[106] An obvious misprint for the Port of Claudius.
[107] At Porto. Fulvio della Cornia, a native of Perugia, and a nephew of Julius III. He was deprived and imprisoned by Paul IV., who suspected him of favouring the Spanish interests; but the reigning Pope had advanced him to the bishopric of Porto.
[108] Ostia, though already in decay, was not in Montaigne’s time the wretched place it is at present. La Rocca is possibly the castle built by San Gallo for Julius II. At Castel Fusano, a mile to the south, is one of the watch-towers alluded to, with stone figures of soldiers on the roof.
[109] The salt works of Ostia are said to go back to the time of Ancus Martius.
[110] On the death of Henry the Cardinal, in 1580, there was a disputed succession in Portugal, and Philip II. of Spain succeeded in taking possession of the kingdom. The states alluded to are, no doubt, the Low Countries. The name of the ambassador was Don Juan Gomez de Silva.
[111] Sono stati presi undeci fra Portoghesi et Spagnuoli, i quali adunatisi in una chiesa ch’è vicina San Giovanni Laterano, facevano alcune lor cerimonie, et con horrenda scelleragine bruttando il sacrosanto nome di matrimonio si maritavano l’un con l’altro, congiongendosi insieme come marito con moglie. Vintesette si trovavano et più insieme, il più delle volte: ma questa volta non ne hanno potuto coglier più che questi undici, i quali anderanno al fuoco et come meritano.—Tiepolo, Relazioni Ven., August 2, 1578.
[112] The pilgrimage churches: S. Giovanni in Laterano, S. Pietro, S. Paolo, S. Lorenzo, S. Maria Maggiore, S. Croce in Gerusalemme, and S. Sebastiano. The first five were the original patriarchal churches.
[113] Essais, i. 33, has for title, La fortune se rencontre souvent au train de la raison.
[114] Essais, ii. 19.
[115] Essais, i. 25.