 For her own part, Nogarola was concerned that her fame did not come from the sheer volume of intelligence she seemed to possess, but from the novelty of her gender, and despite her erudition had little choice but to defer to the contemporary social norms by deprecating herself as an ignorant woman.Nonetheless, in 1438, after receiving praise from Guarino da Verona, to whom a friend had written the year before, Nogarola wrote herself, calling Guarino a "wellspring of virtue and probity," and terming them heroic, she a Cicero to his Cato, she a Socrates to his Plato.This news spread throughout Verona, which inspired much ridicule from women in the city.