Sources and models
In The Cortegiano, by means of the contamination of various literary and philosophical models, ancient and modern, a problematic reflection on anthropological paradigms is proposed to arrive at the recognition of a gentleman and the definition of his identity. Castiglione, right from the first pages, with the dedication to Miguel da Silva, signals that his text follows in the wake of the great classical treatise on the theme of perfection: Plato’s Republic, Xenofont’s Ciropedia, Cicero’s De oratore. The Cortegiano takes form these the basic argumentation strategies that legitimise ideal and idealizing ethical discussions due to their capacity to produce virtuous behaviour.
On this basis, the first book of The Cortegiano elaborates the themes present in the most illustrious ancient manual on the psychology of relationships, the Etica Nicomachea by Aristotle, from which it recuperates, without any hesitation, the censure of any form whatsoever of vainglory, in favour of concepts of amiability and trustworthiness, which are preferable and opportune, as is any form of self irony. The treatise of comic forms, that appears in the second book, contaminates the reflections on the subject refined by Cicero in book III of the De oratore, with examples taken from Boccaccio’s Decameron: Castiglione is keen to point out the positive function that jokes and spirited remarks can have in society conversation, defining though an etiquette that will prevent sliding into any vulgarity or excessively cutting comments. The loud and trivial comedy that is found in humanist writings (in the Facezie by Poggio Bracciolini or in the Detti piacevoli by Poliziano) is not suited to a courtly gentleman.
In the third book, Castiglione wants to revalue the figure of women by comparison to the detrimental tones often repeated in traditional texts, from the Corbaccio by Boccaccio to the De Amore by Leon Battista Alberti. The political subject matter of the fourth book, where the influence of Aristotle’s Politica is evident, leads The Cortegiano to link also to the works of Erasmus, Thomas More and Machiavelli, seeking similarities and differences. For the conclusion of the work, in which Pietro Bembo exposes the concept of platonic love, the writings of Marsilio Ficino are used more than others, that Bembo himself had already utilised in the composition of the Asolani: it is from here that the meditation that concludes the work of Castiglione derives, in a sublimating interpretation of the relationship between man and woman.
