e order of the
Diet, Ludovico's auxiliaries declared that in fighting against their
Swiss brethren they would be acting in disobedience to the Diet, and
would risk capital punishment in the end--a danger that nothing would
induce them to incur unless they immediately received the arrears of
their pay. The duke, who a spent the last ducat he had with him, and was
entirely cut off from his capital, knew that he could not get money till
he had fought his way through to it, and therefore invited the Swiss
to make one last effort, promising them not only the pay that was in
arrears but a double hire. But unluckily the fulfilment of this promise
was dependent on the doubtful issue of a battle, and the Swiss replied
that they had far too much respect for their country to disobey its
decree, and that they loved their brothers far too well to consent to
shed their blood without reward; and therefore Sforza would do well
not to count upon them, since indeed the very next day they proposed to
return to their homes. The duke then saw that all was lost, but he made
a last appeal to their honour, adjuring them at least to ensure his
personal safety by making it a condition of capitulation. But they
replied that even if a condition of such a kind, would not make
capitulation impossible, it would certainly deprive them of advantages
which they had aright to expect, and on which they counted as
indemnification for the arrears of their pay. They pretended, however,
at last that they were touched by the prayers of the man whose orders
they had obeyed so long, and offered to conceal him dressed in their
clothes among their ranks. This proposition was barely plausible; far
Sforza was short and, by this time an old man, and he could not possibly
escape recognition in the midst of an army where the oldest was not past
thirty and the shortest not less than five foot six. Still, this was his
last chance, and he did not reject it at once, but tried to modify it so
that it might help him in his straits. His plan was to disguise himself
as a Franciscan monk, so that mounted an a shabby horse he might pass
for their chaplain; the others, Galeazzo di San Severing, who commanded
under him, and his two brothers, were all tall men, so, adopting the
dress of common soldiers, they hoped they might escape detection in the
Swiss ranks.

Scarcely were these plans settled when the duke heard that the
capitulation was signed between Trivulce and the Swiss, wh