own to be entirely lacking in them would
be regarded as little acquainted with the world and with court manners,
for he would cause the person to be publicly ridiculed. In this case the
praise would degenerate into satire and the incautious flatterer would
fare badly."[203] Flattery has always been the return which court poets
make for their slavery. Ariosto and Tasso were no more free from it than
were Horace and Virgil. When the poet of the _Orlando Furioso_
discovered that Cardinal Ippolito was beginning to treat him coldly, he
thought to strike out everything he had said in his praise. Although it
was probably merely the name Lucretia which Ariosto and other poets
used--comparing it with the classic ideal of feminine honor--it is,
nevertheless, difficult wholly to reject the interpretation of
Lucretia's modern advocates, for, even when this comparison was not
made, other admirers--Ariosto especially--praised the beautiful duchess
for her decorum. This much is certain: her life in Ferrara was regarded
as a model of feminine virtue.

There was a young woman in her household who charmed all who came in
contact with her until she became the cause of a tragedy at the court.
This was the Angela Borgia whom Lucretia had brought with her from Rome,
and who had been affianced to Francesco Maria Rovere. It is not known
when the betrothal was set aside, although it may have been shortly
after Alexander's death. The heir of Urbino married, as has been stated,
Eleonora Gonzaga. Among Angela's admirers were two of Alfonso's
brothers, who were equally depraved, Cardinal Ippolito and Giulio, a
natural son of Ercole. One day when Ippolito was assuring Angela of his
devotion, she began to praise the beauty of Giulio's eyes, which so
enraged his utterly degenerate rival that he planned a horrible revenge.
The cardinal hired assassins and commanded them to seize his brother
when he was returning from the hunt, and to tear out the eyes which
Donna Angela had found so beautiful. The attempt was made in the
presence of the cardinal, but it did not succeed as completely as he had
wished. The wounded man was carried to his palace, where the physicians
succeeded in saving one of his eyes. This crime, which occurred November
3, 1505,[204] aroused the whole court. The unfortunate Giulio demanded
that it be paid in kind, but the duke merely banished the cardinal. The
injured man brooded on revenge, and the direst consequences followed.

Ariost