repetition, may be given in his own words:—
"Since excellence in sooth gives no repose
To men of merit, least to those of names
Already known to glory, so the Count,
Though laden with the laurels of the field,
To mental discipline himself addressed.
And anxious to employ his ardent thoughts
On elevating themes, he Ethics chose
Whereon to bend his mind, and took as guide
One Messer Lazzaro, a preaching friar
Of singular repute; a good divine,
In whom each gentle, each endearing trait
With honour and devotion blended well.
On Aristotle's writings all intent,
His learning to their wisdom glory gave;
And gladly entered he upon the task
Of clearly setting forth their lustrous thoughts
In daily readings, oft at matin hours.
With zealous mind and intellect matured,
The Count a great and rapid progress made;
And as no generous spirit willingly
Leaves favours unrequited, by his means
His able master filled Urbino's see—
A guerdon gratefully received. Thus fond
Of study, he his time could seldom spend
To disadvantage. Even as he took
His modest frugal meals at home, or when
He sojourned elsewhere, it was his delight
To listen whilst from ancient histories,
Or recent chronicles, were read details
Of martial deeds, discerning readily
How sped the fortune of the fight ere yet
Its changing turns were told. Of maxims shrewd
And singular he master was beyond
Most others; nor from table would he rise
Whilst any staid to crave an audience.
To Arithmetic daily he applied,
And Algebra's high science, with success,
By Paul Alamanno taught; to whom seemed plain
Truths hid from many; who the heavens had scanned
For years successive, and the stars had tracked,
Until celestial influences grew
To him familiar; an exponent famed
Of physical philosophy, and hence
Much favoured by the Count."
The digression as to Federigo's literary habits and circle into which we have been led, would detain us too long from the more immediate object of our narrative, were we now to inquire into his patronage of art and artists. This will be discussed in our fourth book; meanwhile we resume the story of his life.
CHAPTER XI
The Duke of Milan assassinated—Count Girolamo Riario—The Pazzi conspiracy—Duke Federigo’s campaigns in Tuscany—Progress of the Turks.
The mediæval history of Italy is too frequently traced in characters of blood, and the period which we have now reached, although generally regarded as one of comparative tranquillity, was signalised by conspiracies systematically matured, and by murders perpetrated in high places with revolting barbarity. It matters little that they were instigated by political abuses or provoked by domestic tyranny; so repugnant is assassination to the better feelings of mankind, that public sympathy is ever with the sufferer, and the crime is perpetuated by history as a national stigma. The brutalising influence of such deeds descends like an hereditary taint to after generations, and to it may in a great measure be ascribed the recklessness of human life, and the consequent reputation for cruelty, which are still imputed to the Italian nature, and which recent events but too sadly confirm.
The earnestness of character, the energy of mind and action, which had gained for Francesco Sforza the sovereignty of Milan, passed not to his son. Galeazzo Maria was magnificent in his tastes. His court was the most splendid of a brilliant age. In his duchy justice was prompt and impartial. But his foreign policy and personal courage were unstable, in his home administration cruelty and oppression were aggravated by caprice. Yet these faults and foibles might have been endured, had not the patience of his subjects been worn out by outrages against their domestic peace. Machiavelli informs us that hatred to their ruler, and the comparative benefits of a republic, were lessons habitually instilled into such of the young nobles as frequented the school of Cola Montano, then the most eminent teacher in Milan. But it was not until several of these youths found their wives or sisters sacrificed by the Duke's ruthless debauchery, that the seditious seeds thus implanted sprang to sudden and full growth. Seldom have the secrets of conspiracy and murder been so fully detected and exposed.183 There is, however, a melodramatic effect of the narrative of old Sanzi which entitles it to notice as contemporary and unpublished, although apparently biassed in favour of Galeazzo. The three conspirators, mingling fanaticism with vengeance, sought by religious observances to sanctify the deed of horror. Their invocation to their city's patron saint for blessings on the attempt, with a solemnity ill becoming its sacrilege, has been preserved; but Sanzi adds that they bribed an apostate priest to consecrate at the altar a sacramental wafer, which he administered not until each had shed upon it a drop of his blood—a blasphemous rite intended to seal their mutual vows of fidelity and secrecy; also that they used to rehearse their fury, and practise their swordsmanship, against a wooden puppet, decked out in gold brocade, and kept for the purpose in one of their houses. Among the solemn functions of Christmas week was that of St. Stephen, performed in the picturesque old fane dedicated to the protomartyr, where it was usual for the court to attend; the Duke on this occasion accidentally left behind a cuirass, that defence of despots, which he was wont to wear, and thus unconsciously facilitated the execution of a concerted project. It was customary, in allusion to the expiring year, to fire a light mass of carded flax suspended in the church, whilst a warning voice
"Exclaimed, 'Thus human glory vanishes;
Unhappy he who hazards there his hopes!'"
As the sovereign raised his eyes to this touching emblem of transient and fragile existence, he was done to instant death by the poignards of the three conspirators.*184 The moral offences imputed to the wretched man thus miserably summoned to his account have been collected by Sismondi, the consistent impugner of princes.185 Sanzi, who generally leans to them, has thus painted them in colours less loathsome:—
"A man he was remarkable for worth,
Though charged with faults not few, which in his state
Were freely challenged. Happy years of youth,
Though pregnant with the germs of age mature,
And preluding too oft its perils grave!
Here must my tongue this prince exalt, as one
Who even-handed justice dealt to all,
Subject or stranger, noble or obscure;
Nor willed that any, founding on his wealth
Or station, should the meanest pauper vex.
Yet is he censured as one pitiless,
And prone to undue passion: trite reproach
Of prosperous despots!"
The steady support long given by the Duke of Urbino to the Sforzan dynasty suggested him as his most valuable stay in this