Magnifico
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the abode of a cannibal king: Poliziano, “The Pazzi Conspiracy,” in Humanism and Liberty, 178.
like grim Christmas tree ornaments: See Rinuccini, Ricordi Storici, CXXVII. He says that by the end of the day fifteen bodies were hanging from the palace windows.
The Pisan leader was soon dangling: Poliziano, “The Pazzi Conspiracy,” in Humanism and Liberty, 178.
“all the signs are in favor of Lorenzo”: Lorenzo, Lettere, III, 4.
The bloodshed, which continued sporadically for weeks: See Landucci, 17.
“still bewildered with terror”: Ibid.
armed soldiers patrolled the city: Ibid., 18.
“made angry threats”: Poliziano, “The Pazzi Conspiracy,” in Humanism and Liberty, 176.
turned back by angry citizens at the nearby village of Firenzuola: Lorenzo, Lettere, III, 4. Sacramoro to the Duke and Duchess, April 27, 1478.
confronted by pro-Medici forces arriving from Bologna: Ibid., III, 4.
the pope and his supporters were thrown into utter confusion: Ibid, III, 5.
a patriotic farmer in the village of San Godenzo: Rinuccini, Ricordi Storici, CXXVII.
beheaded in the courtyard of the Bargello: Landucci, 18.
“I am Bernardo”: Acton, 77.
some boys disinterred it a second time: Landucci, 19.
“He was very mild, very kind”: Poliziano, “The Pazzi Conspiracy,” in Humanism and Liberty, 183.
“Here and on the following page”: Hook, 103.
CHAPTER XVII: NEAPOLITAN GAMBIT
“The Count went to Donato’s house”: Bisticci, 287. For Acciaiuoli’s experience in Rome in the aftermath of the Pazzi conspiracy, see also Margery Ganz’s “Donato Acciaiuoli and the Medici: A Strategy for Survival in ‘400 Florence,” in Rinascimento, 2nd ser., 22 (1982): especially 62–65.
“He addressed the pope and complained bitterly”: Bisticci, 287–88.
“more dead than alive from the terror”: Pastor, 317.
“that son of iniquity and foster-child of perdition”: Ross Williamson, 177.
he had no quarrel with the people of Florence: Valori, 58.
“For we make war on no one”: Ross, Lives, 206.
“All citizens must place the common before the private good”: Hook, 105.
“Your Holiness says you are only waging war”: Ross Williamson, 178.
We and the people have proved”: Ibid., 178–79.
“holds for certain”: “Assassination of Galeazzo Maria Sforza” in Violence and Civic Disorder in Italian Cities, 101.
forces of the pope and the king of Naples were poised: See Lorenzo, Lettere, III, 64–65, and Ross, Lives, 194–98.
“one body, with one mind”: Hook, 107.
instigated by agents of King Ferrante: See Lorenzo, Lettere, III, 131.
“It is necessary that this Senate bestir itself”: Ibid., III, no. 291. Lorenzo to Giovanni Lanfredini, June 20, 1478.
“I do not know what hope I can have”: Hook, 110.
a formal declaration of war to the Signoria: See Lorenzo, Lettere, III, 127–32 (especially note 13, 131). Lorenzo to Girolamo Morelli, July 15, 1478.
a wave of refugees fleeing toward the capital: See Landucci, 21.
“pillaging and working great havoc”: Ibid., 21.
“The rule for our Italian soldiers seems to be this”: Ibid., 22.
while he haggled over his fee: See Lorenzo, Lettere, III. Lorenzo to Girolamo Morelli, August 20 and August 21, 1478, 175–85, and to Ercole d’Este, August 27, 1478.
“The Florentine troops passed in such a wretched state”: Reumont, 367.
he toiled late into the night over his philosophical studies: See Toscani, “Lorenzo, the Religious Poet,” in Lorenzo de’ Medici: New Perspectives, 86.
“For the love of God, Girolamo”: Lorenzo, Lettere, IV, no. 434.
“tell[ing] us that the king and the Holy Father”: Landucci, 21.
“The Duke of Urbino is said to have quipped”: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, 43–44.
“And at this Christmas-time”: Landucci, 26.
“many fine palaces belonging to citizens”: F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 79.
“I remain in the house [at Cafaggiolo]”: Ross, Lives, 214. Poliziano to Lucrezia Tornabuoni.
“there is nothing but bare walls”: Maguire, 166.
“I thought I would come this evening”: Lorenzo, Lettere, IV, no. 414.
“The news I have received from Naples”: Ibid., III, 143–44. Lorenzo to Girolamo Morelli July 25, 1478.
he tried to borrow from her an additional 30,000 to 40,000 ducats: Ibid., III.
teetering on the brink of bankruptcy: Hook, 108.
“without the sanction of any law and without authority”: De Roover, 367.
“the money that Lorenzo drew from public funds”: Francesco Guicciardini, Dialogue on the Government of Florence, 71.
but this offer led to nothing: See Hook, 110.
“I hear the plague is committing more ravages in Florence”: Ross, Lives, 218. Clarice to Lorenzo May 28, 1479.
“To make matters worse, the plague continues to spread”: Lorenzo, Lettere, IV, no. 407. Lorenzo to Girolamo Morelli, June 23, 1479.
“I have written you a long discourse”: Ibid., IV, 204.
“The citizens accused one another freely and without respect”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 17.
“You have taken a decision that will take my life”: Ibid., VIII, 19.
“I cannot believe that the Lord Lodovico”: Ross, Lives, 227. Lorenzo to Girolamo Morelli, September 11, 1479.
“Most Illustrious My Lords”: Lorenzo, Lettere, IV, no. 444. Lorenzo to the Signoria of Florence, December 7, 1479.
“regarded as too bold and rash a decision”: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, IX.
laying the groundwork for months: See Lorenzo, Lettere, IV, 391–400, for a full discussion of the negotiations leading up to his journey.
The situation of affairs appeared serious to all: Reumont, 397–98.
“I have received many friendly words”: Ibid., 392.
“received and honored with as much dignity as possible”: See Lorenzo, Lettere, IV, 273.
“He greeted me most graciously”: Ibid., IV, 274. Lorenzo to the Dieci di Balia, December 22, 1479.
“He seemed to be two men”: In The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance.
“Your letter of the 18th rejoiced us all”: Ross, Lives, 232. Bartolomeo Scala to Lorenzo.
while not jeopardizing his relations with the pope: See Lorenzo, Lettere, IV, 275. See also ibid., IV, no. 447, for attempts by Rome to scuttle the peace deal.
“We made a virtue of necessity”: Reumont, 407–8.
“Lorenzo’s confederate”: Ross, Lives, 236.
“The present letter will not be one of those”: Ibid., 411.
“[Y]our family are all well”: Hook, 115.
“the length of these negotiations”: Ibid.
“We are all hoping against hope”: Ross, Lives, 234–35. Bartolomeo Scala to Lorenzo, January 15, 1480.
“so that you never saw”: Hook, 116.
“young and old, noble and commoner”: Valori, 68.
“Lorenzo arrived from Livorno”: Landucci, 29.
“The ratification of the peace arrived in the night”: Ibid., 29.
CHAPTER XVIII: THE SHADOW LIFTS
“In Rome the alarm was as great”: Pastor, IV, 334–35.
“If the faithful, especially the Italians”: Ibid., IV, 335–36.
could no longer pursue his vendetta against Lorenzo: See Ross, Lives, 237.
“a great miracle”: Landucci, 30.
Sixtus bestowed his blessing: See Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 21.
“Florence’s top man”: F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 81.
“When I go more than ten miles out of the city”: Martines, April Blood, 245–46.
a special committee of 240 prominent citizens: See Rinuccini, Ricordi Storici, CXXXII.
largely excluding the “new men”: See Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, 226–32.
“the members of the new body”: Hook, 153. Giovanni Cambi.
“removed every liberty from the people”: Rinuccini, Ricordi Storici, CXXXII.
“they refashioned the government in such a way”: Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, 231.
had reconstituted the old league with Venice and Siena: See Landucci, 29.
“to satisfy my debt it seemed best”: Breisach, 282.
As followers of the Orsini, the Colonna, and the della Valle clashed in the streets of Rome: See Landucci, 34.
“for Girolamo’s ambitions”: Breisach, 50.
“In the Pope’s antechambers”: Pastor, IV, 356–57. Sigismondo de’ Conti.
“your presence is very necessary here”: Hook, 160. Bartolomeo Scala.
“Various were the opinions”: Valori, 74.
the “fulcrum” of Italy: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, IX.
to settle their dynastic rivalries: For a modern corrective to Guicciardini’s overstatements, see Mallett, “Diplomacy and War in Later Fifteenth-Century Italy,” in Art and Politics in Renaissance Italy, 135–58.
“Italy was preserved in this happy state”: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Italy, I, i.
the best informed of European leaders: See Mallett, “Diplomacy and War in Later Fifteenth-Century Italy,” in Art and Politics in Renaissance Italy, 135–58.
“not only do I want your prompt assistance in this”: Bullard, Lorenzo il Magnifico, 23.
“I believe I have the reputation”: Bullard, “Lorenzo and Patterns of Diplomatic Discourse,” in Lorenzo the Magnificent, 267.
the foremost statesman of the age: See Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, IX. See also Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 36.
“honorably received as a man of merit”: Landucci, 36.
came to nothing: See Brown, “Lorenzo and Guicciardini,” in Lorenzo the Magnificent, 284.
“Many were afflicted”: Landucci, 39.
“Up to this time we have carried”: Pastor, IV, 387.
“Nothing could daunt the ferocious Sixtus”: Francesco Guicciardini, The History of Florence, VII.
Sixtus, at last you’re dead: Rendina, 427.
One must give praise, my fellow Romans: Ibid., 429.
“[Y]ou will inform His Holiness”: Ross, Lives, 262.
“Be careful not to take precedence”: Ibid., 261.
“What could one hope for from Piero?”: Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, 462.
“Lorenzo declares (and it makes me laugh)”: Ross, Lives, 273.
“made the whole city want to throw up”: Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, 461.
“Piero has not seemed to me the person”: Hook, 163.
an extended bout of depression in the summer of 1483: Brown, “Lorenzo and Guicciardini,” in Lorenzo the Magnificent, 292.
“We promised in the prologue”: Lorenzo, Commento De’ Miei Sonetti, XI.
“[T]oday, the Magnificent Lorenzo didn’t leave his house”: Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, 445.
“In order to prevent the return of these pains”: Ross, Lives, 302. Petrus Bonus Avogarius to Lorenzo, February 11, 1489.
“in order to cure himself and to restore his health”: Hook, 162.
“my having been ill these days”: F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 86.
“he wanted to have a say in everything”: Butters, “Lorenzo and Machiavelli,” in Lorenzo the Magnificent, 279.
“Still burdened with tears and sorrow”: Lorenzo, Lettere, VI, no. 567. Lorenzo to Ercole d’Este, March 25, 1482.
“to seem older in appearance”: Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, 439.
“behaving disgracefully with women”: Brown, “Lorenzo and Guicciardini” in Lorenzo the Magnificent, 292.
“Being then placed by Fortune”: Lorenzo, Commento De’ Miei Sonetti, XI.
“His last love, which lasted for many years”: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, IX.
three new plots on his life were uncovered: See Landucci, 31–34.
stopped using the familiar tu: See de Roover, 220.
“the first list was drawn up by Lorenzo and Ser Giovanni alone”: See Rubinstein, Government of Florence Under the Medici, Appendix XI, where he reproduces Guicciardini’s account in full.
il padrone, the boss: See Brown, “Lorenzo and Guicciardini” in Lorenzo the Magnificent, 289. This was a term used by Lorenzo’s supporter Bernardo del Nero, according to Guicciardini in his Dialogue on the Government of Florence.
“That office had been created long ago”: Francesco Guicciardini, History of Florence, V.
Luca Landucci records the hanging: See Landucci, 12 and 27.
[Lorenzo] offered them consoling words: Martines, April Blood, 221–22.
“condemned by the Committee of the Eight”: Rinuccini, “Dialogue on Liberty,” in Humanism and Liberty, 206.
“It occurred to me to reveal”: Trexler, Public Life in Renaissance Florence, 448.
“In making marriages”: Dale Kent, Rise of the Medici Faction in Florence, 50.
it was Lorenzo who made the arrangements: See Brown, “Lorenzo and Guicciardini,” in Lorenzo the Magnificent, 291.
“No one so much as moves”: Hook, 155.
“narrow seas and storms of civic life”: Lorenzo, Commento De’ Miei Sonetti, 73.
“Get these petitioners off my back”: F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 80.
“For when the arms of Italy”: Machiavelli, Florentine Histories, VIII, 36.
CHAPTER XIX: THE GARDEN AND THE GROVE
“Ort[us] L[aurentii] de medicis”: See Elam, “Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Sculpture Garden,” in Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 36 (1992): 41–84, where she marshals copious evidence to prove the existence of Lorenzo’s garden.
“stayed as a young man”: Ibid., 42.
Now that the boy [Michelangelo] was drawing one thing: Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo, 10.
“this Tuscan tongue”: Ross, Lives, 88. Lorenzo to Don Federigo of Naples.
universally regarded as an authority on all matters aesthetic: See, for instance, F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 1 and 101–4, for his role as artistic arbiter.
“very great architectural expertise”: Ibid., 102. The story that Lorenzo himself submitted a design is apparently in error.
“quality and that manner and form”: Ibid., 104.
“And when he went to race at Siena”: Landucci, 42.
Those who love these pretty nymphs: Lorenzo, “The Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne,” in Selected Poems and Prose, 162.
mined by writers like Poliziano: See Cheney, 69–83.
“Piero—Enclosed is a letter from Baccio”: Ross, Lives, 317.
“I have received the cameo”: F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 34.
celebrations held in honor of the philosopher’s birthday: Ibid., 31.
Recent scholarship has thrown cold water: See Hankins, “The Myth of the Platonic Academy of Florence,” Renaissance Quarterly 44 (1991): 429–75. See also Ficino’s letter to Jacopo Bracciolini, in Ficino, Letters, no. 107.
Plato, the father of philosophers: Ficino, Commentary on Plato’s Symposium on Love, Introduction. Some believe this particular scene is an invention since it only appears in the second edition of the book, but it certainly reflects Lorenzo’s interest in Plato and the many conversations the two engaged in while neighbors at Careggi.
“is the first step on the staircase of love”: Hook, 143.
For while the soul is bound in carnal bonds: Lorenzo, “The Supreme Good,” IV.
O’ God, o’ greatest Go
od: Lorenzo, Laude, 1–3, in Selected Writings, 155.
“[The ruler] will not, indeed, consider himself”: Ficino, Letters, no. 95.
The majesty of our imperial throne: The Martyrdom of Saints John and Paul, 133, in Selected Writings, 217.
“I have gone over in my mind many times”: Field, 73.
he was roughed up by Girolamo Riario’s soldiers: See Bisticci, “Life of Donato Acciaiuoli.”
“[T]he truth is that I cannot peacefully tolerate”: Rinuccini, “Dialogue on Liberty,” in Humanism and Liberty, 222.
Lured on, escorted by the sweetest thoughts: Lorenzo, “The Supreme Good,” I, lines 1–3, 7–15.
“To rule is wearisome, a bitter feat”: Lorenzo, The Martyrdom of Saints John and Paul, 98, in Selected Writings, 237.
as if he had been a member of his own family: F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 59.
One day, [Michelangelo] was examining: Condivi, 12.
[Lorenzo] arranged that Michelangelo be given a good room: Ibid., 13.
no surer sign that one was thought a part of the family: See Ross, Lives, 293.
listed among those of the household waiters: See Draper, Bertoldo di Giovanni, 15.
“Recognizing in Michelangelo a superior spirit”: Condivi, 14–15.
Lorenzo had amassed one of the greatest collections of manuscripts: Hook, 127.
“Wandering beyond the limits of his own property”: Ackerman, 77.
“The Count della Mirandola is here”: Ross, Lives, 310. Lorenzo to Giovanni Lanfredini, June 19, 1489.
“among the first and best-loved creatures of my house”: Ibid., 173.
“louse clinging to the Medici balls”: F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 90.
“I should be glad not to be turned into ridicule”: Ross, 219. Clarice to Lorenzo, May 28, 1479.
“I will not allow any man to have the spending of my money”: Maguire, 183.
“were it not for Matteo Franco”: Ficino, Letters, no. 73.
“to achieve even more than Cosimo and Piero”: F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 62.
monuments in brick and stone would be all that was left: See Bisticci, 223.
grandiose gestures that smacked of princely ambition?: See F. W. Kent, Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence, 48.
“prized it so much”: Ibid. 37.
“in the manner of his ancestors”: Elam, “Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Urban Development of Renaissance Florence,” in Art History i, no. i (March 1978.)