his absence. Giulio's ambition was fixed upon the Papal crown. The
bastards he was rearing were but children. Florence had therefore to
be furnished with some political machinery that should work of itself.
The Cardinal did not wish to give freedom to the city, but clockwork.
He was in the perilous situation of having to rule a commonwealth
without life, without elasticity, without capacity of self-movement,
yet full of such material as, left alone, might ferment, and breed a
revolution. In this perplexity, he had recourse to advisers. The most
experienced politicians, philosophical theorists, practical
diplomatists, and students of antique history were requested to
furnish him with plans for a new constitution, just as you ask an
architect to give you the plan of a new house. This was the field-day
of the doctrinaires. Now was seen how much political sagacity the
Florentines had gained while they were losing liberty. We possess
these several drafts of constitutions. Some recommend tyranny; some
incline to aristocracy, or what Italians called _Governo Stretto_;
some to democracy, or _Governo Largo_; some to an eclectic compound of
the other forms, or _Governo Misto_. More consummate masterpieces of
constructive ingenuity can hardly be imagined. What is omitted in all,
is just what no doctrinaire, no nostrum can communicate--the breath of
life, the principle of organic growth. Things had come, indeed, to a
melancholy pass for Florence when her tyrant, in order to confirm his
hold upon her, had to devise these springs and irons to support her
tottering limbs.

XXIV

While the archbishop and the doctors were debating, a plot was
hatching in the Rucellai Gardens. It was here that the Florentine
Academy now held their meetings. For this society Machiavelli wrote
his 'Treatise on the Art of War,' and his 'Discourses upon Livy.' The
former was an exposition of Machiavelli's scheme for creating a
national militia, as the only safeguard for Italy, exposed at this
period to the invasions of great foreign armies. The latter is one of
the three or four masterpieces produced by the Florentine school of
critical historians. Stimulated by the daring speculations of
Machiavelli, and fired to enthusiasm by their study of antiquity, the
younger academicians formed a conspiracy for murdering Giulio de'
Medici, and restoring the republic on a Roman model. An intercepted
letter betrayed their plans. Two of the conspirators were taken