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6 - The Choice of Hercules

Between Duty and Pleasure, 1488–1489

from Part I - The Early Years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2019

Alison Brown
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway, University of London
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Summary

The year that followed Piero’s and Maddalena’s high-ranking marriages in 1488 saw Piero faced with a choice between two different ways of life. On one hand, he had to play his part in the civic life of Florence and learn the political role that he would inherit from Lorenzo. On the other, he had been seduced by his reception in Rome and by the courtly pleasures he had experienced there with Franceschetto and his curial friends. Its impact on him became clear when, at the end of that year, he demanded two of Franceschetto’s men to accompany him to Milan for Gian Galeazzo Sforza’s wedding, ‘because here it’s impossible to find men who are their equal’.1 Like Hercules approaching the crossroads as a young man (according to the well-known tale told by Prodicus), he seemed to be faced by a choice between a rocky uphill path and an easy downhill one.2

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • The Choice of Hercules
  • Alison Brown, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy
  • Online publication: 20 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108783798.008
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  • The Choice of Hercules
  • Alison Brown, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy
  • Online publication: 20 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108783798.008
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Choice of Hercules
  • Alison Brown, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici and the Crisis of Renaissance Italy
  • Online publication: 20 December 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108783798.008
Available formats
×