A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Nogarola, Isotta
NOGAROLA, ISOTTA,
A learned lady of Verona. She was well acquainted with philosophy, theology, and the learned languages; and her reputation was so great, that Cardinal Bessarien went to Verona to converse with her. In a dialogue on the question whether Adam or Eve were the greater sinner in eating the forbidden fruit, she ably defended the cause of the mother of mankind against Louis Foscaro, She died, universally respected, in 1468, aged thirty, eight. Five hundred and sixty-six of her letters were preserved in De Thou's library. She was the daughter of Leonardo and Bianca Borromeo. She passed her life in the bosom of her family, loved by all her friends, and honoured and esteemed by the most illustrious literati of her day. She has done much to render her name celebrated, but would probably have accomplished still more, had not a premature death removed her from earthly glories. Her works, are—"A Dialogue on Original Sin;" "An Elegy on a Beautiful Villa;" "Epistles preserved in the Ambrosian Library;" "Oration to the Bishop Ermolao, written in Latin;" "An Euology on Girolano, Doctor of Divinity;" and a "Latin Enistle to Ludovico Foscarni."