ir last conquest, the duchy of Piombino. The apparent
object of this journey was that the new subjects might take their
oath to Caesar, and the real object was to form an arsenal in Jacopo
d'Appiano's capital within reach of Tuscany, a plan which neither the
pope nor his son had ever seriously abandoned. The two accordingly
started from the port of Corneto with six ships, accompanied by a
great number of cardinals and prelates, and arrived the same evening at
Piombina. The pontifical court made a stay there of several days, partly
with a view of making the duke known to the inhabitants, and also in
order to be present at certain ecclesiastical functions, of which the
most important was a service held on the third Sunday in Lent, in which
the Cardinal of Cosenza sang a mass and the pope officiated in state
with the duke and the cardinals. After these solemn functions the
customary pleasures followed, and the pope summoned the prettiest girls
of the country and ordered them to dance their national dances before
him.

Following on these dances came feasts of unheard of magnificence, during
which the pope in the sight of all men completely ignored Lent and did
not fast. The abject of all these fetes was to scatter abroad a great
deal of money, and so to make the Duke of Valentinois popular, while
poor Jacopo d'Appiano was forgotten.

When they left Piombino, the pope and his son visited the island of
Elba, where they only stayed long enough to visit the old fortifications
and issue orders for the building of new ones.

Then the illustrious travellers embarked on their return journey to
Rome; but scarcely had they put out to sea when the weather became
adverse, and the pope not wishing to put in at Porto Ferrajo, they
remained five days on board, though they had only two days' provisions.
During the last three days the pope lived on fried fish that were caught
under great difficulties because of the heavy weather. At last they
arrived in sight of Corneto, and there the duke, who was not on the same
vessel as the pope, seeing that his ship could not get in, had a boat
put out, and so was taken ashore. The pope was obliged to continue on
his way towards Pontercole, where at last he arrived, after encountering
so violent a tempest that all who were with him were utterly subdued
either by sickness or by the terror of death. The pope alone did not
show one instant's fear, but remained on the bridge during the storm,
sitting on