ndera l'arme, e fia il combatter corto:
Che l'antico valore
Negli italici cuor non e ancor morto.

Virtue against fury shall advance the fight,
And it i' th' combat soon shall put to flight:
For the old Roman valour is not dead,
Nor in th' Italians' brests extinguished.

Edward Dacre, 1640.

DESCRIPTION OF THE METHODS ADOPTED BY THE DUKE VALENTINO WHEN MURDERING
VITELLOZZO VITELLI, OLIVEROTTO DA FERMO, THE SIGNOR PAGOLO, AND THE DUKE
DI GRAVINA ORSINI

BY

NICOLO MACHIAVELLI

The Duke Valentino had returned from Lombardy, where he had been to
clear himself with the King of France from the calumnies which had been
raised against him by the Florentines concerning the rebellion of Arezzo
and other towns in the Val di Chiana, and had arrived at Imola, whence
he intended with his army to enter upon the campaign against Giovanni
Bentivogli, the tyrant of Bologna: for he intended to bring that city
under his domination, and to make it the head of his Romagnian duchy.

These matters coming to the knowledge of the Vitelli and Orsini and
their following, it appeared to them that the duke would become too
powerful, and it was feared that, having seized Bologna, he would seek
to destroy them in order that he might become supreme in Italy. Upon
this a meeting was called at Magione in the district of Perugia,
to which came the cardinal, Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina Orsini,
Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, Gianpagolo Baglioni, the tyrant
of Perugia, and Messer Antonio da Venafro, sent by Pandolfo Petrucci,
the Prince of Siena. Here were discussed the power and courage of the
duke and the necessity of curbing his ambitions, which might otherwise
bring danger to the rest of being ruined. And they decided not to
abandon the Bentivogli, but to strive to win over the Florentines; and
they send their men to one place and another, promising to one party
assistance and to another encouragement to unite with them against the
common enemy. This meeting was at once reported throughout all Italy,
and those who were discontented under the duke, among whom were the
people of Urbino, took hope of effecting a revolution.

Thus it arose that, men's minds being thus unsettled, it was decided by
certain men of Urbino to seize the fortress of San Leo, which was
held for the duke, and which they captured by the following means. The
castellan was fortifying the rock and causing timber to be t