32.—Then my lady Emilia said:

“Do not deprive women of those true praises that are their due; and remember that if my lord Gaspar, and perhaps my lord Ottaviano as well, listen to you with weariness, we and all these other gentlemen listen to you with pleasure.”

The Magnifico still wished to stop, but all the ladies began begging him to speak: whereupon he said, laughing:

“In order not to make my lord Gaspar more my enemy than he is, I will tell briefly of a few women who occur to my mind, omitting many that I might mention.” Then he continued: “When Philip, son of Demetrius, was laying siege to the city of Chios, he issued an edict promising freedom and their masters’ wives to all slaves who should escape from the city and come to him. So great was the women’s wrath at this shameful edict that they rushed to the walls in arms, and fought so fiercely that in a short time they drove Philip off with disgrace and loss: which their husbands had not been able to do.^[375]

“When these same women came to Leuconia with their husbands, fathers and brothers (who were going into exile), they performed a deed no less glorious than this: the Erythræans,^[376] who were there with their allies, waged war upon these Chiotes, who were unable to resist, and so bound themselves to quit the city in tunic and shift only. Hearing of this shameful bargain, the women bewailed and upbraided the men for abandoning their weapons and going forth almost naked among the enemy; and the men answering that they were already bound, the women told them to wear their shields and spears and leave their clothes behind, and to tell the enemy that this was their attire. And thus, acting upon the advice of their women, they in great part atoned for the shame that they could not wholly escape.

“Again, Cyrus having routed an army of Persians in battle, in fleeing to their city they met their women outside the gate, who, stopping in the way, said: ‘Whither do ye flee, base men? Would ye perchance hide yourselves in us, from whence ye came?’ On hearing these and other like words, and being sensible how inferior they were in courage to their women, the men were ashamed, and returning against the enemy, fought with him anew and routed him.”^[377]

33.—Having thus far spoken, the Magnifico stopped, and turning to my lady Duchess, said:

“Now, my Lady, you will give me leave to be silent.”

My lord Gaspar replied:

“You will forsooth have to be silent, for you do not know what more to say.”

The Magnifico said, laughing:

“You provoke me so, that you run risk of having to listen to women’s praises all night; and to hear of many Spartan women who rejoiced in the glorious death of their children;^[378] and of those who disowned or even slew theirs when seen to behave basely. Then how in the ruin of their country the Saguntine women took up arms against the forces of Hannibal;^[379] and how, when Marius overcame the army of the Germans, the women, being unable to get leave to live free at Rome in the service of the Vestal Virgins, all killed themselves and their little children;^[380] and of a thousand others whereof all the ancient histories are full.”

Then my lord Gaspar said:

“Ah, my lord Magnifico, but God knows how those things happened; for that age is so remote from us that many lies can be told and there is none to refute them.”

34.—The Magnifico said:

“If in every age you will compare women’s worth with that of men, you will find that they have never been and are not now at all inferior to men in worth; for leaving aside the times that are so ancient, if you come to the time when the Goths ruled in Italy, you will find that there was a queen among them, Amalasontha,^[381] who long reigned with admirable wisdom; then Theodolinda,^[382] queen of the Lombards, of singular worth; Theodora,^[383] the Greek empress; and in Italy among many others the Countess Matilda was a most illustrious lady, of whose praises I will leave Count Ludovico to speak, since she was of his family.”^[384]

“Nay,” said the Count, “that rests with you, for you know it does not become a man to praise what is his own.”

The Magnifico continued:

“And how many women in times past do you find belonging to this most noble house of Montefeltro!^[385] How many of the house of Gonzaga, of Este, of Pio!^[386] Then, if we wish to speak of the present times, we shall have no need to seek very far for instances, because we have them at home. But I shall not avail myself of those we see before us, lest you pretend to grant me out of courtesy that which you can in no wise deny. And to go outside of Italy, remember that we in our day have seen Queen Anne of France,^[387] a very great lady not less in worth than in state; and if you will compare her in justice and clemency, liberality and pureness of life, with Kings Charles^[388] and Louis^[250] (to both of whom she was consort), you will not find her at all their inferior. You see madonna Margarita^[389] (daughter of the Emperor Maximilian)^[390] who has until now governed and still governs her state with the utmost wisdom and justice.

