Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini... Later known as Pope Pius ..,during his early years penned an erotic novel entitled, 'Tale of The Two Lovers'.. Written during the rough era of the middle ages, it was deemed as one of the best selling books of his times...
His work is one the first examples of epistolary works full of erotic imagery..
The first printed edition was published in Cologne between the years 1467 to 1470..
The novel is set in Siena, and centers around the love story of Lucretia, a married woman, and Euryalus, one of the men waiting on the Duke of Austria. After an uncertain beginning, in which each is in love but unaware that it is reciprocated, they begin a correspondence, which takes up much of the rest of the novel. Before writing his first love-letter, Euryalus quotes Virgil in defence of his position, Amor vincit omnia et nos cedamus amori (translated: "Love conquers all; let us all yield to love!"
The lovers were identified by some with Kaspar Schlick, the chancellor of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor and a daughter of the elder Mariano Sozzini, Aeneas' law teacher at the University of Siena. This equation of characters is no longer accepted.
The Latin text was edited most recently in 2001. Translations have been made into several languages, including English.
~credits to the source~
