he laboured of governing the city through its old
institutions by means of a party. To keep the members of this party in
good temper, and to gain their approval for the alterations he
effected in the State machinery of Florence, was the problem of his
life. The successful solution of this problem was easier now, after
two generations of the Medicean ascendency, than it had been at first.
Meanwhile the people were maintained in good humour by public shows,
ease, plenty, and a general laxity of discipline. The splendour of
Lorenzo's foreign alliances and the consideration he received from all
the Courts of Italy contributed in no small measure to his popularity
and security at home. By using his authority over Florence to inspire
respect abroad, and by using his foreign credit to impose upon the
burghers, Lorenzo displayed the tact of a true Italian diplomatist.
His genius for statecraft, as then understood, was indeed of a rare
order, equally adapted to the conduct of a complicated foreign policy
and to the control of a suspicious and variable Commonwealth. In one
point alone he was inferior to his grandfather. He neglected commerce,
and allowed his banking business to fall into disorder so hopeless
that in course of time he ceased to be solvent. Meanwhile his personal
expenses, both as a prince in his own palace, and as the
representative of majesty in Florence, continually increased. The
bankruptcy of the Medici, it had long been foreseen, would involve the
public finances in serious confusion. And now, in order to retrieve
his fortunes, Lorenzo was not only obliged to repudiate his debts to
the exchequer, but had also to gain complete disposal of the State
purse. It was this necessity that drove him to effect the
constitutional revolution of 1480, by which he substituted a Privy
Council of seventy members for the old Councils of the State,
absorbing the chief functions of the commonwealth into this single
body, whom he practically nominated at pleasure. The same want of
money led to the great scandal of his reign--the plundering of the
Monte delle Doti, or State Insurance Office Fund for securing dowers
to the children of its creditors.

XIV

While tracing the salient points of Lorenzo de' Medici's
administration I have omitted to mention the important events which
followed shortly after his accession to power in 1469. What happened
between that date and 1480 was not only decisive for the future
fortunes of the