It is nearly fifty years since an English biography of Pope Pius II has appeared, and since then a lot of new material has come to hand; in particular, the Pope's commentaries can now be read in their entirety. These have been freely quoted, and are fascinating, for Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini had many natural gifts: an insatiable curiosity, a mind always alert and tuned to catch fleeting impressions, the rare capacity to feel at home in any company, and a human love of beauty. Few lives have been fuller or more varied. Till he was fifteen, Aeneas worked his father's field and knew the frustration of trying to learn without books or adequate teachers.