of Venice, and we have resolved to come to your relief with the same
zeal with which we should have armed in our own defense, had we been
attacked. Therefore, the senate of Florence, judging it primarily
necessary to relieve Verona and Brescia, and thinking this impossible
without the count, have sent me, in the first instance, to persuade
him to pass into Lombardy, and carry on the war wherever it may be most
needful; for you are aware he is under no obligation to cross the Po. To
induce him to do so, I have advanced such arguments as are suggested by
the circumstances themselves, and which would prevail with us. He, being
invincible in arms, cannot be surpassed in courtesy, and the liberality
he sees the Florentines exercise toward you, he has resolved to outdo;
for he is well aware to what dangers Tuscany will be exposed after
his departure, and since we have made your affairs our primary
consideration, he has also resolved to make his own subservient to
yours. I come, therefore, to tender his services, with seven thousand
cavalry and two thousand infantry, ready at once to march against the
enemy, wherever he may be. And I beg of you, so do my lords at Florence
and the count, that as his forces exceed the number he has engaged to
furnish you, out of your liberality, would remunerate him, that he may
not repent of having come to your assistance, nor we, who have prevailed
with him to do so." This discourse of Neri to the senate was listened
to with that profound attention which an oracle might be imagined to
command; and his audience were so moved by it, that they could not
restrain themselves, till the prince had replied, as strict decorum
on such occasions required, but rising from their seats, with uplifted
hands, and most of them with tears in their eyes, they thanked the
Florentines for their generous conduct, and the ambassador for his
unusual dispatch; and promised that time should never cancel the
remembrance of such goodness, either in their own hearts, or their
children's; and that their country, thenceforth, should be common to the