[318] Lettere, ed. cit. vol. iv. pp. 1-31.
[319] Another letter, dated Venice, August 1, 1504, is fuller in particulars about this dearly-loved brother.
[320] Il Cortegiano (ed. Lemonnier, Firenze, 1854), pp. 296-303. I have already spoken at some length about this essay in the [Age of the Despots, pp. 183-190], and have narrated the principal events of Castiglione's life in the Revival of Learning, pp. 418-422. For his Latin poems see ib. pp. 490-497.
[321] Ed. cit. pp. 39-53.
[322] Ariosto's style was formed on precisely these principles.
[323] The preface to the Cortegiano may be compared with this passage. When it appeared, the critics complained that Castiglione had not imitated Boccaccio. His answer is marked by good sense and manly logic: see pp. 3, 4. With Castiglione, Aretino joined hands, the ruffian with the gentleman, in this matter of revolt against the purists. See the chapter in this volume upon Aretino.
[324] Varchi's Ercolano or Dialogo delle Lingue; Sperone's dialogue Delle Lingue; Claudio Tolommei's Cesano; Girolamo Muzio's Battaglie.
[325] Varchi called it Fiorentina, Tolommei and Salviati Toscana, Bargagli Senese, Trissino and Muzio Italiana. Castiglione and Bembo agreed in aiming at Italian rather than pure Tuscan, but differed in their proposed method of cultivating style. Bembo preferred to call the language Volgare, as it was the common property of the Volgo. Castiglione suggested the title Cortigiana, as it was refined and settled by the usage of Courts. Yet Castiglione was more liberal than Bembo in acknowledging the claims of local dialects.
[326] For a list of commentators upon Petrarch at this period, see Tiraboschi, lib. iii. cap. iii., section 1. Common sense found at last sarcastic utterance in Tassoni.
[327] See Revival of Learning, pp. 365-368.