DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0062
24 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
the banner of France that Castiglione's first laurels
were to be won.
But the memory of the brilliant court where he
had grown up to manhood never faded from his mind.
Long years afterwards, when the splendour of the
Moro's rule had vanished like a dream, when Beatrice
was in her grave, and death had at length ended
Lodovico's weary captivity in the dungeons of Loches,
Castiglione, who by this time was himself a sober,
middle-aged man, recalled the different actors on that
brilliant stage, and took up his pen to celebrate their
fame. Where, he asks in the chapters of his
' Cortegiano,' are the equals of these men and women
to be seen ? Where, for instance, can you find a
woman to compare with Duchess Beatrice or with
her sister and mother, my lady Isabella of Mantua,
and the saintly Leonora of Aragon ? The passionate
fires and enthusiasms of youth were dead, but
Galeazzo di San Severino was still for him the model
of a peerless knight, .swM ^ 7i?p7'oc'/h?, and
Leonardo the foremost painter in the world. Cristoforo
Romano and Vincenzo Calmeta were honoured with
a place among the august company which met in
Duchess Elisabetta's rooms. Jacopo di San Secondo
was held up to fame as the prince of musicians, and
Pistoja the poet, who sang the glories of Lodovicos
court and declared that God reigned in heaven and
tiie Moro upon earth, was mentioned in the same
breath as the incomparable singer, Serafino. The
names of these men and women who were familiar
figures when the Moro reigned over Milan, are
enshrined in the pages of the ' Cortegiano,' and live
for all time in Castiglione's immortal prose.
the banner of France that Castiglione's first laurels
were to be won.
But the memory of the brilliant court where he
had grown up to manhood never faded from his mind.
Long years afterwards, when the splendour of the
Moro's rule had vanished like a dream, when Beatrice
was in her grave, and death had at length ended
Lodovico's weary captivity in the dungeons of Loches,
Castiglione, who by this time was himself a sober,
middle-aged man, recalled the different actors on that
brilliant stage, and took up his pen to celebrate their
fame. Where, he asks in the chapters of his
' Cortegiano,' are the equals of these men and women
to be seen ? Where, for instance, can you find a
woman to compare with Duchess Beatrice or with
her sister and mother, my lady Isabella of Mantua,
and the saintly Leonora of Aragon ? The passionate
fires and enthusiasms of youth were dead, but
Galeazzo di San Severino was still for him the model
of a peerless knight, .swM ^ 7i?p7'oc'/h?, and
Leonardo the foremost painter in the world. Cristoforo
Romano and Vincenzo Calmeta were honoured with
a place among the august company which met in
Duchess Elisabetta's rooms. Jacopo di San Secondo
was held up to fame as the prince of musicians, and
Pistoja the poet, who sang the glories of Lodovicos
court and declared that God reigned in heaven and
tiie Moro upon earth, was mentioned in the same
breath as the incomparable singer, Serafino. The
names of these men and women who were familiar
figures when the Moro reigned over Milan, are
enshrined in the pages of the ' Cortegiano,' and live
for all time in Castiglione's immortal prose.