lt of the embassy, we see, was not very promising for Charles
VIII; so he resolved to rely on his ally Ludovico Sforza alone, and to
relegate all other questions to the fortunes of war.

A piece of news that reached him about this time strengthened him in
this resolution: this was the death of Ferdinand. The old king had
caught a severe cold and cough on his return from the hunting field, and
in two days he was at his last gasp. On the 25th of January, 1494, he
passed away, at the age of seventy, after a thirty-six years' reign,
leaving the throne to his elder son, Alfonso, who was immediately chosen
as his successor.

Ferdinand never belied his title of "the happy ruler." His death
occurred at the very moment when the fortune of his family was changing.

The new king, Alfonso, was not a novice in arms: he had already fought
successfully against Florence and Venice, and had driven the Turks out
of Otranto; besides, he had the name of being as cunning as his father
in the tortuous game of politics so much in vogue at the Italian courts.
He did not despair of counting among his allies the very enemy he was
at war with when Charles VIII first put forward his pretensions, we
mean Bajazet II. So he despatched to Bajazet one of his confidential
ministers, Camillo Pandone, to give the Turkish emperor to understand
that the expedition to Italy was to the King of France nothing but a
blind for approaching the scene of Mahomedan conquests, and that if
Charles VIII were once at the Adriatic it would only take him a day or
two to get across and attack Macedonia; from there he could easily go by
land to Constantinople. Consequently he suggested that Bajazet for the
maintenance of their common interests should supply six thousand horse
and six thousand infantry; he himself would furnish their pay so long
as they were in Italy. It was settled that Pandone should be joined
at Tarentum by Giorgia Bucciarda, Alexander VI's envoy, who was
commissioned by the pope to engage the Turks to help him against the
Christians. But while he was waiting for Bajazet's reply, which might
involve a delay of several months, Alfonso requested that a meeting
might take place between Piero dei Medici, the pope, and himself, to
take counsel together about important affairs. This meeting was arranged
at Vicovaro, near Tivoli, and the three interested parties duly met on
the appointed day.

The intention of Alfonso, who before leaving Naples had settled th