35.—“But laying all others aside, tell me, my lord Gaspar, what king or what prince has there been in our days, or even for many years past in Christendom, who deserves to be compared with Queen Isabella of Spain?”^[391]

My lord Gaspar replied:

“King Ferdinand, her husband.”^[392]

The Magnifico continued:

“That I shall not deny; for since the queen judged him worthy to be her husband, and so loved and honoured him, we cannot say that he did not deserve to be compared with her: yet I believe that the fame he had by her was a dowry not inferior to the kingdom of Castile.”

“Nay,” replied my lord Gaspar, “I think that Queen Isabella had credit for many of King Ferdinand’s deeds.”

Then the Magnifico said:

“Unless the people of Spain,—lords, commons, men and women, poor and rich,—have all agreed to lie in praise of her, there has not been in our time on earth a brighter example of true goodness, of lofty spirit, of wisdom, of piety, of purity, of courtesy, of liberality,—in short, of every virtue,—than Queen Isabella; and although the fame of that illustrious lady is very great in every place and among every nation, those who lived in her company and were witness to her actions, do all affirm that this fame sprang from her virtue and merits. And whoever will consider her deeds will easily perceive such to be the truth. For leaving aside countless things that give proof of this and could be told if it were our theme, everyone knows that when she came to reign she found the greater part of Castile usurped by the grandees; yet she recovered the whole so righteously and in such fashion that the very men who were deprived of it, remained very devoted to her and content to give up that which they possessed.

“A very noted thing also is with what courage and wisdom she always defended her realms against very powerful enemies; and likewise to her alone can be given the honour of the glorious conquest of the kingdom of Granada; for in this long and difficult war against obstinate enemies,—who were fighting for property, for life, for religion, and (to their thinking) for God,—she always showed, both in her counsel and in her very person, such virtue that perhaps few princes in our time have had the hardihood, I will not say to imitate, but even to envy her.

“Besides this, all who knew her affirm that she had such a divine manner of ruling that her mere wish seemed enough to make every man do quietly that which he ought to do; so that men hardly dared in their own houses and secretly to do anything they thought would displease her: and in great part the cause of this was the admirable judgment she had in discerning and choosing right agents for the duties she meant to employ them in; and so well did she know how to unite the rigour of justice with the gentleness of mercy and liberality, that in her day there was no good man who complained of being ill rewarded, nor any bad man of being too severely punished. Thus there sprang up among the people an exceeding great reverence for her, composed of love and fear, which still remains so implanted in the minds of all, that they almost seem to think that she looks down upon them from heaven and must bestow praise or blame upon them from above; and thus those realms are still governed by her name and the methods she ordained, so that although her life is at an end, her authority lives,—like a wheel which, long revolved with force, still turns of itself for a good space, although nothing more impels it.

“Consider also, my lord Gaspar, that in our times nearly all the men in Spain who are great or famous for anything whatever, were made so by Queen Isabella; and Consalvo Ferdinando, the Great Captain, was far prouder of this than of all his famous victories, and of those eminent and worthy deeds which have made him so bright and illustrious in peace and war, that if fame is not very thankless, she will always herald his immortal praises to the world, and give proof that we have in our age had few kings or great princes who have not been surpassed by him in magnanimity, wisdom, and in every virtue.

36.—“Returning now to Italy, I say that here too there is no lack of very admirable ladies; for in Naples we have two remarkable queens;^[393] and a short time since there died at Naples also the other queen of Hungary,^[394] you know how admirable a lady, and worthy to be the peer of the unconquerable and glorious king, Matthias Corvinus, her husband.^[395] Likewise the Duchess Isabella of Aragon, worthy sister to King Ferdinand of Naples; who (like gold in the fire) showed her virtue and worth amid the storms of fortune.^[396]

“If you come to Lombardy, you will find my lady Isabella, Marchioness of Mantua;^[397] to whose very admirable virtues injustice would be done in speaking as soberly as in this place anyone must needs do who would speak of her at all. I regret, too, that you did not all know her sister the Duchess Beatrice of Milan, in order that you might never more have need to marvel at woman’s capacity.^[398] And Eleanora of Aragon, Duchess of Ferrara and mother of both these two ladies whom I have mentioned, was of such sort that her very admirable virtues bore good witness to all the world that she not only was a worthy daughter of a king, but deserved to be queen over a much greater realm than all her ancestors had possessed.^[399] And to tell you of another, how many men do you know in the world who have borne the cruel blows of fortune as patiently as Queen Isabella of Naples has done?^[400]—who, after the loss of her kingdom, the exile and death of her husband King Federico^[401] and of two children, and the captivity of her first-born, the Duke of Calabria,^[402] still shows herself to be a queen, and so endures the grievous burdens of bitter poverty as to give all men proof that although her fortunes are changed, her rank is not.

“I refrain from mentioning countless other ladies, and also women of low degree; like many Pisan women, who in defence of their city against the Florentines displayed that generous daring, without any fear of death, which might have been displayed by the most unconquerable souls that have ever been on earth; wherefore some of them have been celebrated by many noble poets.^[403]

“I could tell you of some who were very excellent in letters, in music, in painting, in sculpture; but I do not wish to go on selecting from among these instances that are perfectly well known to you all. It is enough that if you reflect upon the women whom you yourselves know, it is not difficult for you to perceive that they are for the most part not inferior in worth and merits to their fathers, brothers and husbands; and that not a few have been the source of good to men and often have corrected many a one of his errours; and if there are not now to be found on earth those great queens who march to the conquest of distant lands, and erect great buildings, pyramids and cities,—like that famous Tomyris, Queen of Scythia, Artemisia, Zenobia, Semiramis or Cleopatra,^[404]—neither are there men like Cæsar, Alexander, Scipio, Lucullus and those other Roman commanders.”

37.—“Say not so,” replied Frisio, laughing; “for now more than ever are there women to be found like Cleopatra or Semiramis; and if they have not such great states, power and riches, yet they lack not the good will to imitate those queens in giving themselves pleasure, and in satisfying as far as they can all their appetites.”

“You always wish to go beyond bounds, Frisio; but if there are some Cleopatras to be found, there is no lack of countless Sardanapaluses, which is far worse.”^[405]

Then my lord Gaspar said:

“Do not draw these comparisons, or imagine that men are more incontinent than women; and even if they were so, it would not be worse, for from women’s incontinence countless evils result that do not from men’s. Therefore, as was said yesterday, it is wisely ordained that women are allowed to fail in all other things without blame, to the end that they may be able to devote all their strength to keeping themselves in this one virtue of chastity; without which their children would be uncertain, and that tie would be dissolved which binds the whole world by blood and by the natural love of each man for what he has produced. Hence loose living is more forbidden to women than to men, who do not carry their children for nine months within them.”

38.—Then the Magnifico replied:

“Verily these are fine arguments which you cite, and I do not see why you do not commit them to writing.

“But tell me why it is not ordained that loose living is as disgraceful a thing in men as in women, seeing that if men are by nature more virtuous and of greater worth, they could all the more easily practise this virtue of continence also; and their children would be neither more nor less certain, for although women were unchaste, they could of themselves merely and without other aid in no wise bear children, provided men were continent and did not take part in women’s unchastity. But if you will say the truth, even you know that we men have of our own authority arrogated to ourselves a licence, whereby we insist that the same sins are in us very trivial and sometimes praiseworthy, and in women cannot be sufficiently punished, unless by shameful death or perpetual infamy at least.

“Wherefore, since this opinion is prevalent, methinks it were a fitting thing to punish severely those also who with lies cast infamy on women; and I think that every noble cavalier is bound always to defend the truth with arms where there is need, and especially when he knows some woman to be falsely accused of little chastity.”

39.—“And I,” replied my lord Gaspar, laughing, “not only affirm that which you say is the duty of every noble cavalier, but I think that it is an act of great courtesy and gentleness to conceal the fault a woman may have committed through mischance or over-love; and thus you may see that I am more on the side of women, where reason permits it, than you are.

“I do not, indeed, deny that men have taken a little liberty; and this because they know that according to universal opinion loose living does not bring them the infamy that it does to women; who by reason of the frailty of their sex are much more inclined towards their appetites than men are; and if they sometimes refrain from satisfying their desires, they do so from shame and not because their will is not quite ready. Therefore men have put the fear of infamy upon them as a bridle to keep them almost by force to this virtue, without which they were in truth little to be prized; for the world has no good from women except the bearing of children.

