Re: 1487 Lucrezia's wedding / Boiardo's Tarocchi poem

41
Boiardo's tercet to Psyche ...
Patientia hebbe Psiche ai casi soi,
E perho fu soccorsa nelli affanni,
E fatta Dea nel fin, che è exemplo a noi.

Marco:
Psyche was patient in what happened to her,
And because of that she found help in her troubles,
And in the end was made a Goddess, to be an example for us.
... found attention at ..

Apuleius’ The Golden Ass in Ferrara
Roberta Cauchi Santoro (2012)
University of Western Ontario, Canada, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
http://annali.unife.it/lettere/article/download/279/228

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The author in her text explains, that Boiardo's Apuleius isn't by far not a faithful translation, but Boiardo mixes it with a text in the Decamerone and also embeds elements, which lead to his own Orlando work. Boiardo's interest is to entertain the court of Ercole.

For us it's interesting to observe, that the composition of the 22 themes contains "biographical elements" of the court-life of Ercole's time. Perhaps one may assume, that all 22 tercets have this context, possibly referring to earlier discussions or actions in the court community.

For the mentioned authors German wiki states:
"Um 1490 verfasste Niccolò da Correggio ein langes italienisches Psyche-Gedicht mit dem lateinischen Titel Fabula Psiches et Cupidinis, das er Isabella d’Este widmete; es wurde 1507 in Venedig gedruckt. Bei Correggio steht nicht Psyche im Mittelpunkt, sondern die Geschichte wird aus Amors Perspektive erzählt. Galeotto del Carretto schrieb um 1500 eine Komödie in Versen Noze de Psiche e Cupidine („Die Hochzeit von Psyche und Cupido“). "
The Niccolo d Correggio version is given to c. 1490 and it is told from the perception of Amor. Galeotto del Carretto wrote a comedy, c. 1500.
Carretto: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/gal ... ografico)/
And his work is given to 1504.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: 1487 Lucrezia's wedding / Boiardo's Tarocchi poem

42
A major argument for the dating of the Boiardo Tarocchi poem to January 1487 is the opinion of Werner Gundersheimer (a Ferrara specialist), who had worked about the Ferrarese writer Bartolomeo Goggio:

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https://books.google.de/books?id=XLPEa2 ... io&f=false

Goggio had expressed the view, that "women are better than men", and he had started this work c. 1487 and finished it in 1490. It didn't reach much direct publication and stayed in the internal cycle of the Ferrarese court. The general context was the lost Ferrarese war(1482-84), in which Leonora (wife of Ercole d'Este) in a dangerous situation had saved the state, when her husband was wounded and sick. Ercole d'Este, a man with some military orientation till this war (often active as condottiero) in contrast to his older brother Borso, changed his disposition after the bad experience with war, and engaged for theatre shows and the weddings of his 3 daughters and for the aim to generate local Ferrarese saints in the following time of his life.
Gundersheimer detected a new quality of feministic literature in 15th century literature with the work of Goggio, earlier representations of heroic women had gone so far, that they argued for the view "women could be as good men as men", but didn't reach the conclusion, that "women are better than man".

So I understood his argumentation, I cannot control, if this judgment is reliable, cause that would be much work. I just rely on the conditions, that Gundersheimer has a good name as a researcher and had (likely) done well on in his analysis.

For the short Boiardo text I think, that one can say, that the participation of the female figures (as major figures in the tercets) is connected to "good words" (all at the beginning of the tercets) and the participation of the male figures to opposing "bad words" (also at the beginning of the tercets).

Already Dummett had presented the beginning words and the participating figures in a sort of order:

IPCS Journal vol.1, no. 3 (1973)
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So far the old Trionfi.com representation hasn't been a new detection. But Dummett didn't point to the condition, that odd numbers of the tercets (1-3-5-7-9-11-13-15-17-19) are related to male figures, and that female figures belonged to the even numbers (2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20). This feature alone would have been enough to speak of an observable "pairing principle" inside the trump row: 1 paired with 2, 3 paired with 4 etc.

