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X.

His tomb, in the sacristy of the church of CHAP. S. Lorenzo at Florence, one of the most successful efforts of the genius of Michelagnolo, may compensate him for the want of that higher degree of reputation which he might have acquired in a longer life. His statue, seated, and in a Roman military habit, may be considered rather as characteristick of his office, as general of the church, than of his exploits. The figures which recline on each side of the sarcophagus, and are intended to represent day and night, have been the admiration of succeeding artists; but their allegorical purport may admit of a latitude of interpretation. Had the conquests of Giuliano rivalled those of Alexander the Great, we might have conjectured, with Vasari, that the artist meant to express the extent of his glory, limited only by the confines

of

"Che'l sacro onor de l'erudite fronti,

"Quel Tosco e'n terra e'en cielo amato LAURO,

"Socer ti fu, le cui mediche fronde

"Spesso a le piaghe, donde

"Italia mori poi, furo ristauro :

“Che fece al Indo e al Mauro,

"Sentir l'odor de suoi rami soavi;

"Onde pendean le chiavi

"Che tenean chiuso il tempio de la guerre,

"Che poi fu aperto, E NON E PIÙ CHI'L SERRE."

X.

CHA P. of the earth; but the hyperbole would be too extravagant; and the judicious spectator will perhaps rather regard them as emblematical of the constant change of sublunary affairs, and the brevity of human life.

Ippolito de'

Medici.

By his wife Filiberta of Savoy, Giuliano de' Medicileft no children; but, before his marriage, he had a natural son, who became an acknowledged branch of the family of the Medici, and, like the rest of his kindred, acquired, within the limits of a short life, a considerable share of reputation. This was the celebrated Ippolito de' Medici, who, dignified with the rank of cardinal, and possessed, by the partiality of Clement VII. of an immense revenue, was at once the patron, the companion, and the rival of all the poets, the musicians and the wits of his time. Without territories, and without subjects, Ippolito maintained at Bologna a court far more splendid than that of any Italian potentate. His associates and attendants, all of whom could boast of some peculiar merit or distinction which had entitled them to his notice, generally formed a body of about three hundred persons. Shocked

at his profusion, which only the revenues of the

church

i Vasari vita di M. A. Buonarotti.

church were competent to supply, Clement VII. C H AP. is said to have engaged the maestro di casa of X. Ippolito to remonstrate with him on his conduct, and to request that he would dismiss some of his attendants as unnecessary to him. "No," replied Ippolito, "I do not retain them in my "court because I have occasion for their ser"vices, but because they have occasion for "minek." His translation of the second book of the Eneid into Italian blank verse is considered as one of the happiest efforts of the lan guage, and has frequently been reprinted'. Amongst the collections of Italian poetry may

also

k Tirab. Storia della Let. Ital. v. vii. par. i. p. 23.

1 The first edition is that of Rome, apud Antonium Bladum, 1538, without the name of the author, who, at the foot of his dedication to a lady, whom he designates only by the appellation of Illustrissima Signora, assumes the title of Il cavaliero Errante. The second edition is entitled IL SECONDO DI VERGILIO in lingua volgare volto da HIPPOLITO DE' MEDICI cardinale. At the close we read, In citta di Castello per Antonio Mazochi Cremonese, et Niccolo de Guccii da Corna, ad instantia di M. Giovan Gallo Dottor de leggi da Castello nel Giorno 20 de Luglio 1539. Several subsequent editions have appeared, as well separately, as united with the other books of the Eneid, translated by different persons.

CHAP. also be found some pieces of his own composiX. tion, which do credit to his talents".

Lorenzo de'

of Urbino.

On the voluntary resignation by Giuliano Medici, duke de' Medici of the direction of the Florentine state, that important trust had been confided by Leo X. to his brother Lorenzo, who, with the assistance of the cardinal Giulio de' Medici, directed the helm of government according to the will of the pope; but the honour of holding the chief rank in the republick, although it had gratified the just ambition of his illustrious grandfather, was inadequate to the pretensions of Lorenzo; and the family of Rovere, after a vigorous defence, in which Lorenzo received a wound which had nearly proved mortal, was obliged to relinquish to him the sovereignty of Urbino, of which he received from the pope the ducal investiture in the year 1516". After the death of his uncle Giuliano, he was appointed captain-general of the papal troops, but his reputation for military skill scarcely stands higher than that of his predecessor. In the

year

m Some of them are cited by Crescimbeni, della volgar poesia, lib. ii. vol. ii. p. 368.

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X.

year 1518, he married Magdeleine de Boulogne, CHAP. of the royal house of France, and the sole fruit of this union was Catharine de' Medici, afterwards the queen of Henry II. The birth of the daughter cost the mother her life; and her husband survived her only a few days, having, if we may credit Ammirato, fallen a victim to that loathsome disorder, the peculiar Scourge of licentiousness, which had then recently commenced its ravages in Europe.

His

Si, comme les poëtes l'ont dit, l'ancienne Hecube, avant de mettre Paris au monde, etait troublée par des songes effrayans; quels noirs fantômes devaient agiter les nuits de Magdaleine de la Tour, enceinte de Catherine de Medicis? Tenh. Mem. Gen. liv. xx. p. 5.

P Ammir. Ist. Fior. lib. xxix. v. ii. p. 335. This disorder, which was first known in Italy about the year 1495, was not in its commencement supposed to be the result of sexual intercourse, but was attributed to the impure state of the air, to the simple touch or breath of a disordered person, or even to the use of an infected knife. Hence for a considerable time no discredit attached to the patient; and the authors of that period attribute without hesitation the death of many eminent persons, as well ecclesiastical as secular, to this complaint. In the Laurentian Library (Plut. lxxiii. cod. 38) is a MS. entitled Saphati Physici de morbo Gallico liber, dedicated by the author Giuliano Tanio, of Prato, to Leo X. in which he thus adverts to a learned professor, who was

probably

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