They
seek to raise themselves above this painful consciousness by that
spiritualization of love which found a support in the Platonic doctrine
of the soul, and of which Pietro Bembo is the most famous
representative. His thoughts on this subject are set forth by himself
in the third book of the 'Asolani,' and indirectly by Castiglione, who
puts in his mouth the splendid speech with which the fourth book of the
'Cortigiano' concludes. Neither of these writers was a stoic in his
conduct, but at that time it meant something to be at once a famous and
a good man, and this praise must be accorded to both of them; their
contemporaries took what these men said to be a true expression of
their feeling, and we have not the right to despise it as affectation.
Those who take the trouble to study the speech in the 'Cortigiano' will
see how poor an idea of it can be given by an extract. There were then
living in Italy several distinguished women, who owed their celebrity
chiefly to relations of this kind, such as Giulia Gonzaga, Veronica da
Correggio, and, above all, Vittoria Colonna. The land of profligates
and scoffers respected these women and this sort of love--and what more
can be said in their favour? We cannot tell how far vanity had to do
with the matter, how far Vittoria was flattered to hear around her the
sublimated utterances of hopeless love from the most famous men in
Italy.
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