poor and miserable city, which always formed part and parcel of the house of Your Magnificence, showed such reverence. Especially we your partisans, for our affection and devotion, have been so ill-treated and smitten that we are reduced to nothing, unless Your Magnificence, who has never known what it is to be ungrateful or unjust, does not let us share in your victory as belonging entirely to you, and taking pity on our unhappy and miserable condition will care for and guard us, who desire only to live and die under the protection of Your Magnificence, whom God preserve in happiness.--Volterra, March 10, 1472 (1473).[174] Francesco Filelfo _to_ Lorenzo de’ Medici[175] _Magnifice et Clarissime Vir_,--The Magnificent Messer Ciccho, my compeer, has advised me that I should be better and more quickly employed in the service of friends of this Illustrious Lord [Duke of Milan] than in Rome or any other place, and has mentioned the chair which Your Illustrious Republic has instituted anew at Pisa. Advice was indeed unnecessary, for I desire nothing better than to be in a place where I can use my abilities in the service of that renowned Signoria, and more particularly in yours, to whom I am so indebted. But considering your laws against rebels, among whom, thanks to Carlo d’Arezzo and Poggio with their crew, I was most unjustly included, I have delayed making any application as I thought it would be useless. Now however that my beloved compeer has again mentioned it, and remembering the Greek proverb that the potter fixes the handle on whichever side of the pot seems best to him, I have determined to write to you and to beg Your Magnificence to consider this, for you well know that in this land you cannot find another Philelphus or a man more devoted to yourself. Then about my coats which are together with the books which you have recovered for me. They are three, two of crimson velvet, the other a cloak of rose-coloured cloth lined with rose-coloured silk. You would do me a great service if you would order the cloak to be given back to me as I need it now the weather is warmer, also it might be spoiled by cockroaches, as it is together with those that are lined with fur. _Vale spes mia._--Milan, April 23, 1473.[176] Jacopo Ammanati, _Cardinal of Pavia, to_ Lorenzo de’ Medici