NOTES TO THE FIRST BOOK OF THE COURTIER Note 86, page 44. HORACE was born 65 B.C., and died 8 B.C. PlautUS died 184 B.C. Note 87, page 44. Sergius SuLPicius Galea was Roman Consul 144 B.C.; Cicero praised his oratory, but found it more old-fashioned than that of Laelius {flor. 200 B.C.) and Scipio Africanus the Younger (died 129 B.C.). Note 88, page 46. In his Prose, Bembo says that courtly Italian, especially during the pontificate of the Spaniard, Alexander VI (1492-1503), was full of Spanish expressions, — an assertion amply confirmed by contemporary letters, which are rich also in Gallicisms. Note 8g, page 46. The Spanish primor has failed to win Italian citizenship. ATjenturare has become naturalized in Italy; as also have acertare (in the sense, however, of to assure, to make certain, to verify), ripassare (to repass, to repeat, to rebuff), rimproccio or rimprovero, and attilato or attillato, which is recognizable in the Spanish atildado. Creato (Spanish criado) is now re- placed by creatura in the sense mentioned in the text; in Sicily creato is used to mean servant. Note 90, page 47. The reference here is of course to the Attic, Doric, Ionic and ^olic dialects. Note 91, page 47. TiTUS Livius was born at Padua 59 B C, and died there 17 A.D. Of the one hundred and forty-two books of his History (which cov- ered the period from the founding of Rome in 750 B.C. down to 9 B.C., and upon which he spent forty years of his life), only thirty -five have survived, together with an anonymous summary of the whole. Note 92, page 48. Of the four forms here condemned by Castiglione as cor- rupt, three {CampidogUo, Girolamo, and padrone) have become firmly estab- lished in Italian. CampidogUo had been used by Petrarch (Trionfo d'Amore, i, 14), — an "old" but certainly not an "ignorant" Tuscan. Note 93, page 49. Oscan was a pre-Roman language spoken by the Opici, an Italian tribe inhabiting the Campanian coast. Much of the mist that shrouded it for centuries has now been dispelled by the epigraphists. Both Dante and Petrarch were great lovers of Proven9al, with which in Castiglione's time his friend Federico Fregoso was familiar. Note 94, page 50. BiDON was a native of Asti, and one of the most famous choristers in the service of Leo X, Note 95, page 50. Marchetto Cara, a native of Verona, entered the service of the Gonzagas in 1495 and lived nearly thirty years at Mantua, where he was made a citizen by the Marquess Federico. He frequented also the court 340