“But this is not the case with men, who rule cities and armies, and do so many other things of importance. Since you will have it so, I do not care to deny that women can do these things; it is enough that they do not. And when men have seen fit to set a pattern of continence, they have excelled women in this virtue as well as in the others also, although you do not admit it. And as to this I will not rehearse so many histories and fables as you have done, but merely refer you to the continence of two very great young lords, and to their victory, which is wont to make even men of lowest rank insolent. One is that of Alexander the Great towards the very beautiful women of Darius,—an enemy, and a vanquished one at that;^[406] the other, of Scipio, who having at the age of twenty-four years taken a city in Spain by force, there was brought before him a very beautiful and noble young woman, captured along with many others; and hearing that she was the bride of a gentleman of the country, Scipio not only abstained from any wanton act towards her, but restored her unspotted to her husband, bestowing a rich gift upon her besides.^[407]

“I could tell you of Xenocrates,^[408] who was so continent that a very beautiful woman having laid herself down unclothed beside him, and employing all the caresses and using all the arts that she knew, whereof she was an admirable mistress, she had not the power to make him show the slightest sign of impudicity, although she tried one whole night long; and of Pericles, who on merely hearing someone praise a boy’s beauty with overwarmth, reproved him sharply;^[409] and of many others who have been very continent of their own choice, and not from shame or fear of punishment, which move most women who practise this virtue: who for all that deserve to be highly praised, and he who falsely casts the infamy of unchasteness upon them is worthy of the heaviest punishment, as you have said.”

40.—Then messer Cesare, who had been silent a long while, said:

“Think in what fashion my lord Gaspar is wont to speak in blame of woman, if these are the things that he says in their praise. But if my lord Magnifico will let me say a few things in his stead by way of reply to such matters as my lord Gaspar has, to my thinking, said falsely against women, it were well for both of us; as he will rest awhile and then be better able to go on to declare some other excellence of the Court Lady, and I shall hold myself much favoured at having an opportunity to share with him this duty of a good cavalier—that is, to defend the truth.”

“Nay, I pray you do so,” replied my lord Magnifico; “for methinks I have already fulfilled my duty to the extent of my powers, and this discussion is now outside my subject.”

Messer Cesare continued:

“I am far from wishing to speak of the good that women do in the world besides the bearing of children, for it has been sufficiently shown how necessary they are not only to our being, but to our well-being; but I say, my lord Gaspar, that if they are as you say more inclined to their appetites than men, and if for all that they abstain therefrom more than men, which you admit,—they are as much worthier of praise as their sex is less strong to resist their natural appetites. And if you say they do it from shame, methinks that in place of a single virtue you give them two; for if shame is stronger in them than appetite and they for that reason abstain from evil acts, I think that this shame (which in short is nothing else but fear of infamy) is a very rare virtue and one possessed by very few men. And if I could, without infinite disgrace to men, tell how many of them are plunged in shamelessness (which is the vice opposed to this virtue), I should pollute these chaste ears that hear me. These offenders against God and nature are for the most part men already old, who make a calling, some of the priesthood, some of philosophy, some of sacred law; and govern public affairs with a Catonian severity of countenance that gives promise of all the integrity in the world; and always allege the feminine sex to be very incontinent; nor do they ever lament anything more than their loss of natural vigor, which renders them unable to satisfy the abominable desires that still linger in their thoughts after being denied by nature to their bodies; and hence they often find ways wherein strength is not necessary.

41.—“But I do not wish to say more; and it is enough for me that you grant me that women abstain from unchaste living more than men; and certain it is that they are restrained by no other bridle than that which they themselves put on. That this is true, the greater part of those who are confined with too close care, or beaten by their husbands or fathers, are less chaste than those who have some liberty.

“But a great bridle to women generally is their love of true virtue and their desire for honour, whereof many whom I have known in my time make more account than of their very life; and if you will say the truth, every one of us has seen very noble youths, discreet, wise, valiant and beautiful, spend many years in love, without omitting aught of care, of gifts, of prayers, of tears, in short, of anything that can be imagined; and all in vain. And but that I might be told that my qualities have never made me worthy of ever being loved, I should call myself as witness, who have more than once been nigh to death because of a woman’s unchangeable and too stern chastity.”

