Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/670

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NOTES TO THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER members of Hiero's family, and Harmonia was slain together with her aunts, Demarata and Heraclea. Note 353, page 192. The reference is of course to the familiar story of the obstinate dame who persisted in declaring that a certain rent had been made with scissors, and whose husband vainly tried to change her mind by plunging her in a pond. Each time she came to the surface, she cried " Scissors," until, unable to speak from strangulation, she stretched forth her hand and made the sign of the instrument with two fingers. In a coarser form, the story was current in Italy even before Castiglione's time. Note 354, page 192. The conspiracy in question was discovered in 65 A.D. Tacitus relates that Epicharis strangled herself with her girdle while on the way to be tortured a second time. Note 355, page 192. Le^na was an Athenian hetaira beloved by Aristo- geiton. When he and Harmodius had slain the tyrant Hipparchus in 514 B.C., she was supposed to be privy to their plan, and died under torture. The statue in question is mentioned by Pausanias and said by Plutarch (in his essay on Garrulity) to have been placed " upon the gates of the Acropolis." Recent archaeologists identify its site as being on the level of the Acropolis, near the southern inner corner of the Propylaea. Note 356, page 192. Massilia became the modern Marseilles. Note 357, page 192. This story is taken from the "Memorable Doings and Sayings" of Valerius Maximus {flor. 25 A.D.), in which Castiglione mistrans- lates the Latin word publice (at the public charge) as publicamente (publicly). Note 358, page 192. Of several persons of this name, the one here referred to was probably the Roman Consul (14 A.D.), — a patron of literature and a friend of Ovid. Had the Magnifico been allowed to finish his sentence, he would (following the narrative of Valerius Maximus) have doubtless added the name of a town in Asia Minor, Julida. Note 359, page 195. This story (which was used by Tennyson for his play of " The Cup ") is found in Plutarch's tract " Concerning Women's Virtue," where the scene is placed in Galatia, in Asia Minor. Note 360, page 197. The number of the Sibyls is usually reckoned as ten: Persian (or Babylonian), Libyan, Phrygian, Delphian, Cimmerian, Erythraean, Samian, Trojan, Tiburtine, and Cumaean, — of which the last was the most famous. Note 361, page 197. Aspasia, [flor. 440 B.C.), was born at Miletus in Asia Minor, but in her youth removed to Athens, where she was celebrated for her 390