ia Visconti.
Lorenzo calculated that he too, following Alfonso's policy, might
prove to Ferdinand how little there was to gain from an alliance with
Rome, how much Naples and Florence, firmly united together for offence
and defence, might effect in Italy.

Only a student of those perilous times can appreciate the courage and
the genius, the audacity combined with diplomatic penetration,
displayed by Lorenzo at this crisis. He calmly walked into the lion's
den, trusting he could tame the lion and teach it, and all in a few
days. Nor did his expectation fail. Though Lorenzo was rather ugly
than handsome, with a dark skin, heavy brows, powerful jaws, and nose
sharp in the bridge and broad at the nostrils, without grace of
carriage or melody of voice, he possessed what makes up for personal
defects--the winning charm of eloquence in conversation, a subtle wit,
profound knowledge of men, and tact allied to sympathy, which placed
him always at the centre of the situation. Ferdinand received him
kindly. The Neapolitan nobles admired his courage and were fascinated
by his social talents. On March 1st, 1480, he left Naples again,
having won over the King by his arguments. When he reached Florence he
was able to declare that he brought home a treaty of peace and
alliance signed by the most powerful foe of the republic. The success
of this bold enterprise endeared Lorenzo more than ever to his
countrymen. In the same year they concluded a treaty with Sixtus, who
was forced against his will to lay down arms by the capture of Otranto
and the extreme peril of Turkish invasion. After the year 1480 Lorenzo
remained sole master in Florence, the arbiter and peacemaker of the
rest of Italy.

XVI

The conjuration of the Pazzi was only one in a long series of similar
conspiracies. Italian despots gained their power by violence and
wielded it with craft. Violence and craft were therefore used against
them. When the study of the classics had penetrated the nation with
antique ideas of heroism, tyrannicide became a virtue. Princes were
murdered with frightful frequency. Thus Gian Maria Visconti was put to
death at Milan in 1412; Galeazzo Maria Sforza in 1484; the Chiarelli
of Fabriano were massacred in 1435; the Baglioni of Perugia in 1500;
Girolamo Gentile planned the assassination of Galeazzo Sforza at Genoa
in 1476; Niccolo d'Este conspired against his uncle Ercole in 1476;
Stefano Porcari attempted the life of Nicholas V. at Rome i