In so far as Ariosto’s objects were poetical fame and the honour of his native country they were attained to the full; but his toil was almost vain as respected recompense from the princes for whose sake he had blemished his poem. The Cardinal, a coarse, unscrupulous man, fitter for a soldier than an ecclesiastic, was apparently unable to discern any connection between Ruggiero’s hippogriff and the glories of his descendants, and upon the publication of the _Orlando_ in 1510, asked the poet quite simply “where he had been for all that rot?” He is stated, however, to have presented Ariosto with a golden chain, rather for the ornament of his person than the relief of his necessities, as he could not venture to turn it into money. Ariosto further incurred his Eminence’s displeasure by hesitating to accompany him on a mission to Hungary, and found it advisable to exchange his service for the Duke’s. The Duke, a prince lavish in shows, economical in salaries, thought the poet abundantly rewarded by the governorship of the Garfagnana, which it was necessary to confer upon somebody. The Garfagnana was a wild district overrun with poetical banditti, readers and admirers of their governor’s epic. Here Ariosto gained much honour, but little emolument. His experience of his patrons generally justified his favourite motto, _Pro bono malum_. Even the munificent Leo X. did nothing for him but kiss him on both cheeks, and remit half the fees upon the brief that assured his copyrights, his particular friend Cardinal Bibbiena pocketing the other. His sole real benefactor was the Marquis del Vasto, husband of the lady whom we shall find celebrated by Luigi Tansillo, who settled an annuity of a hundred ducats upon him. Even this was consideration for value to be received, the Marquis, himself a poet, being properly impressed by the _Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona_ maxim. Ariosto acquitted himself of his obligation like a man, comparing his patron to Cæsar, Nestor, Achilles, Nireus, and Ladas. Great as was the renown which his _Orlando_ procured for him in his lifetime, its profits were not such as to render him independent of patronage; yet, after all, he was able to boast that the modest house which he built for himself, and where he died in 1533, was paid for by his own money.[14] It is kept to this day by the municipality of Ferrara; and Ariosto’s manuscripts, evincing his indefatigable care in the revision of his poem, are preserved in the public library.