Milan in 1426 recourse was had to a curious financial scheme. A
_Monte_, or special fund, was created for granting marriage portions
to young men and maidens. Every contributor had the right to name a
male or female child, to whom at the expiration of fifteen years a
sum five times that subscribed was paid when they married. Should the
nominee die the money became the property of the _Monte_. As far as I
understand these _Monti_ gradually developed into State pawnbrokers’
establishments.
[152] _Istorie di Giovanni Cambi_, Delizie degli Eruditi Toscani, xxi.
64. Firenze, 1785.
[153] I have followed the Ashburnham Codex, now in the Laurentian
Library, published by Sigr. Gugliemo Volpi in the _Atti della R.
Academia della Crusca_, 1907-1908. There the poem has only twenty
octaves instead of fifty, and I think most people will agree that
this is the real version and that the other mentioning _quella
trista Becca_, evidently alluding to Luigi Pulci’s poem _La Becca di
Dicomano_, written later in imitation of Lorenzo’s poem _Nencia_, has
interpolations by an inferior hand. Sigr. Volpi has published the
poem in a small pamphlet, _Un Nuovo Testo della Nencia_, da G. Volpi.
Tipografia Gallileiana, Firenze, 1908.
[154] Heinrich Isaak, a Bohemian composer.
[155] It is probable that the French ambassadors who so often came to
Florence found their journey was profitable. This was certainly the
case with Philippe de Comines. See p. 312.
[156] _A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of
Rome_, by M. Creighton, D.D. Oxon. and Cam., Lord Bishop of London, iv.
162. Longmans, Green & Co., 1897.
[157] _Istorie di Firenze_, Marchese Gino Capponi.
[158] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza 63.
[159] Marsuppini.
[160] _Florentia_, Isidoro del Lungo, p. 119.
[161] Agnolo Poliziano, born in 1454, was the son of Benedetto de’
Cini, commonly called Ambrogini, a lawyer. He dropped his family name
and took that of Poliziano from his native town Montepulciano (Mons
Politianus). His father was murdered when he was a child of eight and
he was sent to Florence to live with an uncle, Cino di Mattei, a poor
man who lived near Piazza S. Spirito in Via Saturno. 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_; translated the History of Herodian, the
Manuel of Epictetus, the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, some Dialogues
of Plato, and other works from Greek into Latin. His _Miscellanea_,
published in Florence in 1489, were arranged for the press at Lorenzo’s
request. Poliziano’s Italian poetry, particularly the _Stanze per la
Giostra_, or Tournament, of Giuliano de’ Medici is beautiful, and his
_Sylvæ_, odes, epigrams, and other short Latin poems are celebrated.
He also wrote _Panepistemon_, a category of the various branches of
knowledge, and when quite a lad the _Orfeo_, one of the earliest
Italian operas. So popular was the _Orfeo_ that it was printed either
separately or with the _Stanze_ twenty times between 1494 and 1541, and
thirteen times between 1541 and 1565. For the use of the common people
a redaction in octave stanzas was published in Florence in 1558 called
_La Historia e Favola d’Orfeo alla dolce lira_. The last reprint was in
1860.
[162] Horses Lorenzo may have seen when he was at Naples in 1468.
[163] Bernardo and Luca were brothers of Luigi Pulci.
[164] Brother-in-law of Lorenzo de’ Medici.
[165] _Lettere di Luigi Pulci_, op. cit. 47.
[166] _Donne Medicee_, op. cit.
[167] A castle and townlet belonging to the Orsini.
[168] Directors of feasts. _Festaiuoli_ still go about in the villages
in Tuscany to collect money for processions and church festivals.
[169] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 27.
[170] This and the letters from the Cardinal of Pavia (pp. 167-171)
relate to Lorenzo’s desire that his brother Giuliano should be created
a cardinal in order to have a voice in the Consistory. What he was
unable to achieve for his brother he afterwards obtained for his son
Giovanni.
[171] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 62.
