of the predominance of his family, and he made way, after a brief
exercise of authority, for his brilliant son, Lorenzo.

Piero's character and career again prove the truth of the adage:
"Ability rarely runs in two successive generations." All the same, he
died in 1409, leaving his sons the heirs to nearly 300,000 gold florins!

Lorenzo, "_Il Magnifico_," was the first of the "Grand" Medici to give
up entirely all connection with commercial pursuits and banking
interests. His tenure of office, by a curious paradox, marks the
termination of the financial liberties of Florence! He was an all-round
genius--there was nothing he could not do--and do well! "Whatever is
worth doing at all," he was wont to say, "is worth doing well."

With his death, in 1492, as Benedetto Dei said, "The Splendour, not of
Tuscany only, but of all Italy, disappeared."

With the beginning of the sixteenth century dawned a new era.
Preliminary signs had appeared in the growth of wealth, in
enfranchisement from primitive methods, and in the evolution of
individualism. Love of country and the ties of family life were loosened
by the universal craving for self-indulgence and personal distinction.
Idleness, sensuality, and scepticism--three baneful sisters--gained the
mastery, weakening the fabric of society, and leading on to the evil
courses of tyrannicide.

"The gradual extinction of public spirit; the general deterioration of
private character, and the exercise of unbridled lust and passion, are
the livid hues which tinge with the purple of melancholy and the scarlet
of tragedy the later pages of Florentine story."