As a consequence of this observation naturally the question arises, if the connected "qualities" (Dummett's terminus for the beginning words) somehow would incorporate a system or "higher order". In the considerations of 2003 the following scheme was developed.

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For a better orientation I add the numbers of the tercets:

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It was perceived, that the 10 number pairs (1-2, 3-4 etc.) might have been understood by Boiardo as 10 oppositions between "good qualities" (connected to female behavior according the female figures) against "bad qualities" (connected to male behavior according the male figures).
(Additionally the idea existed, that possibly the 10 connected numbers (each consisting of a word pair) were sorted in a life tree scheme, and possibly an orientation to the body-soul-spirit scheme had been considered by Boiardo. This latter part is of no deciding importance for the current point of discussion, as only the pairing principle is observed. But nonetheless: recently we discussed a scheme in the John of Rheinfelden scheme in his 60 cards deck with professions and it also showed some life-tree-scheme.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1093#p16822
Themes of the professions

3. = 1 .... (idea of) bread --------------
4. = 2 .... vine --------------------------- } eating / drinking
5. = 3 .... fish and meat ---------------

6. = 4 .... clothes (wool)---------------
7. = 5 .... shoes (leather)-------------- } clothes
8. = 6 ... clothes (skin)-----------------

9. = 7 ... working tools-----------------
10. = 8 ... physician -------------------- } living place, health
11. = 9 ... buildings --------------------

12. = 10 ... journeys


... )
... .-) ... earlier in this thread ... see viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1107#p17087 ...
I had been on the way to discuss the 10 opposing pairs in the Boiardo poem, but then the dynamic of the discussion led to the exploration if Daphne or Laura were meant by Boiardo in the 4th tercet. So that hopeful beginning was lost.
The Gundersheimer-argument is independent from the idea, that Lucretia's wedding might be the deciding detail which make the dating of January 1487 probable. Gundersheimer in his own opinion and research might have come to the conclusion, that not Gobbio, but Boiardo started the new literary fashion "women are better than men", if he had known the Boiardo Tarocchi poem (which he possibly did) and had realized the structure and system of the poem with 10 pairs (which he probably not realized). But from his own perspective he came to the coclusion, that Gobbio started his longer work just in 1987.

This thread started by myself (15th of June), when SteveM at 14th of June ...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1102&p=17068&hilit=boiardo#p17068
... asked ...
Have you got a link to the full argument for 1487, I remember reading some fuller explanation somewhere sometime, but having searched can't find it. I do remember I found the argument rather weak, but perhaps the argument has been more fully expanded since then.

The arguments for an earlier dating is the poem itself - for a start it is not very good, far from the qualities for which the poems of his maturity are more famous. It is full of the faults of beginners (archaic language, simplistic rhymes, commonplace phrases & themes), and also its imitation of Petrarch is typical of the poetry of his youth - c.1460's.
So, this Gundersheimer argument was the (independent) major confirmation for the observation about Lucretia d'Este's wedding and the appearance of the Roman Lucretia at the position of the highest trump No. 21 in the poem.
Naturally the importance is only understandable, if one understands the nature of the 10 oppositional pairs and accepts the idea, that these are indeed incorporated in the Tarocchi poem of Boiardo (which is naturally something, which one could debate, it's not in all cases easy and clear). Naturally one could also doubt, if the opinion of Gundersheimer is a valid contribution.

