Florentine burghers, caused each and all of these powers,
otherwise so different, to intrust their armies to paid captains. 'Di
questi adunque oziosi principi e di queste vilissime armi sara piena la
mia istoria,' is the contemptuous phrase with which he winds up his
analysis.[5]

[1] Varchi (book x. cap. 69) quotes a Florentine proverb: 'Chiunque
non sta a bottega e ladro.' See above, p. 239.

[2] Varchi, vol. i. p. 168; compare vol. ii. p. 87, however.

[3] _Ist. Fior._ lib. ii. end. Aristotle's contempt for the [Greek:
_technitai_] emerges in these comments of the doctrinaires.

[4] To multiply the instances of fraud and treason on the part of
Italian condottieri would be easy. I have only mentioned the notable
examples which fall within a critical period of five years. The
Marquis of Pescara betrayed to Charles V. the league for the
liberation of Italy, which he had joined at Milan. The Duke of
Ferrara received and victualed Bourbon's (then Frundsberg's) army on
its way to sack Rome, because he spited the Pope, and wanted to
seize Modena for himself. The Duke of Urbino, wishing to punish
Clement VII. for personal injuries, omitted to relieve Rome when it
was being plundered by the Lutherans, though he held the commission
of the Italian League. Malatesta Baglioni sold Florence, which he
had undertaken to defend, to the Imperial army under the Prince of
Orange.

[5] 'With the records of these indolent princes and most abject
armaments, my history will, therefore, be filled.' Compare the
following passage in a letter from Machiavelli to Francesco
Guicciardini (_Op._ vol. x. p. 255): 'Comincio ora a scrivere di
nuovo, e mi sfogo accusando i principi, che hanno fatto ogni cosa
per condurci qui.'

CHAPTER V.

THE FLORENTINE HISTORIANS.

Florence, the City of Intelligence--Cupidity, Curiosity, and the Love of
Beauty--Florentine Historical Literature--Philosophical Study of
History--Ricordano Malespini--Florentine History compared with the
Chronicles of other Italian Towns--The Villani--The Date
1300--Statistics--Dante's Political Essays and Pamphlets--Dino
Compagni--Latin Histories of Florence in Fifteenth Century--Lionardo
Bruni and Poggio Bracciolini--The Historians of the First Half of the
Sixteenth Century--Men of Action and Men of Letters: the
Doctrinaires--Florence between 1494 and 1537--Varchi, Segni, N