The Divine Comedy with Commentary by Cristoforo Landino

...born a sculptor worthy of being numbered among the ancients, marvelous in composition and variety, prompt and with great skill in positioning figures, all of which appear to be in motion. He was a great imitator of the ancients and very knowledgeable in perspective. Delicate and charming, and of such grace that he highly polished his works; and if a very premature death had not snatched him away in his early years, he would have reached supreme perfection, astonishing every learned man in that art. This likely refers to a contemporary prodigy or perhaps Donatello, though the "premature death" might refer to a specific younger artist like Masaccio (though he was a painter) or a similar figure Landino admired. Lorenzo Bartoluccio Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455), famous for his work on the Florence Baptistery. is very well known for the bronze doors of our Baptistery. There remain perfect works by Antonio, surnamed the Red [Pollaiuolo] Antonio del Pollaiuolo (c. 1432–1498), a key Renaissance goldsmith, sculptor, and painter., and similarly by Bernardo his brother, a noble architect Bernardo Rossellino (1409–1464), a major architect and sculptor..

CIVIL LAW

I wish to finally set an end to these doctrines. But I fear that the legal scholars original: "ciuriſcōſulti" might mark me with an injury. And certainly, as nothing is more ruinous in the republic than the interpretation of laws by venal and fraudulent men, so too is the legal scholar a best patron to justice and a unique refuge for innocence when he possesses true learning and true probity. If anyone asks how much we have been able to achieve in this category of writers, we can show him that only Accursius the Florentine Accursius (c. 1182–1263), author of the Great Gloss on Roman law. was chosen as the commentator of all, whose works were written as if by the will of the civil laws themselves. Similarly, there remain the works of Francesco, his son, who—as he himself writes—stood against the Bolognese jurists, who were most greedy to extinguish the fame of Accursius, being a sharp, true, and pious defender of his father's glosses. Nor is it difficult to show who Dino of Mugello Dino del Mugello (c. 1253–1298), a renowned professor of law. was, for he is known in every school in Italy and wherever one looks outside of Italy. Giovanni Andrea is also known; not Bolognese, but Florentine, although he acquired a Bolognese father by adoption Johannes Andreae (c. 1270–1348), an influential expert in Canon law..

