eared, and that the duke of Athens might have greater authority
to defend them, they first chose him for their coadjutor, and then
appointed him to the command of the army. The nobility, who were
discontented from the causes above mentioned, having many of them been
acquainted with Walter, when upon a former occasion he had governed
Florence for the duke of Calabria, thought they had now an opportunity,
though with the ruin of the city, of subduing their enemies; for there
was no means of prevailing against those who had oppressed them but of
submitting to the authority of a prince who, being acquainted with the
worth of one party and the insolence of the other, would restrain the
latter and reward the former. To this they added a hope of the benefits
they might derive from him when he had acquired the principality by
their means. They, therefore, took several occasions of being with him
secretly, and entreated he would take the command wholly upon himself,
offering him the utmost assistance in their power. To their influence
and entreaty were also added those of some families of the people; these
were the Peruzzi, Acciajuoli, Antellesi, and Buonaccorsi, who, being
overwhelmed with debts, and without means of their own, wished for those
of others to liquidate them, and, by the slavery of their country,
to deliver themselves from their servitude to their creditors. These
demonstrations excited the ambitious mind of the duke to greater desire
of dominion, and in order to gain himself the reputation of strict
equity and justice, and thus increase his favor with the plebeians, he
prosecuted those who had conducted the war against Lucca, condemned many
to pay fines, others to exile, and put to death Giovanni de' Medici,
Naddo Rucellai, and Guglielmo Altoviti.

CHAPTER VIII

The Duke of Athens requires to be made prince of Florence--The Signory
address the duke upon the subject--The plebeians proclaim him prince
of Florence for life--Tyrannical proceedings of the duke--The city
disgusted with him--Conspiracies against the duke--The duke discovers
the conspiracies, and becomes terrified--The city rises against him--He
is besieged in the palace--Measures adopted by the citizens for
reform of the government--The duke is compelled to withdraw from the
city--Miserable deaths of Guglielmo da Scesi and his son--Departure of
the duke of Athens--His character.

These executions greatly terrified the middle class of citizens, but