Note 615 — Chapter VIII
Reading edition
Op. Min. vol. i. p. 333:
Quid nostra an Gallo regi an servire Latino, Si sit idem hinc atque hinc non leve servitium? Barbaricone esse est pejus sub nomine, quam sub Moribus? At ducibus, Dii, date digna malis.
What Ariosto thought about the Italian despots finds full expression in the Cinque Canti, ii. 5, 6, where he protests that Caligula, Nero, Phalaris, Dionysius and Creon were surpassed by them in cruelty and crime.