[1164] It was in such a moment of resolution that Ludovico Moro had the
cross with this inscription made, which is now in the Minster at Chur.
Sixtus IV. too once said that he would try if the proverb was true. On
this saying of the astrologer Ptolemæus, which B. Fazio took to be
Virgilian, see Laur. Valla, _Opera_, p. 461.

[1165] The father of Piero Capponi, himself an astrologer, put his son
into trade lest he should get the dangerous wound in the head which
threatened him. _Vita di P. Capponi, Arch. Stor._ iv. ii. 15. For an
instance in the life of Cardanus, see p. 334. The physician and
astrologer Pierleoni of Spoleto believed that he would be drowned,
avoided in consequence all watery places, and refused brilliant
positions offered him at Venice and Padua. Paul. Jov. _Elog. Liter._ pp.
67 sqq. Finally he threw himself into the water, in despair at the
charge brought against him of complicity in Lorenzo's death, and was
actually drowned. Hier. Aliottus had been told to be careful in his
sixty-second year, as his life would then be in danger. He lived with
great circumspection, kept clear of the doctors, and the year passed
safely. H. A. _Opuscula_ (Arezzo, 1769), ii. 72. Marsilio Ficino, who
despised astrology (_Opp._ p. 772) was written to by a friend (_Epist._
lib. 17): 'Praeterea me memini a duobus vestrorum astrologis audivisse,
te ex quadam siderum positione antiquas revocaturum philosophorum
sententias.'

[1166] For instances in the life of Ludovico Moro, see Senarega, in
Murat, xxiv. col. 518, 524. Benedictus, in Eccard, ii. col. 1623. And
yet his father, the great Francesco Sforza, had despised astrology, and
his grandfather Giacomo had not at any rate followed its warnings.
Corio, fol. 321, 413.

[1167] For the facts here quoted, see _Annal. Foroliviens_. in Murat.
xxii. col. 233 sqq. (comp. col. 150). Leonbattista Alberti endeavoured
to give a spiritual meaning to the ceremony of laying the foundation.
_Opere Volgari_, tom. iv. p. 314 (or _De Re Ædific_. 1. i.). For Bonatto
see Filippo Villani, _Vite_ and _Delia Vita e delle Opere di Guido
Bonati, Astrologo e Astronomo del Secolo Decimoterzo, raccolte da E.
Boncompagni_, Rome 1851. B.'s great work, _De Astronomia_, lib. x. has
been often printed.

[1168] In the horoscopes of the second foundation of Florence (Giov.
Villani, iii. 1. under Charles the Great) and of the first of Venice
(see above, p. 62), an old tradition is perhaps mingled with the poetry
of the Middle Ages.

[1169] For one of these victories, see the remarkable passage quoted
from Bonatto in Steinschneider, in the _Zeitschr. d. D. Morg. Ges._ xxv.
p. 416. On B. comp. _ibid._ xviii. 120 sqq.

[1170] _Ann. Foroliv._ 235-238. Filippo Villani, _Vite._ Macchiavelli,
_Stor. Fior._ l. i. When constellations which augured victory appeared,
Bonatto ascended with his book and astrolabe to the tower of San
Mercuriale above the Piazza, and when the right moment came gave the
signal for the great bell to be rung. Yet it was admitted that he was
often wide of the mark, and foresaw neither his own death nor the fate
of Montefeltro. Not far from Cesena he was killed by robbers, on his way
back to Forli from Paris and from Italian universities where he had been
lecturing. As a weather prophet he was once overmatched and made game of
by a countryman.

[1171] Matteo Villani, xi. 3; see above, p. 508.

[1172] Jovian. Pontan. _De Fortitudine_, l. i. See p. 511 note 1, for
the honourable exception made by the first Sforza.

[1173] Paul. Jov. _Elog._ sub v. Livianus, p. 219.

[1174] Who tells it us himself. Benedictus, in Eccard, ii. col. 1617.

