Note 295 — Chapter V

The danger which Lorenzo de’ Medici exposed himself to has been made much greater in later times than it really was. Jacopo Pitti (l. c. p. 25) says clearly that safety had been promised him both by the king and the pope (?); but it was believed that he gave himself into Ferrante’s power unconditionally (liberamente), in order to increase the fame of the latter and the splendour of his own patriotism. The danger lay less in what might happen at Naples than what might occur at Florence from a longer absence. Guicciardini hints at this (p. 59). Confidence shown in a man like the king was never without danger however.