Ganz documents how the perceived slights of Agnolo Acciaiuoli and Dietisalvi Neroni by Cosimo de' Medici contributed to the willingness of these two ottimati to take advantage of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici's relative weakness by attempting to reinstitute a purer, pre-Medicean form of republican government.

If his father had served a similar function in Ferrara to that of Cosimo de' Medici in Florence--as a builder of close links with the Church, host of an important Church Council, broker of balance-of-power style peace, and patron of humanism--Leonello was closer to Lorenzo the Magnificent, clearly taking a more hands-on interest in the humanities and, as Lorenzo later would in 1473, assuming an active role in putting the university of his state on firm footing.

Marsilio Ficino (1433-99), the architect of Florentine Platonism, included it among the first ten dialogues he translated into Latin for Cosimo de' Medici, and, following Proclus, regarded it as the capstone of ancient theology, the "innermost shrine" of the mysteries.