attention from matters of government, it being now a year since the
death of Cosmo, it was resolved to celebrate two festivals, similar to
the most solemn observed in the city. At one of them was represented
the arrival of the three kings from the east, led by the star which
announced the nativity of Christ; which was conducted with such pomp and
magnificence, that the preparations for it kept the whole city occupied
many months. The other was a tournament (for so they call the exhibition
of equestrian combats), in which the sons of the first families in the
city took part with the most celebrated cavaliers of Italy. Among the
most distinguished of the Florentine youth was Lorenzo, eldest son of
Piero, who, not by favor, but by his own personal valor, obtained the
principal prize. When these festivals were over, the citizens reverted
to the same thoughts which had previously occupied them, and each
pursued his ideas with more earnestness than ever. Serious differences
and troubles were the result; and these were greatly increased by two
circumstances: one of which was, that the authority of the balia had
expired; the other, that upon the death of Duke Francesco, Galeazzo the
new duke sent ambassadors to Florence, to renew the engagements of his
father with the city, which, among other things, provided that every
year a certain sum of money should be paid to the duke. The principal
opponents of the Medici took occasion, from this demand, to make public
resistance in the councils, on pretense that the alliance was made with
Francesco and not Galeazzo; so that Francesco being dead, the obligation
had ceased; nor was there any necessity to revive it, because Galeazzo
did not possess his father's talents, and consequently they neither
could nor ought to expect the same benefits from him; that if they had
derived little advantage from Francesco, they would obtain still less
from Galeazzo; and that if any citizen wished to hire him for his own
purposes, it was contrary to civil rule, and inconsistent with the
public liberty. Piero, on the contrary, argued that it would be very
impolitic to lose such an alliance from mere avarice, and that there
was nothing so important to the republic, and to the whole of Italy,
as their alliance with the duke; that the Venetians, while they were
united, could not hope either by feigned friendship or open war
to injure the duchy; but as soon as they perceived the Florentines
alienated from him t