Magnifico (63 page)

a loan to the king of Naples:
Rinuccini,
Ricordi Storici,
CXVII.

give Lorenzo full power to arbitrate the dispute:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, 549.

“malcontents who do not wish to be governed by [Lorenzo]”:
Ibid., 550.

De Medici Lorenzo, his spirit: Simonetta, “Federico da Montefeltro contro Firenze,” Archivio Storico Italiano, 262. Giovanni Santi, “The Life and Jest of Federico da Montefeltro.”

“the destruction of the house of Medici”:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, 551.

“Better a lean peace”:
Ross Williamson, 129.

he might yet achieve his goals without war: Lettere,
I, 365. Sacramoro to Galeazzo, March 18, 1472, in which he writes, “Lorenzo hopes shortly to find a way to sow discord among those Volterrans who now govern the city, and told me that he has already begun.”

lose his dependence on the court of Milan:
Ibid., I, 552.

“by a crowd of mad adventurers”:
Dei, 27 verso.

“not observing their agreements”:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, 367.

Cries also went out:
Dei, 28 recto.

the gates of Volterra were opened to the victorious army:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, 386.

accosted by a soldier from Federico’s army:
Machiavelli,
Florentine Histories,
VII, 31.

“Sack it! Sack it!”:
Landucci, 11.

“the cruelty of the sack”:
Rochon, 221.

“You have seen the afflicted and faithful friends”:
Ross,
Lives,
165.

a public apparently well satisfied with his services:
Landucci, 11.

The news of the victory:
Machiavelli,
Florentine Histories,
VII, 30.

CHAPTER XI: DOMESTIC TRANQUILLITY

“proud and combative, and rich with unlawful profits”:
Compagni,
Chronicle of Florence,
I, i.

“the first citizen of the republic”:
F. W. Kent,
Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence,
62.

“thinking to achieve more than even Cosimo and Piero”:
Ibid., 62.

“and it seems to me very helpful to remember”:
Rochon, 238.

If I have been later in responding:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, no. 61. Lorenzo to Tommaso Portinari, July 31, 1470.

His patience with subordinates:
See de Roover, 274–75.

As he grew stronger:
Francesco Guicciardini,
History of Florence,
25.

“There are two principal things that men do”:
Dale Kent,
Cosimo de’ Medici and the Florentine Renaissance,
5.

relegates a mother’s contributions to the first years of life:
Alberti,
The Family in Renaissance Florence.
See especially 82–84 on the role of the father in his son’s education.

“I write this letter to tell you”:
Maguire, 160–61.

MAGNIFICENT FATHER MINE:
Ross,
Lives,
219–20.

“Please send me some figs”:
Maguire, 100–101.

“some sugar-plums”:
Ibid., 114.

Then near the Certosa:
Ross,
Lives,
270–71. Matteo Franco to Piero da Bibbiena, May 12, 1485.

“We are sending you by the bearer seventeen partridges”:
Ibid., 152.

“Yesterday, though there was little wind”:
Ibid., 150–51.

“Magnificent Lorenzo”:
Ross,
Lives,
56–57.

“Almost all other rich men”:
Ficino,
Letters,
no. 17.

“client and pupil”:
F. W. Kent,
Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence,
55.

“The children play about”:
Maguire, 156. Poliziano to Lorenzo, August 26, 1479.

“I am anxiously awaiting news”:
Ibid., 156.

“As to Giovanni, you will see”:
Ibid., Poliziano to Lorenzo, April 6, 1479.

“I am here at Careggi”:
Ibid., 164.

“I should be glad not to be turned into ridicule”:
Ibid., 165. Clarice to Lorenzo May 28, 1479.

“Monna Clarice. I have been much annoyed”:
Ibid., 165.

“We have arrived safely”:
Ibid., 96.

Like his older brother:
See Ficino,
Letters,
especially the dedication and nos. 18, 60, 61.

“I rejoice most heartily”:
Roscoe,
Life of Lorenzo de Medici,
407.

He was tall and sturdy:
Poliziano, “The Pazzi Conspiracy,” in
Humanism and Liberty,
183.

There is nothing new here:
Reumont, 288–89. Niccolò Bendedei to Ercole d’Este, January 22, 1475.

27th September [1481]:
Landucci, 31.

“He who doesn’t turn to the cross”:
Courtney, 25.

“if one considers how life”:
Rochon, 198.

“Our beautiful Florence”:
Dei, “Letter to a Venetian,” in
The Portable Renaissance Reader,
165–67.

a young apprentice in Verrocchio’s studio:
See David Alan Brown,
Leonardo da Vinci: Origins of a Genius
for an in-depth discussion of Leonardo’s early relationship with Lorenzo.

Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, Perugino, and Domenico Ghirlandaio:
See Baxandall, 26. This according to a report by the Milanese ambassador to Florence.

“Men of intellect and ability”:
Francesco Guicciardini,
History of Florence,
IX.

“all from his own [the master’s] hand”:
Baxandall, 22.

Nourishing Venus comes: Cheney,
Botticelli’s Neoplatonic Images,
79.

CHAPTER XII: THE SHADOW OF ROME

“would be very acceptable”:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, 317.

“infinite blessings received”:
Ibid., I, 317.

to add to his own collection:
Ross,
Lives,
155.

a native-born cardinal:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, 398.

“close to the hearts of all the citizens”:
Ibid., I, 398.

“Surely this city is to be mourned”:
Bracciolini, “The Ruins of Rome,” in
The Portable Renaissance Reader,
379–84.

“In order not to trouble Your Blessedness”:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, no. 115. Lorenzo to Sixtus, November 15, 1472.

unleashing a barrage of letters:
Ibid., I, nos. 120–30.

“Such is the desire of Giuliano”:
Rochon, 57.

“he [Lorenzo] does not wish him to make his way in the world”:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, 399. Sacramoro to Galeazzo Maria, April 9, 1472.

“your other self”:
Ficino,
Letters,
no. 61.

“I wrote to Giuliano, my brother”:
Lorenzo,
Lettere,
I, no. 147. Lorenzo to Filippo Sacramoro, October 28, 1473. The issue revolved around the possibility of a new league among the papacy, Milan, and Florence, against the erratic ambitions of Ferrante. That Lorenzo entrusted the negotiations to Giuliano is a measure of his faith in him.

“Many times he told me”:
Ibid., i. 399. Piero Vespucci to Lucrezia Tornabuoni, January 12, 1480.

Sometimes discord can spread: Lorenzo, “The Martyrdom of Saints John and Paul,” in
Selected Writings,
111.

“I see no difficulty”:
Ross,
Lives,
170.

the ten-year-old Caterina:
See Breisach, 269.

“O my son!”:
Pastor, 250.

“For the Medici did not enjoy a lordship”:
Francesco Guicciardini,
Dialogue on the Government of Florence,
71.

CHAPTER XIII: UNDER THE SIGN OF MARS

“I was of the city that changed for the Baptist”:
Dante,
Inferno,
xiii.

on Easter morning:
Villani, VI, xxxviii.

Messer
Pazzino de’ Pazzi:
Compagni, III, 40.

rebellion of the
Ciompi
:
For some vivid firsthand accounts of the revolt of the
Ciompi,
see
The Chronicles of the Tumult of the Ciompi
(Monash Publications in History) in which a number of contemporary chronicles have been collected.

“because the masses had chosen him”:
Dale Kent,
Rise of the Medici Faction in Florence,
5.

“since childhood he has been continually involved”:
Brucker,
The Civic World of Early Renaissance Florence,
34–35.

“Life without honor is a living death”:
Frick, 77.

“People of superior refinement”:
Davies,
Democracy and Classical Greece,
114.

“Had it not been for this friendship”:
Bisticci, 311.

“But although the Pazzi were Florentine nobles”:
Francesco Guicciardini,
History of Florence,
29.

“Yesterday Piero de’ Pazzi entered the city”:
Strozzi,
Lettere,
no. 26.

“There was in Florence in those days a family”:
Valori, 48.

insufficiently honored by the regime:
Machiavelli,
Florentine Histories,
VIII, 2.

“mezo amoniti: See Lorenzo,
Lettere
II, note 3, 123.

“[T]hey will put in his place his relative Guglielmo”:
Rubinstein,
Government of Florence Under the Medici,
209.

Benedetto Dei lists Jacopo:
Dei, 35v.

the Pazzi bank had been one of the few sufficiently trusted:
See de Roover, 91.

“He was incredibly angry”:
Poliziano,
The Pazzi Conspiracy,
in
Humanism and Liberty,
171–83.

“His stature was short”:
Ibid., 171.

“a very restless, spirited, and ambitious man”:
Francesco Guicciardini,
History of Florence,
30.

“believing that Fortune did him a thousand wrongs”:
Pulci,
Stanze sur la Giostra di Lorenzo de’ Medici,
CXXXVII and CLV.

“Lorenzo asked [the Pazzi] not [to] supply the money”:
Francesco Guicciardini,
History of Florence,
30.