[1175] In this sense we must understand the words of Jac. Nardi, _Vita
d'Ant. Giacomini_, p. 65. The same pictures were common on clothes and
household utensils. At the reception of Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara, the
mule of the Duchess of Urbino wore trappings of black velvet with
astrological figures in gold. _Arch. Stor. Append._ ii. p. 305.

[1176] Æn. Sylvius, in the passage quoted above p. 508; comp. _Opp._
481.

[1177] Azario, in Corio, fol. 258.

[1178] Considerations of this kind probably influenced the Turkish
astrologers who, after the battle of Nicopolis, advised the Sultan
Bajazet I. to consent to the ransom of John of Burgundy, since 'for his
sake much Christian blood would be shed.' It was not difficult to
foresee the further course of the French civil war. _Magn. Chron.
Belgicum_, p. 358. _Juvénal des Ursins_, ad. a. 1396.

[1179] Benedictus, in Eccard, ii. col. 1579. It was said of King
Ferrante in 1493 that he would lose his throne 'sine cruore sed sola
fama'--which actually happened.

[1180] Comp. Steinschneider, _Apokalypsen mit polemischer Tendenz_, D.
M. G. Z. xxviii. 627 sqq. xxix. 261.

[1181] Bapt. Mantuan. _De Patientia_, l. iii. cap. 12.

[1182] Giov. Villani, x. 39, 40. Other reasons also existed, e.g. the
jealousy of his colleagues. Bonatto had taught the same, and had
explained the miracle of Divine Love in St. Francis as the effect of the
planet Mars. Comp. Jo. Picus, _Adv. Astrol._ ii. 5.

[1183] They were painted by Miretto at the beginning of the fifteenth
century. Acc. to Scardeonius they were destined 'ad indicandum
nascentium naturas per gradus et numeros'--a more popular way of
teaching than we can now well imagine. It was astrology 'à la portèe de
tout le monde.'

[1184] He says (_Orationes_, fol. 35, 'In Nuptias') of astrology: 'haec
efficit ut homines parum a Diis distare videantur'! Another enthusiast
of the same time is Jo. Garzonius, _De Dignitate Urbis Bononiae_, in
Murat. xxi. col. 1163.

[1185] Petrarca, _Epp. Seniles_, iii. 1 (p. 765) and elsewhere. The
letter in question was written to Boccaccio. On Petrarch's polemic
against the astrologers, see Geiger. _Petr._ 87-91 and 267, note 11.

[1186] Franco Sacchetti (nov. 151) ridicules their claims to wisdom.

[1187] Gio. Villani, iii. x. 39. Elsewhere he appears as a devout
believer in astrology, x. 120, xii. 40.

[1188] In the passage xi. 3.

[1189] Gio. Villani, xi. 2, xii. 58.

[1190] The author of the _Annales Placentini_ (in Murat. xx. col. 931),
the same Alberto di Ripalta mentioned at p. 241, took part in this
controversy. The passage is in other respects remarkable, since it
contains the popular opinion with regard to the nine known comets, their
colour, origin, and significance. Comp. Gio. Villani, xi. 67. He speaks
of a comet as the herald of great and generally disastrous events.

[1191] Paul. Jov. _Vita Leonis_ xx. l. iii. where it appears that Leo
himself was a believer at least in premonitions and the like, see above
p. 509.

[1192] Jo. Picus Mirand. _Adversus Astrologos_, libri xii.

[1193] Acc. to Paul, Jov. _Elog. Lit._ sub tit. Jo. Picus, the result he
achieved was 'ut subtilium disciplinarum professores a scribendo
deterruisse videatur.'

[1194] _De Rebus Caelestibus_, libri xiv. (_Opp._ iii. 1963-2591). In
the twelfth book, dedicated to Paolo Cortese, he will not admit the
latter's refutation of astrology. Ægidius, _Opp._ ii. 1455-1514. Pontano
had dedicated his little work _De Luna_ (_Opp._ iii. 2592) to the same
hermit Egidio (of Viterbo?)

