yellow veil or handkerchief as a public badge of their
profession, Tullia appealed to the Duchess, a Spanish lady of
high character, and received permission to dispense with this
badge on account of her "rara scienzia di poesia et filosofia."
She dedicated her _Rime_ to the Duchess. Tullia D'Aragona was
very beautiful, with yellow hair, and remarkably large and bright
eyes, which dominated those who came near her. She was of proud
bearing and inspired unusual respect (G. Biagi, "Un' Etera
Romana," _Nuova Antologia_, vol. iv, 1886, pp. 655-711; S.
Bongi, _Rivista critica della Letteratura Italiana_, 1886, IV, p.
186).

Tullia D'Aragona was clearly not a courtesan at heart. Perhaps
the most typical example of the Renaissance courtesan at her best
is furnished by Veronica Franco, born in 1546 at Venice, of
middle class family and in early life married to a doctor. Of her
also it has been said that, while by profession a prostitute, she
was by inclination a poet. But she appears to have been well
content with her profession, and never ashamed of it. Her life
and character have been studied by Arturo Graf, and more slightly
in a little book by Tassini. She was highly cultured, and knew
several languages; she also sang well and played on many
instruments. In one of her letters she advises a youth who was
madly in love with her that if he wishes to obtain her favors he
must leave off importuning her and devote himself tranquilly to
study. "You know well," she adds, "that all those who claim to be
able to gain my love, and who are extremely dear to me, are
strenuous in studious discipline.... If my fortune allowed it I
would spend all my time quietly in the academies of virtuous
men." The Diotimas and Aspasias of antiquity, as Graf comments,
would not have demanded so much of their lovers. In her poems it
is possible to trace some of her love histories, and she often
shows herself torn by jealousy at the thought that perhaps
another woman may approach her beloved. Once she fell in love
with an ecclesiastic, possibly a bishop, with whom she had no
relationships, and after a long absence, which healed her love,
she and he became sincere friends. Once she was visited by Henry
III of France, who took away her portrait, while on her part she
promised to dedicate a book to him; she so