[227] A piece torn out of the letter.
[228] Arch. Med. ante Prin., Filza xxxi. No. 31.
[229] Laurentii Medicis Vita, &c., op. cit. ii. 131.
[230] The address on outside of sheet is: Magnifico Hieronimo Morelli, Oratori florentino, patri meo. (Arch. Med. ante Principatum, Filza 124, No. 2.)
[231] Arch. Med. ante Prin., Filza cxxiv. No. 2.
[232] After the Pazzi conspiracy the Republic engaged in war with Sixtus IV. and the King of Naples. The Pope excommunicated Florence, as he declared out of hatred of the Medici, whose exile he demanded. The Signoria answered by appointing twelve trusty men to be Lorenzo’s bodyguard. “Then,” writes Ammirato, “they obtained the opinion of Bartolommeo Sozzino (probably what Poliziano refers to), Francesco Aretino, Lancillotto Decio, Bulgarino, Andrea Panormita, Pier Filippo Cornio and other masters of canon law and theology, who advised that notwithstanding the Pope’s censures, by whom they had been excommunicated, they, by appealing to the future Council, might cause Divine service to be celebrated in their city,” which was done.
[233] This is one of several letters alluding to Clarice’s dislike of him.
[234] Laurentii Medicis Vita, &c., op. cit. ii. 183.
[235] Matteo Franco, chaplain and devoted adherent of Lorenzo.
[236] Prose Volgari inedite, &c., op. cit. p. 59.