[1195] For the latter passage, see p. 1486. The difference between
Pontano and Pico is thus put by Franc. Pudericus, one of the
interlocutors in the dialogue (p. 1496): 'Pontanus non ut Johannes Picus
in disciplinam ipsam armis equisque, quod dicitur, irrumpit, cum illam
tueatur, ut cognitu maxime dignam ac pene divinam, sed astrologos
quosdam, ut parum cautos minimeque prudentes insectetur et rideat.'

[1196] In S. Maria del Popolo at Rome. The angels remind us of Dante's
theory at the beginning of the _Convito_.

[1197] This was the case with Antonio Galateo who, in a letter to
Ferdinand the Catholic (Mai, _Spicileg. Rom._ vol. viii. p. 226, ad a.
1510), disclaims astrology with violence, and in another letter to the
Count of Potenza (_ibid._ p. 539) infers from the stars that the Turks
would attack Rhodes the same year.

[1198] _Ricordi_, l. c. n. 57.

[1199] Many instances of such superstitions in the case of the last
Visconti are mentioned by Decembrio (Murat. xx. col. 1016 sqq.). Odaxius
says in his speech at the burial of Guidobaldo (_Bembi Opera_, i. 598
sqq.), that the gods had announced his approaching death by
thunderbolts, earthquakes, and other signs and wonders.

[1200] Varchi, _Stor. Fior._ l. iv. (p. 174); prophecies and
premonitions were then as rife in Florence as at Jerusalem during the
siege. Comp. _ibid._ iii. 143, 195; iv. 43, 177.

[1201] Matarazzo, _Archiv. Stor._ xvi. ii. p. 208.

[1202] Prato, _Arch. Stor._ iii. 324, for the year 1514.

[1203] For the Madonna dell'Arbore in the Cathedral at Milan, and what
she did in 1515, see Prato, l. c. p. 327. He also records the discovery
of a dead dragon as thick as a horse in the excavations for a mortuary
chapel near S. Nazaro. The head was taken to the Palace of the Triulzi
for whom the chapel was built.

[1204] 'Et fuit mirabile quod illico pluvia cessavit.' _Diar. Parmense_
in Murat. xxii. col. 280. The author shares the popular hatred of the
usurers. Comp. col. 371.

[1205] _Conjurationis Pactianae Commentarius_, in the appendices to
Roscoe's _Lorenzo_. Politian was in general an opponent of astrology.
The saints were naturally able to cause the rain to cease. Comp. Æneas
Sylvius, in his life of Bernadino da Siena (_De Vir. Ill._ p. 25):
'jussit in virtute Jesu nubem abire, quo facto solutis absque pluvia
nubibus, prior serenitas rediit'.

[1206] _Poggi Facetiae_, fol. 174. Æn. Sylvius (_De Europa_, c. 53, 54,
_Opera_, pp. 451, 455) mentions prodigies which may have really
happened, such as combats between animals and strange appearances in the
sky, and mentions them chiefly as curiosities, even when adding the
results attributed to them. Similarly Antonio Ferrari (il Galateo), _De
Situ Iapygiae_, p. 121, with the explanation: 'Et hae, ut puto, species
erant earum rerum quæ longe aberant atque ab eo loco in quo species
visae sunt minime poterant.'

[1207] _Poggi Facetiae_, fol. 160. Comp. Pausanias, ix. 20.

[1208] Varchi, iii 195. Two suspected persons decided on flight in 1529,
because they opened the Æneid at book iii. 44. Comp. Rabelais,
_Pantagruel_, iii. 10.

[1209] The imaginations of the scholars, such as the 'splendor' and the
'spiritus' of Cardanus, and the 'dæmon familiaris' of his father, may be
taken for what they are worth. Comp. Cardanus, _De Propria Vita_, cap.
4, 38, 47. He was himself an opponent of magic; cap. 39. For the
prodigies and ghosts he met with, see cap. 37, 41. For the terror of
ghosts felt by the last Visconti, see Decembrio, in Murat. xx. col.
1016.

[1210] 'Molte fiate i morti guastano le creature.' Bandello, ii. nov. 1.
We read (Galateo, p. 177) that the 'animæ' of wicked men rise from the
grave, appear to their friends and acquaintances, 'animalibus vexi,
pueros sugere ac necare, deinde in sepulcra reverti.'

[1211] Galateo, l. c. We also read (p. 119) of the 'Fata Morgana' and
other similar appearances.

[1212] Bandello, iii. nov. 20. It is true that the ghost was only a
lover wishing to frighten the occupier of the palace, who was also the
husband of the beloved lady. The lover and his accomplices dressed
themselves up as devils; one of them, who could imitate the cry of
different animals, had been sent for from a distance.

[1213] Graziani, _Arch. Stor._ xvi. i. p. 640, ad a. 1467. The guardian
died of fright.

[1214] _Balth. Castilionii Carmina_; Prosopopeja Lud. Pici.

[1215] Alexandri ab Alexandro, _Dierum Genialium_, libri vi. (Colon.
1539), is an authority of the first rank for these subjects, the more so
as the author, a friend of Pontanus and a member of his academy, asserts
that what he records either happened to himself, or was communicated to
him by thoroughly trustworthy witnesses. Lib. vi. cap. 19: two evil men
and a monk are attacked by devils, whom they recognise by the shape of
their feet, and put to flight, partly by force and partly by the sign of
the cross. Lib. vi. cap. 21: A servant, cast into prison by a cruel
prince on account of a small offence, calls upon the devil, is
miraculously brought out of the prison and back again, visits meanwhile
the nether world, shows the prince his hand scorched by the flames of
Hell, tells him on behalf of a departed spirit certain secrets which had
been communicated to the latter, exhorts him to lay aside his cruelty,
and dies soon after from the effects of the fright. Lib. ii. c. 19, iii.
15, v. 23: Ghosts of departed friends, of St. Cataldus, and of unknown
beings in Rome, Arezzo and Naples. Lib. ii. 22, iii. 8: Appearances of
mermen and mermaids at Naples, in Spain, and in the Peloponnesus; in the
latter case guaranteed by Theodore Gaza and George of Trebizond.

[1216] Gio. Villani, xi. 2. He had it from the Abbot of Vallombrosa, to
whom the hermit had communicated it.

[1217] Another view of the Dæmons was given by Gemisthos Pletho, whose
great philosophical work [Greek: oi nomoi], of which only
fragments are now left (ed. Alexander, Paris, 1858), was probably known
more fully to the Italians of the fifteenth century, either by means of
copies or of tradition, and exercised undoubtedly a great influence on
the philosophical, political, and religious culture of the time.
According to him the dæmons, who belong to the third order of the gods,
are preserved from all error, and are capable of following in the steps
of the gods who stand above them; they are spirits who bring to men the
good things 'which come down from Zeus through the other gods in order;
they purify and watch over man, they raise and strengthen his heart.'
Comp. Fritz Schultze, _Gesch. der Philosophie der Renaissance_, Jena,
1874.

[1218] Yet but little remained of the wonders attributed to her. For
probably the last metamorphosis of a man into an ass, in the eleventh
century under Leo IX., see Giul. Malmesbur. ii. 171.

[1219] This was probably the case with the possessed woman, who in 1513
at Ferrara and elsewhere was consulted by distinguished Lombards as to
future events. Her name was Rodogine. See Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, iv.
58.

[1220] Jovian. Pontan. Antonius.

[1221] How widespread the belief in witches then was, is shown by the
fact that in 1483 Politian gave a 'praelectio' 'in priora Aristotelis
Analytica cui titulus Lamia' (Italian trans. by Isidore del Lungo, Flor.
1864) Comp. Reumont, _Lorenzo_, ii. 75-77. Fiesole, according to this,
was, in a certain sense, a witches' nest.

[1222] Graziani, _Arch. Stor._ xvi. i. p. 565, ad a. 1445, speaking of a
witch at Nocera, who only offered half the sum, and was accordingly
burnt. The law was aimed at such persons as 'facciono le fature overo
venefitie overo encantatione d'ommunde spirite a nuocere,' l. c. note 1,
2.

[1223] Lib. i. ep. 46, _Opera_, p. 531 sqq. For 'umbra' p. 552 read
'Umbria,' and for 'lacum' read 'locum.'

