Part 1

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Transcriber’s Note:

This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘’ character as italic_. Supercripted characters are prefixed with ‘^’.

The notes were printed as endnotes organized by chapters.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.

THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER BY COUNT BALDESAR CASTIGLIONE

BALDESAR CASTIGLIONE COUNT OF NOVILLARA 1478-1529 ]

Reduced from Braun’s photograph (no. 11.505) of the portrait in the Louvre, painted in 1516 by Raphael (1483-1520). The original belonged to Charles I of England, after whose death it was bought by a Dutch collector and copied by Rubens. Later it became the property of Cardinal Mazarin, from whose heirs it was acquired for Louis XIV of France.

The medallion on the title-page is from a photograph, specially made by Mansell, of a cast, kindly furnished by T. Whitcombe Greene, Esq., of an anonymous medal in his collection at Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire. See the late Alfred Armand’s Les Médailleurs Italiens, ii, 100, no. 10.

THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER BY COUNT BALDESAR CASTIGLIONE

(1528)

TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN AND ANNOTATED BY LEONARD ECKSTEIN OPDYCKE

WITH SEVENTY-ONE PORTRAITS AND FIFTEEN AUTOGRAPHS REPRODUCED BY EDWARD BIERSTADT

LONDON DUCKWORTH & CO.

NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 1902

Copyright 1901, by LEONARD ECKSTEIN OPDYCKE

THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER was written, partly at Urbino and partly at Rome, between the years 1508 and 1516, and was first printed at the Aldine Press, Venice, in the month of April, 1528.

There have since been published more than one hundred and forty editions, a list of which will be found at page 417 of this volume. The first Spanish version, by JUAN BOSCAN ALMOGAVER, was issued at Barcelona in 1534; the first French version, by JACQUES COLIN, was issued at Paris in 1537; the first English version, by THOMAS HOBY, was issued at London in 1561; the first Latin version, by HIERONYMUS TURLER, was issued at Wittenberg in 1561; the first German version, by LORENZ KRATZER, was issued at Munich in 1566.

The present edition consists of five hundred numbered copies, of which this is No.

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE

The popularity long enjoyed by this old book, the place that it holds in Italian literature, and the fact that it is almost inaccessible to English readers, seem to furnish sufficient reason for a new translation.

The art of the Italian Renaissance delights us by its delicate and gentle beauty, and yet we know that life during this period was often gross and violent. To understand this, we must remember that art is more the expression of the ideal than of the actual, and that men’s ideals are loftier than their practice. Castiglione gives utterance to the finest aspirations of his time. His pages will lack interest only when mankind ceases to be interesting to man, and will reward study so long as the past shall continue to instruct the present and the future.

The few deviations that the present translator has ventured to make from the letter of the Italian text are merely verbal, and were deemed needful to render its meaning clear. The notes that he offers are intended to explain obscure passages and to relieve the reader from the tedium of searching in books of reference. Perhaps no one will regard it as inopportune to be reminded of what all may have known but few are able to remember with precision. Students who may wish to learn from what Greek and Latin sources Castiglione derived material are referred to Professor Vittorio Cian’s admirable edition.

The translator desires to express his thanks for the friendly encouragement that he has received from Miss Grace Norton, at whose suggestion his task was undertaken. He is indebted to Dr. Luigi Roversi and Signor Leopoldo Jung for their patient aid, and to Signor Alessandro Luzio and many other scholars, in Italy and elsewhere, for the kindness with which they have helped him to gather portraits and bibliographical data. He gratefully acknowledges, also, his frequent use of Professor Cian’s erudite labours, of John Addington Symonds’s RENAISSANCE IN ITALY, and of James Dennistoun’s MEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO.

CONTENTS

(The Arabic numerals given below refer to the numbered paragraphs into which it has long been customary to divide the work)

