 CHAPTER 6 PIERRO IRGOTOSO PART III The third picture, the adoration of the Magi, has been given a name which is somewhat misleading, as it is, of course, a family-group picture—the religious subject being merely chosen, in accordance with the invariable custom of the time, as a means by which to portray the members of the family concerned. It was painted for Piero Ilgotoso about the beginning of the year 1467, as a votive offering to be placed in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, in thanksgiving for the deliverance of himself and his family from the great danger which had threatened himself with death and his family with ruin by the conspiracy headed by Luca Pitti. Though painted with the above intention, it appears doubtful whether this was ever carried out, as, after being finished, the picture would seem to have been retained by the Medici family, and only to have found its way to the Santa Maria Novella long afterwards. CHAPTER VI In it we are shown the three generations of the elder branch of the Medici family up to that time, surrounded by their principal adherents, including also some of the eminent literary men whom they had gathered round them, such as Marsilio Ficino, Cristofero Landino, the brothers Pucci, and others. Cosimo Piero and Giuliano represent the customary three kings, one old, one middle-aged, and one young, Piero having his two sons one on either side of him. The following members of the family are shown. On the left side, Cosimo Pater Patrie, then dead, embracing the feet of the child Christ, Lorenzo, elder son of Piero, at the age of seventeen, standing, holding a sword. In the center, Piero Ilcotoso, kneeling with his back to the spectator. On the right side, Giovanni, then dead, brother of Piero Ilcotoso, standing, in dress of black and red, and with very black hair, Giuliano, younger son of Piero, kneeling in a robe of white and gold. This picture is highly interesting, not merely, as usually stated, because it shows us the general appearance of the literary coterie whom the Medici had gathered round them, but because it gives the first example of that power which Botticelli possessed of making a picture relate an important incident in contemporary history. For the picture has a special meaning which has passed hitherto unobserved. In it Botticelli refers to the plot against Piero's life which had just been defeated, and to the manner in which that defeat had been brought about. Illusion has already been made to Botticelli's fondness for allegorical treatment, and his habit of giving the clue to the meaning of his picture by some single detail which might at first escape notice. And he has done so in this case, though the fact has passed undetected, with the result that the meaning of the picture has entirely failed to be understood. It is the sword held in Lorenzo's hands which gives the clue to the meaning of the entire picture. Whether because the picture was painted in haste to meet a desire on Piero's part to present his offering while the event on account of which he gave it was still fresh in the minds of all, or simply in order that Botticelli might make his meaning more marked, the latter has palpably made scarcely any attempt to give portraits in the case of either Cosimo, Piero, Giuliano, or Giovanni, and has concentrated all his attention on the figure of Lorenzo, who, in consequence of his conduct on this occasion, had become the hero of the hour in the family. This figure he has evidently drawn with great care the whole attitude and expression being carefully studied in order, by it, to indicate the signification of the whole picture. What he desires to allude to how in this affair Lorenzo, by his courage and sagacity, had been the saviour of his father's life, and indirectly of the whole family from ruin. It will be noticed that Lorenzo is the only person among all those in the picture who wears a sword. He has given a remarkably large one, held in both hands, and placed in front of him in a particularly prominent manner. The sword almost obtruding itself on our notice as we look at the picture, and the point is still further brought out by the figure standing next to him, and pointing at Piero while he looks at Lorenzo, who stands, paying no attention to the gay young companion surrounding him, but with his gaze steadily fixed upon his father. Thus, does Botticelli make his picture speak, and relate the danger which had threatened Piero's life, and the part which Lorenzo has borne in warding it off? The fourth picture, the fortitude, is also very interesting, both for its connection with the Medici, and the manner in which that connection becomes apparent. For it refers to the same event as that commemorated in the previous picture. But in this case our attention is drawn not to Lorenzo's conduct on that occasion, but to that of Piero Ilcotozo himself. The first thing noticeable in the picture is that Botticelli, called upon to paint a figure representing fortitude, produces one quite unlike the usual conception of that subject. Ruskin, in his comments on the picture, remarks on this, and how very different Botticelli's treatment of the subject is from that of all other painters. But there is a reason for this, and although Ruskin was evidently unaware of such a reason, while he does not show that he even knew the date of the picture, or for whom it was painted, yet the key to the meaning of all that he notices in the picture is to be found in the circumstances of the life of Piero Ilcotozo. It is in fact an allegorical record in painting of the fortitude, energy, and resource which Piero had displayed in the event which was the chief one during his five years' rule, the rebellion of fourteen sixty-six. This will become apparent if, with that knowledge of Piero's history which Ruskin did not possess, we look at his remarks on this picture. Speaking of this figure of fortitude, Ruskin says as follows, What is chiefly notable in her is that you would not, if you had to guess who she was, take her for fortitude at all. Everybody else's fortitudes announce themselves clearly and proudly. They have tower-like shields and lion-like helmets, and stand firm astride on their legs, and are confidently ready for all comers. Yes, that is your common fortitude. Very grand, though common, but not the highest by any means. But Botticelli's fortitude is no match, it may be, for any that are coming. Then somewhat, and not a little weary, instead of standing ready for all comers, she is sitting, apparently in reverie, her fingers playing restlessly and idly, nay, I think even nervously, about the hilt of her sword. For her battle is not to begin to-day, nor did it begin yesterday. Many a morn and eve have passed since it began, and now is this to be the ending day of it, and if this, by what manner of end. That is what Sandro's fortitude is thinking, and the plain fingers about the sword-hilt would faint let it fall, if it might be. And yet, how swiftly and gladly will they close on it when the far-off trumpet sounds, which she will hear through all her reverie. These remarks exactly reflect the circumstances, attitude, and conduct of Piero Ilgottoso in the trial which came upon him. Thought to be no match for those who were preparing to attack him, half-absorbed in the reverie of a strong disinclination to turn from the pursuits of literature to meet quarreling and strife, feeling the battle which did not begin to-day in the long period of two years during which he had known this plot to be hatching, the sitting posture, instead of the usual standing one, which indicated the crippled state of health that so severely handicapped him, the worn and not a little weary expression caused by both the long ill-health he had endured and by disgust at the political intrigues around him, including the ingratitude and deception of Neroni and others, the hatred of strife shown in the fingers that would faint let the weapons in the hands fall. And lastly the resolute character underlying all the weariness which was demonstrated by the prompt and effective action taken when the time came. All these are points which show the true meaning of the picture. Looking therefore at the date when this picture was painted, at the conduct of Piero Ilgottoso in the chief event of his five years' rule, conduct which had won him much honour among his fellow countrymen, and at the character of the picture, so well brought out in Ruskin's remarks upon it, there can be, in my opinion, no doubt that it is to Piero's conduct in that event that this picture of Botticelli's relates. And it shows what a master in art criticism Ruskin was, that although with his customary want of interest in history, he was, as is evident, unaware of the circumstances alluded to by the picture, he should yet have been able so accurately to gauge its spirit. Piero Ilgottoso, when he was dying in December 1469, obtained for Botticelli the commission to paint this picture. The Council of the Mercantansia had decided to place in their hall six panels representing the virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, charity, justice and faith, and had given the commission to Piero Polaiolo, but Piero Ilgottoso, working through Tommaso Sorerini, an influential member of the Mercantansia, got the latter to give the commission for one of the figures, that of fortitude, to Botticelli. The latter painted the picture during the early months of the year 1470, just when he was in deep grief for the death of the kind and generous patron who had done everything for him, and one of whose last acts had been to get him this commission, and with his marvellous talent for allegorical design he contrives to give to his picture of fortitude for the Council Hall of the Mercantansia those characteristics which would make it also a remarkable memorial of the character of Piero Ilgottoso. To the above four pictures must also be added Botticelli's portrait of Lucrezia Tornaboni, now in the Kaiser Friedrich Museum at Berlin, probably the most beautiful portrait up to that time painted, and his picture of St. Sebastian, also now at Berlin. The above were Botticelli's chief pictures during the period that he worked for Piero Ilgottoso and Lucrezia Tornaboni, both of whom he held in highest honour. His second period is best considered in connection with Lorenzo the Magnificent, chapters eight and nine. Shortly before his death various of his most ardent adherents among the citizens gave Piero Ilgottoso considerable trouble. They seemed to have been carried away by elation at his uniform success and at the triumph of their party over all who had wished ill to him and his, and, Machiavelli says, gave themselves up to tyrannizing over their fellow citizens and to committing all sorts of excesses. Piero, though he was on his deathbed and unable to move hands or feet, took vigorous action to quell this spirit among his followers. He summoned the most prominent of the offenders to his bedside and gave them a most severe rebuke, promising them that if they did not abandon their course of conduct he would make them repentant, and in order to check the excesses of his own party would take the extreme step of recalling some of their exiled opponents. Nor was this an empty threat, for when he found that, thinking him too ill to interfere, they continued in the same course, he had a secret meeting at his villa of Caffaggiollo with Agnolo Aciagli, the principal of the exiles, with a view to carrying out what he had said. And had he lived there is no doubt that he would have done it. But his course was run. He died in December 1469, universally regretted by all the best of his countrymen, who rejoiced in his temperate and sympathetic method of ruling. The life which had been a threatened one ever since he was a boy, and which had seldom known a day's real health, nevertheless reached the age of fifty-three. Regarding his character there is no dispute. Even Machiavelli, who was not the sort of man to appreciate its nobler side, describes him thus. Quote. He was a good man. He hated violence and display. His goodness and virtues were not duly appreciated by his country, principally because the few years that he survived his father, Cosimo, were largely occupied by civil discord and constant ill health. He promptly and firmly put down an attempted rebellion against him without any violence, which he detested, and managed to turn his enemies into friends. He took little interest in home politics and faction, but paid unfailing attention to foreign politics, and was better appreciated at foreign courts