d minister who had
administered the state under Galeazzo, kept a firm hold on the reins of
government, ruled the Milanese in the name of Duchess Bona and her young
son Gian Galeazzo. The Sforza brothers soon found their position
intolerable, and the intervention of a friendly neighbour, the Marquis
of Mantua, was necessary before they could obtain any recognition of
their right. At his request, Bona agreed to give each of her
brothers-in-law a suitable residence in Milan, as well as a portion of
12,500 ducats from the revenues of their mother's inheritance, the city
of Cremona. Filippo Sforza, the second of the brothers, who is described
as weak in intellect and a person of no account, was content to live
peaceably in Milan, where his very existence seems to have been
forgotten by his family, and where the only mention of him that occurs
again is that of his death in 1492. The other brothers were sent to
Genoa, where an insurrection had broken out, and succeeded in subduing
the rebels and restoring peace. But when they returned to Milan at the
head of a victorious army, with their kinsman the valiant Condottiere
Roberto di Sanseverino, a movement was set on foot among the old
Ghibelline followers of Duke Francesco to obtain the regency for Sforza,
Duke of Bari. Cries of _Moro! Moro!_ began to be heard in the streets of
Milan. Simonetta, becoming alarmed, threw Donato del Conte, one of the
Ghibelline leaders, into prison, upon which Sanseverino and the Sforzas
loudly demanded his release. Simonetta gave them fair words in return,
and induced the dissatisfied chiefs to meet in the park of the Castello,
where they agreed to lay down their arms. But Sanseverino, suspecting
treachery, set spurs to his horse, and, riding with drawn sword in his
hand out of the city through the Porta Vercellina, crossed the Ticino,
and did not pause until he was in safety. His companions soon followed
his example. Ottaviano Sforza, the youngest of the family, a brave lad
of eighteen, was drowned in crossing the swollen Adda, and his three
remaining brothers were condemned to perpetual exile. Sforza was
banished to his duchy of Bari, in the kingdom of Naples, Ascanio to
Perugia, and Lodovico to the city of Pisa.

During the next eighteen months Lodovico lived at Pisa, fretting his
heart out in exile and wasting the best years of his life, as he
complained to Lorenzo de Medici. His friend could only counsel patience,
for, sympathize as he might