THE FIRST BOOK OF THE COURTIER
than he, of whom we have no knowledge because of excessive antiquity."
"Then whom," said the Count, "would you say Petrarch and Boccaccio imitated, who were on earth only three days since, one may say?"
"I know not," replied messer Federico; "but we may believe that even their minds were directed to imitation, although we do not know of whom."
The Count replied:
"We may believe that they who were imitated, surpassed those who imitated them; and if they were admirable, it would be too great a marvel that their name and fame should be so soon extinguished. But I believe that their real master was aptitude and their own native judgment; and at this there is no one who ought to wonder, since nearly always the summit of every excellence may be approached by diverse roads. Nor is there anything that has not in it many things of the same sort which are dissimilar and yet intrinsically deserving of equal praise.
"Consider music, the harmonies of which are now grave and slow, now very fast and of novel moods and means; yet all give pleasure, albeit for different reasons: as is seen in Bidon's94 manner of singing, which is so skilful, ready, vehement, fervid, and of such varied melodies, that the listener's spirits are moved and inflamed, and thus entranced seem to be lifted up to heaven. Nor does our friend Marchetto Cara95 move us less by his singing, but with a gentler harmony; because he softens and penetrates our souls by placid means and full of plaintive sweetness, gently stirring them to sweet emotion.
"Again, various things give equal pleasure to our eyes, so that we can with difficulty decide which are more pleasing to them. You know that in painting Leonardo da Vinci,96 Mantegna,97 Raphael,98 Michelangelo,99 Giorgio da Castelfranco,100 are very excellent, yet they are all unlike in their work; so that no one of them seems to lack anything in his own manner, since each is known as most perfect in his style.
"It is the same with many Greek and Latin poets, who, although different in their writing, are equal in their fame. The