Page LIST OF PLATES xi INTERLOCUTORS xiv THE AUTHOR’S DEDICATORY LETTER 1 Reasons for writing the book, and for at first delaying and afterwards hastening its publication. Lament at the recent death of several persons mentioned in the book. Answer to three objections: that the book was not written in the language of Boccaccio; that, as it is impossible to find a perfect Courtier, it was superfluous to describe one; and that the author presumed to paint his own portrait. THE FIRST BOOK OF THE COURTIER 7 1: The book written at the instance of Alfonso Ariosto and in dialogue form, in order to record certain discussions held at the court of Urbino. 2-3: Description and praise of Urbino and its lords; Duke Federico and his son Guidobaldo. 4-5: The Urbino court and the persons taking part in the discussions. 6: Circumstances that led to the discussions; visit of Pope Julius II. 7-11: Various games proposed. 12: Game finally chosen: to describe a perfect Courtier. 13-6: Canossa begins the discussion by enumerating some of the conditions essential to the Courtier,—especially gentle birth. 17-8: Arms the true profession of the Courtier, who must, however, avoid arrogance and boasting. 19-22: Physical qualities and martial exercises. 23: Short bantering digression. 24-6: Grace. 27-8: Affectation. 29-39: Literary and conversational style. 40: Women’s affectations. 41: Moral qualities. 42-6: Literary accomplishments; arms vs. letters. 47-8: Music. 49: Painting. 50-3: Painting vs. sculpture. 54-6: Arrival of the youthful Francesco Maria della Rovere; the evening’s entertainment ends with dancing. THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COURTIER 75 1-4: Reasons why the aged are wont to laud the past and to decry the present; defence of the present against such aspersions; praise of the court of Urbino. 5-6 Federico Fregoso begins the discussion on the way and time of employing the qualities and accomplishments described by Canossa: utility of such discussion. 7-8: General rules: to avoid affectation, to speak and act discreetly and opportunely, to aim at honour and praise in martial exercises, war, and public contests, 9-10: Other physical exercises. 11: Dancing and masquerading. 12-3: Music of various kinds, when to be practised. 14: Aged Courtiers not to engage publicly in music and dancing. 15-6: Duty of aged and youthful Courtiers to moderate the faults peculiar to their years. 17-25: Conversation, especially with superiors; how to win favours worthily. 26-8: Dress and ornament; lamentable lack of fashions peculiarly Italian. 29-30: Choice and treatment of friends. 31: Games of cards and chess. 32-5: Influence of preconceived opinions and first impressions; advantage of being preceded by good reputation. 36: Danger of going beyond bounds in the effort to be amusing. 37: French and Spanish manners. 38: Tact, modesty, kindness, readiness; taking advantage of opportunities; confession of ignorance. 39-41: Self-depreciation, deceit, moderation. 42-83: Pleasantries and witticisms expounded by Bibbiena. 84-97: Practical jokes; to be used discreetly, particularly where women are concerned; use of trickery and artifice in love; dignity and nobility of women. 98-100: Giuliano de’Medici chosen to describe the perfect Court Lady. THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER 171 1: Excellence of the court of Urbino to be estimated in much the same way in which Pythagoras calculated the stature of Hercules. 2-3: Bantering preliminaries to the discussion on the Court Lady. 4: Qualities common to the Courtier and to the Court Lady. 5-6: The Court Lady to be affable, modest and decorous; to follow a middle course between prudishness and over-freedom; to avoid scandal-mongering; her conversation to have variety. 7-9: Physical and mental exercises of the Court Lady; her dress. 10-8: Women’s importance; certain aspersions refuted. 19-20: Examples of saintly women contrasted with hypocritical friars. 21-7: Examples of women famous for virtue, manly courage, constancy in love, pudicity. 28-33: Examples of women who in ancient times did good service to the world in letters, in the sciences, in public life, in war. 34-6: More recent examples of women noted for their virtue. 37-49: Chastity and continence. 50: Dangers to which womanly virtue is exposed. 51-2: Further praise of women. 53-5: The Court Lady’s demeanour in love talk. 56-9: Her conduct in love. 60-73: The way to win and keep a woman’s love; its effects and signs; secrecy in love. 74-5: Pallavicino’s aspersions against women. 76-7: Ottaviano Fregoso is deputed to expound the other qualities that add to the Courtier’s perfections.

THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE COURTIER 243 1-2: Eulogy of several other interlocutors whose death had recently occurred. 3-6: Ottaviano Fregoso resumes the interrupted discussion, considers the Courtier’s relations with his prince, and urges the duty of employing his qualities and accomplishments so that his prince may be led to seek good and shun evil. 7-10: Princes’ need to know the truth, their difficulty in finding it, and the Courtier’s duty to encourage them in the path of virtue. 11-2: Virtue not wholly innate, but susceptible of cultivation. 13-6: Ignorance the source of nearly all human errour. 17-8: Temperance the perfect virtue, because it is the fountain of virtues. 19-24: Monarchy vs. commonwealth. 25-6: Whether a contemplative or an active life is more befitting a prince. 27-8: Peace the aim of war; the virtues befitting each. 29: Right training of princes to begin in habit and to be confirmed by reason. 30: Humourous digression. 31: Governo misto. 32-5: Attributes of a good prince: justice, devoutness, love of his subjects, and mild sway. 36-9: Grand public works; the Crusades; eulogy of several young princes. 40: Princes must avoid certain extremes. 41: Princes must attend to details personally. 42: Eulogy of the youthful Federico Gonzaga. 43-8: Arguments supporting the theory that the Courtier’s highest aim is the instruction of his prince. 49-52: Whether the Courtier ought to be in love; Bembo appointed to discourse on love and beauty. 53-4: Evils and perils of sensual love. 55-6: Digression concerning the love of old men. 57-60: True beauty, the reflection of goodness. 61-4: In what manner the unyouthful Courtier ought to love; rational love contrasted with sensual love. 65-7: Contemplation of abstract beauty. 68-9: Contemplation of divine beauty. 70-1: Bembo’s invocation to the Holy Spirit. 72: Instances in which a vision of divine beauty has been granted to mortals. 73: Termination of the discussion at dawn. PRELIMINARY NOTES,—Life of the Author, etc. 313 NOTES TO THE DEDICATORY LETTER 317 NOTES TO THE FIRST BOOK OF THE COURTIER 325 NOTES TO THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COURTIER 355 NOTES TO THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER 387 NOTES TO THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE COURTIER 407 LIST OF EDITIONS OF THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER 417