DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0336
298 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
carouba-trees to be planted in these gardens, at the
same time begging his son-in-law to see that the new
cypress-hedge was properly set, and the roses trained
to grow on a trellis along the walls, after the fashion
which he admired in Spain. Now he sent Ramusio
seeds of oranges, and of a dowering shrub with a
blossom between a white rose and a cistus, adding:
' You will wonder that I have time to think of such
things in the midst of all my work; but I am a true
epicurean, and should like to spend my whole life in
a garden. Therefore, as you love me, dear Ramusio,
take care of my garden and tend my dowers while I
am absent from homeU
The magnidcent Cathedral, with its countless
chapels, porticoes, and cloisters, dlled the Italian
visitors with fresh wonder and admiration. Together
these three friends, Castiglione, Navagero, and the
Mantuan Soardino, ascended the lofty Giralda tower
by the inclined plane that reminded them of the
Campanile at Venice, only that it was easier and
better lighted, and enjoyed the vast prospect from
the summit. They sought out the Roman thermae
and amphitheatre described by Pliny, and visited the
delicious gardens of the Certosa on the banks of the
Guadalquivir. As they lingered in the myrtle-groves
and rested in the beautiful loggia, fragrant with the
scent of roses and' orange-blossom, the tired states-
men envied the fortunate Carthusian fathers, who
only leave these enchanted regions to go to paradise.
Another thing which interested both Castiglione
and Navagero deeply, was the sight of the curiosities
and treasures that arrived almost daily at Seville from
the New World. This city, as Navagero told his
son-in-law, was the centre of the trade with this
i Atanagi, 676-680.
carouba-trees to be planted in these gardens, at the
same time begging his son-in-law to see that the new
cypress-hedge was properly set, and the roses trained
to grow on a trellis along the walls, after the fashion
which he admired in Spain. Now he sent Ramusio
seeds of oranges, and of a dowering shrub with a
blossom between a white rose and a cistus, adding:
' You will wonder that I have time to think of such
things in the midst of all my work; but I am a true
epicurean, and should like to spend my whole life in
a garden. Therefore, as you love me, dear Ramusio,
take care of my garden and tend my dowers while I
am absent from homeU
The magnidcent Cathedral, with its countless
chapels, porticoes, and cloisters, dlled the Italian
visitors with fresh wonder and admiration. Together
these three friends, Castiglione, Navagero, and the
Mantuan Soardino, ascended the lofty Giralda tower
by the inclined plane that reminded them of the
Campanile at Venice, only that it was easier and
better lighted, and enjoyed the vast prospect from
the summit. They sought out the Roman thermae
and amphitheatre described by Pliny, and visited the
delicious gardens of the Certosa on the banks of the
Guadalquivir. As they lingered in the myrtle-groves
and rested in the beautiful loggia, fragrant with the
scent of roses and' orange-blossom, the tired states-
men envied the fortunate Carthusian fathers, who
only leave these enchanted regions to go to paradise.
Another thing which interested both Castiglione
and Navagero deeply, was the sight of the curiosities
and treasures that arrived almost daily at Seville from
the New World. This city, as Navagero told his
son-in-law, was the centre of the trade with this
i Atanagi, 676-680.