[172] The _catasto_ of 1427 was a register or list of all who were
bound to pay taxes to the Commune of Florence. It runs: “1. Ten
officials are to be appointed to compile the register. 2. All families
liable to be taxed are to be inscribed in four books; their number,
ages, health, capacity, and occupation. 3. All their possessions,
movable and immovable, are to be inscribed, whether within the confines
of the State or abroad, monies in existence, or what is owing to them,
their slaves and whatever belongs to them. 4. In the same way other
partial _catasti_ shall be drawn up, as of peasants, universities, and
guilds, foreigners and other persons not generally liable to be taxed.
5. The income of each separate possession is to be noted, so that the
capital value may be ascertained, and 100 florins shall be taken as
the valuation for every 7 florins of income. 6. From such valuation
shall be deducted the inherent expenses, rent of houses, of shops, the
price of horses for personal use, and 2 florins per head. 7. The net
income being thus reduced, 10 golden soldi are to be paid on every 100
golden florins, equal to the tenth part of a percentage at 5 per cent.
8. On every person deducted as above, between eighteen years of age
and sixty, an arbitrary tax shall be imposed, not to exceed 2 florins.
9. It is left to the discretion of the officials, in case no surplus
remains after the above deductions, to impose a tax to be arranged with
the persons taxed. 10. Whoso declares a false income shall have his
possessions confiscated. 11. Should any contention arise the decision
of the officials is final; they may not diminish the amount of the tax,
save for the repayment of a dower, until the new _catasto_, without
the approbation of the Great Council, but they may augment it. 12.
The _catasto_ is to be corrected and compiled anew every three years.
13. All taxes are henceforward to be regulated by the _catasto_.”
_Osservatore Fiorentino_, i. 91. Signor A. Rabbini, _Dell’ accertamento
catastale_, &c., defines the _catasto_ as at present existing as “a
public document serving as an absolutely legal and fundamental base
for the imposition of taxes on landed property and a guide in judicial
or administrative procedure involving the settlement of questions
regarding landed property and the rights and obligations of the owners
thereof.”
[173] Luca Landucci in his Diary (1450-1516) notes: “On June 18, 1472,
came a horseman with the olive branch [from Volterra] announcing the
capitulation; the people and their property to be respected. Great was
the rejoicing. But when we entered the city one of their officers,
a Venetian, shouted “Pillage,” and our men began to pillage and we
could not stop them or observe the articles of capitulation. The Count
Federigo d’Urbino caused the Venetian and a Sienese to be hung.”
_Diario Fiorentino di Luca Landucci._ Firenze, 1883. See also _La Vita
Italiano nel Rinascimenta, Lorenzo de’ Medici_, E. Masi, i. 31. Milano,
1893.
[174] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 63.
[175] Francesco Filelfo, born at Tolentino in 1398, was a famous
classical scholar. He studied at Padua, was sent as Secretary of
Legation to Constantinople by the Signoria of Venice, and afterwards
taught Greek in Venice, Bologna, Florence, &c. When Cosimo de’ Medici
was imprisoned he urged the Signoria to put him to death and poured
out abominable accusations against him and his friends in the _Book
of Exile_. Poggio replied, accusing Filelfo of the most heinous
crimes, and the war of words went on for years. When Cosimo returned
to Florence Filelfo fled to Milan and allied himself with Albizzi
and the other exiles, but soon made abject advances to Cosimo, which
were treated with silent disdain. After Cosimo’s death he sent humble
letters to Lorenzo and his brother and wrote _Cosmias_, a poem in
praise of the man he had abused. Lorenzo at length allowed him to
return to Florence where he died in 1481. He was mean, arrogant, and
intensely vain.
[176] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 75.
[177] Filippo de’ Medici.
[178] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 58.
[179] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 59.
[180] The prison at Florence.
[181] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxix. No. 675.
[182] Lorenzo’s sister married to Gugliemo de’ Pazzi.
[183] A piece torn out of the letter.
[184] Lorenzo’s sister married to Bernardo Rucellai.
[185] Probably a slave.
[186] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxix. No. 822.
[187] Born in Florence of poor parents named della Badessa, Matteo, as
was often done in the fifteenth century, adopted his father’s Christian
name and became Matteo Franco. As a lad he entered the church, and
some of his first efforts in poetry are sonnets addressed to the
Archbishop of Florence begging in the name of S. Peter for a cloak. He
made friends with Angelo Poliziano who probably introduced him to the
Medici. Witty, clever, kind-hearted, Matteo soon became indispensable
to Lorenzo, who speaks of him as “among the first and best-loved
creatures of my house.” He repaid Lorenzo’s affection tenfold by his
devotion to his daughter Maddalena, whom he accompanied to Rome when
she married Francesco Cibo. Even Lorenzo’s wife Clarice, always ill
at ease among her husband’s brilliant friends and at first suspicious
of Matteo’s tongue, soon discovered his many excellent qualities, and
he became her treasurer, her almoner, and at length her attorney.
He taught all Lorenzo’s children to read, and in one of his sonnets
feelingly describes the trouble they gave him. Until lately it was
supposed that Luigi Pulci and Matteo Franco were really friends, and
only wrote the ferocious and biting sonnets which amused all Florence
to each other to amuse Lorenzo, but Signor Volpi proves, I think, that
their animosity was real and that Matteo often had the best in the war
of words.
[188] Vermicelli.
[189] _Un Cortigiano di Lorenzo il Magnifico_, G. Volpi, Giornale
Storico della Letteratura Italiana, xvii. fasc. 50-51.
[190] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxx. No. 394.
[191] _Sylvia hortensis_ or garden warbler.
[192] A famous cook.
[193] A sweet dish.
[194] _Michelangelo Buonarroti, Quellen und Forschungen zu seiner
Geschichte und Kunst_, Karl Frey, i. 77. Berlin, 1907. Bertoldo di
Giovanni was born between 1410-1420, and two days after his death
Bartolommeo Dati wrote: “Bertoldo, an admirable sculptor and medallist,
who made many fine works and was always with the Magnificent Lorenzo,
has died after two days’ illness at Poggio a Caiano (December 28,
1491). He is a great loss and much regretted by Lorenzo, for in all
Tuscany and perhaps in all Italy there is none other of such talent and
worth.”
[195] _Renaissance in Italy_, J. A. Symonds, iv. 354. Smith, Elder &
Co., 1898.
[196] An instrument used in falconry, made of leather and feathers in
the shape of a wing.
[197] Giovanni (afterwards Pope Leo X.) was born on the 11th December.
[198] _Prose Volgari inedite_, &c., di Angelo Ambrogini Poliziano,
Isidoro Del Lungo. Barbera, Firenze, 1867.
[199] Ibid., _op. cit._
[200] _Del Bagno a Morba_, Ricordi Storici e Letterari, Luigi Righetti.
Roma.
[201] The Duchess of Ferrara, wife of Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, and
daughter of Ferrante I., King of Naples. She passed through Pisa on her
way to Naples to attend her father’s marriage with Giovanna d’Aragona.
[202] The meaning of this word is obscure. Some suggest that it is a
kind of fish, others that it is the name of a wine. I think Lucrezia
jokingly asked her son to send her some cool sea-wind. The peasants
still call the west wind which blows from the sea _marino_.
[203] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxxiv. No. 133.
[204] _Affetti di Famiglia nel Quattrocento_, Gugliemo Volpi, Vita
Nuova, No. 503.
[205] _Prose Volgari_, &c., _op. cit._
[206] Son of her daughter Nannina, wife of Bernardo Rucellai.
[207] _Del Bagno a Morba_, op. cit.
[208] Ibid.
[209] Lucrezia de’ Medici had just bought Bagno a Morba from the
Commune of Florence.
[210] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza lxxxv. No. 203.
[211] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxxiv. No. 312.
[212] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. p. 168.
[213] _Le Vite de’ piu eccelenti Pittori_, &c., Giorgio Vasari, iii.
374. Sansoni, Firenze, 1878.
[214] Philippe de Comines, who writes: “I remained about a year in
Florence and her territory as the guest of the Florentines, who
treated me well, better even on the last day of my visit than on
the first.”--_Memoires de Messire Philippe de Comines, Seigneur
d’Argenton_, i. 395. Brusselle, 1723.
[215] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 119.
[216] _Congiura de’ Pazzi_, narrata in Latino da A. Poliziano
volgarizzate con sue note e illustrazioni da Anicio Bonucci, p. 119. Le
Monnier, Firenze, 1856.
[217] Lorenzo’s uncle by marriage, sent on a special mission to Milan
and to Venice.
[218] The young Cardinal was set at liberty on June 5th, and went for
a few days to the Servite monastery in the SS. Annunziata. From there
he wrote to the Pope expressing deep gratitude to the Signoria and to
Lorenzo de’ Medici for the kind treatment he had received, and bitterly
lamented that His Holiness had not acceded to his prayer that the
interdict should be taken off. On June 12th he left for Siena, and an
old chronicler writes that he was still under the influence of great
terror and seemed to feel the rope round his neck. If at the time of
the assassination he had not been well guarded the exasperated populace
would probably have torn him to pieces.
[219] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza vii. No. 404.
[220] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza vii. No. 404.
[221] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. xi. 131.
[222] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xliii. No. 175.
[223] Philippe de Comines.
[224] Philippe de Comines.
[225] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 187.
[226] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza vii. No. 413.
[227] A piece torn out of the letter.
[228] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxxi. No. 31.
[229] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 131.
[230] The address on outside of sheet is: Magnifico Hieronimo Morelli,
Oratori florentino, patri meo. (_Arch. Med. ante Principatum_, Filza
124, No. 2.)
[231] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza cxxiv. No. 2.
[232] After the Pazzi conspiracy the Republic engaged in war with
Sixtus IV. and the King of Naples. The Pope excommunicated Florence,
as he declared out of hatred of the Medici, whose exile he demanded.
The Signoria answered by appointing twelve trusty men to be Lorenzo’s
bodyguard. “Then,” writes Ammirato, “they obtained the opinion of
Bartolommeo Sozzino (probably what Poliziano refers to), Francesco
Aretino, Lancillotto Decio, Bulgarino, Andrea Panormita, Pier Filippo
Cornio and other masters of canon law and theology, who advised
that notwithstanding the Pope’s censures, by whom they had been
excommunicated, they, by appealing to the future Council, might cause
Divine service to be celebrated in their city,” which was done.
[233] This is one of several letters alluding to Clarice’s dislike of
him.
[234] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 183.
[235] Matteo Franco, chaplain and devoted adherent of Lorenzo.
[236] _Prose Volgari inedite_, &c., _op. cit._ p. 59.
[237] _Prose Volgari inedite_, &c., _op. cit._ p. 61.
[238] Ercole d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, who had been named Captain of the
Florentine troops.
[239] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 184.
[240] _Prose Volgari inedite_, op. cit. p. 64.
[241] The grammar of Theodoro Gaza, a Greek, was the favourite one in
those days.
[242] _Letterine d’un Bambino Fiorentino_, Nozze Bemporad-Vita.
Firenze, 1887. Ediz. di 150 esemplari.
[243] _Vita Nuova_, op. cit. No. x. p. 2, Gugliemo Volpi.
[244] A saying still used when a child cries.
[245] Probably Gentile Becchi, Bishop of Arezzo.
[246] _Prose Volgari inedite_, op cit. p. 67.
[247] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 132.
[248] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 186.
[249] _Letterine d’un Bambino Fiorentino_, op. cit.
[250] _Prose Volgari inedite_, &c., _op. cit._ p. 70.
[251] Martino della Comedia, tutor to the Tornabuoni children, took
Poliziano’s place for a while after he had been dismissed by Madonna
Clarice.
[252] _Letterine d’un Bambino Fiorentino_, op. cit. The letter is
undated, but on it is written, “From Piero de’ Medici, 26th May 1479.”
[253] _Laurentius Medicis Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 288.
[254] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxxvii. No. 389.
[255] _Letterine d’un Bambino Fiorentino_, op. cit.
[256] _Letterine d’un Bambino Fiorentino_, op. cit.
[257] Ibid.