than in his own city. When we consider his energy notwithstanding that he was so crippled with gout as to be often unable to move hands or feet, hatred of dissensions and violence, contempt for the intrigues which made up so large a part of the political life of Florence in his time, the combination of vigor, sense, and tact with which he suppressed a formidable rebellion and dealt with unruly adherence, and lastly the clemency he showed to those who had endeavored to take his life, we have apparently just reason to say that Piero Ilcotozo had a fine character, and one which adds not a little to his family's reputation. While it is fully evident from subsequent events that strong as was the position to which Cosimo had raised the family, that strength was increased, and by the most worthy methods, by Piero Ilcotozo, even though he had so few years in which to do it. Piero was buried in the old sacristy in San Lorenzo, in the same tomb as his brother Giovanni, and over it his sons placed the graceful monument by Verrocchio already mentioned. It has an inscription round the base saying that his sons, Lorenzo and Giuliano, have erected this tomb to their father and uncle. Instead of a painted portrait, such having as yet barely come into vogue, Piero, like his brother Giovanni, had a portrait bust of himself, executed by Mino da Fiesole, which is now in the museum of the Bargello. It shows a fine and strong face, and as Mino da Fiesole excelled in these portrait busts, and knew Piero well, it is sure to be a good likeness. These two busts of Piero and Giovanni are the first portraits among those in this book which were done from life. The change in the family arms brought about by Piero has already been noted. The number of the balls in the Medici arms varied during their history. In very early times the number was eleven, then nine, then eight, then seven, and at last six. Thus the number of balls is a rough indication as to date. While Giovanni da Bici was head of the family, we generally find eight. When Cosimo became head of the family, the number changes to seven, and that is the number in the arms on the palace which he built. The colouring of one of the red balls blue and on it the flur de li, or if in stone, simply on one of the balls of the flur de li, is of course not found until the time of Piero, so that six red balls and one blue indicate Piero's time. Lastly, in Lorenzo's time we find the number of balls reduced to six, five red and one blue, and at this it finally remained. The rule is absolute so far as are never finding seven balls before the time of Cosimo, or seven balls, one of them bearing the flur de li before the time of Piero, or six balls before the time of Lorenzo. But there are a few occasions where one might find eight balls even in the time of Cosimo, and seven balls without the flur de li even in the time of Piero. The Medici were great people for heraldic devices with hidden meanings. Each of them on becoming head of the family adopted a private crest of his own which he used in addition to the family one. Thus Cosimo's crest was three peacock's feathers, intended to signify the three cardinal virtues he most admired, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. They are to be seen, among other instances, on the trappings of his charger in Gazzoli's fresco in the Medici Chapel. Piero chose a falcon holding a diamond ring, but as his time was so short it is less often met with than the others. It is to be seen on the lavabo in the inner part of the old sacristy in San Lorenzo. Lorenzo assumed as his crest, three, sometimes four, diamond rings interlaced, the diamond, as not yielding to fire or blows, signifying indomitable strength, and the ring, eternity. And certainly nothing was more appropriate to Lorenzo's character than a device symbolizing enduring, indomitable strength. His device is to be seen on the dress of the figure representing himself in Botticelli's palace and the centaur. All three, Cosimo, Piero, and Lorenzo, used the motto Semper. It is to be seen combined with Cosimo's peacock feathers on the trappings of his charger in Gazzoli's fresco, combined with Piero's falcon and diamond ring on the lavabo in the old sacristy, and round the ornamental border of the chapel in the Medici Palace. These private crests are important as often assisting to determine the date of various works, especially in conjunction with the diverse number of balls in the family arms already noted. Lucrezia Tornaboni The wives of Giovanni di Bici and Cosimo Pater Patrie had not been of any particular note intellectually. In the case of Lucrezia Tornaboni, the wife of Piero Ilgotoso, it was otherwise. She was one of the most accomplished women of that age. She belonged to a family who were formerly nobles of the name of Tornacuinci, but had changed their name and arms about two hundred years before in order to become ordinary citizens ineligible for the senioria and who were notable patrons of art. She was learned, a poetess, and a deeply religious woman. She distinguished herself not only as a noted patroness of learning, but also by her own writings, and Cresembeni is of opinion that she excelled in greater part of, not to say all, the poets of her time. Her chief writings were hymns and translations of holy scripture in verse. Both Polician and Pulci speak highly of her intellectual gifts, and Roscoe remarks that her poems are the more worthy of praise as being produced at a time when poetry was at its lowest ebb in Italy. Dr. Pasteur, in his Istvah de Pap, couples her with Cecilia Gonzaga, Isotta Nogorola, Cassandra Fedele, and Antonio Pulci, in detailing the most notable ladies of the time who came forth from the seclusion in which women had hitherto shut themselves up, and won for themselves renown in literature and science. Nor was she less notable in the sphere of religion, and Francesco Palermo says that the treatise of San Antonio, entitled, Opera a Benvivere, Methods of a Good Life, was addressed to Lucrezia Tonabuoni. If so, it is a high tribute to her devout and sensible character. All that we hear regarding Lucrezia Tonabuoni shows her to have been a woman of exceptionally high character as well as thus talented. In her eldest son Lorenzo, the remarkable abilities of the Medici family reached their culminating point, and this was no doubt due to the fact that not only his father, but also his mother, was so highly gifted. Lucrezia survived her husband thirteen years, and lived to see the terrible death of her beloved younger son in fourteen seventy-eight, the war of fourteen seventy-eight, fourteen eighty, and the triumph of her elder son in fourteen eighty, dying herself in fourteen eighty-two. And there is no doubt that during the earlier part of his rule Lorenzo owed much to her valuable advice. Nicolò Valori says Lorenzo was most deferential to her, and after his father's death loved and honoured her, showing in all his actions both the affection felt for a mother and the respect given to a mother. It was hard to discern whether he most loved or honoured her. Lucrezia's portrait in profile, painted by Botticelli, shows a beautiful and intellectual face. She and Piero had five children, two sons, Lorenzo and Giuliano, and three daughters, Maria, Lucrezia, or Nanina, and Bianca. Their three daughters all made notable marriages. Maria married Leopeto Rossi, Bianca married Guglielmo Di Pazzi, and Lucrezia married Bernardo Ruccelli, who was one of the most distinguished scholars of the time. By the end of Piero Il Cottozzo's life the light which Florence had ignited and had held aloft in art and learning for a hundred and fifty years had begun to show signs of becoming diffused. In Rome a beginning had been made by the efforts of Pope Nicholas V. In Venice the two brothers, Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, and their brother-in-law, Mantegna, were originating a school of painting, destined to become second only to that of Florence. Urbino, under its enlightened duke, Federico Montefeltro, was following in the steps of Florence, and both Mantua, under the Gonzaga family, and Ferrara, under the Este family, were beginning to give to art and learning a similar encouragement. Chapter 7 The Frescoes in the Chapel of the Medici Palace Just as the Medici Palace is inseparably connected with Cosimo, so is that, which in these days chiefly attracts attention to it, connected with Piero. Of all the mass of art treasures which that palace contained in the time of Cosimo, Piero and Lorenzo, one alone now remains there. The fresco is painted for Piero Ilgotoso on the walls of the little chapel on the first floor by Benozzo Cotzoli. They merit special consideration on the three grounds of their historical interest, their being this painter's masterpiece, and their combining examples of his powers in two different aspects, those on the walls of the chancel being occupied with a religious subject, and those round the body of the chapel with an historical one. Although a window now exists, all authorities state that originally this chapel had no window, and that all these beautiful frescoes were painted by lamp light. If so, it increases our admiration of the master's talent. They are still in perfect preservation, though nearly 450 years have passed since they were executed. Over the altar, where the window now is, there was originally a picture of the Nativity by Filippo Lippi. All round the chapel at the lower part of the walls runs an ornamental border consisting of Piero's device of a single diamond ring and the motto, Semper. The chancel pictures. These give us an example of Benozzo Cotzoli's powers as a devotional painter, the pupil of Fra Angelico. And although this was not the line in which Cotzoli excelled, these pictures show that he can, on occasion, breathe into his work not a little of the spirit of his master. On the two side walls of the chancel, covering the whole height of the wall, Cotzoli gives us two pictures representing the world on that night of the Nativity of Christ, referred to in the picture which was over the altar. He lays his scene amidst Italian garden and woodland scenery, with groups of angels passing about everywhere, singing their song of glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. There are on each wall three groups, one kneeling, another standing and a third flying. All are turned toward the altar, or rather towards the picture of the Nativity over it. The kneeling groups, those nearest to that on which the attention of all is concentrated, are, unlike the rest, not singing. They are intently gazing at the great mystery before them of the incarnation in a human body of him whom they have ever known as the second person of the Holy Trinity, that mystery regarding which we are told that the angels' desire to look into it, and, bowed in awe, are lost in silent wonder and devotion at such transcendent love on the part of God for the human race. The thoughts in their minds are shown in the glories round their heads, in which some have the words gloria in excelsis deo, others adoremus, others et intera pax. The standing groups, a little further back, are occupied in recounting to each other the wonder of this greatest event in the world's history, and, singing loudly, are calling on all to come and see it. The flying groups are hastening up from the distance to see this wonder of God becoming man and gazing down at it in adoration. The spirit of the entire picture may be summed up in the words, God so loved the world, while it is made all the more impressive by not containing any representation of that at which all are so intently gazing. Seeing as we do only its profound impression upon them, our attention is drawn to concentrate itself on the greatness of the deed, which can thus impress even the angels. Probably in the very devotional spirit of this picture is to be seen the influence of Lucrezia Torna Buoni, who no doubt had much to say in regard to its design. Behind the principal groups angels pick roses in the gardens, a little cherub rests placidly in the top of a tree, bright-colored birds fly or stand without fear among the angels, and all this happiness and peace. The beautiful peacock wings of the angels, the brilliant coloring of the birds, the exquisitely painted roses and other details make the picture as deserving of admiration for its execution as it is for its general design. In accordance with the custom of the old masters, and to exemplify that in the things of the spiritual world, time and place are nonexistent, the background shows us Italian scenery with castles and villages of the Middle Ages. The general idea of the picture is carried out even in the landscape, its stiffness and formality being due to this cause, intending that his picture shall breathe throughout it the thought embodied in the singing angels' words of peace brought to a world tortured by sin and sin's results, the master gives to his landscape such characteristics as shall awkward with this idea. Raskin, in speaking of this point, says, In these sort of pictures by masters such as Raphael, Perugino or Benozzogozoli, whereas all mountain forms are in nature produced by convulsion or modelled by decay and all forest grouping is wrought out with varieties of growth, all such appearances are purposely banished. The trees go straight, equally branched on each side, and of such slight and feathery frame as shows them never to have encountered blight or frost or tempest. The mountains stand up in fantastic pinnacles with no fallen fragments, the seas are always waveless, the skies always calm, crossed only by far horizontal, lightly wreathed white clouds. He cites this picture as an example, and points out how, roses and pomegranates, their leaves drawn to the last rib and vein, twine themselves in fair and perfect order about delicate trellises, broad stone pines and tall cypresses overshadow them, bright birds hover here and there in the serene sky, and groups of angels glide and float through the glades of an unentangled forest. In this manner has Benozzogozoli in these chancel pictures written his burning message, and in a language which those of every nationality can read. The pictures in the body of the chapel. While the chancel pictures are occupied with the first episode connected with the Nativity of Christ, those in the body of the chapel are concerned with the second episode connected therewith, the Journey of the Three Kings, or Meijai, Il Viajo Deire Magi, to Bethlehem. And here we have an example of Benozzogozoli's powers in his own special line, that of an historical painter, the religious subject being made merely a vehicle for references to the history of the Medici. In doing this, Gozzoli would of course desire to introduce as many allusions as possible complementary to the family, but the manner in which he has done this is remarkable. The picture is from end to end an elaborate memorial pointing to all that the Medici had up to that time done for Florence, and for which they had gained honour among their countrymen. But while the whole idea is wonderfully conceived and worked out, the empty flattery by which many painters of that age would have spoiled the effect is avoided. Thus we have in this picture far more than merely a gorgeous procession of the Meijai into which have been introduced portraits of several of the Medici, which is the description it has generally received. To carry out the above general idea, Gozzoli sets to work to make his picture speak of all that had taken place in Florence in connection with this family during the preceding 30 years. Of how the great gathering of 1439 had been invited to Florence at the instigation of the Medici and hospitably entertained there by them. Of how this assemblage had included an emperor, the successor of Constantine the Great, and a patriarch of Constantinople, the equal theoretically of the Pope in Rome. Of how it had brought to Florence the most learned men of the time, and furthered that revival of the ancient learning which the Medici had, ever since the foundation stone of this palace was laid, been fostering. Of how as a consequence of the hospitality of 1439 learning and culture when driven from Constantinople had taken refuge in Florence. And lastly, of how the judicious political guidance of the Medici had increased Florence's power and prosperity and advanced her over the heads of other states which had previously been her rivals. Of all this the picture speaks, and the admirable manner in which Gotzolli has worked out this general scheme demonstrates his great talents as an historical painter. Gotzolli selects for the first of his three kings or wise men the patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph. This is the patriarch who had come to Florence for the council of 1439 and who died there a month before it ended. He is the old man on the mule of which half the body has been cut off in order to make a new entrance many years ago into the chapel, as though to show how little splendid frescoes like this were valued at the time this act of vandalism was committed. Although the Pope of Rome, Eugenius IV, had also been one of the important personages at the council, Gotzolli, in preference to him, chooses the patriarch of Constantinople, both as being an Eastern potentate and also an allusion to those many dealings which the Medici had had with Constantinople in their unearthing of the ancient classical literature. For the second king, Gotzolli chooses John Paleologus, John VII, the emperor of the East. This John VII is the emperor who had come to the council of 1439, the last emperor but one, before, by the fall of Constantinople, the eastern half of the Roman Empire came to an end as the western half had done a thousand years earlier. As the successor of Constantine the Great, even though his empire had then shrunk to little more than its capital city, he was theoretically the greatest of all earthly sovereigns. And though by the time that this picture was painted, his empire had for sixteen years ceased to exist, Gotzolli nevertheless puts him in as the second king for the same reason as before, namely because he wishes to point to the council of 1439, to Florence having been the city to which it was transferred, and to the part which the Medici had had in that transfer, and in giving its members such royal hospitality there. For the third king, Gotzolli takes the young heir of the family, Lorenzo the Medici. By putting him in as one of the three kings, Gotzolli makes the Medici not merely attendants upon the wise men, but wise men themselves, and by the exalted company in which he is placed, contrives a powerful complement to the family. Behind the three kings comes Derretinu, and here we find the Medici leading a gathering of all the most learned men of the time. In the front line we have the two brothers, Cosimo Pata Patrie, in an embroidered coat, and on his chargers trappings the Medici arms with seven bowls, and his own private crest of the three peacocks' feathers, and on his right his brother Lorenzo, typically mounted on a quiet and humble mule. In the left corner Piero Il Gotosso, as usual with bare head, and next to him, on the white horse, the young 15-year-old Giuliano, preceded by a negro with a bow in allusion to Giuliano's love of sport. Giuliano's horse, alone, has a jewel on the frontlet of its bridle. In each case Gotzoli, ignoring likenesses, has devoted much care to the dress and general appearance. And then behind these members of three generations of the Medici family comes a long procession of scholars and literati, extending far into the distance, and including both those Florentines, whom the Medici had taught to care for and seek after learning, such as Marsilio Ficino, the brother Spurci, and others, and also those celebrated Greek scholars from Constantinople, whom the Medici had induced to settle in Florence, and to whom they had given appointments as professors of classical learning, such as Argyropoulos, Charles Candilas, and others, or who had come to the Council of 1439, such as Besadion, Plethon, and others, and who are distinguished from the Florentines by their Greek headdresses. The Florentines are all clothes-shaven, whereas the Greeks, in the Eastern fashion, wear beards. The men on foot, with a black cap immediately behind Cosimo, is Salviati, a strong adherent of the Medici, and tutor to Giuliano. Amidst the crowd of literati, Cotzolli has inserted himself, between two of the learned Greeks, and, to prevent his name being lost, and also perhaps because he might scarcely be expected in such company, has carefully written his name round his cap. Throughout the whole picture it is learning, and not wealth or power which is exalted. The Pope of Rome was infinitely more wealthy and powerful than the patriarch of Constantinople, and many of the sovereigns of the time than the Emperor of the East, and again those who accompanied the Medici in the retinue of the three kings are not the wealthiest Florentines, but the most learned. In the fore part of the cavalcade, in front of the patriarch, is introduced a gorgeously appareled youth, on a handsomely comparison horse, on the back of which he carries a hunting-lippard. This is one of those scherzi, or jokes, such as the old masters loved, while it is made at the same time to serve the general object of the picture. The person represented is Gastrucho Gastracani, Ducca di Lucca, a celebrated and terrible commander, and a formidable enemy of Florence, who in the early part of the 14th century fought furiously against her, conquering Pisa and Pistoia, devastated Florence's territory, and carried war up to her very walls, and, to the indignation of the Florentines, was nominated by the Emperor Louis of Bavaria to be Imperial Governor of Tuscany. Gozzoli's scherzo consists in representing this terrible enemy as a mere youthful hunter, excelling only in field sports, and contrasted in every way with the wise and learned Florentines. He is trying to force his prancing horse through a crowd of them, but they pay little attention to him, accepting one who holds up his hand, forbidding him to proceed. In all of which we have allusion to the fact that whereas Lucca had previously been Florence's formidable rival, and whereas in two wars before the Medici arose, Florence, guided by the Albitzi, had been worsted by Lucca, she had now been carried by the Medici to a position of power and importance far beyond that which Lucca possessed, and had entirely put a stop to Lucca's triumphal career. Thus in this picture we have brought before our minds, in one general view, all that the Medici, up to the point in their career which they had reached in 1469, had achieved in reviving learning, in advancing the glory of Florence as the most cultured city in Italy, and in advancing her in political power. And what Gottzoli had to say as regards these achievements of the first three generations of the family was rendered in such fashion that it could be read by multitudes who could understand no word of Italian, while his record has proved a lasting one. The picture possesses much historical interest apart from its allusions to the deeds of the Medici. The portraits and dresses of the Emperor and the Patriarch, the dresses and appointments of the Cavalcade, and similar details are not imaginary. Thirty years before, when he was about twenty, Gottzoli had himself seen the Emperor and the Patriarch in the processions and functions which took place during the summer of 1439. He had also lately seen the no less splendid array of the tournament of February 1469, and he takes his materials from both these, thus reproducing before our eyes, persons, dresses and customs of which we should otherwise have but little idea. The Patriarch of Constantinople is shown in the dress he wore in the processions of 1439. On his head he has the ancient headdress, which he was almost the last to wear, and the chief point noticeable about this headdress is that, while his colleague, the Pope of Rome, had gradually altered it until it had grown into the triple crown, that of Constantinople had been kept as it was at the first. In the portrait of the Emperor John VII, John Paleologus, we are shown him as he appeared during the processions in 1439. It is highly interesting from the fact that it is probably the sole portrait now existing in the world of anyone of all that long line of emperors, from Constantine the Great downwards, who sat on the throne of Constantinople for 1130 years. His dress and the trappings of his charger are very magnificent. On his head he wears, entwined with his turban, the peculiar crown of the Eastern emperors of Rome, so different in shape from that which had by that time been adopted by all sovereigns in Western Europe. Unlike the Florentines, he, according to the Eastern fashion, wears a beard. His face is dignified, yet has a melancholy expression, as well it may, as he sees that one's glorious empire in its last throws, and knows there is no hope of any assistance coming from the West to save it. Lorenzo de' Medici's dress is that which he had lately worn at the tournament of February 1469. We note the rubies and diamonds in his cap, the velvet embroidered sircoat, just showing on his arm, and the cape, like a sleeved surplus, of white silk edged with red, with his sword belt worn over it. He rides the great white charger which had been presented to him by the King of Naples for the tournament, and the trappings of this charger have all over them the seven Medici bolts. The mounted pages, heralds, men at arms on foot, etc., are also all in the dresses which they wore at Lorenzo's tournament. The journey of the Magi, always a favourite subject with the old masters on account of its great possibilities for picturesque treatment, has nowhere else been treated on so magnificent a scale. The splendid procession is given every accessory that can add to its picturesque splendour, beautiful youths, gorgeous dresses, fine horses, hunting leopards, greyhounds, falcons, etc., and winds its way up and down over the rocky paths and wooded slopes of the Apennines, amidst castles, villages and cypress groves, while all is painted in colours that are almost as fresh as when laid on. The date of these frescoes is somewhat of a problem. Ruskin states that they were painted between 1457 and 1459. All other authorities say between 1459 and 1463, while both Ruskin and all other authorities say, rightly enough, that they were painted for Piero il Gottosso. The latter, however, did not become head of the family until 1464, while there are also further grounds than this for considering that none of these dates can be correct. In 1457 Lorenzo was a child of only eight years old and Giuliano only four years old, which makes Ruskin's date at any rate impossible. And even at the latest of the above dates, 1463, Lorenzo was no more than fourteen and Giuliano only ten, scarcely in age at which fondness for field sports has been developed. Again, all authorities consider that the dresses and appointments of the Cavalcade in the procession of the Magi reproduced a festive pomp and splendour of the pageants of the Medici. Now, the earliest of these pageants was held in February 1469, when Lorenzo was 19 and Giuliano 15, and none can look at the picture with the account of that pageant before him and have any doubt that the tournament of February 1469 formed the model for the dresses and appointments of Lorenzo, the pages, men at arms, grooms and serving men in the picture. While ages of 19 and 15 accord with the representation therein of Lorenzo and Giuliano, which ages of 14 and 10 to naught, so that the internal evidence of the picture bars all dates earlier than February 1469. On the other hand, two letters, without date, regarding the work, were written to Piero Il Gotosso by Gotzoli while employed on it, and the tone and expressions used show that Piero was then head of the family. This would bar all dates earlier than August 1464, or later than December 1469. While yet a further difficulty, and that which has no doubt been the chief reason for the dates hitherto assigned to these frescoes, is introduced by the fact that from 1463 to 1467 Gotzoli was painting his great series of frescoes at San Gimignano, writing dated letters from thence at that period, and that in 1468 he signed an agreement for the execution of his great work in the Pisa Campo Santo, which he is usually supposed to have begun in 1469, and which was his last work. In the midst of such conflicting evidence, part of which, that given by the picture itself, is too strong to be ignored, the only solution appears to be that these frescoes were painted neither between 1457 and 1459, nor between 1459 and 1463, but between January 1468 and December 1469. The chancell pictures, and possibly some portion of the leading part of the procession, including perhaps the figures of the Patriarch and the Emperor, being painted between January 1468 and January 1469, and the remainder of the frescoes and the body of the chapel, between February 1469 and December 1469. The work at Pisa not being begun until quite the end of that year. The whole chapel was certainly painted while Piero Il Gotosso was head of the family, 1464 to 1469. The chancell pictures could only have been begun upon Gotsolli's return from San Gimignano, that is, in 1468. While the details connected with the tournament, and the ages of Lorenzo and Giuliano make February to December 1469 the only possible period when the chief part of the frescoes in the body of the chapel could have been executed. Benozzo Gotsolli was noted for his extreme rapidity of work, and though these frescoes are filled with a multiplicity of details, it was possible for such an artist as he was to execute them in two years. End of section 15. Section 16 of the Medici, volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Dick Bourgeois Doyle, the Medici, volume 1 by G. F. Young. Lorenzo the Magnificent, born 1449, ruled 1469 to 1492, died 1492. 1. The first nine years of his rule, 1469 to 1478. Lorenzo, the elder son of Piero Il Gotso, was only 20 years old when, by his father's death, he became the head of the family, and succeeded to the rule of Florence. Six months earlier, he had been married, as already noted, to Clarice Orsini, his three sisters, Maria, Lucrezia, or Nanina, and Bianca, married respectively, to Leopeto Rossi, Bernardo Ruccelli, and Guglielmo De Pazzi. We're all older than himself, while his brother, Gugliano, was four years his junior. His mother, Lucrezia, lived during the first 13 years of his rule over Florence. Having been for several years accustomed to take a large part in public affairs, he was better prepared than most young men of his age would have been for the position to which he was called so much earlier than either his father or his grandfather had been, each of whom who had been over 40 when he became head of the family. In Lorenzo the Magnificent, the abilities of this family reached their climax. Probably no other man has ever had great talents in so many directions, in statesmen like insight and judgment, in political wisdom and promptness of decision, in power of influencing men, in profound knowledge of the ancient classical authors, as a poet and writer who bore a principal part in the development of the Italian language, in artistic taste and critical knowledge of the various branches of art, in knowledge of agriculture, the life and needs of the people and country pursuits, and all these different directions was Lorenzo eminent. The title of Magnificent, which has by common consent been accorded to him, was not due to any ostentation in his private life, for there he was notably unostentatious. He was so called because of his extraordinary abilities, his great liberality, his lavish expenditure of his wealth for the public benefit, and the general magnificence of his life in which Florence participated, so that his name is intended to bring to our minds not personal ostentation, but the splendor with which he invested Florence. Yet while Lorenzo raised Florence to be the most important state in Italy, set her on a pinnacle as the acknowledged intellectual and artistic capital of Europe, and increased the prosperity of her citizens to the highest point, he has, from later ages, received unmeasured condemnation for a far-reaching change which he brought about in her government, and for the creation in this jealously guarded republic of what was practically an autocracy. It is true that his grandfather, Cosimo, had yielded an influence in the state, such as enabled him to sway public affairs according to his will. But the position created by Lorenzo went beyond this, and was different in kind. In his case, it was not an influence, but a rule. Lorenzo, as a matter of fact, had a greater power of statesman-like vision that even his grandfather, Cosimo, saw that the Florentines were too liable to give away to private feuds, to be really fitted for republican institutions. While under an autocratic rule, there was practically no limit to the political importance and domestic prosperity which Florence might be conducted. That he should cherish the desire that his own family should be the one to exercise that rule was not only natural, but justified. The Medici alone, among the families of Florence, had shown themselves to possess the qualities which could successfully govern the Florentines. Their power had been gained by those means which alone give a just title to rule, while added to all other qualifications they possessed as a family a positive genius for pouring oil and troubled waters, and getting men to work harmoniously together, who under any other rule were ever at enmity. This valuable characteristic, which has passed unnoticed, Cosimo, Piero, and Lorenzo themselves all possessed in a marked degree. While it is one which comes out again and again in this family long after their time, Lorenzo in carrying out this change took a unique course, convinced that an autocratic style of government was the only one of which the conditions of the time admitted. He yet did not follow the example of other rulers around him who in that age were erecting thrones, their methods being force, crime, and treachery. Instead he solved the apparently impossible problem of combining two things diametrically opposed, an autocracy and a democracy, and contrived to preserve the form of government loved by his countrymen and yet to wield personally an autocratic power. Unsupported by any military force he yet exercised absolute authority, but only because his countrymen well knew that no one else could produce such happy results. The quarantines saw their city through his abilities, raised to the leading place among Italian states, made the intellectual and artistic capital of Europe, and daily advancing in a commercial prosperity in which they each individually shared, and they had no desire to kill the goose which laid such golden eggs. They felt that however autocratic was Lorenzo's rule, they had power to end it whenever determined to do so. And the correctness of the view was fully proved by subsequent events. While however Lorenzo wielded an autocratic power it is necessary to bear in mind, especially in financial matters, that the governing body of the state remained as hitherto for the senoria. The word rule or reign as applied to the Medici, although it is impossible to use any other, is calculated to lead to the supposition that they received the money raised by taxation, and hence to the idea when we hear of large expenditure by them for the public benefit or amusement, or for the advancement of learning, that the money so spent was public money and that possibly the people were heavily taxed to provide it, all of which would be the very opposite of the truth. The money raised by taxation was received by the senoria, and spent by that body in other directions, and that which the Medici spent on works for public benefit or on pageants and festivities for the amusement of the people was given from their own private fortune derived from their great banking business. The historian of this time, Machiavelli, speaks of Lorenzo thus. He governed the republic with great judgment and was recognized as an equal by various crowned heads of other countries, though notice ably without military ability, he yet conducted several wars to a successful conclusion by his diplomacy. He was the greatest patron of literature and art that any prince has ever been, and he won the people by his liberality and other popular qualities. By his political talents, he made Florence the leading state in Italy, and by his other qualities, he made her the intellectual, artistic, and fashionable center of Italy. And in connection with these achievements, Lorenzo shows one notable characteristic. Though he had in him the capacity to do all this, and was inability ahead in shoulders above all men around him, yet never throughout his life did he show any arrogance, that quality in Uberti, the Albitzi, the Pazzi, and other chief families of Florence, which the people had always so detested, and to the day of his death, though so admired by Florence as the source of all her greatness, remained always singularly free from this failing. Autocratic sovereign of Tuscany, practically arbiter of the politics of all Italy, treated by the sovereigns of France and England as an equal, there is not a sign in him of that arrogant self assertion, which in one belonging to a bourgeois family, would with so many have been an inevitable accompaniment of such greatness. Lorenzo did not maintain even the amount of state considered necessary by the president of a modern republic. No