The characters are firmly traced, and sustained with consistency.

The cold and eager hunter Silvio contrasts with tender and romantic Mirtillo.

Corisca's meretricious arts and systematized profligacy enhance the pure affection of Amarilli.

Dorinda presents another type of love, so impulsive that it conquers maidenly modesty.
The Satyr is a creature of rude lust, foiled in its brutal appetite by the courtesan Corisca's wiliness.

Carino brings the corruption of towns into comparison with the innocence of the country.
In Carino the poet painted his own experience; and here his satire upon the Court of Ferrara is none the less biting because it takes the form of well-weighed and gravely-measured censure, instead of vehement invective.