************

The pairing model was also used in modified manner (0-1, 2-3 etc.) in the analysis of the Sola-Busca Tarocchi, there observable by the manner, how the figures look at each other. A similar feature appeared also in the figures of the Lorenzo Spirito lot book (1482). It also appeared in the biographies of Plutarch (Parallel lives) ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Lives

That elements of specific systems are presented in pairs seems very common, I'm especially used to pairs in the I-Ching, where they have traditionally 3 differences methods to create pairs. As these are formed by mathematical qualities, one can these also use for the 16 geomancy elements. In astrology and zodiac we have pairs with Aries-Libra, Taurus-Scorpio etc (by opposition), but also pairs by planet rulers (Mars for Aries and Scorpio etc.). Persons, which arranged such systems, used very often pairs as keys for their system. It's simply very common, nating, which is especially very unusual.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: 1487 Lucrezia's wedding / Boiardo's Tarocchi poem

43
Which biographical details included in the poem are you on about, I see nothing in what you have quoted to show that biographical details of d'Este family members or acquaintances were included n the substance of the poem? I do not follow the logic of Boiardo's translation of Apulieus leading to such a conclusion? His sources for any of the persons in his poem (Ovid, Apulieus, Petrarch, etc.,) are commonalities, that require no new translation of anything. Most, if not all of them, can be found as exemplars in shcolastic latin schoolbooks in common use from the 12th century, never mind humanist ones. There is possibly some intertextual evidence with the commentary of Illicino on Petrarch - but without further search I can't be sure about that (earlier commentators on Petrarch, such as Boccaccio, may have made the link between Laura and reason; but even if not, Reason v. Cupidito and others was an old theme, such that Boiardo didn't need an Illicino or Boccaccio to make for him).

And I see no new theme of 'women are better than men'.The theme is that of the typical Petrarchian women (women as models of virtue), and not original with Petrarch, but as old as chivalry romances at least. It is a theme to be found in common educational treatise of the time and much earlier. The Gundersheimer argument isn't worth a pot of piss, providing no confirmation at all -- as your major confirmation, its just a kettle of fish, and stinky ones at that.

And the theme of 'women are better than men' is older anyway, we have had this discussion before - but it is irrelevant, as that isn't the theme, it is the common Petrarchian women as models of virtue (a misnomer, to the extent such is older than Petrarch). A point I made near the beginning of this thread, rejecting this as one of the arguments I recalled you had previously made.

The literary pairing device is as old as any poetry we have, abundant in ancient texts and sacred texts from Birmingham to China - such a common rhetorical and poetic device proves nothing in terms of substantiating time nor place; neither does your pairing on a tree of life schema.

If we look into biographical details, a game to while away the hours is more consistent of his earlier period with Ercole d'Este - later he is far too busy, too busy even to work on and complete his Orlando, despite the pressure of Isabelle d'Este for him to do so. Busy dealing with familily conflicts re: his own estate (which includes an assassination attempt on his life by member of his own family, on his father's side), and his political/state commisions deaing with conflicts. There are extent letters to Isabelle d'Este mentioning his lack of time to complete literary projects; when he did have time, he did so under pressure to work on and complete his Orlando. Too busy even to attend the wedding of Lucretia, let alone invent a game and write a poem for it (and one with a theme that does not even match the wedding theme, Forza 'd'Ercole, a theme of Ercole's own wedding, and that of his grandson Ercole II).

And no, a passing tercet re: the poisoning of hercules does not make the poem a Forza d'Ercole themed poem. Besides not following the wedding theme, I'd be interested in knowing how you consider this to be a suitable occasional poem, one in this instance you claim to be for the occasion of a wedding. Can you give us examples of anything similar for such an occasion? Occasional poems did tend to follow a formula, so it shouldn't be hard to do so. One in which women behead, poison or reject their suitors (to the point of killing themselves), who in turn are idiots or evil or frustrated or tricked etc., Great subject for a wedding, you must be able to find plenty of examples?

However, I do wonder if Ercole's self-representation as hercules may have contributed to Fortezza (virtue associated with hercules) being made the final triumph as a sort of tribute to Ercole d'Este...

But without any evidence or confirmation, I may only wonder, I won't go on to treat such speculation as a proven fact, upon which shaky foundation to build an edifice, as you seem so often inclined to do.

