laid to Poyson him but he avails himself of the Goalers Irresolution and of a Boufoon's Address by whose means he gains the Gonfalioniere who nicks his time and dexterously sets him again at Liberty He withdraws to Venice from whence he contrives his return to Florence and causes his Enemies to be banish'd He ends his Life in quiet and leaves but one Son call'd Piero of small Sence but a sequestred Health The Pitti's Conspire to assassinate him and lay their Measures competently well but he scapes 'em through a Caprice that happily came into his mind Their Conspiracy is discover'd they are banish'd The Venetians support them They invade Tuscany with an Army but the design of surprising Pisa being ill concerted makes them lose th' occasion of entering Florence and of taking the advantage of Piero de Medici's death occasion'd by the Gout The Contents of the Second Book LOrenzo de Medici rallies his Fathers Friends and restores the Affairs of his Family He goes and joins the Florentine Army with fresh Troops and is present at the Battel wherein Field-pieces are first put in use and where the Servants one both sides with Flambeaus light their Masters while a Fighting Federigo d'Urbino wins one of Coglione's Quarters The Republick of Venice abandons the Pitti's and the Marquess of Mantoua reconciles them with the State of Florence The Volterrans Revolt Lorenzo de Medici causes the Siege of the Town to be rais'd and pardons them after having constrain'd 'em to surrender at discretion He demands of the Pope is Cardinals Cap for his Brother Giuliano but is refus'd He takes his Revenge by causing the Army of the Church to moulder away before Tiferno and by hindring the Pope's Nephew from acquiring the Soveraignty of Immola from whence is fram'd the Pazzi's Conspiracy Giuliano de Medici is therein kill'd and Lorenzo escapes All the Accomplices are punish'd and the Archbishop of Pisa is truss'd up at a Window of the Palace in his Pontifical Vestments Bandini only gets into Turkey But Sultan Bajazet delivers him to Lorenzo de Medici's Factors The Contents of the Third Book COmmissioner Nardi concludes a League between the Pope and the King of Naples against the Florentines Lorenzo de Medici sustains the War but seeing himself abandon'd by his Allies takes a bold Resolution He causes the choice of the young Florentine Nobility to follow him under the Pretence of a Hunting Match Goes aboard a Gally Bears away directly for Naples Amazes King Ferrand by this Heroick Act of Trust Breaks all the Measures of Resalli the Ambassadour By new ways disconcerts the Practices of that Old Minister Ruines him in the Kings good Opinion Enstates himself in his room Enclines the King to all he aims at Makes him break his League with the Pope Procures Peace to the Florentines Causes their Towns to be restor'd them and a Treaty of Guaranty to be sign'd with them Two years after the King of Naples is almost oppress'd by his Nobles Conspiring with the Pope and the Venetians who meant to share his State Lorenzo de Medici succours him without staying to be desir'd to do 't Lends him Money Debauches the Troops that had overcome him Causes the Orsini's to declare for him and restores him to all Intents After which all his Thoughts tend only to maintain Peace in Italy The Contents of the Fourth Book THE famous Astrologer Leoni the Topping Physician of all Italy comes to Carrego to prescribe to Lorenzo de Medici during his Sickness Is mistaken as well in his Predictions in quality of Astrologer as in his Prescriptions in quality of Physician The Patient dies through his Fault and Piero de Medici out of rage throws him into a Well wherein he is drown'd as was Prognosticated by the Calculation of his own Nativity The Eulogy of the Wits that were Friends or receiv'd Gratifications from Lorenzo de Medici Aretin thinking there to be no other Manuscripts than his of Procopius his History burns it and has it Printed in his own Name but his Larceny is discover'd December prostitutes the Reputation of the Duke of Milan who sets him to write his History The Academicks of Rome take a fancy to travesty their Name in Greek The Pope imagines it a cover to a Conspiracy they had contriv'd against him He causes 'em to be secur'd and some of 'em put upon the Rack Platina is of this number The Cardinals of the Conclave go to Bessarion's Cell to make him Pope His Conclavist Perroti sends 'em away for fear of diverting his Master from his Studies They take pet and chuse another Politianus dies of a transport of Love The Prince of Mirandola writes against Astrologers They meet Calculate his Nativity and send him word he will dye as young as he is before his Work is finisht Their Prediction is fullfill'd The Contents of the Fifth Book THE Calamities of the House of Medici proceeded from the same Lodovico Sforza who ruin'd that of Naples and his own A curious Recital of Piero de Medici's Imprudences that are found mingl'd with th' Artifices of his Enemies He flies away from Florence He is upon the point of being restor'd by a French Intrigue who foster designs of supplanting Cardinal Brissonnet He is sought after but not found The true Causes of Savonarola's Advancement and Downfall The Ursini's labour in vain to re-establish the Medici's and reveal to them Valentinois's design of delivering them up to the Florentines Valentin finding by whom his Design was detected kills the Ursini's at the Feast of Senegaglia which plunges Piero de Medici into a Despondency He sides with France and is drown'd at the Mouth of the Garigliano His Brother the Cardinal withdraws to Rome where he sharps it until his Legation The secret Circumstances of his taking at the Battel of Ravenna and of his escape Soderim's Brother's Covetousness gives him occasion to bribe the Officers of the Spanish Army which restores him in Florence He has Machiavel there put to the Rack then receives him into favour but Machiavel broods his Revenge and not finding th' occasion procures his own Death by a Doze unseasonably taken The Contents of the Sixth Book ERasmus th' Astrologer and Ficino the Philosopher Prognostic are that Cirdal Medici should be Pope tho' not any appearance of it then He is carried to Rome in a Litter by reason of an Imposthume he had in a place thâ— Modesty forbids mentioning He enters thâ—â—â—clave The Imposthume breaks and exhales such a stink that th' Old Cardinals fancy'd upon the Relation of brib'd Physicians that he will suddenly dye and so leave off crossing his Election A Dream of his Mother which he remembers of himself makes him take the Name of Leo. He repairs his Cousin Giulio's defect of Birth and gives him his Cap. Massimiliano Sforza falls distracted and puts it into Leo's Head to make his Brother Giuliano Duke of Milan but is deluded by Fregossa who accomodates himself with the French Giuliano
