heir friends for
assistance; they call upon their relatives for aid; but we found ours
armed, and resolved on our destruction. Those who are persecuted, either
from public or private motives, flee for refuge to the altars; but where
others are safe, we are assassinated; where parricides and assassins are
secure, the Medici find their murderers. But God, who has not hitherto
abandoned our house, again saved us, and has undertaken the defense of
our just cause. What injury have we done to justify so intense desire of
our destruction? Certainly those who have shown themselves so much our
enemies, never received any private wrong from us; for, had we wished to
injure them, they would not have had an opportunity of injuring us. If
they attribute public grievances to ourselves (supposing any had been
done to them), they do the greater injustices to you, to this palace,
to the majesty of this government, by assuming that on our account you
would act unfairly to any of your citizens; and such a supposition, as
we all know, is contradicted by every view of the circumstances; for
we, had we been able, and you, had we wished it, would never have
contributed to so abominable a design. Whoever inquires into the truth
of these matters, will find that our family has always been exalted
by you, and from this sole cause, that we have endeavored by kindness,
liberality, and beneficence, to do good to all; and if we have honored
strangers, when did we ever injure our relatives? If our enemies'
conduct has been adopted, to gratify their desire for power (as would
seem to be the case from their having taken possession of the palace and
brought an armed force into the piazza), the infamous, ambitious, and
detestable motive is at once disclosed. If they were actuated by envy
and hatred of our authority, they offend you rather than us; for from
you we have derived all the influence we possess. Certainly usurped
power deserves to be detested; but not distinctions conceded for acts of
kindness, generosity, and magnificence. And you all know that our family
never attained any rank to which this palace and your united consent did
not raise it. Cosmo, my grandfather, did not return from exile with arms
and violence, but by your unanimous desire and approbation. It was not
my father, old and inform, who defended the government against so many
enemies, but yourselves by your authority and benevolence defended him;
neither could I, after his death, bein