[Footnote *66: I think Dennistoun is wrong here. Galeotto, called _Il beato_, was the son of Pandolfo Malatesta by Allegra di Mori, and was born 1411. Sigismondo was his son by Madonna Antonia, and was born in 1417. See BATTAGLINI, _Basini Parenensis Poetæ Opera_ (Arimini, 1744), vol. II., p. 274; CLEMENTINI, _Raccolto Istorico della Fondatione di Rimino_ (Rimini, 1617), vol. II., p. 299; and EDWARD HUTTON, _op. cit._, p. 16. Novello was his son also by Madonna Antonia, and was born in 1418. Neither of these ladies was Pandolfo's wife. Pandolfo died before his brother Carlo. On Carlo's death the Malatesta territory was held in trust for a time by women till Galeotto succeeded. On his death the same thing happened; but at last Sigismondo took Rimini when he was fifteen, and Novello had Cesena. It is true that Novello predeceased Sigismondo, though only by a few years, but by then Sigismondo was fighting for his life, having lost everything save Rimini itself. All that Dennistoun says of the Malatesti is inaccurate and clouded by prejudice.] [Footnote 67: Bib. Marucelli, MSS. G, No. 308.] [Footnote 68: The heraldic bearing of the Montefeltri was an imperial eagle; of the Malatesta an elephant, allusive, perhaps, to the bones of Hannibal's elephants, said to have been found at the Furlo Pass, near Fossombrone and Fano, of which they were seigneurs.[*C]] [Footnote *C: See note *2, page 71, _supra_.] Had Sigismondo Pandolfo possessed temper and judgment equal to his courage and ambition, he might have obtained and consolidated a powerful sovereignty, which his liberal and cultivated tastes would have rendered glorious in arts as well as arms. But deeply tainted with-- "That poison foule of bubbling pride," his lofty daring was sustained by no continuous impulse, his impetuous efforts were crowned by no success; the selfishness of his political aims was equalled by the vainglorious direction he gave to art; his energies were wasted in contests with Federigo, a rival against whom he had neither any just quarrel, nor any chance of success; his patronage was monopolised by poets who flattered, and medalists who portrayed himself and his favourite mistress Isotta.