paying the Church
annually seven hundred and fifty gold ducats. The daughter of a Roman
pontiff must, therefore, have been the most acceptable consort the
tyrant of Pesaro could have secured under the existing circumstances,
especially as the popes were striving to destroy all the illegitimate
powers in the States of the Church. When Lucretia saw how small and
unimportant was her little kingdom, she must have felt that she did not
rank with the women of Urbino, Ferrara, and Mantua, or with those of
Milan and Bologna; but she, by the authority of the Pope, her own
father, had become an independent princess, and, although her territory
embraced only a few square miles, to Italy it was a costly bit of
ground.

Pesaro lies free and exposed in a wide valley. A chain of green hills
sweeps half around it like the seats in a theater, and the sea forms the
stage. At the ends of the semicircle are two mountains, Monte Accio and
Ardizio. The Foglia River flows through the valley. On its right bank
lies the hospitable little city with its towers and walls, and its
fortress on the white seashore. Northward, in the direction of Rimini,
the mountains approach nearer the water, while to the south the shore is
broader, and there, rising out of the mists of the sea, are the towers
of Fano. A little farther Cape Ancona is visible.

The sunny hills and their smiling valley under the blue canopy of
heaven, and near the shimmering sea, form a picture of entrancing
loveliness. It is the most peaceful spot on the Adriatic. It seems as if
the breezes from sea and land wafted a lyric harmony over the valley,
expanding the heart and filling the soul with visions of beauty and
happiness. Pesaro is the birthplace of Rosini, and also of Terenzio
Mamiani, the brilliant poet and statesman who devoted his great talents
to the regeneration of Italy.

The passions of the tyrants of this city were less ferocious than were
those of the other dynasties of that age, perhaps because their domain
was too small a stage for the dark deeds inspired by inordinate
ambition--although the human spirit does not always develop in harmony
with the influences of nature. One of the most hideous of evil doers was
Sigismondo Malatesta of mild and beautiful Rimini. The Sforzas of
Pesaro, however, seem generous and humane rulers in comparison with
their cousins of Milan. Their court was adorned by a number of noble
women whom Lucretia may have felt it her duty to imitate.