racticed, sometimes entertaining
questions were proposed, sometimes ingenious games were devised with
one or another as arbiter, in which under various disguises the
company disclosed their thoughts figuratively to whomsoever pleased
them best. Sometimes other discussions arose about different matters,
or biting retorts passed lightly back and forth; often _imprese_, as
we now call them, were displayed. And in these verbal contests there
was wonderful diversion, the household being (as I have said) full of
very noble talents; among whom (as you know) the most famous were my
lord Ottaviano Fregoso, his brother Messer Federigo, the Magnifico
Giuliano de' Medici, Messer Pietro Bembo, Messer Cesare Gonzaga, the
Count Ludovico da Canossa, my lord Gaspar Pallavicino, my lord
Ludovico Pio, my lord Morello da Ortona, Pietro da Napoli, Messer
Roberto da Bari, and countless other very noble gentlemen. Moreover
there were many who, though usually they did not remain there
constantly, yet spent most of the time there; like Messer Bernardo
Bibbiena, the Unico Aretino, Joan Cristoforo Romano, Pietro Monte,
Terpandro, Messer Nicolo Frisio; so that there always flocked thither
poets, musicians, and all kinds of agreeable men, and the most eminent
in ability that were to be found in Italy.

CATO THE CENSOR

(234-149 B.C.)

For many reasons, Cato "the Censor" can hardly be wholly ignored in
any adequate general view of literature. If we look to the chance of
survival as a test of vitality, his practical and juiceless book on
Agriculture is the oldest volume of Latin prose extant; though we can
hardly speak of it as still existing in the form given it by Cato. It
appears to have been cruelly "modernized" in outward form about the
time of Augustus. Again, the sturdy old supporter of Roman simplicity
was the first Italian to publish a collection of orations. A hundred
and fifty speeches were known to Cicero. Fragments of eighty still
survive; though in many cases they are represented merely by citations
given incidentally by some late grammarian, to prove the existence of
some rare word or antiquated form. Again, the 'Origines' of Cato would
not only have afforded us, if preserved, welcome light upon the
beginnings of Rome and many other Italian cities, but a political and
military history, brought down to Cato's own day, and especially
valuable for its fearless treatment of recent events. Indeed, his own
actual speeches were ta