ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
Lorenzo made Poliziano tutor to his sons, bidding 
him not only teach them Greek and Latin, but infuse 
them with his own love of Nature. Accordingly he 
set the boys themes on rural subjects, and took them 
to visit all the gardens in the neighbourhood. But 
the poet was not always easy to live with. When 
Lorenzo was absent, and it rained every day at Careggi, 
Messer Angelo fretted and fumed and quarrelled with 
Madonna Clarice until she declared his presence to be 
intolerable. Then Lorenzo sent him to Fiesole, where 
he wrote his Rusticus , and consoled himself with the 
company of Pico della Mirandola, the accomplished 
youth whom Poliziano called “ the Phoenix who nested 
in the Medici laurel.” Pico was often the guest of 
the brothers Benivieni, whose villa “ Le Querce ” was 
just across the valley, while Ficino spent much of his 
time at the villa Marmigliana at Maiano and finished 
his translation of Plato there in 1480. Together the 
three humanists strolled along these pleasant hills, 
visiting the home of Boccaccio, and the Valley of his 
Fair Ladies, and hearing from Girolamo Benivieni of 
his friend, the great Friar-preacher, who had persuaded 
him to leave off writing carnival songs, and compose 
hymns for the children of San Marco. 
There is a delightful letter, in which Poliziano 
begs Marsilio Ficino to join him at the Medici 
villa. 
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