them to him with her hands.”^[353]

23.—The Magnifico Giuliano laughed, and said:

“Obstinacy that tends to a worthy end ought to be called steadfastness; as was the case of the famous Epicharis, a Roman freedwoman, who, being privy to a great conspiracy against Nero, was of such steadfastness that, although racked by all the direst tortures that can be imagined, she never betrayed one of her accomplices; while in the same peril many noble knights and senators basely accused brothers, friends and the dearest and nearest they had in the world.^[354]

“What will you say of that other woman who was called Leæna? In whose honour the Athenians dedicated a tongueless lioness (leæna) in bronze before the gate of the citadel, to show in her the steadfast virtue of silence; because being likewise privy to a conspiracy against the tyrants, she was not dismayed by the death of two great men (her friends), and although rent by countless most cruel tortures, she never betrayed one of the conspirators.”^[355]

Then madonna Margarita Gonzaga said:

“Methinks you narrate too briefly these virtuous deeds done by women; for these enemies of ours, although having heard and read them, yet pretend not to know them and fain would have the memory of them lost: but if you will let us women hear them, we at least shall deem ourselves honoured by them.”

24.—Then the Magnifico Giuliano replied:

“So be it. I wish to tell you now of one who did what I think my lord Gaspar himself will admit very few men do;” and he began: “In Massilia^[356] there was once a custom that is believed to have been brought from Greece, which was that they publicly^[357] kept a poison compounded of hemlock, and allowed anyone to take it who proved to the Senate that he ought to lay down his life because of any trouble that he found therein, or for other just cause, to the end that whoever had suffered a too hostile fortune or had enjoyed a too prosperous fortune, should not drag on the one or change the other. Now Sextus Pompey, finding himself—”^[358]

Here Frisio, not waiting for the Magnifico Giuliano to go on, said:

“Methinks this is the beginning of a long story.”

Then the Magnifico Giuliano turned to madonna Margarita laughing, and said:

“You see that Frisio will not let me speak. I wished to tell you now about a woman who, having shown to the Senate that she had good reason to die, cheerfully and fearlessly took the poison in Sextus Pompey’s presence, with such steadfastness of spirit and with such affectionate and thoughtful remembrances to her family, that Pompey and all the others who saw such wisdom and confidence on a woman’s part in the dread hour of death, were lost in wonderment and tears.”

25.—Then my lord Gaspar said, laughing:

“I too remember having read a speech in which an unhappy husband asks leave of the Senate to die, and proves that he has just cause for it in that he cannot endure the continual annoyance of his wife’s chatter, and prefers to drink the poison, which you say was publicly kept for such purposes, than his wife’s words.”

The Magnifico Giuliano replied:

“How many poor women would have just cause for asking leave to die because they cannot endure, I will not say the evil words, but the very evil deeds of their husbands! I know several such, who suffer in this world the pains that are said to be in hell.”

“Do you not believe,” replied my lord Gaspar, “that there are also many husbands who have such torment of their wives that they hourly wish for death?”

“And what pain,” said the Magnifico, “can wives give their husbands that is as incurable as are those that husbands give their wives?—who if not for love, at least for fear, are submissive to their husbands.”

“Certain it is,” said my lord Gaspar, “that the little good they sometimes do proceeds from fear, since there are few in the world who in their secret hearts do not hate their husbands.”

“Nay, quite the contrary,” replied the Magnifico; “and if you recall aright what you have read, we see in all the histories that wives nearly always love their husbands more than husbands love their wives. When did you ever see or read of a husband showing his wife such a token of love as did the famous Camma to her husband?”

“I do not know,” replied my lord Gaspar, “who the woman was, nor what token she showed.”

“Nor I,” said Frisio.

“Listen,” replied the Magnifico; “and do you, madonna Margarita, take care to keep it in mind.

26.—“This Camma was a very beautiful young woman, adorned with such modesty and gentle manners that she was admirable no less for this than for her beauty; and above other things with all her heart she loved her husband, who was called Synattus. It happened that another gentleman, who was of much higher station than Synattus and almost tyrant of the city where they lived, became enamoured of this young woman; and after having long tried by every way and means to possess her, and all in vain, he persuaded himself that the love she bore her husband was the sole cause that hindered his desires, and had this Synattus slain.

“So then urging her continually, he was never able to gain other advantage than he had done at first; wherefore, his love increasing daily, he resolved to take her for his wife, although she was far beneath him in station. So, her parents being asked by Sinoris (for thus the lover was called), they began to persuade her to accept him, showing her that her consent would be very advantageous, and her refusal dangerous to her and to them all. After resisting them awhile, she at last replied that she was willing.

