At any rate, his position between the two princesses at this moment was one of delicacy, in which a less vain and more cautious man than Tasso might have found it hard to keep his head cool.
[Footnote 14: _Lettere_, vol.i, p.47.The sonnet begins, 'Sdegno, debil guerrier.'] Up to the present time his life had been, in spite of poverty and domestic misfortunes, one almost uninterrupted career of triumph.

But his fiber had been relaxed in the irresponsible luxurious atmosphere of Courts, and his self-esteem had been inflated by the honors paid to him as the first poet of his age in Europe.

Moreover, he had been continuously over-worked and over-wrought from childhood onwards.

Now, when he returned to Ferrara with the Duchess of Urbino at the age of twenty-nine, it remained to be seen whether he could support himself with stability upon the slippery foundation of princely favor, whether his health would hold out, and whether he would be able to bring the publication of his long expected poem to a successful issue.
In 1574 he accompanied Duke Alfonso to Venice, and witnessed the magnificent reception of Henri III, on his return from Poland.

A fever, contracted during those weeks of pleasure, prevented him from working at the epic for many months.