COMMERCE

Because commerce has always been held in high esteem in every city, provided it is practiced with dignity, I mention it in this place. I call upon our adversaries as witnesses, for I fear no one and doubt no one, nor can there be a slanderer so wicked as to deny that Florentine merchants have attained the supreme rank in all regions, both maritime and Mediterranean, where commerce is practiced. For such a mass of money has often been found among our people that it would be difficult for many to believe it. I will refer only to this: that from the year of salvation 1365 until the year 1406, the Florentine people had five wars. The first was against the Pope and lasted three years, and in it were spent twenty-five hundred-thousands of florins. The second and third were the attacks made upon us by the Count of Virtue Giangaleazzo Visconti (1351–1402), Duke of Milan, known for his expansionist wars., in which during the whole time fifty hundred-thousands of florins were spent. Following this, the fourth in 1401 against the Duke of Milan, and it ended in 1404; and in this were spent twenty-five hundred-thousands of florins. Immediately after this began the war of Pisa, in which in one year and a few months fifteen hundred-thousands of florins were spent. We can therefore conclude that in less than thirty years, one hundred and fifteen hundred-thousands of gold florins This equals 11.5 million gold florins, a staggering sum for the 15th century. were spent solely on wars. Each hundred-thousand weighs more than a pound [of gold]. Therefore, how many thousands make a load of four hundred pounds? Since this is so, it is necessary that one hundred and fifteen hundred-thousands be two hundred and eighty-seven loads of gold. This was gathered in very large part from taxes offered by private citizens. And certainly, as we see the bees from a single box spread throughout the whole region and bring back honey from every part, so this people spreads throughout the whole world and, with industry, accumulates and brings home. For this reason, there is no city in Italy, after Rome, that is more noted or more famous. In every country, she is marked with three titles: that she is most famous, most beautiful, and that she abounds with the subtlest of wits. We can add an exquisite worldly neatness and cleanliness in living, and a truly civil life. We can add a supreme skill in agriculture, such that in soil that is not very fertile, we equal the abundance, plenty, and variety of all fruits of the most fertile places. No region is equal to us in villas, which cause wonder in whoever sees them, and from every side for a long distance, they surround the city. And because all these benefits have come from human industry, let us add, if you please, natural gifts. First, we will see our city enclosed from the north and east in the form of a theater by hills clothed with very ancient and fruit-bearing trees; and from the west, extended in a joyful plain. And the air is upright and subtle, producing the sharpest wits. That of Pisa is more condensed, where men are quite strong in memory; but ours, located in the middle between one and the other and tempered, produces many who are excellent in both memory and teachability. It is fortified by many branches of the Apennines against hostile attacks. It is located in the middle of Italy. This makes it easy for the Florentine, adding his own industry, to both convene and distinguish the Italian powers. It has always been copious in nobility. And what is altogether marvelous: there are many cities in Italy in which there are families joined and on good terms as kin to some of the families of Florence. In Bologna are the Bianchini, a family not ignoble, kin to our Acciaiuoli. In Ferrara and Mantua are the Strozzi, and in both cities, they are much honored by the princes. From the Ricci are descended those who live with the same name on the coast of Amalfi. In Alessandria della Paglia are the Eroti, a very numerous family and most adorned in arms and military discipline and golden knighthood, and excellent in civil law through many jurists, and already they subjugate a large part of Monferrato; they are descendants of the Florentine Adimari. The Alberti have kin in several places in Lombardy. The Medici have kin who are Neapolitan citizens. There are some in Parma. There are in Crete original: "Cadia" and in Seville a family rich and adorned with many golden knights; they are called Martelli, and as their insignia they carry the griffin, and they confess to being Florentine Martelli. From the Bonciani family was Gasparre, of such prudence and faith at the court of Queen Joanna of Naples that she, during her life, entrusted him with the whole care of the kingdom, and dying, willed by testament that he should be the first of the administrators until the arrival of René, her adopted son and king. This man became lord of Sant'Agata, Lierto, Monte Acuto, Ascoli, and Treteveri. Esau Buondelmonti ruled in Greece and was Despot of Arta and Zakynthos. One of his sisters was married to the Marquis of Crotone and another to the Duke of Cephalonia; and he left successors until the final captivity of Greece. The Acciaiuoli were lords of Corinth, Athens, and Thebes, and other lands of Greece until the captivity of the Constantinopolitan empire. Neroccio Pitti became lord of Phocaea near Negroponte and of Panaia near Thebes; and in our times, his sons Antonio and Piero are his successors. There were three brothers in England—Gerardo, Tommaso, and Mauro—of the very rich family of the Gherardini of Florence, sent into exile because of civil dissensions. In the conquest of the island of Ireland—not much smaller than England—they offered such prompt, bold, and faithful work to the King of England that, once the island was subjugated, they were distinguished with the lordship of all the flat part where there are people. And even in our times, there remain the descendant lords, and especially the Earl of Kildare and the Earl of Desmond. Nor have they changed the insignia of the ancient Gherardini. Not only in great things has this republic always been excellent, but even in smaller ones, it has shown generosity. She wished to be called Florence [Florētia], and in this, I certainly approve the opinion of Pliny, who writes that the city was named Fluentia from the beginning because it was located between two rivers, the Arno and the Mugnone. But later, flowering in such noble wits, and flowering with every kind of beauty, it pleased its citizens no longer to call it "Fluentia," but "Florentia." Furthermore, she chose the Lily among flowers and the Lion among animals for her sign. Among excellent men, she chose Hercules, the image of her son. The image of Hercules was used on the ancient seal of the Florentine Republic. I realize that by distracting myself in various parts, the matter has become too wordy, and I move too far from the end; but because perhaps there will be someone who, among so many narrated virtues of my people, will want to reproach it for ingratitude—given that it drove into exile so useful a citizen, so adorned with every virtue, and after he was driven out, never recalled him—to this the answer is easy: that this was a vice of the times and not the nature of the people. And if we look for the truth, it was the power of a few, in whose judgment all public administration then lay, who committed such wickedness, not without the supreme grief of the people. Of which I take the best conjecture: because while Dante was alive, the people could not exercise their liberty, but only after his death, when the leaders of the opposing party had already diminished and were in some part mitigated. Then, by public decree, they commissioned the prefects of the construction of the Great Temple The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. that they should establish for our poet in that temple and in an honored place a marble and artistically sculpted sepulcher, with those statues and signs so that it could be seen most ornately. But even this was hindered by the envy of a few powerful men. You therefore, our most illustrious lords, by the vigor of such a decree—which has not been abolished for any time, nor in any part derogated—and by the prayers of the Florentine people who laudably desire it, and by your piety toward the father of our country...