privileges which is formal and binding, and is to be understood as including all those clauses and formalities which are necessary in a full and valid donation _de jure_; with the reservation that if any error is discovered in the books, writing, or reasons above said, they are to be corrected and amended in honest and just fashion; and this is to be understood as binding upon both parties. We command all our governors, clerks of the exchequer, and all other our officials and subjects who see the present letter, to observe it implicitly without contradiction or exception. And that all who see this letter may know that it is written by our own orders, we have signed it with our own hand, and had it sealed with the seal we always use.--Given in Milan on the 11th day of March 1463 (1464). Francischus Sfortia, _Vicecomis_, &c., _manu propria. Cicchus._[83] The last months of Cosimo’s life were passed chiefly at Careggi, and his great solace was in study, as the following letter shows: Cosimo de’ Medici _to the_ Reverend Master Marsilio Ficino, _Platonist_ Yesterday I came to the villa of Careggi, not to cultivate my fields but my soul. Come to us, Marsilio, as soon as possible. Bring with thee our Plato’s book _De Summo Bono_. This, I suppose, you have already translated from the Greek language into Latin as you promised. I desire nothing so much as to know the best road to happiness. Farewell, and do not come without the Orphean lyre. About twenty days before his death, whilst talking to Ficino, Cosimo bewailed the unhappy lot of humanity and exulted in the happier prospect he felt was opening out before him. Ficino replied by citing corresponding ideas from Greek authors, particularly from Zenocrates, upon which Cosimo demanded of Ficino, as a last service, to translate his treatise on Death into Latin. The end was fast approaching, and Cosimo’s calm, rather ironical nature was not changed by physical suffering or by the fear of death. When his wife asked him why he remained silent for so many hours at a time, he answered: “When we go to the villa the preparations for our departure occupy thee for fifteen days; dost thou not understand that I, who am leaving this life for the next one, have much to think on?” * * * * * A few days before Cosimo died Piero wrote to his two sons Lorenzo and Giuliano at Cafaggiuolo, where they had been sent with their mother, Lucrezia, on account of the plague which had broken out in Florence. Indeed there was a report that Cosimo’s malady was the plague, and many were afraid to visit him. Piero de’ Medici _to_ Lorenzo _and_ Giuliano _his sons at Cafaggiuolo_