It gladdened him to make good
the prophecy of the great poet as to his future fame. Once indeed, at
his famous entry into the conquered city of Naples (1443) he himself
chose to appear before the world in ancient style. Not far from the
market a breach forty ells wide was made in the wall, and through this
he drove in a gilded chariot like a Roman Triumphator. The memory of
the scene is preserved by a noble triumphal arch of marble in the
Castello Nuovo. His Neapolitan successors inherited as little of this
passion for antiquity as of his other good qualities.
Alfonso was far surpassed in learning by Federigo of Urbino, who had
but few courtiers around him, squandered nothing, and in his
appropriation of antiquity, as in all other things, went to work
considerately. It was for him and for Nicholas V that most of the
translations from the Greek, and a number of the best commentaries and
other such works, were written. He spent much on the scholars whose
services he used, but spent it to good purpose. There were no traces of
a poets' court at Urbino, where the Duke himself was the most learned
in the whole court. Classical antiquity, indeed, only formed a part of
his culture. An accomplished ruler, captain, and gentleman, he had
mastered the greater part of the science of the day, and this with a
view to its practical application.
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