llo in the Val di Tavere, and under Giovan Francesco
da Tolentino in Romagna, approached Florence, but having heard of the
failure of the conspiracy, they returned home.

The changes desired by the pope and the king in the government of
Florence, not having taken place, they determined to effect by war what
they had failed to accomplish by treachery; and both assembled forces
with all speed to attack the Florentine states; publicly declaring that
they only wished the citizens to remove Lorenzo de' Medici, who alone
of all the Florentines was their enemy. The king's forces had already
passed the Tronto, and the pope's were in Perugia; and that the citizens
might feel the effect of spiritual as well as temporal weapons, the
pontiff excommunicated and anathematized them. Finding themselves
attacked by so many armies, the Florentines prepared for their defense
with the utmost care. Lorenzo de' Medici, as the enemy's operations
were said to be directed against himself alone, resolved first of all to
assemble the Signory, and the most influential citizens, in the
palace, to whom, being above three hundred in number, he spoke as
follows:--"Most excellent signors, and you, magnificent citizens, I know
not whether I have more occasion to weep with you for the events which
have recently occurred, or to rejoice in the circumstances with which
they have been attended. Certainly, when I think with what virulence of
united deceit and hatred I have been attacked, and my brother murdered,
I cannot but mourn and grieve from my heart, from my very soul. Yet when
I consider with what promptitude, anxiety, love, and unanimity of the
whole city my brother has been avenged and myself defended, I am not
only compelled to rejoice, but feel myself honored and exalted; for if
experience has shown me that I had more enemies than I apprehended, it
has also proved that I possess more warm and resolute friends than I
could ever have hoped for. I must therefore grieve with you for the
injuries others have suffered, and rejoice in the attachment you have
exhibited toward myself; but I feel more aggrieved by the injuries
committed, since they are so unusual, so unexampled, and (as I trust you
believe) so undeserved on our part. Think, magnificent citizens, to what
a dreadful point ill fortune has reduced our family, when among friends,
amidst our own relatives, nay, in God's holy temple, we have found
our greatest foes. Those who are in danger turn to t