covered, have preserved it with
indomitable resolution and at every hazard. And even when their
fathers could not remember it, the public buildings, the halls of the
magistracy, and the insignia of free institutions, remind them of it;
and these things cannot fail to be known and greatly desired by every
class of citizens.

"What is it you imagine you can do, that would be an equivalent for
the sweets of liberty, or make men lose the desire of their present
conditions? No; if you were to join the whole of Tuscany to the
Florentine rule, if you were to return to the city daily in triumph
over her enemies, what could it avail? The glory would not be ours,
but yours. We should not acquire fellow-citizens, but partakers of our
bondage, who would serve to sink us still deeper in ignominy. And if
your conduct were in every respect upright, your demeanor amiable, and
your judgments equitable, all these would be insufficient to make you
beloved. If you imagine otherwise, you deceive yourself; for, to one
accustomed to the enjoyment of liberty, the slightest chains feel
heavy, and every tie upon his free soul oppresses him. Besides, it is
impossible to find a violent people associated with a good prince, for
of necessity they must soon become alike, or their difference produce
the ruin of one of them. You may, therefore, be assured, that you
will either have to hold this city by force, to effect which, guards,
castles, and external aid have oft been found insufficient, or be
content with the authority we have conferred; and this we would advise,
reminding you that no dominion can be durable to which the governed do
not consent; and we have no wish to lead you, blinded by ambition, to
such a point that, unable either to stand or advance, you must, to the
great injury of both, of necessity fall."

This discourse did not in the slightest degree soften the obdurate mind
of the duke, who replied that it was not his intention to rob the city
of her liberty, but to restore it to her; for those cities alone are in
slavery that are disunited, while the united are free. As Florence, by
her factions and ambition, had deprived herself of liberty, he should
restore, not take it from her; and as he had been induced to take this
charge upon himself, not from his own ambition, but at the entreaty of
a great number of citizens, they would do well to be satisfied with that
which produced contentment among the rest. With regard to the danger he