Lorenzo, which he, along with the Martelli, had restored and endowed.
Giovanni di Averardo de' Medici was looked upon as the first banker in
Italy, the controller of the credit of Florence and the prince of
financiers. Cavalcanti, Macchiavelli, Ammirato, and almost all other
historians, describe him as "Large-hearted, liberal-minded, courteous
and charitable, dispensing munificent alms with delicate consideration
of the feelings and wants of those whom he assisted. Never suing for
honours, he gained them all. Hostile to public peculations he strove
disinterestedly for the public good. He died rich in this world's goods,
but richer still in the goodwill of his fellow citizens."

Many have sought, nevertheless, to belittle Messer Giovanni's
reputation--attributing to him a motive for all his urbanity--that of
the permanent domination of his house in the government of the
Republic--not surely a fault. His old rival in the arena of politics,
Niccolo da Uzzano, ever spoke of him after his death with unstinted
praise and admiration.

Messer Giovanni shares with Cavaliere Salvestro the undying fame of
having raised, upon the excellent foundation laid by their ancestors,
the massive supporting walls of that superb edifice, of which his son,
Cosimo, formed the cupola, and his great-grandson, Lorenzo--the
lantern--"the Light of Italy."

The third and fourth "Grand" Medici were, of course, Cosimo, "_Il Padre
della Patria_," and Lorenzo, "_Il Magnifico_." The stories of their
lives and exploits are to be read in the stories, the literature and the
arts of Florence. Of Cosimo, Niccolo Macchiavelli wrote as follows:

"He applied himself so strenuously to increase the political power of