Sonnets
He suggests to his kinsman Nerone that there may be one among ali the Buondelmonti of whom they might in time make a man.
SONNET XIX
News have I now for thee, so hear, Nerone,
How that the Buondelmonti shake with fear,
And all the Florentines cannot assure them,
Seeing thou hast in thee the lion-heart.
They fear thee more than they would fear a dragon,
Seeing that face of thine, how set it is
That neither bridge nor walls could hold against it
Lest they were strong as is King Pharaoh’s tomb.
Oh how thou dost of smoky sins the greatest
In that thou wouldst drive forth such haughty blood
Till ali be gone, gone forth without retention.
But sooth it is, thou might’st extend the pawn
Of one whose soul thou mightest give salvation
Wert thou more patient in thine huckstering.
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