ibyl are drawn in an
oval figure similar to that inclosing the Delphic sibyl. Here,
however, the oval is of a more elongated form, and the left side is
broken midway by the introduction of the book.

The old writer Pausanias, writing his "Description of Greece," in the
second century, says that the people of Cumae showed a small stone urn
in the temple of Apollo containing the ashes of the sibyl. For many
centuries her cavern was pointed out to travellers in a rock under the
citadel of Cumae. Finally the fortifications of the city were
undermined, but to this day a subterranean passage in the rock on
which they were built is still shown as the entrance to the sibyl's
cave.

XIII

LORENZO DE' MEDICI

The statue of Lorenzo de' Medici is the central figure on the tomb
erected to the memory of this prince. He was the rather unworthy
namesake of his illustrious grandfather, who was known as Lorenzo the
Magnificent. The Medici family was for many generations the richest
and most powerful in Florence. They were originally merchants, and, as
the name signifies, physicians, and, accumulating great wealth, they
became powerful leaders, and really the rulers of the republic.

Some of them were munificent patrons of art and literature. There was
one named Cosimo, who did so much to make his city famous that he was
called _Pater Patriae_, the father of the country, as was, centuries
afterwards, our own Washington. His grandson Lorenzo won the title of
the Magnificent for his lavish generosity and superb plans for the
advancement of art and learning. So much power could not safely be in
the hands of a single family. The Medici, from being benefactors,
finally became tyrants.

The Lorenzo of this statue was one of the more insignificant members
of the family. It is said that "he inherited the vices without the
genius of the family, and was ambitious, unscrupulous, and
dissipated. His uncle, Pope Leo X., after depriving the Duke of Urbino
of his hereditary domains, bestowed them, with the title of duke, on
Lorenzo, whom he also made general of the pontifical forces."[29] In
1518 Leo united him in marriage to a French princess, and their
daughter was the afterwards celebrated Catharine de' Medici, queen of
the French king, Henry II. These are the main facts in the life of a
man who is remembered only because he had illustrious ancestors, a
famous daughter, and a superb tomb.

[Footnote 29: Susan and Joanna Horner's _Wa