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YOUTH'S INSTRUCTER

AND

GUARDIAN.

SEPTEMBER, 1852.

LORENZO DE' MEDICI, "THE MAGNIFICENT." (With a Portrait.)

To this distinguished man belongs the praise of having restored to literature the honours of which, during twenty generations, it had been despoiled. Lorenzo commanded the homage of his times, however, for other reasons; and Italy was slow to do him literary justice. As a statesman, he seems to have had the power of moving Europe, and he certainly accomplished marvels in a brief life of forty-four years.

Florence, which gave to half the world historians, poets, orators, and preceptors, was the home of the Medici. Several members of that family had, in successive generations, adorned the city of their birth, and illuminated the annals of the Florentine republic. Some of them had also paid the heavy taxes of pre-eminence. Cosmo de' Medici is a name truly illustrious: his monument records him as 66 THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY." Great attention was paid early in the fifteenth century to the discovery of ancient Greek and Latin authors. The art of printing was meanwhile arising in Germany, soon to be adopted in Italy. All things promised a brighter era. But no family was so honourably characterized by the love of learning, and of learned men, as that of the Medici.

Lorenzo was born January 1st, 1448. Early instructed in the views of Plato, he afterwards sought to give stability to these studies by renewing the anniversary-feasts to the memory VOL. XVI. Second Series. R

of the philosopher; and these, for some time, drew together, on the 7th of November, the chief Italian literati. Lorenzo was the son of Piero, and grandson of Cosmo. Very early indeed, if we may confide in his biographers, he gave promise of mental power, and of a truly noble disposition. In his very childhood he observed, that nothing is more glorious than to excel others in deeds of generosity. A combination of qualities entitled him to be held up as an accomplished youth. Active, courageous, eloquent, vivacious, - he was rich in endowments of nature, and these were developed by the best culture that could be obtained. His panegyrists add, that he was devout; but, in this most important respect, he has very small claim to be regarded as an example.

The influence of his family was an object of his first consideration; and this he sought to promote by measures of singular prudence, lenity, and promptitude. Various political storms, that threatened Florence, he was thus the means of diverting. Shortly after his father's death he was induced to take on himself the care and administration of the republic, availing himself, however, of the wisest citizens as his counsellors. The name he bore carried with it equal glory and responsibility,—the burdensome reward of patriotism. During thirty-seven years Lorenzo's ancestors had expended, in works of public charity or utility, more than six hundred and sixty thousand florins; and of himself it has been said, that it is scarcely possible to name an Italian of that age, eminent in any branch of learning, who did not share his bounty.

As he rose to unquestionable supremacy in Florence, his power was felt also throughout Europe. Princes sought his aid, and made him their confidant. Affairs of state now competed for his attention with the pursuits and patronage of literature. But Sixtus IV. hated the Medici; and our rapid sketch brings us to "a transaction that has seldom been mentioned without emotions of the strongest horror and detestation, and which, as has justly been observed, is an incontrovertible proof of the practical atheism of the times in which it took place: a transaction in which a Pope, a Cardinal, an Archbishop, and several other Ecclesiastics, associated themselves with a band of ruffians, to destroy two men who

were an honour to their age and country; and purposed to perpetrate their crime at a season of hospitality, in the sanctuary of a Christian church, and at the very moment of the elevation of the host, when the audience bowed down before it, and the assassins were presumed to be in the immediate presence of their God."

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Measures in which Lorenzo took prominent part had baffled the Pope, and checked his progress when he threatened to disturb several of the Italian States. This served to inflame a passion of jealousy, which was already hot enough. And now a band of conspirators was organized against the lives of the Medici, and a military force was provided to quell any insurrection on the part of the Florentines. "It seems to have been the intention of the conspirators," says the writer just quoted, “to have effected their purpose at Fiesole, where Lorenzo then had his country residence, to which they supposed that he would invite the Cardinal and his attendants;" that is, the men who were engaged in the murderous project. "Nor were they deceived in this conjecture, for Lorenzo prepared a magnificent entertainment on the occasion; but the absence of Giuliano," (Lorenzo's brother,) "on account of indisposition, obliged the conspirators to postpone the attempt. Being thus disappointed in their hopes, another plan was now to be adopted; and on further deliberation it was resolved, that the assassination should take place on the succeeding Sunday, in the church of the Reparata, since called Santa Maria del Fiore, and that the signal for execution should be the elevation of the host. At the same moment, the Archbishop and others of the conspirators were to seize upon the palace, or residence of the Magistrates; whilst the office of Giacomo de' Pazzi," (a leading member of a family most hostile to the Medici,) "was to endeavour, by the cry of liberty, to incite the citizens to revolt.