My lord Gaspar replied:

“Marvel not at that: for women who are always wooed refuse to please him who wooes them; and they who are not wooed, woo others.”^[410]

42.—Messer Cesare said:

“I have never known these men who are wooed by women; but very many who, on finding that they have tried in vain and spent time foolishly, resort to this noble revenge, and say they have had an abundance of that which they have only imagined, and think it a kind of courtiership to speak evil and invent tales to the end that slanderous stories of some noble lady may spring up among the rabble. But such as these, who make vile boast (whether true or false) of conquering a gentle lady, deserve punishment or torture most severe; and if they sometimes meet it, we cannot measure the praise due to those who perform the office. For if they are telling lies, what villainy can be greater than to steal from a worthy lady that which she values more than life? And for no other reason than that which ought to win endless praise for her? Again, if they are telling the truth, what punishment could suffice for a man who is so vile as to reward with such ingratitude a woman, who,—vanquished by false flatteries, by feigned tears, by continual wooing, by laments, by arts, tricks and perjuries,—has suffered herself to be led into too great love, and then without reserve has fondly given herself a prey to such a malign spirit?

“But to answer you further touching that unheard-of continence of Alexander and Scipio which you have cited, I say I am unwilling to deny that both performed an act worthy of much praise; yet to the end that you may not be able to say that in rehearsing ancient matters I tell you fables, I wish to cite a woman of low degree in our own times, who showed far more continence than these two great men.

43.—“I say, then, that I once knew a beautiful and gentle girl, whose name I do not tell you lest you give food for slander to many fools, who conceive a bad opinion of a woman as soon as they hear of her being in love. Well, this girl having been long loved by a noble and well-conditioned youth, began to love him with all her mind and heart; and of this not only I (to whom she voluntarily confided everything as if I had been, I will not say her brother, but her dearest sister), but all those who saw her in the presence of the beloved youth, were very certain of her passion. Loving thus as fervently as a very loving soul can love, she maintained such continence for two years that she never gave this youth any token of loving him, except such as she could not hide; neither would she ever speak to him or receive letters from him or gifts, although a day never passed but she was besought to do both. And I well know how she longed for it, because if she was sometimes able to possess anything secretly that had been the youth’s, she held it so dear that it seemed to be the source of her life and all her weal; and never in all that time would she grant him other pleasure than to see him and let herself be seen, and to dance with him as with the others when she took part in public festivals.

“And since they were well suited to each other in condition, the girl and the youth desired that their great love might end happily, and that they might be man and wife together. The same was desired by all the other men and women of their city, except her cruel father, who out of perverse and strange caprice wished to marry her to another and richer man; and to this the unhappy girl opposed naught but very bitter tears. And the ill-starred marriage having been concluded, with much pity from the people and to the despair of the poor lovers, even this blow of fortune did not avail to destroy the love so deeply rooted in their hearts; which still endured for the space of three years, although she very prudently concealed it and sought in every way to stifle those desires that now were hopeless. And all this time she kept her stern resolve of continence; and as she could not honourably possess him whom alone in the world she adored, she chose not to wish for him in any wise, and to follow her custom of accepting neither messages nor gifts nor even glances from him; and in this fixed resolve, the poor girl, overcome by sharpest anguish and grown very wasted from long passion, died at the end of three years, preferring to renounce the joys and pleasures so eagerly desired, and at last her very life, rather than her honour. Nor was she without ways and means of satisfying herself quite secretly and without risk of disgrace or any other harm; and yet she abstained from that which she herself so greatly desired and towards which she was so urged continually by the person whom alone in the world she desired to please: nor was she moved therein by fear or any other motive than mere love of true virtue.

“What will you say of another, who for six months spent nearly every night with a dearly cherished lover; yet, in a garden full of sweetest fruits, invited by her own most ardent longing and by the prayers and tears of one dearer to her than life itself, she refrained from tasting them; and although she was caught and held in the fast bonds of those beloved arms, she never yielded herself vanquished, but preserved the flower of her chastity immaculate.

44.—“Do you think, my lord Gaspar, that these acts of continence are equal to Alexander’s?—who (being most ardently enamoured, not of Darius’s women, but of that fame and greatness which incited him by thirst for glory to endure toils and dangers to make himself immortal) spurned not only other things, but his own life, in order to win renown above all other men. And do we marvel that with such thoughts at heart he abstained from something he did not much desire? For since he had never seen the women before, he could not possibly love them in a moment, but perhaps even loathed them because of his enemy Darius; and in that case every wanton act of his towards them would have been outrage and not love. Hence it is no great thing that Alexander, who conquered the world no less by magnanimity than by arms, abstained from doing outrage to women.

