inst the count as false and perfidious. Although they
could not hope that either prayers or promises would divert him from his
ungrateful design, they sent ambassadors to see with what kind of color
he would invest his unprincipled proceedings, and being admitted to his
presence, one of them spoke to the following effect;--"It is customary
with those who wish to obtain a favor, to make use either of prayers,
presents, or threats, that pity, convenience, or fear, may induce a
compliance with their requests. But as with cruel, avaricious, or, in
their own conceit, powerful men, these arguments have no weight, it is
vain to hope, either to soften them by prayers, win them by presents, or
alarm them by menaces. We, therefore, being now, though late, aware of
thy pride, cruelty, and ambition, come hither, not to ask aught, nor
with the hope, even if we were so disposed, of obtaining it, but to
remind thee of the benefits thou hast received from the people of Milan,
and to prove with what heartless ingratitude thou hast repaid them,
that at least, under the many evils oppressing us, we may derive some
gratification from telling thee how and by whom they have been produced.
Thou canst not have forgotten thy wretched condition at the death of the
duke Filippo; the king and the pope were both thine enemies; thou hadst
abandoned the Florentines and the Venetians, who, on account of their
just indignation, and because they stood in no further need of thee,
were almost become thy declared enemies. Thou wert exhausted by thy
wars against the church; with few followers, no friends, or any money;
hopeless of being able to preserve either thy territories or thy
reputation. From these circumstances thy ruin must have ensued, but for
our simplicity; we received thee to our home, actuated by reverence for
the happy memory of our duke, with whom, being connected by marriage and
renewed alliance, we believed thy affection would descend to those
who had inherited his authority, and that, if to the benefits he had
conferred on thee, our own were added, the friendship we sought to
establish would not only be firm, but inseparable; with this impression,
we added Verona or Brescia to thy previous appointments. What more could
we either give or promise thee? What else couldst thou, not from
us merely, but from any others, have either had or expected? Thou
receivedst from us an unhoped-for benefit, and we, in return, an
unmerited wrong. Neither hast