[1224] He calls him later on: 'Medicus Ducis Saxoniæ, homo tum dives tum
potens.'

[1225] In the fourteenth century there existed a kind of hell-gate near
Ansedonia in Tuscany. It was a cave, with footprints of men and animals
in the sand, which whenever they were effaced, reappeared the next day.
Uberti. _Il Dittamondo_, l. iii. cap. 9.

[1226] _Pii II. Comment._ l. i. p. 10.

[1227] Benv. Cellini, l. i. cap. 65.

[1228] _L'Italia Liberata da' Goti_, canto xiv. It may be questioned
whether Trissino himself believed in the possibility of his description,
or whether he was not rather romancing. The same doubt is permissible in
the case of his probable model, Lucan (book vi.), who represents the
Thessalian witch conjuring up a corpse before Sextus Pompejus.

[1229] _Septimo Decretal_, lib. v. tit. xii. It begins: 'Summis
desiderantes affectibus' &c. I may here remark that a full consideration
of the subject has convinced me that there are in this case no grounds
for believing in a survival of pagan beliefs. To satisfy ourselves that
the imagination of the mendicant friars is solely responsible for this
delusion, we have only to study, in the Memoirs of Jacques du Clerc, the
so-called trial of the Waldenses of Arras in the year 1459. A century's
prosecutions and persecutions brought the popular imagination into such
a state that witchcraft was accepted as a matter of course and
reproduced itself naturally.

[1230] Of Alexander VI., Leo X., Hadrian VI.

[1231] Proverbial as the country of witches, e.g. _Orlandino_, i. 12.

[1232] E.g. Bandello, iii. nov. 29, 52. Prato, _Arch. Stor._ iii. 409.
Bursellis, _Ann. Bon._ in Murat. xxiii. col. 897, mentions the
condemnation of a prior in 1468, who kept a ghostly brothel: 'cives
Bononienses coire faciebat cum dæmonibus in specie puellarum.' He
offered sacrifices to the dæmons. See for a parallel case, Procop.
_Hist. Arcana_, c. 12, where a real brothel is frequented by a dæmon,
who turns the other visitors out of doors. The Galateo (p. 116) confirms
the existence of the belief in witches: 'volare per longinquas regiones,
choreas per paludes dicere et dæmonibus cnogredi, ingredi et egredi per
clausa ostia et foramina.'

[1233] For the loathsome apparatus of the witches' kitchens, see
_Maccaroneide_, Phant. xvi. xxi., where the whole procedure is
described.

[1234] In the _Ragionamento del Zoppino_. He is of opinion that the
courtesans learn their arts from certain Jewish women, who are in
possession of 'malie.' The following passage is very remarkable. Bembo
says in the life of Guidobaldo (_Opera_, i. 614): 'Guid. constat sive
corporis et naturae vitio, seu quod vulgo creditum est, actibus magicis
ab Octaviano patruo propter regni cupiditatem impeditum, quarum omnino
ille artium expeditissimus habebatur, nulla cum femina coire unquam in
tota vita potuisse, nec unquam fuisse ad rem uxoriam idoneum.'

[1235] Varchi, _Stor. Fior._ ii. p. 153.

[1236] Curious information is given by Landi, in the _Commentario_, fol.
36 a and 37 _a_, about two magicians, a Sicilian and a Jew; we read of
magical mirrors, of a death's-head speaking, and of birds stopped short
in their flight.

[1237] Stress is laid on this reservation. Corn. Agrippa, _De Occulta
Philosophia_, cap. 39.

[1238] _Septimo Decretal_, l. c.

[1239] _Zodiacus Vitae_, xv. 363-549, comp. x. 393 sqq.

[1240] _Ibid._ ix. 291 sqq.

[1241] _Ibid._ x. 770 sqq.

[1242] The mythical type of the magician among the poets of the time was
Malagigi. Speaking of him, Pulci (_Morgante_, canto xxiv. 106 sqq.)
gives his theoretical view of the limits of dæmonic and magic influence.
It is hard to say how far he was in earnest. Comp. canto xxi.

