Pontificiis_ this has comforted their minds, _juxta Terentianum illud,
dum in dubis est animus_, &c.
They promised to reply _post consultationem_. _Sic res se habent
nunc._ To-day I await them in my house and shall hear their answer.
_Post scripta._--Four of the members have just been here and in the
name of the Senate praised my speech, and thank the Florentines for
their offers which they reciprocate.
As to the Council they declare that they are well-disposed towards
the Apostolic See if the Church is reformed _pro Religione et fide
Christi, quam vident in magno periculo vel potius ruina_. They also
affirm that they initiated nothing, but only acted according to the
wishes of the Emperor, from whom an explicit answer is expected in
a few days. When it arrives they will tell me at once so that I can
write to my Signoria who can then send prelates and ambassadors as I
have promised. For this I thanked them with opportune words. I see
that I am everything in their eyes, besides which Craina depends
entirely on me and has not been happy since he entered into this
business until I spoke officially. He will not let me out of his
sight, either to go to the Emperor or elsewhere. A thousand times a
day he raises his hands to heaven thanking God for sending me to him.
You have no idea how intently these Doctors of the University read
the documents I have published. What can I say more? The Pope is more
hated here than he is with us, and if the Emperor does not spoil our
game _non sum sine spe_ to arrive at something.
This is all I write to-day as I send this by a man who is passing
through in haste. Will Your Magnificence be good enough to make my
excuses to the Eight? Your letter was begun and there is no time to
write another. This must serve also for their Excellencies. I commend
myself to Your Magnificence.--Basel, September 30, 1482.[300]
Ugolino Baccio _to_ Lorenzo de’ Medici
_Magnifice vir_, &c.,--By my last of the 24th to the Honourable Eight
Your Magnificence will have seen my hopes and designs, and nothing has
occurred since to alter my opinion about the Council, although there
are doubts as to where it is to be held and as to Craina himself, on
account of the great opposition made by our enemies against God and
justice. I am in great tribulation at not receiving any reply from
Florence to my many letters, sent by trustworthy messengers so long
ago that there has been ample time to send an answer to the first
three.
Had I only received a hint from Your Magnificence as to the choice of
Pisa about which Craina made me write, I should know which way the
wind blows and how to steer this unsteady bark. But without any reply,
although I know the intentions of Your Magnificence up to a certain
point, I do not know them absolutely, as happens to those who, like
me, have several affairs in hand.
Although Craina hopes for success here he is feeling his way
elsewhere; if he fails here and can extricate himself he will throw
himself into the arms of him who promises most. Till now I have only
been able to give assurances of my personal aid, promising him support
and favour from the League in order to pacify him. But how do I know
what will be my fate? Perchance the League will have nought to do with
the Council save at Basel, or has some other plan of which I know
nothing. So that although I have a general mandate to do all I can
to help forward the Council, which I, although you do not write, am
doing, yet I do wish for your own particular views, otherwise I grope
in darkness.
However now we are here making every effort that things should go
forward, and though we found the foundations rather weak we have so
propped the house that we do not fear it will fall at every small
stroke. But if, through the Emperor or the Swiss, Basel was shut to
us, I do not see why the League after such a beginning should abandon
the enterprise. I gave the reasons in other letters, but the decision
lies with others who perhaps are of a contrary opinion.
I have written a detailed account of what happens to the Eight. My own
impressions, such as they are, I write to Your Magnificence, to whom I
can explain things with more freedom than to such eminent magistrates.
You can therefore guess at the truth; to me it appears that although
there is danger there is also hope.
_Exitus in Diis est: tamen_ if a month after our arrival here a bishop
had declared for us things would not be so backward or so ill looked
on as they are; even if one was now on the way here so as not to delay
giving medicine to the corpse! _At inquies._ Either the Emperor has
not manifested his approval, what then? or he has not openly turned
against the enterprise. For my designs it would be sufficient to
stay here long enough for things to make a little progress, and then
I would gladly pay ready money for a valid impediment in order to
transfer all to a more convenient spot. I pray Your Magnificence to
take the follies I have written for what they are worth and to judge
and command according to your own wishes. _Ego jussa exequar_ and to
that I commend myself.--Basel, October 25, 1482.[301]
Sixtus IV. had been thoroughly frightened by the threatened Council at
Basel and had also fallen under the influence of his nephew Cardinal
Giuliano della Rovere, who feared the growing power of Venice and
was friendly to the Medici. In December 1482 he hurriedly made peace
with Naples and Ferrara, and received the Duke of Calabria in the
Vatican. Alfonso then started for Ferrara, passing through Florence
early in January, where he stayed three days in the house of Giovanni
Tornabuoni. Venice refused to obey the Pope’s commands to make peace
with Ferrara, and the city was in dire straits. It was only the
encouragement and advice of Bongianni Gianfigliazzi, the Florentine
ambassador, that prevented Duke Ercole from quitting Ferrara and
taking refuge at Modena. A Congress of the Allies was summoned at
Cremona, to which Lorenzo went early in February 1483, in spite of
strong opposition from his fellow-citizens, who feared he might be
assassinated by his arch-enemy Girolamo Riario. Louis XI. shared these
fears as is seen in his letter. The Congress at Cremona consisted of
the Cardinal Legate Gonzaga, Alfonso Duke Of Calabria, Lodovico and
Ascanio Sforza, Ercole d’Este Duke of Ferrara, Federigo Gonzaga Marquis
of Mantua, Giovanni Bentovoglio of Bologna, Girolamo Riario,[302]
Lorenzo de’ Medici, and various envoys.[303]
Louis XI., _King of France, to_ Lorenzo de’ Medici
My Cousin,--By your letter of January 30th I learn your wishes
regarding your son Giovanni, if I had only known this before the death
of the Cardinal de Rohan I should have done all in my power to please
you. I will gladly do whatever I can when a benefice falls vacant. As
to Ferrara, where you have promised to go, I should have advised you
to abstain, and to be very careful about your personal safety, for I
do not know the people or the place you will be in. I would gladly
have sent an ambassador from here to excuse you. However as you have
promised I leave it to you, to good fortune, and to God.--Written at
Plessis du Parc, February 17, 1482 (1483).
Luy.[304]
The following tale and poem in Latin (which I have done into prose)
were sent to Lorenzo by Bartolommeo Scala,[305] who prided himself on
his literary conceits and on his pure Latinity. I insert them as they
are typical of the conceits of the fifteenth century.
Bartolommeo Scala _to_ Lorenzo de’ Medici _at Bagno a Morba_
My Patron, greeting,--Last September when I was at Morba, where you
now are, for my gout, I composed a conceit on the nymph Amorba,
childish enough perhaps. If you have time to read this it may not
displease you. Trifles of this kind sometimes give pleasure. Indeed
those who have been with you inform me that you have sought anew the
society of the Muses and are their constant boon companion. Of a truth
they can heal our diseases much more pleasantly than any baths.
This indeed is attested with perhaps a certain neatness by an apologue
of mine. It is as follows.
Once upon a time Immortality and Old Age were quarrelling. The cause
was small, the quarrel was and still is a grievous one. Immortality
had reared from the nest a tame jackdaw, cunning, thievish, clever,
with a power of imitating our language not unmusically. She had kept
it in luxury for ninety years. The neighbours actually approved of
it in their enjoyment of the constant jesting and laughter which it
caused. For it used secretly to steal from the tailor’s workboxes
rings and needles and other implements, and then, when the fancy
seized it, all of a sudden gave them back. How the onlookers used
to laugh and applaud when it brought a modest blush to a maiden’s
cheek as she walked along the road by calling with a gentle chuckle Ω
χόρη καλη[306] (it had learnt Greek as well as Latin) Ἡλίου ὡς ὁμοιῷ
φωτί.[307] But Old Age was envious and sent disease, her frequent
minister, and killed the jackdaw. So was war kindled. Then when
Old Age had taken many towns, and sacked many cities, she forced
Immortality at length to take refuge in her citadel.
Her citadel stands on a high mountain. Its walls and battlements are
of brass, but the rooms of its inner chambers of sweetest-smelling
cedarwood. The enemy is held at bay (and this no one who did not know
would easily believe) by maidens alone, by three maidens with their
songs and verses. Now, could you but extract the harmonies of these
maidens from the letters in which they are written and manage to apply
them to your bare breast and heart, there is nothing so health-giving
against all diseases of body and mind. I commend myself to you.
Farewell.--Florence, April 15, 1484.
Thy Bartolommeo Scala.[308]
“_In Amorpham Nympham_,” _Latin poem by_ Bartolommeo Scala, _sent to_
Lorenzo De’ Medici _at Bagno a Morba, April 25, 1484_
Thou askest who I am, what is my name, and whence comes this hot and
health-giving water that springs perennial? Once I was the loveliest
nymph of these woods. Apollo loved me and gave me the power of curing
all ills. Fleeter of foot than the stag or the roe, I was the most
renowned and the most welcome of the Oread sisters or the Dryads. But
we have long known how cruel and potent is fate, and how unstable are
all things here below. When wandering one day, bow in hand, my quiver
on my shoulder, O unhappy nymph! Cerberus saw me and was inflamed with
brutal lust. Of no avail were my bow, my arrows, or my swift feet.
Furiously he pursued me and deaf to my prayers and tears he seized
me, O unhappy one. In vain I screamed and struggled, and called upon
all the Gods of heaven. Almost vanquished I cried out, imploring aid:
“O you sylvan nymphs, have mercy, hasten to save me.” The goddesses
heard, changed me into a hot stream and thus delivered me from those
ferocious hands. As a spring I still preserve the power bestowed by
Apollo of curing all ills. Phœbus pitied and wept over my fate, and
swore by the Styx to undo thee, O Cerberus. A huge stone, high as a
mountain, surrounded by precipices and broken rocks, was torn asunder
and a yawning and dark cave opened, whence issued a horrid wind
charged with fetid odours. Inside all was putrid, in festering matter
lay the entrails and bones of oxen which he bore while yet alive into
the cave to satiate his rabid hunger. Whilst intent on devouring the
raw flesh and sucking the stream of hot blood, the highborn Archer
wounded him. His torn and bleeding entrails gushed forth. But as he
could change his form at will, Cerberus became a dog. From three
throats came despairing howls and the vapour of burning sulphur when
Apollo hurled him down from the rock into deepest hell, where it is
rumoured that he still retains the semblance of a dog. There, where
the brute sank, remain signs of hell, and they say that sinners are
there drawn down to well-deserved punishment. All around are lakes
of deep mud; mud and sulphur are belched up, and from afar one still
hears the ever-renewed howling of dogs. The rock preserved the name
and the mountain whence it fell is called Cerberus. But I remain
unknown, no kind Muse remembered me and I waited for one to tell of
my woes. Lo he comes, and here he writes a poem for me. Read it, O
pilgrim; then thou wilt know that Amorba is the name of the nymph. The
waters will drive away all illness, let the sick come here and they
will find health.[309]
Lorenzo’s great enemy Sixtus IV. died on August 12, 1484, killed, say
contemporaries, by a violent fit of anger at the proclamation of the
peace of Bagnolo. The Cardinals entered into Conclave on August 26th,
and three days later Giovanni Battista Cibò, born at Genoa in 1432, was
elected Pope under the name of Innocent VIII.
Guidantonio Vespucci, _Florentine Ambassador at Rome, to_ Lorenzo de’
Medici _at Florence_
_Magnifice vir_,--If my letter about the election of the Pope
[Innocent VIII.] was delayed, the fault lies with Antonio Tornabuoni
who sent off the courier without waiting for me. I was at Mass
with the other ambassadors and could not leave before them. The
Milanese courier was despatched by Francesco da Casale and not by the
ambassador. I beg you to excuse me.
Of the new Pope I will tell you all I have heard. As Cardinal he
passed for a kindly and benign man, and was most courteous to all,
kissing any and all even more than one you know of. His political
experience is small and he is not learned, though not ignorant. He
was always devoted to S. Pietro in Vincula [Giuliano della Rovere,
afterwards Julius II.] and indeed was made a cardinal by his
influence. He is tall, full in the face, about fifty-five years of
age, and very robust. He has a brother, at least one grown-up bastard
son and some daughters, who are married here. As cardinal he did not
agree well with the Count [Girolamo Riario, nephew of the late Pope].
S. Pietro in Vincula is now as good as Pope and will have more power
than under Sixtus if he knows how to steer. The Pope has a Genoese
friar who is said to have a mistress of the house of Cibò, Guelph of
course. Here he has a nephew, a priest, related to Filippo di Nerone,
whose mistress is a certain Maria Clemenza--she was wife to Stoldo
Altoviti. The late Captain of infantry is married to a relation of
his. The Pope seems rather a man in need of advice than one capable of
giving it to others.
The election took place thus. The Rev. Monsignori of Aragona and
Visconti seeing that they could not effect the election of the
Vice-Chancellor and that he stood on the defence, tried to persuade
him to play their game, and _ante omnia_ reconciled the Camarlingo and
Ursino with S. Pietro in Vincula, towards whom they were beginning
to be friendly, and I think they promised to arrange the affairs
of the Count and of the Camarlingo. Many other promises were made.
First, to the Cardinal of Aragona the Pope gives his own house; to
Messer di Visconti the house belonging to the Count, which the Pope
will pay for, besides 12,000 ducats, the legation of the Patrimony,
and I know not what besides at Castello; to Savello the legation of
Bologna; to Milan that of Avignon; all of which latter legations were
held by S. Pietro in Vincula who consented to everything in order to
carry this business through, he has also renounced certain abbeys to
satisfy others whose names I know not. Colonna will no doubt also be
recompensed, and the Vice-Chancellor has obtained certain things he
wanted in Spain. Noara has had I know what castle. Of others I have
not heard. No doubt there are many similar cases.
To conclude, this election is attributed entirely to Monsignore di
Visconti and I think you ought to write to him that he should help us
when I have need of aid in your affairs. Also send a proper letter to
S. Pietro in Vincula for he is the only one I have any fear of in
the business of Fonte Dolce,[310] he is the Pope, _et plusquam Papa_.
Believe me that Monsignori Aragona and Visconti will plunder this
court at every election, they are the two biggest scoundrels in the
world.
In a few days I shall begin to adjust your affairs and shall succeed,
as in the beginning these princes and popes are usually very gracious,
and His Holiness is well disposed towards you and has always been very
friendly to me. Remember before the new Signori are named to have my
leave arranged as I want to be at home during September, and I hope
you will grant my desire that my Simone should be made one of the
Eight.--Roma, August 29, 1484. Remember also to push on the enterprise
of Sarzana, afterwards there might be danger.[311]
According to custom the Republic of Florence sent an embassy to
congratulate Innocent VIII. on his nomination. With them went Lorenzo’s
eldest son, Piero, then fourteen years of age, to whom his father wrote
the following letter containing minute instructions as to his speech
and conduct. From Lorenzo’s remark, “Though thou art my son, thou art
but a citizen of Florence,” and his impressing upon him to be polite
and not to take precedence of his elders, one sees he was already
anxious about the boy’s overbearing, turbulent temper.
Lorenzo de’ Medici _to his son_ Piero _in Rome, November 26, 1484_
Thou wilt have only four letters of introduction for Siena, one to
Messer Paulo di Gherardo, one to Messer Cristofano di Guido, and
one to Messer Andrea Piccolomini, whom thou art to visit at their
houses and there deliver the letters to them. Commend me to Their
Magnificences, using the same words to all, thus: that passing through
Siena on thy way to Rome with these ambassadors I charged thee to
visit Their Magnificences whom I love and revere as fathers; that I
hope they will regard thee as a son, command thee at any time or in
any place, as I do, and that thou wilt obey them; and that as they
can dispose of my property, State, and children, of whom thou art
one, thou presentest thyself to them as being theirs to dispose of
according to their pleasure. Use proper words to this effect without
affectation or constraint, and do not try to appear learned with them
or with others, but speak graciously, pleasantly, and seriously.
Thou wilt have a list of Sienese citizens to whom, if there is time,
thou art to pay visits, using the same words I have already indicated
and offering me to them, as well as to the three above-named, for the
protection of their State, all the more that our city is of this mind.
