Both Candide and Martin were quite impressed by the palace and the surrounding gardens and the statuary. The noble Pococurante, a man of about sixty, received them hospitably, if with little enthusiasm. Candide praised the beauty, grace, and skill of the two pretty girls who served them refreshments. The sophisticated senator remarked that sometimes he enjoyed their favors, for he "tired of the town ladies, their coquetries, their follies." When Candide expressed admiration for the original Raphaels and other paintings, Pococurante spoke disparagingly of them; he did not find them true to nature. And when Candide voiced his high approval of the music provided for him, his host held forth on the limitations of contemporary music, especially operatic tragedies. Martin was in full agreement with his host. When they inspected the impressive library, Pococurante had as pronounced ideas on the limitations of such acknowledged greats as Homer and Milton; he preferred Virgil, Tasso, and Ariosto. So with reference to Horace: the Roman writer had his virtues, but also serious limitations. Since he had never been brought up to judge anything for himself, Candide was astonished at what he heard; but again Martin was in full agreement with his host. The tenor of the conversation remained the same as reference was made to Cicero, to the eighty volumes of the Academy of Sciences, and to Italian, Spanish, and French drama.
Particularly interesting was the discussion of English literature. Pococurante agreed with Martin that the English had the privilege of writing what they thought about, whereas in "this Italy of ours," people wrote only what they did not think. He would be glad of the freedom of English geniuses but added that passion and factionalism corrupted all that was estimable in that precious freedom. He dismissed Milton as "a barbarian who writes a long commentary on the first chapter of Genesis in ten books of harsh verses" and as a "crude imitator of the Greeks."