“Scipio’s continence also is much to be praised. Yet if you consider rightly, it is not to be compared with these two women’s; for he too likewise abstained from something not desired;—being in a hostile country, newly in command, at the beginning of a very important enterprise; having left great expectations of himself at home, and bound to render an account to very strict judges, who often punished very small mistakes as well as great, and among whom he knew he had enemies; conscious also that if he acted otherwise (the lady being very noble and married to a very noble lord), he might arouse so many enemies and in such fashion that they might long hinder and perhaps quite snatch away his success. Hence, for reasons thus many and important, he abstained from a light and harmful wish, displaying continence and generous uprightness; which, as it is written, gave him the entire good will of those nations, and was worth another army to him, wherewith by gentleness to conquer hearts that perhaps would have been unconquerable by force of arms.^[411]

“Forgive me, my lord Gaspar, if I say the truth, for in short these are the miraculous continences that men write about themselves while accusing women of incontinence, in whom we every day see countless tokens of continence; for in truth, if you consider well, there is no fortress so impregnable and well defended that, if it were assailed with a thousandth part of the wiles and tricks that are employed to overcome the steadfast heart of woman, it would not surrender at the first assault.

“How many creatures of great lords,—enriched by them and placed in very high esteem, entrusted with their castles and fortresses, whereon depend their whole state, life and weal,—have basely and sordidly surrendered these to such as had no right thereto, without shame or fear of being called traitors? And would to God there were so great a dearth of such men in our days, that we might have no more trouble to find a man who had done his duty in this regard, than to name those who have failed in theirs. Do we not see many others who daily go about slaying men in the forest and scouring the sea solely to steal money?

“How many prelates sell the property of God’s church! How many lawyers forge wills! How many perjurers bear false witness only to get money! How many physicians poison the sick to the same end! Again, how many do the vilest things from fear of death! And yet a tender and delicate girl often resists all these sharp and hard encounters; for many have been found who preferred death rather than lose their chastity.”

47.—Then my lord Gaspar said:

“These, messer Cesare, I believe are not on earth to-day.”

Messer Cesare replied:

“I will not cite the ancients now; but I tell you this, that many would be and are to be found, who in such case do not fear to die. And now I remember that when Capua was sacked by the French (which was not so long ago that you cannot recall it very well),^[412] a beautiful young Capuan lady being led out of her house, where she had been captured by a company of Gascons, when she reached the river that flows through Capua,^[413] she pretended that she wished to tie her shoe, so that he who was leading her let her go a little, and she suddenly threw herself into the river.

“What will you say of a peasant girl, who not many months ago, at Gazuolo in the Mantuan territory,^[414] went with her sister to reap corn in the fields, and being overcome with thirst, entered a house for a drink of water; and the master of the house, who was a young man, seeing that she was very beautiful and alone, took her in his arms, and first with soft words, and then with threats, sought to persuade her to his wishes; and she resisting more and more stubbornly, he at last overcame her with many blows and with force. So, dishevelled and weeping, she went back to her sister in the field, nor would she for all her sister’s urgent questioning tell what outrage she had received in that house; but on the way home, feigning to grow calmer little by little and to speak quite without agitation, she gave her sister some directions. Then when she came to the Oglio, which is the river that flows by Gazuolo,^[415] she left her sister a little behind not knowing or imagining what she meant to do, and suddenly threw herself in. Wailing and weeping her sister ran after her as fast as possible along the bank of the river, which was bearing her down-stream very rapidly: and each time the poor creature rose to the surface, her sister threw her a cord which they had to bind the corn, and although the cord reached her hands several times (for she was still near the bank), the steadfast and determined girl always refused it and put it from her; and thus rejecting every aid that might save her life, she soon died: nor was she moved by nobility of birth, nor by fear of most cruel death or of infamy, but solely by grief for her lost virginity.^[416]

“Now from this you can understand how many other women, who are not known, perform acts most worthy of praise; for although this one gave such proof of her virtue only three days since, as one may say, there is no talk of her and even her name is unknown. But if the death of our lady Duchess’s uncle, the Bishop of Mantua,^[417] had not occurred at that time, the bank of the Oglio, at the place where she threw herself in, would have been graced by a very beautiful monument to the memory of that glorious soul, which deserved so much the brighter fame after death, because in life it dwelt in a less noble body.”

