apponi averse to
assisting the count--Cosmo de' Medici disposed to do so--The Florentines
sent ambassadors to the count.

After this victory, the count marched into the Brescian territory,
occupied the whole country, and then pitched his camp within two miles
of the city. The Venetians, having well-grounded fears that Brescia
would be next attacked, provided the best defense in their power. They
then collected the relics of their army, and, by virtue of the treaty,
demanded assistance of the Florentines; who, being relieved from the
war with Alfonso, sent them one thousand foot and two thousand horse, by
whose aid the Venetians were in a condition to treat for peace. At one
time it seemed the fate of their republic to lose by war and win by
negotiation; for what was taken from them in battle was frequently
restored twofold on the restoration of peace. They knew the Milanese
were jealous of the count, and that he wished to be not their captain
merely, but their sovereign; and as it was in their power to make peace
with either of the two (the one desiring it from ambition, the other
from fear), they determined to make choice of the count, and offer him
assistance to effect his design; persuading themselves, that as the
Milanese would perceive they had been duped by him, they would in
revenge place themselves in the power of any one rather than in his; and
that, becoming unable either to defend themselves or trust the count,
they would be compelled, having no other resource, to fall into their
hands. Having taken this resolution, they sounded the count, and found
him quite disposed for peace, evidently desirous that the honor and
advantage of the victory at Caravaggio should be his own, and not accrue
to the Milanese. The parties therefore entered into an agreement, in
which the Venetians undertook to pay the count thirteen thousand florins
per month, till he should obtain Milan, and to furnish him, during the
continuance of the war, four thousand horse and two thousand foot. The
count engaged to restore to the Venetians the towns, prisoners, and
whatever else had been taken by him during the late campaigns, and
content himself with those territories which the duke possessed at the
time of his death.

When this treaty became known at Milan, it grieved the citizens more
than the victory at Caravaggio had exhilarated them. The rulers of the
city mourned, the people complained, women and children wept, and all
exclaimed aga