is the name of an illustrious family in Florence, which contributed more than perhaps any other family whatever to the revival of letters in Europe. To trace this family from its origin, or even to give biographical sketches of all the great men whom it produced, would occupy by far too great a part of our work; for, during some centuries, almost every individual of the house of Medici was distinguished among his contemporaries. That house, after having rendered itself memorable in the annals of Florence, for opposing the encroachments of the nobles on the liberties of the people, had lost much of its influence under the aristocratic government of the Albizi, when it was raised to a rank superior to what it had ever held, by Giovanni de Medici, who was born in the year 1360. This man determined to restore his family to splendour; but, conscious of his critical situation, surrounded as he was by powerful rivals and enemies, he affected rather a secure privacy than a dangerous popularity. Even when raised to the office of gonfalonier, or generalissimo of the republic, he carefully avoided any desire of partaking in the magistracy, and seemed to be entirely engrossed by merchandise, which he extended from the East throughout Europe. This conduct, as on one hand it threw his enemies off their guard, on the other, enabled him to acquire an immense fortune, of which he made a proper disposition amongst all ranks of people.

Many, even of the ruling party, either gained by his liberality, or pleased with his amiable and retired conduct, proposed to the signory to admit him into the magistracy; and though the proposal met with great opposition, it was carried in the affirmative.

It was by rashly declaring, for the plebeians against the nobles that an ancestor of Giovanni's had lost to his family their rank in the state. Giovanni, resolving not to flit on the same rock, continued to affect privacy and retirement, accepting any office in the state with the utmost appearance of reluctance, and never attending at the Palazzo, unless particularly sent for by the signory. Ruling by these means in the esteem of the people, his enemies became, of course, unpopular; and having obtained a decided superiority over his opponents, he now ventured to procure, that those taxes which the nobles had exacted with the utmost severity and partiality from the people alone, should be levied upon. upon the two first orders, in common with the plebeians; and that a law should be ordained, by which personal property might be taxed.

The nobles seeing, with the deepest concern, their consequence so sensibly wounded, and their power so much diminished, held several consultations in private how they might effect his ruin; but their want of unanimity prevented any thing decisive from being carried into execution. The people, alarmed for the safety of their leader and patron, offered him the sovereignty, which his relations and friends urged him to accept; but this his prudence forbade him to take, as with the title of lord he would have gained also that of tyrant. Thus, by his singular prudence, he died possessed of all the power of the state, with the affection of being the most disinterested citizen in the commonwealth. His death happened in the year 1428.

Giovanni was graceful in his person, and his affability to all established his character for moderation. His extensive knowledge and pleasantry made his company eagerly sought. As all his actions were placid and serene, he was not in want of that trumpet of sedition, popular declamation, which he never attempted. Much to his honour, his elevation was not procured even by the banishment of a single individual; a circumstance until then unknown in Florence, where every new administration was marked with the ruin of families, and by scaffolds stained with blood.

"The maxims (says Mr Roscoe) which, uniformly pursued, raised the house of Medici to the splendour which it afterwards enjoyed, are to be found in the charge given by this venerable old man, on his deathbed, to his two sons Cosimo and Lorenzo. 'I feel (said he) that I have lived the time prescribed me. I die content, leaving you, my sons, in influence and in health, and in such a station, that, whilst you follow my example, you may live in your native place honoured and respected. Nothing affords me more pleasure than the reflection, that my conduct has given offence to no one; but that, on the contrary, I have endeavoured to serve all persons to the best of my abilities. I advise you to do the same. With respect to the honours of the state, if you would live with security, accept only such as are bestowed on you by the laws, and the favour of your fellow-citizens; for it is the exercise of that power which is obtained by violence, and not of that which is voluntarily given, that occasions hatred and contention."

Medici (Cosimo de), the eldest son of the preceding, was born in 1389. During the life-time of his father, he had engaged himself deeply, not only in the extensive commerce by which the family had acquired its wealth, but in the weightier matters of government. When Giovanni died he was in the prime of life; and though his complexion was fair, he had an agreeable person, was well made, of a proper stature, and in conversation united a happy intermixture of gravity with occasional failies of pleasantry and repartee. His conduct was uniformly marked by urbanity and kindness to the superior ranks of his fellow-citizens, and by a constant attention to the interests and the wants of the lower class, whom he relieved with unbounded generosity. By these means he acquired numerous and zealous partizans of every denomination; but he rather considered them as pledges for the continuance of the power which he possessed, than as instruments to be employed in extending it to the ruin and subjugation of the state. An interchange of reciprocal good offices was the only tie by which the Florentines and the Medici were bound; and perhaps the long continuance of this connection may be attributed to the very circumstance of its being in the power of either of the parties at any time to have dissolved it.

