At Milan, Bandello knew the majestic Caterina di San Celso,
who played and sang and recited superbly. It is clear from all we read
on the subject that the distinguished people who visited these women,
and from time to time lived with them, demanded from them a
considerable degree of intelligence and instruction, and that the
famous courtesans were treated with no slight respect and
consideration. Even when relations with them were broken off, their
good opinion was still desired, which shows that departed passion had
left permanent traces behind. But on the whole this intellectual
intercourse is not worth mentioning by the side of that sanctioned by
the recognized forms of social life, and the traces which it has left
in poetry and literature are for the most part of a scandalous nature.
We may well be astonished that among the 6,800 persons of this class,
who were to be found in Rome in 1490--that is, before the appearance of
syphilis--scarcely a single woman seems to have been remarkable for any
higher gifts. Those whom we have mentioned all belong to the period
which immediately followed. The mode of life, the morals and the
philosophy of the public women, who with all their sensuality and greed
were not always incapable of deeper passions, as well as the hypocrisy
and devilish malice shown by some in their later years, are best set
forth by Giraldi, in the novels which form the introduction to the
'Hecatommithi.
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