“Her parents had the news brought to Sinoris, who was happy beyond measure and arranged that the marriage should be celebrated at once. Both having accordingly come in state for the purpose to the temple of Diana, Camma had a certain sweet drink brought which she had prepared; and so before Diana’s image she drank half of it in the presence of Sinoris; then with her own hand (for thus it was the custom to do at marriages) she gave the rest to her spouse, who drank it all.

“When Camma saw that her plan had succeeded, she knelt all joyful at the foot of Diana’s image, and said:

“‘O Goddess, thou who knowest the secrets of my heart, be thou sure witness for me how hardly I refrained from putting myself to death after my dear consort died, and with what weariness I bore the sorrow of remaining in this bitter life, wherein I felt no other good or pleasure beyond the hope of that vengeance which now I find I have attained. Joyful and content, then, I go to seek the sweet company of that soul which in life and in death I have loved more than myself. And thou, wretch, who thoughtest to be my husband, instead of the marriage bed give order that thy tomb be made ready for thee, for I offer thee as a sacrifice to the shade of Synattus.’

“Aghast at these words, and already feeling the effect of the poison stir pain within him, Sinoris tried many remedies; but they were of no avail, and Camma had such great good fortune (or whatever else it was), that before dying herself she knew that Sinoris was dead. Learning which thing, she very contentedly laid herself upon her bed with eyes to heaven, continually calling the name of Synattus, and saying:

“‘O sweetest consort, now that I have given both tears and vengeance as last offerings for thy death, nor see that aught else is left me to do for thee, I hasten from the world and this life,—cruel without thee and once dear to me only for thy sake. Come then to meet me, my Lord, and receive this soul as gladly as it gladly comes to thee.’

“And speaking thus, and with arms opened as if she would already embrace him, she died. Now say, Frisio, what do you think of her?”^[359]

Frisio replied:

“I think you fain would make these ladies weep. But even supposing this were true, I tell you that such women are no longer to be found in the world.”

27.—“Indeed they are to be found,” said the Magnifico; “and that this is true, listen:

“In my time there was a gentleman at Pisa, whose name was messer Tommaso; I do not remember of what family, although I often heard it mentioned by my father, who was a great friend of his. Now this messer Tommaso, crossing one day in a small vessel from Pisa to Sicily on business, was surprised by some Moorish galleys which had come up so stealthily that those who commanded the vessel did not suspect it; and although the men who were in her defended themselves stoutly, yet as they were few and the enemy many, the vessel fell into the hands of the Moors, together with all who were in her, both wounded and whole as it chanced, and among them messer Tommaso, who had carried himself bravely and slain with his own hand a brother of one of the captains of the galleys. Wherefore enraged, as you may believe, by the loss of a brother, the captain claimed him as special prisoner, and beating and maltreating him every day, carried him to Barbary, having resolved to keep him there in great misery a captive for life and with grievous pains.

“All the others got free after a time, some in one way and some in another, and returned home and reported to his wife (whose name was madonna Argentina) and to his children, the hard life and sore affliction in which messer Tommaso was living and was like to go on living without hope unless God should aid him miraculously. After she and they were informed of this and had tried several other means to deliver him, and when he himself was quite resigned to die, it came to pass that watchful love so kindled the wit and daring of one of his sons, who was called Paolo, that the youth took no heed of any kind of danger and resolved either to die or to free his father; and this thing was brought about in such sort that the father was conveyed away so privily that he was in Leghorn before it was discovered in Barbary that he had departed thence. From here messer Tommaso wrote in safety to his wife, and informed her of his deliverance and where he was and how he hoped to see her the next day. Overwhelmed with great and unexpected joy at being (through the dutifulness and merit of her son) so soon to see her husband, whom she so dearly loved and firmly believed she would never see again,—the good and gentle lady raised her eyes to heaven when she had read the letter, and calling her husband’s name fell dead upon the ground; nor in spite of all the remedies that were employed upon her did the departed spirit return again to her body. Cruel spectacle, and enough to moderate human wishes and restrain their over-longing for too much joy.”

28.—Then Frisio said, laughing:

“I cite her as one of those who bear witness that there are wives who love their husbands; for of those who have been the cause of great benefits to the world, I could tell you of an endless number, and discourse to you of some so ancient that they almost seem fabulous, and of those who among men have been the inventors of such things, that they deserved to be esteemed as goddesses, like Pallas and Ceres; and of the Sibyls,^[360] by whose mouth God has so often spoken and revealed to the world events that were to come; and of those who have instructed very great men, like Aspasia,^[361] and like Diotima,^[362] who furthermore by her sacrifices delayed for ten years the time of a pestilence that was to come upon Athens. I could tell you of Nicostrate,^[363] Evander’s mother, who taught the Latins letters; and of still another woman,^[364] who was preceptress to the lyric poet Pindar;^[365] and of Corinna^[366] and of Sappho,^[367] who were excellent in poetry; but I do not wish to seek out matters so far afield. I tell you, however (leaving the rest apart), that women were perhaps not less the cause of Rome’s greatness than men.”

