ity of Tassino with the duchess and other members of the
government. The latter, aware of this, to avenge himself for the injury,
and secure defenders against Cecco, advised the duchess to recall the
Sforzeschi, which she did, without communicating her design to the
minister, who, when it was done, said to her, "You have taken a step
which will deprive me of my life, and you of the government." This
shortly afterward took place; for Cecco was put to death by Lodovico,
and Tassino, being expelled from the dukedom, the duchess was so enraged
that she left Milan, and gave up the care of her son to Lodovico, who,
becoming sole governor of the dukedom, caused, as will be hereafter
seen, the ruin of Italy.

Lorenzo de' Medici had set out for Naples, and the truce between the
parties was in force, when, quite unexpectedly, Lodovico Fregoso, being
in correspondence with some persons of Serezana, entered the place by
stealth, took possession of it with an armed force, and imprisoned the
Florentine governor. This greatly offended the Signory, for they thought
the whole had been concerted with the connivance of King Ferrando. They
complained to the duke of Calabria, who was with the army at Sienna,
of a breach of the truce; and he endeavored to prove, by letters and
embassies, that it had occurred without either his own or his father's
knowledge. The Florentines, however, found themselves in a very awkward
predicament, being destitute of money, the head of the republic in the
power of the king, themselves engaged in a long-standing war with the
latter and the pope, in a new one with the Genoese, and entirely without
friends; for they had no confidence in the Venetians, and on account
of its changeable and unsettled state they were rather apprehensive of
Milan. They had thus only one hope, and that depended upon Lorenzo's
success with the king.

Lorenzo arrived at Naples by sea, and was most honorably received, not
only by Ferrando, but by the whole city, his coming having excited the
greatest expectation; for it being generally understood that the war was
undertaken for the sole purpose of effecting his destruction, the power
of his enemies invested his name with additional lustre. Being admitted
to the king's presence, he spoke with so much propriety upon the affairs
of Italy, the disposition of her princes and people, his hopes
from peace, his fears of the results of war, that Ferrando was more
astonished at the greatness of hi