Re: 1487 Lucrezia's wedding / Boiardo's Tarocchi poem

44
SteveM wrote:And I see no new theme of 'women are better than men'.The theme is that of the typical Petrarchian women (women as models of virtue), and not original with Petrarch, but as old as chivalry romances at least. It is a theme to be found in common educational treatise of the time and much earlier. The Gundersheimer argument isn't worth a pot of piss, providing no confirmation at all -- as your major confirmation, its just a kettle of fish, and stinky ones at that.

And the theme of 'women are better than men' is older anyway, we have had this discussion before - but it is irrelevant, as that isn't the theme, it is the common Petrarchian women as models of virtue (a misnomer, to the extent such is older than Petrarch). A point I made near the beginning of this thread, rejecting this as one of the arguments I recalled you had previously made.
Well, Gundersheimer made this argument, as far I know, not reflecting the Boiardo poem. He sees a concrete change in the contemporary literature, and he points to the year 1487.
As I said, I cannot judge the value of the opinion of Gundersheimer. I'm not very competent in this theme.

His major article to it seems to be this:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2861116?se ... b_contents
(1980), 25 pages

The article influenced other writers, the unknown Gobbio suddenly became interesting. It's easy to find these replies with "Gundersheimer Goggio" ...
https://www.google.com/?ion=1&espv=2#q= ... r%20goggio
... and its likely not a surprise, that one finds female authors.

In Isabella d'Este we find a dominant woman of the early half of 16th century, who was educated at this Ferrarese court, then (1487) just in the right age to take up new influences (and promising the future, which can show, what such new education would be worth later; well, we know her future, and can make the conclusion, that she was a "new type of a woman"). You cannot discuss this away. She was not like Parisina, another great lady at this court, in her fate. There are differences in the general social behavior between 1425 and 1508, when Isabella started to manage the war congresses. A development took place and it has some logic, that it had steps of development, which can be recognized by literary studies. ... .-) surely a lot of piss pots were filled in this time, but I don't think, that this makes a good counter argument.

I personally only analyzed the structural elements of the poem. There are "keywords" (the beginning words) and there are major persons. Although Dummett's list wasn't known to us in 2003, the Trionfi.com research came to the same row of "major persons" and the same distribution of gender (1-3-5-7-9-11-13-15-17-19 versus the other half) in the 20 centered tercets.
When 2 persons see the same thing, one generally may regard it as some degree of objectivity.
The "keywords" presents qualities and at least some are clearly "good" and some are clearly "bad". When all the keywords, which are clearly recognizable as "good" gather at the "even" (female) numbers and all the "really bad" gather at the "odd" (male) side, the interpretation of the poem shouldn't miss that, otherwise it wouldn't be an interpretation or the researcher is just a little bit blind or has it eyes elsewhere and just another focus.

At least it should be respected, that the probability is high, that Boiardo presented the odd numbers as connected to bad qualities and the even numbers to good qualities, with some automatic generation of female virtues and male vices (or stupidities). Boiardo's values are from 15th century and not naturally the same as modern values, Lucrezia's self-killing may look strange to us as a virtue, but one has to respect, that it was another time.

With the pair "Time" (bad, odd side) and "Oblivion" (good, even side) I have my problems, but from a "female 15th century perspective" Oblivion might be a good value. The general mother role demands, that bad experiences are forgotten in the life of their children ... well, love makes this. The strong time-counting of the men is brutal, wants to know the true action. ... .-) ... Tarot historians are often male, Tarot diviners are a more female community. And "Father Time" is old and male, and "Fortune" is younger and female.

We don't have 100s of Tarocchi poems of a comparable length, we have just this Boiardo poem from 15th century. And it's crucial for the overall context, cause it is the first evidence for the 4x14+22 game structure. So that, what is really interesting, is the date.

If you indeed could offer a better date than 1487 with some content and really good arguments, please do.

