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After the Colleonic war the Republic had peace for a time. For though she took an auxiliary part in the contest for Rimini, which broke out in 1469, her affairs were little influenced by it, and her territory not even touched. Sigismondo Malatesta, who had just been in negotiation with the condottiere of Bergamo, but had held aloof from the strife and entered the Papal service, died on October 9, 1468. When we review the variety of events that followed close upon one another in this man’s life, and then consider that he only reached the age of fifty-one, we shall form some idea of the restless character of the epoch. According to the last stipulation, Pope Paul II. expected the reversion of Rimini, as Sigismondo had died without legitimate heirs, but his natural son Roberto, then only six and twenty, succeeded in taking possession of the city, and formed numerous allies, when the Pope prepared to expel him by force. When Alessandro Sforza undertook the siege of Rimini with the Papal army, Naples, Florence, Milan, and Urbino, came to the assistance of Malatesta, and on August 30, 1469, Sforza suffered a severe defeat, whereas the Pope’s allies, the Venetians, did not appear till after the event. Paul II. wished at first to continue the contest, but resolved the following year to come to terms, a decision confirmed by his conviction that Venice thought more of extending her own power in Romagna than of supporting him, and also by the progress of the Turks, which caused serious anxiety, not only to Venice, whose possessions in the Levant were threatened, but to all Italian powers. Paul’s successor had, at a critical moment, no reason to regret that Roberto Malatesta remained in Rimini.

It was a fortunate thing for Florence that peace was concluded, for the expenses had long been enormous. The allies seemed to think that the Florentine purse was inexhaustible. When Galeazzo Maria arrived in July 1467 from the camp, he carried an open empty purse at his belt: they were obliged to pay him a large sum, says a contemporary, to enable him to return to the camp.[155] At the same time the sum of 1,200,000 gold florins was raised, partly by a property tax, partly by additional imposts, to which the clergy and those otherwise exempted from taxation were forced to contribute, while the half of their salaries was deducted from all officials outside the city. The heavy expenses of the war did not, however, hinder the expenditure of large sums for other purposes, as, for example, in February 1468, even before the peace was ratified, 37,000 gold florins were paid for Sarzana and the neighbouring castle, which the Genoese Fregosi sold to the Republic, a bargain which caused violent disputes afterwards. There was no lack of complaints of the great expenses. Even before the war numerous failures had taken place, and created a serious panic in the commercial world. The war had crippled industry and commerce. The government could not blind itself to the prevailing discontent, and if they sought to amuse the crowd by festivals in honour of foreign princes, and in other ways, they only increased the expenses of the city. The Duke of Calabria, who had his winter quarters in the Pisan territory, was twice in Florence in the autumn of 1467, where great honour was shown to the son of the most powerful of the allies. In the following May, after the peace, he resided in Pisa, and informed Lorenzo de’ Medici, through Luigi Pulci,[156] that he thought of spending the festival of St. John at Florence, and recommended him to see that it should be brilliantly celebrated.

Pleasure-making and expensive pursuits were certainly ill-adapted to the frame of mind which prevailed in Florence in the latter times of the war, and to the general condition of affairs. ‘The whole city,’ wrote Niccolò Roberti, the Ferrarese ambassador, to Duke Borso, on January 12, 1468,[157] ‘is discontented and in the worst humour. Not only enemies, but even most friends, agree in the opinion, that if peace be not soon concluded, all must emigrate, or something new be resolved on, for it is no longer possible to bear the burdens. Few people work, and shops are daily closed. The one consolation is, that peace cannot be far distant. Three days ago a meeting of the council took place, and it was determined to collect money for the equipment of twenty galleys, as it is said the Duke of Milan and King Ferrante intend to put a powerful fleet to sea, and attack Venice in the gulf, if she does not agree to peace. It is certainly whispered by some that if the money were to be had, Piero de’ Medici would take it for himself.’ So little satisfactory was the state of affairs, and so great the discontent. When peace was concluded after long uncertainty, a contagious illness tormented the citizens. ‘The pestilence is in many houses here,’—thus writes the ambassador from Ferrara on August 12—‘and although, on account of the imperfection of the statistical reports, the number of deaths cannot be ascertained, they are estimated at from six or eight daily. Piero de’ Medici shuts himself up, and, it is said, will go to Careggi next week.’ Public festivals were rather out of place.

Lorenzo was then nineteen years old. As his father was hindered by ill-health from appearing in public, or taking an active share in civic festivities, the gifted young man, who had shown in the Pitti conspiracy how ripe was his understanding, and how he could combine forethought with prompt action, naturally was brought prominently before the public. In festivities he took the foremost place, as became the position of his family and his own inclinations. On February 7, 1469, a festival took place at Florence, which forms a brilliant page, not only in the history of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s life, but also in the history of Italian poetry of the time closely connected with it. Niccolò Machiavelli, in describing this tournament, accuses Lorenzo of having sought to amuse the people in order to avert their attention from his politics. Savonarola had expressed the same opinion long before. But it is unfair to ascribe the splendid tourneys of Lorenzo, the spirited amusements then common to high-born and vivacious youths, to indirect political motives. When in 1467 Braccio Martelli, the son of a distinguished family allied by friendship with the Medici, celebrated his marriage, there was a tournament, in which Lorenzo de’ Medici took part. Among the young ladies present was Lucrezia Donati. The name of the ancient and ambitious race from which she sprang was mentioned in the first ranks of those who in the days of Guelphs and Ghibellines, and afterwards in those of the White and Black factions, filled the city with sanguinary quarrels. Dante Alighieri, who allied himself in marriage to that family without making peace with them, has bestowed on Piccarda, a daughter of the Donati—of whom he makes her brother Forese say, he knows not whether her beauty or her goodness is her greatest ornament—a crown whose glory far outshines historical fame.[158] In the introduction to one of his youthful poems, which will be mentioned afterwards, Lorenzo has described the object of his early love, whose name, never mentioned by him, has been made known by his friends and admirers. The story of the rise of his love is a mixture of truth and fiction, as he connects it with the death of a young girl who was beloved by Lorenzo’s brother, a circumstance which belonged, however, to a later time. We know nothing of Lucrezia Donati but what is said of her by the young poet—who at this tournament begged for a wreath of violets which she held in her hand, and promised to give a similar entertainment in her honour—and what his friends say of her, one of whom puts a verse into her mouth, in the pompous style of the stilted poetry of the fifteenth century which Lorenzo mainly contributed to do away with; while another seeks to persuade her to return the young man’s love.

Nearly two years passed before Lorenzo could fulfil his promise at the wedding of Braccio Martelli. The times were not favourable for festivities. At length the Piazza Sta. Croce witnessed the brilliant spectacle. The Piazza differed from the present one in the appearance of the surrounding buildings, but its form was the same, and well suited for such purposes, so that many a grand pageant had been displayed here. Tournaments were in vogue then and at a much later period. And though they were mostly free from danger, they yet afforded opportunity to exhibit and to try knightly skill, while they led to a not ignoble expenditure of money, to the display of costly weapons and beautiful horses, and to an ingenious though sometimes affected invention of devices and emblems. Numerous were the distinguished young men who took part in the chivalrous games. Besides two stranger knights, Lorenzo’s brother-in-law, Guglielmo Pazzi, and his brother Francesco, two Pitti, Donigi Pucci, Salvestro Benci, Benedetto Salutati, Braccio de’ Medici, Carlo Borromeo, Piero Vespucci, and Jacopo Bracciolini, figured there. Who could have dreamed then that more than one of the combatants would be victims to a plot against that very Medici with whom all seemed to be at peace!

The costumes and state of all who took part in this tournament were exceedingly splendid, and especially gorgeous was the array of Lorenzo himself.[159] Before him rode nine trumpeters, and a page bearing a red and white banner, and accompanied by two others. Next came two squires in full armour, whom the Count of Urbino and Roberto Sanseverino had placed at Lorenzo’s disposition; twelve young noblemen on horseback, Giuliano de’ Medici in a tabard of silver brocade with a silk doublet embroidered in pearls and silver, and a black velvet baret cap, adorned with three feathers made of gold thread, set with large pearls and rubies. The youth’s attire was estimated at eight thousand ducats. Now came five mounted pages with fifers and drummers, and then Lorenzo himself. He wore a surcoat with a shoulder-piece of red and white silk, and across it a silk scarf embroidered with fresh and withered roses, and the device ‘Le temps revient’ in large pearls. On the velvet baret cap, adorned with a great number of pearls, he wore a feather made of gold thread, set with rubies and diamonds, and having in the centre a pearl of five hundred ducats value. The diamond on his shield, called ‘Il Libro,’ was estimated at more than two thousand ducats. The horse, a present of King Ferrante, which he afterwards exchanged for one sent him by Borso d’Este, wore red and white velvet housings, embroidered with pearls. When the tournament began he laid aside the velvet surcoat, and attired himself in another of Alexandrian velvet with gold fringes, and the golden lilies of France in an azure field, which he wore also on the shield; while he put on a helmet with three blue feathers, instead of the baret cap. Ten young men on horseback and sixty-four on foot, armed and helmeted, concluded the splendid procession, which, as we need not say, formed the climax of this brilliant tournament. Lorenzo has made the following note of the festivity and its result: ‘In order to do as others, I appointed a tournament on the Piazza Santa Croce, with great splendour and at great expense, so that it cost about ten thousand gold florins. Although I was young and of no great skill, the first prize was awarded to me, namely, a helmet inlaid with silver and surmounted by a figure of Mars.’ We see that it was only a step from citizen to prince. The court poet was not wanting. A long poem in eight-lined stanzas describes the festival and those who took part in it, with all the details and profuse display of mythological learning, and not without allusions to a yet more glorious future. Whether it is by Luca Pulci or by his more famous and talented brother, the poet of the Morgante, remains undecided. It is hardly worthy of the latter, although it is not wanting in poetical beauty; its chief fault lies, not in the poverty of separate parts, but in the trivial subject and the fulsome multiplication of details. Comparison with a later poem on a similar subject throws into relief the deficiencies of this.[160]

Long after the tournament at Sta. Croce had taken place, poets continued to celebrate the love of Lorenzo for Lucrezia Donati, and Lorenzo did not cease to record his feelings of joy and sorrow, hope and fear, as they rose and fell, in a series of sonnets and canzonets which have procured one of the foremost and honoured places among the poets of the fifteenth century for him in whose hand the fate of his native country lay for years. But while the poet occupied himself thus with the lady of his thoughts, the fortune of the man who was to be the head of his family and his state took a decisive turn. When he held the tournament he had been already betrothed for some time; indeed, the tournament was intended to celebrate his betrothal! Piero de’ Medici did not follow Cosimo’s principle of choosing for his son and heir a bride among the daughters of the land. He seems to have been indifferent to the aversion with which intermarriages with foreign baronial families were generally regarded at Florence. Corso Donati, the brother of Piccarda, had once aroused a rebellion against himself which cost him his life, by proposing to offer his hand to a daughter of Uguccione della Fagginola, the powerful partisan and friend of Dante. The news that Lorenzo de’ Medici intended to enter into an alliance with one of Rome’s oldest and greatest families was heard with displeasure at Florence, because the people suspected that the object was to raise himself above the ordinary position of a citizen, and to seek foreign support. Clarice degli Orsini[161] was the daughter of Jacopo, lord of Monterondo, and of his second wife, Maddalena, daughter of Carlo, lord of Bracciano, and sister of Napoleon, who gave this castle its present grand form, and of Latino, one of the most influential cardinals of his time, whom Pope Nicholas V. adorned with the purple. Orso, Clarice’s grandfather, had met his death at the battle of Zagonara, 1424, which was so disastrous for the Florentines, and in which he had fought under Carlo Malatesta for the Republic against the Visconti. Of her father, who possessed in common with a brother the castle of Monte Rotondo, which stands on a low hill, fifteen miles from Rome, commanding the Salarian road leading to the Sabine hills, there is little to tell, except that he founded a Minorite convent at this place, in Pope Nicholas V.’s reign. In the beginning of 1467, when Lorenzo was only eighteen years old, the negotiations had already begun between the two families; after the youth had seen Clarice, probably on the occasion of the journey to Naples as his father’s representative, and, apparently, without her or her mother’s previous knowledge. The plan of the union had undoubtedly originated with a maternal uncle of the bride, Roberto, who took part in the Colleonic war, and fought at La Molinella. In March of the same year, Lucrezia de’ Medici repaired to Rome, to conclude the affair with her brother Giovanni Tornabuoni, who seems to have conducted the preliminary proceedings. The letter which she addressed to her husband on her first meeting with her future daughter-in-law and her family[162] is a characteristic example of the manners of the time, as well as of the views of a family which combined the positions of citizen and prince in so exceptional a manner:

‘I have repeatedly written to you on my way, and informed you of the state of the roads. On Thursday I arrived here, and was received by Giovanni with a joy which you may imagine. I have received your letter of the 21st, and it made me happy to learn your pain has entirely ceased. But each day seems a year to me till I am again with you, to your joy and mine.

‘As I was going to St. Peter’s on Thursday, I met Madonna Maddalena Orsini, the cardinal’s sister, with her daughter, fifteen or sixteen years old. The latter was attired in the Roman style, with the handkerchief on her head, and appeared to me very beautiful in this costume, of fair complexion and tall; but as she was veiled, I could not see her so well as I wished. Yesterday I went to see the aforesaid Monsignore Orsini, who was at his sister’s house, adjoining his own. When I had spoken to him in your name, his sister entered with the daughter, who wore a closely-fitting dress, such as the Roman women wear, and was without kerchief on the head. Our conversation lasted for some time, so that I had opportunity of looking at her. The girl is, as I have said, above the middle height, of fair complexion and pleasant manners, and, if less beautiful than our daughters, of great modesty; so that it will be easy to teach her our manners. She is not blonde, for no one is so here, and her thick hair has a reddish tinge. Her face is round in shape, but does not displease me. The neck is beautiful, but rather thin, or, more properly, delicately shaped: the bosom I could not see, as they cover it entirely here, but it seems to me well-formed. She does not bear her head so proudly as our girls do, but inclining a little forwards, which I ascribe to the timidity that seems to predominate in her. Her hands are long and delicate. On the whole, the girl seems to be far above the ordinary type, but she is not to be compared to Maria, Lucrezia, and Bianca. Lorenzo has seen her himself, and you can hear from him whether she pleases him. I am sure that whatever he and you decide will be good. May God rule it for the best.

‘The girl’s father is Signor Jacopo Orsini of Monterotondo, her mother the cardinal’s sister. She has two brothers: one has devoted himself to arms, and stands in good repute with the lord Orso; the other is priest and Papal sub-deacon. They possess the half of Monterotondo, the other half of which belongs to their uncle, who has two sons and three daughters. Besides this, three castles belong to them—that is to say, to the brothers of the girl, and, as far as I hear, they are rich, and likely to be richer. For, not to mention that they are on their mother’s side nephews of the cardinal, the archbishop, Napoleon, and the knight, they are on the father’s side cousins in the second degree to these lords, who have a great affection for them. This is about all that I have learned. If you decide to await our return before proceeding to other measures, do what seems good to you. I think of leaving on Monday week, and will write to you on the way. We shall be there at the time fixed. May God’s grace lead us safely home, and preserve you in health. I do not write to Madonna Contessina because it seems unnecessary. Recommend me to her, and greet the girls and Lorenzo and Giuliano.—Your

‘

Lucrezia.[163]

‘Rome, March 28, 1467.’

In a letter addressed to Piero shortly before the departure she says, ‘If you will hear my opinion at my return, I believe you will be satisfied, especially as the girl pleases Lorenzo. We have not seen her again, and I know not if we shall; but that does not signify. You say I express myself coldly; I do so in order to attain the end more certainly, and believe that there is here no marriageable girl more beautiful.’

The remainder of the year 1467, and the greater part of the following, was occupied in treaties. In November 1468 Filippo de’ Medici, Archbishop of Pisa, a distant relative of Cosimo’s line, went to Rome, in order to proceed to a conclusion, and the choice of a high prelate shows in itself what position the Medici took and meant to maintain towards the distinguished Romans. Piero’s brother-in-law at last came to an agreement with the Orsini with respect to the conditions. On November 27, the bride’s uncle, Cardinal Latino, wrote as follows to Piero de’ Medici:[164] ‘Magnifice vir, affinis tanquam frater carissime, salutem. With great joy have we ratified what Giovanni Tornabuoni conveyed to us on your behalf. Thank God, I hope it is concluded for the welfare of your house and ours, for it is a joy to us old people as well as to the women and young folks. At Christmas we hope to see our nephew Lorenzo, or at least his brother. We shall organise festivities, brilliant, or modest, or simple, just as you like and will inform us, as all our thoughts will only be directed towards carrying out your wishes. Be assured all that we are and have is at your disposal. Take care, therefore, to preserve yourselves in health and joy, for you, like us, can need nothing else.’ On the same day the Archbishop of Pisa wrote to Piero, to announce to him the conclusion of the contract:[165] Clarice’s dowry was to amount to six thousand Roman scudi in gold and trousseau. Should she die childless and without a will, the dowry was to revert to her family. Otherwise the conditions were drawn up, half according to Roman and half according to Florentine customs. ‘I was present at the conclusion, and the compact seems to me honourable and reasonable. You do not need the possessions of others, and yours remain to you. Illustrious Piero, I esteem the new relationship very highly, much more that these (the Orsini) have shown themselves so willing and ready to ally themselves with you. This must be a great satisfaction to you, which, with God’s permission, will increase every day for you and us. With a hundred tongues I should not be able to express my joy to you.’ At the same time the Archbishop begged him to send the mandate of proxy for the marriage speedily, if Lorenzo could not come to Rome personally. No announcement had yet been made to the Pope, but the matter could not long remain a secret, as many, the Pazzi among others, knew of it.

Neither Lorenzo nor Giuliano went to Rome, and Filippo de’ Medici represented the former at the marriage. ‘I know not,’ he wrote to him,[166] ‘where I shall begin in order to inform your Magnificence that I have to-day espoused the noble and illustrious Madonna Clarice degli Orsini in your name; according to my opinion, a maiden of such physical gifts, appearance, and manners, that she deserves no other bridegroom than him whom, I believe, heaven has destined for her. You must thank God for the protection which he has afforded you in this as in other things depending on good luck.’ The bride remained for a time with her parents, as was not unfrequent in such cases. Lorenzo seems to have had the intention of fetching her, an intention implied by a letter of his mother-in-law addressed to him at the beginning of March 1469.[167] What hindered him is not known; that the new relations should have wished to see him in Rome is very natural. Meanwhile, letters were exchanged between him and his bride. ‘Illustrious consort,’ wrote Clarice on February 25, ‘I have received a letter from you, which has given me great pleasure, and wherein you inform me of the tournament at which you won the prize. I am glad you are successful in what gives you pleasure, and that my prayer is heard, as I have no other wish than to see you happy. Recommend me to my father Piero and my mother Lucrezia, and Madonna Contessina, and all who are near to you. At the same time I recommend myself to you. I have nothing else to add.—Your Clarice de Ursinis.’ Rinaldo Orsini also congratulated his brother-in-law on his success in the tournament.

On May 15, 1469, Clarice left Rome, and on her arrival in Florence lodged at the house of Bernardo degli Alessandri, in the Borgo degli Albizzi.[168] The marriage festivity was fixed for Sunday, June 4. Two days before, all the cities and localities of the Florentine territory had sent presents to the Medici—food, sweetmeats, wine, and wax; among these, 150 calves, and more than two thousand pairs of capons and hens, a kind of tribute or donation brought to rulers on family festivals and other occasions. The present was divided between 800 friendly citizens. On the appointed day Clarice made her entry into the Medicean house; she wore a dress of brocade, white and gold, with a splendid mantle, after the Florentine fashion, and rode the horse presented by King Ferrante. Trumpeters and fifers marched in front, the bridesmen walked beside, and behind rode Messer Carlo and Messer Tommaso de’ Medici, surrounded by their servants.

At the house, before which a splendid ball-room was erected in the Via Larga, thirty richly clad young girls and matrons received the bride, who was followed by an equal number, escorted by the bridesmen. When they arrived, an olive-tree was drawn up to the upper windows by a contrivance similar to that customary on the feast of St. John. Now began the banquet. The bride and about fifty young matrons dined in the loggia of the garden; in the colonnades enclosing the courtyard on three sides about seventy of the most distinguished men; in the hall of the ground floor about thirty-six young people; and in the hall of the first storey forty elder ladies with Madonna Lucrezia. On the whole there were about two hundred guests. Forty youths of good families served as stewards. The dishes were carried in preceded by trumpets at the large door on the street-side, and the arrangement was so perfect that they stood at the same moment on every separate table, the stewards directing the whole with the carvers and bearers. The number of dishes amounted to fifty, over each of which two carvers presided. The number of courses was not great, ‘in order to give the citizens an example of moderation, which must not be forgotten at weddings.’ At dinner soup, boiled and roast meat, cakes and sweetmeats; in the evening jelly, roast meat, cakes and sweetmeats. The wines were Malvasie, the native light and somewhat sharp wine called Trebbiano, and several very excellent red wines. The quantity of silver plate was moderate, consisting of spoons, knives, forks, salt-cellars, great bowls for cooling the wine, and others for washing the hands. In the court, around the column which bears Donatello’s statue of David, stood four tables covered with cloths, and upon these great brazen bowls with glasses, and beside these tables the cellarers, who offered wine and water to those serving at table. There was a similar arrangement in the garden round the fountain. So on Sunday, Monday, and on the forenoon of Tuesday, the banquets took place, in which, on the whole, about four hundred distinguished citizens shared. Beside these first tables, in the house itself, and at Messer Carlo de’ Medici’s, covers were laid for about a thousand guests, and all respectable persons who came to offer congratulations found a breakfast ready in the rooms adjoining the loggia. In the house of Messer Carlo a hundred casks of wine were daily emptied. Food, sweetmeats, and wine were sent to the citizens who had a share in the wedding gifts, as well as to several ecclesiastical orders. The quantity of sweetmeats was calculated at more than five thousand pounds. The guests assembled in the forenoon, rested for a time after dinner, and then danced on the boarded floor before the house, which we have mentioned, the walls of which were hung with embroidered carpets, and which was covered with large cloths, violet, green, and white, with the arms of the Medici and Orsini. Before the dance began, the trumpeters blew, and sweetmeats and wine were served. The weather was fine with the exception of the Monday, when a sudden shower of rain disturbed the pleasure and spoiled many a costly dress. When the bride, early on Tuesday, accompanied by all the bridesmen and bridesmaids, went to hear mass at San Lorenzo, all appeared in rich new costumes. About fifty more or less valuable rings were presented to the newly-married pair, with a silver sweetmeat dish, a piece of brocade, and from Messer Gentile Becchi, an office of the Madonna of wonderful beauty, golden letters on an ultramarine ground, with miniatures, and a binding of crystal and silver, which is said to have cost 200 florins.[169] After divine service on Tuesday there was a joust of arms, after which Clarice once more rode to the house of the Alessandri in the same costume which she had worn on Sunday, and with the same escort.

Thus was the marriage of Lorenzo de’ Medici and Clarice degliOrsini celebrated. In Lorenzo’s oft-mentioned notices we find the event spoken of in the following words:—‘I, Lorenzo, took to wife Clarice, the daughter of the lord Jacopo Orsini, or rather she was given to me, in December 1468, and I celebrated the marriage in our house on June 4, 1469.’ These words he wrote some months after the birth of Piero, who came into the world on February 15, 1471. A daughter had preceded him, for whom King Ferrante stood sponsor. She was named Lucrezia after the grandmother; it was at the same time the name of her who was the object of the father’s poetical homage, years before. Clarice was again about to be a mother when the above named notice was written. ‘God leave her long in our midst, and preserve her from all harm.’ The words betray more feeling than the expressions about the wedding. But we should be mistaken if we regarded the ‘mi fu data’ as an indication of coldness. It would be a misunderstanding of the naïveté with which the events of life were judged and spoken of at the time. Lorenzo de’ Medici saw no harm in simply mentioning the fact, as it was not only in his case but generally customary, as indeed it still is in Italy. The parents chose their children-in-law, and choose them still. And his friends saw as little harm in celebrating the bridegroom and husband of Clarice Orsini as the poetical admirer of Lucrezia Donati.

In July, Lorenzo, in company with his two brothers-in-law, Guglielmo de Pazzi and Bernardo Rucellai, the chancellor Bartolommeo Scala, his former tutor, Gentile Becchi, Francesco Nori, one of the most zealous adherents of the family, and others, repaired to Milan, to stand sponsor in his father’s name to the son (born June 20) of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, who had married, in the preceding summer, Bona of Savoy, the daughter of Duke Louis and Anna of Lusignan, and sister-in-law to King Louis XI.[170] The child was the unhappy Gian Galeazzo, who was destined to fall a sacrifice to family intrigues, which the Sforzas had inherited from their predecessors. Not only the child to whom Lorenzo stood sponsor had an unhappy fate; the father and mother also experienced vicissitude of fortune. But then all was brilliant and joyful, and the Medici appeared like princes. ‘I was much honoured,’ says Lorenzo, ‘more than any of those who had come for the like purpose, even though they were above me in dignity. In order to do what was fitting, we presented the duchess with a gold chain and a large diamond, which had cost about three thousand ducats. The result was that the duke wished me to stand sponsor to all his children.’[171]

Immediately after his arrival at Milan, Lorenzo had written to Clarice. The letter[172] is simple, but warm. ‘I have arrived here without any mishap, and am well. This, I think, will be more welcome to you than any other news, excepting my return, for so it is with me, who long for you, and wish to be again with you. Be good company to Piero, Mona Contessina and Mona Lucrezia. I shall finish my business here quickly and return to you, for it seems to me a thousand years till I see you again. Pray God for me, and if you wish for anything from here, let me know it before I depart.—Your Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ The details wanting in this short letter were contained at full length in another addressed to Clarice by Gentile Becchi, enumerating all the civilities shown to Lorenzo during his journey, which took eight days, from Florence to Milan. Lorenzo de’ Medici had scarcely returned four months, when the event occurred which placed him at the head of his family and the State.

‘Piero our father,’ so he writes in his notices, ‘quitted this life on December 2 (3), 1469, at the age of fifty-three, after long rheumatic sufferings. He did not wish to make a will, but after his death an inventory was made which showed an amount of 237,982 scudi, as was proved by the memoranda made by my hand on p. 32 of our large green parchment-book. He was interred in San Lorenzo, where we are now erecting a tomb, as worthy as we can devise, for the reception of the mortal remains and those of his brother Giovanni. May God grant mercy to their souls. His loss was sincerely regretted by the whole town, for he was a just man and of great kindness of heart. The Italian princes, especially the greater ones, consoled us by letters of condolence and embassies, and offered their assistance for our protection.’ The funeral procession was simple, as the deceased had wished it. Three years after his departure, the monument which the son mentions was set up in San Lorenzo, where it is let into the wall which separates the sacristy from the sacraments-chapel then dedicated to SS. Cosmo and Damian. It consists of a tomb of red porphyry, resting on four lions’ paws on a pedestal, and ornamented at the four corners and on the top with rich antique foliage and beautifully formed cornucopias of bronze. This sarcophagus stands in a round arched window niche, enclosed by an elegant railing, the upper part of which is occupied by net-like bronze interlacings, with artistically twisted knots. On the front we read in a full wreath of foliage and flowers, ‘Petro et Johanni de’ Medici Cosmi P.P.F.,’ and on the pedestal ‘Laurent. et Jul. Petri F.’ Andrea del Verrocchio executed this excellent work, which exceeds in artistic value many more splendid monuments by its tasteful simplicity.[173]

The opinions of contemporaries and later writers on Piero de’ Medici are pretty unanimous. Donato Acciaiuoli, then captain of Volterra, wrote immediately after the event to Lorenzo.[174] ‘When shall we find another so reasonable in council, so just, true, mild in character, so loving towards home, relations, friends, so worthy of respect, as your excellent father, who has been taken from us to our great sorrow. When we see the whole nation saddened at his loss—the neighbouring towns, ecclesiastics and laymen, people of every rank—how much must not you, his family, suffer, with myself and his other intimate friends, for whom the general loss was a personal one?’ The high character of the man who wrote these words gives them a higher value than that of an ordinary letter of condolence. ‘Florence,’ says Machiavelli, in the seventh book of the Florentine History, ‘could not perfectly recognise the value and kindness of this man, because he only survived his father for a few years, and this short time was occupied by internal difficulties of the State and his own illness.’ In a similar strain Francesco Guicciardini[175] says: ‘His death saddened the whole town on account of his reasonable and mild disposition. Of his zeal for the common good he gave proof in 1466, for he punished only where it was necessary, and would have proceeded still more cautiously had not many of his partizans urged him on.’ To these opinions we can add that of a man in whom the Medicean family traditions of the older time still lived, which he had known through his parents, Alessandri de Pazzi, Piero’s grandson. ‘He was,’ so speaks he of his grandfather,[176] ‘rather a good man and anxious for the good of all than the head of a party. Unfortunately, he was much troubled with rheumatism, and for some time nearly lamed by it. It thus chanced that his position was endangered in 1466. Not only were several friends from Cosimo’s time already dead, but fresh accessions to their number was small, because the Medici did not take so much pains to conciliate as formerly.’

