The Fieschi palace had other allegorical paintings treating various subjects. Some of them described tender love passages in the lives of the Fieschi. In one was told the story of a gentlewoman loved by Sinibaldo. It would seem that she grew jealous and reproached him with want of fidelity, because he mingled much in the company of other dames. Sinibaldo, in order to excuse and justify himself with his mistress, demanded of Giovio an appropriate representation in allegory. The artist represented a mariner’s compass lying on a chart with the needle fixed; overhead a blue sky spangled with golden stars, and underneath the motto, _aspicit unam_. The sense of this allegory being that, though the heaven is full of beautiful stars, the needle points to one alone, that is, the North star. The offended dame was cured of her jealousy. The allegory was much praised, says Giovio, by many persons, including Fieschi’s secretary, Paolo Panza. We have already said that the elect of the city came to congratulate Gianluigi on his return to Carignano, and that the luxury displayed by him on the occasion of his marriage surpassed all bounds. Some conception of this luxury may be formed when we remember that Genoa was at that time the richest city in Italy, and that its wealth found expression in a prodigality of money so excessive, that Partenopeo in an assembly, at the time Giovanni Battista Sauli entered upon the magistracy, prayed the government to impose restrictions on the waste of the national wealth. In fact, on the 16th of December, 1500, the elders issued a proclamation forbidding wives to spend on their personal attire more than a third part of their dowers, and ordained other sumptuary prohibitions. The flower of the Genoese youth frequented the Fieschi palace, not merely for amusement and pastime, but they cultivated there letters and polite studies. Liguria had at that period some erudite scholars, who employed themselves in teaching youth the sciences and eloquence. The Fieschi did not rank last in these pursuits; and it had become a family tradition for the sons to cultivate letters, and acquire the doctorate in law. Gianluigi was versed in every branch of learning, and, though it has been written that he never had other books in his hands than the life of Nero and the conspiracy of Catiline, it is certain that he studied the Latin and Italian masters, especially Tacitus and Machiavelli.