Thus I leave thee a vast estate, of which I am well content, but I am
deeply concerned, inasmuch as I leave it thee unsettled and insecure.
Thou hast the city of Lucca on thy hands, which will never rest
contented under thy government. Thou hast also Pisa, where the men are
of nature changeable and unreliable, who, although they may be
sometimes held in subjection, yet they will ever disdain to serve under
a Lucchese. Pistoia is also disloyal to thee, she being eaten up with
factions and deeply incensed against thy family by reason of the wrongs
recently inflicted upon them. Thou hast for neighbours the offended
Florentines, injured by us in a thousand ways, but not utterly
destroyed, who will hail the news of my death with more delight than
they would the acquisition of all Tuscany. In the Emperor and in the
princes of Milan thou canst place no reliance, for they are far
distant, slow, and their help is very long in coming. Therefore, thou
hast no hope in anything but in thine own abilities, and in the memory
of my valour, and in the prestige which this latest victory has brought
thee; which, as thou knowest how to use it with prudence, will assist
thee to come to terms with the Florentines, who, as they are suffering
under this great defeat, should be inclined to listen to thee. And
whereas I have sought to make them my enemies, because I believed that
war with them would conduce to my power and glory, thou hast every
inducement to make friends of them, because their alliance will bring
thee advantages and security. It is of the greatest important in this
world that a man should know himself, and the measure of his own
strength and means; and he who knows that he has not a genius for
fighting must learn how to govern by the arts of peace. And it will be
well for thee to rule thy conduct by my counsel, and to learn in this
way to enjoy what my life-work and dangers have gained; and in this
thou wilt easily succeed when thou hast learnt to believe that what I
have told thee is true. And thou wilt be doubly indebted to me, in that
I have left thee this realm and have taught thee how to keep it.”
After this there came to Castruccio those citizens of Pisa, Pistoia,
and Lucca, who had been fighting at his side, and whilst recommending
Pagolo to them, and making them swear obedience to him as his
successor, he died. He left a happy memory to those who had known him,
and no prince of those times was ever loved with such devotion as he
was. His obsequies were celebrated with every sign of mourning, and he
was buried in San Francesco at Lucca. Fortune was not so friendly to
Pagolo Guinigi as she had been to Castruccio, for he had not the
abilities. Not long after the death of Castruccio, Pagolo lost Pisa,
and then Pistoia, and only with difficulty held on to Lucca. This
latter city continued in the family of Guinigi until the time of the
great-grandson of Pagolo.