Visconti: wretches mutilated for neglect
of his hounds extended their handless stumps for charity to the
travelers through his villages.[2] Instead of the generosity for which
Alfonso had been famous, Ferdinand developed all the arts of avarice.
Like Sixtus IV. he made the sale of corn and oil a royal monopoly,
trafficking in the hunger of his subjects.[3] Like Alexander VI. he
fattened his viziers and secretaries upon the profits of extortion which
he shared with them, and when they were fully gorged he cut their
throats and proclaimed himself the heir through their attainder.[4]
Alfonso had been famous for his candor and sincerity. Ferdinand was a
demon of dissimulation and treachery. His murder of his guest Jacopo
Piccinino at the end of a festival, which extended over twenty-seven
days of varied entertainments, won him the applause of Machiavellian
spirits throughout Italy. It realized the ideal of treason conceived as
a fine art. Not less perfect as a specimen of diabolical cunning was the
vengeance which Ferdinand, counseled by his son Alfonso, inflicted on
the barons who conspired against him.[5] Alfonso was a son worthy of his
terrible father. The only difference between them was that Ferdinand
dissembled, while Alfonso, whose bravery at Otranto against the Turks
had surrounded him with military glory, abandoned himself with cynicism
to his passions. Sketching characters of both in the same paragraph, de
Comines writes: 'Never was man more cruel than Alfonso, nor more
vicious, nor more wicked, nor more poisonous, nor more gluttonous. His
father was more dangerous, because he could conceal his mind and even
his anger from sight; in the midst of festivity he would take and
slaughter his victims by treachery. Grace or mercy was never found in
him, nor yet compassion for his poor people. Both of them laid forcible
hands on women. In matters of the Church they observed nor reverence nor
obedience. They sold bishoprics, like that of Tarento, which Ferdinand
disposed of for 13,000 ducats to a Jew in favor of his son whom he
called a Christian.'

[1] See Pontanus, _de Immanitate,_ Aldus, 1518, vol. 1. p. 318:
'Ferdinandus Rex Neapolitanorum praeclaros etiam viros conclusos
carcere etiam bene atque abunde pascebat, eandem ex iis
voluptatem capiens quam pueri e conclusis in cavea aviculis:
qua de re saepenumero sibi ipsi inter intimos suos diu multumque
gratulatus subblanditusque in risum tandem ac