Part 43

36.—“Returning now to Italy, I say that here too there is no lack of very admirable ladies; for in Naples we have two remarkable queens; and a short time since there died at Naples also the other queen of Hungary, you know how admirable a lady, and worthy to be the peer of the unconquerable and glorious king, Matthias Corvinus, her husband. Likewise the Duchess Isabella of Aragon, worthy sister to King Ferdinand of Naples; who (like gold in the fire) showed her virtue and worth amid the storms of fortune.

ISABELLA D’ESTE MARCHIONESS OF MANTUA 1474-1539 ]

Reduced from a part of Braun’s photograph (no. 34.093) of the portrait by Titian (1477-1576) in the Imperial Museum at Vienna. The picture was painted about 1536 from a portrait painted about 1511 by Francesco Raibolini, better known as Francia, (1450-1517). See Alessandro Luzio’s article in the Emporium (Bergamo), nos. 65-6.

“If you come to Lombardy, you will find my lady Isabella, Marchioness of Mantua; to whose very admirable virtues injustice would be done in speaking as soberly as in this place anyone must needs do who would speak of her at all. I regret, too, that you did not all know her sister the Duchess Beatrice of Milan, in order that you might never more have need to marvel at woman’s capacity. And Eleanora of Aragon, Duchess of Ferrara and mother of both these two ladies whom I have mentioned, was of such sort that her very admirable virtues bore good witness to all the world that she not only was a worthy daughter of a king, but deserved to be queen over a much greater realm than all her ancestors had possessed. And to tell you of another, how many men do you know in the world who have borne the cruel blows of fortune as patiently as Queen Isabella of Naples has done?—who, after the loss of her kingdom, the exile and death of her husband King Federico and of two children, and the captivity of her first-born, the Duke of Calabria, still shows herself to be a queen, and so endures the grievous burdens of bitter poverty as to give all men proof that although her fortunes are changed, her rank is not.

“I refrain from mentioning countless other ladies, and also women of low degree; like many Pisan women, who in defence of their city against the Florentines displayed that generous daring, without any fear of death, which might have been displayed by the most unconquerable souls that have ever been on earth; wherefore some of them have been celebrated by many noble poets.

“I could tell you of some who were very excellent in letters, in music, in painting, in sculpture; but I do not wish to go on selecting from among these instances that are perfectly well known to you all. It is enough that if you reflect upon the women whom you yourselves know, it is not difficult for you to perceive that they are for the most part not inferior in worth and merits to their fathers, brothers and husbands; and that not a few have been the source of good to men and often have corrected many a one of his errours; and if there are not now to be found on earth those great queens who march to the conquest of distant lands, and erect great buildings, pyramids and cities,—like that famous Tomyris, Queen of Scythia, Artemisia, Zenobia, Semiramis or Cleopatra,—neither are there men like Cæsar, Alexander, Scipio, Lucullus and those other Roman commanders.”

37.—“Say not so,” replied Frisio, laughing; “for now more than ever are there women to be found like Cleopatra or Semiramis; and if they have not such great states, power and riches, yet they lack not the good will to imitate those queens in giving themselves pleasure, and in satisfying as far as they can all their appetites.”

The Magnifico Giuliano said:

“You always wish to go beyond bounds, Frisio; but if there are some Cleopatras to be found, there is no lack of countless Sardanapaluses, which is far worse.”

Then my lord Gaspar said:

“Do not draw these comparisons, or imagine that men are more incontinent than women; and even if they were so, it would not be worse, for from women’s incontinence countless evils result that do not from men’s. Therefore, as was said yesterday, it is wisely ordained that women are allowed to fail in all other things without blame, to the end that they may be able to devote all their strength to keeping themselves in this one virtue of chastity; without which their children would be uncertain, and that tie would be dissolved which binds the whole world by blood and by the natural love of each man for what he has produced. Hence loose living is more forbidden to women than to men, who do not carry their children for nine months within them.”

38.—Then the Magnifico replied:

“Verily these are fine arguments which you cite, and I do not see why you do not commit them to writing.

“But tell me why it is not ordained that loose living is as disgraceful a thing in men as in women, seeing that if men are by nature more virtuous and of greater worth, they could all the more easily practise this virtue of continence also; and their children would be neither more nor less certain, for although women were unchaste, they could of themselves merely and without other aid in no wise bear children, provided men were continent and did not take part in women’s unchastity. But if you will say the truth, even you know that we men have of our own authority arrogated to ourselves a licence, whereby we insist that the same sins are in us very trivial and sometimes praiseworthy, and in women cannot be sufficiently punished, unless by shameful death or perpetual infamy at least.

“Wherefore, since this opinion is prevalent, methinks it were a fitting thing to punish severely those also who with lies cast infamy on women; and I think that every noble cavalier is bound always to defend the truth with arms where there is need, and especially when he knows some woman to be falsely accused of little chastity.”

39.—“And I,” replied my lord Gaspar, laughing, “not only affirm that which you say is the duty of every noble cavalier, but I think that it is an act of great courtesy and gentleness to conceal the fault a woman may have committed through mischance or over-love; and thus you may see that I am more on the side of women, where reason permits it, than you are.

“I do not, indeed, deny that men have taken a little liberty; and this because they know that according to universal opinion loose living does not bring them the infamy that it does to women; who by reason of the frailty of their sex are much more inclined towards their appetites than men are; and if they sometimes refrain from satisfying their desires, they do so from shame and not because their will is not quite ready. Therefore men have put the fear of infamy upon them as a bridle to keep them almost by force to this virtue, without which they were in truth little to be prized; for the world has no good from women except the bearing of children.

“But this is not the case with men, who rule cities and armies, and do so many other things of importance. Since you will have it so, I do not care to deny that women can do these things; it is enough that they do not. And when men have seen fit to set a pattern of continence, they have excelled women in this virtue as well as in the others also, although you do not admit it. And as to this I will not rehearse so many histories and fables as you have done, but merely refer you to the continence of two very great young lords, and to their victory, which is wont to make even men of lowest rank insolent. One is that of Alexander the Great towards the very beautiful women of Darius,—an enemy, and a vanquished one at that; the other, of Scipio, who having at the age of twenty-four years taken a city in Spain by force, there was brought before him a very beautiful and noble young woman, captured along with many others; and hearing that she was the bride of a gentleman of the country, Scipio not only abstained from any wanton act towards her, but restored her unspotted to her husband, bestowing a rich gift upon her besides.

“I could tell you of Xenocrates, who was so continent that a very beautiful woman having laid herself down unclothed beside him, and employing all the caresses and using all the arts that she knew, whereof she was an admirable mistress, she had not the power to make him show the slightest sign of impudicity, although she tried one whole night long; and of Pericles, who on merely hearing someone praise a boy’s beauty with overwarmth, reproved him sharply; and of many others who have been very continent of their own choice, and not from shame or fear of punishment, which move most women who practise this virtue: who for all that deserve to be highly praised, and he who falsely casts the infamy of unchasteness upon them is worthy of the heaviest punishment, as you have said.”

40.—Then messer Cesare, who had been silent a long while, said:

“Think in what fashion my lord Gaspar is wont to speak in blame of woman, if these are the things that he says in their praise. But if my lord Magnifico will let me say a few things in his stead by way of reply to such matters as my lord Gaspar has, to my thinking, said falsely against women, it were well for both of us; as he will rest awhile and then be better able to go on to declare some other excellence of the Court Lady, and I shall hold myself much favoured at having an opportunity to share with him this duty of a good cavalier—that is, to defend the truth.”

“Nay, I pray you do so,” replied my lord Magnifico; “for methinks I have already fulfilled my duty to the extent of my powers, and this discussion is now outside my subject.”

Messer Cesare continued:

“I am far from wishing to speak of the good that women do in the world besides the bearing of children, for it has been sufficiently shown how necessary they are not only to our being, but to our well-being; but I say, my lord Gaspar, that if they are as you say more inclined to their appetites than men, and if for all that they abstain therefrom more than men, which you admit,—they are as much worthier of praise as their sex is less strong to resist their natural appetites. And if you say they do it from shame, methinks that in place of a single virtue you give them two; for if shame is stronger in them than appetite and they for that reason abstain from evil acts, I think that this shame (which in short is nothing else but fear of infamy) is a very rare virtue and one possessed by very few men. And if I could, without infinite disgrace to men, tell how many of them are plunged in shamelessness (which is the vice opposed to this virtue), I should pollute these chaste ears that hear me. These offenders against God and nature are for the most part men already old, who make a calling, some of the priesthood, some of philosophy, some of sacred law; and govern public affairs with a Catonian severity of countenance that gives promise of all the integrity in the world; and always allege the feminine sex to be very incontinent; nor do they ever lament anything more than their loss of natural vigor, which renders them unable to satisfy the abominable desires that still linger in their thoughts after being denied by nature to their bodies; and hence they often find ways wherein strength is not necessary.

41.—“But I do not wish to say more; and it is enough for me that you grant me that women abstain from unchaste living more than men; and certain it is that they are restrained by no other bridle than that which they themselves put on. That this is true, the greater part of those who are confined with too close care, or beaten by their husbands or fathers, are less chaste than those who have some liberty.

“But a great bridle to women generally is their love of true virtue and their desire for honour, whereof many whom I have known in my time make more account than of their very life; and if you will say the truth, every one of us has seen very noble youths, discreet, wise, valiant and beautiful, spend many years in love, without omitting aught of care, of gifts, of prayers, of tears, in short, of anything that can be imagined; and all in vain. And but that I might be told that my qualities have never made me worthy of ever being loved, I should call myself as witness, who have more than once been nigh to death because of a woman’s unchangeable and too stern chastity.”

My lord Gaspar replied:

“Marvel not at that: for women who are always wooed refuse to please him who wooes them; and they who are not wooed, woo others.”