her dispite they set up a pair
of gallows over against the gate of Florence, and hanged thereon three
asses."

Florence refused to submit. Other Free Companies such as Hawkwood's
joined in the war. The Florentines hired that of the Star. But Hawkwood
was not to be denied. He marched up Arno, devastating the country, and
at last deigned to return to Pisa by Cortona and Siena.

Then Florence did what might have been expected. She bribed Baumgarten,
who with his Germans had fought since the rout with Hawkwood. They met
at the Borgo di Cascina on 28th July. Hawkwood was caught napping, and
Pisa in her turn was humbled. The Florentines returned with two thousand
prisoners, having slain a thousand men. They took with them "forty-two
wagons full of prisoners, all packed together 'like melons,' with a dead
eagle tied by the neck and dragging along the ground."[42] Such was war
in Italy in the fourteenth century.

Then followed the Doge Agnello: the greatness of Pisa was past.

It had ever been the plan of Milan to weaken Florence by aiding Pisa,
and to weaken Pisa by this continual war, for it was the Visconti's
dream to carry their dominion into Tuscany. Now at this time, amid all
these disasters, the Pisan ambassador at Milan was a certain Giovanni
dell' Agnello, a merchant, ambitious but without honour. This plebeian
readily lent himself to the Visconti to betray the city, if thereby he
might win power; and this Visconti promised him, for, said he, "if I win
Pisa, you shall be my lieutenant, and all the world will take you even
for my ally."

Agnello went back to Pisa full of this dream:[43] and at the first
opportunity suggested that Visconti would be flattered if a Lord were
to be elected in Pisa, if only for a year at a time; and in his subtilty
he proposed Pietro d' Albizzo da Vico, a very much respected (_di gran
stima_) citizen, as Lord. But Messer Pietro replied by asking to be sent
with other citizens to Pescia to arrange the peace with Florence. Then a
certain Vanni Botticella applied for the post; and Agnello praised him
for his patriotism, but asked him whether he had money enough to be
Lord. Certainly Pisa had fallen. By this Agnello was suspected, and
indeed one night certain citizens got leave to search his house, for
they believed him to be a traitor[44]. But he had warning, and already
Hawkwood had sold himself, for it was his business. So, when those
citizens had returned disappointed, for they found Ag