ds assembled on both sides to cheer their
general. Thus they reached the piazzetta, where Colleoni alighted
between the two great pillars, and, conducted by the doge in person,
walked to the Church of St. Mark. Here, after mass had been said, and a
sermon had been preached, kneeling before the high-altar he received the
truncheon from the doge's hands. The words of his commission ran as
follows:

"By authority and decree of this most excellent city of
Venice, of us the prince, and of the senate, you are to be
commander and captain-general of all our forces and armaments
on _terra firma_. Take from our hands this truncheon, with
good augury and fortune, as sign and warrant of your power. Be
it your care and effort, with dignity and splendor to maintain
and to defend the majesty, the loyalty, and the principles of
this empire. Neither provoking, nor yet provoked, unless at
our command, shall you break into open warfare with our
enemies. Free jurisdiction and lordship over each one of our
soldiers, except in cases of treason, we hereby commit to
you."

After the ceremony of his reception, Colleoni was conducted with no less
pomp to his lodgings, and the next ten days were spent in festivities of
all sorts.

The commandership-in-chief of the Venetian forces was perhaps the
highest military post in Italy. It placed Colleoni on the pinnacle of
his profession, and made his camp the favorite school of young soldiers.
Among his pupils or lieutenants we read of Ercole d'Este, the future
Duke of Ferrara; Alessandro Sforza, Lord of Pesaro; Boniface, Marquis of
Montferrat; Cicco and Pino Ordelaffi, Princes of Forli; Astorre
Manfredi, the Lord of Faenza; three Counts of Mirandola; two Princes of
Carpi; Deifobo, the Count of Anguillara; Giovanni Antonio Caldora, Lord
of Jesi in the March; and many others of less name. Honors came thick
upon him. When one of the many ineffectual leagues against the infidel
was formed in 1468, during the pontificate of Paul II., he was named
captain-general for the crusade. Pius II. designed him for the leader
of the expedition he had planned against the impious and savage despot
Sigismondo Malatesta. King Rene of Anjou, by special patent, authorized
him to bear his name and arms, and made him a member of his family. The
Duke of Burgundy, by a similar heraldic fiction, conferred upon him his
name and armorial bearings. This will explain why