Chapter 24

BOOK IV

CHAPTER I

License and Slavery peculiar defects in republican governments--
Application of this reflection to the state of Florence--Giovanni
di Bicci di' Medici re-establishes the authority of his family--
Filippo Visconti, duke of Milan, endeavors to make amicable
arrangements with the Florentines--Their jealousy of him--
Precautionary measures against him--War declared--The Florentines
are routed by the ducal forces.

Republican governments, more especially those imperfectly organized,
frequently change their rulers and the form of their institutions; not
by the influence of liberty or subjection, as many suppose, but by
that of slavery and license; for with the nobility or the people, the
ministers respectively of slavery or licentiousness, only the name of
liberty is in any estimation, neither of them choosing to be subject
either to magistrates or laws. When, however, a good, wise, and
powerful citizen appears (which is but seldom), who establishes
ordinances capable of appeasing or restraining these contending
dispositions, so as to prevent them from doing mischief, then the
government may be called free, and its institutions firm and secure;
for having good laws for its basis, and good regulations for carrying
them into effect, it needs not, like others, the virtue of one man for
its maintenance. With such excellent laws and institutions, many of
those ancient republics, which were of long duration, were endowed.
But these advantages are, and always have been, denied to those which
frequently change from tyranny to license, or the reverse; because,
from the powerful enemies which each condition creates itself, they
neither have, nor can possess any stability; for tyranny cannot please
the good, and license is offensive to the wise: the former may easily
be productive of mischief, while the latter can scarcely be
beneficial; in the former, the insolent have too much authority, and
in the latter, the foolish; so that each requires for their welfare
the virtue and the good fortune of some individual who may be removed
by death, or become unserviceable by misfortune.

Hence, it appears, that the government which commenced in Florence at
the death of Giorgio Scali, in 1381, was first sustained by the
talents of Maso degli Albizzi, and then by those of Niccolo da Uzzano.
The city remained tranquil from 1414 to 1422; for King Ladislaus was
dead, and Lombardy divided into several parts; so that there was
nothing either internal or external to occasion uneasiness. Next to
Niccolo da Uzzano in authority, were Bartolomeo Valori, Neroni di
Nigi, Rinaldo degli Albizzi, Neri di Gino, and Lapo Niccolini. The
factions that arose from the quarrels of the Albizzi and the Ricci,