self, where there existed no time-honored hierarchy of
classes and no fountain of nobility in the person of a sovereign, one
man was a match for another, provided he knew how to assert himself....
In the contest for power, and in the maintenance of an illegal
authority, the picked athletes came to the front."[2243]

+723. Perverted use of words.+ Many words were given a peculiar and
technical meaning in the use of the period. _Tristezza_ often meant
wickedness. It was a duty to be cheerful and gay.[2244] "Terribleness
was a word which came into vogue to describe Michael Angelo's grand
manner. It implied audacity of imagination, dashing draughtsmanship,
colossal scale, something demonic and decisive in execution."[2245]
_Virtu_ meant the ability to win success. Machiavelli used it for force,
cunning, courage, ability, and virility. "It was not incompatible with
craft and dissimulation, or with the indulgence of sensual vices."[2246]
Cellini used _virtuoso_ to denote genius, artistic ability, and
masculine force.[2247] "The Italian _onore_ consisted partly of the
credit attaching to public distinction and partly of a reputation for
_virtu_" in the above sense.[2248] It was objective,--"an addition
conferred from without, in the shape of reputation, glory, titles of
distinction, or offices of trust."[2249] "The _onesta_ of a married
woman is compatible with secret infidelity, provided she does not expose
herself to ridicule and censure by letting her amour be known."[2250] A
_virago_ meant a bluestocking, but was a term of respect for a learned
woman. Modesty was "the natural grace of a gifted woman increased by
education and association."[2251] The tendency of words to special uses
is an index of the character of the mores of a period. The development
of equality, when the restraints of traditional morality are removed,
ought not to be passed without notice.

+724. Extravagance of passions and acts.+ It followed from the "ways" of
the period that the human race "was bastardized" "by the physical
calamities, the perpetual pestilences, the constant wars, the moral
miseries, the religious conflicts, and the invasion of ancient ideas
only half understood." The men died young in years, old in vice,
decrepit and falling to pieces when not beyond the years of youth.[2252]
The emancipation of men with inordinate ambition and lust meant a grand
chance of crime. Pope Paul III (Farnese) said that men like Cellini,
"unique in their