We have for the 1480s the 3 pictures of Ercole de Roberti .. 3 women in calamities, between them the Roman Lucretia. He also spend some time in Bologna, which isn't far from Ferrara, and had commissions, this all likely in the context of the later or earlier marriage of Lucretia to Annibale. The other both motifs are "Portia and Brutus" and "Hasdrubal Barca's wife with sons". Sophonisba, daughter of Hasdrubal Barca, was part of the program of the Boiardo Tarocchi poem.

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The early Boiardo in the 1460s wouldn't have had this pictures in his surrounding and he wouldn't have had translated the Apuleius. A lot of the scenes in the Orlando play in Africa, I've read.

I've no ideas, how much attention the poems of the very young Boiardo have gotten in the book printing production of the early 16th century. Do you know something about this?

****************

I didn't note, that anybody of the poetry specialists pointed to the observation of the odd and even pairs in the Boiardo poem. And that anybody stated, that the keywords might have been arranged in opposition pairs. And that they possibly present a sort of philosophical system.
The truth is, that the Boiardo poem hadn't gotten much attention, at least in the state of 2003.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: 1487 Lucrezia's wedding / Boiardo's Tarocchi poem

45
Well, Gundersheimer made this argument, as far I know, not reflecting the Boiardo poem.
My argument is not with Gundersheimer, there are earlier examples but he broadly correct in the popularity of the theme post-Goggio. My argument is with your contention that Boiardo's poem belongs to this post-Goggio theme, and hence is post 1487. My argument is that your 'major argument', based upon Gundersheimer, is weak; not that Gundersheimer's own theses is weak.

The theme women are better than men is one that may have had special appeal to Isabelle - Goggio and Boiardo's Triomphi may well reflect something of that - however, there is no dependence on Goggio as model or theme for Boiardo's poem. The scheme of woman as models of virtue and men frustrated or led into error by their desires is Petrarchian, Boiardo is not dependant upon Goggio, there is nothing in the poem that requires us to conclude that Boiardo drew upon Goggio for inspiration or scheme. Pairing of virtues and vices is also an old one, Boiardo's is somewhat more complex than a simple virtue v. vice scheme, but is akin to it, with more negative qualities signified by men and positive by women (in old virtue v. vices schemes too, we find female allegories of virtues over male depictions of vices).

That Boiardo drew upon an incident in Apuleius does not require that it must therefore be post his own translation from Latin into the vernacular. The text he largely translated from was the 1469 edition of Bussi, but the tale of Cupid and Psyche, the most popular tale from the Metamorphoses, was already well failry well known. Boccaccio and Petrarch also drew upon Apuleius in the 14th century. In fact several stories in Boiardo's 'translation' are not translations of Bussi at all, but paraphrases of Boccaccio's retelling of the stories from his Decameron. Boccaccio had also told the story of Cupic and Psyche in his On the Genealogy of the Gods of the Gentiles*, Boiardo didn't bother translating many of the incidents in the original, glosses over many of them, adds stories and characters that aren't in the original, misses out book 11 completely, and changes the ending to one from pseudo-Lucian. Whatever, the point is that "he wouldn't have had translated the Apuleius" is a very weak argument, he wouldn't have needed to have competed such simply in order for him to include Psyche. However, the Bussi edition did revive interest in Apuleius, so possibly the inclusion of Psyche may reflect that renewed post-1469 interest.

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Psyche in the garden of cupid, "Illustration from the Metamorphoses (also called the Golden Ass)" by Apuleius, 1345, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

SteveM

*"Book 5, chapter 22 retells the story of Psyche, and gives two genealogies for her: at first Boccaccio identifies her, following some late antique sources, as the daughter of Apollo (god of the Sun), but then summarises Apuleius’ story, where she is princess born of mortal parents, diligently and in detail up to the point where Cupid deserts her because she broke the taboo and looked at her sleeping husband. The rest of the story is then told very briefly. Boccaccio concludes by explaining the story’s meaning, as he sees it: Psyche is the soul, and Apollo the god of true light, has therefore to be her father – the Platonist philosophical explanation Boccaccio aspires to clashes with Apuleius’ tale, but Boccaccio allows both to stand next to each other."

