s of cushioned seats, those in the middle
being occupied by the women, and those at the sides by the men. This
space accommodated about three thousand people.

According to Strozzi, Ariosto, Calcagnini, and other humanists of
Ferrara, it was Ercole himself who constructed this theatre. They and
other academicians probably took part in the performances, but the duke
also brought actors from abroad, from Mantua, Siena, and Rome. They
numbered in all no less than a hundred and ten persons, and it was
necessary to build a new dressing-room for them. The theatrical
performances on this brilliant occasion must, therefore, have aroused
great expectations.

The festivities began February 3d, and it was soon apparent that the
chief attraction would be the beauty of three famous women--Lucretia,
Isabella, and the Duchess of Urbino. They were regarded as the three
handsomest women of the age, and it was difficult to decide which was
the fairer, Isabella or Lucretia. The Duchess of Mantua was six years
older than her sister-in-law, but a most beautiful woman, and with
feminine curiosity she studied Lucretia's appearance. In the letters
which she daily wrote to her husband in Mantua, she carefully described
the dress of her rival, but said not a word regarding her personal
charms. "Concerning Donna Lucretia's figure," so she wrote February 1st,
"I shall say nothing, for I am aware that your Majesty knows her by
sight." She was unable to conceal her vanity, and in another letter,
written February 3d, she gave her husband to understand that she hoped,
so far as her own personality and her retinue were concerned, to be able
to stand comparison with any of the others and even to bear away the
prize. One of the ladies of her suite, the Marchesana of Cotrone, wrote
the duke, saying, "The bride is not especially handsome, but she has an
animated face, and in spite of her having such a large number of ladies
with her, and notwithstanding the presence of the illustrious lady of
Urbino, who is very beautiful, and who clearly shows that she is your
Excellency's sister, my illustrious mistress Isabella, according to our
opinion and of those who came with the Duchess of Ferrara, is the most
beautiful of all. There is no doubt about this; compared with her
Majesty, all the others are as nothing. Therefore we shall bring the
prize home to the house of our mistress."[167]

The first evening of the festivities a ball was given in the great salon