“Cosmographies Introductio—a description of the New World.”
“We shall at last get information about these fables of Columbus.”
“Columbus will not travel any more.”
“Columbus has travelled to—hell! Now it is Amerigo Vespucci’s turn.”
“He is a Florentine and a fellow-countrymen.”
“Well, Columbus was a Genoese.”
“Look you! Rome rules the world, the known and the unknown alike! Urbs est urbs! And nowadays you can meet all the nations of the world at the house of the Roman Chigi. I have, as a matter of fact, seen Turks, Mongols, Danes, and Russians here this evening.”
“I should like to see a Turk! I like the Turks especially, because they have blown that rotten Byzantium to pieces—Byzantium which dared to call itself the ‘Eastern Rome.’ Now there is only one Rome!”
“Do you know that our Holy Father is treating with Sultan Bajazet regarding help against Venice.”
“Yes, but that is diabolical! We must at any rate act as though we were Christians.”