Page:EB1911 - Volume 18.djvu/51

 version was produced that is still considered one of the best extant, and that Platonic academy was founded which led to such important results in the history of Italian philosophy and letters. On the 1st of August 1464 Cosimo breathed his last, at the age of seventy-five, while engaged in listening to one of Plato’s dialogues.

The concluding years of his life had been years of little happiness for Florence. Being old and infirm, he had left the government to the management of his friends, among whom Luca Pitti was one of the most powerful, and they had ruled with disorder, corruption and cruelty. The lordship of Florence accordingly did not pass without some difficulty and danger into the hands of Piero, surnamed the Gouty, Cosimo’s only surviving legitimate son. Afflicted by gout, and so terribly crippled that he was often only able to use his tongue, the new ruler soon discovered that a plot was on foot to overthrow his power. However, showing far more courage than he was supposed to possess, he had himself borne on a litter from his villa to Florence, defeated his enemies’ designs, and firmly re-established his authority. But his success may be mainly attributed to the enormous prestige bequeathed by Cosimo to his posterity. Piero died at the end of five years’ reign, on the 3rd of December 1469, leaving two sons, Lorenzo (1449–1492) and Giuliano (1453–1478). The younger, the gentler and less ambitious of the pair, was quickly removed from the world. Lorenzo, on the contrary, at once seized the reins of state with a firm grasp, and was, chronologically, the second of the great men bestowed upon Italy by the house of Medici. In literary talent he was immensely superior to Cosimo, but greatly his inferior in the conduct of the commercial affairs of the house. In politics he had nobler conceptions and higher ambitions, but he was more easily carried away by his passions, less prudent in his revenge, and more disposed to tyranny. He had studied letters from his earliest years under the guidance of Ficino and other leading litterati of the day. At the age of eighteen he visited the different courts of Italy. At his father’s death he was only twenty-one years old, but instantly showed his determination to govern Florence with greater despotism than his father or grandfather. He speedily resorted to the system of the balíe, and was very dexterous in causing the first to be chosen to suit his purpose. He then proceeded to humiliate the great families and exalt those of little account, and this was the policy he constantly pursued. His younger brother Giuliano, being of a mild and yielding disposition, had only a nominal share in the government.

Lorenzo’s policy, although prosecuted with less caution, was still the old astute and fortunate policy initiated by Cosimo. But the grandson bestowed no care upon his commercial interests, although squandering his fortune with far greater lavishness. Accordingly he was sometimes driven to help himself from the public purse without ever being able to assist it as Cosimo had done. All this excited blame and enmity against him, while his greed in the matter of the alum mines of Volterra, and the subsequent sack of that unhappy city, were crimes for which there was no excuse. Among his worst enemies were the Pazzi, and, as they formed a very powerful clan, he sought their ruin by competing with them even in business transactions. They were on the point of inheriting the large property of Giovanni Borromeo when Lorenzo hurriedly caused a law to be passed that altered the right of succession. The hatred of the Pazzi was thereby exasperated to fury. And in addition to these things there ensued a desperate quarrel with Pope Sixtus IV., a man of very impetuous temper, who, on endeavouring to erect a state on the frontiers of the Florentine republic for the benefit of his nephews, found a determined and successful opponent in Lorenzo. Consequently the Pazzi and Archbishop Salviati, another enemy of Lorenzo, aided by the nephews of the pontiff, who was himself acquainted with the whole matter, determined to put an end to the family. On the 26th of April 1478, while Giuliano and Lorenzo were attending high mass in the cathedral of Florence, the former was mortally stabbed by conspirators,

but the latter was able to beat back his assailants and escape into the sacristy. His life preserved, and no longer having to share the government with a brother, Lorenzo profited by the opportunity to wreak cruel vengeance upon his foes. Several of the Pazzi and their followers were hanged from the palace windows; others were hacked to pieces, dragged through the streets, and cast into the Arno, while a great many more were condemned to death or sent into exile. Lorenzo seemed willing and able to become a tyrant. But he stopped short of this point. He knew the temper of the city, and had also to look to fresh dangers threatening him from without. The pope had excommunicated him, put Florence under an interdict, and, being seconded by the Neapolitan king, made furious war against the republic. The Florentines began to tire of submitting to so many hardships in order to support the yoke of a fellow-citizen. Lorenzo’s hold over Florence seemed endangered. But he rose superior to the difficulties by which he was encompassed. He boldly journeyed to Naples, to the court of King Ferdinand of Aragon, who was reputed to be as treacherous as he was cruel, and succeeded in obtaining from him an honourable peace, that soon led to a reconciliation with Sixtus. Thus at last Lorenzo found himself complete master of Florence. But, as the balíe changed every five years, it was always requisite, in order to retain his supremacy, that he should be prepared to renew the usual manoeuvre at the close of that term and have another elected equally favourable to his aims. This was often a difficult achievement, and Lorenzo showed much dexterity in overcoming all obstacles. In 1480 he compassed the institution of a new council of seventy, which was practically a permanent balía with extended powers, inasmuch as it not only elected the chief magistrates, but had also the administration of numerous state affairs. This permanent council of devoted adherents once formed, his security was firmly established. By this means, the chroniclers tell us, “liberty was buried,” but the chief affairs of the state were always conducted by intelligent and experienced men, who promoted the public prosperity. Florence was still called a republic; the old institutions were still preserved, if only in name. Lorenzo was absolute lord of all, and virtually a tyrant. His immorality was scandalous; he kept an army of spies; he frequently meddled in the citizens’ most private affairs, and exalted men of the lowest condition to important offices of the state. Yet, as Guicciardini remarks, “if Florence was to have a tyrant, she could never have found a better or more pleasant one,” In fact all industry, commerce and public works made enormous progress. The civil equality of modern states, which was quite unknown to the middle ages, was more developed in Florence than in any other city of the world. Even the condition of the peasantry was far more prosperous than elsewhere. Lorenzo’s authority was not confined to Tuscany, but was also very great throughout the whole of Italy. He was on the friendliest terms with Pope Innocent VIII., from whom he obtained the exaltation of his son Giovanni to the cardinalate at the age of fourteen. This boy-cardinal was afterwards Pope Leo X. From the moment of the decease of Sixtus IV., the union of Florence and Rome became the basis of Lorenzo’s foreign policy. By its means he was able to prevent the hatreds and jealousies of the Sforzas of Milan and the Aragonese of Naples from bursting into the open conflict that long threatened, and after his death actually caused, the beginning of new and irreparable calamities. Hence Lorenzo was styled the needle of the Italian compass.

But the events we have narrated cannot suffice for the full comprehension of this complex character, unless we add the record of his deeds as a patron of letters and his achievements as a writer. His palace was the school and resort of illustrious men. Within its walls were trained the two young Medici afterwards known to the world as Leo X. and Clement VII. Ficino, Poliziano, Pico della Mirandola and all members of the Platonic academy were its constant habitués. It was here that Pulci gave readings of his Morgante, and Michelangelo essayed the first strokes of his chisel. Lorenzo’s intellectual powers were of exceptional strength and versatility. He could speak with