Ortensio Lando, a humorist of the renaissance

AXON, William E.A.

Ortensio lando, a humorist
of the Renaissance.

LIBRARY

OP
iiVERSIDE

*A 'N

ORTENSIO LANDO, A HUMORIST OF THE
RENAISSANCE.

WILLIAM E. A. AXON, F.R.S.L.

TRANSACTIONS K.S.L., VOL. XX.

ORTENSIO LANDO, A HUMORIST OF THE
RENAISSANCE.

BY WILLIAM E. A. AXON, F.E.S.L.
VW

THE Renaissance — the period of the revolt of the
human intellect against the formalism and benumbing
spirit of authority that dominated the Middle Ages,
the period when the buried literature and art of
the ancient world was recovered, the period when
human daring and ingenuity discovered a world
beyond the sea and worlds beyond the sky, when
Columbus and Copernicus, the humanists and the
reformers, were filling the minds of men with new
and transforming forces in every department of
human thought and action — was necessarily a time
favourable for the development of individuality and
strongly marked character.

Popes, princes, scholars, warriors, pass in stately
procession, some stained with many crimes and
vices, some endowed with magnificent talents, but
all instinct with exuberant individuality. To the
later stages of this wonderful movement belongs
Lando. His first book was not printed until some
years after the sack of Rome, and he disappears
from our view in the middle of the sixteenth century,
1

2 OETENSIO LANDO.

when the Renaissance was practically complete in
literature, in art, and in religion.*

Ortensio Lando was born at Milan somewhere
about the beginning of the sixteenth century, but
the precise year has eluded research. His father,
Domenico Lando, was a member of the noble family
of Landi of Piacenza, several of whom have attained
distinction. His mother was a Milanese, Oaterina
Castelletti. He names amongst his teachers Ber-
nardino Negro, Celio Rhodogino, and Alessandro
Minuziano.t He went from the University of Milan
to that of Bologna, where he studied medicine, and
at a later period was created a Doctor of Medicine.

Italy was in a disturbed condition, and his youth
was passed in the profession of arms. He served
under Pozzo da Perego and many other leaders,
and attained at least the rank of captain.

* This attempt to trace in detail the career of Lando would not
have been made but for the encouragement of Mr. Richard Copley
Christie, the biographer of Etienne Dolet, who with great liberality
allowed the use of his rare books and bibliographical notes. Scholars
must deeply regret that Mr. Christie has not accomplished his work
on the ' Types of the later Renaissance,' since no other can claim
the same knowledge of humanism and its literature. In this work
Lando would have been taken as the type of the humorist — a
classification here adopted.

•f Caelius Rhodiginus was the Latin name of Lodovico Ricchieri,
who was born at Rovi-go (hence his pen-name) about 1450, and died
in 1525, after a life of much vicissitude. His death is said to have
been hastened by chagrin at the overthrow of his great patron
Francis I. Minutianus was born at San Severe about 1450, and
became Professor at Milan. To him is due the editio princeps of
the complete works of Cicero, though all the writings in it had
been issued separately. He was a printer or employed printers in
his house, and Minutianus imprcssit is found on various books. He
is believed to have died about 1521, and left no fortune to his two
sons but their father's reputation as a scholar.

OETENSIO LANDO. 6

Lando first comes clearly into light at Lyons,
where his earliest book was printed in 1534. This
was entitled ' Cicero Relegatus et Cicero Revocatus '
(Lugduni apud Seb. Gryphium, 1534), and is an
octavo of eighty-eight pages.* Lando dedicated it
to Pomponio Trivulzio, in the hope that " these
amusing narratives " might be of some relief during
an illness from which he was suffering. It is not
signed. The letters H. A. S. D. have been variously
interpreted, but are probably to be read " Hortensius
anonyrnus [or rather, perhaps, Amicus] Salutem
dicit." The book consists of two dialogues ; in
the first the defects of Cicero and of his writings
are discussed, and he is condemned to exile.
The second dialogue replies so successfully to
the first that the judgment is reversed, and Cicero
enters Milan in triumph on January 1st, 1534. In
this book, with which he began a literary career,
Laudo already shows the qualities that distinguished
his after-work, the love of paradox, and the
pleader's skill in dealing not only with one but both
sides of the question. The disciples of the Tullian
cult were furious with the first dialogue, and were
not appeased by the second, as we know from the
* Paradossi,' in one of which Lando returns to the
subject, and argues that Cicero was ignorant both
of philosophy and rhetoric. At Lyons he met Gio-
vanni Angelo Odone, who had been a fellow student
with him at Bologna, and whose report is curious.
Odone styles Lando a despiser of the Greek literature,

* It was reprinted in the same year at Venice and at Leipzig, and
there are editions at Napoli, 1536, and at Venezia, 1539. It is
included in Vorst, ' De Latinatate selecta ' (Berolini, 1718).

4 ORTENSIO LANDO.

who declared that he cared for no books except
those of Christ and Cicero. " He had Christ neither
in his hands nor in his books, and if he had Him in his
heart God only knows," Odone declares. The only
book Lando had brought from Italy was the Familiar
Letters of Cicero, and Odone insinuates that he was
an exile, and dare not return to his native country.
Whatever may have been the motive of the evident
ill-will that inspired them, it is certain that Odone's
statements are inaccurate.*

Lando came to Lyons from Rome, where he had
been occupied for some time by important business,
and after the issue of ' Cicero Revocatus ' he returned
to Italy, and was going freely about the country at
the very time when Odone was calling him an exile.

Lando after a short stay at Milan went to Rome,
but soon returned to his native city. Leaving
Lombardy, he spent eighteen days at Lucca, where
he was hospitably entertained, and twenty-eight
days at Forci, traversed Tuscany, touched at Rome,
and proceeded to Naples, wherein 1535 he published
' Forcianae Questiones, in quibus varia Italorum in-
genia explicantur, multaque alia scitu non indigna.
Autore Philalete Polyptopiensi cive " (Neapoli, ex-
cudebat Martinus de Ragusia, 1535).f

The title is a compliment in return for the good-

* See Christie's ' Life of Etienne Dolet,' 1880, pp. 13, 34, 183,
217, 218.

f There was a second edition from the same press in 1535 ; third
edition, Basileae, 1541 ; fourth, as an addition to Johannis Peregrini
Convivalium Sermonum liber (Basileae, 1542) ; fifth, Basileae, 1544 ;
sixth, Lovanii, 1550; seventh, Norimbergae, 1591; eighth, Franco-
furti, 1616 ; ninth, Lucae, 1763. The editor, J. B. M. C. M. D. L.—
that is J. B. Montecaltini civis magnifici dominii Lucensis — takes
some superfluous trouble to show that the ' Questiones ' were not

ORTENSIO LANDO. 5

will shown to Laudo at Forci. The book deals
pleasantly with the diverse customs of the various
provinces of Italy.

In the next five years it is thought that he visited
Sicily, as he speaks in his writings of being at
Messina, Catania, &c. He formed a dislike to the
ways of his native land, and resolved to seek a free
country where the people were well-mannered and
void of ambition. This political Utopia he expected
to find in Switzerland, the Grisons, or the Yalais,
and hastening thither he was at first charmed by an
appearance of sweet and amiable equality, but
further experience quickly showed him that here
also pride and ambition flourished as luxuriantly as
elsewhere.

At Basle he played a practical joke at the expense
of a printer. His attack on Erasmus, which appeared
in 1540, was printed and issued by the ingenuous
typographer under the impression that it was a warm
eulogy of the great scholar. ' In Desideri Erasmi
Rotherodami Funus, dialogus lepidissimus nunc
primum in lucem editus' (Basileae, 1540) — a tract of
extreme rarity — may therefore take its place as one
of the curiosities of literature. Lando's name does
not appear. The author, " Philalethes ex Utopia,"
styles himself a physician, and dedicates the book
to Conte Fortunate Martinengo. As the dialogue
shows that it is written by one of the house of
Landi, an ardent defender of Erasmus in 1541,

written by Aonio Paleario. A kind of translation " in pessima
poesia italiana " appeared. This was " Le due giornate del poeta
Bandarino, dove si tratta de tutti i costumi che in le citta di Italia
a loco a loco usar si sogliono," 1556. An Italian translation was
published in 1857.

6 ORTENSIO LANDO.

made an oration in the University of Basle against
Bassiano Lando, whom he, of course wrongly,
supposed to be the author. This oration of B.
J. Eroldo was printed at the . end of the works
of Erasmus in 1703. Having had his joke, Lando
went from Switzerland to France, and after visiting
various parts of the kingdom, and being received
at the court of King Francis, he reappeared at
Lyons in 1543, where he printed his * Paradossi,'
which he had written during his journey through
the Romagna and to Piacenza. This was his first
Italian book : ' Paradossi, cioe, sententie fuori del
comune parere, novellamente venute in luce, opera
non men dotta, che piacevole, et in due parti
separata' (Lione : Gioanni Pullon da Trino, 1543).*
This is the most characteristic of the numerous
volumes written by Lando. In it he essays to show
that poverty is better than riches, ugliness better
than beauty, and blindness than sight ; that it is
better to be foolish than wise, that it is not a mis-
fortune for a prince to lose his state, that drunken-
ness is better than sobriety, that a barren wife is
preferable to a fruitful one, that it is better to be
exiled than to live in the fatherland, that it is better

* The ' Paradossi ' were reprinted at Vinegia 1544, 1545 (with an
attack on the vain-glory of the Venetian patricians judiciously
omitted), at Lione 1550, Yenezia 1563, Bergamo 1594, with altera-
tions and omissions, and Vicenza 1602. It was early translated
into French in several editions, and into Spanish. The ' Declama-
tions parodoxes' of Jean Duval (Paris, 1603) is a translation or
adaptation of Lando. A portion was turned into English by
Anthony Mundy in his ' Defence of Contraries ' (London, 1593). Per-
haps also Thomas Lodge's ' Paradoxes against Common Opinions,'
London, 1602, is from Lando. That on the " Vita parca " forms the
third part of the ' Hygiasticon,' Camb., 1634, and has been reprinted
by the present writer (Manchester, 1899).

OBTENSIO LANDO. 7

to be weak and in bad health than to be strong and
stout, that it is neither detestable nor odious to
have a faithless wife, that it is better to weep than
to laugh, that scarcity is preferable to abundance,
that it is better to be born in a little village than in
a populous city, that it is better to live in lowly
cottages than in great palaces, that it is not an evil
to be wounded and beaten, that it is better to be in
prison than at liberty, that war is better than peace,
that the death of a wife is not to be lamented, that
it is better to be without servants than to have them,
that a spare diet is better than one that is luxurious,
that it is better to be ignobly born than to inherit
noble blood, that woman is of greater excellence
and dignity than man, that it is better to be timid
than brave, that the works of Boccaccio, and
especially the ' Decamerone,' are not worth read-
ing, that the writings we have under the name of
Aristotle the Stagirite were not written by him, that
Aristotle was not only ignorant, but was the most
wicked man of his age ; and lastly, that Cicero was
ignorant both of philosophy and of rhetoric.

As a specimen of Lando's style we may quote
one of the shortest of the paradoxes :

" MEGLIO E m PIANGERE CHE RIDERE.

" (PARADOSSO XII.)

" Non diremo noi (et con gran ragione) che miglior sia
il pianto che il riso, poi che Solomone sci'itto n' ha lasciato
nelle sue sagratissime carte, che meglio sia di girsene alia
casa di pianto che dell' allegrezza ? Pel riso, molte anime
da lor corpi si partirno con infinite dolore de suoi con-
o-iunti, et per il pianto niuna (ch' io sappia) se ne disciolse
giamai. II riso sempre abundo nelle bocche de pazzi, et

8 ORTENSIO LANDO.

del seno usciti, ne se legge clie il Salvatore nostro ridesse
giamai, ma d' haver bene piu d' una volta lagrirnato, fassi
da fedeli Scrittori plena et intiera fede, per tanto promisse
egli, a chiunque piangeva felicita, eterna, et a ridenti mi-
naccia di morte. II pianto e segno di penitenza et com-
puntione, et al spesso lagrimare u' esortano instantemante
le voci di santi Profeti, et il riso de scorni sovente fu
cagione, et de temerita inditio aperta. Quanti sdegni,
quanti furori ha una sol lagrimetta amorzati? quanti
amori ha riuniti ? et quanti feroci cuori intenereti ? et
quanta mercede s' e gia pel peso delle lagrime impetrata ?
tutte le forze humane insieme raccolte, non havrebbono
potuto impetrare quel che una lagrima ha sovente ottenuto.
Fu sempre molto da piu stimato Heraclito perche pianse
che Democrito per haver riso, et Crasso, che dal non haver
mai riso fu detto Agelasto, oprd moltissime cose degne di
eterna lode. II pianto e cagione, che i nostri corpi quando
son tenerelli aumentino, et percio molti non si curano di
rachetare i piangenti bambini nelle culle, accioche per il
pianto le membre si dilatino et a riguardeval mi sura cre-
schino. Scrive anchora Hippocrate che le infirmita col
riso congiunte, sono dall' altre piu difficile a risanare,
lasciamo adunque il ridere da canto poi che non ha del
grave, et in tante calamitose rovine luogo alcuno non si
vede al ridere atto et opportune."

The author does not give his name, but at the
end is an enigmatic inscription, SVISNETR OHTABEDVL,
which, when read backwards, gives us the expla-
natory phrase "Hortensius ludebat." There is
also a letter to the courteous readers from Paulo
Mascranico, who says that the author was M.O.L.M.,
surnamed " II Tranquillo," — that is Messer Ortensio
Lando, Medico (or Milanese). Tranquillus was his
academic name.

This little volume contains, in addition to its

ORTENS10 LANDO. 9

challenges to Mrs. Grundy, some literary heresies
that must have provoked many adverse criticisms,
but Lando determined that he would himself show
the folly of the ' Paradossi.' So he issued ' Confuta-
tione del Libro de Paradossi, nuovamente composta
et in tre oratione distinta.' There is no imprint
and no date to this booklet of twenty-four pages,
but it is believed to have come from the press of
Lodovico Avanzo at Venice in 1545. It is dedicated
to Ippolita Gonzaga, Contessa della Mirandola, in
the hope that the ' Confutatione ' would be welcome
where the ' Paradossi ' had been acceptable ; from
which we may perhaps conclude that the authorship
of the two books was no great secret. Even if the
style did not betray him we have Lando's own con-
fession of the authorship in the ' Sferza.'

After the appearance of the ' Paradossi ' he
visited Germany, and claims also to have seen
Antwerp and England. At Frissingen he was wel-
comed by the Cardinal of Augsburg, and at Augs-
burg by those famous merchants the Fuggers, who
were then the wealthiest persons in the entire com-
mercial world. On his way home in 1544 he was
robbed near Brescia, but the governor of that town
hearing of his misfortune entertained him at his
house and made good his losses. This hospitality
he perhaps owed to his standing in literature, for
Messer Antonio da Mula (Amulio), who held the
city for Venice, was also a man of letters. On
reaching Piacenza in the summer of 1545, Lando
found it under the control of Pier Luigi Farnese,
who had been invested by the Pope with lordship of
Parma and Piacenza. Lando, as a member of the

10 ORTENSIO LANDO.

Imperialist party, probably took refuge on the other
side of the Po. Within the imperial boundaries
he, with others, suspected by the new prince, would
find asylum. At the little town of Torbale, on
the Lago di Grarda, he was an observer of the
knavery of the fishermen who sold as excellent the
bad fish that was to serve at Trent for the ecclesi-
astics who were then assembling for the famous
council. Lando was present at that great church
assembly, and, by the favour of Bishop Madruccio,
in whose train he was, heard the oration of his
fellow-citizen, Bishop Musso.

The motive of these restless wanderings does not
appear. His Ciceronian declaration that when he
came to a city of freedom and good manners, there
he would stay, need not be taken too seriously. It
is one of those explanations which does not ex-
plain. After the fashion of the time, Lando, as an
accomplished scholar, appears to have been a wel-
come addition to the train of great personages
travelling in state for business or pleasure. Thus
in France he journeyed with the Conte di Piti-
gliano, in the Romagna with the Bishop of Trent,
and elsewhere with the Bishop of Catania. These
noble patrons were expected at least to make a
pretence of advancing the interests of the scholars
whose companionship or vassalage added to their
dignity and renown. Lando, indeed, confesses,
with perhaps pardonable exaggeration, that but for
literature he must have begged his bread from door
to door. In his discourse in praise of the solitary
life he declares that his ancestors were of much
better condition than himself, and that his own

ORTENSIO LANDO. 11

evil fortune was due to the anger of princes and
the wickedness of the age, and not to gluttony,
lust, gambling, alchemy, murder, or misdeeds on
his part. Lando did not stay long with any of his
protectors, nor does he appear to have received pay
from them. His own temper was brusque ; he dis-
claimed the arts of the courtier, and for a single
word, as he tells us, he broke with a noble friendship,
although it had been honourable, useful, and plea-
sant for him.

After these wandering years he settled down at
Venice. The city of St. Mark was henceforth his
home except when visiting at the villas of the
Gonzaga family. His special patrons were Isabella
and Lucrezia Gonzaga, the latter of whom he jok-
ingly styled " la gran Caesariana," and scolded
as too imperial. Isabella Gonzaga, daughter of
Frederico I, Marchese de Mantua, was the wife of
Guido Ubaldo di Montefeltro, Duca d'Urbino.
Lucrezia was the daughter of Pyrrhus de Gonzaga,
and was married at the age of fourteen and against
her will to Giovanni Paolo Manfrone, a country
gentleman whose evil conduct brought him into
danger of the death penalty, from which he was saved
by the intervention of his wife. She could not, how-
ever, obtain his release from prison, although she
appealed to the Duca de Ferrara, to two Popes and
even to the Grand Turk. He died in prison, leaving
four children, including two daughters who took the
veil. There is a curious account of these patronesses
of Lando in the pages of Bayle. They were famous
in their own day for learning and virtue.

In 1548 there appeared at Venice a translation of

]2 ORTENSIO LANDO.

the ' Utopia ' of Sir Thomas More. ' La Republica
nuovamente ritrovata, dell governo dell' isola
E utopia, nella quale si vede nuovi modi di gover-
nare stati, regger popoli, dar legger a senatori,'
&c. (\rinegia, 1548), was issued without any indi-
cation of the printer, but is attributed to Aurelio
Pincio. It is dedicated to (rieronimo Fava by
A. F. Doni, who confesses that the name of the
translator had been withheld from him. It is re-
vealed by Sansovino in an edition of his ' Governo
dei Regni ' (Vinegia, 1561), who says that the
version was made by " Hortensio Lando, uomo in
vero di molte lettere, ma delle cose della lingua
volgare poco accurata." Sansovino's revision was
reprinted at Milan in 1821. The authorship was
also alluded to in the title of another of Lando's
books which appeared in the same year. It is
entitled ' Commentario delle piu notabili, et mos-
truose cose d' Italia, et altri luoghi, di lingua aramea
in italiana tradotto, nel quale si impara et prendesi
istremo piacere. Yi e poi aggiunto un breve cata-
logo delle cose, che si mangiano et si bevono,
nuovamente ritrovato, et da M. Anonymo di Utopia
composto. 1548.'* There is no indication of the
place of printing. In this curious book Lando
probably summarises as the result of one journey
the experiences gained in the many wanderings of
past years. Beginning with Sicily he speaks of
devoting seventy-five days to that island. Taking
ship at Messina he crossed the straits to Reggio in
Calabria, and crossing the province came to Naples,

* The second edition appeared at Venezia, 1550; third, 1553 ;
fourth, 1554 ; fifth, 1569.

ORTENSIO LANDO. 13

where he met Mario Galeotti, D. Leonardo Carolines,
the Princess of Salerno, the Marchesa de Palude,
the Contessa di Nola, and other persons. From
there he went to Rome, and was entertained in
S. Angelo by the Contessa di Alife. At Ancona
he made the acquaintance of Messer Francesco
Gabriele. At Sinigaglia he had episcopal hospitality
from the Bishop Marco Vigero. In Pesaro he was
the guest, in her palace, of the Ducessa Eleonora
Gonzaga. Passing into Tuscany, he was received at
Siena by Gio. Loteringo. He proceeded to Florence
and to Lucca, where he stayed with Ludovico and
Vincenzio Buonvisi. From there he went to Bologna
and Modena. He visited Correggio to be present at
a public duel between two knights who were both
mortally wounded, a circumstance that would appear
to prove that duelling was then taken more seriously
than it is sometimes in fhe present day where that
barbarous fashion still survives. At this place Lando
fell ill of a fever, and was visited and befriended by
the most important of the inhabitants, including
Rinaldo Corso, Veronica Gambara, and Lucrezia
d' Este. From Correggio he proceed to Reggio and
Puvino, where he stayed with Rodolfo Gonzaga,
and to Parma, where he was the guest of Agnolo
Gabriele. Leaving there, he embarked at Genoa
for Corsica and Sardinia. After completing his
examination of these islands he returned to Genoa.
Then in the course of his Lombardian wanderings
he witnessed the battle of Seravalla, which was
fought between the army of France, largely com-
posed of Italians, and that of the Imperialists. The
French were beaten owing to the want of discipline,

14 OBTENSIO LANDO.

and the disagreement between Mirandola and
Strozzi. At Cremona he was received by MM.
Stanga and Trecchi, whilst at Piacenza he was the
guest of Isabella Sf orza, whom he gallantly described
as having such talent " that to be a queen she needs
only a kingdom." The saving clause here has
great efficacy. He next went to Milan, crossed the
Brianza, and visited his former commander, Pozzo
da Perego. Then he visited Como, Logano, and
the three Pievi, where he saw the Marchese di
Marignano, and Chiavenna, where he was received
by his friends the Pestalozzi with impressive
courtesy. In the Valtellina he was warmly wel-
comed by the brothers Crotti, by Nicolo Madrio,
Gio. M. Guicciardo, the inquisitor Marcantonio, the
Cavaliere di Tirano, and his son-in-law, da Bormo,
Paolo Malacria, Niccolo Marliano, and the " astuto
e sagace Friggero." Following the way through
part of the Valcamonica, he went to Brescia and
stayed four months with the governor, Antonio da
Mula. He visited Bergamo and Crema, and hearing
that the Council was to commence on St. Luke's
day at Trent he turned in that direction, and
reached there the night before the opening of the
session. Here, as we have already seen, he was
cordially received by Bishop Madrucdio, and
listened in the church of St. Vigilio to the oration
of Musso. After a few days he journeyed to
Mantua in the company of the jurist Bartolommeo
Pestalozza. He then visited Ferrara, Padua, and
Rovigo, where he had to lament the death of his
old teacher, Celio Rhodogino. Finally he arrived
at Venice, where he was entertained by Benedetto

ORTENSIO LANDO. 15

Agnello, the Mantuan ambassador, and where he
made the acquaintance of Aretino. These records
of Italian travel have an air of greater probability
than the narrative of journeys in Egypt and other
parts of Africa and the East. His statements in
the ' Commeiitario ' as to the Italian places and
persons are often corroborated by passages in his
other writings, and by the historic facts he mentions.
However much mingling there may be of imagina-
tion, his notices of Italy in the sixteenth century are
curious and valuable. The ' Commentario ' is dedi-
cated to Co. Lodovico Rangone, and the ' Catalogo '
to Grio. Batt. Luzago. The author's name is not
given, but at the end of the ' Catalogo ' is written
SUDNAL, SUISNETROH, ROTVA, TSE, i. e. " Est autor
Hortensius Landus." There is also a letter from
Nicolo Morra at the end of the ' Commentario ' in
which he says that it was " nato dal constantissimo
cervello di M.O.L. detto pur la sua mansuetudine
il tranquillo." After the ' Catalogo' comes the
"brieve apologia di M. Ortensio Lando, per
1' autore dal presente * Catalogo/ :

In the same year appeared " Lettere di molte
valorose Donne (diretta a donne) nella quale chiara-
mente appare non essere tie di eloquentia, ne di
dottrina alii huomini inferiori " (Vinegia : Gabriel
Giolito, 1548).* The book is dedicated to Sigis-
mondo Rovello, who was the English ambassador
at Venice. Lando's name is, as usual, not directly
named, but in some sonnets at the end written by
Dolce, Parabosco, Aretino, and Sansovino he is
praised for having collected the contents of the
* There was a second edition in 1549.

16 ORTENSIO LANDO.

volume. In a Latin letter by Bartolomeo Pesta-
lozza he says that this cost Lando much labour
and much money, and that the publication was
made at the request of Ottaviano Raverta, the
bishop-elect of Terracina. That Lando was more
than editor is the opinion of most critics. It ap-
pears a strange proceeding to issue in this way the
letters of ladies of consideration and social stand-
ing, and still more so if we suppose that they were
not written by these ladies, but by the humorist
Lando himself. Some of them deal with topics
which ladies do not often discuss in print, such as
the means of having male children, confinement,
suckling, &c.

To this year also belongs the " Sermoni Funebri
de varii authori nella morte de diversi animali "
(Vinegia : Gabriel Giolito, 1548). There were
really two editions issued in the same year. One
is dedicated Giovan Jacopo Fucchero, one of the
Fuggers, who were then, as already mentioned, the
richest family in Christendom, and the other to
Nicolo delli Alberti da Bormo.* Lando, pretend-
ing to have no hand in the matter, printed at the
end with his own name a defence of the author.
In the * Cataloghi ' he acknowledged the author-

* The book was reprinted at Genoa 1558 and 1559, and at Venegia
in 1622 in conjunction with Firenzuola's ' Consigli degli animali.' It
was several times printed in France, where two translation s appeared.
One is by Claude de Pountoux (1569) ; the other, published under
the name of ' Thierri de Timofille,' was by Francois d'Amboise (1583).
A Latin translation, said to be very unfaithful, appeared at Leyden
in 1590, and was the work of William Canter. Under the changed
title of ' Dilettevoli oratione nella morte di diversi animali ' the
book was reprinted, Venetia, 1712.

OETENSIO LANDO. 17

ship, which might easily be divined without his
formal avowal.

After an interval there appeared ' La Sferza di
Scrittori, antichi e moderni, di M. Anonimo di
Utopia, alia quale e dal medesimo aggiunta una
essortatione allo studio delle lettere ' (Yinegia,
1550). This has no printer's name, but bears the
printer's mark of the well which was used by Arriva-
bene. It is dedicated to the ambassador Agnello.
The first part is in Lando's favourite vein of para-
dox, and contains a long array of adverse criti-
cisms on famous writers. But the ' Essortatione,'
which is dedicated to Galeotti Pico della Mirandola,
is as powerful in eulogy as the other is in dis-
praise. The modern part includes an attack on
Ortensio Lando, whose poetry is condemned in the
severest terms.* Yet there is nothing remaining
in verse that is known to have come from the pen
of Lando. f

In the same year that the * Sferza ' was printed
there appeared altogether five books from the same
busy and bizarre brain. The second was ' Oracoli
de moderni ingegni si d' huomini come di donne,
ne' quali, unita si vede tutta la philosophia morale,
che fra molti scrittori sparsa si leggeva' (Yinetia :
Gabriel Grolito, 1550). It is dedicated to Agosto
d' Ada in a letter dated from Venice, 20th June,
1550, at the house of the Mantuan ambassador.

* See p. 24.

t The ' Sferza ' was not reprinted, unless we may reckon as its
second edition a book by Gervasio Annisi, ' Della Sferza della
Scienza et de Scrittori ' (Vinegia, 1640), who, whilst making some
slight changes and alterations, has practically plagiarised the whole
of Lando's work.
2

18 OETENSIO LANDO.

There is also a letter from Bartolomeo Testa da
Bassano, who states that the author was M. 0. L.
The book is made up of thoughts and repartees
attributed to various persons, of whose names there
is an index. Lando places himself amongst the
"moderni ingegni," but in place of giving his
name, styles himself "flagello di scrittori, Anonimo
di Utopia.' In his philosophy, " those who lament
that they do not excel in all the arts are like those
who complain that vines do not produce figs, and
that the olive does not bear chestnuts." The most
interesting passages, perhaps, are those which he
attributes to " il divino Aretino," of profligate
memory.

Aretino on his side treats Lando with respect.
He classes him with Doni and Sansovino amongst
the illustrious poets and historians. He styles him
" non ineno gentile che dotto," and narrates an
anecdote of one of Lando's literary jokes that
was not carried out. One evening, in Aretino' s
chamber, when Franciotto, Sansovino, Vassallo,
Boccamazza, and others were present, Lando said
that he had written a book in which he had taken
passages from the printed letters of Aretino, and
had attributed them to this or that great philo-
sopher ; but afterwards, admonished by conscience,
had torn the MS. into pieces. Aretino replied that
it was an injury to him that the book had not been
printed. The maxims and sayings would either be
thought to be the fruit of his genius or of that of
the ancient philosophers. Those who knew them
to be his would give them due praise, and those
who thought he had appropriated them would at

ORTENSIO LANDO. 19

least place him on a level with the other learned
men, who are, he said, notorious for theft in matters
of study. In the end the literati, instead of judg-
ing him as an ignoramus, would look upon him
as a master of every science.* Thus his reputa-
tion, either for genius or learning, would have
gained.

The third book of the year was ' Ragionamenti
familiari di diversi autori, non meno dotti che
faceti' (Vinegia, al segno del Pozzo, 1550). This
is dedicated to M. Rev. Andrea Matteo Acqua-
viva. The twenty-six short discourses, whilst pro-
fessedly by various authors, are evidently all the
production of Lando. In one he argues in favour
of that from which he dissuades in the next. There
is a curious passage in which Doroteo Brigido is
exhorted to become a friar.

The fourth was the ' Vita di Beato Ermodor
Alessandrino, da Theodoro Cipriano, scritta et
nella nostra volgar lingua tradotta ' (Vinegia, al
segno del Pozzo, 1550). This translation is dedi-
cated to Virginia, Marchesana Pallavicina, and the
name of the translator is revealed in a sonnet by
Ruscelli. At the end are letters to Lando from
Emilia Rangona Scotta, Alda Torella Lunata, and
Ippolita Pallavicina Sanseverina, three of his
friends and protectresses, who exhort him to
abandon secular writing and to devote himself to
the production of religious books.

The fifth book was ' Consolatorie de diversi
autori, nuovamente raccolto e da che le rac-

* ' Sesto Libro delle Lettere di M. Pietro Aretino,' Parigi, 1609,
ff. 116, 152, 165.

20 ORTENSIO LANDO.

colse devotamente consecrate al S. Galeotto Picco
Conte della Mirandola et Cavalier di S. Michele'
(Vinegia, al segno del Pozzo, 1550). Although
Lando's name does not appear, there is no doubt
as to the authorship.

The sixth was * Miscellaneae Questiones' (Ve-
netiis : Jolitum, 1550), in which Lando, returning
to the use of the Latin language, propounds and
solves a number of doubtful points. It is accom-
panied by a letter from Lando to Vanni, the am-
bassador at Venice of the King of England.

Two years later came ' Quattro libri de Dubbi,
con le solutioni a ciascun dubbio accomodate. La
materia del primo e naturale, del secondo e mista
(benche per la piu sia morale) del terzo e amorosa,
et del quarto e religiosa ' (Vinegia : Gabriel Giolito,
1552).* As a matter of fact the printer could not
then obtain licence to print the third section, and
the book was issued without the love doubts, but a
year later they were included in the ' Varii Com-
ponimenti.' The moral doubts are dedicated to
Gio. Bernardino Sanseverino, Duca di Soma, and
those on religion to Benedetto Agnello. The plan
of the ' Dubbi ' is very simple. The friends of
Lando appear to have regarded him as an oracle,
to whom all sorts of grave, frivolous, or puzzling
questions on love, natural philosophy, morals, and
religion might be addressed with the certainty that

* A second edition, including the dubbi amorosi, was issued by
the same printer, with the dates 1555 and 1556. The 'Solva di
bellissimi dubbi,' printed at Piacenza in 1597 as the work of
Annibale Novelli, consists merely of the first two sections of Lando's
book with few and unimportant alterations. French editions ap-
peared at Lyons in 1558, 1570, Rouen 1610, 1635.

ORTENSIO LANDO. 21

the querist would receive an ingenious if not
always a satisfactory reply. " Why are women and
children so ready to weep ?" asks one; and Lando
replies in what was then, but has now ceased to be,
scientific language, " Because they are of a humid
nature " (p. 132). " Who is it that does not know
how to converse?" " He that does not know how
to be silent " (p. 180). " What is wine?" " It is
the death of memory and the poison of mankind, by
which the age is corrupted and the flower of beauty
is lost" (p. 180). Mirrors, he says, are given to
women that they may behold their fleeting beauty,
and fans to cool their great ardour, and gloves to
hinder the rapacity of their hands, and chains be-
cause they are fools (p. 62). In this ungallant
speech there is an allusion to the barbarous treat-
ment which was formerly thought to be proper
for those who had lost, or never possessed, the
gift of reason. " What is the life of man with-
out literature?" "Ib is death, and truly a
grave for man " (p. 180). " How is true glory
nourished ? " " With much action and little speech "
(p. 181). "What is the condiment of food?"
"Hunger." "And of drinking?" "The thirst
caused by honest exercise" (p. 82). " What is the
greatest pestilence ? " " The pleasure of the body "
(p. 184). What will Scotland's fair daughters say to
this ? — " D' onde nasce che le femine di Scotia si
tosto invecchiano? Nasce dalla molta crapola, e
dai varii cibi che usano " (p. 272) : — " Envy is an
abominable monster that dwells in courts, and if it
were chased thence would find refuge in monas-
teries " (p. 274). Lando sometimes speaks dis-

22 OETENSIO LANDO.

paragingly of the fair sex, but when a lady asks
him, "Which is the nobler — man or woman?" he
replies, " God always adds fresh nobility to the
newer creatures He makes ; thus, as being nobler,
he formed man after the beasts, and last of all
made woman, and therefore she is noblest, being
taken out of man, who of all the other animals was
the most perfect" (p. 285).

Lando's next work was ' Due Panegirici nuova-
mente composti, de quali 1' uno e in lode della S.
Marchesana della Padulla et 1' altro in commenda-
tione della S. Donna Lucretia Gonzaga da Gazuolo '
(Vinegia : Gabriel Giolito, 1552). The eulogy of
Maria Cardona, Marchesana della Padulla, is dedi-
cated to Bernardo Michas, and that of Lucretia to
Gion. Michas. The second, so it is stated, was first
written in Latin, then turned into Spanish, and
lastly into Italian. The book contains also a letter
by Ruscelli, Greek and Latin epigrams by Gio.
Maria and Anichino Bonardi, and Fr. Robortello,
and a Spanish poem by Alfonso Nunnez di Reynoso.
The laudations of the beauty, virtue, and accom-
plishments of these ladies of the Imperial party are
of the most extravagant kind. Bandello, who was
Lucretia' s tutor, is described as " non men dotto
che religioso e santo." Her husband, Manfrone,
who had first died in the dungeons of Ferrara, is
treated with scant courtesy.

None of Lando's works have been more sought
after than ' Varii Componimenti di M. Hort. Lando
nuovamente venuti in luci,' * Quesiti amorosi colle
risposte,' * Dialogo intitolato Vlisse,' ' Ragiona-
mento tra un cavalliere et un huomo solitaria,'

ORTENSIO LANDO. 23

' Alcune Novelle,' ' Alcune favole,' ' Alcuni scrop-
poli, che sogliono occorrere nella cottidiana nostra
lingua' (Vinegia: Gabriel Giolito, 1552).* The
desire for this book is chiefly due to Lando's place
in the series of Italian novelists. The first novel
relates the device by which a married woman
saved herself from the attack made on her honour
by an importunate admirer. By the treachery
of another woman he is hidden in a room in
which she was to take her afternoon siesta. On
seeing him fasten the door, Zenobia realises the
trap into which she has fallen, and makes Agnolo
believe that she is as much in love with him as he is
with her. " I understood from Tebaldina that it
was to-morrow you were coming, but I would
rather have the egg to-day than the chicken to-
morrow." She takes off her boots, and says that
it will be safest for her to tell the servants that if
her husband Pandaro asks for her they are to say
that she has gone to the Suore di Santa Chiara.
Deceived by her attitude, Agnolo permits her to
leave the room, and hides behind a curtain awaiting
her return. She sends a servant for her shoes and
goes home, leaving Agnolo to think of the phrase
that has passed into a proverb — if it were not
already one — " che oggi e meglio 1' uovo che dimana
la gallina."

* It was re-issued in 1554 or 1555 without the ' Quesiti Amorosi.'
Of the novels four were reprinted in Zanetti's ' Novelliere Italiano,'
(Venezia, 1754), and four are translated in Roscoe's ' Italian Novel-
ists.' And in 1851 there appeared in an edition of seventy copies
' Novelle di M. Ortensio Lando ' (Lucea, 1851). The life prefixed
by Salvator Bungi is remarkable for the fulness of its bibliographical
details, and is the main source of information as to Lando.

24 OBTENSIO LANDO.

The second tale is of a stepmother who is very
harsh to her stepson, a young man whose amorous
relations with Lucina, her waiting-maid, enable
him to effect a characteristic revenge. The three
bottles containing the paint and cosmetics with
which she desires to make herself beautiful for
ever have their contents changed, and the poor lady
who has been preparing herself for a festival, is horri-
fied to find, by her mirror, that her face is as black
as a crow, and that she is otherwise disfigured. Two
servants take to flight on seeing her, for they think
an evil spirit has come amongst them. She pursues
them in the street, and there is an uproar and
scandal. Lucina, instigated by Andrea, tells her
mistress that she had heard him praying to the
image of the Virgin kept in the hall of the house
for judgment upon his harsh stepmother, and her
transformation is therefore regarded as a punish-
ment. He then purchases washes to take out the
stains from her face, and tells Caterina that he is
certain that if she will now use the same methods as
when she was making ready for the festival she will
regain her former whiteness and good looks. This
led to the reconciliation between Caterina and
Andrea, and one happy result of the miracle was
that all the stepmothers became kinder to their
stepsons.

In the third novel we are told that Fenice, a
young wife, neglected by her husband Marsilio, who
is infatuated with a mistress, makes a plot with
Vitelliano by which he dresses in her husband's
clothes. Thus whilst Marsilio is with Giannina,
Vitelliano is with Fenice. One night Marsilio, to

ORTENSIO LANDO. 25

escape from an attack made by the brother of his
mistress, has to leave the house of Giannina in a
semi-nude condition, and is refused admission at his
own house. The servants having seen their master
as they suppose return earlier, take Marsilio for an
impostor, and the police take him to prison. On
his release he is welcomed by his wife, who tells him
that a false Marsilio had claimed admittance, and
that the voice was so well counterfeited as almost
to deceive her. She warns him against the con-
tinuance of bad conduct on his part, and so peace is
made. The moral is " Chi cerca godere dell' altrui,
altri spesso gode del suo."

The next three stories are translated in Roscoe's
' Italian Novelists.' In the fourth Manfred, King
of Navarre, is driven from his kingdom by his sub-
jects, who are unwilling any longer to endure his
tyranny. Dying he advises his son never to leave
the old for the new, never to indulge in a union
with a woman who cannot lawfully be his, never to
marry a woman whom he has not seen and who is
not of noble birth, and never to strike with the
sword until it has been thrice drawn and replaced
in the scabbard. On his father's death the young
prince is taken to Navarre, and acknowledged as
heir and married to a princess of Portugal. On
recovering from an illness he decides upon a pil-
grimage to Rome and Jerusalem. He is ship-
wrecked at Cyprus, and choosing an old road
reaches the court, whilst his companions who go
by a new one are destroyed. A lady falls in love
with him, but in obedience to his father's second
maxim he refuses her overtures, and iu revenge she

26 ORTENSIO LANDO.

lays a plot by which he is convicted on a false
charge of stealing jewelry. On his way to execu-
tion a merchant's daughter offers to save him from
the gallows by marrying him ; with some hesitation
he refuses this offer, " The crown of Navarre," he
says, "must'never rest on the head of a merchant's
daughter." The incident is reported to the King,
and Vitrio is respited, pardoned, and sent back to
Spain. He enters the chamber of his wife, and sees
an infant sleeping by her side. Thinking that she
has been unfaithful he draws his sword. She does
not see him, but the child cries out that a man
is going to kill him. " Sleep, foolish child," she
says in reply ; " no man has ever been in this
room since my husband left me." Thus con-
vinced, thanks to the fourth maxim, Vitrio sheathes
his sword and makes himself known to his joyful
wife.

The fifth novella is an anecdote of Messer Ugo
da Santa Sofia, a famous astrologer and philosopher,
who is warned by a peasant that there is a storm
impending. He disregards the warning, as he can
find no sign by his arts of the imminence of the
tempest foretold by the rustic. The storm, how-
ever, breaks, and is severe. He goes to the peasant
to ascertain the source of his knowledge, and finds
that it comes by observing his donkey, who always
acts in a certain fashion when bad weather is com-
ing. The incident gave rise to a proverbial saying :
" You think you know more astrology than Cara-
botto's ass," would be met with the retort "You
know less than Ugo da Santa Sofia."

The sixth story deals with Messer Leandro de'

ORTENSIO LANDO. 27

Traversari, canon of Ravenna, who had a passion
for telling Munchausen-like stories, and gave pre-
sents to a trusty servitor to corroborate his ridi-
culous assertions. But on one occasion when the
traveller's tale was more than usually improbable,
the servant says before his master's guests, " No,
I cannot swear to that. You must take the
breeches back again, and find some one else in my
place."

The seventh novel narrates the follies of an old
man of seventy who is in love with a young girl,
and places himself in some ridiculous positions in
consequence.

The eighth novel deals with the same incident as
Tennyson's ' Lover's Tale,' the plot of which is
taken from Boccaccio's ' Decamerone.' It is one of
the puzzles of the Renaissance that these stories
should so often be repeated. The Novellieri were
confessedly imitators of Boccaccio, but it is not
easy to understand the motives that moved Lando,
for instance, to retell the story of the wife whom
seeming death snatched from her husband to become
the bride of her lover. He cannot have hoped to
surpass Boccaccio in manner, and yet he, and
other novelists also, select material which is
identical with that used by their great master.
The story is told also by D. M. Manni in one of
his novelle.

In the ninth novel we are told that Lippa de'
Lanfranchi and Lodovico Grambacurti are, as boy
and girl, deeply in love with each other, and as
Lippa's father desires her to become a nun, they
prepare to run away. But while Lodovico is on

28 ORTENSIO LANDO.

the boat and Lippa is still on the shore, it is over-
turned, and he is carried away by the current. A
wife escaping from her husband who seeks to
kill her, throws her baby into Lippa's arms, and
with this she returns home and persuades her father
to adopt the infant. She will not go into a monas-
tery, but adopts the habit of Santa Chiara. Lodovico
is not drowned, but reaches Sardinia, and defends
Lisbona, a girl who resembles Lippa, from the attack
of a blackguard who habitually annoys the village
maidens as they are drawing water from the well.
He finds favour in her sight, and in that of her
father, but is faithful to his first love. At a marine
festival an attack is made by the corsairs, and Lodo-
vico defends Lisboua so vigorously that when at
last they are taken prisoners Marco Scarletta, the
corsair captain, offers to release the girl and to
make him the commander of a galley. Lodovico is
for seven years a corsair, " rubando amici e nemici."
Among his prisoners, at last, is a boy from Pisa,
who, in answer to the question of Lodovico, says
that he has been sent by Lippa de' Lanfranchi to find
Lodovico Grambacurti. This is the child adopted
by Lippa. With him Lodovico returns home,
marries her, and as they have no children, the boy
becomes their heir.

The tenth story is of the wife of a painter who
conceives an affection for the apprentice of her hus-
band. The young man at first refuses her advances,
but has not the constancy of Joseph, and the incident
is revealed to the husband by the chance remark of
his little child.

The eleventh novel tells of a knavish miller who

ORTENSIO LANDO. 29

lays a plot against the virtue of one of his customers,
a girl from a neighbouring and unfriendly village.
His wife suspecting his intentions takes the place
of his intended victim, and receives the embraces
not only of her husband, but of some of his friends
whom he had introduced. To escape from the
jokes and scorn arising from this incident he
leaves the isle of Cyprus, where the scene of the
story is laid.

The twelfth novel is in some respects the most
curious of all. The scene is at Rhodes, where Gioliva
is the mistress of a Pisan knight who maintains a
beautiful house and garden for her. She has an
intrigue with Piero Corsini, and the gardener,
Milione, is their intermediary. In a quarrel the
gardener kills one of his neighbours, and, in accord-
ance with local laws, is hanged where the deed was
done. As Piero, on his way to visit Gioliva, passes
the ghastly sight, he says, " Oh, Milione, may God
pardon thee thy sins." To which Milione, many
days dead, replies, " Oh, Piero, if ever I did a good
turn for you, take me down, I beg, from these
abominable timbers." Piero rushes away affrighted,
and the dead man breaking his bonds rushes after,
calling loudly to him. In the way there was a
company of Jews, amongst whom were women
mourning for a certain Moise who had been cut
to pieces by his enemies during the preceding night.
Piero rushed into the synagogue and fastened the
door. Then came the corpse and knocking cried,
" 0 Moise, arise and open to me, for I am Milione."
Then the dead Jew arose and opened the door for
the dead Christian. Piero fell dead and was carried

30 ORTENSIO LANDO.

by Milione to the garden gate, where Gioliva was
waiting to admit him. On seeing her lover borne
by the dead Milione she cried, " Great God, grant
Thy pardon to Piero and to me," and so fell dead
also. From this marvellous occurrence arose the
proverbial saying which at Rhodes was addressed to
those who would visit a garden at night, " Beware of
Milione that he does not strangle you."

The thirteenth story is of Riccardo Capponi,
who resigns his fortune into the hands of his son
and is sent by him to the city hospital. Finding
that public opinion censures him for his ingratitude,
Vincenti sends two fine cambric shirts to the old
man by his grandson. Questioning the boy on his
return, the father learns that he has kept one of
them in anticipation of the day when he must take
Vincenti to the hospital. This discovery brings
remorse. The remark of the boy, " Chi la fa,
T aspetta " is proverbial.

This is really the last of the novels, but Bongi
has added as a fifteenth a letter to Pietro Brachi, a
cousin of Lando's, which appeared in the * Lettere
Facete ' of Antanagi in 1561. In this Lando recites
the adventures of the "cuffia" given by Circe to
Juno that she might retain the wandering affections
of Jove.

The next work in which Lando was concerned is
entitled " Lettere della molto illustre Sig. la S.
Donna Lucretia Gonzaga da Gazuolo, con gran
diligentia raccolte, et a gloria del sesso feminile
nuovamente in luce poste " (Vinegia : Gualtiero
Scotto, 1552). It is sometimes regarded as a mere
imposture, but although Lando may have written

ORTENSIO LANDO. 31

often in her name, it is difficult to suppose that he
would have issued this book without the knowledge
and assent of his patroness. That he should forge
three hundred letters, print them with her name on
the title, and dedicate them to her relation Pietro
Paulo Manfrone, Governor of Verona, and do this
without reproof or repudiation, is incredible. That
he acted as her secretary in the composition of many
of these epistles is a much more reasonable theory.
Whatever may be the precise historical character of
the book, it bears many evidences that Lando had
a great share in its authorship. One of the strangest
of the letters is that addressed to the Grand Turk,
begging Solyman to bring an army to Italy for the
release of her husband. That she sent such an in-
vitation is noted by Tiraboschi.

There is less room for doubt as to the " Dialogo
di M. Ortensio Lando, nel quale si ragiona della
consolatione, et utilita che si gusta leggendo la
sacra Scrittura. Trattasi etiandio del? ordine, che
tener si dee nel leggerla, et vera eloquenza et di
varia dottrina alii pagani superiore " (Venetia, al
segno del Pozzo, 1552). This is in the form of a
dialogue between Lucrezia Gonzaga and Filalete,
who stands for the author. It is dedicated by him
to Beatrice di Luna, to whom also the printer,
Arrivabene, addresses a note, in which he says that
he had the MS. and permission to publish from
Gonzaga. In another letter to Beatrice, the writer,
Euscelli, declares that the " miracoloso " Lando
must have been inspired and aided by God to have
written " cosi santa opera." Fontanini, who was
rather suspicious of Lando's good faith, had the

32 OETENSIO LAN DO.

book examined by a theologian, who vindicated
his acuteness by detecting passages not merely
doubtful, but condemned by authority as heretical.
Bongi, who will not hear of Lando as a heretic,
thinks that his errors, if errors they are, originate
in his want of familiarity with such subjects, and
are unintentional. The lay reader will not find
much that sounds heterodox. Lando shows great
familiarity with the Bible, and quotes it in the
Vulgate freely.

His next book is undated, but as he alludes in it
to the ' Dialogo sulla Consolazione,' it may be at-
tributed to the end of 1552. The title is ' Una
breve pratica di medicina per sanare le passioni
delP animo. Al magnifico Signer David Otho.
[Padova :] Appresso Gratioso Perchacino.'

The last on this long list is ' Sette libri di Catha-
loghi a varie cose appartenenti, non solo antiche,
ma anche moderne ; opera utile molto alia historia,
e da cui prender si po materia di favellare d' ogni
proposito che ci occorra ' (Vinegia : Gabriel Giolito,
1552). This small thick volume is dated at the end
1553. It is a collection of anecdotes and historical
data arranged according to subject, and in many
cases having modern instances to enforce the moral
of the ancient stories. Lando complains in a letter
to Lucrezia Gonzaga, under date of 20th December,
that the authorities had forbidden the publication
of the lists of adulterers, traitors, cruel and un-
grateful persons of his own day which he had in-
tended to include. The book is anonymous, and
the author includes his own name amongst those
who were ignorant, unhappy, ugly, and irascible.

ORTENSIO LANDO. 33

In thus painting himself as one of the most un-
fortunate and despicable of men, it may be doubted
whether Lando was justly but severely judging
himself or merely indulging in the playful though
bizarre humour of which he was a master. The
plan of the ' Cataloghi ' is ingenious, and it
vindicates the claim of the book to furnish matter
for conversation on every subject. Thus the first
book contains lists of those who have been famous
for beauty, ugliness, chastity, unchastity, good
memory, bad memory, and adultery. There are lists
of women famous in learning and in war, of women
who have been the occasion of wars, and those who
have been the means of bringing benefits. There
are lists of men famous in war and for personal
strength, of those who have died from excess of
joy, and of those renowned as choleric, passionate,
and disdainful. To the names suggested by his
wealth of classical learning, Lando adds modern
instances, except in cases where he has thought it
wiser to abstain from indicating contemporaries
who were infamous for their crimes and vices. He
is more prodigal of praise than of blame, and the
plan of his book enables him to cite certain of his
friends, and especially the noble ladies whose patron-
age he enjoyed, as models of grace, virtue, and
amiability. It must be said that he does not spare
himself. Few men have been drawn so unflattering
a portrait as that given in the ' Cataloghi ' of
Ortensio Lando. In the list of modern poets the
name of Dante will be sought in vain, though he is
named elsewhere by Lando. Of Aretino, " detto il
flagello dei principi," we are told that he " scrive
3

34 ORTENSIO LANDO.

altamente, e con stile disusato e nuovo, de varii
soggetti." The catalogue of poets is little more
than a list of names, and most of these are now
forgotten. In the account of those who have written
on lowly matters, he mentions himself as a singer
of the death of a horse, a cat, a monkey, &c., and
mentions Conte Costanzo Landi as one who wrote
of ashes and of the beard. Amongst the astro-
logers he names Cardan and Paul III. Amongst
the painters he names Giotto, Correggio, and many
others, but not Raphael.

Such is the list of the known writings of Ortensio
Lando, but long as it is there are other books which
have not been identified. He mentions in 1548
that he had published a volume of novels and of
translations from Greek authors, " non piu vedute a'
nostri tempi." This is unknown. Doni speaks of
a dialogue on marriage, but whether it was ever
printed is unknown. Weiss and others attribute
to him ' La Pazzia ' published originally in 1541,
but this is now universally admitted to be the work
of Vianesio Albergati. Lucrezia Gonzaga in a
letter to Lando acknowledges the receipt of his
' Dialogo intitolato del temperare gli affetti dell'
animo,' which is not known to exist. It was by
the agency of Lando that there appeared the ' Vera
tranquillita dell' animo' of Isabella Sforza, a book
much praised in its day, though now forgotten. It
was printed at Venice by Aldus in 1544, and was
dedicated by Lando to Otto Truxes, Bishop of
Augsburg. So much was Lando impressed by the
superiority of the lady's presentation of divine phi-
losophy that he suppressed, he says, a work of his

ORTENSIO LANDO. 35

own on the same subject. Mention has already
been made of the unfavourable references to him-
self which our author makes in some of his books.
The sincerity of the painter may perhaps be
doubted, and there is certainly an air of humorous
exaggeration in the picture. A man who laughs
at his own defects, moral or physical, disarms his
detractors of their strongest weapon — that of ridi-
cule, which is much feared not only by the foolish
but by the average human being. Here in a con-
densed form is Lando's effort at self -portraiture :

" I have travelled in many lands, but have never
seen one more deformed than Ortensio Lando ;
every part of his body is imperfect. With ears
longer than a donkey's he is deaf. He is rather
short-sighted, small of stature, has negro lips, his
nose is flattened, his hands are crooked, his visage
is saturnine and ashen-coloured.* He sacrificed
valuable and esteemed friendships for a single word.f
Knowing that princes have no esteem for litera-
ture, he scarcely cares to read a book, and avoids
learned men as evil in their deeds and influence. £"

There are other autobiographical references.
Thus, amongst the modern examples of friendship,
the names of Rinaldo Corso and Lando are cited. §
On seeing his honoured father Domenico fall from
his horse, although he felt almost certain that he
had not sustained any great injury, Ortensio was so
alarmed that he fainted. |j Of himself he says that

* ' Cataloghi,' p. 18.
f Ibid., p. 99.
J Ibid., p. 115.
§ Ibid., p. 28.
|| Ibid., p. 300.

3G ORTENSIO LANDO.

he was unfortunate in all that he wished to do or
to say.* To this we may add that when he was
elected a member of the Academy at Ferrara he was
called by the rule of contrary, so often adopted in
those learned coteries, " Hortensius Tranquillus."

The date of his death remains unknown. After
the letter in the ' Cataloghi ' to Lucrezia Gon-
zaga of December 20th, 1552, nothing fresh ap-
peared from his industrious pen. In all probability
he died in the following year. When in 1553
the ' Rime di diversi nobillissimi et eccellentissimi
autori in lode della illustrissima Sig. Donna Lu-
crezia Gonzaga ' appeared, the name of Lando is
not among the eighty eulogists, and as he lost no
opportunity of singing her praises his absence from
this crowd of adulators confirms the supposition of
his death before the publication of that book.

The charge of heresy does not appear to rest on
any solid foundation. Ortensio remained a member
of the Church of Rome. " Hortensius Tranquillus,
alias Hieremias, alias Landus," the entry in the
Tridentine Index, is probably an error. There were
two other Landi, Geremias and Bassanio, some of
whose writings have been attributed to Ortensio. f
On this matter Salvatore Bongi, to whose re-
searches we owe nearly all that is accurately known
of Lando, points out that his orthodoxy was never
assailed in his lifetime, that he was the friend of

* ' Cataloghi,' p. 343.

f Geremias was an Augustinian friar who abjured the Roman
faith. This has led. some to suppose that Ortensio had been in a
religious ordei', and possibly the fact that he places some auto-
biographical statements in the mouth of a hermit may have
strengthened this idea,.

OKTENSIO LANDO. 37

Muzio, the heretic hunter, and that he passed freely
in or out of the States where heterodoxy was a civil
offence.

Lando's genius is essentially humorous and
parodoxical. His faculty for seeing the other side
of things, and his readiness to challenge the most
settled convictions of mankind, were accompanied by
an equal readiness to refute his own conclusions.
Thus the advocate of intellectual topsy-turvy was
also the defender of the conventional. In reality
Ortensio, with all his dialectal skill and wealth of
illustration, is an inveterate joker, and we feel that
in his most elaborate disquisitions he is, with how-
ever grave a face, only laughing in his sleeve.

The same spirit of paradox is found in his life as
in his books. His fate combined the disadvantages
of noble birth, and of mediocre if not lowly station.
He wandered hither and thither in search of un-
attained ideals. He ate the bread of dependence,
and repaid his protectors by adulation too boundless
to be sincere, and yet was ready to sacrifice all at
the bidding of an irascible and imperious temper.
Steeped in erudition, he mocks at learning. He has
a prodigious memory for all the knowledge that was
current in his own day, yet where it should have
been most useful he is often slipshod. He is care-
less of finish, and neglects that beauty of form, that
perfect expression, without which literature can
have no permanence. Herein we may have the secret
of his failure to command a more than ephemeral
reputation. Ortensio Lando is an interesting figure
for the student, but he belongs to the byways and
not to the highways of literature. He is the author

38 ORTENSIO LANDO.

of balf a century of books ; all of them are clever,
brilliant, audacious, and learned, and all have passed
out of the memory of the world. " Habent sua
fata libelli," says Terentianus — a forgotten poet —
and oblivion is the fate from which not one of the
many books of Hortensius Tranquillus has escaped.

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