tune, and liberty, and not one of his works
has been completed."

In these last melancholy words we read Lodovico Sforza's epitaph,
pronounced over him by Leonardo the Florentine.

FOOTNOTES:

[79] M. Sanuto, _Diarii_, iii.

[80] Luzio-Renier, _op. cit._, p. 672.

CHAPTER XXXI

Lodovico Sforza enters Lyons as a captive--His imprisonment at
Pierre-Encise and Lys Saint-Georges--Laments over Il Moro in the popular
poetry of France and Italy--Efforts of the Emperor Maximilian to obtain
his release--Ascanio and Ermes Sforza released--Lodovico removed to
Loches--Paolo Giovio's account of his captivity--His attempt to
escape--Dungeon at Loches--Death of Lodovico Sforza--His burial in S.
Maria delle Grazie.

1500-1508

On the 2nd of May, 1500, barely a month after Lodovico Sforza's
triumphant return to Milan, the ancient city of Lyons witnessed a
strange and mournful procession, in which he was again the central
figure. That day the King of France's captive was led along the banks of
the swift Rhone and through the Grande Rue up to the fortress of
Pierre-Encise, on the top of the steep hill that crowns the old Roman
city. The scene has been described in a well-known letter by an
eye-witness, the Venetian ambassador Benedetto Trevisano, one of the
envoys who had been sent, three years before, to meet the emperor on his
descent into Italy, and whom the Duke of Milan had entertained royally
at Vigevano. The fierce and vindictive tone of the writer, the exultant
spirit in which he triumphs over the fallen foe, is another proof of the
terror and hatred which the Moro inspired in Venice. Trevisano's letter
was written on the evening of the 2nd of May, and addressed to the Doge.

"To-day, before two o'clock, Signor Lodovico was brought into the city.
The following was the order of the procession: first came twelve
officers of the city guard, to restrain the people who thronged the
streets from shouting. Then came the Governor of Lyons and Provost of
Justice on horseback, and then the said Signor Lodovico, clad in a black
camlet vest with black hose and riding-boots, and a black cloth
_berretta_, which he held most of the time in his hand. He looked about
him as if determined to hide his feelings in this great change of
fortune, but his face was very pale and he looked very ill, although he
had been shaved this morning, and his arms trembled and he shook all
over. Close beside him rode the captain of the king's arch