But the prudence and moderation of Cosmo could not repel the ambitions designs of those rival families, who wished to possess or to share his authority. In the year 1433, Rinaldo de Albizzi, at the head of a powerful party, carried the appointment of the magistracy. At that time Cosmo had withdrawn to his seat in the country, to avoid the disturbances which he saw likely to ensue; but at the request of his friends he returned to Florence, where he was led to expect such a union of parties, as might at least preserve the peace of the city. No sooner did he make his appearance in the palace, where his presence had been requested, on pretence of his being intended to share in the administration of the republic, than he was seized upon by his adversaries, and committed to prison.

The conspirators were divided in their opinions as to the disposal of their prisoner. Most of them inclined to follow the advice of Peruzzi, who recommended taking him off by poison. Cosmo, confined in the Albertino, a room in one of the turrets of the Palazzo, could hear this dreadful consultation, which was determining, not in what manner he should be tried, but in what manner he should be put to death; and finding that he was to die by an infusion of poison secretly administered to him, a small portion of bread was the only food which he thought proper to take.

Cosmo lived in this manner four days; and, shut up from all his kindred and friends, he soon expected to be numbered with the dead; but here, as it sometimes happens, he found relief where least expected, from the man who had been engaged to take him off. Malavolta, the keeper of the prison, either from compassion, dissatisfaction, or the youth and misfortunes of the illustrious sufferer, relented; and instead of pursuing any criminal intentions against the life of Cosmo, after upbraiding him with entertaining so unworthy an opinion of him, declared that his fears were entirely groundless. To convince him of this, he sat down, and partook of every thing the prisoner chose to eat of. The expressions of gratitude, together with his most engaging manners, and great promises, entirely won Malavolta, who, to ingratiate himself still farther in the good opinion of Cosmo, invited Fargaccio, the most celebrated wit in Florence, to dine with him the next day, from the idea that his sprightly mirth would contribute to lighten his misfortunes.

In the mean time, his brother Lorenzo, and his cousin Averardo, having raised a considerable body of men in Romagna and other neighbouring districts, and being joined by the commander of the troops of the republic, approached towards Florence to his relief. The apprehension, however, that the life of Cosmo might be endangered, if they should proceed to open violence, induced them to abandon their enterprise. At length Rinaldo and his adherents obtained a decree of the magistracy, by which Cosmo was banished to Padua for ten years, his brother to Venice for five years; and se- Cosmo received this determination of his judges with a composure that gained him the compassion and the admiration of many of his most inveterate enemies. He would gladly have left the city pursuant to his sentence; but he was detained by his enemies till their authority should be established; and it was not till he thought of bribing the gonfalonier, and another creature of Rinaldo's, that he was privately taken from his confinement, and conducted out of Florence.

Padua, to which he was confined by his sentence, was in the dominions of Venice; but before he could reach that place, he received a deputation from the senate, the purport of which was to console with him for his misfortunes, and to promise him their protection and assistance in whatever he should desire. He experienced the treatment of a prince rather than that of an exile. Nor were that wise people without good reasons for such a conduct. Venice had long regarded Florence as her rival in commerce, and hoped, by conferring upon Cosmo the most flattering distinctions, to prevail upon him to reside there in future; prudently supposing, that the manufacturers of Florence, and the great commerce the Medici had carried on throughout Italy, and extended far beyond it to the wealthiest kingdoms in Europe, would become their own by enrolling him amongst their subjects.

The readiness with which Cosmo had given way to the temporary elation raised against him, and the reluctance which he had shewn to renew those encounters which had so often deluged the streets of Florence with blood, gained him new friends, even during his exile. The utmost exertions of his antagonists could not long prevent the choice of such magistrates as were known to be attached to the cause of the Medici; and no sooner did they enter on their office, than Cosmo and his brother were recalled, and Rinaldo with his adherents were compelled to quit the city. This event took place about a year after the banishment of Cosmo.

The subsequent conduct of this great man (for great all allow him to have been), has been painted in different colours by different writers. Mr Noble, after Machiavel, compares his cruelties to his fallen foes with those of Sylla and Octavius to the partizans of Marius and Brutus; whilst Rofeoe represents his conduct as in a high degree amiable and generous. It appears to us evident, from his own words, that he had exercised some cruelties on his exiled enemies; for when one of them wrote to him, that "the hen was hatching," he replied, "She will have but a bad time of it, so far from her nest." When some other exiles acquainted him that "they were not asleep," he answered, "he could easily believe that, for he thought he had spoiled their sleeping." At another time, some of the citizens remonstrated with him upon the odiousness of his conduct in banishing so many persons; telling him, "the republic would be extremely weakened, and God offended, by the expulsion of so many good and pious men as he was sending into banishment." His answer was, "It would be better for the republic to be weakened than utterly ruined; that two or three yards of fine cloth make many a one look like a good man; but that states were not to be governed or maintained by counting a string of beads, and mumbling over a few Pater noster."

Suppl. Vol. II. Part I.

From this time the life of Cosmo de Medici was an almost uninterrupted series of prosperity. His minor tares had taught him, that the affectation of grandeur is more dangerous in a free state than usurpation. He adopted, therefore, the dress, behaviour, and manners, of a private citizen. His clothes were of the same fashion and materials as the rest of the Florentines. In the streets he walked alone and unguarded. His table was supplied from what his estate of Mugello produced, nor had he one servant more than was absolutely necessary; thus endeavouring to unite the character of a prince with that of a merchant, and a private person in a republic.

Whilst he rejected all offices in the magistracy, no business was transacted without its being first settled at Mugello; nor did he contract any alliances but with the sons and daughters of the citizens of Florence; yet all foreign princes and courts paid his children the respect due only to those of sovereigns; and the family of Cosmo received educations equal to those of the greatest potentates.

A proper judgment may be formed of his immense traffic, and the prodigious advantages accruing from it: For though a private citizen of Florence only, yet he possessed at one time more money than what was in all the treasuries of the different sovereigns in Europe. When Alfonso king of Naples league with the Venetians against Florence, Cosmo called in such immense debts from those places, as deprived them of resources for carrying on the war. During the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster, he furnished Edward IV. with a sum of money so great, that it might almost be considered as the means of supporting that monarch on the throne.

In his public and private charities, in the number and grandeur of the edifices he erected, not only in Florence, but in the most distant parts of the world, and in the foundations which he endowed, he seemed to more than vie with majesty. He supplied most of the exigencies of the state from his private purse; and there were few citizens that had not experienced his liberality, and many without the least application, particularly the nobles.

But in nothing did his munificence produce so much good to the world, or acquire such honour to himself, as when it was exerted for the promotion of science, and the encouragement of learned men; and upon nothing did Cosmo delight so much to exert it. The study of the Greek language had been introduced into Italy towards the latter part of the preceding century; but it had again fallen into neglect. After a short interval, an attempt was made to revive it, by the intervention of Emanuel Chrysoloras, a noble Greek, who taught that language at Florence, and other cities of Italy, about the beginning of the 15th century. His disciples, who were numerous and respectable, kept the flame alive till it received new aid from other learned Greeks, who were driven from Constantinople by the dread of the Turks, or by the total overthrow of the Eastern Empire. To these illustrious foreigners, as well as to the learned Italians, who shortly became their successful rivals, even in the knowledge of their national history and language, Cosmo afforded the most liberal support and protection. The very titles of the works of ancient authors, which were brought to light by his munificence, nificence, would extend this article beyond its proper limits. Such, indeed, was the estimation in which these works were then held in Italy, that a manuscript of the history of Livy, sent by Cosmo de Medici to Alfonso king of Naples, with whom he was at variance, conciliated the breach between them.