officials guarded the entrance to the Medici palace. To every citizen of Florence, Lorenzo behaved and spoke on all occasions public or private as to an equal, while every historian mentions his marked courtesy of manner, even to the poorest of the people. Such was the young head of the Medici family, who at so early an age succeeded to the thorny position of ruler over turbulent Florence, without a military force to support that rule or anything else to rely upon, but his own abilities. In his memoirs, Lorenzo himself describes the manner of his accession in terms that are almost comical in their diplomatic depreciation of the position to which he was called, and his own ability to fill it. He says, the second day after my father's death, although I Lorenzo was very young, that is to say, only in my 21st year, the principal man of the city and of the state came to our house to condole us on our loss, and to encourage me to take on myself the care of the city and of the state, as my father and grandfather had done. This proposal being against the instincts of my youthful age and considering the burden and danger were great, I consented to it unwillingly, but I did so in order to protect our friends and property. For at fairsville in Florence, with anyone who possesses wealth without any control in the government. The contrast in Lorenzo's case between the difficult conduct of public affairs and the chief outward occupations of his life, particularly during the earlier part of his rule, is very striking. It was a period when the exuberant vitality of the Renaissance was at its height. And the first nine years of his rule, when he was from 20 to 29 and his brother Guiliano from 16 to 25, was a time in Florence of constant festivities, of music, art and poetry, of joy and laughter, and all the bright side of life. It was the fashion of the day to import into all the amusements an imitation of the classic times of ancient Greece. And the Florence of that time appears set before us as a city with youth at the prow and pleasure at the helm, and full of all the life, joy and pleasure of the old pagan ideal of Greece set in a 15th century dress. Besides all his duties in regard to state affairs and labors in the founding of institutions to advance learning, not to mention his own literary work, Lorenzo with his brother led these festivities, organizing pageants and other spectacles of the most costly description permeated with classical learning and poetical illusions for the popular amusement. Nor are Lorenzo and Guiliano to be considered as the sole authors of such a change from the old plain living and high thinking ideal of Florence. The age was one in which this sort of thing was in the air throughout Italy, and not in Florence alone. It was the way in which that portion of human need, which in our age is provided for by theaters, music halls, was then supplied. Lorenzo has been charged with thus, leading Florentines into profligacy. But had that been the case, there could scarcely have failed to have been evidence of some protest made by his high-minded mother, Lucrezia Tornabuoni, whose influence over him was, as we know, very great. The entertainments organized by these two brilliant young Medici took the form sometimes of grand possessions and tournaments, but more often of the most elaborate allegorical masks. Lorenzo and Guiliano themselves designed the various tableaux into which every kind of classical illusion was woven, while their execution was entrusted to the greatest artists of the day, no trouble or expense being spared to make these gorgeous spectacles in which the times of ancient Greece were revived before the eyes of the Florentines, as perfect and dramatic as possible. The costumes and chariots were designed by the most celebrated painters. The groups were arranged by renowned sculptors. The speeches were prepared by the foremost classical scholars, such as Marsilio, Ficino, Luigi Pulci, and Polizian. Horses dressed up in the skins of lions and tigers, beautiful women imposed as the goddesses of pagan divinity, and poets wrote elaborate compositions in verse describing the meaning of the different tableaux and the processions. Nor were the young people of the time very unlike those of our day in devising pastimes of a yet later kind, not to mention midnight tournaments in which fireworks took the place of more deadly weapons and magnificently arrayed processions by the young men to serenade the young ladies the desire to honor. We have in a letter to Lorenzo the year before a midnight snowballing match related. The heroine of this particular adventure was Marietta Palastrosi, the daughter of Lorenzo Palastrosi. The young heiress who, both her parents being dead, was thought unduly emancipated because she lived where she liked and did what she would. And those features are immortalized by Desiderio's beautiful bust of her. Half princess, halfway ward child, with saucy chin and willful hair. Writing in Latin to Lorenzo, then absent at Pisa, his friend Filippo Corsini detailing the latest doings of Florentine society says, and whilst I am writing to thee almost the whole city is covered with snow tiresome for many and obliging them to stay within, but for others a cause of much merriment and pleasure. Thou must know that there were together Latieri Naroni, Piori Pandolfini, and Bartolo Meio Benci, Marietta's betrothed. And they did say, let us seize upon the occasion to make some fine diversion. And immediately, at about two o'clock of the night, they did present themselves before the house of Marietta Storosi, followed by a great multitude assembled from every part to make sport with her at throwing snow. And they gave her a portion, and then they began. Ye immortal gods, what a spectacle. How can I describe it unto thee, my Lorenzo, in this feeble prose? The innumerable torches, the blowing of trumpets, the piping of flutes, the excited and cheering crowd. And what a triumph when one of the besiegers did succeed in flinging snow upon the maiden's face, as white as the snow itself. But what do I say, flinging snow? It was truly a veritable shooting at a mark, and by most expert marksmen. Moreover, Marietta herself, so graceful and so skilled in this game, and beautiful as all do know, did acquit herself with very great honor. But the noble youths would not take leave of her until they had bestowed most generous gifts upon her for a remembrance of them. And thus to the great contentment of this pleasant sport came to an end. Marietta did not marry the hero of this snowballing match. She married in 1471 to one of the Calconini family of Ferrara, and left Florence for the city of which Leonora Aragou became two years later the Duchess. Well, might Lorenzo write in his poems, Quante bella giovinazzi, che si fuggie, tuttavia, che vuol e ser vietosia, di dominoce certesa. Or in English, how beautiful is youth, which yet flies quickly away, who has a mind to be joyous, let him be so. For of tomorrow there is no certainty. But Lorenzo was not always planning pageants and festivities, or engaged in state affairs. Many other things also occupied his attention. Around his villa on Fiesole, he gave small villas to the most celebrated literary men of the time, thus gathering round whom a society of literati, of whom we are all told that their readings, recitations, and discussions revived a knowledge and love of classical learning for which posterity has the utmost reason to be grateful. In his villa at Fiesole, and in his beloved villa of Carregi, Lorenzo read with him the ancient authors, wrote Latin verses and poetry in the language of Tuscany, and took an active part in musical entertainments. A feast was held at his villa of Carregi every 7th November to commemorate the birth of Plato, and remarkable indeed must have been one of these gatherings of all the most brilliant scholars of the time. Lorenzo found time also for field sports of which both he and Guiliano were passionately fond, rising he says at the earliest dawn, when the east is already red and the tops of the mountains appear to be of gold. And the remarkable thing is that notwithstanding pageants, classical studies, literary work, social gatherings, and field sports, there was no neglect of public affairs. But that, on the contrary, these were most ably administered. End of section 16. Section 17 of the Medici. Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Dick Bourgeois Doyle. The Medici. Volume 1 by G.F. Young. In 1470, soon after his father, Piero's death, there came, as on each occasion that the family gained a new head, another attempt to destroy the Medici. The A.T. Salvi Naroni and the others exiled with them, thought they saw an opportunity for doing this now that Piero was gone, and in view of Lorenzo's youth and inexperience. Accordingly, having been collected of force, they seized Prado, the nearest of Florence's subject towns, and hoped by means of concurrent intrigues in Florence and assistance from Ferrara to succeed in the above object. But Lorenzo was equal to the occasion. The intrigues in the city were foiled by his tact. Troops were sent from Florence who retook Prado, and the rebellion was put down. In 1741, the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Sforza, came with his wife, Bona of Savoy, and two daughters, and a great retinue to visit Lorenzo, the latter having himself twice been entertained at Milan. Once in 1465, when at the age of 16 he was present at the marriage of Ipolitis Sforza to the Duke of Calabria, and again in 1469, when he went to represent his father as godfather to Galeazzo Sforza's infant heir. On the occasion of this visit to Florence, the Duke of Milan, desiring to overaw and impress his two young hosts, as well as the people of Florence, came with a great display of his wealth and importance. We are told that his retinue included counselors, chamberlains, courtiers, and vassals, twelve litters covered with gold brocade in which the ladies of the party traveled, fifty grooms in liveries of cloth of silver, numerous servants all clad, and even kitchen boys in silk and velvet, fifty war horses with saddles of gold brocade, gilded stirrups, and silk embroidered bridles, and five hundred couple of hounds with huntsmen, falcons, and falconers, together with trumpeters, players, and musicians, also a bodyguard of one hundred knights and five hundred infantry. But all this did not have the effect he intended. He stayed at the Medici Palace, which taught him a valuable lesson. For desirous as he had been to display to the Florentines how much greater was the wealth and splendor of Milan, he was forced by what he saw around him to acknowledge that art was superior to mere costliness. While we find him declaring that in all of Italy he had not seen so many pictures by the first masters, statues, gems, bronzes, beautiful vases, medallions, and rare books as he saw collected in the palace of the Medici. The result was that he departed at the end of his visit with a greatly increased respect for the Medici, and more inclined than he had previously been to maintain the alliance with Florence. From this time forward, we find Milan following in the steps of Florence, and it's Duke constantly writing to Lorenzo asking him to send him the foremost artists and endeavoring in every way to make Milan also a center of learning and art. In July of the same year, Pope Paul II died and was succeeded by Sixtus IV. On the election of latter, a senioria of Florence, sent an embassy to Rome in accordance with the usual custom to congratulate him. Lorenzo formed one of the representatives of Florence and says in his memoirs that he was received by the new pope very honorably. These satisfactory relations however did not last. Sixtus IV soon became a pope whose crimes caused mankind to loathe the very name of the papacy and before many years were over he was forming a formidable plot against Lorenzo's life and the independence of the Florentine state. In June 1472, it took place an event in regard to which Lorenzo's conduct has been so grossly distorted by his detractors that the episode has to receive notice. Volterra, the most turbulent of Florence's subject towns, had raised a revolt in connection with some local disputes and on the matter being referred to Florence had refused to submit to the decision of the government. Riots occurred in which many lives were lost and the Florentine envoy only just escaped from the city with his life. Subsequently, Volterra sent to Florence offering submission. Some were for accepting it but Lorenzo was against this on the ground that the offense had been serious, that it was not the first occasion of the kind on the part of Volterra and that the city ought to receive punishment. It may have been an error of judgment, but even this cannot be known. While even if it were so, it must be remembered that Lorenzo was at this time only 23 years old. Eventually, a force was sent against Volterra commanded by the Duke of Urbino, neither Florence nor Venice allowing their armies to be commanded by one of their own citizens. And after a month's siege, the town surrendered and opened its gates. Then occurred the lamentable event in question. As the force entered, an affray accidentally took place between some of the troops and the populace and this rapidly spreading grew into a sack of the town. The Duke of Urbino did everything possible to restrain his troops. He rode among them protecting the women and children and he hanged on the spot several of the soldiery who were foremost in inciting the rest. But on such occasions a medieval force was practically uncontrollable and in spite of all his efforts the unfortunate inhabitants were for some hours subjected to outrage and plunder as though the town had been taken by assault. Lorenzo at once proceeded to Volterra and did his utmost to mitigate the sufferings which had been endured. He has been severely condemned for this sack of Volterra, but certainly not with justice. It was the result of an accident which he could not have foreseen and he showed by his subsequent conduct how much he deplored it. In 1473 we find Louis XI raiding to Lorenzo asking him to effect a marriage between the Dauphin and Leonora of Aragon, the eldest daughter of King Verrante of Naples. Louis XI writes to Lorenzo quite as an equal and this with the request itself show what a position the latter had by this time made for himself though as yet only 24 years of age. But the King of France was too late in this request for the Princess Leonora had already been betrothed elsewhere and on the 22nd of June a very grand cavalcade scarcely less imposing than that of the Duke of Milan two years before arrived in Florence escorting her to Ferrara to be married to Ercole the first Duke of Ferrara who had succeeded his brother Borsal in 1471. She was accompanied by two brothers of Duke Ercole the lords of Capri, Mirandola and Corigio the Ducs of Amin and Atri and a number of other nobles entering by the Porta Romana this brilliant cortege rode through the city Leonora dressed all in black velvet adorned in front with numberless pearls and jewels with a cape and a little black hat with white feathers they crossed the Ponte Vecchio and rode up the Palazzo della Signoria where Leonora without dismounting received an address from the Signoria and then rode on to the Medici Palace where she stayed during her visit and at dinner was waited upon by her two young hosts Lorenzo and Guiliano she stayed with him several days during which various festivities were arranged for her amusement among these was a dance on the 24th of June at the Palazzo Lenzzi near the Porta Prato in those days of inferior artificial light in small rooms such dances generally took place during daylight and in the open air as was the case with this one which was given on the Prato or open stretch of grass beside the city gate between the palace and the Arno probably those who took part in it were dressed much in the same way as is related of a dance which took place on a previous occasion in the Piazza della Signoria in which the young men were all dressed in rich green cloth with kid boots reaching up to their thighs and the young ladies in splendid dresses high to the throat and adorned with jewels and pearls Leonora also witnessed the annual horse race the Corso which took place on the same day the starting point being from the Prato and the course being from fence by the Via della Vigna the Mercato Vecchio and the Corso to the Porta Alia Croce after these and other festivities Leonora departed for Ferrara much pleased with the two young Medici in 1475 there took place a more than usually grand tournament most splendid of all the spectacles during these joyous nine years it was called specially Guillanos as that in 1469 had been called Lorenzo's and from the elaborate preparations made for it the interest it aroused far beyond the limits of the Florentine state the number and importance of the visitors invited by the two young Medici to be their guests for the occasion and the extravagantly magnificent pageant which it presented this tournament became the event of the time it was held in the Piazza Santa Croce the usual place for these grand spectacles which Piazza though it now looks so cold and gray has seen more brilliant and gorgeous displays than perhaps any other place of the kind in Europe Lucrezia Donati was again the queen of the tournament and the beautiful Simoneta Cataneu who had lately been married at the age of 16 to Marco Vespucci and though a Genoese by birth was now the acknowledged bell of Florence was the tournament's queen of beauty the splendor of the dresses and appointments on this occasion exceeded even those of the tournament of 1469 Guillano now 22 wore a suit of silver armor and his entire dress is said to have cost 8,000 Florence his and Lorenzo's helmets were designed by Verrocchio who also painted Guillano's standard Guillano's handsome looks and gallant bearing won all hearts and whether is the result of his skill in the combat or his good looks he was awarded the prize this notable tournament having formed so prominent an event was immortalized both in poetry and in painting and since nothing accorded with the spirit of the age which did not contain profuse allusion to classical literature both arts cloth what they have to say in classic dress poetry speaks first by the mouth of the youthful prodigy Polizian and just as the tournament of 1469 had been immortalized by Pulci's poem there on so was this one of Guilliano by the still more celebrated poem of Polizian entitled La Giostra de Guilliano de Medici Roscoe says these two tournaments are chiefly notable because they called forth two of the most celebrated poems of the 15th century La Giostra di Lorenzo de Medici by Pulci and La Giostra di Guilliano de Medici by Polizian the latter poem contains about 1400 lines and has been uniformly allowed to be one of the earliest productions in the revival of letters that breeze the true spirit of poetry still more widely known however is the record by which painting has commemorated this tournament for no less than three of Botticelli's chief pictures refer to this celebrated tournament and are simply his way of recording in painting the same matters which have been spoken by Pulizian in poetry the Botticelli more pseudo expresses what he has to say with such a wealth of allegory that this has not always been fully recognized these pictures are the birth of Venus now in the Uffizi Gallery Florence his Mars in Venus now in the National Gallery London and his return of spring now in the Academia Florence all three pictures being painted for Lorenzo the Magnificent Pulizian in his poem following the classical fashion of the day is illusion to the tournament's queen of beauty Simonette describes the birth of Venus and Botticelli does the same in painting following exactly Pulizian's words how closely he has done so is well described by Mrs. Addie who says the composition of the picture was evidently derived from Puliziano's poem of the Geostra in a passage adapted from one of the Homeric hymns the poet tells us how the newborn Aphrodite was blown by the soft breath of the zephyrs on the foam of the Aegean waves to shore heaven and earth he sings rejoice at her coming the hour's wait to welcome her and spread a star's own robe over her white limbs while countless flowers spring up in the grass where her feet will tread all this exquisite imagery is faithfully reproduced in Sandro's painting he has represented his Venus in a diomene laying one hand on her snowy breast the other on her loose tresses of golden hair a form of virginal beauty impurity as with feet resting on the golden shell she glides softly over the rippling surface of the waves he has painted the wings zephyrs hovering in the air linked fast together blowing the goddess to the flower strewn shore and the shower of single roses fluttering about her form only instead of the three hours of Homer's hymn in Puliziano's poem he shows us one fair nymph in a white robe embroidered with blue corn flowers springing lightly forward to offer Venus a pink mantle sewn with daisies in the laurel grooves along the shore we see a courtly illusion to the laurel who sheltered the songbirds that caroled to the tusk and spring while in the background the eye roams across long reaches of silent sea to distant headlands sleeping under the cool gray light of early dawn the picture charms us by its delightful mixture of the spirit of ancient Greece with that of the renaissance as well as by its life and movement and its sensation of the free air of nature as Steinman says we seem to hear the tremulous rustle of the laurel grove and the gentle splash of the waves following this we have the second picture the tournament is over Galeano has carried all before him and rests from his fatigues basking in beauty smiles Pulizian in his poem alluding to Galeano as the victor of the tournament has told the story of mars and venus and described venus reclining in a woodland glade robed in gold embroidered draperies watching mars with limbs relaxed lying asleep on the grass while little goat-footed satyrs played with his armor this scene Botticelli takes for his second picture and as before follows closely Pulizian's words and then having devoted one picture to the tournament's queen of beauty and one to the victor in its mimic warfare Botticelli makes his third picture the most important of the three relate to Lorenzo and his part in all this gathering up in one view the whole subject of these pastimes this Botticelli does with great talent and in a manner all his own he takes for his text the celebrated standard which had been born in front of Lorenzo at both his and Galeano's tournaments with its motto le temps revient its device of the bay tree which had appeared dead again putting forth its leaves and its illusion to the new era of youth and joy which Lorenzo had inaugurated and had likened to the return of spring after the gloomy months of winter making the leading thought of his picture the theme of Lorenzo's standard Botticelli paints for him his beautiful picture the return of spring the primavera perhaps the most widely admired of all Botticelli's pictures as before Botticelli connects his picture with the recent tournament by introducing Galeano in Simonetta but he wishes to refer not only to this one tournament but to all these pastimes to their having been inaugurated by and taking place under the fostering care of Lorenzo and also to the latter's talents as a poet in which domain he is already beginning to earn a great reputation and so Botticelli depicts for us a scene of lighthearted youthful joy representing the return of spring and by his great talent contrives that the entire picture shall speak of Lorenzo and breathe the very spirit of the poems in which the latter had sung of the joys of Maytime in Tuscany shielded from rough winds and scorching sun by a grove of orange trees backed by the ever-present Laurel Queen Venus Simonetta stands presiding over the return of spring to Tuscany the graces danced before from out of Laurel Grove at her side the three spring months march april may or it may be zephyr fertility and flora come bringing flowers of every hue mercury Galeano scatters the clouds of winter and the little blind god of love aims his arrows recklessly around Lorenzo's tournament motto of La Tente Riviera could be written below the picture as its name so beautifully does Botticelli bring it the occasion on which it was used the meaning which it had and Lorenzo's talent for poetry describing the beauties of nature all in one glance before our eyes some consider this picture Botticelli's masterpiece while others would give that honor to his Madonna of the Magnificat the verdict will depend chiefly upon the temperament of the observer but whether the return of spring can be considered his masterpiece or not none can fail to praise what has been well-termed his rhythmic grace as well as the surpassing art with which Botticelli has made it speak of Lorenzo his acts his poetry and the motto by which he signified the introduction of a brighter era but dark clouds were coming on the horizon which were long to overcast all these bright scenes of joy putting an end forever to Lorenzo's youth and all the happy times which he and Galeano had enjoyed together in April 1476 before a policeman had finished his poem where Botticelli had even begun to paint his three pictures the tournament's poor queen of beauty Simonetta David Spucci whose lovely face looks at us so wistfully in Botticelli's birth of Venus and of whom Polizian says she was so sweet and charming that all men praised her and no women abused her was dead being carried off by rapid consumption after a few weeks of illness Lorenzo who was then at Pisa superintending his new university and had sent his own physician to attend her and to furnish him with daily bulletins when he heard the news went out into the calm spring night to walk with a friend and as he was speaking of the dead lady he suddenly stopped and gazed at a star which had never before seemed to him so brilliant see he exclaimed either the soul of that most gentle lady hath been transformed into that new star or else hath it been joined together there on two then followed in December 1476 the murder of the Duke of Milan Galeazzo Sforza which upset the balance of power in Italy and changing all political relations involved Lorenzo in serious anxieties and soon afterwards came the terrible patsy conspiracy and the bright handsome guiliano Lorenzo's constant companion and work and play and on who sound sense he had grown greatly to rely was foully murdered and Lorenzo himself plunged into a serious war in many troubles end of section 17 section 18 of the Medici volume one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Dick Bourgeois Doyle the Medici volume one by G.F. Young the celebrated conspiracy which had these results originated at Rome with Pope Sixtus IV and his nephews of the Riario family they gained as their accomplices the patsy at this time the leading family amongst the nobles in Florence and the conspiracy has taken his name from them though they were not the chief authors of the plot. Sixtus IV the first of three popes who in this age attained an evil preeminence was a fisherman by birth and took the name of the Della Roveri family his sister married a Riario and of him it has been said that he was the first pope who for the sake of a founding family sacrificed every interest of the church and waited deep in crime and bloodshed for this purpose. The chief political feature of his pontificate is a constant struggle to rob all right and left of their possessions to enrich his rapacious nephews he made himself hated in Rome above all for his cruel treatment of the Kelowna family whom he pursued with relentless ferocity and of all his crimes this atrocious murder of the head of that family the proto notary Lorenzo Kelowna in order to ring from them the surrender of their estates has made his name forever odious. Sixtus IV urged on by Girolamo Riario the most evil of his nephews desired to seize upon Florence in order to give that state to Girolamo that this involved the murder of the two Medici brothers was a mere detail the Patsy on the other hand though they desired to exterminate the Medici had no intention of allowing the Riario to obtain Florence afterwards thus did these two bands of criminals combine for their common object of a treacherous double murder each of them determined to outwit the other when that should have been affected the arrangements took some time but eventually the two parties hatched at Rome early in 1478 the plot known as the Patsy conspiracy certainly with the full cognizance of the Pope even though it may be true that he did not know all the details for these he left to his nephew Girolamo Riario the chief originator of the plot and did not desire to know them so long as the result the removal of the two Medici was achieved in fact without the Pope's full concurrence Girolamo Riario would never have undertaken an affair involving so many risks which might without that support bring him no profit troops under Nicolo de Tellentino and Lorenzo Giustini were sent to occupy points on Florence's frontiers at Todi sita de Calstello Imola and near Perugia and arrangements made further marching upon Florence while that city should be in the state of confusion and helplessness which would result from the murder of the two Medici as has been remarked for such extensive movements the Pope's assent and cooperation were essential the principal movers in the business were Girolamo Riario who was to obtain the state of Florence Francesco Salviati Archbishop designate of Pisa who was promised that he would be made Archbishop of Florence if the attempt succeeded the uncartinal Raffaello Riario the Pope's grand-nephew who was sent to Florence to represent Girolamo and the Patsy family the latter were very numerous Jacopo de Patsy who was head of the family had two brothers in between them they had 10 grown-up sons besides many daughters Cosimo for seeing the enmity of the Patsy had arranged a marriage between one of these nephews of Jacopo de Patsy and his granddaughter Bianca Lorenzo sister but when the time came this did not protect Lorenzo from the Patsy when all the plans and the conspirators were ready the Archbishop Salviati came to Florence bringing with him Monteseco a mercenary soldier in the Pope's employ who was to play the chief part in the murder and other conspirators at the same time the young cardinal Raffaello Riario also came to Florence ostensibly on a visit to Jacopo de Patsy a cowardly Girolamo Riario though he was the chief author of the plot and was to be the person to benefit by it took care to remain out of harm's way in Rome Lorenzo and Gio Liano were at the time staying at the charming Medici Villa a few miles out of Florence on the slope of the hill of Iosalei Raffaello Riario and his retinue stayed with Jacopo de Patsy at his neighboring villa of La Vege they were invited by the two Medici brothers to a grand banquet to take place at the Medici Villa on Saturday the 25th of April and the first plan formed by the conspirators was to poison the two brothers at this banquet the entertainment took place but Gio Liano being indisposed was unable to be present so the plan fell through the Patsy then told Lorenzo that the young cardinal Riario was anxious to see the treasures of the Medici Palace upon which Lorenzo invited him and his retinue to stay with him there for the Sunday night when the cardinal intended being present at high mass in the cathedral where upon the conspirators laid the plan that after attending mass and returning to the Medici Palace for dinner their two young hosts should be murdered as they rose from the table in accordance with the above invitation the party removed to the Medici Palace but on the Sunday morning it was found that though Gio Liano would be at mass he was still too unwell to be at the midday dinner so again another plan had to be formed nor could any delay be allowed since on the evening the troops of Nicolo de Tolentino and Giustini would be at the gates of the city it was therefore hastily decided that the murders should take place at the service in the cathedral where it was known that there would be a great crowd which would facilitate the escape of the murderers Montesaco however declined to take part in this plan as he refused to add sacrilege to murder so in his place were substituted two priests who were among the conspirators Antonio Mefe and Stefano de Bagnoni who had no such scruples meanwhile in the Medici Palace every preparation was made for the banquet the rare silver maleica and precious vases were brought out and the cortile which Donatello's medallions and statuary adorn were arranged for the entertainment of so distinguished a company it shows somewhat of the general estimation in which the Medici were held in Florence that though for several days danger of this kind either by poison or dagger had been all around Lorenzo and Giuliano both they their family and their numerous retainers should have been so entirely without the smallest suspicion of any danger it was this entire absence of suspicion on the part of the two brothers which caused the plot to come so very near to succeeding towards midday on the sunday morning 26th of april Lorenzo left the Medici Palace walking with his guest the young cardinal Raffaello Riario to the cathedral after a short interval Giuliano followed accompanied by Francesco de Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini as they walked Francesco de Pazzi pretended affection put his arm around Giuliano's waist to ascertain whether he wore a coat of mail under his clothes which he found he did not Giuliano on that day was entirely unarmed not even wearing a sword having hurt his leg in an accident the moment which the conspirators had fixed upon to carry out this diabolical murder during high mass of the two young men whose hospitality they were enjoying was that of the elevation of the host this moment says a historian of the time being chosen both by reason of the impossibility of mistaking it and also an account of the bending attitude of worship which it is the habit of everyone in the church to assume at that solemn moment in the service it was this which caused the mercenary soldier Monteseco to draw back from the plot he being appalled Raffaeon as he was at the blasphemy of choosing such a moment for so great a crime and this was the actual cause of the failure of the plot for his part had been that of murdering Lorenzo and the two priests substituted in his place being unused to arms bungled their work where those told off to do the same to Giuliano Bernardo Bandini and Francesco de Pazzi succeeded only too well in the crowded cathedral the brothers were according to the plan separated at the fatal moment Giuliano unarmed was standing at the northern side of the choir not far from the door leading to the Via de Servi while Lorenzo was standing at the south side of the choir Giuliano furiously attacked by Bernardo Bandini and Francesco de Pazzi fell dead at once where he stood his body being stabbed again and again as it lay on the ground until it had 19 wounds at the same time Matei and Stefano attacked Lorenzo but being less prompt than Bandini only succeeded in giving him a wound on the neck Lorenzo with much presence of mind immediately threw off his cloak wrapped it around his left arm as a shield and drawing his sword beat off his assailants he then leaped over the low rail which encircled the choir and running along across in front of the high altar took refuge in the sacristy Bandini having slain Giuliano rushed towards the sacristy to attack Lorenzo killing on the way with one blow Francesco Nori a devoted adherent of the Medici who interposed to prevent him from reaching Lorenzo Belitian with one or two others of his friends had followed Lorenzo closed the heavy bronze doors of the sacristy to Bandini's face while Antonio Ridotti sucked Lorenzo's wound lest the weapon should have been poisoned the whole church was at once in an uproar the people when they knew what had happened being ready to tear in pieces those guilty of the crime for the moment however the ladder in the general confusion escaped out of the church while the young cardinal Raffaello Riario took refuge at the high altar one of Lorenzo's party in the sacristy climbed up into the organ loft and saw Giuliano's body lying dead at the north side of the choir and that the conspirators had fled this being the first intimation that Lorenzo had of what had happened to his brother and after a little time Lorenzo wounded in a deep distress at his brother's cruel fate was escorted home by his friends meanwhile the other and larger portion of the conspirators were occupied at the Palazzo della Signoria the plot as arranged was the most formidable one eminently calculated to paralyze Florence and render her powerless to resist the troops of Niccolò da Telluntino in Giostini who should in a few hours be entering the city for the plan had been that while those told off to that work carried out the murder of the two brothers in the cathedral the principal band of the conspirators headed by the Archbishop Salviati should proceed to the Palazzo della Signoria and having gained admittance to the council chambers should seize the government killing all members of the Signoria who resisted but on the entrance of the Archbishop and his following the gonfaloniere Petrucci who in this crisis showed himself a decidedly strong man suspected something wrong he therefore