Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/571

 NOTES TO THE FIRST BOOK OF THE COURTIER by Robert Sorbon in 1253) towards which Francis was for religious reasons hostile during the early years of his reign, and to which he raised up a rival by founding the College de France in 1530. Note 113, page 58. Lucius Licinius Lucullus, a Roman general and Consul (74 B.C.), noted chiefly for his wealth, luxury, and patronage of art and letters. LUCIUS CORNELIUS Sulla, a Roman general. Consul (88 B.C.), and dictator, was the first Roman to lead an army against the city, and the first to publish lists of his enemies, proscribing them and offering a reward for their death. Cneius Pompeius, or Pompey, (born 106; died 48 B.C.), a member of the Triumvirate with Caesar and Crassus, and the finally unsuccessful cham- pion of the conservative party against the power of Caesar. Marcus Junius Brutus, (born 85; died 42 B.C.), a statesman and scholar, who adhered to Pompey, joined Cassius in the assassination of Caesar, and was finally defeated by Mark Antony. HANNIBAL, (born 247 B.C.), the famous Carthaginian gen- eral who conquered Spain, crossed the Alps, overran Italy, was defeated by Scipio the Elder, became chief magistrate of Carthage, and committed suicide in exile about 183 B.C. Note 114, page 59. In the last chapter of his "Prince," Machiavelli (who was Castiglione's contemporary) says: "Although military excellence seems to be extinct in Italy, this arises from the fact that the old methods were not good and there has been no one who knew how to devise new ones. W^e have great excellence in the members, if only it were not lacking in the heads. In duels and engagements between small numbers, see how superior the Italians are in strength, in dexterity, in resource. But when it comes to armies, they make no showing; and it all proceeds from the weakness of the heads. Whence it arises that in so much time, in so many battles fought in the last twenty years, when an army has been purely Italian, it has always succeeded ill." Compare this opinion with Montaigne's remark {Essais, II, c. 24) that the officers of Charles VIII ascribed their easy Italian conquests to the fact that "the princes and nobility of Italy took more pleasure in becoming ingenious and learned than in becoming vigorous and warlike." Note 115, page 59. In 1524 Castiglione wrote to his mother at Mantua re- garding the education of his son, who had just begun to study the Greek alphabet, as follows: "As to Camillo's learning Greek, I have had a letter also from Michael, who says so many things that he seems to me a flatterer. It is enough that the boy shows good capacity and inclination, and good pronun- ciation. As for Latin, I should be glad to have him attend more to Greek at present, for those who know are of opinion that one ought to begin with Greek; because Latin is natural to us, and we almost acquire it even though we spend little labour upon it; but Greek is not so." Note 116, page 59. The reader will hardly need to be reminded that the habit of versification was very prevalent in all ranks of Italian society in 347