, being another of the number. In November he sent Lodovico his
cordial congratulations on his niece's marriage with the emperor, and
presented Maximilian with a consecrated sword.

"This is the state of affairs in Italy at present," wrote the chronicler
Malipiero on the 25th of September, 1493. "The Pope is in league with
Lodovico of Milan. Maximilian, King of the Romans, has been elected
emperor, and has taken Bianca Sforza to wife with 400,000 ducats, and
Lodovico is to be invested with the duchy of Milan by him as emperor. At
Rome Cardinal Ascanio's affairs prosper, and Lodovico of Milan is on
intimate terms with the Pope and all of his allies. And Duke Ercole has
sent his son Alfonso to France to tell King Charles that his troops will
have free passage to Naples through his dominions, because he is the
father-in-law of Lodovico."

Under these circumstances, old King Ferrante, becoming desperate, made a
last effort to win over Lodovico to his side, and implored him to use
his influence to stop the French monarch, warning him that the tide of
events might in the end prove too strong for him. "The time will come,"
replied Lodovico proudly, "when all Italy will turn to me and pray to be
delivered from the coming evils." In his anxiety to recover the Moro's
friendship, the old king even thought of coming to Genoa himself to meet
his granddaughter's husband, and arrive at some agreement. But early in
the new year he fell ill, and died of fever on the 25th of January, at
the age of seventy.

The death of Ferrante and accession of his son Alfonso, the father of
Duchess Isabella, and a personal enemy of the Moro, brought matters to a
crisis. The old king could never conquer his dislike of the Pope, and
had only given a reluctant consent to the proposed marriage of his
granddaughter with a Borgia. Alfonso, on the contrary, was ready to
agree to any terms which might conciliate Alexander VI., and employed
every artifice to obtain the Pope's support, and that of Piero de'
Medici against France and Milan. In spite of the compliments that were
exchanged on both sides upon his accession, Alfonso's enmity to Lodovico
Sforza was well known at Naples, and the Milanese ambassador, Antonio
Stanga, warned Lodovico to beware of assassins and prisoners, since, to
his certain knowledge, the "new king has paid large sums of money to
several Neapolitans of bad repute, who have been sent to Milan on some
evil errand." After much vacillatio