It is to Boccaccio of course that we owe the recovery of Apuleius.

The story of Psyche was also known from De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii ("On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury"), by Martianus Capella, which was read, taught, and commented upon throughout the early Middle Ages and shaped European education during the early medieval period and the Carolingian renaissance." And also in Fulgentius, whose work was popular before and well after the Carolingian period.

In the sixteenth century academies for the promotion of woman sprung up. Details from a parlour game from one, the Game of Fortune in which 'fortunes' are drawn from a vase. One of them, praising the literary talents of the Lady whose fortune it was (Livia Marzi):

Ma di che cantera ella prima? Dira forse le lodi del sesso donnesco? Mostrando che ne a loro mancarebbero Orfej o Esiodj, se l’arroganza degl’huomini sottoponendose, non circoncrvesse loro ogni ardire? Certonon, che la modestia sua non eleggerebbe simil materi. Cantera forse la patientia di Psiche? Ne quello credo io, perche come accortissima non vorra provocarsi venore inimica.

But of what will she sing first? Will she perhaps sing the praises of the female sex, showing that they would not lack their own Orpheus and Hesiod, if the arrogance of men subjugating them did not circumscribe their every boldness? Certainly no, because her modesty would not select such material. Will she perhaps sing of the patience of Psyche? I do not believe so, because, as one most shrewd, she would not wish to provoke inimical lust.

Re: 1487 Lucrezia's wedding / Boiardo's Tarocchi poem

46
SteveM wrote: My argument is not with Gundersheimer, there are earlier examples but he broadly correct in the popularity of the theme post-Goggio. My argument is with your contention that Boiardo's poem belongs to this post-Goggio theme, and hence is post 1487.
If Gundesheimer is correct with his 1487 for the start of Goggio's work (as I remember it, the work was ready in 1490), then Goggio would have been post-Boiardo-poem. Goggio was an unknown writer, Boiardo an accepted poet, as I understood it, it makes more logic, that Goggio followed, and got the impulse from Boiardo.

http://trionfi.com/0/h/02/
July 1480 to 1482 - Ercole named Boiardo captain and the governor of Modena. Modena was the most turbulent city of the Estensian dominions. Boiardo seems to have been in constant contact by letter to the Duke Ercole.

November 1482 - Boiardo composes the fourth of his Ecloghi volgari after Nicolò da Correggio is captured by the Venetians during the war of Ferrara against Rome and Venice.

January 1483 - Boiardo leaves Modena; by February the Orlando Innamorato has been printed by Pietro Giovanni da San Lorenzo, a citizen of Modena. Boiardo is sometimes at Reggio and Scandiano, sometimes with the Duke at the capital. The first and second books of Orlando are completed. He was noted for turning to writing certain phases and episodes of the war in Italian eclogues in terza rima.

February 1485: After the peace of Bagolo, Boiardo attended Ercole on his visit to Venice. Matteo Maria is thought then to be at Scandiano preparing his book for the press, as the first two books of the Orlando Innomorato were published in Venice in 1487 with a dedication to the Duke of Ferrara.

