BALDESAR CASTIGLIONE
CESAR DE GONZAGA
LUDOVICO CANOSSA
PIETRO BEMBO
BERNARDO DE BIBBIENA
AUTOGRAPH SIGNATURES OF THE AUTHOR AND OF
FOUR OF HIS FRIENDS
From negatives, made by Premi and by Signor Lanzoni, from originals preserved in the Royal State Archives at Mantua and selected by the Director, Signor Alessandro Luzio.
“To have the favour of princes, then, there is no better way than to deserve it. And when we see another man who is pleasing to a prince for any reason, we must not think to reach the same height ourselves by imitating him, for all things are not proper to all men. Thus there will sometimes be found a man who by nature is so ready at jesting that whatever he may say carries laughter with it, and he seems to have been born solely for that; and if another man, who has a sober habit of mind (however excellently endowed) tries to do the like, it will fall so cold and flat as to disgust those who hear him, and he will prove exactly like that ass who tried to copy the dog by frolicking with their master.[[164]] Hence every man must understand himself and his own powers, and govern himself accordingly, and consider what things he ought to imitate, and what things he ought not.”
21.—Here Vincenzo Calmeta said: