DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0070
48 HIS AFFECTION FOR FEDERICO
charming manners quickly won the old man’s heart,
as the Pope’s attendants soon discovered. He be-
came his constant companion in every expedition,
and the sight of the child would often pacify him
in his most violent fits of rage.
His mother, however, insisted that his lessons
should be resumed, and he read Virgil and wrote
Latin themes, while the old Pope took the field
himself in the depths of a severe winter, and braved
frost and snow in the trenches of Mirandola. In
February, Federico was allowed to go to Urbino,
where he spent a joyous carnival in the company of
his sister and aunt, and only returned to Rome in
April. At Urbino he was the pet and plaything of
the whole court. Suppers and dances, plays and
masquerades were given every evening in his honour;
the days were spent in singing with his sister
Leonora, and Emilia Pia, Giuliano dei Medici, Pietro
Bembo, and the violinist Jacopo di San Secondo all
made much of him for his mother’s sake. Here too
he found a new sister in the person of Margarita
Gonzaga, an illegitimate daughter of the Marquis,
who had been born before his marriage, and brought
up at the court of Urbino by her aunt Elisabetta.
This fair and charming maiden, who is often men-
tioned in the Cortigiano as well as in Castiglione and
Bembo’s letters, was betrothed for some years to
Alberto Pio, the pupil and friend of Aldo Manuzio,
but the marriage was deferred and ultimately aban-
doned, owing to the seizure of Carpi, first by the
French and afterwards by the Duke of Ferrara. The
next suitor for her hand was the wealthy banker
Agostino Chigi, whose suit was favourably received by
the Marquis, and who showed Federico great attention
charming manners quickly won the old man’s heart,
as the Pope’s attendants soon discovered. He be-
came his constant companion in every expedition,
and the sight of the child would often pacify him
in his most violent fits of rage.
His mother, however, insisted that his lessons
should be resumed, and he read Virgil and wrote
Latin themes, while the old Pope took the field
himself in the depths of a severe winter, and braved
frost and snow in the trenches of Mirandola. In
February, Federico was allowed to go to Urbino,
where he spent a joyous carnival in the company of
his sister and aunt, and only returned to Rome in
April. At Urbino he was the pet and plaything of
the whole court. Suppers and dances, plays and
masquerades were given every evening in his honour;
the days were spent in singing with his sister
Leonora, and Emilia Pia, Giuliano dei Medici, Pietro
Bembo, and the violinist Jacopo di San Secondo all
made much of him for his mother’s sake. Here too
he found a new sister in the person of Margarita
Gonzaga, an illegitimate daughter of the Marquis,
who had been born before his marriage, and brought
up at the court of Urbino by her aunt Elisabetta.
This fair and charming maiden, who is often men-
tioned in the Cortigiano as well as in Castiglione and
Bembo’s letters, was betrothed for some years to
Alberto Pio, the pupil and friend of Aldo Manuzio,
but the marriage was deferred and ultimately aban-
doned, owing to the seizure of Carpi, first by the
French and afterwards by the Duke of Ferrara. The
next suitor for her hand was the wealthy banker
Agostino Chigi, whose suit was favourably received by
the Marquis, and who showed Federico great attention