lf all the younger men in physical exploit and
mental effort. From boyhood addicted to sports and pastimes, he became
_facile princeps_ in all manly exercises.

"_Il bel Giulio!_" as he was called generally, was moreover the leader
of fashion and the organiser of all the pageants and jousts with which
Lorenzo and he delighted the citizens. Whilst devoting most of his time
to fun and frolic, the young prince was acknowledged as one of the chief
_litterati_, and a conspicuous ornament of the Platonic Academy.

The serious side to his character and his, studious disposition gained
for him the gentle title of "_Il Pensieroso_." His mother's fond hope
was that he should be named a Cardinal, not merely a Papal princeling,
nor of course a religious reprobate--as, alas, most of the Cardinals
were--but a devout wearer of the scarlet hat, and that one day he might
even assume the triple tiara!

Anyhow Giuliano's youth was as spotless as it might be amid unchaste
surroundings. His passion for the bewitching Simonetta, "The Star of
Genoa," seems to have been the only serious romance of his life, and
therein he never aroused Marco de' Vespucci's jealousy by his attentions
to his young wife. Indeed the loves of "_Il bel Giulio_" and "_La bella
Simonetta_" were the talk and the admiration of the whole city:--the
Apollo or the Mercury of the New Athens with his Venus--Venus de'
Medici!

The magnificent _Giostra_, or Tournament, which Lorenzo celebrated a
year before his accession to the Headship of the Republic was but the
prelude to the exhibition of lavish hospitality such as Florentines, and
the strangers within their gates, had never witnessed. Banquets, ballets
and pageants succeeded one another in rapid succession. Church and
national festivals gained splendour and circumstance unrivalled in any
other city. Indeed the citizens, from the highest to the meanest, lived
in a whirl of festivities--and they liked it well!

The visits of friendly princes and other distinguished personages were
hailed with enthusiasm. Apparently there was no bottom to the Medici
purse; but actually the _Capo della Repubblica_ was playing rather fast
and loose with his opulent patrimony. There came a day when the strain
grew excessive, and Lorenzo was unable, had he been willing, to make
advances to princely suitors, and he lived to repent his prodigality.

The first notable visitors were Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan and
his Duchess Bona, Pri