[309] See this passage from a panegyric quoted by Angelo Mai:—'Tu profecto in hoc nostro deteriori sæculo hebraicæ, græcæ atque latinæ linguarum, omnium voluminum dignorum memoratu notitiam, eorumque auctores memoriæ tradidisti.'—Vite di Uomini Illustri, preface, p. xxiii.
[310] It may be useful to add a skeleton pedigree of the Medici in this place:—
| Cosimo, Pater Patriæ | ||||
| Piero, Il Gottoso | ||||
| Lorenzo | Giuliano | |||
| Giulio, Clement VII. | ||||
| Piero, the exile | Giovanni, Leo X. | |||
[311] See [Vol. I., Age of the Despots], p. 190.
[312] Marsilio Ficino, the son of Cosimo's physician, was born at Figline in 1433.
[313] Thus Ficino's edition of Plotinus, printed at Lorenzo de' Medici's expense, and published one month after his death, bears this notice:—'Magnifici sumptu Laurentii patriæ servatoris.'
[314] See, however, Didot's Alde Manuce, p. 4, where Giovanni Acciaiuoli is credited with this generosity.
[315] See Von Reumont, vol. ii. p. 108.
[316] Fine expression was given to this conception of life by Aldus in the dedication to Alberto Pio of vols. ii., iii., iv. of Aristotle:—'Es nam tu mihi optimus testis an potiores Herculis ærumnas credam, sævosque labores, et Venere, et cœnis et plumis Sardanapali. Natus nam homo est ad laborem et ad agendum semper aliquid viro dignum, non ad voluptatem quæ belluarum est et pecudum.' The last sentence is a translation of Ulysses' speech in the Inferno—
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'Considerate la vostra semenza, Fatti non foste a viver come bruti, Ma per seguir virtude e conoscenza.' |