Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/593

 NOTES TO THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COURTIER must each occasion a certain sound or note depending on their distances and velocities, which notes together formed a musical harmony, inaudible to man because he has been accustomed to it from the first and has never had an opportunity to contrast it with silence, or because it exceeds his powers of hearing. Pythagoras himself (died about 500 B.C.) taught his disciples to sing to the accompaniment of the lyre, and to chaunt hymns to the gods and to virtuous men. Note 159, page 90. As the Italian commentator, Count Vesme, suggests, the author may have meant to say, " shave twice a day." A weekly visit to the barber may, however, have been usually regarded as sufficient at this time. Note 160, page 93. In the beginning of his Encomium on Folly (which was well known in Italy when Castiglione wrote The Courtier), Erasmus pre- tends that, " although there has been no lack of those who, at great cost of oil and sleep, have exalted . . . the fourth-day ague, the fly, and baldness, with most tedious praise," Folly is languishing without a eulogist. Among the works of Lucian {flor. 160 A.D.) there is a brief humourous book in praise of the fly; the philosopher Favorinus {flor. 120 A.D.) is said to have written a eulogy on the fourth-day ague; and there is another on baldness by the early Christian writer, Synesius {flor. 400 A.D.). The men of the Renaissance delighted in similar displays of wit. Note 161, page 94. The Italian procella (rendered 'fury') primarily means a tempest, and is so translated in the earliest French and English versions of The Courtier {estourhillon, storm). The still earlier Spanish version has pestilencia. Note 162, page 95. The Italian impedito (rendered ' palsied ') literally means entangled as to the feet. Note 163, page 96. St. Luke, iv, 8 and 10. Note 164, page 97. In ^sop's fable, Asinus Domino Blandiens, an ass receives a sound cudgelling for his efforts to win his master's favour by caresses that he was ill fitted to bestow. Note 165, page 100. TiTUS Manlius, — called TORQUATUS from the chain {torques) that he took from the body of a gigantic Gaul whom he had slain in single combat, — was a favourite hero of Roman story. The incident referred to here occurred shortly before a Roman victory over the Latins at the foot of Vesuvius. Manlius and his colleague in command had proclaimed that no Roman might engage a Latin singly on pain of death, but a son of Manlius accepted a challenge from one of the enemy, slew his adversary, and bore the bloody spoils in triumph to his father, who thereupon caused the young man to be put to death before the assembled army. Manlius was Consul in 340 B.C. 357