The danger arose from a combination of home and foreign affairs. Like his grandfather, Lorenzo had always been careful not to allow any of the families attached to him to become powerful enough to cause him anxiety. It may be easily understood that this constant endeavour to gain the upper hand, although it secured his position, gave rise to disaffection and hatred. Thus it was with the Pazzi. We have seen how this family, who at first did not find it easy to obtain popular favour, rose to high honours, and how closely they were allied to the Medici. Guglielmo de’ Pazzi had for years always been present at the tourneys, fêtes, and amusements of his brother-in-law. But in his case as in others Lorenzo does not appear to have deviated from his usual policy. He avoided allowing the Pazzi any part in such public offices as they might well claim, considering their position, and at times he appeared almost envious of the rising wealth of this family. Still, for several years harmony was preserved between them. Two letters directed to Lorenzo in 1474 by Jacopo de’ Pazzi, then at Avignon, professing gratitude for services rendered to him, and the hope of future good understanding, are preserved in the archives of the family. This, however, could not last long, nor was the fault all on the Pazzi side. In the year 1476, Lorenzo caused a law on the inheritance _ab intestato_ to pass, which deprived Giovanni de’ Pazzi of the rich Borromeo succession to which his wife had a claim. Giuliano warned his brother, but in vain. Francesco de’ Pazzi, Jacopo’s nephew, who resided in Rome, considered himself ill-used by the magistracy of the Eight. Still it is hardly to be believed that the Pazzi would have put themselves at the head of a perilous enterprise in their native town, if complications in Rome had not brought on a crisis. In the ensuing tragedy, the Pazzi appear as chief actors, but it is more likely they were merely the instruments of Girolamo Riario.[223]