, gave the order for the dismissal of his troops,
and the duke, coming up at that moment, called to him. In response
he went to greet him, and fell in thereafter with the others who were
riding with Valentinois.

In amiable conversation with them all, and riding between Vitelli and
Francesco Orsini, the duke passed from the borgo into the town itself,
and so to the palace, where the condottieri disposed to take their leave
of him. But Cesare was not for parting with them yet; he bade them in
with him, and they perforce must accept his invitation. Besides, his
mood was so agreeable that surely there could be nought to fear.

But scarce were they inside when his manner changed of a sudden, and at
a sign from him they were instantly overpowered and arrested by those
gentlemen of his own who were of the party and who came to it well
schooled in what they were to do.

Buonaccorsi compiled his diary carefully from the letters of
Macchiavelli to the Ten, in so far as this and other affairs are
concerned; and to Buonaccorsi we must now turn for what immediately
follows, which is no doubt from Macchiavelli's second letter of December
31, in which the full details of the affair are given. His first letter
no more than briefly states the happening; the second unfortunately
is missing; so that the above particulars--and some yet to follow--are
culled from the relations which he afterwards penned ("Del modo tenuto,"
etc.), edited, however, by the help of his dispatches at the time in
regard to the causes which led to the affair. Between these and the
actual relation there are some minor discrepancies. Unquestionably the
dispatches are the more reliable, so that, where such discrepancies
occur, the version in the dispatches has been preferred.

To turn for a moment to Buonaccorsi, he tells us that, as the Florentine
envoy (who was, of course, Macchiavelli) following the Duke of
Valentinois entered the town later, after the arrest of the condottieri,
and found all uproar and confusion, he repaired straight to the palace
to ascertain the truth. As he approached he met the duke, riding out in
full armour to quell the rioting and restrain his men, who were by
now all out of hand and pillaging the city. Cesare, perceiving the
secretary, reined in and called him.

"This," he said, "is what I wanted to tell Monsignor di Volterra
[Soderini] when he came to Urbino, but I could not entrust him with the
secret. Now that my opportunity has