satisfy'd without at least revealing to him that Court Mystery which tho' he had caus'd to pass in the second Book of the War of the Vandales for an effect of a Soveraign's Ingratitude and Jealousie towards one of his Subjects whom Fortune lifted too high was properly speaking only an Intrigue of Love of Antonina Belisarius his Wife she being Cock-a hoop to return to Constantinople there to see again the infamous Object of her Passion Procopius took the same Course in his Books of the Gothick War when he had spoken of the same Belisarius his second or third Disgrace for after having with all the vigour of his stile exagerated the Prejudice Justinian did his own Concerns by degrading that brave General in the very instant he came from taking Rome and delivering Italy from the Lording of the Goths by winning of a Battel wherein the King and all the Royal Family remained Prisoners he was contented with writing that Belisarius his Enemies were sufficiently powerful at the Imperial Court to procure his Repeal But he speaks much more home in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein he maintains that the true and principal Cause of his Degradation came from the Empress Theodora Justinian's Wife who being desirous to make Belisarius purchase the Continuation of his Employment caus'd him to return to Constantinople where she propos'd to him the obtaining his re-establishment on condition that his Daughter who was to be the only Heiress of the immense Riches he possess'd shou'd Marry the Empress's Nephew having nor Estate nor Virtue nor Birth Belisarius Sacrific'd his Daughter to his Ambition and recover'd the Generalship at that price But he kept it but two years And in this place do I make a third Observation upon the Conduct of Procopius For tho' he owns Belisarius to have surpass'd himself by recovering the City of Rome and the rest of Italy which the Barbarians had seiz'd on during his absence tho' he declaims against the harshness of Justinian and Theodora's Infidelity who recalled him unseasonably for the third time yet was not he wanting however when he examines the occasion of it towards the end of his second Book to have recourse to the same Calumny he had made use of to explain the foregoing Disgrace And 't is only in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that representing Belisarius once again upon the Precipice he draws the Curtain and downright avers that what absolutely pusht him in it was that the Empress had got a Fancy to have his Wife return to Constantinople to have a Confident nay and a Companion in her Disorders The reason of so different a Conduct in one and the same Author proceeds if I be not mistaken from that the Historian considers almost ever Men in Publick whereas the Anecdoto-grapher only examines 'em in private Th' one thinks he has perform'd his duty when he draws them such as they were in the Army or in the tumult of Cities and th' other endeavours by all means to get open their Closet-door th' one sees them in Ceremony and th' other in Conversation th' one fixes principally upon their Actions and th' other wou'd be a Witness of their inward Life and assist at the most private hours of their leisure In a word the one has barely Command and Authority for Object and the other makes his Main of what occurs in Secret and in Solitude Not but that the Writer of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draws a Picture of Persons as exact and as faithful at the least as can be done by the Historian but he does it after his own Mode He represents only as much of the Man's Out-side as is necessary to know his Inside and as the good and bad dispositions of the Mind are only to be disclos'd in the Manners 't is also for the Manners that he reserves his liveliest Colours and finest Materials So scrupulous is he in this point that he minds not provoking the Anger or incurring the Indignation of the Persons Concern'd But he is commonly so unhappy that what ought to pass for a Virtue is imputed to him as a Crime He supposes for one of his Principles that fine Secret which Plutarch first discover'd in Moral Philosophy namely That there is no state in Life wherein a Man is more careless to conceal what passes in the bottom of his Heart than when the passion that Lords him is arriv'd to excess However when he follows the divers Agitations occasion'd for example by the fury of Love and the despair of Jealousie he is forthwith aspers'd as a Detractor and that he only writes a Satyr wherein his Condition is much more unhappy than that of the Painter who is fully justify'd if he can shew that his Pourtraict altogether resembles th' Original whereas the Writer of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 has never more reason to fear being ill treated than when what he relates of Viciousness is most true I insist upon this point it being perchance that which has diverted Historians before and since Procopius from this kind of Writing and which by Consequence must needs set me a trembling I undertake to draw the Picture of Pope Clement the 7th and if I design to do it to the Life I must detect his Ruling Passion and examine to its least Symptoms Not a Man that I know of has yet said what it was and I am the first that maintains it to have consisted in a blind and whimsical desire with which he was ever possess'd of ravishing his fellow Citizens of their Freedom to raise to the Soveraignty of Florence two Bastards of his House though it did not then want several Legitimate Children whose Heroick actions might have merited the Choice and whom all Mankind judg'd beyond Comparison more capable of filling that place I do not fear being Cavill'd upon this Proposition as being sure there cannot any material Circumstance be found in the Life of that Pope but what alludes to this Assertion Nay I fancy that if I proceeded no further I should be so happy as to scape the on-set of Criticks But have I not reason to lye under dismal Apprehensions when the necessity of my subject shall oblige me to grope on and put Truth in all its Light When the sad Destiny of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that cannot indure any thing mysterious shou'd be left to Posterity without explaining it or any thing secret without revealing it shall ingage me insensibly to take off the Paint with which Historians fucuss'd most of Clement's Actions to shew how many weaknesses and faults against true Policy budded from this first irregularity and to explain the minutes of those failings which past at length ev'n to the preference of the youngest of those two Bastards to the eldest tho' the youngest had not any of the qualities necessary for Command and Government and that the Eldest possess'd them all by the consent of those who knew him and ev'n to the exposition of Catharine only Daughter and
he had not so firm an Enâ—â—gement with the Pitti's though under their Pay as with the Republick of Venice that had degraded him he took some days delay under colour as if all things were not yet ready in his Army for its advancing into the very Center of the Enemies Country but indeed to inform the Venetian State of the true Condition and Estate of the City of Florence and to ask their Permission to draw near it The Letter he writ in Cyphers was examined by the Senate with all imaginable exactness but not in the sense that Coglione had writ it for the General had no other Design than to serve those from whom he received his Pay in a Conjuncture wherein he found his own as well as they their Advantage Whereas the Venetians proposed directly to themselves only the Interest of their Republick and consider'd that of the Pitti's no farther than as it concurred with their own They did not judge it advantageous to their Commonweal for Coglione to advance into the very Face of Florence because if he became Master of that Town he would be obliged to leave it at the Pitti's Mercy who in all probability would not ravish it of its Freedom so far were they from subjecting it to the Laws of another Republick And if Coglione was so bold as to declare when he was entred the Town That he pretended to hold it in the name of the Venetians besides the horrible Scandal which an Action 〈◊〉 that Nature would cause throughout all â—â—rope it would not be possible for him to â—â—p his new Conquest long in regard the Princes of Italy would immediately take â—mbrage and endeavour in Concert to reâ—â—tablish the Florentines in the Freedom they before enjoy'd Which the Venetians would â—e so much the less in a capacity to oppose as having no place upon the Tuscan Coast and â—eing easily hindred coming thither by Land Coglione would have only the vexation to see the Fruit of his Perfidiousness miscarry and the Venetians the regret of having to no purpose prostituted their Reputation Thus they thought it fitting to fasten upon some Enterprise of less noise and of more â—se to succeed They thought it best to â—â—andon the Florentines amazed with their Civil Division and in the mean while cause Coglione to march to the Conquest of a Place that might be relieved by Sea after the taking and re-victualled from time to time without their being forc'd to pass through mothers Lands That of Pisa was both the most important of it self and the most commodious for this Design It had a Territory sufficiently big for the framing a durable Settlement and Ports sufficiently large to â—nde secure during the greatest Tempests Its Inhabitants were born in an irreconcileable aversion to the Florentines and consequently dispos'd to attempt and endure all rather than be their Slaves Moreover the Italian Princes would not be so much alarm'd hearing it was besieged because they were accustomed to see it change its Master and it would be more easie to persuade them that it should be restored in the Accommodation These Considerations prevailed in the Senate of Venice over Coglione's Reasons to whom they sent a Dispatch that it was much better to fix upon Pisa It was no difficult matter for the General to make the Pitti's condescend to this Undertaking for tho' they clearly saw that this was not the shortest way to be taken for their Return into their Country they durst not however declare openly all they thought of it because they found Coglione too firm in his Resolution to be stagger'd and they lay under the fear by shocking him unseasonably to lose the Benefit they expected from his Valour Thus the Attack of Pisa was concluded and Coglione's Cavalry almost all composed of Epirotes and Albaneses had order to invest it while the Venetian Ships advanc'd towards the Coasts to hinder the Succours that might be put into it by Sea But whether his Cavalry did not set upon marching as soon as they were commanded as being loth to leave their Quarters of Refreshment 〈◊〉 that the Spies that Piero de Medici's â—â—ends kept at great Charges in the Enemies â—â—mp had inform'd them at the very instant 〈◊〉 the Resolution taken in the Council of â—ar it hapned that at the same time that Coglione's Troops left their Quarters to go to â—isa those of Naples quitted likewise theirs 〈◊〉 march the same way And as they were much nearer San Severino their General â—ad the leisure to enter the Town and range them in Places the most subject to unforeâ—n Attacks before the Exiles Army did appear Without this Precaution the accurate Kenâ—â—s of Military Discipline judged that the Town would have been forthwith taken For â—â—e Inhabitants stood but very ill affected to â—â—â—ir own Defence and looked upon the â—â—mies with as little concern as if they had â—â—en the Spectators of a Tragedy They matter'd in publick That the worst that â—â—ould befal 'em was the shifting of Tyrants And as the Common People are very ingeniâ—â—s in cockering their Noddles with Hopes tho' dull almost in every thing else they â—â—â—gin'd that a Revolution let it turn on â—hat side soever would infallibly change â—heir unhappy Destiny from whence it was â—â—ie to foresee that if there had not been an Army maintained by the Florentines who should have opposed the Enemies Impetuosity the Enemy had easily trod them under foot And indeed San Severino who had as much Experience as Valour did not think there was any safety to trust them with the Guard of the Suburbs He kept them in the Main Guard situated in the midst of the Town under colour that it was the giving them the most Honourable Employ as to oblige them to watch over the Fidelity of the Inhabitants and disposed the Troops he brought in those Parts where he judged the Enemy would come He was not mistaken in his Conjecture and Coglione did not lose time in following the Methods of the Captains of his Age who never attack'd a Place without having made an exact Muster of their Army to those they pretended to besiege Pellegrin in his last Book of the Art Military and without having finish'd the Circuit of their Walls in Battel-array He forthwith attack'd the Suburbs with great violence but was repuls'd with so much loss that he was compell'd to change his Design of Forcing the Town into that of Reducing it by a Siege Nor did he persevere long in the Resolution of making himself Master of it in the Forms for as soon as he was inform'd that 6000 brave Soldiers were got into the Place commanded by an experienced Head he judged that it would be the ruining his Army without much incommoding the Besieged to attack them regularly Thus his thoughts were wholly set upon retrenching them of their Provisions and constraining the Neopolitan Troops by a Blockade to leave Pisa But while he was heaving and labouring at this with that indefatigable
the weaker Side The Pitti's oblig'd themselves to disarm and remain Exiles for Ten years at the Expiration of which they should be allow'd to return into their own Country on condition of never more exercising any Magistracy or Publick Office therein And the Commonwealth granted an Ammâ—sly to those that had taken their part at the Charge of serving against the City of Volterra then revolted This City more Famous in Ancient than Modern History truckl'd to that of Florence with so much the more impatience as it had been one of the Last that was ranged under its Sway. And the Contrariety of Humour evermore most notorious between its Inhabitants and the Florentines made them believe that there was no Yoke but what was Light in comparison of that they bore These two Causes had engag'd them in the Party of all those who had declar'd themselves at divers times Enemies to the Republick and had made them open their Gates to Coglione's Army as soon as it appear'd before their Walls They had not been comprehended in the Negotiation whether the Pitti's had not the Power to do it or had not much insisted to obtain it because those of Volterra had receiv'd them without exacting from them the hast Engagement either by Word of Mouth or by Writing Thus were they condemn'd by Law-Martial to pay the Charges of the War and the Principal Officers of the Florentine Army prepared to lead their Troops thither Lorenzo de Medici onely waited for the Republick's Order to invest it but this Order was not given for that the Council of Eight could not easily resolve upon the entire ruine of a Town of that Importance This Council chose much rather to dissemble the Fault it had committed than to apply Fire and Sword to repair it And the perfect Knowledge they fancied they had of the Genius of that stubborn People persuaded them by a Subtilty of Ratiocination to wink at their Revolt They also imagin'd that it would be losing time and putting the Authority of the Republick to the Judgment of Private Men to demand of them the Principal Heads of the Rebellion which they would never deliver And as they were neither willing to expose themselves to the Affront of a Refusal of that nature nor push on to the last Extremity against People they saw dispos'd to expect it they were of opinion to treat those of Volterra in the same manner they were wont and to shew them by this Conduct that they had not taken notice of their Revolt But Lorenzo made them take up more Generous Sentiments by representing to them That the Crime of the Volterrans could by no meanâ— be dissembled in a Popular State without exposing themselves to the Peril of a speedy Revolution That there was no City in the Territory of Florence but would follow upon the first occasion the Example that had been newly set them if they were not diverted from so doing by the Quality of the Punishment under which they should be lash'd and that Clemency was the Rock whereon all Republicks without excepting that of Rome had suffer'd Wrack because they were not in a Condition to practise that Virtue with as much security as Kings He added however That Indulgence should be us'd towards those of Volterra but that they must first of all acknowledge themselves unworthy of it and in craving it exert their Humility These Reasons were indeed drawn from the profoundest Policy but they were not the sole not even the principal that made Lorenzo act in this manner He had more particular and more pressing ones which represented to him his Honour and his Inâ—erest were both almost equally engag'd in the Enterprise of Volterra the Burgers of that City having made mighty goaring Railleries and infamous Satyrs on the Subject of his Youth and his too great Familiarity with Angelus Politianus and the Study of Polite Learning to which he was a Pretender contrary to the Custom of the Italian Gentlemen Moreover the War of the Pitti's had not lasted long enough to handsel his first Arms. There had been onely one Battel wherein he acted meerly in Quality of a Voluntier and under the Orders of Federigo d' Vrbino A Soldier he was known to be but there was still room for suspicion whether he was a Captain until he was seen at the Head of an Army act of himself and put happily in practise what he had read in good Books The Necessity of his Affairs and the Occasion his Friends had for his continual Presence in the Country did not allow him to seek Employment among Strangers and all Italy enjoy'd at that time a profound Tranquillity Wherefore in Tuscany was he to seek whereon to make his Apprenticeship and as it was not fitting or hardly possible in a Private Person to raise a new War in his own Country at least without incurring the Publick Abomination he was to husband well the Occasion of doing it that offer'd it self for the attaining the Advantage aimed at without receiving any Damage In few words Lorenzo knew that the Pitti's had not acted so much against the Florentine Republick as against him and held himself by consequence the more nearly bound to hinder their stirring for the future Yet this could not be prevented as long as they had the Conveniency of such a City as Volterra very considerable of it self and near Florence to serve them for an Asylum Thus the Siege of Volterra was resolv'd on and the same Lorenzo de Medici who had had sufficient Credit to get that Enterprise undertaken had likewise sufficient to procure to himself the Commission of performing it He Invested the Place with the Troops which the Florentines kept in Pay disposing the Attacks with Regularity enough at a time when hardly any thing was understood of Military Architecture The Besieged who had run themselves into this Tempest through their own Imprudence sustain'd it with more firmness than was expected They spoke neither of Capitulating nor Surrendring and did on that occasion what could onely have been expected from the most obstinate Citizens of Old Rome They defended their Town to the very last Extremity tho' they had not any hopes of being reliev'd and when People ask'd them what they meant to do they return'd answer That they intended nothing else than the deferring their Slavery for some Months But in short those who had yielded neither to the Violence of their Adversaries nor to Lassitude and Weariness sunk under Famine and deliver'd all up on Discretion The Mercenary Soldiers of the Florentines who already were all preparing to put them to the Sword and then seise on their Estates were strangely surpris'd when they saw they were frustrated of their Pretensions by their General 's Address And indeed it was neither the Interest nor the Genius of Lorenzo to abandon Volterra to Plunder For besides the Loss the Florentine Republick had suffer'd thereby that Person would ever have been look'd on as Sanguinary under whose
Allies without running any hazard there was no question but that he would use them with all the Prudence natural to him That if Lorenzo pretended to be come upon the Faith of the Truce then granted by the Duke of Calabria he would learn to his cost that that Truce onely regarded Tuscany or at most the neighbouring Countries that lay expos'd to the Inconveniences of the War but not the City of Naples which was an hundred Leagues distant thence That tho' all the Dominions of King Ferrand had been comprehended therein which was not however done in any of the Articles Lorenzo had incapacitated himself for enjoying the Benefit of it by neglecting a Formality so universally receiv'd in all the Countries of the Earth that there was reason to maintain that it appertain'd to the Right of Nations That this Formality consisted in making known to Soveraigns the Desire a Person has of seeing or crossing their Dominions or demanding their Passport before the Journey be undertaken and that as Lorenzo could not be ignorant of this he ought to be treated as Culpable for having violated it That nothing more was there to do than two things in his regard the one to rid his Person out of the World and the other to seise it That the former would be the shortest and safest but that if his Majesty could not so soon resolve upon that his Allies hoped from his Prudence and Equity that he would give his Orders incontinently for the performing the second The King of Naples made no precise Answer to Ressalli He onely gave him to understand That this Adventure was so surprising that it well merited to be examin'd with more leisure And indeed hardly ever was Prince seen more puzzl'd than King Ferrand when he fell to deliberate in himself upon the manner he should receive Lorenzo de Medici The Cruelty he was naturally prone to persuaded him to use Violence And the fair Pretence he had to execute it egg'd him on the more to gratifie this Inclination Moreover he look'd on the Soveraignty of Florence as a Fief which would hold of his Crown as soon as Lorenzo de Medici should be no more and the Life of a Private Man did not seem to him sufficiently considerable to ballance such an Advantage He was engag'd in a War that might be terminated with one Blow He had promis'd the Pope to put his Nephew in possession of Florence He knew the violent Humour of that Pontiff He foresaw that he would never pardon him if he let so fair an Occasion escape of satisfying his Ambition and Revenge And the History of three or four Ages had taught him that the Popes had taken away and giv'n the Crown of Naples almost as often as the Will or the Caprice had whirl'd them so to do On the other side the Right of Nations and good Faith on which Lorenzo was come seem'd to be two sufficient Reasons to dissuade his Detention to whomsoever should have an abhorrence to notorious Crimes And as the Genius of King Ferrand was sufficiently irresolv'd he felt in his Soul an extraordinary agitation when he was to come to a Determination However it is not doubted but that he had at length chosen the unjust Course if Curiosity had not justl'd in to the Succour of what Virtue he had left to hinder him from violating the Right of Hospitality He remembers that Lorenzo de Medici was bruited the Worthiest Man in Europe He remembers the Wonders that were blaz'd of him abroad and comparing them with the Generous Resolution that had conducted him to Naples he had a grudging to see this Heroe who was both the greatest Polititian and the gallantest Man living He was confirm'd in the Design by the facility of gratifying this Desire of his without its being in the least known He had Lorenzo whisper'd That they might confer together provided their Interview was perform'd without any Witnesses Lorenzo not caring in what manner he saw the King so he had but time to discourse him joyfully receiv'd the Proposal that was made him nay and suggested the Means of having it effected according to his Majesty's Mind by offering to be conducted alone as soon as it was Night to any Place appointed him Thus was the Interview had in the King's Closet where Lorenzo having insinuated into to the Monarch's good Opinion by all the ways that Decency allow'd of discours'd him upon the Subject of his Voyage and made him see into the real cause of the Tuscan War which so much care had been taken to conceal and masquerade so as that it might not fall within his ken He justify'd himself fully upon all which the Riario's had laid to his Charge and perceiving the King took some delight in what he related to him he stagger'd him quite by declaring to him That he needed to bring no other Proof of his Innocence than the Resolution he had taken of coming himself to acquaint his Majesty with the true State of the Case He added That he demanded no other Articles of Peace than those his Majesty should judge reasonable and that the Florentines would receive without murmuring the Law he should vouchsafe to give them after having had the Honour of informing him of the Quarrel wherein they were engag'd maugre their Endeavours and Inclinations for Peace As the King of Naples was naturally vain and that Fortune had never afforded him the Occasions of satisfying the Inclination he had for false Glory tho' he had already Raign'd above Thirty years he swallow'd with avidity that now offer'd of becoming Arbiter of the Florentines Destiny and footh'd his Fancy with the Pleasure he should have in giving the Citizens of Naples a Spectacle approaching that of the Romans when Tiridates the King of Parthia's Brother came to demand Peace of Nero for Armenia In this thought he sweetned insensibly and abated of his Tartness even to the letting Lorenzo know That if he sent to inform him of his Arrival by the most considerable Gentlemen that accompany'd him and to declare to him he was come as a Deputy from the Republick of Florence to negotiate the Peace under the Sanction of the Truce this Overture would furnish him with the Pretext he needed to give him a Publick Audience without derogating from the League he had made with the Pope Lorenzo accepted this Offer so much the more willingly as that at his departure from Florence he had provided himself with a sufficient Power and had taken care to bring along with him the Gonfaloniere's onely Son the fittest Man that could be to represent the Personage desir'd by the King of Naples Whereupon he sent him the next day to that Prince to make him the Compliment agreed on And the King of Naples took his time to receive him in Ressalli's Presence The Gonfaloniere's Son call'd Tomaso Soderini acquitted himself admirably well of his Commission and acquainted the King of Naples with much Boldness and Confidence after having paid
him the most profound Respects That the Republick of Florence in consequence of a Suspension of Arms which she had concluded for two Months with the Duke of Calabria had rightly judg'd that this Interval was too short to observe all Formalities necessary for the Conclusion of a Peace and that to improve these her few so precious Moments to her best advantage by justling up to the main of the Business without losing time about the Preliminaries to Naples she had sent Lorenzo de Medici the most Considerable of her Subjects that he might Personally Treat with his Majesty upon the Presupposition That the Pope would not fail to approve of what should be concluded on at Naples The King of Naples after having made young Soderini withdraw ask'd Ressalli what his Thoughts were of the Business Ressalli made answer That he persisted in the belief that Lorenzo de Medici ought to be dispatch'd out of the World or at least secur'd But things are no longer in the same State reply'd the King for we thought yesterday he came of his own motion and as a Private Person and now we are inform'd he comes in the Name of the Commonwealth of Florence and has the Character of Ambassador Extraordinary But tho' it were so reply'd Ressalli hastily your Majesty may pretend Ignorance till such time as the Florentines have inform'd you of it by the Ways in use among Soveraign Powers in matter of Deputation and in the mean while you will have sufficient ground to act against Lorenzo de Medici tho' it were onely to punish him for having neglected these Formalities The King of Naples rejoyn'd When I have practis'd this subtle Prank and Cavil it will not skreen my Honour from Reproach in having violated the Right of Nations in so signal a Conjuncture Then he fell to making a long Exaggeration of Lorenzo's Merit and concluded it with letting Ressalli know That if he fail'd making a favourable Reception to Lorenzo's Dignity that alone would be sufficient to render his Reign odious to Posterity These last Words utterly discompos'd and nonplus'd Ressalli's Violence He manifestly saw the King of Naples fully set upon giving Lorenzo Audience and was not ignorant of the Consequences Nevertheless as there was no possibility of preventing it at least without running the hazard of a Rupture with the King from which he was forewarn'd by Riario above all things Moreover if the King of Naples was resolv'd to discourse him the more advantageous was it to the Pope and his Nephew that it were done with their Participation and in their Deputy's Presence than if it was perform'd without their Privity because that in the first Case they might find occasion perhaps to prevent its taking effect And that if it succeeded maugre these Endeavours they would be still in a capacity to husband their Interests Whereas in the second Case the Odds was too great against them and their whole Stake in danger of being lost without hopes of Retrieve since the King of Naples after having treated with Lorenzo needed onely to send word to the Duke of Calabria to lead back into his own Dominions the Army that acted in Tuscany For as that Army depended almost on three Regiments of Infantry the Florentines would enjoy Peace nevertheless with almost as much Tranquillity as if they had treated with the Pope whose Weakness would be then obvious to all the World and tarnish'd with the utmost Affront This mov'd Ressalli to give the Neapolitan King to understand That if his Majesty thought convenient to grant Lorenzo Audience the Pope his Master hoped he would have the Goodness not to do any thing prejudicial to their Union The King of Naples reply'd That he would neither see Lorenzo nor speak to him but in the Presence of his Holinesse's Minister that he might have an irreproachable Evidence to vouch for the sincerity of his Intentions Lorenzo's first Audience pass'd almost wholly in Civilities on both sides He appear'd as Ambassador Extraordinary from the Republick of Florence and said That his Superiours had sent him modestly to bewail the Misfortune they had had of incurring the Pope's Indignation without being guilty of any thing to challenge it That for overplus of Ill Fortune they had seen the Arms of Naples joyn with those of the Church to lay desolate their Territory but that these Acts of Hostility had diminish'd nothing of the ancient Confidence which the Commonwealth of Florence had ever had in his Majesty's Justice because she had suppos'd that so wise a Prince must necessarily have been prepossess'd to her Prejudice to treat her as an Enemy without any Lawful Cause That it was in order to the destroying so dangerous an Opinion that he was sent to implore Peace of his Majesty and to declare to him That the Florentines were so persuaded of their not having offended him in any manner that they would submit to all he should please to decree and humbly to beseech him to be their Mediator with the Pope The King of Naples answer'd sparkishly That the Commonwealth of Florence had found the Secret to make his Sword fall out of his Hand if he himself had been onely Interessed in the Tuscan War But as the Pope was a Party he could then make no other Return than that he already gave his Royal Word to sacrifice to the Good of the Peace all his Pretensions and all the Charges he had been at and to employ his Offices with his Holiness in order to dispose him to an Accommodation This favourable Reception was follow'd two days after with a Private Conference between the Neapolitan King and Lorenzo de Medici wherein Lorenzo fell immediately to the Business and unvail'd to this Monarch the true Causes of the War which the Riario's had so craftily let him see onely in disguise He shew'd him the Informations of Pazzi's Case and the Memoirs written and sign'd by the Accomplices own Hand He made appear that the Conspiracy had been hatch'd at Rome with Design to mount Riario to the Soveraignty of Florence He modestly insinuated That the Care he had taken to manage the Soveraign Pontiff's Reputation that of the Cardinal-Nephew and Prince Furli in the time they themselves prostituted it by the basest of all Crimes had drawn the Devastations executed upon the Territory of Florence But that he hop'd his Majesty would cause them to cease after he was inform'd of the Truth from his own Eyes Then he represented to him in a Discourse that was beyond contest That since Italy was divided into so many different Soveraignties 't was impossible to change any one of them without hazarding the All it made a Part of That this Harmony depended no less of the smallest Powers than of the greatest because none of them was then so weak but whose Aggrandizement it was necessary to obstruct That those whose States were more Considerable for their Riches or Extent had more Interests than the rest to maintain the Counterpoise
Conveniency and the Theses were maintain'd there with such a Concourse of Learned men as had never been so great in any place The Respondent was the beautifullest Man of his Age and such an one as was capable of gratifying thâ— Eyes and Ears at the same time He had 〈◊〉 noble lofty mien tall and of a transcendant shape and such as is attributed to Heroes and his Body as well fashion'd as hiâ— Wit He had also this peculiar to himself that his Application to the most tow'ring abstruce Sciences made him neglect nothing 〈◊〉 a gallant Garb and well-dressing that conduceâ— to heighten Lustre and captivate Affection He had the knack of explaining his conceptions so easily and with so good a Grace thaâ— People were never weary of hearing him He neither confounded the Words nor Phrases of so many Tongues wherewith his memory was freighted The tone of his Voicâ— was agreeable He sweetn'd the most serious Discourses with fine and innocenâ— Railleries that they might go down thâ— more glib He became the more Eloquent gradually as he grew warm and his Answers were so pat and solid that it cou'â—â— never be observ'd whether he had morâ— Wit or Judgment or Memory so many amazing Testimonies did he give of his possessing those three Qualities in a degree superiour to other Men. However as hâ—â— admitted all sorts of Persons indifferently tâ—â— Disputation and had inserted in his Positions the Cabala of the Jews the Defence of the most exalted Christian Mysteries by Natural Reason and the nicest Passages of the Councils Fathers and Ecclesiastical History some there were who unable to attain to the sublimity of his Notions tax'd him with Heresie and made such a Noise and Clamour that the Pope was upon the point of suspending the Disputes which being intimated to the Prince of Mirandola he besought his Holiness to give him the leisure to purge himself of the Crimes imputed to him and principally of that which most shock'd the Demi-Learned namely of maintaining that Origen was sav'd notwithstanding his Definition contrary to the Fifth General Council and tho' busy'd all day long in answering yet he compil'd in seventeen Nights that wonderful Apology which cannot be read without a Mans being startl'd to see so young a Prince equally strong upon all sorts of matters He triumph'd o're all those who wou'd have put his Religion to the arbitrement of each private Noddle and compos'd his own Epitaph which is only to take it aright a Commentary upon the first Chapter of Genesis wherein the Creation of the World is explain'd after so ravishing a manner that there is no penetrating farther into the meaning of the Holy Writ Afterwards his strict engagement with Lorenzo de Medici render'd them Companions in Study they daily communicated to one another things they had learnt or meditated anew they sent one another their Works they corrected one anothers Compositions and from one of their Conversations have I discover'd how Lorenzo wriâ—â— a Dialogue of Love and Fortune so tender and ingenious that the Prince of Mirandola after having examin'd it let him know when he return'd it him that he had not observ'd the proportion of Ages with sufficient exactness and how Venus had not so many Charmes when she issu'd from the Froth of the Sea as he gave his Cupid though he only represented him as a Child newly born This stroak will suffice to judge how quaint and delicate was those two great Mens Criticisms I have not been able to find out the true Cause that set the Prince of Mirandola to write against Astrologers nor am I satisfy'd with that alledg'd by his Nephew I lay a much greater stress upon a Conjecture which came into my mind upon reading his Apology that it might be the Professors of the Judicial very rife at that time having made their advantage of some Propositions in his Theses seemingly in their favour he thought himself oblig'd to prevent by a publick disclaiming of those Tenents the benefits they might thence derive Be it as it will the Allarm this gave them was so hot that they assembled to resolve what course they had best to take They calculated the Prince of Mirandola's Nativity and found two remarkable things The one that he shou'd not put the last hand to his work against them and the other that he shou'd not exceed thirty two years of Age. They sent to signifie this doom to him at which he made a mock But the event justify'd their Prediction for as this Prince was compleating to undermine the Foundations of their Science he was seiz'd with a Fever which knock'd him off in thirty days space It has been observ'd that he breath'd his last in the very moment that Charles the 8th entred Florence and that the Library de Medici was dissipated as if hazzard had taken him out of the World in a Conjuncture when he was going to be bereav'd of the Originals of the Ancients without which he could not live He had been so concern'd at Savanarola's Predictions that he was upon the point of renouncing the World and going after the Apostolick manner to preach the Gospel through the Villages However his Work against the Astrologers as imperfect as it is is nevertheless the best that has been composed since those of the Fathers of the Church The End of the Fourth Book THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF MEDICIS The Fifth Book ALL the Italian Historians of the last Century suppose that Piero de Medici's imprudence undermin'd all the Foundations laid by his Predecessors for the aggrandizement of his Family But none have yet precisely shown wherein that Imprudence consisted nor its Results and Consequences I undertake the representing them here in order and for my being the better understood I begin with the Pourtraict of him whose Errors I mean to describe Never did Son resemble less his Father than Piero de Medici and never Father had so much Antipathy for a Child as Lorenzo had for Piero. It seem'd as if Nature had only form'd the one for the other to set her self at odds by a division of her Provinces and to invest two contrary Objects with all her Virtues and Vices without giving any thing to the Son of what she had put into the Father Piero de Medici possessed all the qualities wanting in Lorenzo but had not so much as one of those in him admir'd His Body was incomparably well made and especially the finest Head that had been ever seen He was of so strong and sound a Complexion that not any excess was capable of staggering it So much strength had he at seventeen years of Age that not a Man was there but whom he flung in wrastling He was extraordinarily expert and clever in all Exercises serving to fashion young Gentlemen His meen was altogether Martial when he appear'd arm'd at all points and the Judges of the Turnaments own'd no Man knew how to break a Lance with a better Grace than Piero.
