At the time of Filelfo’s death, while in many other cities the influence of the Renaissance was bringing together collections of books and circles of scholars, and literary productiveness was increasing throughout Italy, Florence still remained the capital of learning and of refined culture. Lorenzo de’ Medici had, in 1469, succeeded to Pietro, and of all the Medici it was Lorenzo whose influence was the most important in furthering the intellectual and artistic movements of the time. Symonds speaks of him as “a man of marvellous variety and range of mental power, in whom ... the versatility of the Renaissance found its fullest incarnation.” Lorenzo attracted to his villa the greatest scholars and most brilliant men of the time, a circle which included Poliziano, Landino, Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Alberti, Pulci, and Michael Angelo. The interests of this circle, as of all similar Italian circles of the time, were largely absorbed in the philosophy and literature of Greece, and special attention was devoted to the teachings of Plato. Plato’s writings were translated into Latin by Ficino, and the translation was printed in 1482, at the cost of Filippo Valvio. Ficino was too poor himself to undertake the publication of his works, and this was the case with not a few of the distinguished authors of the age. The presentation of books to the public required at this time what might be called the endowment of literature, an endowment which was supplied by the liberality of wealthy patrons possessed of literary appreciation or public-spirited ambition, or of both. As Symonds expresses it, “Great literary undertakings involved in that century the substantial assistance of wealthy men, whose liberality was rewarded by a notice in the colophon or in the title-page.” The formal dedication was an invention of a somewhat later date. The Ficino edition of _Plotinus_, printed at the expense of Lorenzo de’ Medici, and published a few weeks after his death, bears the inscription, _Magnifici sumptu Laurentii patriæ servatoris_. The edition of _Homer_ of Lorenzo Alopa, issued in 1488, was printed at the expense of either Bernardo Nerli or Giovanni Acciajuoli. These examples of printed publications belong, however, to a later chapter. Ficino followed up his translation of Plato’s work with a _Life of Plato_, and an essay on the _Platonic Doctrine of Immortality_.