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 NOTES TO THE FIRST BOOK OF THE COURTIER the royal stables and of an academy for the martial education of young men of noble family. For a further account of his interesting life, and especially of his friendship with Isabella d'Este, see Mrs. Henry Ady's recent volume, " Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Milan." Note 73, page 35. The word spressatura (rendered "nonchalance") could hardly have been new to Castiglione's contemporaries, at least in its primary meaning of disprizement or contempt. He may, hovi^ever, have been among the first to use it (as here and elsewhere in The Courtier) in its modified sense of unconcern or nonchalance. Compare Herrick's '■wild civility' in "Art above Nature" and "Delight in Disorder." Note 74, page 37. Naturally Venice could hardly be a place well suited for horsemanship; its citizens' awkward riding was a favourite subject of ridicule in the i6th century. Note 75, page 37. The incident is supposed to have occurred on the occasion of a visit paid by Apelles to Rhodes not long after the death (323 B.C.) of Alex- ander the Great, whom he had accompanied into Asia Minor. Apelles was eager to meet Protogenes, and on landing in Rhodes went at once to the painter's house. Protogenes was absent, but a large panel stood ready for painting. Apelles took a pencil and drew an exceedingly fine coloured line, by which Protogenes on his return immediately recognized who his visitor had been, and in turn drew a finer line of another colour upon or within the first line. 'When Apelles saw this line, he added a third line still further sub- dividing the one drawn by Protogenes. Later the panel was carried to Rome, where it long excited wondering admiration in the Palace of the Caesars, with which it was finally destroyed by fire. Apelles was the first to stimulate appreciation of the merits of Protogenes by buying several of the latter's works at enormous prices: he maintained however that he excelled Protogenes in knowing when to cease elaborating his paintings. Note 76, page 37. The play upon words here is untranslatable into English. The Italian tuTiola stands equally well for a dining-table and for the tablet or panel upon which pictures were painted. Note 77, page 40. 'As those who speak [are present] before those who speak' is a literal translation of the accepted reading of this passage. It is perhaps worth noting, however, that the earliest translator (Boscan) ventures to de- viate from the letter of the Italian text for the sake of rendering what surely must have been the author's meaning: como los que hablan d aquellos con quien hablan, i.e. "as those who speak [are present] before those with whom they speak." Note 78, page 41. Although the dialect of Bergamo was (and still is) ridi- culed as rude and harsh, it possessed a copious popular literature. 338