udavico
Sforza, took their leave: John Galeazzo was doomed.
Two days after, Charles VIII left for Florence, accompanied by his ally;
but scarcely had they reached Parma when a messenger caught them up, and
announced to Ludovico that his nephew was just dead: Ludovico at once
begged Charles to excuse his leaving him to finish the journey alone; the
interests which called him back to Milan were so important, he said, that
he could not under the circumstances stay away a single day longer. As a
fact he had to make sure of succeeding the man he had assassinated.
But Charles VIII continued his road not without some uneasiness. The
sight of the young prince on his deathbed had moved him deeply, for at
the bottom of his heart he was convinced that Ludovico Sforza was his
murderer; and a murderer might very well be a traitor. He was going
forward into an unfamiliar country, with a declared enemy in front of him
and a doubtful friend behind: he was now at the entrance to the
mountains, and as his army had no store of provisions and only lived from
hand to mouth, a forced delay, however short, would mean famine. In
front of him was Fivizzano, nothing, it is true, but a village surrounded
by walls, but beyond Fivizzano lay Sarzano and Pietra Santa, both of them
considered impregnable fortresses; worse than this, they were coming into
a part of the country that was especially unhealthy in October, had no
natural product except oil, and even procured its own corn from
neighbouring provinces; it was plain that a whole army might perish there
in a few days either from scarcity of food or from the unwholesome air,
both of which were more disastrous than the impediments offered at every
step by the nature of the ground. The situation was grave; but the pride
of Piero dei Medici came once more to the rescue of the fortunes of
Charles VIII.
CHAPTER V
PIERO DEI MEDICI had, as we may remember, undertaken to hold the entrance
to Tuscany against the French; when, however, he saw his enemy coming
dawn from the Alps, he felt less confident about his own strength, and
demanded help from the pope; but scarcely had the rumour of foreign
invasion began to spread in the Romagna, than the Colonna family declared
themselves the French king's men, and collecting all their forces seized
Ostia, and there awaited the coming of the French fleet to offer a
passage through Rome. The pope, therefore, instead of sending troops to
Florence,
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