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It was the work of fifteen years, and when the last volume was brought to Ximenes, shortly before his death, he exclaimed: “Many high and difficult matters have I carried on for the state, yet is there nothing which I have done, that deserves higher congratulations than this edition of the Scriptures—the fountain-head of our holy religion, whence may flow purer streams of theology than those which have been turned off from it.” The whole cost of the work, fifty thousand gold crowns, was defrayed by Ximenes.

In Lorenzo de’ Medici we meet with another of those characters, frequent among men eminent in public affairs, which unite refinement of taste with physical energy. To live in the world’s eye with success, it is necessary to exhibit something ad captandum vulgus. There must either be the intense energy of the Roman, or the more moderate energy with the taste and magnificence of the Romano-Greek. Hence, while the former class of Nose prevails among those who have won fame and honours by arms merely, the latter is frequent among those who are chiefly celebrated for their statesmanship. But both energy and statesmanship were necessary to him who would secure a world’s fame as ruler of a petty Italian state. The head of a state too weak to be feared in war, and too turbulent to be governed in calm tranquillity, required some other qualities beside energy, in order to be respected and honoured by his contemporaries. These qualities were happily united in Lorenzo de’ Medici. Firm in danger, prompt in action, lavish in expenditure, refined in taste, accomplished in learning, expert in art, he was every way formed to win laurels in an age which boasted the greatest statesmen, the best artists, and the most profound scholars. The vigour and promptitude with which he repelled the celebrated conspiracy of the Pazzi family, hanged an Archbishop on the spot in full canonicals, and punished the conspirators, alone attest his energy. The title of Magnificent, which he earned in an age celebrated for its magnificence, demonstrates his lavish liberality; while his love for antiquities, his patronage of the arts of sculpture and painting, his studious devotion to learning and the writings of the ancients, bespeak the refinement of his mind. Among other institutions he founded a school for the study of antiquities, and furnished it with the finest specimens of ancient workmanship. “To this institution, more than to any other circumstance, we may, without any hesitation, ascribe the sudden and astonishing proficiency, which, towards the close of the fifteenth century, was evidently made in the arts, and which, commencing at Florence, extended itself to the rest of Europe.”