Lorenzo de' Medici

“ Lorenzo de Medici has been extolled with immoderate applause as a poet, a patron of learning, and a statesman. His voluminous poetical compositions, embracing subjects of love, rural life, philosophy, religious enthusiasm, and coarse licentiousness, exhibit an uncommon versatility of genius, a rich imagination, and a remarkable purity of language ”

“ It is not, then, Lorenzo the Magnificent, the statesman, and the chief of a great republic, who finds a place in these pages,—but Lorenzo the lover and the poet, round whose memory hover a thousand bright recollections connected with the revival of arts and literature, and the golden age of Italy. Let politicians say what they will, there is a spell of harmony, there is music in his very name! how softly the vowelled syllables drop from the lips—Lorenzo De' Medici!—it even looks elegant when written. ”

“ But now Lorenzo de' Medici was still alive. The famous policy which bears his name held Italy suspended for a golden time in false tranquillity and independence. The princes who shared his culture and his love of art were gradually passing into modern noblemen, abandoning the savage feuds and passions of more virile centuries, yielding to luxury and scholarly enjoyments. The castles were becoming courts, and despotisms won by force were settling into dynasties.
It was just at this epoch that Duke Federigo built his castle at Urbino. ”

“ It was an easy task for the Medici to control the policy, as they did for generations, of such simple barbarians.
Italy presents a strange spectacle in this closing fifteenth century: All the concentrated splendor from the fall of Byzantium hanging over her like a luminous cloud before dispersing as the Renaissance; Lorenzo de' Medici, at Florence, directing the intellectual currents of Europe; Angelo and Raphael creating the world's sublimest masterpieces in art ”

“ 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. ”

“ Never, perhaps, in the history of modern civilization has the æsthetic instinct of a people been so thoroughly aroused as it was in Italy at this time, and the almost pagan love of beauty which possessed them led to many extravagances in their sentimental conceptions. As Lorenzo de' Medici was the most powerful and distinguished Italian of his time, so may he be termed its representative lover, for his excursions into the land of sentiment may be considered as typical of his day and generation. ”

“ He was not only the most eloquent preacher in Italy, probably in the world, but his eloquence was marked by boldness, earnestness, almost fierceness. Like an ancient prophet, he was terrible in his denunciation of vices. He spared no one, and he feared no one. He resembled Chrysostom at Constantinople, when he denounced the vanity of Eudoxia and the venality of Eutropius. Lorenzo de' Medici, the absolute lord of Florence, sent for him, and expostulated and remonstrated with the unsparing preacher,—all to no effect. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The first important work De Musset produced after his return from Italy was the drama Lorenzaccio, the idea of which he had conceived in Florence. Lorenzo de Medici is cousin to Alexander de Medici, the bestially cruel and sensual Duke of Florence. By nature Lorenzo is a pure, high-strung, energetic character. He early determines, taking Brutus as his model, to rid the world of a tyrant. To attain his aim he plays the part of a heartless libertine, becomes Alexander's follower, tool, counsellor, and pander. ”

“ The genius of Lorenzo de’ Medici has never, perhaps, been so highly estimated, as his exertions on behalf of Italian literature. Yet he was not only an author unsurpassed by any of his illustrious contemporaries, but, as a statesman, gave evidence of profound ability. A week illustrating the value of his character and discussing his vast influence upon his age, has been long wanting, and no man lives who could better supply the desideratum than Mr. ”

“ His pontificate is only redeemed from absolute insignificance by his docility to the wise counsels of Lorenzo de' Medici,—almost the last occasion in history when it has been possible for a Pope to lean upon a native Italian prince. Lorenzo had preceded him to the tomb by a month; and from Milan to Naples no ruler remained in Italy who was capable of following any other policy than one of selfish aggrandisement. ”

“ LORENZO DE MEDICI. Among the genealogists who wasted their ingenuity to fabricate an imposing pedigree for Lorenzo de Medici, some pretended to derive his origin from the paladins of Charlemagne, and others to trace it to the eleventh century. But it is well ascertained that his ancestors only emerged from the inferior orders of the people of Florence in the course of the fourteenth century, when, by engaging in great commercial speculations, and by signalizing themselves as partisans of the populace of that republic, they speedily acquired considerable wealth and political importance. ”

“ Roscoe has philosophically vindicated the honour which his hero has justly received, by employing the principle which in this article has been developed. "Though Lorenzo de' Medici could not perhaps have prevented the important events that took place in other nations of Europe, it by no means follows that the life or death of Lorenzo was equally indifferent to the affairs of Italy, or that circumstances would have been the same in case he had lived, as in the event of his death." ”

“ Conjointly with his younger brother Giuliano, Lorenzo, on the death of his father Piero, in 1469, succeeded to the vast wealth and political power of the family. In 1478 the death of Giuliano left Lorenzo sole ruler of Florence.
To few men has either the power or the opportunity been given to influence their epoch, intellectually and politically, to a degree so marked as was the lot of Lorenzo de' Medici. ”

“ His own words are, "From boyhood almost I was brought up in that asylum of virtue, the palace of the great Lorenzo de' Medici, prince of his flourishing republic of Florence." [80] These words coincide with the general idea, that at a very early age he attracted the notice of Lorenzo by his poem entitled, "Giostra di Giuliano de' Medici," written to celebrate the first tournament of Giuliano, as Luca Pulci had composed another in honour of that of Lorenzo. This poem consists of 1400 lines, and yet is left unfinished; breaking off at the moment that the tournament is about to begin. ”

“ Even then the permission of Lorenzo de’ Medici was necessary. Let every one therefore [Pg 146] consider what it means to create tyrants in the city, to make a Balia and to call a parliament.” [152]
It was fortunate for the Italian language that the young Lorenzo fell under the influence of Leon Battista Alberti, who asserted that “though the ancient tongue has undisputed authority because so many learned men have employed it, the like honour will certainly be paid to our language to-day if men of culture take the pains to purify and polish it.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Savonarola abruptly cut short their discourse, saying: “I see that you come not of your own motion, but that you are sent by Lorenzo de’ Medici. Tell him to make haste to repent of his sins, for God is no respecter of persons, and has no fear of the great ones of this earth.” Proud of his independence as a priest, Savonarola desired thus to crush at the outset the established custom in S. Mark of continually bending and prostrating before the house of Medici. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Duke of Milan, married his cousin, Isabella of Naples, daughter of Alfonso, Duke of Calabria. Lorenzo de’ Medici was ill, so Piero, his son, met the Duchess at Leghorn, and then went to Milan to attend the marriage festivities. ”

“ Poliziano studied rhetoric under Cristofero, Landino, and Andronico, philosophy under Argyropoulos and Marsilio Ficino, in the Florentine Studio from his fifteenth to his twentieth year. Lorenzo de’ Medici, after reading his translation of Homer, provided for his education, and he became one of Lorenzo’s most intimate friends, tutor to his children and his librarian. Poliziano took his degree as Doctor of Law, and entering the Church was made a Canon of the cathedral of Florence. He wrote scholia and notes to Ovid, Catullus, Statius, Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, and the Historicæ Augustæ ”

“ A few weeks after his wedding Lorenzo had to leave his bride and undertake an embassy to Milan. A son had been born on June 20th to Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, and Piero de’ Medici was asked to stand sponsor to the child. He was too ill to travel, and “somewhat unwillingly,” he confesses, sent Lorenzo to act as his proxy. The embassy went by Prato, Pistoja, Lucca, and Pietrasanta to Sarzana, which town and district had been recently purchased by Pietro and added to the Florentine dominions. ”

“ Agnolo Poliziano to Lorenzo de’ Medici
Magnificent Lorenzo, to whom heaven has given charge of the city and the State, first citizen of Florence, doubly crowned with bays lately for war in S. Croce amid the acclamations of [Pg 157] the people [alluding to the tournament] and for poetry on account of the sweetness of your verses, give ear to me who drinking at Greek sources am striving to set Homer into Latin metre. This second book which I have translated (you know we have the first by Messer Carlo d’ Arezzo) [159] comes to you and timidly crosses your threshold. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The letter written by the Florentines, full of contempt of Christ and of His unworthy Vicar does not alarm us, but causes us to think that God has destroyed their intellect and their judgment as a punishment for their sins. We trust that God, whose honour and glory is at stake, will grant you victory in everything, especially as our intentions are straightforward and just. For we make war on no one save on that ungrateful, excommunicated, and heretical Lorenzo de’ Medici ”

“ An enraged mob of citizens rushed pell-mell into the Via Larga, sacked the Palazzo Medici, and scattered the treasures which Piero and Lorenzo had gathered together. The streets were strewn with costly furniture, carpets and tapestry, and priceless works of art were either burnt or broken in pieces. ”

“ At daylight the Magnificent Lorenzo left to take the baths at Villa (Filetta) . His wife is very ill, [358] and there is no hope of her recovery.—Florence, July 21, 1488.... [359]
Lorenzo de’ Medici to Pope Innocent VIII.
Sanctissime ac Beatissime Pater post Pedum oscula Beatorum Vestrorum,—Too often am I obliged to trouble and worry Your Beatitude with accidents sent by fortune and divine interposition, which as they are not to be resisted must be borne with patience. ”

“ 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. ”