Piero outlived his cowardly surrender and shameful flight three years—­an outcast from his country and a disgrace to his family.  He found an asylum in the house of his wife Alfonsina’s father, Roberto d’Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo and Alba.  In 1502 he entered the service of the King of France, the enemy of his country, against the Spanish conquerors of the kingdom of Naples.  The French were worsted and took to their ships at Gaeta.  Piero escaped, but his death followed shortly, for the boat in which he was crossing the River Garigliano, or Liri, near the famous stronghold of that name, was swamped by the fire of the Spanish artillery and he was drowned.  Cambi, who relates the history, sententiously winds up his narrative with the apposite words, “Thanks be to God!”

After Savonarola’s death in 1498, Piero de’ Soderini was placed at the head of the Government as Gonfaloniere di Giustizia, whilst Piero’s brother, Cardinal Giovanni, took up the leadership of his discredited party.  The terrible sack of Prato in 1512 was an opportunity for the Medici, which they did not neglect to use to their advantage.  In terror the Florentine Government paid 140,000 gold florins to the Spanish Viceroy and commander, who made it a condition of his evacuation of Tuscany, that the Medici should be recalled as private citizens, and be granted permission to purchase back their forfeited property.  On 12th September of the same year, Giuliano, the third son of Lorenzo il Magnifico, with his young nephew, Lorenzo, Piero’s son, entered Florence, attended by a small following.  He was one of the noblest of his race, but he was wholly lacking in initiative and energy.  He made no claim to political eminence, and his self-abnegation led to the return to Florence of his more pushful brother, the Cardinal, who was accompanied by Giulio de’ Medici, the bastard son of the murdered Giuliano.  They installed themselves in the restored palace, assumed much of the wonted state of their family in bygone days, and were accorded public recognition and honour.

The following year Cardinal Giovanni was elected Pope as Leo X., and, at the same time, Giuliano was created Duke of Nemours—­a dignity bestowed by Francis I. of France—­and Lorenzo became Duke of Urbino.  The conferring of these titles stirred the rancour of a considerable number of ambitious Signori, and intrigue and plots to upset the rising fortunes of the Medici were rife.  The very next day after the death of Pope Julius II., Bernardo de’ Capponi and Pietro Papolo de’ Boscoli were condemned to be hung within the Palace of the Podesta, for an attempt upon the lives of Giuliano, Lorenzo, and Giulio de’ Medici.  Eighteen accomplices were tortured and many others banished:  Niccolo Macchiavelli was implicated in the conspiracy, but he appears to have escaped punishment.

Quietly but persistently the power of the great family was recovered.  “The Pope and his Medici” became a proverb throughout Italy:  all men noted their rising fortunes and their bids for power.  Giulio was preconised Cardinal, Giuliano appointed Gonfaloniere of the Papal army, and Lorenzo became the virtual Head of the Florentine Republic.  Giuliano died in 1516, Lorenzo in 1519, and Pope Leo X. in 1521.  The first left no legitimate offspring, and the second only one daughter, Caterina, besides a natural son, Alessandro.