The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 53

es of Quattrocento Venice: arola’s Humanist Career 3 to an education, was also a celebrated female humanist in Northern Italy in the late quattrocento. Unlike Isotta, however, Cassandra and Laura were never condemned for breaking into the male-dominated realm of humanism because, by that time, Venetian men welcomed learned ladies in society. 52 By 1600, female humanists throughout Italy were common and widely accepted; they were no longer considered an anomaly. 53 By contrast, the attitudes in early quattrocento Venice were significantly less welcoming. Consequently, Isotta was mocked, disrespected, debased, and called unchaste for being an unmarried learned lady and not conforming to her society’s rules for the female gender. Being called unchaste was the ultimate offense for women in the quattrocento and since “Pliny” claimed Isotta as such, even with no evidentiary support, she was ultimately pushed to abandon her secular humanist career for one that was more acceptable to her society. Since antiquity, chastity had been the quintessential virtue in a woman. 54 Chastity was a virtue all girls and women were required to follow because the society of men believed it ensured the continuity and legitimacy of the male line after marriage. Therefore, being unchaste was the worst sin a female could commit; it would have ruined not only her honor, but also that of her entire family and even her city. She was also accused of incest, which was claimed to be the “most monstrous of all” sins, since the Church associated it with witchcraft and demons, according to Allison Levy. 55 Therefore, Isotta’s