escoes and venting his bile in
sonnets, the fiery Pope had started on his perilous career of
conquest. He called the Cardinals together, and informed them that he
meant to free the cities of Perugia and Bologna from their tyrants.
God, he said, would protect His Church; he could rely on the support
of France and Florence. Other Popes had stirred up wars and used the
services of generals; he meant to take the field in person. Louis XII.
is reported to have jeered among his courtiers at the notion of a
high-priest riding to the wars. A few days afterwards, on the 27th of
August, the Pope left Rome attended by twenty-four cardinals and 500
men-at-arms. He had previously secured the neutrality of Venice and a
promise of troops from the French court. When Julius reached Orvieto,
he was met by Gianpaolo Baglioni, the bloody and licentious despot of
Perugia. Notwithstanding Baglioni knew that Julius was coming to
assert his supremacy, and notwithstanding the Pope knew that this
might drive to desperation a man so violent and stained with crime as
Baglioni, they rode together to Perugia, where Gianpaolo paid homage
and supplied his haughty guest with soldiers. The rashness of this act
of Julius sent a thrill of admiration throughout Italy, stirring that
sense of _terribilita_ which fascinated the imagination of the
Renaissance. Machiavelli, commenting upon the action of the Baglioni,
remarks that the event proved how difficult it is for a man to be
perfectly and scientifically wicked. Gianpaolo, he says, murdered his
relations, oppressed his subjects, and boasted of being a father by
his sister; yet, when he got his worst enemy into his clutches, he had
not the spirit to be magnificently criminal, and murder or imprison
Julius. From Perugia the Pope crossed the Apennines, and found himself
at Imola upon the 20th of October. There he received news that the
French governor of Milan, at the order of his king, was about to send
him a reinforcement of 600 lances and 3000 foot-soldiers. This
announcement, while it cheered the heart of Julius, struck terror into
the Bentivogli, masters of Bologna. They left their city and took
refuge in Milan, while the people of Bologna sent envoys to the Pope's
camp, surrendering their town and themselves to his apostolic
clemency. On the 11th of November, S. Martin's day, Giuliano della
Rovere made his triumphal entry into Bologna, having restored two
wealthy provinces to the states of the Church by