remained a good husband and a constant friend
throughout his life, that he controlled his natural quickness of temper,
and subdued the sensual appetites which in that age of lax morality he
might have indulged without reproach. In his relations to his subjects
he showed what a paternal monarch should be, conversing familiarly with
the citizens of Urbino, accosting them with head uncovered, inquiring
into the necessities of the poorer artisans, relieving the destitute,
dowering orphan girls, and helping distressed shopkeepers with loans.
Numerous anecdotes are told which illustrate his consideration for his
old servants, and his anxiety for the welfare and good order of his
state. At a time when the Pope and the King of Naples were making money
by monopolies of corn, the Duke of Urbino filled his granaries from
Apulia, and sold bread during a year of scarcity at a cheap rate to his
poor subjects. Nor would he allow his officers to prosecute the indigent
for debts incurred by such purchases. He used to say: 'I am not a
merchant; it is enough to have saved my people from hunger.' We must
remember that this excellent prince had a direct interest in
maintaining the prosperity and good-will of his duchy. His profession
was warfare, and the district of Urbino supplied him with his best
troops. Yet this should not diminish the respect due to the foresight
and benevolence of a Condottiere who knew how to carry on his calling
with humanity and generosity. Federigo wore the Order of the Garter,
which Henry VII. conferred on him, the Neapolitan Order of the Ermine,
and the Papal decorations of the Rose, the Hat, the Sword. He served
three pontiffs, two kings of Naples, and two dukes of Milan. The
Republic of Florence and more than one Italian League appointed him
their general in the field. If his military career was less brilliant
than that of the two Sforzas, Piccinino, or Carmagnuola, he avoided the
crimes to which ambition led some of these men and the rocks on which
they struck. At his death he transmitted a flourishing duchy, a
cultivated court, a renowned name, and the leadership of the Italian
League to his son Guidobaldo.

[1] Prendilacqua, the biographer of Vittorino, says that he died so
poor that his funeral expenses had to be defrayed.

[2] Pius II. in his Commentaries gives an interesting account
of the conversations concerning the tactics of the ancients
which he held with Frederick, in 1461, in