The Life of Pope Leo X in Four Books

A large historiated initial 'Q' containing an engraving of a figure (likely a scholar or author) seated at a desk, writing in a book, with architectural elements in the background.When I had completed in four books the life of Leo the Tenth, your uncle, at the urging of Cardinal Ippolito—for he had liberally invited me to undertake that task—and finally with the encouragement of Pope Clement himself, who instructed me on everything in order, a fatal hour snatched both of them away with great cruelty of fortune. Therefore, being deprived of two by far the greatest and most certain guardians of my life and studies, I thought that I would act rightly and most piously if those vigils, which contained the memory of your ancestors, were published under the protection of your name, since by the best right of succession you have attained the inheritance not only of the leadership and all fortunes, but also of true glory, of which the Medici race has always been most greedy. Since, beyond the wealth and the antiquity of your origin and your domestic discipline—by which your ancestors flourished with incomparable elegance and praise—you have brought new and more august decorations within your household, acquired not at all by the rashness of playful fortune, but sought through the weightiest virtues. Indeed, when you were scarcely past puberty and the light of your character was still ambiguous and uncertain, you offered a true opinion of virile and vivid virtue through observed deeds, when, with Florence recovered by the arms of Caesar Emperor Charles V, you recalled the republic, which had been deformed by the dire ambition of populists, to the authority and counsel of the aristocrats. And soon after, that generous and salutary decree of Amnesty was promulgated, and—what was most healthy for the afflicted state—with expedited and incorrupt judgments established for individual courts, you promised equal grace and zeal of a sincere and constant spirit to all. For within only four heads of untamed insanity, the sword of the state original: "octouralis gladius" likely a reference to the 'Eight of the Guard' or similar judicial body had enacted the law; and with that temperament of severity and clemency you purged the city of its bitterest and oldest enemies. You bore the death of your uncle the Pope with such constancy of spirit, and while you were erecting a most fortified citadel against the wits of the restless and external force, you avoided the weapons and engines of those who were plotting against your life and those of your kin with such happiness, that in these actions of most difficult affairs, neither the prudence of your grandfather Cosimo, nor the mature speed of your great-grandfather Lorenzo from his lofty wit, nor the distinguished and great magnanimity of Leo, nor the clemency, moderation, and patience—in which Clement was somewhat more famous than he was fortunate—could seem to be missed. Caesar recognized these virtues, and he joined his daughter to you in a mature marriage.