“This,” said my lord Gaspar, “would be fine to hear.”

29.—The Magnifico replied:

“Then listen to it. After the fall of Troy many Trojans fled who escaped that great disaster, some in one direction and some in another; of whom one part, who were buffeted by many storms, came to Italy at that place where the Tiber flows into the sea. Landing here in search of necessaries, they began to roam about the country: the women, who had remained in the ships, bethought themselves of a good plan that would put an end to their perilous and long wandering by sea and give them a new fatherland in place of that which they had lost; and after consulting together in the absence of the men, they burned the ships; and the first to begin the work bore the name Roma. Yet fearing the wrath of the men, who were returning, they went out to meet these; and embracing and kissing, some their husbands, some their kinsmen, with tokens of affection, they softened the first impulse of anger; then they quietly explained to the men the reason of their wise device. Whereupon the Trojans, either from necessity or from having been kindly received by the natives, were well pleased with what the women had done, and dwelt there with the Latins in the place where afterwards was Rome; and from this arose the ancient custom among the Romans that the women kissed their kinsfolk when they met.^[368] Now you see how much these women helped to make a beginning of Rome.

30.—“Nor did the Sabine women contribute less to its increase than the Trojan women did to its beginning. For Romulus, having excited general enmity among all his neighbours by the seizure of their women, was harassed by wars on every side; which (he being a man of ability) were soon brought to a successful issue, except that with the Sabines, which was very great because Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines, was very powerful and wise. Wherefore, a severe conflict having taken place between Romans and Sabines, with very heavy loss on both sides, and a new and cruel battle making ready, the Sabine women,—clad in black, with hair loose and torn, weeping, sorrowful, fearless of the weapons that were already drawn to strike,—rushed in between the fathers and husbands, imploring them to refrain from defiling their hands with the blood of fathers-in-law and sons-in-law. And if the men were still displeased with the alliance, let the weapons be turned against the women, for it were better for them to die than to live widowed or fatherless and brotherless, and to remember that their children were begotten of those who had slain their fathers, or that they themselves were born of those who had slain their husbands. Lamenting thus and weeping, many of them carried their little babes in their arms,^[369] some of whom were already beginning to loose the tongue and seemed to try to call and to make merry with their grandsires; to whom the women showed the little ones, and said, weeping: ‘Behold your blood, which with such heat and fury you are seeking to shed with your own hands.’

“The women’s dutifulness and wisdom wrought such great effect at this pass, that not only were lasting friendship and union established between the two hostile kings, but what was stranger, the Sabines came to live at Rome, and of the two peoples a single one was made. And thus this union greatly increased the power of Rome, thanks to those wise and lofty-minded women, who were rewarded by Romulus in such fashion that in dividing the people into thirty wards he gave thereto the names of the Sabine women.”

31.—Here having paused a little, and seeing that my lord Gaspar did not speak, the Magnifico Giuliano said:

“Do you not think that these women were the cause of good to their men-folk and contributed to the greatness of Rome?”

My lord Gaspar replied:

“No doubt they were worthy of much praise; but had you been as willing to tell the sins of women as their good works, you would not have omitted to say that in this war of Titus Tatius a woman betrayed Rome and showed the enemy the way to seize the Capitol, whereby the Romans came near being all destroyed.”^[370]

The Magnifico Giuliano replied:

“You tell me of a single bad woman, while I tell you of countless good ones; and besides those already mentioned, I could show you a thousand other instances on my side, of benefits done to Rome by women, and could tell you why a temple was dedicated of old to Venus Armata,^[371] and another to Venus Calva,^[372] and how the Festival of the Handmaidens was instituted in honour of Juno because handmaidens once delivered Rome from the wiles of the enemy.^[373] But leaving all these things aside, did not that lofty deed—the discovery of Cataline’s conspiracy, whereof Cicero so vaunts himself—spring chiefly from a vile woman?^[374]—who for this might be said to have been the cause of all the good that Cicero boasts of having wrought the Roman commonwealth. And had I time enough, I should further show you that women have often corrected many of men’s errours; but I fear that this discourse of mine is already too long and wearisome: so, having performed according to my ability the task imposed upon me by these ladies, I think it well to give place to someone who will say things worthier to be listened to than any I can say.”