cover.  I need hardly repeat what I wrote at great length in my last, nor shall I have recourse to friends for the same purpose.  They all of them, I know, with one voice, without the least disagreement or hesitation, have exhorted you, immediately upon the receipt of their letters and the safe-conduct, to return home, in order to preserve your life, your country, your friends, your honour, and your property, and also to enjoy those times so earnestly desired and hoped for by you.  If any one had foretold that I could listen without the least affright to news of an invading army marching on our walls, this would have seemed to me impossible.  And yet I now assure you that I am not only quite fearless, but also full of confidence in a glorious victory.  For many days past my soul has been filled with such gladness, that if God, either for our sins or for some other reason, according to the mysteries of His just judgment, does not permit that army to be broken in our hands, my sorrow will be the same as when one loses, not a good thing hoped for, but one gained and captured.  To such an extent am I convinced in my fixed imagination of our success, and have put it to my capital account.  I already foresee our militia system, established on a permanent basis, and combined with that of the territory, carrying our city to the skies.  I contemplate a fortification of Florence, not temporary, as it now is, but with walls and bastions to be built hereafter.  The principal and most difficult step has been already taken; the whole space round the town swept clean, without regard for churches or for monasteries, in accordance with the public need.  I contemplate in these our fellow-citizens a noble spirit of disdain for all their losses and the bygone luxuries of villa-life; an admirable unity and fervour for the preservation of liberty; fear of God alone; confidence in Him and in the justice of our cause; innumerable other good things, certain to bring again the age of gold, and which I hope sincerely you will enjoy in company with all of us who are your friends.  For all these reasons, I most earnestly entreat you, from the depth of my heart, to come at once and travel through Lucca, where I will meet you, and attend you with due form and ceremony until here:  such is my intense desire that our country should not lose you, nor you her.  If, after your arrival at Lucca, you should by some accident fail to find me, and you should not care to come to Florence without my company, write a word, I beg.  I will set out at once, for I feel sure that I shall get permission....  God, by His goodness, keep you in good health, and bring you back to us safe and happy.”