Page:The Book of the Courtier.djvu/342

THE THIRD BOOK OF THE COURTIER all inferior to men in worth; for leaving aside the times that are so ancient, if you come to the time when the Goths ruled in Italy, you will find that there was a queen among them, Amalasontha,"³⁸¹ who long reigned with admirable wisdom; then Theodolinda,"³⁸² queen of the Lombards, of singular worth; Theo- dora,³⁸³ the Greek empress; and in Italy among many others the Gountess Matilda was a most illustrious lady, of whose praises I will leave Count Ludovico to speak, since she was of his family."³⁸⁴ " Nay," said the Count, "that rests with you, for you know it does not become a man to praise what is his own." The Magnifico continued: "And how many women in times past do you find belonging to this most noble house of Montefeltro!³⁸⁵ How many of the house of Gonzaga, of Este, of Pio!³⁸⁶ Then, if we wish to speak of the present times, we shall have no need to seek very far for in- stances, because we have them at home. But I shall not avail myself of those we see before us, lest you pretend to grant me out of courtesy that which you can in no wise deny. And to go outside of Italy, remember that we in our day have seen Queen Anne of France,³⁸⁷ a very great lady not less in worth than in state; and if you will compare her in justice and clemency, liber- ality and pureness of life, with Kings Charles³⁸⁸ and Louis²⁵⁰ (to both of whom she was consort), you will not find her at all their inferior. You see madonna Margarita³⁸⁹ (daughter of the Emperor Maximilian)³⁹⁰ who has until now governed and still governs her state with the utmost wisdom and justice. 35-—" But laying all others aside, tell me, my lord Gaspar, what king or what prince has there been in our days, or even for many years past in Christendom, who deserves to be compared with Queen Isabella of Spain?"³⁹¹ My lord Gaspar replied: " King Ferdinand, her husband."³⁹² The Magnifico continued: " That I shall not deny ; for since the queen judged him worthy to be her husband, and so loved and honoured him, we cannot say that he did not deserve to be compared with her: yet I believe that the fame he had by her was a dowry not inferior to the kingdom of Castile." 202