"The immediate assassination of Giuliano was committed to Francesco de' Pazzi and Bernardo Bandini, and that of Lorenzo had been entrusted to the sole hand of Montesicco. This office he had willingly undertaken whilst he understood that it was to be executed in a private dwelling; but he

• Roscoe.

shrank from the idea of polluting the house of God with so heinous a crime. Two Ecclesiastics were therefore selected for the commission of a deed from which the soldier was deterred by conscientious motives."

Giuliano fell, pierced with nineteen wounds; but the Priests who had undertaken the murder of his more eminent brother were not successful in their vile attempt. Lorenzo drew his sword, and his assailants attempted to make their escape. The church was a scene of indescribable tumult. Friends eagerly crowded about Lorenzo, and the youth of Florence guarded him to his house. In the palace, meanwhile, the Ecclesiastics tried to overpower the Magistrates, and to usurp the seat of government. But this was in vain. The leading conspirators were put to death in the palace, or thrown thence into the streets. It is said that but one escaped. The indignation of the citizens knew no bounds. Florence was strewed with dead bodies and mangled limbs. The Archbishop, in his robes, was hung through the windows of the palace. The surviving Pazzi were doomed either to prison or to exile; one only excepted, whom Lorenzo generously sheltered for a while, and who was afterwards ordered to remain at his own villa. By the confession of Montesicco it came out most plainly, that the Pope was a party to this execrable plan. Lorenzo strove to check the excesses of popular revenge; but, while every honour was done to him, and to the memory of his assassinated brother, the actors in the tragedy were branded with all possible infamy.

Giuliano had left an illegitimate son, who became Pope, and "under the name of Clement VII., guided the bark of St. Peter' through a succession of the severest storms which it has ever experienced."

In regard to Lorenzo, however, it must be added, that he found it needful to prepare for new dangers. His generosity to the relatives of the conspirators is said to have drawn tears, on one or two memorable occasions of displaying it, from the eyes of witnesses. Yet all was of little avail, in the way of influencing his foes, now the more exasperated by utter disappointment. The Magistrates of Florence were first anathematized, and then excommunicated, by the Pontiff.

One of their Ambassadors, a man of high rank, the same implacable authority threatened to send to the Castle of St. Angelo; and he was with difficulty deterred by the resolute interference of the Legates from Venice and Milan. The document of Sixtus, issued on this occasion, emphatically styles Lorenzo "the child of iniquity and the nursling of perdition." The author of this furious language went on to suspend even the Bishops and Clergy of Florence, though they had not been implicated in the proceedings which had given such offence. They retorted in no mild temper or measured terms. Sixtus called in the help of the King of Naples, and a demand was made that Lorenzo should be given up. The patriot now appeared in a highly attractive light. Addressing three hundred of the principal citizens, he besought them to consult the public tranquillity, rather than his personal welfare. The assembly, on the other hand, unanimously resolved to defend his life, though at the hazard of their own.

War and the plague at once menaced Florence. Lorenzo sent his wife and children to a distance. "I now remove from you," said he to the citizens, "these objects of my affection,-whom I would, if necessary, willingly devote for your welfare; that, whatever may be the result of this contest, the resentment of my enemies may be appeased with my blood only." The Papal and Neapolitan forces were already near, and one or two actual conflicts had resulted in nothing decisive. This state of things was but too likely to excite restlessness and discontent, and Lorenzo boldly determined to brave the utmost personal risk in order to bring the strife to an end. His plan was, secretly to leave Florence, to go to Naples, and surrender himself at once to Ferdinand,-resolving either to convince that hostile Sovereign that the Florentine cause was good, or to die, self-immolated, for his distracted country. He left his home in December, 1479. Information of his coming had reached Naples, and the Commanders of the King's galleys had been instructed to receive him with due honour. He was at once conducted, by members of the royal family, into the King's presence; and his appeals won the most serious attention. The Pope strove to persuade Ferdinand to send Lorenzo to Rome, on pretence of effecting a

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