and, after visiting the Duomo, breakfasted
in the house of his kinsman, the Bishop of Como.

The Count of Caiazzo had gone out to meet Trivulzio the day before, and
had been received with great honour, while his brothers Fracassa and
Antonio Maria took refuge with Giovanni Adorno at Genoa, and waited to
see how the tide would turn.

Still the Castello held out, and Trivulzio was debating how best to
reduce this almost impregnable citadel, when Bernardino da Corte sent a
herald to parley with Francesco Bernardino Visconti. At the end of a few
days the faithless governor agreed to surrender the Castello, in
exchange for a large sum of money and the concession of various
privileges for his family and friends. On the 22nd, letters from the
duke arrived, telling the castellan to be of good cheer, for the German
troops were on their way. But when they reached Milan, the Castello was
already in the hands of the French. The treasures of gold and silver
plate which the Rocca contained, the money and the precious stuffs, the
pictures and statues and furniture which adorned its _Camerini_, were
divided between the treacherous governor, Francesco Visconti, and
Antonio Pallavicini, while Trivulzio reserved Lodovico's magnificent
tapestries, that alone were valued at 150,000 ducats, for his share of
the spoil. Then the wonders of antique and modern art which the Moro had
collected from all parts of Italy, the paintings of Leonardo and the
gems of Caradosso, the Greek marbles and Roman cameos, Lorenzo da
Pavia's rare instruments and Antonio da Monza's miniatures, were
scattered to the winds. Certain things--the gorgeous altar-plate and
vestments of the chapel, with the priceless manuscripts of the Castello
of Pavia, and most of the Sforza portraits--were taken to Blois, others
found their way to Venice or Mantua, and many fell into unworthy hands
and vanished altogether.

Lodovico was lying ill of asthma in the castle at Innsbruck, discussing
the best means of relieving the Castello with Galeazzo, when the news of
Bernardino da Corte's treachery reached him. For some minutes he
remained silent, as if unable to realize the full meaning of the words.
Then he said to the friends at his bedside, "Since the day of Judas
there has never been so black a traitor as Bernardino da Corte." And all
the rest of that day he never spoke again.

Even the French were filled with horror at Bernardino's treachery, and
shunned him like a criminal wh