Note [201] page 129. The reader will hardly need to be reminded that the great Roman orator was often spoken of as Tullius or Tully rather than as Cicero.

Note [202] page 129. When The Courtier was expurgated by Antonio Ciccarelli in 1584 (see List of Editions), Dante’s name was here substituted for that of St. Paul. The word becco (rendered ‘he-goat’) has long been used by the Italians as a term of jocose reproach applied to a man whose wife is unfaithful.

Note [203] page 129. Duke Ercole I d'Este, (born 1431; died 1505), was the legitimate son of Duke Niccolò III and Rizzarda di Saluzzo. Bred at the Neapolitan court, he became Duke of Ferrara on the death of his half-brother Borso (see note [149]) in 1471. In 1473 he married Eleanora of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand I of Naples. Among the six children of this union were: Isabella, who became Marchioness of Mantua (see note [397]); Beatrice, who became Duchess of Milan (see note [398]); Alfonso, who married Lucrezia Borgia and succeeded his father as duke; and the Cardinal Ippolito already mentioned (see note [64]). Although his reign was far from peaceful, his court was noted for its luxury and for the brilliancy of art and letters with which it was adorned. He was an especial patron of the theatre, no less than five comedies of Plautus being performed during the wedding festivities of his son Alfonso in 1502. On the other hand, he maintained relations with Savonarola, who was a native of Ferrara.

Note [204] page 130. Castellina was a small walled town in the Chianti hills, which was held as a Florentine outpost against Siena. The siege referred to in the text took place in 1478, when the place capitulated to the Neapolitan and papal troops after holding out for forty days. Duke of Calabria was the title regularly borne by the heir of each Aragonese king of Naples. The personage here meant must have been Alfonso the Younger (see note [31]).

Note [205] page 130. While the meaning is not free from doubt, the point of the story seems to lie in the absurdity of the Florentine’s supposing that after being discharged from a cannon, a projectile would retain any poison previously applied to it.

Note [206] page 130. It will be remembered that Bembo was a Venetian, while Bibbiena’s birthplace was a Florentine town.

Note [207] page 130. This war lasted from 1494 to 1509, and proved ruinous to both sides. Castiglione’s use of the past tense in speaking of it here doubtless arose from the fact that he was writing several years after the date that he assigns to the dialogues.

Note [208] page 131. Pistoia and Prato were two small cities which lay to the north-west of Florence and were subject to its rule. Modern issues of “fiat” money are but a slight modification of the method proposed by the worthy Florentine.

Note [209] page 131. Bucentaur was the name of the state galley of the Venetian Republic, used (among other occasions) in the symbolic ceremony of wedding the Adriatic, which was enjoined upon the Venetians by Alexander III (pope 1159-1181) to commemorate their victory over the fleet of Frederick Barbarossa. On each Ascension Day a ring was dropped from the Bucentaur into the Adriatic, with the words, “we espouse thee, sea, in token of true and lasting dominion.” The vessel bore the image of a centaur as figure-head. Of the last of several successive Bucentaurs (demolished in 1824), a few fragments are preserved in the Arsenal at Venice. In the 15th and 16th centuries the name was applied to state vessels of ceremony elsewhere. By some the word is supposed to be derived from the Greek βοῦς (ox) and κένταυρος (centaur); by others it is regarded as a corruption of the Latin ducentorum (of two hundred oars), or of the Italian buzino d’oro (golden bark).