,
Cicero, and Lactantius were always in her hands." Her daughter, Battista
Sforza, the noble spouse of the cultivated Federico of Urbino, was
equally learned. So, too, it was related that the celebrated Isotta
Nugarola of Verona was thoroughly at home in the writings of the fathers
and of the philosophers. Isabella Gonzaga and Elisabetta of Urbino were
likewise acquainted with them, as were numerous other celebrated women,
such as Vittoria Colonna and Veronica Gambara.

These and other names show to what heights the education of woman during
the Renaissance attained, and even if the accomplishments of these women
were exceptional, the studies which they so earnestly pursued were part
of the curriculum of all the daughters of the best families. These
studies were followed only for the purpose of perfecting and beautifying
the personality. Conversation in the modern salon is so excessively dull
that it is necessary to fill in the emptiness with singing and piano
playing. Still the symposiums of Plato were not always the order of the
day in the drawing-rooms of the Renaissance, and it must be admitted
that their social disputations would cause us intolerable weariness;
however, tastes were different at that time. In a circle of
distinguished and gifted persons, to carry on a conversation gracefully
and intelligently, and to give it a classic cast by introducing
quotations from the ancients, or to engage in a discussion in dialogue
on a chosen theme, afforded the keenest enjoyment. It was the
conversation of the Renaissance which attained later to such aesthetic
perfection in France. Talleyrand called this form of human intercourse
man's greatest and most beautiful blessing. The classic dialogue was
revived, with only the difference that cultivated women also took part
in it. As samples of the refined social intercourse of that age, we have
Castiglione's _Cortegiano_ and Bembo's _Asolani_, which was dedicated to
Lucretia Borgia.

[Illustration: VITTORIA COLONNA.

From an engraving by P. Caronni.]

Alexander's daughter did not occupy a preeminent place among the Italian
women renowned for classical attainments, her own acquirements not being
such as to distinguish her from the majority; but, considering the
times, her education was thorough. She had received instruction in the
languages, in music, and in drawing, and later the people of Ferrara
were amazed at the skill and taste which she displayed in embroidering
in si