48.—Here messer Cesare made a little pause; then he continued:

“At Rome, in my day, there happened another like case; and it was that a beautiful and noble Roman girl, being long pursued by one who seemed to love her much, was never willing to favour him at all, even with a single look. So, by means of money he corrupted one of her women; who, desirous of satisfying him in order to get more money from him, persuaded her mistress to visit the church of San Sebastiano on a certain day of small solemnity;^[418] and having made everything known to the lover and shown him what he must do, she led the girl to one of those dark caves which nearly all who go to San Sebastiano are wont to visit; and in this the young man was already hidden secretly.

“Finding himself alone with her whom he loved so much, he began in all ways to beg her as gently as he could to have pity on him and change her former hardness to love. But after he saw all his prayers to be in vain, he had resort to threats, which failing too, he began to beat her cruelly; at last, although firmly resolved to attain his end, by force if necessary, and therein employing the help of the infamous woman who had led her thither, he was never able to bring her to consent. Nay, with both word and deed (although she had little strength), the poor girl defended herself to the last: so that partly from anger at seeing that he could not obtain what he desired, partly from fear lest her relatives might make him suffer for it when they learned the thing, this wretch, with the help of the servant (who feared the like), strangled the unhappy girl and left her there; and having fled, he took means not to be discovered. Blinded by her very crime, the servant could not flee, and being taken into custody on suspicion, confessed everything and so was punished as she deserved.

“The body of the steadfast and noble girl was taken from that cave with the greatest honour and brought to Rome for burial, with a laurel crown upon her head, and accompanied by a countless host of men and women; among whom there was no one who went home without tears in his eyes; and thus was this rare soul universally mourned as well as praised by all the people.

49.—“But to speak to you of those whom you yourselves know, do you not remember having heard that when my lady Felice della Rovere was journeying to Savona,^[419] and feared that some sails that were sighted were vessels of Pope Alexander in pursuit of her, she made ready with fixed resolve to cast herself into the sea, in case they should come up and there was no remedy by flight: and it is in no wise to be believed that she acted in this from lightness, for you know as well as any other with what intelligence and wisdom this lady’s singular beauty was accompanied.

“Nor can I refrain from saying a word of our lady Duchess, who having for fifteen years lived like a widow in company with her husband, not only was steadfast in never revealing this to anyone in the world, but when urged by her own people to lay aside her widowhood, she chose rather to endure exile, poverty and every other sort of hardship, than to accept that which seemed to all others great favour and blessing of fortune;”^[420] and as messer Cesare was going on to speak of this, my lady Duchess said:

“Speak of something else, and go no further with this subject, for you have many other things to say.”

Messer Cesare continued:

“Yet I know you will not deny this, my lord Gaspar, nor you, Frisio.”

“Indeed no,” replied Frisio; “but one does not make a host.”

50.—Then messer Cesare said:

“But I could not in a thousand years rehearse all the wiles that men employ to bring women to their wishes, for the wiles are infinite; and besides those that every man finds for himself, writers have not been lacking who have ingeniously composed books and therein taken every pains to teach how women are to be duped in these matters.^[421] Now, among so many snares, think how there can be any safety for these simple doves, lured by such sweet bait. And what wonder is it, then, if a woman (seeing herself thus loved and adored for many years by a beautiful, noble and accomplished youth, who a thousand times a day puts himself in danger of death to serve her, nor ever thinks of aught but to please her) is finally brought to love him by continual wearing (as water wears the hardest marble), and, conquered by this passion, contents him with that which you say she in the weakness of her sex desires more than her lover? Do you think that this errour is so grave that the poor creature who has been caught by so many flatteries, does not deserve even that pardon which is often vouchsafed to homicides, thieves, assassins and traitors? Will you insist that this offence is so heinous that because you find some woman commits it, womankind ought to be wholly despised and held universally devoid of continence, without regard to the many who are found unconquerable, and who are proof against love’s continual incitements, and firmer in their infinite constancy than rocks against the surges of the ocean?”

51.—Messer Cesare having ceased speaking, my lord Gaspar then began to reply, but my lord Ottaviano said, laughing: