r house. Elisabetta found this beautiful child already betrothed to
Ferrante d'Avalos, son of Marquis Alfonso of Pescara; Ferdinand II of
Naples having brought about the betrothal of the two children as early
as 1495 for the purpose of winning over the Colonna, the retainers of
the house of Aragon.

The Duchess of Urbino actually went to Rome for the purpose of
protecting her noble kinswoman, whom she kept incognito. She remained
there until Easter. On her way to S. Peter's she directed anxious
glances toward the Belvedere, where the bravest woman of Italy, a
prisoner, was grieving her life away, Catarina Sforza having been
confined there since Caesar's return, February 26th, as is attested by a
letter of that date written by the Venetian ambassador in Rome to his
Signory. Elisabetta's feelings must have been rendered still more
painful by the fact that her own husband, as well as her brother
Gonzaga, both of whom were in the service of France, had given the
princess up for lost.

She had scarcely left Rome when Catarina received news that her uncles
Ludovico and Ascanio had fallen into the hands of the King of France.
Having, with the aid of Swiss troops, again secured possession of Milan
in 1500, they were ignominiously betrayed by the mercenaries at Novara,
April 10th. Ludovico was carried away to France, where he died in
misery, having spent ten years a prisoner in the tower of Loches; the
once powerful cardinal was likewise taken a captive to France. A great
tragedy had occurred in the house of Sforza. What must have been
Catarina's distress when she, in her prison, learned that fate had
overthrown all her race! Could one transport himself to that environment
he would breathe the oppressive atmosphere with which Shakespeare
enveloped his characters.

Catarina's jailers were the two most dreaded men of the age--the Pope
and his son. The very thought of what surrounded her must have filled
her with terror. In the Belvedere she was in constant dread of Caesar's
poison, and it is indeed a wonder that she did escape it. She made an
unsuccessful attempt at flight, whereupon Alexander had her removed to
the castle of S. Angelo. However, certain French gentlemen in the
service of the one who was bent on her destruction--especially Ivo
d'Allegre--interceded for her; and the Pope, after she had spent a year
and a half in captivity, allowed her to choose Florence for her asylum.
He himself commended her to the Signory in t