[513] Pierio Valeriano in his Simia.
[514] See the elegy of Joh. Aurelius Mutius in the Deliciae Poetarum Italorum.
[515] The well-known story of the purple velvet purse filled with packets of gold of various sizes, in which Leo used to thrust his hand blindly, is in Giraldi Hecatommithi, vi. nov. 8. On the other hand, the Latin ‘improvisatori,’ when their verses were too faulty, were whipped. Lil. Greg. Gyraldus, De Poetis Nostri Temp. Opp. ii. 398 (Basil, 1580).
[516] Roscoe, Leone X. ed. Bossi. iv. 181.
[517] Vespas. Fior. p. 68 sqq. For the translations from Greek made by Alfonso’s orders, see p. 93; Vita Jan. Manetti, in Murat. xx. col. 541 sqq., 450 sqq., 495. Panormita, Dicta et Facta Alfonsi, with the notes by Æneas Sylvius, ed. by Jacob Spiegel, Basel, 1538.
[518] Even Alfonso was not able to please everybody—Poggio, for example. See Shepherd-Tonelli, Poggio ii. 108 sqq. and Poggio’s letter to Facius in Fac. de Vir. Ill. ed. Mehus, p. 88, where he writes of Alfonso: ‘Ad ostentationem quædam facit quibus videatur doctis viris favere;’ and Poggio’s letter in Mai, Spicil. tom. x. p. 241.
[519] Ovid. Amores, iii. 11, vs. ii.; Jovian. Pontan. De Principe.
[520] Giorn. Napolet. in Murat. xxi. col. 1127.
[521] Vespas. Fior. pp. 3, 119 sqq. ‘Volle aver piena notizia d’ogni cosa, cosi sacra come gentile.’
[522] The last Visconti divided his interest between Livy, the French chivalrous romances, Dante, and Petrarch. The humanists who presented themselves to him with the promise ‘to make him famous,’ were generally sent away after a few days. Comp. Decembrio, in Murat. xx. col. 1114.