to assassinate Piero de'
Medici.

Messer Tommaso, more prescient and prudent, threw in his lot with the
Medici, and was chosen by Piero, not only as his own chief counsellor
and intimate friend, but as the principal adviser of his two young
sons--Lorenzo and Giuliano. He had, moreover, allied himself to the
Medici by his marriage with Dianora de' Tornabuoni, sister of Domina
Lucrezia, Piero's wife.

All the same, he kept his own counsel and took up a perfectly
independent line of action, being quite remarkable for his display of
that most pronounced characteristic of all good Florentines--the
placing of Florence first--"_Firenze la prima!_"

At the meeting, at Sant' Antonio, his rising to speak was the signal for
general applause. In a few generous words he eulogised the gentle
virtues of Piero and bemoaned his premature death. In a longer and more
serious oration, on the conditions politically and socially of Florence
and of the whole State, he put before his hearers two uncontrovertible
considerations, to guide them in the exercise of the selection of a new
_Capo della Repubblica_,--first. The maintenance of unity and
tranquillity; and second. The preservation of the _status quo_.

Many and friendly were the interruptions of the oration, and over and
over again shouts were raised for "_Tommaso Soderini il Capo!_"
Gracefully he bowed his acknowledgment, but, with much feeling, declined
the rare honour offered him. Then he went on to say that as the supreme
office had been worthily served by Cosimo and Piero de' Medici, it was
but fitting that it should be continued in that illustrious family.

He expatiated upon the advantages which had accrued to Florence under
the Headship of the Medici; and he urged upon the assembly to offer
their allegiance to Piero's sons, and to give them the authority that
their father and grandfather had possessed.

Keen debate followed Messer Tommaso's speech: some wished that he would
reconsider his decision, others were in favour of trying a new man and
of another family--Niccolo Soderini's name was freely mentioned, but
gradually the meeting came to accept the proposal. It gained at all
events the adhesion of such pronounced ante-Mediceans as Gianozzo de'
Pitti and Domenico de' Martelli, and led to a fusion, there and then, of
the two parties, "_del Poggio_" and "_del Piano_." Unanimity was the
more readily reached when those who demurred perceived that Messer
Tommaso would be the