kept the Archbishop and his party in play for a short time detaining the Archbishop in his own private room while he quietly set out to ascertain if there was anything unusual going on in the city in a few minutes came the news of the tragedy which had occurred in the cathedral and with it the gathering noise of the furious people who while Giacopo de Patzi and others of that family strove to rouse them to rise against the Medici and rode through the streets crying out liberta we're refusing to shout as instigated abaso le palet but instead we're shouting furiously vivano le palet gonfaloniere with great resolution seized the Archbishop and promptly hanged him from the corner window on the north side of the Palazzo della Signoria the corner window of the great council hall and with him from the adjacent windows five of his fellow conspirators while the rest were slain on the staircase within a half hour 26 bodies were encumbering the staircase of the Palazzo della Signoria and half a dozen more were dangling from the windows the remainder of the conspirators were hunted through the city by the enraged people whose hatred against them was beyond all bounds and none who fell into their hands were spared even to be handed over to the Signoria for execution they had not only killed Giuliano and attempted to kill Lorenzo but they had also made a formidable endeavor by force of arms and with the aid of foreign troops to seize Florence by a coup de main and all these acts together rouse the people to frenzy they surrounded the Medici palace and clamored to see Lorenzo wounded as he was he came out and addressed them assuring them that he was only slightly hurt and exerting them not to execute private vengeance on the perpetrators of this deed but to reserve their animosity for those foreign enemies of their country who had instigated it but they paid no heed to his admonition and all suspected of complicity in the plot were pursued through the streets and slaughtered wherever captured their mangled remains were dragged about by the infuriated mob whose rage was not satisfied until about 80 persons had been massacred nor was the feeling confined to the city for days afterwards the country people flocked into Florence coming they said to protect Lorenzo but in the Medici palace was deep and bitter mourning for the bright and justly loved Giuliano the idol of his family and mournful preparations for the solemn public funeral to be held in the family church of San Lorenzo nor when the Florentine people had had time to recover from this first excitement did the popular wrath abate it became less wild but more determined Jacopo de Pazzi had escaped to the village of Castaño but was seized and brought back by the villagers and executed by the Signoria the same fate met Francesco de Pazzi one of the two murderers of Giuliano his cousin Renato de Pazzi Monteseco and the two priests Matthew and Stefano Giuliano de Pazzi brother of Francesco and husband of Lorenzo's favorite sister Bianca would probably also have lost his life had not Lorenzo on his sister's account intervened on his behalf in consequence Giuliano was merely banished to a short distance from Florence the remaining seven of the ten sons or nephews of Jacopo de Pazzi were sentenced either to imprisonment for longer or shorter periods or to banishment Vespucci also richly deserved hanging but was let off with two years imprisonment Bernardo Bandini the other murderer of Giuliano escaped to Constantinople there however he was seized by the Sultan and sent back in chains to Florence on his arrival the Signoria once ordered him to be executed in the Bargello the indignation of the people not all of it an account of the attempt against the Medici but also an account of the effrontery of such an endeavor to seize upon their state as if a mere spoil of war caused them to seek for every possible method which they could use to devise to brand with deserved infamy those who had perpetrated this deed by a public decree of the Signoria the name and arms of the Pazzi family were ordered to be forever suppressed their palace and all places in the city named after them were given other names all persons contracting marriage with any of that family were declared prohibited from all offices in the republic the ancient ceremony on Easter Eve of conducting the sacred fire to the hosts of the Pazzi was abolished an artist was employed at the public expense to represent on the walls of the Bargello the bodies of the traders to the republic suspended as a mark of infamy by the feet and a medal was struck by the order of the Signoria representing the choir of the cathedral heads of Lorenzo and Giuliano and the attacks made upon them while the fury of the florentines was thus at a white heat against those who had perpetrated this crime and come so near bringing their country under such a yoke as Sixtus the fourth had intended Lorenzo showed in the midst of the frenzy of his city one trait which is deserving of notice and it was an inherited one whether he had felt that notwithstanding the part in the matter which the one member of the Riario family who had come to Florence had played the latter had been only a tool in the hands of older men or whatever the cause it was to Lorenzo that the young cardinal Raffaello Riario entirely owed the saving of his life when the uproar in the cathedral took place the young cardinal took refuge as already noted at the high altar whence he dared not stir Lorenzo on reaching home sent a party of his retainers to protect him and to conduct him to the Medici palace the sole place in the city where he could be in safety there he kept him hidden for some days until the violence of the people had cooled down and then sent him away in secrecy to Rome Lorenzo showed similar magnanimity in saving the lives of Raffaello Maffei the brother of the priest who had attempted to murder him and of Ave Ardo Salviatti a near relation of the archbishop who had taken so prominent part in the plot such then was the patsy conspiracy it differs in no way from the most brutal highway murder and robbery except in its consummate treachery and the high position of its authors yet it will scarcely be credited that some writers have styled it a praiseworthy act thus for instance we find Cismondi crediting the chief actors in the patsy conspiracy with noble motives he sees in the conduct of Sixtus the fourth whose motive is well known to have been solely the desire to seize Tuscany for his greedy nephew elevation of sentiment and a desire for the independence of Italy and he regards the patsy as noble patriot striving for the liberty of Florence the Medici have quite enough faults to answer for without their history being distorted in this preposterous fashion the judgment of a more balanced writer is as follows the pope and his nephew attempted to overthrow the Medici rule because it was a bar to enlarging the temporal authority of the one and to the personal ambition of the other the patsy were perhaps unconscious that they were being used as tools for the attainment of these ends and had no doubt their own ideas as to the future government of Florence but there is not a tittle of evidence that they were actuated by a love of liberty their conducts wrote seems to have been purely vindictive it was the Medici and not the patsy who in the past had been on the side of free institutions the supposition that the Florentines would have preferred the rule of the patsy to that of the Medici is ridiculous or Jacopo the patsy's shouts of liberta liberta would not have been answered with the palae palae of the multitude in truth there has seldom been a conspiracy which was instigated throughout by meaner motives thus did this celebrated conspiracy fail and the Medici were more popular than ever and have weathered the fourth and most formidable attempt to destroy them while Lorenzo as a result of this attempt gained much additional strength for the war which was now before him in the knowledge that he had a united people at his back but Lorenzo's youth ended with the death of his much loved brother there are no more pageants and festivities but hence forward war politics and literary labors with field sports as the only relaxation end of section 18 section 19 of the Medici volume one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Dick Bourgeois Doyle the Medici volume one by GF Young Giuliano the youngest of the five children of Piero Il Gottoso and Lucrezia Torna Buoni was unlike his brother Lorenzo exceedingly good-looking he was gifted with considerable abilities and for as many enduring qualities was greatly beloved not only in his own family but also by the people of Florence before his early death he had already shown on several occasions that he possessed plenty of political capacity and could give valuable advice to his brother Mr. Armstrong describing his character says he was the darling of high and low the most attractive of all the Medici his passion was the chase he was a bold rider a skilful jouster eminent in jumping and wrestling yet he was no brutal athlete he loved pictures music and everything that was beautiful he loved poetry that told of love he composed verses in his mother tongue full of weight and sentiment he talked brightly and thought soundly delighted and witty and playful company but hated above all men who lied or bore a grudge for wrongs faithful and high-minded regardless of religious forms and moral decencies he was ever ready to render service or perform a courteous act in his relations to his brother whom he worshiped there was no sign of jealousy after the terrible tragedy of his murder at high mass in the cathedral the city long missed the well known figure tall and well proportioned the olive-tinted features lighted by bright eyes the long lock on the forehead and the shock of black hair thrust back upon his neck he had a grand public funeral in the great church of the Medici family San Lorenzo and there was no hypocrisy in the great grief manifested by the people the relations which existed between these two brothers is one of the pleasantest things in the history of the Medici at that epoch jealousy between two brothers placed in such a position as Lorenzo and Juliano were as the normal state of things that it was entirely absent in their case speaks well for both of them and it is an indication of Lorenzo's character and of what his conduct in the minor relations of life must have been that he should have never given cause for any feeling of jealousy in a younger brother so nearly as equal in ability and a superior in good looks and that on the contrary the latter should have worshiped him or again that Lorenzo from his side should never have felt jealousy at the admiration and popularity so universally bestowed on Juliano and much exceeding that accorded to himself Juliano is 25 at the time of his death he left an illegitimate son born just at that time Lorenzo took the child and brought him up as one of his own sons and this child became the next generation the well-known Giulio de Medici afterwards Clement the 7th. Juliano like all previous members of the family except Cosimo was buried in the old sacristy inside Lorenzo but about 80 years afterwards his remains were removed to the new sacristy which had at that time become the principal burial place of the family it has always been felt suitable that these two brothers between whom so strong and affection existed in life should be buried together when Lorenzo died his body was laid in the same grave with Juliano's the remains were subsequently removed to the new sacristy together and there they still lie in the same tomb when in October 1895 Lorenzo's and Juliano's tomb was opened the reason why the ladder was so instantly killed became for the first time apparent the accounts of the murder had always mentioned that his body received a large number of wounds most of them given after he was already dead but no mention of a wound on the head was made in any of the accounts when however the tomb was opened more than 400 years afterwards it was at once observed that Juliano's head had an enormous sword cut extending along the whole of the top of the skull thus fully accounting for his falling dead at once where he stood evidently Juliano at the elevation of the host had adopted the bending attitude on which the plot relied and the murderer bandini had taken full advantage of the opportunity it gave and struck Juliano down without his having a chance of defending himself from the blow by the stroke delivered with great force on his bare head.