Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/255

THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COURTIER to weep on hearing that his father Philip had won a great battle and subdued some kingdom, and when he was asked why he wept, he replied that it was because he feared his father would subdue so many lands as to leave nothing for him to subdue; in the same way my son Alessandro is now grieving and about to weep, seeing that I his father am losing, because he fears I am losing so much that I shall leave nothing for him to lose.' " 68.— After some laughter at this, messer Bernardo continued : " Moreover we must avoid impiety in our witticism, (because from this it is only a step to try to be jocular by blaspheming and to invent new forms of blasphemy) ; otherwise we seem to seek applause by that for which we deserve not only blame but heavy punishment, which is an abominable thing. And there- fore those of us who like to show their pleasantry by little rever- ence to God, deserve to be chased from the society of every gentleman. " And they, no less, who are indecent and foul of speech, and show no respect for ladies' presence and seem to have no other pleasure than to make them blush with shame, and who to that end are continually seeking witticisms and argusie. As in Fer- rara this year at a banquet attended by many ladies, there were a Florentine and a Sienese, who are usually hostile, as you know. To taunt the Florentine, the Sienese said : ' W^e have married Siena to the Emperor and have given him Florence for dowry.' He said this because it was reported at the time that the Sienese had given the Emperor a certain sum of money and that he had taken their city under his protection. The Florentine quickly retorted : ' Siena will first be possessed ' (he used the Italian word, but with the French meaning) ; ' then the dowry will be disputed at leisure."™ You see that the retort was clever, but, being made in the presence of ladies, it became indecent and unseemly." 69.— Then my lord Gaspar Pallavicino said : " Women delight to hear nothing else; and you would deprive them of it. Moreover for my part I have found myself blushing with shame at words uttered by women far oftener than by men." " Of such women I was not speaking," said messer Bernardo; 143