7 
MEDICI. 
with marked refpeCt by the Venetian government, and 
took up his abode in the city of Venice. Within a year 
afterwards, Rinaldo was himfelf obliged to quit Flo¬ 
rence; and, Cofmo being recalled, he returned amidlt 
the acclamations of his fellow-fubjeCts. Some victims 
were offered to his future fecurity ; and the gonfaloniere 
who had pronounced his fentence, with a few others of 
that party, were put to death. Meafures were now taken 
to reftriCt the choice of magiltrates to the partifans of 
the Medici; and alliances were formed with the neigh¬ 
bouring powers for the avowed purpofe of fupporting 
and perpetuating the fyftem by which Florence was from 
that time to be governed. The manner in which Cofmo 
employed his authority, has conferred upon his memory 
the greateft honour. 
From this time his life was an almoft uninterrupted 
feries of profperity. The tranquillity enjoyed by the re¬ 
public, and the Satisfaction and peace of mind which he 
experienced in the efteem and confidence of his fellow- 
citizens, enabled him to indulge his natural propenfity 
to the promotion of fcience, and the patronage and en¬ 
couragement of learned men. The riche It private citizen 
in Europe, he furpaffed almoft all fovereign princes in 
the munificence with which he patronized literature and 
the fine arts. The celebrated Galileo was invited, with 
a munificent appointment, to live under the patronage 
of Cofmo; and, occupied intenfely with aftronomical 
pifrfuits, but occafionally unbending his mind with 
elegant recreations, paffecl almoft the whole remainder 
of his days at the villa of Arcetri, near Florence, in a ftyle 
of comfort, and even of fplendour. Cofmo alfoaffembled 
round him the moft learned men of the age who had begun 
to cultivate the Grecian language and philofophy. He 
eftablilhed, at Florence, an academy exprefslyfor the elu¬ 
cidation of the Platonic philofophy, at the head of which 
he placed the celebrated Marfilio Ficino. He collected 
from all parts, by means of foreign correfpondences, ma- 
nufcripts of the Greek, Latin, and Oriental, languages, 
which were the foundation of the Laurentian library. 
He gave great encouragement to the arts of painting, 
fculpture, and architecture, by' the vaft funis which he 
expended in the public edifices of the city, as well as in 
his private palaces. He alfo collected the valuable re¬ 
mains of ancient art in ftatues, vafes, gems, and medals ; 
and all his treafures were made liberally accellible to the 
curious. His attachment to the fentiments of antiquity 
did not render him indifferent to the religion of his coun¬ 
try ; and he difplayed his piety, according to the fafhion 
of the age, by numerous religious foundations which be 
munificently endowed. He even ereCted a noble hofpital 
at Jerufalem for the relief of diftreffed pilgrims. The 
fpirit of his government was niildnefs and moderation. 
He never affumed a ftate beyond that of a citizen in a 
republic, and avoided every open exertion of authority 
which could lead the Florentines to fufpeCt they had loft 
their liberties. 
The wealth and influence that Cofmo had acquired, 
had long entitled him to rank with the moft powerful 
princes of Italy, with whom he might have formed con¬ 
nections, by the intermarriage of his children ; but, 
being apprehenfive that fuch meafures would give rife to 
fufpicions that he entertained defigns inimical to the 
freedom of the ftate, he rather chofe to increafe his in¬ 
tereft among the citizens of Florence, by the marriage of 
his children into the moft diftinguilhed families of that 
place. Piero, his eideft fon, married Lucretia Torna- 
buoni, by whom he had two Tons, Lorenzo, the fubjeCl 
of the following article, and Giuliano. Cofmo converfed 
freely with all orders of men, and there was fcarcely a 
citizen whom he had not feme time obliged by loans of 
money of which he never expefted the repayment. His 
imnienfe wealth was not the objeCt of envy, becaufe he 
chiefly expended it upon the public; fo that it was a 
kind of common fund in which all had an intereft. 
Parties were again formed in Florence hoftile to the 
predominance of the Medici. The popularity of Cofmo, 
however, was not to be fliaken ; and, while he withdrew 
from public bufinefs, he retained the influence of his be¬ 
nefits and his virtues. He had loft his fecond fon, Gio¬ 
vanni, on whom he had placed his chief expectations; and, 
as his eideft, Piero, laboured under various bodily infir¬ 
mities, he apprehended that at his own deceafe the 
fplendour of his family would clofe. Thefe reflections 
embittered the repofe of his latter days: and he exclaim¬ 
ed, a fhort time before his death, as his attendants were 
carrying him through the apartments of his palace, “ This 
is too large a houfe for fo fniall a family.” His latter 
days were, however, cheered by the honourable teftimony 
to his merit, afforded by his fellow-citizens, in a public 
decree, conferring upon him the noble title of Father of 
his Country, which was inferibed on his tomb, and has 
ever fince adhered to his name. 
About three weeks before his death, when his ftrength^ 
began rapidly to decline, he entered into converfation 
with Ficino, lamenting the miferies of life, and the im¬ 
perfections infeparable from human nature. As he con¬ 
tinued his difeourfe, his fentiments and his views be¬ 
came more elevated ; and, from bewailing the lot of hu¬ 
manity, he began to exult in the profpeCt of that happier 
ftate towards which he felt himfelf approaching. He 
died Auguft ift, 1464, at the age of feventy-five years, 
deeply lamented by a vaft majority of the citizens of 
Florence, whom he had firmly attached to his intereft, 
and who feared for the fafety of the city from the dif- 
fentions that were likely toenfue. 
MED'ICI (Lorenzo de), furnamed the Magnificent, 
grandfon of the preceding, was born on January 1, 1448. 
He was about flxteen years of age when Cofmo died, and 
had, at that time, given ftriking indications of extraor¬ 
dinary talents. From his earlieft years he had exhibited 
proofs of a retentive and vigorous mind, which had been 
cultivated chiefly under the direction and good conduCl 
of his mother Lucretia, who was one of the moft accom- 
pliflied women of the age, and who had diftinguiflied 
herfelf not only as a patronefs of learning, but by her 
own writings. The difpofition of Lorenzo, which af¬ 
terwards gave him a peculiar claim to the title of Magni¬ 
ficent, was apparent in his childhood. Having received, as 
a prefent, a liorfe from Sicily, he fent the donor, in return, 
a gift of - much greater value ; and, on being reproved 
for his profufenels, he remarked, that there was nothing- 
more glorious than to overcome others in acts of gene- 
rofity. In his youth he had the advantage of the in- 
ftruCtions of fome of the wifeft and moft learned men of 
the age, in the languages and philofophy of antiquity, 
and the principles of polite literature. To the latter he 
difplayed a decided inclination by fome early poetical 
compofitions in his native tongue ; but he feemed formed 
for excelling in every thing that became an objeCt of 
his attention. He was not lefs addicted to aCtive fports 
and laborious exercifes, than to the ftudies of the clofet; 
and was equally dextrous in the management of bufinefs, 
and in the purfuits of arts and fcience. Tall in his 
ftature, robult in his form, Lorenzo had in his perlon 
more the appearance of ftrength than of elegance. From 
his birth he laboured under peculiar difadvantages ; his 
fight was weak, his voice harlh and unpleafing, and he 
was totally deprived of the fenfe of fmell. With all thefe 
defeCfs, his countenance was dignified, and ftrongly in¬ 
dicated the magnanimity of his character; and the ef¬ 
fects of his eloquence were confpicuous on many im¬ 
portant occafions. 
At the death of Cofmo, on account of his father’s in¬ 
firmities, to which we have before alluded, it was thought 
proper immediately to initiate Lorenzo into political 
life. He was accordingly fent to vifit the principal 
courts of Italy, for the purpofe of forming a perfonal 
connection with the rulers, and making obfervations on 
the circumftances of each ftate. He ltrengthened the 
interefts of his family in an interview with Ferdinand 
1 kin 
