The party so formed, including even such distinguished citizens as the Guicciardini, Baccio Valori, and Francesco Vettori, proved the chief obstacle to the restoration of Florentine liberty in the sixteenth century.
[1] What Machiavelli says (_Ist.

Fior._ vii.

1) about the arts of Cosimo contains the essence of the policy by which the Medici rose.
Compare v.

4 and vii.

4-6 for his character of Cosimo.