armed, made a last attempt to assert the Medicean au- thority, and jjut down the insurrection by a bold exer- cise of force. It soon, however, became but too appa- rent to the young cardinal that his hope was all vanity. "The people midtiplied themselves against Pietro," as Guicciardiui {Storia Fiorentinu [Opere inedite],iii, 110) phrases it, and Giovanni, in the disguise of a friar, was glad enough to find himself outside the city gates, and on the open Bologna road, taking the same road as Pietro, followed by their younger brother Giidiano, stiU a mere lad. They went first to John Bentivoglio in Bologna, but, as they ^vere not received here, went to Castello, and found a rel'uge with Vitelli. In this and other places, the Medici, the cardinal included, lived for some time, having frequent endeavors made for their restoration. But when Giovanni was finally persuaded that all such efforts were fruitless, he decided to quit his native coimtry, now ravaged by foreign armies, and be- trayed by the wretched policy of pope Alexander \l, and he set out on a journey to France, Germany, and the Netherlands. For the assertion that the cardinal undertook this journey for political ends there is not the slightest foundation. While abroad he sought lit- erary associations mainly. He courted the acciuaint- ance of men of learning, and not unfrequently displayed his own taste for literature and the liberal arts. In 1503, upon the death of Alexander VI, against whom he cherished a bitter hatred, and on whose account only he had avoided Home after the expidsion of his family from Florence, he returned to the banks of the Tiber. Pius III, who succeeded Alexander VI, lived only a few weeks, and, upon a further election, the pontifical chair was oc- cupied by Julius II, a friend and admirer of Giovanni de' Medici. Our cardinal's elder brother had died in the mean time (in the battle of Garigliano in 1603 ),and, no longer distracted by the imprudent conduct and the wild plans of an imbecile, he gave himseff up wholly to the interests of his ecclesiastical position. By the friend- ship of a nephew of the pontiff, Galeotto della Povcre, he was brought into closer relations with Julius II, and, after the latter had entered Perugia in 1506 (Sept. 12), cardinal Giovanni was intrusted with the government of that town, and only a short time after was honored with the appointment of papal field marshal, mider the title of "legate of Bologna," to the army against the French. The campaign, however, proved rather unsuc- cessful, and at the battle of Kavenna the cardinal was taken prisoner and sent to Milan, whence he made his escape while the French soldiers were busy in prepara- tions for their removal to France. The cardinal's great aim, now that the French had quitted Lombardy and the Florentine republic, was to re-establish his house in the government of Flor<?nce. During the first eight years of their exile the IVIedici had made four unsuccessful at- tempts to regain their power; on the failure of their last attempt, their successfid opponent. Pietro Soderini, had been chosen gonfaloniere for life : to dethrone So- derini, then, was the great object to be accomplished by the cardinal. The gonfaloniere's reign thus far had been noted for its moderation and benign intiuence on Flor- ence, and had secured to the coimtry great prosjierity; but Soderini's integrity was not unimpeachable to the mind of the Medici, and (iiovanni appealed to the Holy Leayue, consisting of the pope, the emperor, the Vene- tians, and Ferdinand of Aragon, to imdertake the res- toration of the Jlcdici, on the ground that Soderini showed great partiality to foreigners, and that his gov- ernment was extremely corrupt. To secure the services of the Holy Leuyue no charges against Soderini ivere really needed, but he brought them, and promptly they replied. A body of 5000 Spaniards, brave to ferdcity, were marched imdcr Kaymond de Cardona against Flor- ence in August, 1512. On their way they stormed the town of Prato, and massacred the citizens, which so in- timidated the Florentines that they immediately capit- ulated, and consented to the return of the Medici as pri- vate citizens. Cardinal de' Medici and his brother Gi-
LEO X
3G2
LEO X
uliano soon after entered Florence, and, though they had asked only tlioir restoration as private citizens, without any share in the government, they had hardly been re- admitted when they forced the signoria, or executive, to immediately call a '• parlamento," or general assem- bly of tlie people, in the great square (September). This general assembly of the sovereign peojile had repeatedly been used by ambitious men as a ready instrument of their views, and it proved such on this occasion. All the laws enacted since the expidsion of the Medici in 1494 were abrogated. A " balia," or commission, was ap- pointed, consisting of creatures of that family, with dic- tatorial powers, to reform the state. No bloodshed, how- ever, accompanied the reaction ; but Soderini, having been deposed by the establishment of this new form of government, he and other citizens opposed to the Me- dici were banished, and " thus once again, after an exile of eighteen years, the fatal Medici were restored to Flor- ence ; once again fixed their fangs in the prey they had been scared away from, and ' the most democratical de- mocracy in Europe' was once again muzzled and chain- ed. A conspiracy of priest and soldier — that detesta- ble and ominous combination, more baneful to human- ity than any other of the poisonous mischiefs comjw)und- ed out of its evil passions and blind stupidities — had as usual trampled out the hojies and possibilities of social civilization and progress" (TroUope, iv, 348).