[332] The most curious of these elegiac poems are given in Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum, p. 234. It is possible that their language ought not to be taken literally, and that they concealed a joke now lost.
[333] Poliziano's letter to Matthias Corvinus is a good example of his self-laudation.
[334] 'Poliziano lies in this grave, the angel who had one head and, what is new, three tongues. He died September 24, 1494, aged 40.'
[335] 'Behold whereon he spent the substance of the Church of God!' Vespasiano adds that he gave away several hundred volumes to one of the cardinals, whose servants sold them for an old song. Vesp. p. 216. Assemani, the historian of the Vatican Library, on the contrary, asserts that Calixtus spent 40,000 ducats on books. It is not likely, however, that Vespasiano was wholly in error about a matter he understood so well, and had so much at heart.
[336] See the Basle edition of his collected works, 1571.
[337] See [Vol. I., Age of the Despots], p. 299.
[338] [Vol. I., Age of the Despots], pp. 302-303.
[339] 'P.L. to his kinsmen and relatives, greeting. What you ask cannot be. Farewell.'
[340] See [Vol. I., Age of the Despots], p. 220, note.
[341] See the Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty, and the Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth.