Alberti had obtained an unrivalled position in his own line, his social rank helping in some measure to establish his fame. Moreover, all humanists occupied a higher place in the intellectual hierarchy than the ordinary artist, who was looked upon as a superior kind of mechanic. The whole history of Alberti may be gleaned from the various works which he has left behind him. In his "Trattato della Famiglia " he speaks with pride of his ancient lineage, and Machiavelli represents the Alberti as being "more like princes than private individuals." The hatred of the Albizzi seems to have known no abatement, and during the greater part of his life Leo Battista never went abroad without an escort of armed men lent him by Cardinal Alberti.

As an artist his conceptions were grandiose and noble, but in the details of ornamentation his style is rather hard, and in endeavoring to reproduce Attic elegance he occasionally mistakes meagreness for grace. His favorite motive in ornamentation was the palm copied from ancient tablets.

As a writer he was very erudite and capable of great eloquence, notably in the passage upon the tombs in his "De re dificatoria," while in his private correspondence his predominant characteristic was affable simplicity. Angelo Politian pronounced his funeral oration, and Cristoforo Landino passed a glowing eulogium upon him in his "Commentary on Dante."

The features of Alberti are preserved to us first in the medallion by Matteo da Paste, which has on the reverse a winged eye with the motto Quid tune, surrounded by a laurel wreath, and by the beautiful plaquette in the Dreyfus Collection. A replica of this plaquette, which was in the collection of the late M. His de la Salle, is in the Italian Renaissance sculpture-room at the Louvre, but it does not bear the initials of Leo Battista, though the most competent judges have been of opinion that it is his own handiwork.

The church of San Francesco da Rimini contains a third likeness of him, but this is only an enlarged reproduction of Matteo's medallion.

MARCILIO FICINO. -(1433-1499.)

Marcilio Ficino was the son of a skilful surgeon attached to the Medici family, who, though a native of Florence, had sent his son to the University of Bologna, because medical studies were much more advanced there than in any other city of the peninsula. Marcilio occasionally came to see his father in the Medici Palace, and having on one occasion been presented to Cosimo the Elder, he had the good fortune to make a favorable impression by his modest demeanor and precocious erudition. Instead of devoting himself specially to the study of medicine, like his father, Marcilio developed a great fondness for philosophy, and learnt by heart all the principal authors. Cosimo, who was much pleased to find in him a disciple of the philosophy to which he himself was so warmly attached, kept him at Florence, gave him a lodging in the palace, facilitated the continuance of his study, and got his father to consent to his change of profession. In 1456, when only twenty-three years of age, he published " The Platonician Institutions," and Cosimo and Cristoforo Landino, both very competent judges, admired the work, but exhorted the writer not to read Plato in the Latin or the vulgar tongue, but to study Greek profoundly enough to be able to consult the original. The results of this study were the translation of " The Origin of the World," attributed to Mercurius Trismegistus, and the "Choral Hymns." We know from Tiraboschi, and also from the private letters of Cosimo, that Marcilio sang the hymns, accompanying himself on the lyre. Cosimo soon became so attached to his society that he gave him a small property near Careggi, a town house, and a small collection of Greek manuscripts beautifully ornamented with miniatures like those in the Laurentiana.

It was at this period that Cosimo was meditating the formation of the Platonian Academy, referred to in the chapter devoted to the Father of his Country, and Marcilio, as has been said, was selected by him to organize this assembly, which met beneath the trees of Cosimo's garden at Careggi.

Piero de' Medici, at the death of Cosimo, showed him great favor, causing his manuscripts to be copied, advocating his views with great warmth, and arousing general enthusiasm both for himself and his protege, by insisting upon his expounding his doctrines from the pulpit. It was from Florence, as is pointed out in the chapter on the Renaissance, that the study of Plato and the observance of his doctrines were spread throughout the whole of Italy, and even of Europe, and the initial credit of this is due to Marcilio Ficino, who was nominated by Lorenzo the Magnificent to a canonry in the cathedral of Florence, and to two rich benefices. This gave a fresh direction to his studies, and he turned his attention to theology, his familiarity with Plato enabling him in his sermons to draw from the writings of the Greek philosopher arguments in favor of the divinity. In this connection his doctrines were not much else than heathen as he drew a comparison between Socrates and Christ, and found an explanation for all the mysteries of the Catholic Faith in the works of Plato. His sermons soon became famous, but they appealed more to the intellect than to the heart, and were not, therefore, much appreciated by the common people.

Marcilio Ficino's private character was without blemish ; he was affable, simple-minded, and generous, the few intimate friends in whose society he spent most of his time being passionately devoted to him, while the letters of Lorenzo to him breathe a spirit of enthusiastic attachment. He had, however, his moments of aberration, and it may be that towards the close of his life the constant study of the Platonic philosophy had in some measure affected his intellect. Thus, for instance, he was a fervent believer in the supernatural, and according to an anecdote quoted by Tiraboschi and his other biographers, believed in the doctrine of metempsychosis. Arguing one day with his disciple, Mercati, as to the immortality of the soul, it was agreed that whichever of the two died first should come and warn the other, and Mercati afterwards declared that on the day of Ficino's death a phantom horseman stopped at his door and exclaimed, "Michael, Michael, what I told you is true."

The reputation of Marcilio Ficino extended as far as Hungary, and the learned Matthias Corvinus pressed him to come to his Court, while Sixtus IV. wrote him an autograph letter, offering him a pension and a residence at the Vatican ; but nothing would induce him to leave Careggi, where, for the matter of that, he was very well off.

The works of Marcilio are very numerous, but though they began to be published separately at Florence in 1489, the first complete edition is dated Venice, 1516, and that was put through the press four times. The nomenclature of all these works would be very dry, and those who may care for full particulars may be referred to Tiraboschi and other specialist writers.

BERNARDO PULCI -(1425-1494.)

Pulci descends from a family of poets, and Bernardo, the eldest, was one of the ornaments of the Court of Lorenzo the Magnificent, endearing himself to the Medici by composing sonnets for them like a poet laureate. His first elegy upon the death of Cosimo the Elder won him the favor of Piero it Gottoso, and at the death of Simonetta, the beautiful mistress of Giuliano, whose portrait has been preserved to us by Sandro Botticelli, he wrote another elegy which would give a high idea of the deceased lady's qualities did we not know how ready Court poets always are to say complimentary things.

Pulci; translated into Italian verse Virgil's Bucolies, and he has been credited with the poem "Morgante," which, however, was in reality written by his brother Luigi. This work does not give a very favorable idea of the prevailing morality; but it was read aloud at the literary gatherings, which resembled those at y gatherings and at which the pious Lucrezia Tornabuoni, wife of Piero, presided. It is, however, written in very chaste language, is full of interesting descriptions, and, with its vivid and dashing style cannot well fail to please. Bernardo Pulci had a wife, Antonia, who wrote several dramatic pieces of the passion-play style, and the poet himself, at the close of his life, was curator of the Academy of Pisa, his connection with the history of literature not being traceable subsequent to 1494.

Besides Luigi, there was a younger brother named Luca, who lived at the Court of Lorenzo, and who has celebrated the great tournament of 1468, which is the only guide we have to the character of these splendid entertainments. He has left several other works, including the Giriffo,"A Tale of Chivalry, and II Driade d' Amor," a pastoral poem in four cantos.

Bernardo was the most famous of the three brothers at the time, but Luigi, as the author of "Morgante," has achieved the most enduring fame.