As the natural disposition of Cosmo led him to take an active part in collecting the remains of the ancient Greek and Roman writers, so he was enabled by his wealth, and by his extensive mercantile intercourse with different parts of Europe and of Asia, to gratify a passion of this kind beyond any other individual. To this end he laid injunctions on all his friends and correspondents, as well as on the millionaires and preachers who traveled into the remotest countries, to search for and procure ancient manuscripts, in every language, and on every subject. The situation of the Eastern Empire, then falling into ruins, afforded him an opportunity of obtaining many ineffable works in the Hebrew, Greek, Chaldaic, Arabic, and other eastern languages. From these beginnings arose the celebrated library of the Medici; which, after various vicissitudes of fortune, and frequent and considerable additions, has been preserved to the present times under the name of the Bibliotheca Medicea Laurentiana.

Nor was Cosmo a mere collector of books, he was himself, even in old age, a laborious student. Having been struck with the sublime speculations of Plato, which he had heard detailed in lectures by a Greek monk, who had come from Constantinople to the council of Florence, he determined to found an academy for the cultivation of that philosophy. For this purpose he selected Marsilio Ficino, the son of his favourite physician, and destined him, though very young, to be the support of his future establishment. The education of Ficino was entirely directed to the Platonic philosophy; nor were the expectations which Cosmo had formed of him disappointed. The Florentine academy was some years afterwards established with great credit, and was the first institution in Europe for the pursuit of science, detached from the scholastic method then universally adopted. It is true, the fanciful doctrines of Plato are as remote from the purposes of life as the subtleties of Aristotle; but, by dividing the attention of the learned between them, the dogmas of the Stagyrite were deprived of that servile respect which had long been paid to them, and men learned by degrees to think for themselves.

The fostering hand of Cosmo was held out to art as well as to science; and architecture, sculpture, and painting, all flourished under his powerful protection. The countenance thrown by him to these arts was not such as their professors generally receive from the great. It was not conceded as a bounty, nor received as a favour, but appeared in the friendship and equality that subsisted between the artist and his patron; and the sums of money, which Cosmo expended on pictures, statues, and public buildings, appear almost incredible.

Cosmo now approached the period of his mortal existence; but the faculties of his mind remained unimpaired. About twenty days before he died, he sent for Ficino, and enjoined him to translate from the Greek the treatise of Xenocrates on death. Calling into his chamber his wife and his son Piero, he entered into a narrative of all his public transactions; in which he gave a full account of his extensive mercantile connections, and adverted to the state of his domestic concerns. To Piero he recommended a strict attention to the education of his sons; and requested, that his funeral might be conducted with as much privacy as possible. He died on the first of August 1464, at the age of 75 years, deeply lamented by a great majority of the citizens of Florence. Their esteem and gratitude had indeed been fully shewn some time before, when, by a public decree, he was honoured with the title of Paer Patriae, an appellation which was inscribed on his tomb; and which, as it was founded, says Roscoe, on real merit, has ever since been attached to the name of Cosmo de Medici.

Medici (Lorenzo de), justly styled the magnificent, was the grandson of Cosmo, and about 16 years of age when his grandfather died. His father Piero de Medici, though possessed of more than ordinary talents, as well as of a very considerable share of worth, was, from various circumstances, little qualified to maintain the influence which his family had gained in the republic of Florence. From very early life he had been tortured by the gout; and almost uninterrupted pain had made him peevish. Such a disposition was not calculated to retain the affections of the giddy Florentines, or to persuade republicans that they were free, while they submitted to the government of a single individual. All this Cosmo had foreseen, and had done what wisdom could do to preserve to his family that ascendancy in the republic which he had himself acquired. He exhorted Piero to bestow the utmost care on the education of his sons, of whose capacity he expressed a high opinion; he recommended to him Diotisalvo Neroni, a man whom he had himself raised from obscurity to an eminent rank, as a counsellor, in whose wisdom and fidelity he might place the utmost confidence; and to bind the inhabitants of Florence to the house of Medici by the strongest of all ties, he had distributed among them, under the denomination of loans, immense sums, which he knew they would not soon be able to repay.

Piero paid the utmost deference to the dying injunctions of his father. He had himself an ardent love of letters; and under the eye of the venerable Cosmo, he had given his two sons, Lorenzo and Giuliano, the best possible domestic education. In the Greek language, in ethics, and in the principles of the Aristotelian philosophy, Lorenzo, the eldest, had the advantage of the precepts of the learned Argyropylus (A.), and in those of the Platonic sect he was sedulously instructed by Marsilio Ficino (see Ficinos, Bucyld.); but for his most valuable accomplishments he was not indebted to any preceptor. To complete his education, however, it was judged expedient that he should visit some of the principal courts of Italy; and very soon after the death of his grandfather, he repaired to Rome, Bologna, Ferrara, Venice, and Milan, where he gained the esteem of all whose esteem was of value.

(A) This man had fled from Constantinople, when it was taken by the Turks, to Florence, where he was protected by Cosmo de Medici. Thus attentive was Piero to the advice of his father with respect to the education of his eldest son; nor was he less attentive to it in the choice of his principal counsellor. He intrusted the whole of his affairs into the hands of Neroni, and gave him Cosimo's accounts to peruse and settle. That ambition, which perhaps had lain lurking in this man's mind, was now called forth, and he barely formed the scheme of raising the son of his patron, by building upon his misfortunes his own future grandeur. For this purpose, he lamented the absolute necessity there was for an immediate call upon those who were indebted to Piero as Cosimo's representative; telling him, that a delay might subject him to the greatest inconveniences. Piero consented, though with reluctance, to his supposed friend's advice. The result was such as Neroni expected. Those who were friends of the father became enemies of the son; and had not Piero discovered the snare, and distanced from such rigorous proceedings, he might have found, when too late, that in supporting the character of the merchant, he had forgotten that of the statesman; for all the citizens of Florence were his debtors.

Soon after this, an attempt was made to assassinate Piero, by a powerful party which had always been inimical to the house of Medici; but it was defeated by Lorenzo, who displayed on that occasion a sagacity and promptitude of mind which would have done honour to the oldest statesman. A few of the conspirators were declared enemies to the state, and condemned to banishment; but by far the greater part of them were pardoned on the solicitation of Lorenzo, who declared, that "he only knows how to conquer, who knows how to forgive."

In the year 1469 Piero de Medici died; and Lorenzo succeeded to his authority as if it had been a part of his patrimony, being requested by the principal inhabitants of Florence, that he would take upon himself the administration of the republic in the same manner that his grandfather and father had done.

In the month of December 1475, a league was solemnly concluded between the pope, the king of Naples, the duke of Milan, and the Florentines, against Mahomet II., who had vowed not to lay down his arms till he had abolished the religion of Christ, and extirpated all his followers. The pope, however (Paul II.), died on the 26th of July 1471; and Sixtus IV., succeeding to the chair of St Peter, Lorenzo was deputed from Florence to congratulate him on his elevation. Two more opposite characters can hardly be conceived than those of Sixtus and Lorenzo. The former was cruel, treacherous, and ferocious; the latter was merciful, candid, and generous. Yet such instances of mutual good will took place between them on this occasion, that Lorenzo, who, under the direction of his agents, had a bank established at Rome, was formally invested with the office of treasurer of the Holy See.

Pisa had been under the dominion of Florence from the year 1406, and it had acquired some celebrity on account of its academy, which had existed almost two centuries. That academy, however, had fallen into decay; and, in the year 1472, the Florentines resolved to restore it to its pristine splendour. Five citizens, of whom Lorenzo de Medici was one, were appointed to superintend the execution of their purpose; but Lorenzo, who was the projector of the plan, undertook the chief management of it; and, in addition to 6000 florins annually granted by the state, expended, in effecting his purpose, a large sum of money from his private fortune. In doing this, he only imitated the example of his father and grandfather; for in the course of 37 years, reckoning from the return of Cosimo from banishment, this illustrious family had expended on works of charity or public utility upwards of 660,000 florins. "Some persons (said Lorenzo) would perhaps be better pleased to have a part of it in their purse; but I conceive that it has been of great advantage to the public, and well laid out, and am therefore perfectly satisfied."

In the year 1474, Lorenzo incurred the displeasure of the pope for opposing some of his encroachments on the petty princes of Italy; and the revenge planned by Sixtus was of such a nature as would have disgraced, we do not say a Christian bishop, but the rudest savage. He began by depriving Lorenzo of the office of treasurer of the Roman See, which he gave to the Pazzi, a Florentine family, who, as well as the Medici, had a public bank at Rome. By this step he secured the interest of the Pazzi, who, it is probable, were to govern Florence under the pope, when Lorenzo and Juliano de Medici should be cut off, and their friends and adherents driven from the republic. The principal agent engaged in the undertaking was Francesco Salvati archbishop of Pisa, to which rank he had lately been promoted by Sixtus, in opposition to the wishes of the Medici. The other conspirators were Giacopo Salvati, brother to the archbishop; Giacomo Poggio, one of the sons of the celebrated Poggio Bracciolini (see Poggio, Encycl.); Barnardo Bandini, a daring libertine, rendered desperate by the consequence of his excesses; Giovanni Battilfi Monteficco, who had distinguished himself as general of the pope's armies; Antonio Maffei, a priest of Volterra; and Stephano de Bagnona, one of the apostolic scribes; with several others of inferior note. The cardinal Riario, then at Pisa, was likewise an instrument in the conspiracy; but he can hardly be considered as an agent, for he was kept ignorant of what was going on, and enjoined only to obey whatever directions he might receive from the archbishop of Pisa.

The assassination of the illustrious youths was fixed for Sunday, April 26, 1478; the place the cathedral of Florence, at the moment the host was to be elevated; and their murder was to be the signal for seizing and expelling from the walls of the city all their relations and friends. What a transaction this for one who presumed to style himself the vicar of Christ, the common father of Christendom, to patronize!

The fatal day arrived, and Lorenzo was already in the church; but Juliano remained at home, occasioned by a flight indisposition. The conspirators, determining not to lose one of their victims, went to invite, to treat him, to go. They embraced (n), and led him, by a tender violence, to the cathedral. The signal was given

(a) The assassins embraced Juliano, to discover whether he wore any secret armour, that they might know where to strike with the surest aim. given by the elevation of the consecrated wafer; and whilst the people fell upon their knees to adore, the assailants rose, and, as was concerted, two of them, Francisco Pazzi and Barnardo Bandini, fell upon Juliano. The latter directed his poyntard so truly, that it entered into the bosom of the unoffending youth, and he fell mortally wounded at his feet.

In a moment, as must be supposed, all was confusion. Lorenzo, alarmed, put himself in a posture of defence, when, in an instant, Antonio of Volterra, and Stephano a priest, the dependant of the archbishop, who, upon Giovanni Battista's declining the infamous task, undertook his destruction, rushed upon him as their defined prey. The contest continued some time. Lorenzo had received a wound in his neck, and seemed to contend for his life in vain; but a servant, whom he had lately relieved from prison, inspired by gratitude, heroically threw himself between his beloved lord and his assailants, receiving in his body those weapons that were aimed at the breast of Lorenzo. This fidelity saved him; for by one vigorous effort he broke from Antonio and Stephano, and with a few friends rushed into the sacristy, shutting the doors behind them, which were of brass. Apprehensions being entertained, that the weapon which had wounded him was poisoned, a young man sucked the wound, endangering his own life to save that of Lorenzo.

The rage of the people to see one of their favourites expiring, and the other covered with blood, was inexplicable. The cardinal Riaro found it difficult to save his life at that altar which he had stained by so horrid a deed, and to which he then fled for protection.

Whilst this infamous scene was acting in the cathedral, others of the conspirators were attempting to seize the Palazzo; but with no better success. The archbishop Salvinti, who had undertaken to head them, gave the magistrates suspicion by those violent emotions which agitated his whole frame. The nine senators who composed the magistracy, including the gonfalonier, who had been appointed by, and were, in other words, the privy council of the Medici, immediately attacked those who intended to have surprized them; and Salvinti and his followers had no sooner gained the second floor, than they found themselves prisoners.

Jacopo Pazzi soon appeared in the street, proclaiming, with exultation, the murder of Juliano; and inviting the Florentines to free themselves from the Medicean slavery; but perceiving that he was not joined by the people, the magistrates sent off 100 horse to the rescue of Lorenzo. This was the more to be commended, because they continued to be assaulted by the conspirators, who, finding their situation desperate, forced themselves to the ground floor, determining, if possible, to seize the Palazzo. The magistrates, with their attendants, acted with such resolution and valour, that as often as they gained an entrance, they drove them back, killing some of the assailants upon the spot; others they threw out of the windows upon the pavement; and to strike an awe into those that were without, they had the boldness and virtue to hang the archbishop from one of the windows, dressed as he was in his pontifical robes, with Poggio, another of the chief conspirators. Florence refounded in every part with the exclamation—Medici, Medici! down with their enemies!

Lorenzo was liberated from that part of the cathedral to which he had fled, and conveyed home in triumph, where his wounds were attended to, and where he found himself surrounded by his most valuable friends, to whom he was endeared by the shocking occurrences of the day. His partizans, however, did not spend their time only in lamentations for the death of one of the brothers, and exclamations for the preservation of the other; they united in pursuing the conspirators, sparing none that fell into their hands. Jacopo Pazzi was taken flying with his forces into Romania, and immediately hung. An officer of the pope's, who commanded a brigade under count Hieronimo, had alone the favour of decapitation. Bandini fled privately to Pisa, thence to Naples, and, lastly, to Constantinople; but Mahomet, to oblige Lorenzo, seized, and sent him back; and he was hung out of the same window from which the archbishop had suffered. An embassy was sent from Florence to thank the sultan in the name of the republic.

Throughout the whole of this just but dreadful retribution, Lorenzo had exerted all his influence to restrain the indignation of the populace. He entreated that they would resign to the magistrates the task of ascertaining and of punishing the guilty, lest the innocent should be incalculably involved in destruction; and his appearance and admonitions had an instantaneous effect. By his moderation, and even kindness to the relatives of the conspirators, he sought to obliterate the remembrance of past disturbances; and by his interference, even the survivors of the Pazzi were restored to their honours, of which they had been deprived by a decree of the state.

The generosity and moderation of Lorenzo had no effect on the temper of Sixtus, who solemnly excommunicated him, the gonfalonier, the magistrates, and their immediate successors; and in the bull which he issued on this occasion, he styles Lorenzo de Medici "the child of iniquity, and the nursling of perdition!" Not content with this ebullition of resentment, he suspended the bishops and clergy of the Florentine territories from the exercise of their spiritual functions; thus laying the whole republic under an interdict. This had been a formidable weapon in the hands of his predecessors, who had, by means of it, overawed the most powerful monarchs; but the general character of Sixtus was too infamous, and his present injustice so manifest, that by the exertions of the bishop of Arezzo, a convocation was held in the cathedral church of Florence, in which Sixtus was accused of fornication and adultery, with other infamous vices; declared to be the principal instigator of the conspiracy against the Medici; and the sentence of excommunication which he had fulminated against Lorenzo and the Florentine magistrates was called in direct terms, the "execrable malediction of a damned judge (maledictam maleditionem damnatiissimi judicis)!"

How such language could be reconciled to the notions which then prevailed of the sanctity of the pope, and the plenitude of his power, it is needless to inquire; but the reader will not be surprized that the prelates, who made use of it, paid no regard to the interdict of Sixtus. The pontiff, however, did not relax from his purpose. Whilst he brandished with one hand the spiritual weapon, which the Florentines treated with such contempt, in the other, he grasped a temporal sword, which he now openly, as he had before secretly, aimed at the breast of Lorenzo. At his instigation the king of Naples dispatched dispatched an envoy to Florence, to require the citizens to banish Lorenzo from the Tuscan territories, if they would not incur the vengeance both of him and of the pope. These threats produced not the intended effect; for the Florentines avowed their firm resolution to suffer every extremity, rather than betray the man whom they considered as guardian of the republic. War therefore was commenced; and the republic was on the point of being ruined, when Lorenzo taking advantage of a truce, threw himself, with a resolution not to be equalled, into the hands of the king of Naples. He judged, perhaps, that any stipulations for his personal safety would be useless with a prince who had sported with honour, justice, mercy, and the most solemn treaties. But, whilst all viewed him as a victim who had devoted himself to save his country, he, by persuasive eloquence, obtained of this crafty perfidious monarch a separate peace, and returned to Florence crowned with a success that no one thought possible, and where he was received as its tutelar deity. The pope, however, continued inflexible, till a defeat of the Turks upon Italy restored him to his senses, and made him willing to receive the submission of Florence, and reconcile its inhabitants to the church.

