cetic Church and the Renaissance was complete,
human passions threw off every restraint. All that had hitherto been
regarded as sacred was now derided. The freethinkers of Italy created a
literature never equaled for bold cynicism. From the _Hermaphroditus_ of
Beccadeli to the works of Berni and Pietro Aretino, a foul stream of
novelle, epigrams, and comedies, from which the serious Dante would have
turned his eyes in disgust, overflowed the land.

Even in the less sensual novelle, the first of which was Piccolomini's
_Euryalus_, and the less obscene comedies, adultery and derision of
marriage are the leading motives. The harlots were the Muses of
belles-lettres during the Renaissance. They boldly took their place by
the side of the saints of the Church, and contended with them for fame's
laurels. There is a manuscript collection of poems of the time of
Alexander VI which contains a series of epigrams beginning with a number
in praise of the Holy Virgin and the Saints, and then, without word or
warning, are several glorifying the famous cyprians of the day;
following a stanza on S. Pauline is an epigram on Meretricis Nichine, a
well-known courtesan of Siena, with several more of the same sort. The
saints of heaven and the priestesses of Venus are placed side by side,
without comment, as equally admirable women.[47]

No self-respecting woman would now attend the performance of a comedy of
the Renaissance, whose characters frequently represented the popes, the
princes, and the noble women of the day; and their presentation, even
before audiences composed entirely of men, would now be prohibited by
the censor of the theater in every land.

The naturalness with which women of the South even now discuss subjects
which people in the North are careful to conceal excites astonishment;
but what was tolerated by the taste or morals of the Renaissance is
absolutely incredible. We must remember, however, that this obscene
literature was by no means so diffused as novels are at the present
time, and also that Southern familiarity with whatever is natural also
served to protect women. Much was external, and was so treated that it
had no effect whatever upon the imagination. In the midst of the vices
of the society of the cities there were noble women who kept themselves
pure.

To form an idea of the morals of the great, and especially of the courts
of that day, we must read the history of the Visconti, the Sforza, the
Malatesta o