[1243] Polydorus Virgilius was an Italian by birth, but his work _De
Prodigiis_ treats chiefly of superstition in England, where his life was
passed. Speaking of the prescience of the dæmons, he makes a curious
reference to the sack of Rome in 1527.

[1244] Yet murder is hardly ever the end, and never, perhaps, the means.
A monster like Gilles de Retz (about 1440) who sacrificed more than 100
children to the dæmons has scarcely a distant counterpart in Italy.

[1245] See the treatise of Roth 'Ueber den Zauberer Virgilius' in
Pfeiffer's _Germania_, iv., and Comparetti's _Virgil in the Middle
Ages_. That Virgil began to take the place of the older Telestæ may be
explained partly by the fact that the frequent visits made to his grave
even in the time of the Empire struck the popular imagination.

[1246] Uberti, _Dittamondo_, 1. iii. cap. 4.

[1247] For what follows, see Gio. Villani, i. 42, 60, ii. 1, iii. v. 38,
xi. He himself does not believe such godless superstitions. Comp. Dante,
_Inferno_ xiii. 146.

[1248] According to a fragment given in Baluz. Miscell ix. 119, the
Perugians had a quarrel in ancient times with the Ravennates, 'et
militem marmoreum qui juxta Ravennam se continue volvebat ad solem
usurpaverunt et ad eorum civitatem virtuosissime transtulerunt.'

[1249] The local belief on the matter is given in _Annal. Forolivens_.
Murat. xxii. col. 207, 238; more fully in Fil. Villani, _Vite_, p 33.

[1250] Platina, _Vitae Pontiff._ p. 320: 'Veteres potius hac in re quam
Petrum, Anacletum, et Linum imitatus.'

[1251] Which it is easy to recognise e.g. in Sugerius, _De Consecratione
Ecclesiae_ (Duchesne, _Scriptores_, iv. 355) and in _Chron.
Petershusanum_, i. 13 and 16.

[1252] Comp. the _Calandra_ of Bibiena.

[1253] Bandello, iii. nov. 52. Fr. Filelfo (_Epist. Venet._ lib. 34,
fol. 240 sqq.) attacks nercromancy fiercely. He is tolerably free from
superstition (_Sat._ iv. 4) but believes in the 'mali effectus,' of a
comet (_Epist._ fol. 246 _b_).

[1254] Bandello, iii. 29. The magician exacts a promise of secrecy
strengthened by solemn oaths, in this case by an oath at the high altar
of S. Petronio at Bologna, at a time when no one else was in the church.
There is a good deal of magic in the _Maccaroneide_, Phant. xviii.

[1255] Benv. Cellini, i. cap. 64.

[1256] Vasari, viii. 143, _Vita di Andrea da Fiesole_. It was Silvio
Cosini, who also 'went after magical formulæ and other follies.'

[1257] Uberti, _Dittamondo_, iii. cap. 1. In the March of Ancona he
visits Scariotto, the supposed birthplace of Judas, and observes: 'I
must not here pass over Mount Pilatus, with its lake, where throughout
the summer the guards are changed regularly. For he who understands
magic comes up hither to have his books consecrated, whereupon, as the
people of the place say, a great storm arises.' (The consecration of
books, as has been remarked, p. 527, is a special ceremony, distinct
from the rest.) In the sixteenth century the ascent of Pilatus near
Luzern was forbidden 'by lib und guot,' as Diebold Schilling records. It
was believed that a ghost lay in the lake on the mountain, which was the
spirit of Pilate. When people ascended the mountain or threw anything
into the lake, fearful storms sprang up.

[1258] _De Obsedione Tiphernatium_, 1474 (Rer. Ital. Scrippt. ex
Florent. codicibus, tom. ii.).

[1259] This superstition, which was widely spread among the soldiery
(about 1520), is ridiculed by Limerno Pitocco, in the _Orlandino_, v.
60.

[1260] Paul. Jov. _Elog. Lit._ p. 106, sub voce 'Cocles.'

[1261] It is the enthusiastic collector of portraits who is here
speaking.

