◆Caligula, the third Roman Emperor, A. D. 37–41. His name was Caius Cæsar, Caligula being properly only a friendly nickname, “Little Boots,” bestowed on him as a boy by the soldiers in his father, Germanicus’ camp in Germany, where he was brought up. He was inordinately cruel and licentious and madly extravagant. Eventually murdered.
◆Brantôme does not appear to know very well the persons he is speaking of here: Hostilla is Orestilla; Tullia is Lollia; Herculalina is Urgulanilla.
[19] P. 27:
◆Claudius, the fourth Roman Emperor, A. D. 41–54. The notorious Messalina was his third wife. For a lurid picture of her immoralities see Juvenal’s famous Sixth Satire.
[20] P. 28:
◆Giovanni Boccaccio, the author of the Decameron, was born at Paris in 1313, being the (illegitimate) son of a wealthy merchant of Florence. He died 1375 at Certaldo, a village near Florence, the original seat of the family.
◆Does the following chanson refer to the same woman?
On void Simonne
Proumener aux bordeaux
Matin, soir, nonne,