312 THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OE [BOOK IV.

tremendous oath we have just pronounced to satisfythe debt and obligation of incorruptible electors;chasing from us all love, all hate, prejudice, par-tiality, fear, hope, favour. Insufficient is it to havechosen the bravest, wisest, most virtuous; it ismoreover to be maturely weighed before we placeany personage on this magisterial throne, not onlywhether he be worthy of that dignity, and compe-tent in himself, but likewise if our choice be con-sonant with the peace and general satisfaction ofall the different Christian princes, who are allbound to the conservation, quiet, and progress ofthis our sacred republic. And if it be true, as it ismost certainly, that it would be of little advantage tous to have a saint for a grand master, who knewnothing of the affairs of this world; and as itwould on the contrary be highly dangerous tohave the most superhuman of warriors for ourchief, who might set us all furiously divided; inthe same way blind and senseless should we bereputed, or infinitely worse, most ungrateful ofchildren and arch-enemies of our own order, if wedelivered it up into the hands of Prior Strozzi.For besides having for irreconcileable enemy thegreat prince Cosmo de Medici, Duke of Florence,as you all know; and the prior having alwaysbefore his mind’s eye that terrible verse left written