ht, but whispers of darker treachery
were abroad. The Count of Caiazzo, it was said, had forged a letter
purporting to be from the duke, recalling his son-in-law to Milan on the
spot, and Galeazzo himself afterwards showed the false orders which had
deceived him to the French and Milanese chroniclers who repeat the
story. There seems little doubt that Caiazzo's defection was one of the
principal causes of Lodovico's ruin, but, whatever the circumstances of
the case may have been, it is certain that on the next day the French
entered Alessandria without meeting with any resistance, and Trivulzio
sent word to his kinsman Erasmo that before the week was over he would
dine with him in Milan.

When Lodovico heard that Alessandria was lost, his courage failed him.
He determined to seek safety in flight, and prepared to send his sons to
Germany under the charge of his brother Cardinal Ascanio Sforza and
Cardinal Sanseverino, both of whom had left Rome secretly on the 14th of
July, and travelled by Genoa to Milan. Once more the duke called the
chief citizens together, and appealed to them, by the love which they
bore to the house of Sforza and the memory of the peace and prosperity
which they had enjoyed under his rule, to defend Milan against the
foreign invaders. But already sedition was spreading among the people.
That evening the ducal treasurer, Antonio Landriano, one of Lodovico's
ablest and most loyal servants, was attacked by the mob on the Piazza of
the Duomo and mortally wounded.

On the same day--Saturday, the 31st of August--the duke took leave of
his sons, and sent them to Como in the charge of the two cardinals and
their kinswoman, Camilla Sforza. "A truly piteous and heart-breaking
sight it was," writes Corio, "to see these poor children embrace their
beloved father, whose face was wet with their tears."

Twenty mules laden with baggage, and a large chariot bearing Lodovico's
most precious jewels and 240,000 gold ducats, covered with black canvas
and drawn by eight strong horses, followed in the young princes' train.
All the rest of the Moro's treasures, including a sum of 30,000 ducats,
his vast stores of gold and silver plate, and all Duchess Beatrice's
rich clothes and possessions, were left in the Castello, which was
provided with ample supplies of food and ammunition, and defended by
1800 guns and a garrison of 2800 men, who had received six months' pay
in advance. These the duke entrusted solemnly to the