"Since it is the case that you are now just beginning that journey that I have for the most part as you see completed, that is, the one through mortal life, and loving you so very much as I do, I have proposed to myself--as one who has been many places--to show you those places in life where, walking through them, I fear you could easily either fall or take the wrong direction." So begins Galateo, a treatise on polite behavior written by Giovanni Della Casa (1503-56) for the benefit of his nephew, a young Florentine destined for greatness. In the voice of a cranky yet...
"Since it is the case that you are now just beginning that journey that I have for the most part as you see completed, that is, the one through mor...