The two poets now came together in a rivalry which was not altogether amicable.

The genius of Tasso, in the prime of youth and heyday of Court-favor, roused Guarini's jealousy.

And yet their positions were so different that Guarini might have been well satisfied to pursue his own course without envy.

A married and elder man, he had no right to compete in gallantry with the brilliant young bachelor.
Destined for diplomacy and affairs of state, he had no cause to grudge the Court poet his laurels.

Writing in 1595, Guarini avers that 'poetry has been my pastime, never my profession'; and yet he made it his business at Ferrara to rival Tasso both as a lyrist and as a servant of dames.