The other day I wrote to thee in haste, and have now heard of the arrival of Piero and Pier Francesco.[60] God be praised. We shall be much rejoiced if they have returned in good health: I hear Piero’s foot has given him some trouble. I know not what thou hast decided about staying or returning; if thou dost return here put all thy belongings together in one place, so that if they are wanted thou wilt not be obliged to ask those women to find them, and so drive them crazy. I think Cosimo has written to thee about the strong box he wants. Here the plague has ceased, and I am glad thou art coming back; although it might be well to stay a little longer and see how thy health goes, but thou canst always return there if necessary. Tell me thy decision. I wrote the day before yesterday to ask thee to search in the cupboard in my room there for a pair of scissors which belong to Cosimo and to bring them, or they can be put into the strong box. No more to-day. Salute Pier Francesco from me, and tell him he is welcome back, and that I long to see him. Christ guard thee.
Mona Contessina in Florence.[61]
When, after the death of Visconti, Francesco Sforza had attained the object of his ambition and become Duke of Milan in 1450, Cosimo sent his eldest son Piero with Neri Capponi, Luca Pitti, and Diotisalvi Neroni, to salute the new duke. “They proceeded in triumph,” writes Cambi, “through the Milanese territory, and all their expenses were paid. The number of horsemen was so great when they arrived within five miles of Milan that it seemed like a manœuvring ground. Then the Duke in person advanced to meet them, and embraced and kissed them. Never was greater honour paid to Florentine ambassadors.”[62]
Piero de’ Medici was also one of the citizens deputed to meet the Emperor Frederick III. on his entry into Florence in January 1451. He dismounted at the church of S. Gallo, which had been magnificently decorated with hangings of cloth of gold and silk. In his train was the poor boy-King of Hungary, Bandilagho, as Cambi writes Ladislaus, and many German princes and bishops, whose outlandish names are quite beyond the old chronicler’s powers of spelling. “The Emperor seated himself,” continues Cambi, “on a most splendid chair under the loggia of the church, and all the gentlemen stood round him while the Ten of the Balìa bent the knee before him on either side, representing the Magnificent Signori. Messer Carlo d’Arezzo made a speech, to which Monsignore Enea, Bishop of Siena [the celebrated Æneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II.], replied in the name of the Emperor. Then the Emperor mounted again, and the Ten of the Balìa took the bridle of his horse, and in that manner they proceeded to the fore-port of the Porta S. Gallo where the Magnificent Signori of Florence awaited him seated. The Colleges had a fine banner with the Emperor’s arms, and when he came under it the Signori rose and went to his bridle, which the Ten abandoned. Mariotto Benvenuti, the Gonfalonier of Justice, took the right side and Rosso Ridolfi took the left, the other Signori with all the citizens following them, and thus they accompanied the Emperor to S. Maria Novella where the Pope’s apartments had been prepared for him. The magistrates were on foot, and the others who had gone out to meet him were on horseback. It was, indeed, a splendid sight. Please God he may recognise it, and be grateful for such honours which have been so costly.”[63]
After the sack of Constantinople in 1453 Florence became the headquarters of Greek men of learning. For fifteen years John Argyropoulos “poured forth wisdom from his golden mouth,” and Demetrius Chalcondyles, Johannes Andronicus Calistus, Constantius and Johannes Lascari succeeded him. They gave a fresh impetus to the study of Platonic philosophy as opposed to that of Aristotle; even the children of the chief citizens spoke Greek with such case and purity that Poliziano exclaims, “Athens has not been destroyed by the barbarians but has migrated to Florence.” It was then that Cosimo determined to found the celebrated Platonic Academy, and selected Marsilio Ficino, the son of his physician, to preside over it, although he was little more than a boy.
The sack of Lodi gave Cosimo’s opponents an opportunity to interfere in home politics. Their first step in June 1454, on the pretext that war was over, was to abolish the Balìa, which they imagined was the mainstay of his authority. This, of course, was useless as long as the Scrutiny made by the Balìa and the Accopiatori appointed by them were still in office. In November, therefore, a new Scrutiny was made, and in January 1455 the new Signory ordered that in six months’ time the power of the Accopiatori should cease, and the Gonfalonier and the Priors be once more chosen by lot. The measure was a popular one, and it worked, not against Cosimo, but against Luca Pitti, Diotisalvi Neroni, and Agnolo Acciaiuoli, as it put an end to their power of manipulating the appointments to office. The disturbed condition of Italy after the death of Pope Nicholas the peace-lover, and the discharge by the Venetians of Jacopo Piccinino, whose standard became the rallying-point for all discontented and dissatisfied men, reacted upon Florence. A feeling of unrest was abroad. Many citizens considered the Government weak and vacillating, and were only waiting for the election of a Signory who shared their views to make an attempt to “reform” the city. But without the consent of Neri Capponi this was impossible. So things remained as they were until his death in 1457 left Cosimo with a free hand. The re-assessment of the catasto early in 1458 was a heavy blow to his opponents, the new register of property entailing upon them considerable loss. In their dismay they turned to Cosimo, and suggested the creation of a new Balìa, a new Scrutiny, and fresh Accopiatori, but he refused to listen to any proposal for the renewal of the Balìa save in the usual way through the Colleges and the Councils. When Luca Pitti became Gonfalonier of Justice in 1458 he tried in vain to induce the Council to appoint a new Balìa, and Girolamo Machiavelli, a hot-headed republican who declared against all Balìe as inimical to the freedom of the citizens, was arrested and tortured with others who shared his views. Luca Pitti made the most of this so-called conspiracy, and tried to set his authority against that of Cosimo. Losing patience, Cosimo said to him: “You strive towards the indefinite, I towards the definite. You plant your ladder in the air, I place mine on the earth so that I may not climb so high as to fall. It seems to me but just and natural that I should desire the honour and reputation of my house to surpass yours. Let us therefore do like two big dogs which sniff one at the other when they meet, and then, both having teeth, separate and go their ways; you to attend to your concerns, I to look after mine own.” Cosimo then summoned a parliament. His position can be gauged by the advice given to Duke Sforza by his Ambassador to Florence: “When you would have one thing done rather than another, write your opinion or your desire privately to Cosimo, and he will always arrange it for you. Do not waste your time in saying, I would have their opinion, &c.... Popular governments are alien to and diverse from others, and Cosimo cannot be for ever in the Palace as he once was.” Pope Pius II. also declared, “Nothing is denied to Cosimo. He is the arbiter of peace and of war, and the moderator of the laws. Not so much a private citizen as the lord of the country. The policy of the Republic is discussed in his house; he it is who gives commands to the magistrates. Nought of royalty is wanting to him save the name and the state of a king.”
Contessina de’ Medici to Ginevra, wife of her son Giovanni, at the Baths of Petriolo
Dearest Daughter,—In these days I received a letter from thee and learn thou art well, which rejoices me. I see that thou art preparing to return, it seems to me a thousand years. Piero is going there now, so leave out the things he may need, and leave Florino and Giannello and give over everything to them in case thou comest away before Piero arrives; he will need a good many days for the cure of his eczema. The curtains thou tookest away bring back to me here, for Mona Lucrezia takes mine with her, and some slaves from here, so she will need no other women. Thy boy is well and has cut two teeth, and I think will get accustomed to these wet nurses in such a way ...[64] night and day we see after him. It seems to me that having cut his teeth and the evenings being warm he will do well. I say no more. May Christ guard thee.—In Florence on the 10th day of April 1455.
Mona Contessina di Cosimo.[65]
Cosimo de’ Medici to his son Giovanni at Milan