Brac. Puccio, good soldier and good citizen,

Whom I have ever kept beneath my eye,

Ready as fit, to serve in this event

Florence, who clear foretold it from the first—

Through me, she gives you the command and charge

She takes, through me, from him who held it late!

A painful trial, very sore, was yours:

All that could draw out, marshal in array

The selfish passions 'gainst the public good—

Slights, scorns, neglects, were heaped on you to hear: