nner of man Cosimo was. Of consummate prudence,
staid yet agreeable presence, he was liberal and humane. He never worked
against his own party, or against the State, and was prompt in giving
aid to all. His liberality gained him many partisans among the
citizens."

Born in 1389, he early evinced mercantile proclivities, and when a lad
of no more than seventeen Messer Giovanni, his father, placed him in
charge successively of several of the foreign agencies of the Medici
bank. Young Cosimo used his opportunities so well that he was looked
upon as a successful financier, and came to be called "The Great
Merchant of Florence!"

He was jokingly wont to say: "Two yards of scarlet cloth are enough to
make a citizen!" Nevertheless he had a deep regard for the opinions and
privileges of his fellow Florentines. One of his constant sayings was:
"One must always consult the will of the people"--and "the people"
replied by acclaiming him "_Il Padre della Patria_."

Cosimo has been called "a great merchant and a grand party-leader: the
first of Florentines by birth and the first of Italians by culture." He
died in 1464. His father left in cash a fortune of nearly 180,000 gold
florins, but Cosimo's estate totalled upwards of 230,000--_circa_
L100,000--a vast amount in those days!

After the strong personality of Cosimo and his masterful manipulation of
commercial and political affairs, perhaps the unambitious rule of his
son Piero was a necessary and healthful corollary. Piero de' Medici
maintained the ground his father had made his own, and gave away nothing
of the predominance of his family, and he made way, after a brief
exercise of authority, for his brilliant son, Lorenzo.

Piero's character and career again prove the truth of the adage:
"Ability rarely runs in two successive generations." All the same, he
died in 1409, leaving his sons the heirs to nearly 300,000 gold florins!

Lorenzo, "_Il Magnifico_," was the first of the "Grand" Medici to give
up entirely all connection with commercial pursuits and banking
interests. His tenure of office, by a curious paradox, marks the
termination of the financial liberties of Florence! He was an all-round
genius--there was nothing he could not do--and do well! "Whatever is
worth doing at all," he was wont to say, "is worth doing well."

With his death, in 1492, as Benedetto Dei said, "The Splendour, not of
Tuscany only, but of all Italy, disappeared."

With the beginning of the s