[1262] From the stars, since Gauricus did not know physiognomy. For his
own fate he had to refer to the prophecies of Cocle, since his father
had omitted to draw his horoscope.

[1263] Paul. Jov. l. c. p. 100 sqq. s. v. Tibertus.

[1264] The most essential facts as to these side-branches of divination,
are given by Corn. Agrippa, _De Occulta Philosophia_, cap. 57.

[1265] Libri, _Hist. des Sciences Mathém._ ii. 122.

[1266] 'Novi nihil narro, mos est publicus' (_Remed. Utr. Fort._ p. 93),
one of the lively passages of this book, written 'ab irato.'

[1267] Chief passage in Trithem. _Ann. Hirsaug._ ii. 286 sqq.

[1268] 'Neque enim desunt,' Paul. Jov. _Elog. Lit._ p. 150, s. v. 'Pomp,
Gauricus;' comp. ibid. p. 130, s. v. Aurel. Augurellus, _Maccaroneide_.
Phant. xii.

[1269] In writing a history of Italian unbelief it would be necessary to
refer to the so-called Averrhoism, which was prevalent in Italy and
especially in Venice, about the middle of the fourteenth century. It was
opposed by Boccaccio and Petrarch in various letters, and by the latter
in his work: _De Sui Ipsius et Aliorum Ignorantia_. Although Petrarch's
opposition may have been increased by misunderstanding and exaggeration,
he was nevertheless fully convinced that the Averrhoists ridiculed and
rejected the Christian religion.

[1270] Ariosto, _Sonetto_, 34: 'Non credere sopra il tetto.' The poet
uses the words of an official who had decided against him in a matter of
property.

[1271] We may here again refer to Gemisthos Plethon, whose disregard of
Christianity had an important influence on the Italians, and
particularly on the Florentines of that period.

[1272] _Narrazione del Caso del Boscoli, Arch. Stor._ i. 273 sqq. The
standing phrase was 'non aver fede;' comp. Vasari, vii. 122, _Vita di
Piero di Cosimo_.

[1273] Jovian. Pontan. _Charon_, _Opp._ ii. 1128-1195.

[1274] _Faustini Terdocei Triumphus Stultitiae_, l. ii.

[1275] E.g. Borbone Morosini about 1460; comp. Sansovino, _Venezia_ l.
xiii. p. 243. He wrote 'de immortalite animæ ad mentem Aristotelis.'
Pomponius Lætus, as a means of effecting his release from prison,
pointed to the fact that he had written an epistle on the immortality of
the soul. See the remarkable defence in Gregorovius, vii. 580 sqq. See
on the other hand Pulci's ridicule of this belief in a sonnet, quoted by
Galeotti, _Arch. Stor. Ital._ n. s. ix. 49 sqq.

[1276] _Vespas. Fiorent._ p. 260.

[1277] _Orationes Philelphi_, fol. 8.

[1278] _Septimo Decretal._ lib. v. tit. iii. cap. 8.

[1279] Ariosto, _Orlando_, vii. 61. Ridiculed in _Orlandino_, iv. 67,
68. Cariteo, a member of the Neapolitan Academy of Pontanus, uses the
idea of the pre-existence of the soul in order to glorify the House of
Aragon. Roscoe, _Leone X._ ed. Bossi, ii. 288.

[1280] Orelli, ad Cic. _De Republ._ l. vi. Comp. Lucan, _Pharsalia_, at
the beginning.

[1281] Petrarca, _Epp. Fam._ iv. 3, iv. 6.

[1282] Fil. Villani, _Vite_, p. 15. This remarkable passage is as
follows: 'Che agli uomini fortissimi poichè hanno vinto le mostruose
fatiche della terra, debitamente sieno date le stelle.'

[1283] _Inferno_, iv. 24 sqq. Comp. _Purgatorio_, vii. 28, xxii. 100.

[1284] This pagan heaven is referred to in the epitaph on the artist
Niccolò dell'Arca:

    'Nunc te Praxiteles, Phidias, Polycletus adora
        Miranturque tuas, o Nicolae, manus.'

In Bursellis, _Ann. Bonon._ Murat. xxiii. col. 912.

