and the contents of these
romantic chronicles furnished the most welcome staple of conversation
in palaces and universities. Leo X. had them read aloud during supper,
in the presence of his sister and a chosen group of cardinals. It must
be noted that the form of the Decades did not escape criticism at the
pontifical court, nor did the censures, passed on the liberties he
took with the tongue of Cicero, fail to reach and sting his ears. In
several passages, he defends his use of words taken from the Italian
and Spanish languages. He handled Latin as a living, not as a dead
language, and his style is vigorous, terse, vitalised. He cultivated
brevity and was chary of lengthy excursions into the classics in
search of comparisons and sanctions. His letters frequently show signs
of the haste in which they were composed: sometimes the messenger who
was to carry them to Rome, was waiting, booted and spurred, in the
ante-chamber. Juan Vergara, secretary to Cardinal Ximenes, declared
his opinion that no more exact and lucid record of contemporary events
existed than the letters of Peter Martyr, adding that he had himself
often been present and witnessed with what haste they were written, no
care being taken to correct and polish their style.

The cultivated ears of Ciceronian Latinists--such as Cardinal Bembo
who refused to read the Vulgate for fear of spoiling his style--were
naturally offended by the phraseology of the Decades. Measured by
standards so precious, the Latin of Peter Martyr is faulty and crude,
resembling rather a modern dialect than the classical tongue of
ancient Rome.[2]

[Note 2: Ciampi's comment is accurate and just: _Non si, puo dire
che sia un latino bellisimo. E quale lo parlavano e scriveano gli
uomini d'affari. A noi e, pero, men discaro che non sia ai forestieri,
in quanta che noi troviamo dentro il movimento, il frassegiare proprio
della nostra lingua, e sotto la frase incolta latina, indoviniamo
il pensiero nato in italiano che, spogliato da noi della veste
imbarazzanta ci ritorna ignudo si, ma schietto ed efficace_.]

It is their substance, not their form, that gives Martyr's writings
their value, though his facile style is not devoid of elegance, if
measured by other than severely classical standards. Not as a man of
letters, but as an historian does he enjoy the perennial honour to
which in life he aspired. Observation is the foundation of history,
and Martyr was pre-eminently a keen and discr