Note [178] page 114. Other contemporary evidence amply confirms this account of the occasional grossness that marked the table manners of the period.
Note [179] page 115. The two princes here referred to are Ferdinand the Catholic of Spain (see note [392]) and Louis XII of France (see note [250]).
Note [180] page 116. Paolo Niccolò Vernia, called Nicoletto (little Nick) from his shortness of stature, (died 1499), was a native of Chieti, near the Adriatic. He probably studied at Padua, and remained there teaching physics, although in 1444 he took his degree in philosophy, and fourteen years later in medicine. He wrote chiefly on philosophy, but was noted also as a wit.
Note [181] page 116. “When Frederick Barbarossa attempted to govern the rebellious Lombard cities in the common interest of the Empire, he established in their midst a foreign judge, called ‘Podestà,’ quasi habens potestatem Imperatoris in hac parte.... The title of ‘Podestà’ was subsequently conferred upon the official summoned to maintain an equal balance between the burghers and the nobles.” Symonds’s “Renaissance in Italy,” ed. 1883, i, 61.
Note [182] page 117. This was the battle of Fornovo (6 July 1495), in which the Italian forces under the Marquess Gianfrancesco Gonzaga of Mantua failed to prevent the retreat of Charles VIII towards France. Both sides claimed a victory, and the marquess even went so far as to have it commemorated by Mantegna in a picture, “The Madonna of Victory” (Louvre), which contains his portrait. Castiglione’s father died from the effect of wounds received in this battle.
Note [183] page 117. The reference here is plainly to Leonardo da Vinci (see note 96). His contemporaries would naturally regard as chimerical such devices as steam cannon, paddle wheels for boats, and flying machines, or such hints as that contained in his Codex Atlanticus, where he suggests the possibility of steam navigation. “He was the first to explain correctly the dim illumination seen over the rest of the surface of the moon when the bright part is only a thin crescent. He pointed out that when the moon was nearly new, the half of the earth which was then illuminated by the sun was turned nearly directly towards the moon, and that the moon was in consequence illuminated slightly by this ‘earthshine,’ just as we are by moonshine. This explanation ... tended to break down the supposed barrier between terrestrial and celestial bodies.” Arthur Berry’s “Short History of Astronomy” (London, 1898), p. 91.
Note [184] page 118. Suetonius mentions this characteristic of Cæsar.
Note [185] page 119. This is one of the few passages in The Courtier that are plainly reminiscent of Dante, who says: “To that truth which hath the face of falsehood, man must ever close his lips” (Sempre a quel ver che ha faccia di menzogna, De' l’uom chiuder la labbra). Inferno, xvi, 124-5.
Note [186] page 121. The translator admits being at a loss to find an adequate equivalent for the Italian argusie. Our unfamiliar English adjective ‘argute’ suggests that kind of pungent and witty conceits which Castiglione is describing.
