who, when they wish to put on airs, become “publicists”. 
     It is his boast that throughout the world, “Fame is sold by 
     me.” He had to have publicity; it was his living; and he 
     certainly knew how to set about to get it. . . . Here, then, 
     we have a man who may be called, in point of chronology, 
     the first literary realist, the first journalist, the first 
     publicist, the first art critic. (66)

     Like his exact contemporary Rabelais, Aretino sensed the 
gigantism that is latent in the uniformity and repeatability of 
the printed word. Aretino, from lowly origins and without 
education, used the press as it has been used ever since. 
Putnam writes (p. 37): 

     If Aretino, at this time, was probably the most powerful 
     man in Italy, perhaps in the world, the reason is to be