120. Strada (Prolusion v. vi.) allows him to contend with
the five heroic poets, Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, and
Statius. His patron is the accomplished courtier Balthazar
Castiglione. His admirers are numerous and passionate. Yet
the rigid critics reproach the exotic weeds or flowers which
spring too luxuriantly in his Latian soil.