The bait, dangled before avaricious eyes, was eagerly snapped up, and when Lorenzo backed up his proposition by munificently mounting each embassy, and by the promise of knighthood upon the return of the ambassadors, scarcely a man of those nominated held back.  The scheme worked splendidly, and Lorenzo had the supreme satisfaction of bidding courteous and thankful farewells to his most prominent rivals.

Among them were such distinguished leaders of public opinion as Bernardo de’ Buongirolami, Cesare de’ Petrucci, Bernardo del Nero, Agnolo de’ Niccolini, and Piero Filippo de’ Pandolfini.  Their departure was the signal for the advancement of many less known men,—­friends and proteges of the two brothers or of Domina Lucrezia.  In this way Lorenzo greatly strengthened his hold upon the supreme power.

Two very prominent men, however, rejected the proposal—­at once the most popular and most dangerous—­Tommaso de’ Soderini and Francesco de’ Pazzi.

Tommaso de’ Soderini added immensely to his popularity by his noble exhibition of self-abnegation.  His prudence and ability had for long pointed him out as the most trustworthy and experienced of his peers.  His whole-hearted loyalty to the cause of the Medici, and the consistency with which he maintained the position he had taken up, at the plenary Parliament in 1469, and subsequently, made him, by the contrariety of circumstances, the most redoubtable rival of the ambitious and impulsive Capo della Repubblica.

The trusty pilot, who had so effectively steered the ship of State through the troubled waters of the interregnum, was, quite unintentionally and unwillingly, the greatest obstacle in the way of the young captain!  Everybody who had a grievance—­real or imaginary—­against the government of Lorenzo, sought Messer Tommaso’s advice and sympathy, so that the situation became charged with difficulties and embarrassments.  The very merest change in the whim of a fickle people might upset the Medici, and then the Soderini would be called upon to fill the vacancy.  Messer Tommaso’s presence in Florence was both a source of strength to Lorenzo and his house, and a menace.

When the subject of the embassy to Rome—­the chief diplomatic appointment of the Republic—­was broached, Messer Tommaso, with the utmost sincerity, expressed his fervent wish to meet Lorenzo’s views in every respect, but he expressed, quite emphatically, his disinclination to undertake such an arduous duty.  Not only did he plead the infirmities of age, but declared that his wife, Madonna Dianora, would never leave Florence.  Her love of her own city and its people equalled that of her sister, the Domina Magnifica Lucrezia—­their social, charitable and literary interests were alike and equal.

Here was a condition of affairs which called for the exercise of the greatest tact and ingenuity, and Lorenzo committed the task of overcoming the scruples of his uncle and aunt to his mother.  Her efforts were entirely successful, and Lorenzo, with a deep sigh of relief, handed Messer Tommaso his credentials, and personally conducted him and his suite to the Porta Romano, and thence speeded him upon his journey.