he balcony
and cried out to the leader of his men-at-arms, "Go forward!" The man
was in the secret, he rushed on with his band towards the barracks
where Oliverotto's soldiers had just been consigned, and they, suddenly
surprised and off their guard, were at once made prisoners; then the
duke's troops began to pillage the town, and he summoned Macchiavelli.

Caesar and the Florentine envoy were nearly two hours shut up together,
and since Macchiavelli himself recounts the history of this interview,
we will give his own words.

"He summoned me," says the Florentine ambassador, "and in the calmest
manner showed me his joy at the success of this enterprise, which he
assured me he had spoken of to me the evening before; I remember that
he did, but I did not at that time understand what he meant; next he
explained, in terms of much feeling and lively affection for our city,
the different motives which had made him desire your alliance, a desire
to which he hopes you will respond. He ended with charging me to lay
three proposals before your lordships: first, that you rejoice with him
in the destruction at a single blow of the mortal enemies of the king,
himself, and you, and the consequent disappearance of all seeds of
trouble and dissension likely to waste Italy: this service of his,
together with his refusal to allow the prisoners to march against you,
ought, he thinks, to excite your gratitude towards him; secondly, he
begs that you will at this juncture give him a striking proof of your
friendliness, by urging your cavalry's advance towards Borgo, and there
assembling some infantry also, in order that they may march with him,
should need arise, on Castello or on Perugia. Lastly, he desires--and
this is his third condition--that you arrest the Duke of Urbino, if he
should flee from Castello into your territories, when he learns that
Vitellozzo is a prisoner.

"When I objected that to give him up would not beseem the dignity of the
republic, and that you would never consent, he approved of my words, and
said that it would be enough for you to keep the duke, and not give him
his liberty without His Excellency's permission. I have promised to give
you all this information, to which he awaits your reply."

The same night eight masked men descended to the dungeon where the
prisoners lay: they believed at that moment that the fatal hour
had arrived for all. But this time the executioners had to do with
Vitellozzo and Olivero