[258] In the Val di Sieve, not far from Cafaggiuolo.
[259] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 199.
[260] _Affetti di Famiglia_, &c., _op. cit._
[261] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxx. No. 70.
[262] Married to Bernardo Rucellai.
[263] The paper is torn.
[264] _Carteggio Medicis_, Filza di documenti fuori posto, No. 73.
[265] Lucrezia, to whom Poliziano grudges the title of madonna, was
Lorenzo’s daughter, afterwards the wife of Jacopo Salviati. She was
much attached to her grandmother Lucrezia.
[266] Bernardo Michelozzi, son of the great architect and sculptor,
brother of Lorenzo’s chancellor. He was known as Bernardo Rhetor on
account of his learning and eloquence. Giovanni de’ Medici, afterwards
Leo X., to whom he was tutor, made him Cameriere segreto, and in 1516
Bishop of Forlì, and allowed him to assume the name and the arms of the
house of Medici.
[267] _Prose Volgari inedite_, &c., _op. cit._ 72.
[268] Philippe de Comines.
[269] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 196.
[270] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza vii. No. 369.
[271] _Vita di Filippo Strozzi il Vecchio scritta da Lorenzo suo
figlio_, Giuseppe Bini e Pietro Bigazzi, p. 55. Florence, 1851.
[272] Muratori, ix. 533.
[273] _Lettere e Notizie di Lorenzo de’ Medici._ From the Archivio
Palatino of Modena, published in a pamphlet by Antonio Cappelli. (This
letter has been published before but not correctly.)
[274] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 200.
[275] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 202 _et seq._
[276] Ibid. ii. 204.
[277] Cooked cheese.
[278] Three hectolitres.
[279] Letter torn.
[280] Ten hectolitres.
[281] _Carte Medicee_, &c., Filza xxxiv. No. 320.
[282] _Vita Laurentii Medicis_, op. cit. ii. 223.
[283] The fall of Otranto mentioned in this letter was such a godsend
to Lorenzo that he was suspected of being in league with the Turk. It
forced the King of Naples to recall his son, the Duke of Calabria,
from Siena, where he had aided the nobles to overthrow the popular
government, and the Pope to cancel the interdict and make peace with
Florence. In November an embassy, with old Luigi Guicciardini at its
head, went to Rome and were solemnly reprimanded by Sixtus and then
blessed. The only condition he imposed was the equipment of fifteen
galleys to serve against the Turk.
[284] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxxiv. No. 367.
[285] _Lucrezia Tornabuoni_, op. cit.
[286] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza, No. 43, inside No. 150.
[287] Giovanni Albino, a Neapolitan, historian and politician, and a
great friend of Lorenzo.
[288] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 216.
[289] _Lettere e Notizie di Lorenzo de’ Medici_, Archivio Palatina di
Modena, published in a pamphlet by Antonio Cappelli.
[290] Bernardo Bandini was one of the men who assassinated Giuliano de’
Medici in the cathedral of Florence. He fled to Constantinople and was
arrested by permission of the Sultan through the agency of Frescobaldi,
Florentine ambassador to the Porte.
[291] Count Girolamo Riario, the Pope’s nephew, was implicated in the
Pazzi conspiracy to murder the two brothers Lorenzo and Giuliano de’
Medici.
[292] _Lettere e Notizie_, &c., _op cit._, Arch. Pal. di Modena.
[293] _Lettere e Notizie_, &c., Arch. Pal. di Modena, _op. cit._
[294] Ibid.
[295] Ibid.
[296] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 236.
[297] Andrea Zuccalmaglio, Archbishop of Krain.
[298] An old Italian dance.
[299] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 227.
[300] _Laurentius Medicis Vita_, ii. 229.
[301] _Lorenzo de Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 232.
[302] Guicciardini throws some doubt on Riario’s presence.
[303] For a full account of the Ferrarese war see _Lorenzo de’ Medici_,
Alfred von Reumont, ii. 249 _et seq._; _A History of the Papacy_,
&c., Dr. Creighton, iv. 100 _et seq._; _Lorenzo de’ Medici_, &c., E.