That Piero’s relation to the distinguished and influential members of his party was not that of his father is evident. If his character had been different, his health stronger, and his action prompter, he would still have not attained to Cosimo’s authority, the fruit of many years’ experience and unusually favourable circumstances. It had even been difficult for Cosimo, with all his skill and activity, to attach permanently to him men who only acknowledged his supremacy because it was for their interest to do so. ‘In Florence,’ says Francesco Guicciardini,[177] ‘the citizens love equality by nature, and yield unwillingly when they should acknowledge anyone as their superior. Besides this, our head men are restless and active, so that the few who guide affairs do not understand each other; and in the desire to surpass each other, one draws in one direction and one in the other, whence it naturally follows that the guidance is uncertain. This disinclination to the preponderance of others has for its result, that on the slightest occasion the existing government falls into ruin. For as the greatness of others displeases all who do not belong to their circle, so it cannot exist if it has not a sure foundation. But where shall this sure foundation be, when they who have the power in their hands at this minute are disunited?’ If we could give full credit to Machiavelli, Piero de’ Medici, uneasy at the increasing arbitrariness of his own partisans, after the failure of the conspiracy of 1466, and urged by his conscience, was only prevented by his death from attempting to neutralise the influence of his overpowerful friends. In order to cover his responsibility, as he was no longer able to restrain their ambition and covetousness, he had called them to him in order to represent to them into what danger they brought the commonwealth by their appropriation of all offices and honourable positions, as well as by the heavy pressure exercised on all the citizens. As his representations availed nothing, he determined to put himself into communication with the moderate among the opponents who were living in exile, and Messer Agnolo Acciaiuoli, the calmest and most reasonable of all, was secretly summoned to his country-seat, Cafaggiuolo, in order to consult with him. Had he lived longer, he would have recalled the exiles in order to put an end to the system of plunder of the prevailing party. It is as doubtful whether this information be correct as it is uncertain, in the peculiar position of the political parties, whether a measure of this kind, the carrying out of which would have dissolved the prevailing Medicean faction, would have been possible without a deep and dangerous convulsion. The Medici were too firmly united to their party to separate from it so easily, and to ally themselves with those who had just threatened to ruin them by conspiracy and war.[178]

Placed between a celebrated father and a more celebrated son, Piero de’ Medici, who did not guide the State much above five years, stands necessarily in the shade. But it would be a mistake to believe that he was despised. The respect which so practised a politician as King Ferrante constantly showed him was not caused by interested motives only. In the Colleonic war, only Naples and Florence were united, and Piero had actively influenced this good understanding: but for him the distrust awakened in the councils by the backward preparations of the Neapolitans would have prevailed.[179] The king attached great importance to Piero’s approval, and repeatedly commissioned his ambassador as well as his son never to act otherwise than according to his opinion and sensible advice. When Alfonso of Calabria joined the army in August 1467 (when there was nothing more to do), he wrote to him as follows: ‘If it appear fitting to the illustrious Piero that you go to Florence, we would remind you that you have to employ all industry and zeal, and to take all pains to do honour to yourself, and to appear a son worthy of us. Set all your ingenuity to work by means of expressions of kindness and politeness, such as are due to the friendship which the illustrious Florentine people has concluded with us.’[180] Beside Piero, the Duke was especially to consult Messer Tommaso Soderini and Antonio Ridolfi, and adapt himself so to the wishes of the Florentine government as if they were the commands of his royal father.