Lorenzo de' Medici, Seven Philosophical Questions in Verse

I responded to the seven questions sufficiently (as I believe) for the capacity of my intellect, clearly and learnedly. And indeed, while I was an exile along with my patrons, and while I had been despoiled of everything I had in Florence, and bound in hard shackles for eleven days, even this little book (which I loved as my own child) was taken from me. I had sought it most often, but could never find it. I prayed, I sighed as if for a son who had perished and died. And having been frustrated in all hope for its recovery, I met an excellent father and learned man, Giovanni Battista Bonciani, an old friend and now your Referendary, who addressed me thus: The little book (which you published upon the poem of the Great Lorenzo and which you have sought for so long) is found in my possession. It filled me with the greatest happiness and affected me with such joy that it seemed to me as if my own son, having died, had returned to life. I was reminded of the man recovering one sheep, and of the woman finding the lost drachma. And I was affected by no less pleasure than they were. I recognized how much benevolence the craftsman feels for his own works, and that it is natural for everyone to love what is his own. So that hereafter this little son of mine may not happen to wander or perish, I commit him to your most wise Holiness (under whose protection no one can perish) to be amended and corrected.