On Whether or Not the Florentines Should Accept the Peace Agreement that the Duke of Milan is Offering
This chapter concerns the offer of a treaty of peace from Duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan as he attempted to restore his family's lost territories — a plan that the Florentines had good reason to oppose, though they accepted the treaty nevertheless. To Guicciardini, the decision reflected in particular the desire not to antagonise the popular party, whose members suspected that those who spoke against Filippo's peace plan stood to gain some personal advantage from war. Thus, the supporters of the peace became more vocal, those who held a different view turned more reserved, and those in between embraced the prevailing opinion, ‘whose good was evident and whose evil was so hidden that only a perspicacious eye could see it’.
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2020 ◽
pp. 149-164
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