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 MEDICI 343 but the Medici generally either assumed these offices, or nominated their friends and parti- sans, while paying great deference to popular opinion, and avoiding all ostentation of power. Cosmo, however, was opposed at the outset by a powerful party, headed by the Albizzi family ; and in 1433 Kinaldo de' Albizzi carried the elections against him, and procured a decree banishing Cosmo for ten years and his brother Lorenzo for five. At the end of a year the party of the Medici again prevailed, repealed the sentence of banishment, and exiled Rinaldo and his principal adherents. The rest of Cos- mo's life was passed in prosperity, and in the promotion of letters and arts and the manage- ment of foreign affairs. He continued to the last engaged in commerce, which he carried on through agents. His mercantile transactions seem to have been chiefly with the East through Alexandria. The banking houses which the Medici maintained in the chief cities of Europe were a source of vast profits ; and a considerable revenue was drawn from their numerous farms and mines, especially the mines of alum, of which they possessed nearly the monopoly in Italy. Cosmo himself lived in a simple style, but spent vast sums in erecting splendid public edifices. His wealth and influence ranked him with the most powerful princes of Italy, any of whom would have been glad to intermarry with his family ; but as such connections might have given rise to unfavorable comments, he selected wives for his sons among the Floren- tine nobles. Cosmo died Aug. 1, 1464. By a public decree shortly before his death he re- ceived the title pater patrice, which was in- scribed on his tomb. His son Giovanni died before him. PIETRO I., his successor, born in 1414, was almost constantly confined to his bed from ill health. He was less popular than his father, and a powerful party, headed by Luca Pitti, the builder of the Pitti palace, and by other prominent nobles, was soon formed against him. Failing to overthrow the Medici by peaceful measures, they attempted in 1466 to assassinate Pietro, but were baffled by his son Lorenzo. The failure of this conspiracy strengthened the Medici, and their principal opponents were banished, with the exception of Pitti, who abandoned his own party and suddenly went over to that of the Medici, who now became the almost undisputed masters of the state. Pietro had conducted with skill and credit several important negotiations du- ring his father's lifetime, and his subsequent direction of the affairs of state was marked by prudence and judgment. He was a mu- nificent patron of letters and arts. He died Dec. 3, 1469, leaving two sons, Lorenzo and Giuliano. LORENZO, surnamed the Magnifi- cent, was born Jan. 1, 1448. At an early age he displayed extraordinary talent, and the mu- nificent disposition which afterward gave him a claim to the appellation of Magnificent. He had rendered himself conspicuous before he arrived at manhood by his poetical talents, and f by his penetration, courage, and good sense. He was tall and robust, with a dignified coun- tenance and pleasing manners; but his sight was weak, his voice harsh, and he was totally devoid of the sense of smell. He was educa- ted by the first scholars of the age; when his studies were completed he visited the va- rious courts of Italy, and his correspondence with his father during his absence shows that the latter had already learned to repose great confidence in the judgment of his son in po- litical matters. The share taken by Lorenzo in defeating the conspiracy headed by Luca Pitti, and the magnanimity with which he treated the conspirators, extended his repu- tation throughout Italy. On June 4, 1469, he married Clarice Orsini, of the noble and pow- erful Roman family of that name. On the day after the death of his father in the same year, Lorenzo was waited upon by many emi- nent citizens of Florence, who requested that he would take upon himself the administration and care of the republic in the same man- ner as his father and grandfather had done. In 1471 he was sent to Rome at the head of a splendid embassy to congratulate Sixtus IV. on his elevation to the papacy, and was made treasurer of the holy see. But Sixtus under- took in 1474 the conquest of Citta di Cas- tello, on the border of the territory of Flor- ence ; and as its ruler Mccol6 Vitelle was a personal friend of Lorenzo, Florence lent some assistance to its defence, which, though ulti- mately unsuccessful, was so vigorous and pro- tracted as to cause the pope great expense and vexation, which he attributed chiefly to Lo- renzo. He was also incensed by the alliance which Lorenzo effected between Florence, Venice, and Milan, for the purpose of checking the ambitious projects of the pope and protect- ing the independence of the minor states of Italy. Sixtus thenceforward strove to destroy the power of the Medici, and he is even ac- cused by many historians of having instigated a conspiracy for the assassination of Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. The attempt was made during divine service in the church of the Reparata, on Sunday, April 26, 1478. The signal agreed upon was the elevation of the host, at which moment Francesco de' Pazzi and another conspirator named Bandini stabbed and instantly killed Giuliano. Two priests at the same instant attacked Lorenzo, but only succeeded in giving him a slight wound in the neck. He defended himself with vigor, and was presently surrounded by his friends, who escorted him home after putting to death all the conspirators present except a few saved by the interposition of Lorenzo himself. Meantime an unsuccessful attempt had been made to seize the government palace by the archbishop of Pisa, who was taken prisoner by the magistrates, and summarily hanged from its windows, together with Francesco and sev- eral others of the Pazzi, of which family the only one who escaped the popular fury re-