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    Cosmo de' Medici . 249

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    Noble , who personally knew this great man , gives this character of him : " He is learned and wise ; he useth few words , and is , nevertheless , in his own tongue eloquent . In the administration of justice he is so sincere that , since the time of his reign , which is now above ten years , I have not heard that he hath pardoned any person condemned to die . He hath restrained a vice , too shocking # * * * by ordering it to be punished with pain of death ; and hath brought his estate in such quietness , as it hath not been these three hundred years ; so that Florence may well say , that in him she hath found her long-desired liberty * For though he absolutely hath the whole revenues to his own use , yet the surety that the Florentines have in their own things , which heretofore they never had , is more worthy to them than the common revenue is beneficial to the city . Finally , the virtue of this Duke Cosmo , besides the worthiness of his dominion , hath brought him in such reputation , that he is numbered as one of the rarest princes of our time , and feared also as one in whom there be hid things of a greater moment than the rule of that only estate . "

    Amidst these hi g h eulogies , all of them so closely attesting , and in similar expressions , the very same qualities and facts , the summary of Ammirato should not be omitted . " Bello huomo fu del corpo , & di bellissima carnagione il Gran Duca Cosimo , ma di fi&ro sguardo , & il quale non volentiere gittaua gli occhi addosso altrui . Fft di pocbe parole , ma graua , 8 c di acute sentenze , & di bei tratti ripieno . Facceuasi sempre leggere istorie . Scrisse molto di sua mano . Segreto , & diligente fi sopra tutti i Princi pi della sua et& , Niuno Principe entro quasi nel sup Principato per la necessity , de tempi con maggior sangue ; w alcun fi , che morendo lasciasse piu desiderio di lui . Molto mur& & molto eultivo , n& niuna gran cosa che gli si proponesse lo sbigottl mai , purche quella gli fusse entrato nell' animo . Fit giusto & amatore d' huomini , che per alcun pregio il valessero , & tollerando i lor vizj , si seruiua delle loro virtft . Dilettossi molto delle cacce , ma molto piu della pescagione . A suo tempo fil tenuto V oracolo de Principi , & per lo suo senno & industria si fe signor di Siena . Et se verso gli estremi anni non hauesse con due atti 1 ' uno d' incontinenza , & V altro di crudeltii in qualche parte adombrato la chiarezza di cotante sue virtil , pochissimi Principi di que * piu lodati secoli si sarebbono con lui potuti paraffonare . " — Ammirato

    Istorie Florentine , P . II . L . 35 , p . 6 b' 3 , The historian has a sacred duty to perform . In proportion to his popularity , so are his opportunities for communicating knowledge to present and future times of the con *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 1, 1837, page 249, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1830/page/59/