Note [113] page 58. Lucius Licinius Lucullus, a Roman general and Consul (74 B.C.), noted chiefly for his wealth, luxury, and patronage of art and letters. Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a Roman general, Consul (88 B.C.), and dictator, was the first Roman to lead an army against the city, and the first to publish lists of his enemies, proscribing them and offering a reward for their death. Cneius Pompeius, or Pompey, (born 106; died 48 B.C.), a member of the Triumvirate with Cæsar and Crassus, and the finally unsuccessful champion of the conservative party against the power of Cæsar. Marcus Junius Brutus, (born 85; died 42 B.C.), a statesman and scholar, who adhered to Pompey, joined Cassius in the assassination of Cæsar, and was finally defeated by Mark Antony. Hannibal, (born 247 B.C.), the famous Carthaginian general who conquered Spain, crossed the Alps, overran Italy, was defeated by Scipio the Elder, became chief magistrate of Carthage, and committed suicide in exile about 183 B.C.
Note [114] page 59. In the last chapter of his “Prince,” Machiavelli (who was Castiglione’s contemporary) says: “Although military excellence seems to be extinct in Italy, this arises from the fact that the old methods were not good and there has been no one who knew how to devise new ones. We have great excellence in the members, if only it were not lacking in the heads. In duels and engagements between small numbers, see how superior the Italians are in strength, in dexterity, in resource. But when it comes to armies, they make no showing; and it all proceeds from the weakness of the heads. Whence it arises that in so much time, in so many battles fought in the last twenty years, when an army has been purely Italian, it has always succeeded ill.” Compare this opinion with Montaigne’s remark (Essais, II, c. 24) that the officers of Charles VIII ascribed their easy Italian conquests to the fact that “the princes and nobility of Italy took more pleasure in becoming ingenious and learned than in becoming vigorous and warlike.”
Note [115] page 59. In 1524 Castiglione wrote to his mother at Mantua regarding the education of his son, who had just begun to study the Greek alphabet, as follows: “As to Camillo’s learning Greek, I have had a letter also from Michael, who says so many things that he seems to me a flatterer. It is enough that the boy shows good capacity and inclination, and good pronunciation. As for Latin, I should be glad to have him attend more to Greek at present, for those who know are of opinion that one ought to begin with Greek; because Latin is natural to us, and we almost acquire it even though we spend little labour upon it; but Greek is not so.”
Note [116] page 59. The reader will hardly need to be reminded that the habit of versification was very prevalent in all ranks of Italian society in Castiglione’s day. Varchi (1502-1565) informs us that the vernacular was generally despised in the Florence of that time, and adds: “And I remember, when I was a lad, that the first and most important command which fathers usually gave to their children, and masters to their pupils, was that they must on no account whatever read anything in the vulgar tongue.”
Note [117] page 59. In the Vita Nuova (c. 25), Dante says: “And the first who began to speak like a native poet was moved thereto because he would have his words understood of woman.”
Note [118] page 59. Aristippus, (flor. 400 B.C.), was a Greek philosopher, whose school took its name from his birthplace, Cyrene in Africa. He was for some time a follower of Socrates, and afterwards lived at the court of Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse. Diogenes Laertius relates that when Aristippus was asked what was the greatest thing he had gained from philosophy, he replied: “The power to meet all men with confidence.”
Note [119] page 60. Among Plutarch’s works is a tract entitled “How to Tell Friend from Flatterer.” In 1532 Erasmus published a Latin version of it dedicated to Henry VIII of England.
Note [120] page 61. The first quatrain of a well-known sonnet by Petrarch:
Giunto Alessandro alla famosa tomba
Del fero Achille, sospirando disse: