De Medici

“ But science, discarded by the schools, fortunately finds a refuge among princes. Cosimo de' Medici prefers the testimony of his senses to the voice of authority. He observes the new satellites with Galileo at Pisa, makes him a present of one thousand florins, and gives him a mere nominal office,--that of lecturing occasionally to princes, on a salary of one thousand florins for life. He is now the chosen companion of the great, and the admiration of Italy. He has rendered an immense service to astronomy. ”

“ The age of Lorenzo de' Medici--that bright fifteenth century--in the history of the Italian peninsula was signalized by such achievement and definite result in the intellectual emancipation of the minds of men, art and poetry were given such an impetus and showed promise of such full fruition, that he who would now conjure up the picture of that fair day is well-nigh lost in wonderment and awe. ”

“ He is very well and gay, and so is Bernardo. [145] Tell Nannina this. Our party is as when we left all good friends and obedient; we have had no drawbacks, for not even a nail is wanting. We have had no delays or frauds. All goes well and happily: please God we shall find you the same, to whom we all commend ourselves.—The 18th day of July 1469. [146]
Lorenzo de’ Medici to his wife Clarice
I have arrived here safely and am well. ”

“ After the strong personality of Cosimo and his masterful manipulation of commercial and political affairs, perhaps the unambitious rule of his son Piero was a necessary and healthful corollary. Piero de’ Medici maintained the ground his father had made his own, and gave away nothing of the predominance of his family, and he made way, after a brief exercise of authority, for his brilliant son, Lorenzo.
Piero’s character and career again prove the truth of the adage: “Ability rarely runs in two successive generations.” ”

“ Almost all the early Medici had natural children, whose lot was in every case splendid. The Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, Pope Clement VII., was the illegitimate son of Giuliano I. Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici was also a bastard, and he was within an ace of being Pope and head of the family.
Certain inventors of anecdote have a story that the Duke of Urbino, Catherine's father, told her: "A figlia d'inganno non manca mai figliuolanza" (A clever woman can always have children, à propos to some natural defect in Henri, the second son of François I., to whom she was betrothed) . ”

“ The history of the establishment of the house of the Medici in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is a magnificent tale which still remains to be written, though men of genius have already put their hands to it. It is not the history of a republic, nor of a society, nor of any special civilization ”

“ You may think how I love him; particularly when his joyous neighs resound and rejoice all the neighbourhood. I owe you and I send you many thanks for such a fine gift, and I shall try and repay you by becoming what you wish. Of this be sure. I promise you that I shall try with all my heart. We are all well, and we all long for your arrival. God save you.—1479. [257]
Your son Piero at Gagliano. [258]
Antonio Pucci to Lorenzo de’ Medici at Cafaggiuolo
Magnifice Frater honorande,—That priest from Imola has been interrogated. ”

“ Ferdinando, born 1549, was now wearing the Cardinal’s red hat, which hapless young Garzia’s hunting-knife had caused to fall from his brother Giovanni’s head in the Maremma. Ambitious, jealous, but, perhaps, less depraved than his father, the Cardinal de’ Medici made no secret of his dislike of his brother Francesco and his innamorata, Bianca Buonaventuri. ”

“ Catherine de Medici is painted there in all her dissimulation and her network of artifices, in which she herself was often caught; ambitious of sovereign power without possessing either the force or the genius for it; striving to obtain it by craft, and using for this purpose a continual system of what we should call today 'see-sawing'--'rousing and elevating for a time one faction, putting to sleep or lowering another; uniting herself sometimes with the feeblest side out of caution, lest the stronger should crush her; sometimes with the stronger from necessity ”

“ I am certain that our citizens will unite to protect their liberty, so that by the grace of God it will be defended as was always done by our fathers. I go full of hope, and with no other object than the good of the city, and I pray God to give me grace to perform what is the duty of every man towards his country. I commend myself humbly to Your Excellencies of the Signoria.—From San Miniato on the 7th day of December 1479. Your Excellencies’ Servant,
Laurentius de Medicis. [272]
Lorenzo de’ Medici to Antonio Montecatino, Ambassador to Florence of the Duke of Ferrara ”

“ In the wide court-like space between the wings is a fine old white marble fountain that never plays. Its dusty idleness completes the general air of abandonment. Chancing on such a cluster of objects in Italy—glancing at them in a certain light and a certain mood—I get (perhaps on too easy terms, you may think) a sense of history that takes away my breath. Generations of Medici have stood at these closed windows, embroidered and brocaded according to their period, and held fetes champetres and floral games on the greensward, beneath the mouldering hemicycle. And the Medici were great people! ”

“ But they don’t care. It is of no use; they are all enthusiastic and cannot hold their tongues. When Lorenzo goes out he will have to lock the boy in a cupboard if he does not want to hear questions put to him to answer. I cannot tell you what charm there is about him, so that all who talk for a while with him are captivated. [323]
Lorenzo de’ Medici to the Duke Ercole d’Este ”

“ Catherine de’ Medici
This queen is extracted, on the father’s side, from the race of the Medici, one of the noblest and most illustrious families, not only in Italy, but in Christendom. Whatever may be said, she was a foreigner to these shores because the alliances of kings cannot commonly be chosen in their kingdom; for it is not best to do so; foreign marriages being as useful and more so than near ones. ”

“ The Medici, continuing exiles, had entered into alliances with all the tyrants in the pontifical states: they took part in every plot against their country; at the same time, they sought the friendship of the king of France, who was more disposed to favour a prince than a republic. Piero de’ Medici had accompanied the army sent, in 1508, against the kingdom of Naples, and lost his life at the defeat of the Garigliano. His death did not deliver Florence from the apprehension which he had inspired. His brothers Giovanni and Giuliano carried on their intrigues against their country. ”

“ Francesco Tornabuoni, Lorenzo de’ Medici’s uncle, who together with his brother Giovanni was in the Medici bank at Rome, did his best to inspire his nephew with love for the girl suggested by Giovanni as his bride by writing flowery descriptions of her.
Francesco Tornabuoni to his nephew Lorenzo de’ Medici
Not a day passes that I do not see your Madonna Clarice, who has bewitched me: she improves every day. She is beautiful, she has the sweetest of manners and an admirable intelligence. It is about eight days since she began to learn to dance, and each day she learns a new one ”

“ Nothing could be more unjust than to deny that Giovanni de' Medici himself had a highly cultured mind and an excellent knowledge of literature. It may be that Lorenzo had destined him for the Papacy from his birth; certainly he gave him the most liberal education. He gave him Poliziano, Marsilio, Pico della Mirandola, Johannes Argyropoulos, Gentile d' Arezzo for his teachers and constant companions, and, to teach him Greek, Demetrius Chalcondylas and Petrus Aegineta. ”

“ Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, &c. &c.
As we have always felt a particular affection for the magnificent Cosimo de’ Medici of Florence on account of his [Pg 72] singular virtues, and as he also has loved us and all that pertains to us, we are bound and obliged to love all that belongs to him. ”

“ Until this sickness is past he ought to put his pleasures on one side; if he lives he will have more than now, for I trust God will recompense him for the ill he has received. I commend myself to him, as do these children, and Guglielmo commends himself to you and to Lorenzo. By the grace of God we are all well.—Alla Torre, July 15, 1479.
Your Bianca. [264]
Agnolo Poliziano to Lucrezia de’ Medici at Careggi
Magnificent Madonna mine,—By Tommaso I send back your lauds, sonnets, and poems in terza rima, which you lent me when I was with you the other day. ”

“ The last months of Cosimo’s life were passed chiefly at Careggi, and his great solace was in study, as the following letter shows:
Cosimo de’ Medici to the Reverend Master Marsilio Ficino, Platonist
Yesterday I came to the villa of Careggi, not to cultivate my fields but my soul. Come to us, Marsilio, as soon as possible. Bring with thee our Plato’s book De Summo Bono. This, I suppose, you have already translated from the Greek language into Latin as you promised. I desire nothing so much as to know the best road to happiness. ”

“ But their opponents, though silent, were not crushed: as new families gained wealth by trade, they grew impatient of political inferiority and exclusion: and the Medici, one of the most distinguished houses of the popular nobles, who had long ranked in opposition to the Albizzi, were naturally regarded as the stay of the democratic cause. It was at this time that Cosmo de’ Medici appeared in public life. The characters and adventures of this distinguished man and of his immediate descendants offer a singular number of coincidences with those of Pisistratus and his family. ”

“ The ancestors given to the Medici are many, and their origin is not easy to trace amid the conflicting accounts of friends and foes. The latter declare they sprang from the very dregs of the people, and that a charcoal-burner in the Mugello was their progenitor, whose son was a doctor (medico) . Their friends say they descend from Perseus, from a Roman consul, or even from an emperor. Others state that a brave knight, Averardo de’ Medici, came into Italy with Charlemagne and killed the fierce giant Mugello, who for years had kept Tuscany in bondage ”

“ Idleness is so universal in Italy that if things do not change there will be more to write of battles between birds and dogs than of armies and gallant deeds.—January 22, 1474 (1475) .
In this same year was held Giuliano de’ Medici’s magnificent and costly tournament, which would however be forgotten [Pg 177] had not Poliziano written his immortal Stanze per la Giostra del Magnifico Giuliano di Piero de’ Medici, “a masterpiece,” writes Symonds, “which blent the ancient and the modern world in a work of art glowing with Italian fancy.... ”

“ Recalled to Rome on the death of Leo X., he left Cardinal Silvio Passerini of Cortona his deputy: a man useful as a tool but of no ability or judgment. Adrian VI., who succeeded to the Papacy, was a weak pontiff, and Rome became a hot-bed of intrigue and villainy.
A plot to assassinate Cardinal de’ Medici failed, and, in 1523, he was, after many weeks of wrangling, elected Pope, with the title of Clement VII. In the Vatican, that “refuge for bastards and foundlings,” room was found for two boys, cousins, each the offspring of a Medici father, but illegitimate. ”

“ The scientist snorted and brought a fist down on the table.
“Hypnosis, I tell you. A cleverly induced mania as artificial as this damned room. Wake up, man. There’s nothing wrong with you except a stupid,—yes, sir, a damnably deliberate effort to make a fool out of yourself. You’re as sound mentally as I am.”
“Thanks.”
The soft voice of De Medici came out of the shadows. His choler growing, the doctor continued:
“Why don’t you try crystal-gazing? Sitting in a room like this, candlesticks, darkness, drapes, and bombarding yourself with the fancy that you’re someone else! What do you expect? ”

“ It is singular enough that there exists not the smallest hint of Lorenzo de Medici having employed or noticed a man of such powers and such early celebrity; the legend which makes him go to Rome with Juliano de Medici at the access of Leo X., to accept employment in the Vatican, whether sufficiently authentic or not, furnishes a characteristic trait of the man. ”

“ He too was buried at his own request in the cowl of the Dominican monk in the Convent of San Marco.
Lorenzo de Medici, who during his life had made many attempts to win the support of Savonarola, and had always been repulsed, could not die without entreating the great preacher to visit him on his deathbed and grant him absolution.
[pg 163] Italian Humanism was for the moment won over to Christianity by the Prior of San Marco. ”

“ This figure is the portrait of Cosimo de’ Medici, the most faithful and animated likeness of all now known to exist of him. The second of the kings is the portrait of Giuliano de’ Medici, father of Pope Clement YIL; and he offers adoration to the divine Child, presenting his gift at the same time, with an expression of the most devout sincerity. The third, who is likewise kneeling, seems to be offering thanksgiving as well as adoration, and to confess that Christ is indeed the true Messiah: this is the likeness of Giovanni, the son of Cosimo. ”