The Prince himself was
incessantly active, and, as son of his own deeds, claimed relationship
with all who, like himself, stood on their personal merits with
scholars, poets, artists, and musicians. The academy which he founded 6
served rather for his own purposes than for the instruction of
scholars; nor was it the fame of the distinguished men who surrounded
him which he heeded, so much as their society and their services. It is
certain that Bramante was scantily paid at first; Leonardo, on the
other hand, was up to 1496 suitably remunerated and besides, what kept
him at the court, if not his own free will The world lay open to him,
as perhaps to no other mortal man of that day; and if proof were
wanting of the loftier element in the nature of Lodovico il Moro, it is
found in the long stay of the enigmatic master at his court. That
afterwards Leonardo entered the service of Cesare Borgia and Francis I
was probably due to the interest he felt in the unusual and striking
character of the two men.
After the fall of the Moor, his sons were badly brought up among
strangers. The elder, Massimiliano, had no resemblance to him; the
younger, Francesco, was at all events not without spirit. Milan, which
in those years changed its rulers so often, and suffered so unspeakably
in t he change, endeavored to secure itself against a reaction.
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