Pagina 296 di 310

Thus I leave thee a vast estate, of which I am well content, but

I am deeply concerned, inasmuch as I leave it thee unsettled and

insecure. Thou hast the city of Lucca on thy hands, which will

never rest contented under thy government. Thou hast also Pisa,

where the men are of nature changeable and unreliable, who,

although they may be sometimes held in subjection, yet they will

ever disdain to serve under a Lucchese. Pistoia is also disloyal

to thee, she being eaten up with factions and deeply incensed

against thy family by reason of the wrongs recently inflicted

upon them. Thou hast for neighbours the offended Florentines,

injured by us in a thousand ways, but not utterly destroyed, who

will hail the news of my death with more delight than they would

the acquisition of all Tuscany. In the Emperor and in the princes

of Milan thou canst place no reliance, for they are far distant,

slow, and their help is very long in coming.