This is one of the masterpieces of Guicciardini's analysis.

He shows how the administration of justice, the distribution of public honors, and the foreign policy of the republic were perverted by this family.

He condemns Cosimo's tyrannical application of fines and imposts (p.

68), Piero the younger's insolence (p.

46), and Lorenzo's appropriation of the public moneys to his private use (p.