Gonzaga paid him a yearly salary of 300 gold florins, and
contributed to the expenses caused by the poorer pupils. He knew that
Vittorino never saved a penny for himself, and doubtless realized that
the education of the poor was the unexpressed condition of his
presence. The establishment was conducted on strictly religious lines,
stricter indeed than many monasteries.
More stress was laid on pure scholarship by Guarino of Verona (1370-
1460), who in the year 1429 was called to Ferrara by Niccolo d'Este to
educate his son Lionello, and who, when his pupil was nearly grown up
in 1436, began to teach at the university of eloquence and of the
ancient languages. While still acting as tutor to Lionello, he had many
other pupils from various parts of the country, and in his own house a
select class of poor scholars, whom he partly or wholly supported. His
evening hours till far into the night were devoted to hearing lessons
or to instructive conversation. His house, too, was the home of a
strict religion and morality. It signified little to him or to
Vittorino that most of the humanists of their day deserved small praise
in the matter of morals or religion. It is inconceivable how Guarino,
with all the daily work which fell upon him, still found time to write
translations from the Greek and voluminous original works.
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