DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0320
TROUBLESOME SERVANTS
251
and who proved to be so ignorant that he could
hardly read, far less write from dictation, and could
not even be trusted to deliver a message correctly,
but forgot half of his master's instructions before he
reached Mantua.
' Some days he is impertinent to every one ; at
other times he will not even open his mouth to eat.
He cannot read Pulci's " Morgante " or the " Cento
Novelle" without help, and yet he gives himself
grand airs. For Gods sake, never let him come
back here. He is a simpleton, and I cannot afford
to keep servants who are absolutely useless A
This troublesome boy was the son of an old
retainer at Casatico, and Castiglione was genuinely
sorry to send him home in disgrace, and wrote to
tell his father that he expected to be sent to Rome,
and felt it would be a pity to leave the lad to
waste his time at Urbino. But if Antonio was a
failure, his successor, Bartolommeo, turned out still
worse. From the first day of his arrival Castiglione
complained of his laziness and ignorance, although, in
his anxiety not to be constantly changing servants,
he determined to give the man a trial. But the new
secretary never ceased grumbling, and when, on one
occasion, his master sent him to Urbino from Fossom-
brone, he made noise enough to bring the house down.
Another time Castiglione heard him complain of the
excessive labour and hard treatment which he had to
endure in his service, and even venture to assert
that he was indispensable to his master, who did not
dare to dismiss him. This last statement was too
much for Baldassare, who sent for him on the spot
and gave him notice to leave the next day. But, since
i Cod. Vat. Lat., 8210.
251
and who proved to be so ignorant that he could
hardly read, far less write from dictation, and could
not even be trusted to deliver a message correctly,
but forgot half of his master's instructions before he
reached Mantua.
' Some days he is impertinent to every one ; at
other times he will not even open his mouth to eat.
He cannot read Pulci's " Morgante " or the " Cento
Novelle" without help, and yet he gives himself
grand airs. For Gods sake, never let him come
back here. He is a simpleton, and I cannot afford
to keep servants who are absolutely useless A
This troublesome boy was the son of an old
retainer at Casatico, and Castiglione was genuinely
sorry to send him home in disgrace, and wrote to
tell his father that he expected to be sent to Rome,
and felt it would be a pity to leave the lad to
waste his time at Urbino. But if Antonio was a
failure, his successor, Bartolommeo, turned out still
worse. From the first day of his arrival Castiglione
complained of his laziness and ignorance, although, in
his anxiety not to be constantly changing servants,
he determined to give the man a trial. But the new
secretary never ceased grumbling, and when, on one
occasion, his master sent him to Urbino from Fossom-
brone, he made noise enough to bring the house down.
Another time Castiglione heard him complain of the
excessive labour and hard treatment which he had to
endure in his service, and even venture to assert
that he was indispensable to his master, who did not
dare to dismiss him. This last statement was too
much for Baldassare, who sent for him on the spot
and gave him notice to leave the next day. But, since
i Cod. Vat. Lat., 8210.