[1285] In his late work _Actius_.

[1286] Cardanus, _De Propria Vita_, cap. 13: 'Non poenitere ullius rei
quam voluntarie effecerim, etiam quæ male cessisset;' else I should be
of all men the most miserable.

[1287] _Discorsi_, ii. cap. 2.

[1288] _Del Governo della Famiglia_, p. 114.

[1289] Comp. the short ode of M. Antonio Flaminio in the _Coryciana_
(see p. 269):

    Dii quibus tam Corycius venusta
    Signa, tam dives posuit sacellum,
    Ulla si vestros animos piorum
        Gratia tangit,

    Vos jocos risusque senis faceti
    Sospites servate diu; senectam
    Vos date et semper viridem et Falerno
        Usque madentem.

    At simul longo satiatus ævo
    Liquerit terras, dapibus Deorum
    Lætus intersit, potiore mutans
        Nectare Bacchum.

[1290] Firenzuola, _Opere_, iv. p. 147 sqq.

[1291] Nic. Valori, _Vita di Lorenzo_, _passim_. For the advice to his
son Cardinal Giovanni, see Fabroni, _Laurentius_, adnot. 178, and the
appendices to Roscoe's _Leo X._

[1292] _Jo. Pici Vita_, auct. Jo. Franc. Pico. For his 'Deprecatio ad
Deum,' see _Deliciae Poetarum Italorum_.

[1293] _Orazione_, Roscoe, _Leone X._ ed. Bossi viii. 120 (Magno Dio per
la cui costante legge); hymn (oda il sacro inno tutta la natura) in
Fabroni,' _Laur._ adnot. 9; _L'Altercazione_, in the _Poesie di Lor.
Magn._ i. 265. The other poems here named are quoted in the same
collection.

[1294] If Pulci in his _Morgante_ is anywhere in earnest with religion,
he is so in canto xvi. str. 6. This deistic utterance of the fair pagan
Antea is perhaps the plainest expression of the mode of thought
prevalent in Lorenzo's circle, to which tone the words of the dæmon
Astarotte (quoted above p. 494) form in a certain sense the complement.

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

belonged orginally to Florentine=> belonged originally to Florentine {pg
204}

the Citadal of Milan=> the Citadel of Milan {pg 38}

nature of Lndovico Moro=> nature of Ludovico Moro {pg 43}

Die Kriegskunt als Kunst=> Die Kriegskunst als Kunst {pg 98 fn 210}

to to take any interest=> to take any interest {pg 101}

of its vasals, the legitimate=> of its vassals, the legitimate {pg 125}

do so by imfamous deeds=> do so by infamous deeds {pg 152}

forged chroncle of Ricardo Malespini=> forged chronicle of Ricardo
Malespini {pg 182 fn 420}

fight its way amongt he heathen=> fight its way among the heathen {pg
206}

to the annoyance of to Petrarch=> to the annoyance of Petrarch {pg 208}

was familar with the writings=> was familiar with the writings {pg 227}

now altogether lose it supremacy=> now altogether lose its supremacy {pg
255 fn 594}

The plays of Platus and Terence=> The plays of Plautus and Terence {pg
242}

and minged with the general mourning=> and mingled with the general
mourning {pg 296}

compelled them for awhile to see=> compelled them for a while to see {pg
298}

I go for awhile=> I go for a while {pg 336}

Jo. Pici oratio de hominis dignatate=> Jo. Pici oratio de hominis
dignitate {pg 354 fn 805}

he gives us a humorout description=> he gives us a humorous description
{pg 387}

Cronaco di Perugia, Arch. Stor.=> Cronaca di Perugia, Arch. Stor. {pg
413 fn 934}

eyes of Delio and Atellano=> eyes of Delio and Attelano {pg 444}

Guilia Gonzaga, 385;=> Giulia Gonzaga, 385; {pg 552}

futherers of, 217-229.=> furtherers of, 217-229. {pg 554}

Illigitimacy, indifference to, 21, 22.=> Illegitimacy, indifference to,
21, 22. {pg 554}