PRIVATE LIFE OF LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT

It is interesting to investigate the character in private life of this remarkable man. His intimates and associates at Careggi and Camalduli have given him his place in history, and Politian asserts that none of them were his superiors as regards subtlety of argument and soundness of judgment. He was somewhat caustic, it has been said, and his epigrams have remained famous ; but, with all his undisputed authority, he was endowed with a generosity which impelled him to make future provision for the many gifted men who, absorbed by intellectual work, had failed to put by anything for their old age. He has been accused of being a devotee of pleasure, of acting a double part of being, that is, very austere in his public capacity and a pleasure-seeker in private, though able at a moment's notice to revert to business. His father had married him while still very young to Clarice Orsini, of an illustrious Roman family, and the ceremony was performed on the 4th of June, 1469. The marriage was not one of the heart, for Lorenzo recorded it as follows in his diary : "I, Lorenzo, have taken in marriage Clarice, daughter of Jacob Orsini ; or rather, she was given to me in marriage, and the wedding was celebrated in our house on the 4th of June, 1469." But this coldness was soon changed into a lasting and perhaps passionate affection, for on the 22d of July the same year he writes to her from Milan, "I am doing all I can to hasten my return: It seems as though we had been separated a thousand years."

Clarice bore him four daughters and three sons : Peter, born in 1471; John, in 1475 ; and Julian, in 1478. Their education was confided to the famous Politian, to whom he gave a very handsome villa at Fiesole. The last named, in his correspondence, gives a flattering description of this residence, and in writing to Marcilio Ficino, who was at the foot of the hill with Lorenzo at Careggi, he asks him to come up to Fiesole, and as an inducement says that he can give him some capital wine from his own vineyard.

Clarice Orsini died so suddenly in 1488 that Lorenzo was prevented from being present when she drew her last breath, but be seems to have felt her loss very much. Less fortunate in his own affairs than in public life, Lorenzo, far from increasing his fortune, lost a great part of it. In the first place, he acquired the surname of Magnifico from the profusion with which he spent money for the encouragement of art and architecture; and though his ministers and stewards ought, by the exercise of care, to have made good his losses, they only widened the breach, and the time came when Florence, out of gratitude to the most illustrious of her children, was obliged to assist him. Lorenzo then made a thorough change in the conduct of his affairs, and instead of investing what little remained to him in commercial speculations, he purchased land and founded agricultural colonies in the districts of Prato, Pisa, and Val di Pesa, which brought in a more certain income than that derived from commerce. In 1480 Lorenzo succeeded in establishing a Council in which the absolute power of the Commonwealth was concentrated. It was composed of seventy citizens appointed for life and all completely under his influence, so that from henceforth he held undisputed sway over Florence.

I have said nothing about the most formidable, though not the only conspiracy hatched against him that of the Pazzi, which broke out on the 26th of April, 1478, in the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, and cost his brother Giuliano his life. Battista Frescobaldi likewise made an attempt on his life in the Carmine Church; and Baldinetto da Pistoia tried to assassinate him in a villa outside of Florence. Lorenzo was once wounded, but the would-be assassins all paid the penalty of their crimes.

He was, however, such a sufferer from gout, that at the age of forty his health broke down, and he lived but a few years longer. Politian, describing his last moments, says that all the nerves were shattered, and that the seat of the mischief was in the intestines. Lorenzo was taken ill at Florence, but he had himself carried to the Careggi villa, where all his friends gathered about him and entertained him with their clever talk.

It is said that among the last visitors to his bedside was one whose name was already becoming famous throughout Italy. This was Girolamo Savonarola ; and there are two very opposite accounts one by Burlamachi and the other by Politian of what passed at the interview between Lorenzo and the fierce monk. Burlamachi asserts that Lorenzo humbly asked the father's absolution for three faults for which he felt great remorse.

The first was the sack of Volterra, whose women and children were cruelly used by the soldiers, for which he was responsible, as he had promised that their lives should be spared. The second was his having appropriated the marriage portions of the young girls, to which act must be ascribed the going astray of many women who were thus thrown without resource on the world. The third fault was the reprisals made after the Pazzi conspiracy, by which many innocent persons were put to death.

Savonarola reminded the dying man of the inexhaustible mercy of God, but insisted upon his making amends for each of these faults as far as possible, to which Lorenzo agreed. Before leaving, however, he declared that in order to obtain the divine favor, Lorenzo must restore to Florence her lost liberty and re-establish popular government; whereupon, according to Burlamachi, the sick man turned over on his bed and refused to hear any more.

Politian's account is very different. According to him, Lorenzo, feeling his end to be near, sent for a priest and confessed to him. The priest--who had been sent for, instead of coining of his own accord, as Burlamachi asserts said, on leaving the sick chamber, that he had never seen a dying man show so much courage, presence of mind, and clearness of intellect. At nightfall the holy sacrament was brought, and Lorenzo rose to receive it; having taken it on his knees, he went back to bed and spoke a few words of encouragement to his son Piero, who was the only person with him. One Piero Leori, a celebrated doctor of that day, who had been sent for at the last moment, came in just afterwards, and, according to Politian, asked for some precious stones, which he wanted to pulverize and mix with a potion. Politian administered the medicine, and Lorenzo, recognizing his voice, said, "What, is that you, dear Angiolo?" pressing him to his bosom. Politian was obliged to go out of the room to give free course to his grief, and on his return Lorenzo again noticed him and asked after Pico della Mirandola. He insisted on his being sent for, and Lorenzo, clasping him to his breast, declared that he should "die happier for having seen such a dear friend. I only wish that I could have lived to complete our library." Savonarola then came in, and Politian makes no allusion to any recriminations, speaking of the monk as if he had been gentle and forbearing, and saying that when he left he gave them all his benediction. The room gradually became crowded, and while all the others were overcome Lorenzo remained perfectly calm. When his medicine was administered, and he was asked if it was pleasant to the taste, he replied, " As pleasant as anything can be to a dying man." He died with his eyes fastened on the crucifix, and Politian speaks in glowing terms of his liberality and magnificence, of his constancy in adversity, and of his modesty in good fortune.