2. ‘… le corps est tellement contrefaict et monstrueux qu’il ressemble mieux aux resveries d’un malade de fièvre continue qu’aux inventions d’un homme bien sain’ (La Franciade. Oeuvres Complètes, ed. Paul Laumonier, Marcel Didier, Paris, 1950, xVI, p. 4). Nevertheless, Ronsard imitated Ariosto’s combats; e.g. the battle between Francus and Phovere, Livre 11, 1233–1468.
1. C. P. Brand, Ludovico Ariosto, Edinburgh University Press, 1974, p. 194, p. 189.
2. Robert Griffin, Ludovico Ariosto, Twayne, New York, 1974, p. 150.
1. Odyssey, Books Ix-xIII; Aeneid, Books 11–111.
1. The inset narrations are almost invariably amorous or erotic.
1. See, for instance, xxx. 1–4.
1. Since Bulgaria was in the power of Islam in Ariosto’s time, this extension of action and terrain strengthens the relevance of the poem to contemporary Christendom.
1. xxvII. 102.1–4.
1. See, for instance, C. P. Brand, op. cit., p. 78.
1. Cantos Ix-xI. This episode was inserted into the early part of the poem in the last edition; cf. Vol. I, Introduction, pp. 45–8.
1. ‘Small but suited to my needs.’
1. Giovanni Matteo Contarini published his map of the world in Florence in 1506. It shows the ocean extending continuously from Europe to China. The islands discovered by Columbus are shown about half-way between, with South America near by and Japan lying somewhere to the west of Cuba.