When together with other youths of the ambassadors bear thyself
sedately, politely, and kindly, towards thy equals. Be careful not to
take precedence of those who are thine elders, for although thou art
my son, thou art but a citizen of Florence, as they are. When Giovanni
[Tornabuoni] thinks fit to present thee to the Pope privately first
inform thyself well of all the needful ceremonies, then when presented
to His Sanctity kiss my letter which will be given thee for the Pope,
entreating him to deign to read it. When it is thy turn to speak,
first place me at the feet of His Beatitude, saying that I am aware it
was my duty to prostrate myself in person at the feet of His Holiness,
as I did at those of his Predecessor of saintly memory; but that I
trust in his goodness to forgive me, because at that time I had my
brother who was well able to fill my place, whereas at present I have
no man of greater years and authority than thyself, and therefore I do
not think it would have been pleasing to His Holiness if I had left
Florence. Say that I send thee in my stead as the strongest proof I
could give of my desire to go in person. Besides other reasons also
I have sent thee in order that thou shouldst learn early to regard
His Beatitude as thy Father and Lord, and be encouraged to continue
in this devotion, in which I educate my other children, whom I would
rather not have if they were not so inclined. Then thou wilt inform
His Holiness that I am firmly resolved not to transgress his commands,
because, besides my natural devotion to the Holy See, my devotion to
His Beatitude himself arises from many causes and from obligations
which ever since I was _in minoribus_ our house has received from
him. Add that I have experienced how hurtful it has been to be out
of favour with the late Pontiff although, as it seems to me, I was
unjustly persecuted rather for others’ sins than for any insult or
offence to him of holy memory. But I leave this to the judgment of
others. Be it as it may I am firmly determined, not only not to offend
His Beatitude in any way, but to think day and night on what I can
do to please him; thus I trust that the joy and pleasure which the
nomination of His Beatitude to the Pontificate caused me will endure
for long, and I supplicate His Beatitude to accept me and my children
and all that is mine as his humble sons and servants, and to preserve
to us his grace, inasmuch as we shall make every effort to deserve his
goodwill.
After this thou art to say to His Holiness that having thus
recommended me, brotherly love constrains thee to recommend also
Messer Giovanni, whom I have brought up as a priest, and endeavour to
educate morally and intellectually in such a way that he should not
be put to shame among others. All my hope in this matter is in His
Beatitude who has already, out of his clemency and humanity, shown
him some affection, and as we are in his good graces I entreat him
to continue his benevolence, and to add to the other obligations our
house has towards the Holy See by favouring this affair of Messer
Giovanni; strive with these and other words to recommend thy brother.
I have now said enough about the Pope. Thou wilt have my letters
to all the cardinals which thou wilt deliver or not according to
Giovanni’s directions. Commend me to them and say thou art come to
Rome to express my devotion to Their Most Reverend Lords, and also in
order that they may make acquaintance with him who will continue the
devotion of our house towards them, and that they are to command thee
and make use of thee as of all that is mine, offering thyself, &c.
This thou wilt say to all in general, but to those on the marked list
thou wilt say as follows.
To Cardinal Visconti say that even were he not a Cardinal, our house
has old and innate obligations to all his illustrious house, and that
as my son and by nature an ally of the Sforzas (Sforzesco), and a
devoted servant of His Most Reverend Lordship thou beseechest him to
command thee, and to treat thee as one of his house and accept thee as
his servant, as are all of our house.
To Cardinal d’Aragona say that as I place all my hopes and trust in
H.M. the King his father, it is thy duty as my son to present thyself
to His Most Reverend Lordship, and that thou and my other sons,
besides the many benefits received from H.M. the King, can never
forget the honours paid to me at Naples and the mode of sending me
home, and that thou art well aware what would have been thy condition
and that of my other children, if things had gone differently. For
this reason His Most Reverend Lordship and all the other sons of
H.M. the King may sell thee, or pawn thee, and treat thee as a thing
belonging to them.
To Cardinal Orsini say that I have sent thee to Rome for him to see
how offshoots of their tree prosper in our soil and what fruit they
bear, and that, such as they are, I send the first-fruit to His Most
Reverend Lordship, and that although an unworthy son of the house
of Orsini thou desirest, such as thou art, to be a servant of His
Reverence, to whom as head of the house thou art willing and ready,
during thy whole life as far thou canst, to repay the obligations thou
art under to his noble house, which are indeed great, as thou owest
thy being to it. For this reason thou art come to beg him as head,
&c., to take thee under his care and to instruct thee, for thy honour
and success will reflect upon him as much as upon me, thy father;
commend to him Clarice and thy brothers and sisters, &c.