as a traitor. Charles V.
asked the Marquis de Villena to give quarters in his palace to the duke.

"I can refuse the emperor nothing," he replied; "but as soon as the
_traitor_ is out of my house I shall set it on fire with my own hand. No
man of honor could live in it again."

Despite this feeling, the military record of Bourbon could not be set
aside. He was the greatest general of his time, and, recognizing this,
Charles again placed him in command of his armies in Italy. On going
there, Bourbon found that there was nothing that could be called an
army. Everything was in disorder and the imperial cause almost at an
end. In this state of affairs, Bourbon became filled with hopes of great
conquests and high fame for himself. Filled with the spirit of
adventure, and finding the Spanish army devoted to him, he added to it
some fifteen thousand of German lanzknechts, most of them Lutherans.

Addressing this greedy horde of soldiers of fortune, he told them that
he was now but a poor gentleman, like themselves, and promised that if
they would follow him he would make them rich or die in the attempt.
Finishing his remarks, which were greeted with enthusiastic cheers, he
distributed among them all his money and jewels, keeping little more
than his clothes and armor for himself.

"We will follow you everywhere, to the devil himself!" shouted the wild
horde of adventurers. "No more of Julius Caesar, Hannibal, and Scipio!
Hurrah for the fame of Bourbon!"

Putting himself at the head of this tumultuous array, the duke led them
southward through Italy, halting before Bologna, Florence, and other
towns, with a half-formed purpose to besiege them, but in the end
pushing on without an assault until, on the 5th of May, 1527, his horde
of land pirates came in sight of Rome itself.

The imperial city, after being sacked by the Goths, Vandals, and other
barbarians, had remained without serious damage for a thousand years,
but now another army was encamped under its walls, and one equally bent
on havoc and ruin with those of the past.

"Now is the time to show courage, manliness, and the strength of your
bodies," said Bourbon to his followers. "If in this bout you are
victorious, you will be rich lords and well off for the rest of your
lives. Yonder is the city whereof, in times past, a wise astrologer
prophesied concerning me, telling me that I should die there; but I
swear to you that I care but little for dying there if, when