Note 316 — Chapter II · MORAL INFLUENCE

There are some rather lively and amusing letters of Bibbiena. On February 7, 1516, he wrote to the Marchioness of Mantua: “The compliments your Excellency has been good enough to pay me on behalf of Isabella have given me supreme pleasure, for I have always loved and still love Isabella more than myself. I am wholly Isabella’s, body and soul; so that, whether loving or not loving Isabella Mario, I am wholly hers, and desire above all things in the world to be loved by her.”