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The Seal of Florence

 

pax

 

In early 16th century Florence, when Machiavelli was working as a diplomat for the city state, the seal of the Magistrates of the Ten of Liberty and Peace was an image of a dove holding an olive branch in its beak with the following Latin motto "S. Pax et Defensio Libertatis" (Peace and the Defence of Liberty). It can be found in volume 3 of Machiavelli's Historical, Political, and Diplomatic Writings. Below is a photograph of a medallion made by "PENKO' Bottega Orafa Artigiana di Firenze with a similar image.