◆Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (“The Philosopher”) succeeded Antonius Pius as Emperor in A. D. 168. Died 180. His wife Faustina (as profligate a woman as Messalina herself) was daughter of Pius. Author of the famous _Meditations_. His son Commodus, who succeeded him as Emperor, was a complete contrast in character to his father, being vicious, weak, cruel and dissolute. ◆Another embellished passage. Faustine had died before Antoninus Commodus was emperor. Moreover, she was only washed (_sublevare_, says the text) with the blood of the gladiator. (J. Capitolin, _Marc-Antoine le Philosophe_, Chap. xix.) [66] P. 113: ◆A discreet and veiled allusion to the amours of Marguerite de Valois and of the Duchess de Nevers with La Môle and Coconas. Implicated in the affair of Field Marshals de Cossé and de Montmorency, La Môle, a Provençal nobleman, and Coconas, a Piedmontese, were beheaded on the square of Grève towards the end of April, 1574, and not killed in battle as Brantôme tries to insinuate. The two princesses, mad with despair, transported the bodies in their carriages to the place of burial, at Montmartre, and kept the heads, which they had had embalmed. (_Mémoires de Nevers_, I., p. 75, and _Le Divorce satirique_.) [67] P. 114: ◆It is Philippe Strozzi, Field Marshal of France, who was born at Venice. Made lieutenant of the naval army in 1579 in order to further the pretensions of Antonio of Portugal, he was defeated, July 28, 1583, and put to death in cold blood by Santa Cruz, his rival. (_Vie et mort ... de Philippe Strozzi._ Paris, Guil. Lenoir, 1608.) [68] P. 119: ◆Thomas de Foix, lord of L’Escu or Lescun, was the brother of Mme. de Chateaubriant, mistress of François I^{er}. He was captured at Pavia and carried, mortally wounded, to the home of the lady of whom Brantôme speaks. It was he who, by the surrender of Cremona in 1522, caused France to lose Italy. (Guicciardini, t. III., p. 473, Fribourg edition, 1775.) [69] P. 120: ◆Paolo Jovio, _Dialogo delle imprese militari ed amorose_, 1559, p. 13. ◆Blaise de Montluc, author of the _Commentaires_, a diabolical Gascon, made Field Marshal of France in 1574. The siege of La Rochelle, which is here mentioned, took place in 1573. For details on this personage, see the De Ruble edition of the _Commentaires_, 1854–74, 5 vols. ◆Paulus Jovius (Paolo Giovio), Historian, was a native of Como; born 1483, died 1552. [70] P. 122: ◆In his _Contre-Repentie_ (fol. 444, A. of his _Works_, 1576). Joachim du Bellay, the poet, was born about 1524 at Lire in Anjou, of a noble and distinguished family of that Province. After an unfortunate youth, his talents ensured him a welcome at the Court of François I. and his sister Marguerite de Valois, where he spent some years. Died young, after a life of ill health, in 1560.