a river god which used to
stand in the Monti, and Pasquino, beneath whom the Roman children used
to be told that the book of all wisdom was buried for ever.

In the Region of Parione stands the famous Cancelleria, a masterpiece of
Bramante's architecture, celebrated for many events in the later history
of Rome, and successively the princely residence of several cardinals,
chief of whom was that strong Pompeo Colonna, the ally of the Emperor
Charles the Fifth, who was responsible for the sacking of Rome by the
Constable of Bourbon, who ultimately ruined the Holy League, and imposed
his terrible terms of peace upon Clement the Seventh, a prisoner in
Sant' Angelo. Considering the devastation and the horrors which were the
result of that contest, and its importance in Rome's history, it is
worth while to tell the story again. Connected with it was the last
great struggle between Orsini and Colonna, Orsini, as usual, siding for
the Pope, and therefore for the Holy League, and Colonna for the
Emperor.

Charles the Fifth had vanquished Francis the First at Pavia, in the year
1525, and had taken the French King prisoner. A year later the Holy
League was formed, between Pope Clement the Seventh, the King of France,
the Republics of Venice and Florence, and Francesco Sforza, Duke of
Milan. Its object was to fight the Emperor, to sustain Sforza, and to
seize the Kingdom of Naples by force. Immediately upon the proclamation
of the League, the Emperor's ambassadors left Rome, the Colonna retired
to their strongholds, and the Emperor made preparations to send Charles,
Duke of Bourbon, the disgraced relative of King Francis, to storm Rome
and reduce the imprisoned Pope to submission. The latter's first and
nearest source of fear lay in the Colonna, who held the fortresses and
passes between Rome and the Neapolitan frontier, and his first instinct
was to attack them with the help of the Orsini. But neither side was
ready for the fight, and the timid Pontiff eagerly accepted the promise
of peace made by the Colonna in order to gain time, and he dismissed the
forces he had hastily raised against them.

[Illustration: PALAZZO MASSIMO ALLE COLONNA]

[Illustration: PONTE SISTO

From a print of the last century]

They, in the mean time, treated with Moncada, Regent of Naples for the
Emperor, and at once seized Anagni, put several thousand men in the
field, marched upon Rome with incredible speed, seized three gates in
the night, and