The public was free to inspect his treasures, and any
citizen might either read or transcribe as he pleased; 'In one word,'
wrote Poggio, 'I say that he was the wisest and the most benevolent of
mankind.' By his will he appointed sixteen trustees, among whom was Cosmo
de' Medici, to take charge of his books for the State. Some legal
difficulty arose after his death, but Cosmo undertook to pay all
liabilities if the management of the library were left to his sole
discretion; and the gift of the 'Florentine Socrates' was eventually
added to the books which Cosmo had purchased in Italy or had acquired in
his Levantine commerce.
Another citizen of Florence had rivalled the generosity of Niccoli. The
Chancellor Coluccio Salutati was revered by his countrymen for the
majestic flow of his prose and verse. It is true that Tiraboschi
considered him to be 'as much like Virgil or Cicero as a monkey resembles
a man.' Salutati showed his gratitude to Florence by endowing the city
with his splendid library. But in this case also there were difficulties,
and again the way was made smooth by the prompt munificence of the
Medici. Cosmo himself bought up Greek books in the Levant, and was
fortunate in securing some of the best specimens of Byzantine art. His
brother Lorenzo, his son Pietro, and Lorenzo the Magnificent in the next
generation, all laboured in their turn to adorn the Medicean collection.
Politian the poet, and Mirandula, the Phoenix of his age, were the
messengers whom the great Lorenzo sent out to gather the spoil; and he
only prayed, he said, that they might find such a store of good books
that he would be obliged to pawn his furniture to pay for them.
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