[236] Op. Volg. ii. p. 223.
[237] Op. Volg. i. 10.
[238] It should, however, be added that Vespasiano alludes to Pandolfini's habits of study and composition after his retirement to Signa. Yet he does not cite the Governo.
[239] It is clear that all this reasoning upon internal evidence can be turned to the advantage of both sides in the dispute. The question will have finally to be settled on external grounds (comparison of MSS.), combined with a wise use of such arguments from style as have already been cited.
[240] Anyhow, and whatever may have been the source of Alberti's Economico, the whole scene describing exile and winding up with the tirade against a political career, is a very noble piece of writing. If space sufficed, it might be quoted as the finest specimen of Alberti's eloquence. See Op. Volg. v. pp. 256-266.
[241] See Op. Volg. Preface to vol. v.
[242] It is greatly to be desired that Signor Cortesi should print this Studio Critico and, if possible, append to it an account of the MSS. on which Pandolfini's claims to be considered the original author rest.
[243] Op. Volg. vol. iii. The meaning of the title appears on p. 132, where the word Iciarco is defined Supremo uomo e primario principe della famiglia sua. It is a compound of οἶκος and ἀρχή.
[244] See pp. 24, 28, 88, and the fine humanistic passage on p. 47, which reads like an expansion of Dante's Fatti non foste per viver come bruti in Ulysses' speech to his comrades.
[245] Op. Volg. vol. i.