itizens, to be chosen by Vitellozzo, should be put into
his hands that they might by their death expiate that of Paolo Vitelli,
unjustly executed by the Florentines; that the Signoria should engage to
give no aid to the lord of Piombino, whom Caesar intended to dispossess
of his estates without delay; and further, that he himself should be
taken into the service of the republic, for a pay proportionate to his
deserts. But just as Caesar had reached this point in his negotiations
with Florence, he received orders from Louis XII to get ready, so soon
as he conveniently could, to follow him with his army and help in the
conquest of Naples, which he was at last in a position to undertake.
Caesar dared not break his word to so powerful an ally; he therefore
replied that he was at the king's orders, and as the Florentines were
not aware that he was quitting them on compulsion, he sold his retreat
for the sum of 36,000 ducats per annum, in exchange for which sum he was
to hold three hundred men-at-arms always in readiness to go to the aid
of the republic at her earliest call and in any circumstances of need.

But, hurried as he was, Caesar still hoped that he might find time to
conquer the territory of Piombino as he went by, and take the capital by
a single vigorous stroke; so he made his entry into the lands of Jacopo
IV of Appiano. The latter, he found, however, had been beforehand with
him, and, to rob him of all resource, had laid waste his own country,
burned his fodder, felled his trees, torn down his vines, and destroyed
a few fountains that produced salubrious waters. This did not hinder
Caesar from seizing in the space of a few days Severeto, Scarlino, the
isle of Elba, and La Pianosa; but he was obliged to stop short at the
castle, which opposed a serious resistance. As Louis XII's army was
continuing its way towards Rome, and he received a fresh order to join
it, he took his departure the next day, leaving behind him, Vitellozzo
and Gian Paolo Bagliani to prosecute the siege in his absence.

Louis XII was this time advancing upon Naples, not with the incautious
ardour of Charles VIII, but, on the contrary, with that prudence and
circumspection which characterised him. Besides his alliance with
Florence and Rome, he had also signed a secret treaty with Ferdinand the
Catholic, who had similar pretensions, through the house of Duras, to
the throne of Naples to those Louis himself had through the house
of Anjou. By thi