self-sacrifice.[1] I hope to return in the second volume of this work to Vittorino.  It is enough here to remark that in this good school the Duke of Urbino acquired that solid culture which distinguished him through life.  In after years, when the cares of his numerous engagements fell thick upon him, we hear from Vespasiano that he still prosecuted his studies, reading Aristotle’s Ethics, Politics, and Physics, listening to the works of S. Thomas Aquinas and Scotus read aloud, perusing at one time the Greek fathers and at another the Latin historians.[2] How profitably he spent his day at Urbino may be gathered from this account of his biographer:  ’He was on horseback at daybreak with four or six mounted attendants and not more, and with one or two foot servants unarmed.  He would ride out three or four miles, and be back again when the rest of his court rose from bed.  After dismounting, he heard mass.  Then he went into a garden open at all sides, and gave audience to those who listed until dinner-time.  At table, all the doors were open; any man could enter where his lordship was; for he never ate except with a full hall.  According to the season he had books read out as follows—­in Lent, spiritual works; at other times, the history of Livy; all in Latin.  His food was plain; he took no comfits, and drank no wine, except drinks of pomegranate, cherry, or apples.’  After dinner he heard causes, and gave sentence in the Latin tongue.  Then he would visit the nuns of Santa Chiara or watch the young men of Urbino at their games, using the courtesy of perfect freedom with his subjects.  His reputation as a patron of the arts and of learning was widely spread.  ‘To hear him converse with a sculptor,’ says Vespasiano, ’you would have thought he was a master of the craft.  In painting, too, he displayed the most acute judgment; and as he could not find among the Italians worthy masters of oil colors, he sent to Flanders for one, who painted for him the philosophers and poets and doctors of the Church.  He also brought from Flanders masters in the art of tapestry.’  Pontano, Ficino, and Poggio dedicated works of importance to his name; and Pirro Perrotti, in the preface to his uncle’s ‘Cornucopia,’ draws a quaint picture of the reception which so learned a book was sure to meet with at Urbino.[3] But Frederick was not merely an accomplished prince.  Concurrent testimony proves that he remained a good husband and a constant friend throughout his life, that he controlled his natural quickness of temper, and subdued the sensual appetites which in that age of lax morality he might have indulged without reproach.  In his relations to his subjects he showed what a paternal monarch should be, conversing familiarly with the citizens of Urbino, accosting them with head uncovered, inquiring into the necessities of the poorer artisans, relieving the destitute, dowering orphan girls, and helping distressed shopkeepers with loans.  Numerous anecdotes are told which illustrate his consideration for his