Soon after the termination of the hostilities between Sixtus and the republic of Florence, Lorenzo began to unfold plans for securing the peace of Italy, which confer the highest honour on his political life. To counterpoise all the jarring interests of the petty states of which that country was composed, to restrain the powerful, succour the weak, and to unite the whole in one firm body which might be able, on the one hand, successfully to oppose the formidable power of the Turks, and, on the other, to repel the incursions of the French and Germans, were the important ends which this great man proposed to accomplish. But before he engaged in these momentous undertakings, he had further personal dangers to encounter. By the instigation of Cardinal Riaro, and some Florentine exiles, one Battista Fracobaldi, with only two assistants, undertook to assassinate him in the church of the Carmeli, on the festival of the ascension 1481; but the plot was discovered, the conspirators executed, and Lorenzo henceforth seldom went abroad without being surrounded by a number of tried friends.

Lorenzo was now at liberty to prosecute his benevolent purposes; and after contributing to the expulsion of the Turks from Italy, he set himself in good earnest to support the weak states against the encroachments of the more powerful. This necessarily embroiled the republic at one time with the pope, at another with the king of Naples; now with the Venetians, and then with the Duke of Milan; but when some exclaimed against him as being too precipitate in involving the republic in dangerous and expensive wars, he explained to them the necessity of maintaining the balance of power, if they would preserve the independence of their own state; and so completely had he made himself master of this subject, that he convinced the most incredulous of the propriety of his measures, which, in 1488, introduced general tranquillity into Italy.

At this period, the city of Florence was at its highest degree of prosperity. The vigilance of Lorenzo had secured it from all apprehensions of external attack; and his acknowledged disinterestedness and moderation had almost extinguished that spirit of internal dissension for which it had been so long remarkable. The Florentines gloried in their illustrious citizen, and were gratified by numbering in their body a man who wielded in his hands the fate of nations, and attracted the respect and admiration of all Europe.

Yet amidst public affairs so intricate and so momentous, such was the capacity of this man's mind, and such his versatility of genius, that, for the greater part of his life, he carried on a commerce as extensive as that of his grandfather, whilst he afforded still greater encouragement to learning and learned men. Cosmo had greatly promoted the study of the ancient languages and ancient philosophy. Lorenzo did the same thing; but he did much more; he encouraged the cultivation of his own tongue, which had been neglected since the age of Petrarch; and by setting a great example himself, he produced a race of Italian poets, which have hardly been surpassed in any age or nation. To enumerate even the names of the elegant scholars whom he patronised, would extend this article far beyond its limits. In the academy of Pisa, of which mention has been already made, the studies were chiefly confined to the Latin language, and to those sciences of which it was the principal vehicle. At Florence the Greek tongue was taught under the sanction of a public institution, either by native Greeks or learned Italians, whose services were procured by the diligence of Lorenzo de Medici, and repaid by his bounty. He placed Michael Angelo at the head of an academy, which he erected for painting and sculpture, furnishing it with the best models of antiquity. He built and endowed a public library, and sent Laferaris, of imperial descent, to Constantinople more than once, to procure Greek manuscripts. For father Moriano, the orator, a monastery was built; and Florence owed many of her finest edifices to him. Politiano and Ficino were among his most intimate friends; and it is not perhaps too much to say, that he did more for letters and science and art than any other individual that ever existed. His own acquirements in learning were great; and his poetry, of which the reader will find many specimens in the elegant work of Rolco, was exquisite.

Is it surprising, when we examine Lorenzo's character, that all Italy, all Christendom, even the Mahometans, gave him the most flattering marks of approbation, and strove who should oblige him most, by presenting him with whatever was rare and valuable? His palace was constantly filled with men famous in every elegant, every useful science, and the neighbouring princes flocked to it as to the temple of wisdom. The celebrated prince of Mirandola, on his account, chose Florence for his residence, and died there.

To a most engaging person was added each grace, and every accomplishment. He was the favourite of the ladies, the envy of the men, and the admiration of both. The statesman of his time; unrivalled in chivalry; one of the most eminent orators that the world has produced. His poetic merit, with his judgment in, and patronage of that art, procured him the title of "Father of the Muses." In liberality to his fellow-citizens, as well as in every other respect, except as a general, he exceeded even Caesar himself; and had not peace been his dear delight, his talents would have made him a consummate commander. Yet with all these superior