Part 36

100.—“My Lady,” replied the Magnifico, “I am not sure how well advised you are to impose on me an enterprise of such weight that I really do not feel myself sufficient for it. Nor am I like the Count and messer Federico, who have with their eloquence described a Courtier that never was and perhaps never can be. Still, if it pleases you to have me bear this burden, at least let it be upon the same conditions as in the case of these other gentlemen, namely: that everyone may contradict me when he pleases; for I shall take it, not as contradiction, but as aid; and perhaps by the correction of my mistakes we shall discover that perfection of the Court Lady which we seek.”

“I hope,” replied my lady Duchess, “that your talk will be of such sort that little may be found in it to contradict. So give your whole mind to it, and describe for us such a woman that these adversaries of ours shall be ashamed to say she is not equal in worth to the Courtier; of whom it will be well for messer Federico to say no more, since the Courtier has been only too well adorned by him, especially as there is now need to give him a paragon in woman.”

Then messer Federico said:

“My Lady, little or nothing is now left for me to tell about the Courtier; and what I thought of saying has been driven from my mind by messer Bernardo’s pleasantries.”

“If that be so,” said my lady Duchess, “let us come together again early to-morrow, and we shall have time to attend to both matters.”

Thereupon all rose to their feet, and having reverently taken leave of my lady Duchess, everyone went to his own room.

THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER BY COUNT BALDESAR CASTIGLIONE

TO MESSER ALFONSO ARIOSTO

1.—We read that Pythagoras very ingeniously and cleverly discovered the measure of Hercules’s body; and the way was this: it being known that the space where the Olympic games were celebrated every five years, before the temple of Olympian Jove near Elis, in Achaia, had been measured by Hercules, and a stadium made six hundred and twenty-five times the length of his own foot; and that the other stadia which were afterwards established throughout Greece by later generations, were likewise of the length of six hundred and twenty-five feet, and yet were somewhat shorter than the first one: by this proportion Pythagoras easily reckoned how much larger Hercules’s foot was than other human feet; and thus, knowing the measure of the foot, from this he argued that the whole body of Hercules was larger than other men’s in the same proportion that the first stadium bore to the other stadia.

So you, my dear messer Alfonso, by the same reasoning may clearly see, from this small part of the whole body, how superior the court of Urbino was to all others in Italy, considering how much the games that were devised for the refreshment of minds wearied by the most arduous labours, were superior to those that were practised in the other courts of Italy. And if these were of such sort, think what were the other worthy pursuits to which our minds were bent and wholly given; and of this I confidently make bold to speak with hope of being believed; for I am not praising things so ancient that I might be allowed to invent, but can prove what I affirm by the testimony of many men worthy of faith, who are still living and personally saw and knew the life and behaviour that one time flourished in that court: and I hold myself bound, as far as I can, to strive with every effort to rescue this bright memory from mortal oblivion, and by my writing to make it live in the hearts of posterity.

Wherefore perhaps in the future there will not be lacking some to envy our century for this also; since no one reads the wonderful exploits of the ancients, who in his mind does not conceive a somewhat higher opinion of those that are written of than the books themselves seem able to express, however divinely they be written. Even so we desire that all to whose hands this work of ours shall come (if indeed it shall ever be worthy of such favour as to deserve being seen by noble cavaliers and virtuous ladies) may assume and take for certain that the court of Urbino was far more excellent, and adorned by men of singular worth, than we can express in writing; and if we had as great eloquence as they had merit, we should have no need of other proof to make our words believed by those who saw it not.

2.—Now the company being assembled the next day at the accustomed hour and place, and seated in silence, everyone turned his eyes to messer Federico and to the Magnifico Giuliano, waiting to see which of them would begin the discussion. Wherefore my lady Duchess, having been silent awhile, said:

“My lord Magnifico, everyone desires to see this lady of yours well adorned; and if you do not display her to us in such fashion that all her beauties may be seen, we shall think that you are jealous of her.”

The Magnifico replied:

“My Lady, if I deemed her beautiful, I should display her all unadorned and in the same fashion wherein Paris chose to view the three goddesses; but if these ladies here, who well know how, do not aid me to deck her forth, I fear that not only my lord Gaspar and Frisio, but all these other gentlemen, will have just cause to say ill of her. So, while still she stands in some repute for beauty, perhaps it will be better to keep her hidden, and to see what messer Federico has left to say about the Courtier, which without doubt is far more beautiful than my Lady can be.”

“What I had in mind,” replied messer Federico, “is not so necessary to the Courtier that it may not be omitted without any harm; nay, it is rather different matter from that which has thus far been discussed.”

“And what is it, then?” said my lady Duchess.

Messer Federico replied:

“I had thought of explaining, as far as I could, the origin of these companies and orders of knighthood established by great princes under different ensigns: as that of Saint Michael in the House of France; that of the Garter, which bears the name of Saint George, in the House of England; the Golden Fleece in that of Burgundy: and in what manner these dignities are bestowed, and how they who deserve them are deprived thereof; whence they arose, who were the founders of them, and to what end they were established: for even in great courts these knights are always honoured.

“I thought too, if I had time enough, to speak not only of the diversity of customs that are in use at the courts of Christian princes in serving them, in merry-making and in appearing at public shows, but also to say something of the Grand Turk’s court, and much more particularly of the court of the Sophi king of Persia. For having heard, from merchants who have been long in that country, that the noblemen there are of great worth and gentle behaviour, and that in their intercourse with one another, in their service to ladies and in all their actions, they practise much courtesy and much discretion, and on occasion much magnificence, much liberality and elegance in their weapons, games and festivals,—I was glad to learn what ways they most prize in these things, and in what their pomp and finery of dress and arms consist; in what they differ from us, and in what they resemble us; what manner of amusements their ladies practise and with what modesty show favour to lovers.

“But indeed it is not fitting to enter upon this discussion now, especially as there is something else to say, and far more to our purpose than this.”

3.—“Nay,” said my lord Gaspar, “both this and many other things are more to the purpose than to describe this Court Lady; seeing that the same rules that are set the Courtier, serve also for the Lady; for she, like the Courtier, ought to have regard to time and place, and (as far as her stupidity permits) to follow all those other ways that have been so much discussed. And therefore, in place of this, perhaps it would not have been amiss to teach some of the details that pertain to the service of the Prince’s person, for it is well befitting the Courtier to know them and to show grace in practising them; or indeed to tell of the method to be pursued in bodily exercises, such as riding, handling weapons and wrestling, and to tell wherein consists the difficulty of these accomplishments.”

Then my lady Duchess said, laughing:

“Princes do not employ the personal service of so admirable a Courtier as this: and as for bodily exercises and physical strength and agility, we will leave to our friend messer Pietro Monte the duty of teaching them, when he shall deem the season more convenient; for now the Magnifico must speak of nothing but this Lady, of whom, methinks, you are already beginning to be afraid, and so would make us wander from our subject.”

Frisio replied:

“Surely it is irrelevant and little to the purpose to speak of women now, especially when more remains to be said about the Courtier, for we ought not to mix one thing with another.”

“You are much in errour,” replied messer Cesare Gonzaga; “for just as no court, however great it be, can have in it adornment or splendour or gaiety, without ladies, nor can any Courtier be graceful or pleasing or brave, or perform any gallant feat of chivalry, unless moved by the society and by the love and pleasure of ladies: so, too, discussion about the Courtier is always very imperfect, unless by taking part therein the ladies add their touch of that grace wherewith they perfect Courtiership and adorn it.”

My lord Ottaviano laughed, and said: