He praised the beauty
of the then youthful prince, who in fact did share this quality with
Augustus in no ordinary degree; he praised his moral conduct, with an
oblique reference to the financial pursuits of Cosimo's mother, Maria
Salviati, and concluded with a mendicant whine about the bad times and
so forth. When Cosimo pensioned him, which he did liberally,
considering his habitual parsimony--to the extent, at least, of 160
ducats a year--he had doubtless an eye to Aretino's dangerous character
as Spanish agent. Aretino could ridicule and revile Cosimo, and in the
same breath threaten the Florentine agent that he would obtain from the
Duke his immediate recall; and if the Medicean prince felt himself at
last to be seen through by Charles V he would naturally not be anxious
that Aretino's jokes and rhymes against him should circulate at the
Imperial court. A curiously qualified piece of flattery was that
addressed to the notorious Marquis of Marignano, who as Castellan of
Musso had attempted to found an independent State. Thanking him for the
gift of a hundred crowns, Aretino writes: 'All the qualities which a
prince should have are present in you, and all men would think so, were
it not that the acts of violence inevitable at the beginning of all
undertakings cause you to appear a trifle rough _(aspro).
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