Note 905 — Chapter VI · THE POSITION OF WOMEN.

Infessura, in Eccard, Scriptores, ii. col. 1997. The public women only, not the kept women, are meant. The number, compared with the population of Rome, is certainly enormous, perhaps owing to some clerical error. According to Giraldi, vi. 7, Venice was exceptionally rich ‘di quella sorte di donne che cortigiane son dette;’ see also the epigram of Pasquinus (Gregor. viii. 279, note 2); but Rome did not stand behind Venice (Giraldi, Introduz. nov. 2). Comp. the notice of the ‘meretrices’ in Rome (1480) who met in a church and were robbed of their jewels and ornaments, Murat. xxii. 342 sqq., and the account in Burchardi, Diarium, ed. Leibnitz, pp. 75-77, &c. Landi (Commentario, fol. 76) mentions Rome, Naples, and Venice as the chief seats of the ‘cortigiane;’ ibid. 286, the fame of the women of Chiavenna is to be understood ironically. The Quaestiones Forcianae, fol. 9, of the same author give most interesting information on love and love’s delights, and the style and position of women in the different cities of Italy. On the other hand, Egnatius (De Exemp. III. Vir. Ven. fol. 212 b sqq.) praises the chastity of the Venetian women, and says that the prostitutes come every year from Germany. Corn. Agr. de van. Scientiae, cap. 63 (Opp. ed. Lugd. ii. 158) says: ‘Vidi ego nuper atque legi sub titulo “Cortosanæ” Italica lingua editum et Venetiis typis excusum de arte meretricia dialogum, utriusque Veneris omnium flagitiosissimum et dignissimum, qui ipse cum autore suo ardeat.’ Ambr. Traversari (Epist. viii. 2 sqq.) calls the beloved of Niccolò Niccoli ‘foemina fidelissima.’ In the Lettere dei Principi, i. 108 (report of Negro, Sept. 1, 1522) the ‘donne Greche’ are described as ‘fonte di ogni cortesia et amorevolezza.’ A great authority, esp. for Siena, is the Hermaphroditus of Panormitanus. The enumeration of the ‘lenae lupaeque’ in Florence (ii. 37) is hardly fictitious; the line there occurs: