' The life of the English and French
chivalry in the country or in the woody fastnesses seems to him
thoroughly ignoble, and worst of all the doings of the robber-knights
of Germany. Lorenzo here begins to take the part of the nobility, but
not-- which is characteristic--appealing to any natural sentiment in
its favour, but because Aristotle in the fifth book of the Politics
recognizes the nobility as existent, and defines it as resting on
excellence and inherited wealth. To this Niccoli retorts that Aristotle
gives this not as his own conviction, but as the popular impression; in
his Ethics, where he speaks as he thinks, he calls him noble who
strives after that which is truly good. Lorenzo urges upon him vainly
that the Greek word for nobility (Eugeneia) means good birth; Niccoli
thinks the Roman word 'nobilis' (i.e. remark- able) a better one, since
it makes nobility depend on a man's deeds. Together with these
discussions, we find a sketch of the conditions of the nobles in
various parts of Italy. In Naples they will not work, and busy
themselves neither with their own estates nor with trade and commerce,
which they hold to be discreditable; they either loiter at home or ride
about on horseback. The Roman nobility also despise trade, but farm
their own property; the cultivation of the land even opens the way to a
title; it is a respectable but boorish nobility.
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