Twelve Books of Letters and Lectures

ridge Radagaisus, once the most savage king of the Goths, with two hundred thousand men laying waste to the world, was by divine providence hemmed in, captured, and slaughtered. These are the matters, my Piero, which I have found concerning Florence and Fiesole—untouched in our own annals—among authors who are indeed recondite, yet nonetheless reliable; these, unless I am mistaken, ought to be most welcome to our citizens and to you. I, certainly, as a man devoted to the study of letters, could offer nothing greater to you all, who have admitted me into your city, than that through my labor and industry you might at last recognize your ancestors, unknown for so many centuries, as famous and illustrious men. Farewell.

GIOVANNI PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA TO ANGELO POLIZIANO, GREETINGS.

Large ornamental initial C at the beginning of the letter.

Since I have arranged my slender Muses—in which I trifled with my loves while age permitted—into five small books, I am sending the first of them to you, intending to send the others as well, if in this one I find you to be a friend and not a flatterer; for they come to you on this condition: that they be chastised, that they be flogged, and that they pay the penalty for their errors with both the nail and the obelisks. Therefore, present yourself to them as a just judge, not an unjust one—that is, severe, not indulgent. For what greater injustice is there than to deceive a friend who expects everything from you? I am not of such a delicate disposition that I should disdain the erasures of a friend. Indeed, perhaps neither you, nor anyone...