Paolo Giovio

"Universa gens supra mortales cæteros conviviorum studiosissima. Ea enim per varias et exquisitas dapes, interpositis musicis et joculatoribus, in multas sæpius horas extrahunt, ac subinde productis choreis et amoribus fœminarum indulgent, &c."

"He was, as his writings show, a child of his own time. He led a life of pleasure little in accord with Christian precepts, was in active touch with the leading humanists, and was a zealous collector of works of art especially of portraits, which he brought together in a considerable museum. This did not, however, prevent him from laboring steadily on his main work and completing it with new material...He gives us here [Historiarum sui temporis libri XLV] a very clear recital of events from 1494 to 1544, and, while he does not always succeed in unveiling the hidden and interwoven causes and effects of things, he shows himself a true historian. Naturally, very different estimates have been formed of his work. It has been at times sharply criticized, chiefly because Jovius is too enamored of himself, and does not hesitate to declare openly that he will dress up a character in gold, brocade, or common cloth, according to the fee which such portrayal may yield him as compensation. However, it is certain that he does not always follow so reprehensible a principle, for he not infrequently tells the bluntest truths to his own greatest benefactors...His biography of the art-loving Medici pope [Vitae virorum illustrium] is drawn with a background of such glowing colors, that one almost loses sight of the shadows which darken his reign."