at the entreaty of his allies.
Leaving the marquis of Ferrara to the defense of his own territories,
he, with four thousand horse and two thousand foot, and joined by the
duke of Calabria with twelve thousand horse and five thousand foot,
entered the territory of Bergamo, then Brescia, next that of Verona,
and, in defiance of the Venetians, plundered the whole country; for it
was with the greatest difficulty that Roberto and his forces could
save the cities themselves. In the meantime, the marquis of Ferrara had
recovered a great part of his territories; for the duke of Lorraine, by
whom he was attacked, having only at his command two thousand horse and
one thousand foot, could not withstand him. Hence, during the whole of
1483, the affairs of the League were prosperous.

The winter having passed quietly over, the armies again took the field.
To produce the greater impression upon the enemy, the League united
their whole force, and would easily have deprived the Venetians of all
they possessed in Lombardy, if the war had been conducted in the same
manner as during the preceding year; for by the departure of the duke
of Lorraine, whose term of service had expired, they were reduced to
six thousand horse and five thousand foot, while the allies had thirteen
thousand horse and five thousand foot at their disposal. But, as is
often the case where several of equal authority are joined in command,
their want of unity decided the victory to their enemies. Federigo,
marquis of Mantua, whose influence kept the duke of Calabria and
Lodovico Sforza within bounds, being dead, differences arose between
them which soon became jealousies. Giovan Galeazzo, duke of Milan, was
now of an age to take the government on himself, and had married the
daughter of the duke of Calabria, who wished his son-in-law to exercise
the government and not Lodovico; the latter, being aware of the duke's
design, studied to prevent him from effecting it. The position of
Lodovico being known to the Venetians, they thought they could make it
available for their own interests; and hoped, as they had often before
done, to recover in peace all they had lost by war; and having secretly
entered into treaty with Lodovico, the terms were concluded in August,
1484. When this became known to the rest of the allies, they were
greatly dissatisfied, principally because they found that the places won
from the Venetians were to be restored; that they were allowed to
keep Ro