Armstrong, M.A, 182 _et seq._
[304] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, &c., _op. cit._ ii. 298.
[305] Bartolommeo Scala, born at Colle 1430, was the son of a miller.
“I came to the Republic,” he wrote, “bare of all things, a mere beggar,
of the lowest birth, without money, rank, connections, or kindred.
Cosimo, the Father of his country, raised me up by receiving me into
his family.” He became Chancellor of Florence and is known for his feud
with Poliziano.
[306] O lovely maiden.
[307] Thou art as fair as the light of the sun.
[308] _Arch. di Stato Carte Strozziane_, Filza cxxxviii. No. 57.
[309] _Arch._ &c., Carte Strozziane, Filza cxxxviii. No. 58.
[310] The abbey of Fonte Doulce, bestowed by the King of France
on Giovanni de’ Medici, Lorenzo’s second son, which gift the Pope
hesitated to confirm on account of the child’s youth.
[311] _Laurentii Medicis Vita_, op. cit. ii. 256.
[312] Lorenzo’s sister, married to Gugliemo de’ Pazzi.
[313] A piece of letter torn out.
[314] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xxxix. No. 84.
[315] Lorenzo and his wife were coming from Bagno a Morba; he went to
Pisa, and she came home to Florence.
[316] A favourite groom of Lorenzo de’ Medici, mentioned also in _La
Caccia al Falcone_.
[317] Lorenzo de’ Medici’s sister, married to Bernardo Rucellai.
[318] Paper-mills were flourishing at Colle in the second half of the
fifteenth century. See _Dizionario della Toscana_, E. Repetti, _i._ 758.
[319] A much-prized white Tuscan wine.
[320] The two future Popes, Leo X. and Clement VII. Giulio was the
illegitimate son of Giuliano, Lorenzo’s brother, murdered in the Pazzi
conspiracy. Lorenzo’s second son, Giovanni, destined for the Church,
had received the tonsure at seven years old, and was always spoken of
as Messer Giovanni.
[321] The Squarcialupi, surnamed degli Organi, great musicians of the
fifteenth century.
[322] The boy’s play upon words is not easy to understand, it may mean
a Catalonian.
[323] _Un Viaggio di Clarice Orsini de’ Medici_, &c., Scelta di
Curiosità Letterarie inedite o rare, Gaetano Romagnoli. Bologna, 1868.
[324] This codex had belonged to Battista Guarino and was highly valued
and jealously guarded. The Duke refused to send it to Florence but
allowed Lorenzo to have it copied by a Greek scribe he sent to Ferrara.
Three years later Lorenzo asked the Duke to lend for a few days the
translation of the book by Dione Cassio (Dionysius Cassius) made for
the Duke by Niccolò Leoniceno. Again afraid to trust the manuscript out
of his hands, he had a copy made in all haste by divers scribes, and
sent it as a present to Lorenzo, on the condition that he was neither
to lend it nor to allow it to be published. The translation was printed
for the first time in Venice in 1532, the Greek original in Paris in
1548.
[325] _Lettere_, &c., Arch. Palatina di Modena, _op. cit._
[326] _Lettere e Notizie_, Arch. Pal. di Modena, _op. cit._
[327] Ibid, p. 291.
[328] _Lettere e Notizie_, &c., Arch. Pal. di Modena, _op. cit._
[329] _Arch. Med. ante Prin._, Filza xliii. No. 176.
[330] _Lettere e Notizie_, &c., Arch. Pal. di Modena, _op. cit._
[331] Ibid.
[332] Ibid.
[333] Ibid.
[334] _Lettere e Notizie_, &c., Arch. Pal. di Modena, _op. cit._
[335] Ibid.
[336] Pietro Leoni was Lorenzo de’ Medici’s physician, and either
drowned himself or was thrown into a well near Careggi when Lorenzo
died.
[337] _Lettere e Notizie_, &c., Arch. Pal. di Modena, _op. cit._
[338] Ferdinand, or Ferrante, King of Naples.
[339] _Lettere e Notizie_, &c., Arch. Pal. di Modena, _op. cit._