Note 9 — Chapter II

‘Ipse quidem nescit si fructus sequetur, vel non; sed, auditis aliis civibus, idem secutus est.’ ‘Consulta’ of May 12, 1427, by P. Berti, Nuovi documenti intorno al Catasto florentino, in the Giorn. Stor. degli archivi Toscani, iv. 32. Giovanni Cavalcanti (Storia Fiorentina, Flor. 1838, i. 196.)—a contemporary, who has left us the most lifelike description of that period, but who must be used with great caution on account of his decided and enthusiastic party views—has been followed by all later writers in his opinion of the Medici. At the head of these is Machiavelli, who took him as the principal source of information for those times.