Extolled as an Augustus in his lifetime, he has given his name to what is called the golden age of Italian culture.

As a man, he was well qualified to represent the neo-pagan freedom of the Renaissance.

Saturated with the spirit of his period, he had no sympathy with religious earnestness, no conception of moral elevation, no aim beyond a superficial polish of the understanding and the taste.

Good Latinity seemed to him of more importance than true doctrine: Jupiter sounded better in a sermon than Jehovah; the immortality of the soul was an open topic for debate.

At the same time he was extravagantly munificent to men of culture, and hearty in his zeal for the diffusion of liberal knowledge.