His verses speedily attracted the notice of noble patrons, among whom the Duke of Bovino, the Prince of Conca, and Tasso's friend the Marquis Manso have to be commemorated.

They took care that so genuine and genial a poet should not starve.

It was in one of Manso's palaces that Marino had an opportunity of worshiping the singer of Armida and Erminia at a distance.

He had already acquired dubious celebrity as a juvenile Don Juan and a writer of audaciously licentious lyrics, when disaster overtook him.

He assisted one of his profligate friends in the abduction of a girl.