s foes.[1] He gave them their liberty, and
four years later had to sustain a defeat from Sforza at Soncino. Other
reverses of fortune followed, which brought upon him the suspicion of
bad faith or incapacity. When he returned to Venice, the state received
their captain with all honors, and displayed unusual pomp in his
admission to the audience of the Council. But no sooner had their velvet
clutches closed upon him, than they threw him into prison, instituted a
secret impeachment of his conduct, and on May 5, 1432, led him out with
his mouth gagged, to execution on the Piazza. No reason was assigned for
this judicial murder. Had Carmagnuola been convicted of treason? Was he
being punished for his ill success in the campaign of the preceding
years? The Republic of Venice, by the secrecy in which she enveloped
this dark act of vengeance, sought to inspire the whole body of her
officials with vague alarm.

[1] Such an act of violence, however consistent with the morality of
a Cesare Borgia, a Venetian Republic, or a Duke of Milan, would have
been directly opposed to the code of honor in use among Condottieri.
Nothing, indeed, is more singular among the contradictions of this
period than the humanity in the field displayed by hired captains.
War was made less on adverse armies than on the population of
provinces. The adventurers respected each other's lives, and treated
each other with courtesy. They were a brotherhood who played at
campaigning, rather than the representatives of forces seriously
bent on crushing each other to extermination. Machiavelli says
(Princ. cap. xii.) 'Aveano usato ogni industria per levar via a se e
a' soldati la fatica e la paura, non s'ammazzando nelle zuffe, ma
pigliandosi prigioni e senza taglia.' At the same time the license
they allowed themselves against the cities and the districts they
invaded is well illustrated by the pillage of Piacenza in 1447 by
Francesco Sforza's troops. The anarchy of a sack lasted forty days,
during which the inhabitants were indiscriminately sold as slaves,
or tortured for their hidden treasure. Sism. vi. 170.

But to return to the Duchy of Milan. Francesco Sforza entered the
capital as conqueror in 1450, and was proclaimed Duke. He never obtained
the sanction of the Empire to his title, though Frederick III. was
proverbially lavish of such honors. But the great Condottiere,
possessing the s