ation, a monastery of the
Frati Minori, or Minims. Besides these, in the church of Santa Croce,
the Servi, the Agnoli, and in San Miniato, he erected splendid chapels
and altars; and besides building the churches and chapels we have
mentioned, he provided them with all the ornaments, furniture, and
utensils suitable for the performance of divine service. To these sacred
edifices are to be added his private dwellings, one in Florence, of
extent and elegance adapted to so great a citizen, and four others,
situated at Careggi, Fiesole, Craggiulo, and Trebbio, each, for size and
grandeur, equal to royal palaces. And, as if it were not sufficient
to be distinguished for magnificence of buildings in Italy alone, he
erected an hospital at Jerusalem, for the reception of poor and infirm
pilgrims. Although his habitations, like all his other works and
actions, were quite of a regal character, and he alone was prince in
Florence, still everything was so tempered with his prudence, that
he never transgressed the decent moderation of civil life; in his
conversation, his servants, his traveling, his mode of living, and the
relationships he formed, the modest demeanor of the citizen was always
evident; for he was aware that a constant exhibition of pomp brings
more envy upon its possessor than greater realities borne without
ostentation. Thus in selecting consorts for his sons, he did not
seek the alliance of princes, but for Giovanni chose Corneglia degli
Allesandri, and for Piero, Lucrezia de' Tornabuoni. He gave his
granddaughters, the children of Piero, Bianca to Guglielmo de' Pazzi,
and Nannina to Bernardo Ruccellai. No one of his time possessed such an
intimate knowledge of government and state affairs as himself; and hence
amid such a variety of fortune, in a city so given to change, and among
a people of such extreme inconstancy, he retained possession of the
government thirty-one years; for being endowed with the utmost prudence,
he foresaw evils at a distance, and therefore had an opportunity either
of averting them, or preventing their injurious results. He thus not
only vanquished domestic and civil ambition, but humbled the pride of
many princes with so much fidelity and address, that whatever powers
were in league with himself and his country, either overcame their
adversaries, or remained uninjured by his alliance; and whoever were
opposed to him, lost either their time, money, or territory. Of this
the Venetians afford