, however, before all
suspicion of the conspiracy had ceased, a monk was taken who had been
observed during its progress to pass frequently between Bologna and
Florence. He confessed that he had often carried letters to Antonio,
who was immediately seized, and, though he denied all knowledge of the
matter from the first, the monk's accusation prevailed, and he was fined
in a considerable sum of money, and banished a distance of three hundred
miles from Florence. That the Alberti might not constantly place the
city in jeopardy, every member of the family was banished whose age
exceeded fifteen years.

These events took place in the year 1400, and two years afterward, died
Giovanni Galeazzo, duke of Milan, whose death as we have said above, put
an end to the war, which had then continued twelve years. At this time,
the government having gained greater strength, and being without
enemies external or internal, undertook the conquest of Pisa, and having
gloriously completed it, the peace of the city remained undisturbed
from 1400 to 1433, except that in 1412, the Alberti, having crossed the
boundary they were forbidden to pass, a Balia was formed which with new
provisions fortified the state and punished the offenders with heavy
fines. During this period also, the Florentines made war with Ladislaus,
king of Naples, who finding himself in great danger ceded to them the
city of Cortona of which he was master; but soon afterward, recovering
his power, he renewed the war, which became far more disastrous to the
Florentines than before; and had it not, in 1414, been terminated by his
death, as that of Lombardy had been by the death of the duke of Milan,
he, like the duke, would have brought Florence into great danger of
losing her liberty. Nor was the war with the king concluded with less
good fortune than the former; for when he had taken Rome, Sienna, the
whole of La Marca and Romagna, and had only Florence itself to vanquish,
he died. Thus death has always been more favorable to the Florentines
than any other friend, and more potent to save them than their own
valor. From the time of the king's decease, peace was preserved both at
home and abroad for eight years, at the end of which, with the wars of
Filippo, duke of Milan, the spirit of faction again broke out, and was
only appeased by the ruin of that government which continued from 1381
to 1434, had conducted with great glory so many enterprises; acquired
Arezzo, Pisa, Cor