wenty-sixth he wrote an urgent appeal
for help. This the marquis did not refuse, but he sent him only a
hundred men under the command of an Albanian. Thus do we see how these
illegitimate dynasties of Italy were in danger of being overthrown by
every breath. Faenza was the only place where the people loved their
lord, the young and fair Astorre Manfredi, and remained true to him. In
all the other cities of Romagna, however, the regime of the tyrants was
detested. Sforza himself could be cruel and exacting, and not in vain
had he been a pupil of the Borgias in Rome.

Never was throne so quickly overturned as his, or, rather, so promptly
abandoned before it was attacked. Caesar was some distance from Pesaro
when there was a movement in his favor among the people; a party hostile
to the Sforza was formed, while the whole populace, excited by the
thought of what might follow the storming of the city by the heartless
enemy, was anxious to make terms with him. In vain did the poet, Guido
Posthumus, who had recently returned from Padua to his fatherland, urge
his fellow citizens, in ardent verses, to resist the enemy.[82] The
people rose Sunday, October 11th, even before Caesar had appeared under
the city walls. What then happened is told in Sforza's letter to
Gonzaga:

ILLUSTRIOUS SIR AND HONORED BROTHER-IN-LAW: Your
Excellency doubtless has learned ere this how the people of Pesaro,
last Sunday morning, incited by four scoundrels, rose in arms, and
how I, with a few who remained faithful, was forced to retire to
the castle as best I could. When I saw that the enemy was
approaching, and that Ercole Bentivoglio, who was near Rimini, was
pressing forward, I left the castle at night to avoid being shut
in--this was on the advice and with the help of the Albanian
Jacomo. In spite of the bad roads and great obstacles, I escaped to
this place, for which I have, first of all, to thank your
Excellency--you having sent me Jacomo--and next, to thank him for
bringing me through safely. What I shall now do, I know not; but if
I do not succeed in getting to your Excellency within four days, I
will send Jacomo, who will tell you how everything happened, and
what my plans are. In the meantime I wish you to know that I am
safe, and that I commend myself to you. Bologna, October 17, 1500.
Your Excellency's Brother-in-Law and Servant,

JOHANNES SFORZA of