Anecdote Then was brought upon the Board a Project of a League between the Holy See and France but the Pope had his Answer ready He let the King know that it became neither the Gravity nor Decorum of a Soveraign Pontife to break his Word with the Spaniards for the sixteen Months that he was bound to remain still united with them but that this time shou'd be no sooner expir'd but that he wou'd do all that his Majesty should desire of him The King was satisfi'd with this Excuse because that being still young and without Experience he imagin'd that he shou'd never be soon enough in France to receive the Applauses which the Victory of Marignan and the reduction of the Dutchy of Milan had deserved Thus ended the Interview of Bologna and a Body may say that the Pope preserved by Cunning his Predecessors Conquest to the Holy See and the Kingdom of Naples to the Spaniards His Holiness wou'd needs pass through Florence in his way to Rome and as his Country-Men had then improved Architecture Sculpture and Painting to the highest point they cou'd attain they made him an entrance that will never have the like Giacomo de Sandro made the Triumphal Arch of St. Peter's Gate where all that Fancy cou'd add to History was so happily employ'd that the Pope who understood Painting admirably well upon his viewing it fell into a kind of Extasie from whence they had much a do to rouze him to get him advance The Work was so much the more singular that Baccio de Monte Lupo had had a hand in it as well as Sandro But as their manner was quite different easie was it to distinguish to their very least strokes and to render to each the Justice he deserved Giuliano de Tasso had made another Arch before the Church of St. Felice whose Decoration was no less Charming for its oddness than for its Beauty As if this had not been bus'ness enough for him he had undertaken and finisht so lively and capricious a Representation of the Adventures of Romulus that the Pope went thither two or three times to see it Antony de St. Gal made upon the place of the Lords an Octogone Temple whose Design was new And the Gyant which Bandivelli put in the Gallery of the Palace cou'd not be better proportion'd notwithstanding his enormous bigness The Triumphal Arch of Grà maccis between the Abby and Palace of Podesta express'd the Marriage of the Arts with the Virtues and that of Rosso a Canto di Bissierre was marvelous for the diversity in its Figures In a word André del Sarto disguis'd the Facciata de Santa Maria del Fiore so as that she seemed all Marble by a kind of Mastic appli'd upon Cloath which Lorenzo de Medici had invented Alfonsina deg l'Orsini residing at Florence took advantage of the good humour the sight of so many inimitable Objects had created in the Pope to excite him to the aggrandisement of her Son She had long already ty'd the Dutchy of Vrbino as a Prey and she tormented her Brother-in-Law to give the investitute thereof to young Lorenzo upon the score that this Dutchy was absolutely for his Bienseance and a Neighbour of the State of Florence But she had never been able to obtain any thing in Giuliano de Medici's Life-time because he had ever oppos'd whoever attempted on that side whether he had an abhorrence to the Consenting to so visible an Injustice or that he pretended acknowledgment to a Prince who had giv'n him a Retreat during his Exile But no sooner were his Eyes clos'd than that Alfonsina deg l'Orsini redoubled her Instances The Pope had too much Wit than to be ignorant of the injury he shou'd do his Reputation and the Scandal he shou'd give the Christian World by diversting one of his Vassals without Cause He resisted some time but at length two things prevailed with him to give way The first His Sister-in-Law's extream Importunity who left him not one moment at quiet till she had got him to fall out with the Duke d'Vrbino And the second That the Duke had not been careful to improve his Friendship before he was Pope nor so much as since And now follow Circumstances relating to this point which well merit being known I have already remark'd that he had us'd his utmost efforts to obstruct the Medici's from being restor'd in Florence but this was not his greatest Crime He had fil'd others to the Account namely that being General of the Church and by consequence bound to pursue its Interests he had nevertheless sent into France the Count Balthazar Castillonne for the negotiating there an Accommodation apart in Execution of which he had hindred the Souldiers of the Confederate Army from passing upon his Territories for fear of their being at the Battel of Ravenna and had deny'd giving passage to those that had been beaten there Moreover at the last irruption of the French into Italy he had accepted the Lieutenancy of the Troop of the League under Giuliano de Medici appointed General Yet when sickness had hindered Giuliano from Command in them and that young Lorenzo had been put into his room the Duke d'Vrbino had resus'd to serve under him and alledg'd for excuse his not having consented to obey Giuliano than on the score of Friendship which gave him reason to believe that he wou'd have shar'd the Generalship with him but that having no peculiar engagement with Lorenzo and their humours on the contrary being incompatible it was to be feared they wou'd not pass two days together without a Broil and Disturbance This Carriage had extraordinarily mortifi'd the Pope in that the Duke d'Vrbino shew'd a two visible Contempt of his Nephew Yet he wou'd not have dared to complain if the Duke had not added Injury to Disdain by detaining in his state the brave Companies of Ordonnance that had been levi'd instead of sending them at least to the Rendezvous since he went not thither himself This is what he was upbraided with in the Manifest publish'd against him when War was declared upon him It was no difficult matter for Lorenzo de Ceri who commanded the Army of the Church to despoil him because that not having at that time any Souldiers to defend his State and suspecting the principal aim was upon his Person because his Death wou'd have secur'd the Dutchy of Vrbin to the House of Medici he durst not Coop himself up in any Place for fear of being immediately there invested and securing what he had most precious accepted the azyle offer'd him by the Duke of Mantoua The Pope being flusht with the easiness of this Conquest undertook another which cost him as little trouble tho' it failed little of proving fatal to him Pandolfo Petrucci who Commanded at Sienna had afforded him a Retreat during his Exile and his Son the Cardinal had served for an Instrument to advance him to the Supream Dignity of the Church by forming the Faction