The health of Lorenzo’s mother made repeated journeys to baths necessary, which seem to have led her mostly, if not always, to the Bagno a Morba. She carried on a constant correspondence with her son, and her letters to him show equally her sincere affection and a certain deference to the head of the family and the State. In June 1477, she wrote from Bagno,[193] which she had reached not without difficulty on account of the badness of the roads. ‘Hail to you, my dearest son (Salvus sis mi suavissime fili)! To-day the letter written in your name has reached me; and it has been a joy and consolation to me to learn that you are well, and, with you, your whole family, for which God be praised. With the greatest satisfaction I received the news of the betrothal of Cosimino Rucellai with the daughter of the Marchese Gabriello, which was for me most unexpected news, fresh as the coin from the mint.[194] I think it is a happy event, the result of which will justify the good beginning, and which we will celebrate here joyfully with the whole society of the place. God give His blessing! Now to other matters: I am well, Heaven be praised, and the baths are doing me good. If God will, I purpose setting out on the 21st inst. and passing the night at Madame Tita’s, the widow of Martino Cortesi, at San Gemignano. She stayed here several days in order to beg me to do so, and then sent her son, who has gone away early this morning, to obtain my certain promise, which I could not refuse to repeated requests, and, as she is a wife and widow, without offending you. So we have agreed to make a short stay without ceremonies, in order to be in Florence on Monday, the eve of the feast of St. John. I shall not come before, because I am rather weak and languid from the bath. Should it be necessary, however, for me to come earlier, tell me so, and I will leave all else. Send me the horses when you like, so that they arrive here on the 19th, and may rest on the 20th, as we think of setting out on the 21st, as I have said. We need seven horses; nothing else. I commend myself to you.—In haste, on June 9, LUCREZIA, in the Bagno a Morba.’ Cosimo’s widow lived in the house of her grandson till the autumn of 1473. Luigi Pulci, who had been to Bologna on an errand for Lorenzo, wrote from Florence, to Madonna Lucrezia at Careggi, on October 26,[195] ‘I have returned and found our Madonna Contessina no more. This grieved me much. Would that I had at least been permitted to see her once more! I pray God to receive her soul to His mercy, and preserve those left, whom I enjoin to submit with patience.’ How much this woman had seen in the fifty-nine years since Cosimo de’ Medici, her husband, had accompanied Pope John XXIII. to the Council of Constance! CHAPTER VII. LORENZO DE’ MEDICI IN ROME—PRATO AND VOLTERRA.