d, had not yet discovered
itself; in Cosimo's day art was still an expression of joy, impetuous,
unsophisticated, simple. In this world of brief sunshine Cosimo appears
to us very delightfully as the protector of the arts, the sincere lover
of learning, the companion of scholars. To him in some sort the world
owes the revival of the Platonic Philosophy, for the Greek Argyropolis
lived in his house, and taught Piero his son and Lorenzo his grandson
the language of the Gods. When Gemisthus Pletho came to Florence, Cosimo
made one of his audience, and was so moved by his eloquence that he
determined to establish a Greek academy in the city on the first
opportunity. He was the dear friend of Marsilio Ficino, and he founded
the Libraries of S. Marco and of the Badia at Fiesole. The great
humanists of his time, Leonardo Bruni, Carlo Marsuppini, Poggio and
Niccolo de' Niccoli were his companions, and in his palace in Via Larga,
and in his villas at Careggi and Poggio a Caiano, he gathered the most
precious treasures, rare manuscripts, and books, not a few antique
marbles and jewels, coins and medals and statues, while he filled the
courts and rooms, built and decorated by the greatest artists of his
time, with the statues of Donatello, the pictures of Paolo Uccello,
Andrea del Castagno, Fra Filippo Lippo, and Benozzo Gozzoli. Cosimo,
says Gibbon, "was the father of a line of princes whose name and age are
almost synonymous with the restoration of learning; his credit was
ennobled with fame; his riches were dedicated to the service of mankind;
he corresponded at once with Cairo and London, and a cargo of Indian
spices and Greek books were often imported in the same vessel." While
Burckhardt, the most discerning critic of the civilisation of the
Renaissance, tells us that "to him belongs the special glory of
recognising in the Platonic philosophy the fairest flower of the ancient
world of thought, and of inspiring his friends with the same belief."

Among those who had loved Cosimo so well as to go with him into exile,
had been Michelozzo Michelozzi, the architect and sculptor, the pupil of
Donatello. Already, Vasari tells us in 1430, Cosimo had caused
Michelozzo to prepare a model for a palace at the corner of Via Larga
beside S. Giovannino, for one already made by Brunellesco appeared to
him too sumptuous and magnificent, and quite as likely to awaken envy
among his fellow-citizens as to contribute to the grandeur and ornament