grace and persuasiveness Lorenzo put before the Council
the advisability of the despatch of envoys, incidentally to announce his
succession to the Headship of the State, but principally to proclaim the
grandeur, the wealth, and the power, of the great Tuscan Republic. It
was a master-stroke thus to appeal to the patriotism, no less than to
the egotism, of their Excellencies, and, at the same time, to confirm
his own supremacy!

The bait, dangled before avaricious eyes, was eagerly snapped up, and
when Lorenzo backed up his proposition by munificently mounting each
embassy, and by the promise of knighthood upon the return of the
ambassadors, scarcely a man of those nominated held back. The scheme
worked splendidly, and Lorenzo had the supreme satisfaction of bidding
courteous and thankful farewells to his most prominent rivals.

Among them were such distinguished leaders of public opinion as Bernardo
de' Buongirolami, Cesare de' Petrucci, Bernardo del Nero, Agnolo de'
Niccolini, and Piero Filippo de' Pandolfini. Their departure was the
signal for the advancement of many less known men,--friends and proteges
of the two brothers or of Domina Lucrezia. In this way Lorenzo greatly
strengthened his hold upon the supreme power.

Two very prominent men, however, rejected the proposal--at once the most
popular and most dangerous--Tommaso de' Soderini and Francesco de'
Pazzi.

Tommaso de' Soderini added immensely to his popularity by his noble
exhibition of self-abnegation. His prudence and ability had for long
pointed him out as the most trustworthy and experienced of his peers.
His whole-hearted loyalty to the cause of the Medici, and the
consistency with which he maintained the position he had taken up, at
the plenary Parliament in 1469, and subsequently, made him, by the
contrariety of circumstances, the most redoubtable rival of the
ambitious and impulsive _Capo della Repubblica_.

The trusty pilot, who had so effectively steered the ship of State
through the troubled waters of the interregnum, was, quite
unintentionally and unwillingly, the greatest obstacle in the way of
the young captain! Everybody who had a grievance--real or
imaginary--against the government of Lorenzo, sought Messer Tommaso's
advice and sympathy, so that the situation became charged with
difficulties and embarrassments. The very merest change in the whim of a
fickle people might upset the Medici, and then the Soderini would be
called upon to fil