the Italian states into confusion in order to secure the sovereignty of a
part. This was easy to accomplish. The Venetians, influenced by motives
of their own, had determined to invite the French into Italy. The Pope
made no opposition to their design; he even favored it by consenting to
annul the first marriage of Louis XII, who therefore marched into Italy
with the aid of the Venetians and the consent of Alexander. He was no
sooner at Milan than the Pope availed himself of his assistance to
overrun Romagna, which he acquired by the reputation of his alliance with
the King of France.

The Duke, having thus acquired Romagna, and weakened the Colonni, wished
at the same time to preserve and increase his own principality; but there
were two obstacles in his way. The first arose from his own people, upon
whom he could not depend, the other from the designs of the French. He
feared that the Orsini, of whose aid he had availed himself, might fail
at the critical moment, and not only prevent his further acquisitions,
but even deprive him of those he had made. And he had reason to apprehend
the same conduct on the part of France, and was convinced of the trifling
reliance he could place on the Orsini; for after the reduction of Faenza,
when he made an attack upon Bologna, they manifested an evident want of
activity. As to the King, his intentions were easily discerned; for when
he had conquered the duchy of Urbino, and was about to make an irruption
into Tuscany, the King obliged him to desist from the enterprise. The
Duke determined, therefore, neither to depend on fortune nor on the arms
of another prince. He began by weakening the party of the Orsini and the
Colonni at Rome, by corrupting all the persons of distinction who adhered
to them, either by bribes, appointments, or commands suited to their
respective qualities, so that in a few months a complete revolution was
effected in their attachment, and they all came over to the Duke.

Having thus humbled the Colonni, he only waited an opportunity for
destroying the Orsini. It was not long before one offered, of which he
did not fail to avail himself. The Orsini, perceiving too late that the
power of the Duke and the Church must be established upon their ruin,
called a council of their friends at Magione, in Perugia, to concert
measures of prevention. The consequence of their deliberations was the
revolt of Urbino, the disturbances of Romagna, and the infinite dangers
which