January 1487 - Boiardo is appointed captain of the city and duchy of Reggio. On February 1, he made his state entry, was greeted with acclamation and enthusiasm. He was considered too mild in temperament, by not using the death penalty. He is subject to harassing lawsuits by some who he wrote to the Duke,"from me he will have nothing but kindness and good company."
Boiardo was not very much in Ferrara since 1980, but had official functions elsewhere. One reads not much of his poetic activities in the late years.
For the wedding of Lucretia one might suspect, that he was there for the theater plays in Ferrara, but he appears not at the guest list in Bologna, where the wedding took place. Instead of him appears another Boiardo (his personal foe), and Matteo Maria Boiardo ... "On February 1, he made his state entry" (that must have been very close to the wedding in Bologna) ... was in Reggio. Perhaps that was a move of Ercole, who wouldn't like to have a meeting between the conflicting parties, and who perhaps didn't like to have the foe in Reggio, when Matteo was installed (but that's only my own speculation).
My argument is that your 'major argument', based upon Gundersheimer, is weak; not that Gundersheimer's own theses is weak.
Gundersheimer has the rank of a (later) confirmation, it's not the major argument. The observation of the Roman Lucretia at the highest card in the specific deck concept is the major argument. It stands for itself, it doesn't need Gundersheimer. Similar as the 5x14-theory based on PMB analysis stood for itself and was confirmed by the document of 1457 (also later).
The theme women are better than men is one that may have had special appeal to Isabelle - Goggio and Boiardo's Triomphi may well reflect something of that - however, there is no dependence on Goggio as model or theme for Boiardo's poem.
I haven't stated that (the latter sentence). Gundersheimer knew Goggio and his work, and made his conclusion. Gundersheimer had gotten the same result, which was also received in the analysis of the Boiardo poem.
The scheme of woman as models of virtue and men frustrated or led into error by their desires is Petrarchian, Boiardo is not dependant upon Goggio, there is nothing in the poem that requires us to conclude that Boiardo drew upon Goggio for inspiration or scheme. Pairing of virtues and vices is also an old one, Boiardo's is somewhat more complex than a simple virtue v. vice scheme, but is akin to it, with more negative qualities signified by men and positive by women (in old virtue v. vices schemes too, we find female allegories of virtues over male depictions of vices).
Well, a good argument, but the figures in the Boiardo poem are mostly mortal persons, not abstract virtues and vices, so there is a difference. And the used male figures are usually seen as positive and great men, not foes like Mohamed and others. But, naturally, I don't know the Goggio text, and even if would know it, it would be too difficult to me to read it.
The deciding political change is the definition of a new Ercole, before an expert in matters of battles, and now a peace politician, who - after a lost war - wishes to get good marriages for his 3 daughters and his first son ... naturally in the expectation of future political alliances with Bologna, Mantova and Milan. For this he has to repair lost glamour by theater plays, and strengthen his girls in their role as new super-women. And a lot of festivities for the various weddings to win the sympathies of many. This all under the condition, that the finances were rather stressed and there was occasional even famine in the Ferrarese states. The war, as it is said, was the greatest catastrophe in 15th century Ferrara, worse than the 30 years of war in the first half of the century, in which Ferrara often worked as peacemaker.
So in the background a bigger theater called reality.
That Boiardo drew upon an incident in Apuleius does not require that it must therefore be post his own translation from Latin into the vernacular. The text he largely translated from was the 1469 edition of Bussi, but the tale of Cupid and Psyche, the most popular tale from the Metamorphoses, was already well failry well known. Boccaccio and Petrarch also drew upon Apuleius in the 14th century. In fact several stories in Boiardo's 'translation' are not translations of Bussi at all, but paraphrases of Boccaccio's retelling of the stories from his Decameron. Boccaccio had also told the story of Cupic and Psyche in his On the Genealogy of the Gods of the Gentiles*, Boiardo didn't bother translating many of the incidents in the original, glosses over many of them, adds stories and characters that aren't in the original, misses out book 11 completely, and changes the ending to one from pseudo-Lucian. Whatever, the point is that "he wouldn't have had translated the Apuleius" is a very weak argument, he wouldn't have needed to have competed such simply in order for him to include Psyche. However, the Bussi edition did revive interest in Apuleius, so possibly the inclusion of Psyche may reflect that renewed post-1469 interest.
As the recently noted author had stated it, and Ercole seems to have avoided, that Boiardo's version spread very far.

***********

btw MikeH ...

http://15thcenturytarot.blogspot.de/200 ... -poem.html

... once made a webpage with speculations to the 10 Boiardo pairs (comparing it with material from Pico)
Huck
http://trionfi.com
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