th Rome, might rise to. The Pope
was young; he ruled a large territory, reduced to order by his warlike
predecessors. It seemed as though the republic, swayed by him, might
make herself the first city in Italy, and restore the glories of her
Guelf ascendency upon the platform of Renaissance statecraft. There
was now no overt opposition to the Medici in Florence. How to govern
the city from Rome, and how to advance the fortunes of his brother
Giuliano and his nephew Lorenzo (Piero's son, a young man of
twenty-one), occupied the Pope's most serious attention. For Lorenzo
Leo obtained the Duchy of Urbino and the hand of a French princess.
Giuliano was named Gonfalonier of the Church. He also received the
French title of Duke of Nemours and the hand of Filiberta, Princess of
Savoy. Leo entertained a further project of acquiring the crown of
Southern Italy for his brother, and thus of uniting Rome, Florence,
and Naples under the headship of his house. Nor were the Medicean
interests neglected in the Church. Giulio, the Pope's bastard cousin,
was made cardinal. He remained in Rome, acting as vice-chancellor and
doing the hard work of the Papal Government for the pleasure-loving
pontiff.

To Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, the titular head of the family, was
committed the government of Florence. During their exile, wandering
from court to court in Italy, the Medici had forgotten what it was to
be burghers, and had acquired the manners of princes. Leo alone
retained enough of caution to warn his nephew that the Florentines
must still be treated as free people. He confirmed the constitution of
the Signory and the Privy Council of seventy established by his
father, bidding Lorenzo, while he ruled this sham republic, to avoid
the outer signs of tyranny. The young duke at first behaved with
moderation, but he could not cast aside his habits of a great lord.
Florence now for the first time saw a regular court established in her
midst, with a prince, who, though he bore a foreign title, was in fact
her master. The joyous days of Lorenzo the Magnificent returned.
Masquerades and triumphs filled the public squares. Two clubs of
pleasure, called the Diamond and the Branch--badges adopted by the
Medici to signify their firmness in disaster and their power of
self-recovery--were formed to lead the revels. The best sculptors and
painters devoted their genius to the invention of costumes and cars.
The city affected to believe that the age of gold