world--considering that our city of Florence, the daughter
and creature of Rome, was rising, whilst Rome was declin-
ing, it seemed to me fitting to collect in this volume and
chronicle all the deeds and beginnings of the city of Flor-
ence, in so far as it has been possible for me to find and
gather them together, and to follow the doings of the Flor-
entines in detail, and the other notable things of the
universe in brief, as long as it shall be God's pleasure; in
hope of whose grace rather than in my own poor learning,
I have undertaken the said enterprise; and thus in the year
1300, having returned from Rome, I began to compile this
book, in reverence to God and the blessed John, and in com-
mendation of our city of Florence." Having a clear mind,
and being accustomed to business and the observation of
mankind, in his Cronica Fiorentina, which extends from
Biblical times down to 1346, he has given us a vivid descrip-
tion of the intellectual, political, and economic life of big
native city. Being a contemporary of Dante, the description
of him is of incomparable value.

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