ENDNOTES

^*At the recommendation of Machiavelli, the Signoria of Florence resolved to enroll its own subjects, so as to have an armed force of their own when occasion should arise. The recommendation of the Secretary was begun to be put into practical operation by enrolling throughout the dominion all men capable of bearing arms, and Machiavelli himself was commissioned to carry into effect the greater part of this enrolment. His mission lasted from December, 1505, till April, 1506. According to his different tours he was furnished by the Magistracy of the Ten with letters of credence to the respective Rectors or governors of the places where he went. These credentials were as follows: —

^*The peace concluded at Blois between the kings of France and Spain relieved Pope Julius II. of the fear of having to cope with a powerful enemy when he should take up arms for the purpose, as he called it, of purging the states of the Church of the tyrants, and bringing them back to their obedience to him, so that he thought the opportune moment had come for carrying his design into effect. Assured of the French alliance, at ease with regard to the Venetians, whom he allowed, so long as he deemed it convenient, to hold Faenza and Rimini; having already recovered Imola, Cesena, and Furli from them, he resolved to begin the war by attacking the most feeble; namely, Gianpaolo Baglioni and Giovanni Bentivogli, with the intention of driving the one out of Perugia and the other out of Bologna. To make his success the more sure, he asked for help from the king of France, from the Duke of Ferrara, from Pandolfo Petrucci, from the Venetians, and from the Florentines. To the latter he sent his Protonotario Merino with the request to send him one hundred men-at-arms under command of Marc Antonio Colonna, who was at the time in the service of the Florentine republic. At the Council held for the purpose of deciding upon the reply to be made to the Pope’s request, all present were not of the same mind; but the opinion of Piero Soderini prevailed, supported as it was by Giovanbattista Ridolfi and Piero de Guicciardini, namely, that they should consent to furnish the desired help, delaying it however as long as possible. Niccolo Machiavelli was charged to carry this reply to the Pope, and to accompany him in his expedition until he should be replaced by an ambassador. Having left Florence on the 25th of August, Machiavelli found Julius II. already on the way at Nepi; and from there he followed him until the 1st of November, when he returned to Florence by way of Imola, having yielded his place to the new Ambassador, Messer Francesco Pepi. The following letters contain the history of Machiavelli’s mission, and of the events that occurred during that period.

^*This was Messer Francesco da Castel del Rio, Bishop of Pavia, and Cardinal, etc.

^*In the Archives of Monte Comune, amongst the Acts of the Podesta, Vol. 345, Ann. 1502, we read, “Vincentius de Nobilibus, Miles et Comes de Monte Vibbiano de Perusio.”

^*This is Galeotto Franciotto della Rovere, Cardinal with the title of S. Pietro in Vincola, which title had been borne by Giuliano della Rovere before his election as Pope under the name of Julius II.

^*This was the Bishop of Arezzo, who afterwards, in 1508, became the Archbishop of Florence.

^*In the previous letter Machiavelli called this place Santa Fiore, which shows how uncertain and variable proper names then were.

^*Respecting this Messer Agostino, the Annals of Cremona, by L. Cavitelli, may be consulted. He is there spoken of as “Augustinus Somentius,” etc.

^*This was Melchior Cops, or Copis, a German who, being Bishop of Brixen, or Bressanone, was made Cardinal by Alexander VI. in the year 1503. Having been sent to Rome as ambassador of the Emperor Maximilian, he died there in the month of May, 1509, and was buried in the church of Ara Cœli.

^*This Tosinghi was Commissary-General in Castrocaro in 1506; and it was through him that Machiavelli generally sent his letters to Florence, and vice versa the Florentine government sent their letters through him to Machiavelli.

^*This Nanni Morattini was Captain-General of Antonio Ordelaffi of Furli. See History of the Marquis of Furli.

^*This event was announced to Machiavelli by Cardinal Soderini, in a letter still extant, and dated at Cesena, 6 October, in precisely the same terms which Machiavelli uses, in writing to the Florentine Signoria, about the nature of the malady of which the Archduke Philip died. Muratori in the Annals of Italy in 1528, speaks of the “Mazzucco” as a pestilential fever which attacks the inhabitants of Padua, rendering them mad and desirous to throw themselves out of the window, or into wells and rivers, and for which medical men have found no remedy as yet. He reports also that in the same year the imperial army was attacked by this epidemic, which caused much suffering and great mortality amongst the troops. It recurred in the years 1414, 1510, 1558, and 1580, in which last year Anne of Austria, wife of King Philip II., died of it. The historian Mariana, Vol. II. p. 225, in speaking of the death of the Archduke Philip, expresses himself as follows: “The King Don Philip was seized with a pestilential fever that carried him off in a few days. Some persons suspected that he had been poisoned, but his own physicians, amongst whom was Louis Marliano, a Milanese, who afterwards became Bishop of Tuy, proved that the real cause of his illness had been too violent exercise.” He adds, that he died on the 25th of September, 1506, at ten o’clock, p. m.,
at the age of twenty-eight years. In fine, this sickness is a species of catarrh, generally accompanied by high fever, and always with great pain and heaviness in the head, giddiness, etc., etc., also running at the nose, which afterwards goes down into the throat and chest, causing incessant hard coughing and difficulty of respiration, nausea, weakness, and a painful feeling of lassitude of the whole body. This malady is always epidemic, and has several times infected all Europe, passing with great rapidity from province to province. In Italy it has been called, according to the locality, Galantino or Cortesina sickness, or the Mazzucco, or the Mattone or Montone sickness. In France it is called Coqueluche. These notes have been furnished by the celebrated Doctor Giovanni Torgione Tozelli.

^*This was Francesco Argentino of Venice, who was made Bishop of Concordia in 1494, being the successor of Niccolo Donati. Julius II. made him Cardinal in the month of March, 1511, and in August of the same year he died at Rome, and was buried in the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.

^*Messer Francesco Pepi was the ambassador that was sent to the Pope. One of his autograph letters, dated 25 October, 1506, informs us of his departure from Florence and his arrival at Firenzuola, and of his intention to proceed immediately to Imola on his mission to the Pope. The following is the letter: —

Very dear Niccolo: —

I received your letter yesterday whilst I was still on the other side of the Giogo; for although I left Florence on Thursday, I have been delayed by an unfortunate accident that happened to me on the road, and prevented my being with you yesterday evening, as I had intended. I am now about to start from Firenzuola, and send this to you by my courier. I beg you will recommend me to his Eminence the Cardinal Volterra, and make my excuses to him for not answering his letter, thank him most warmly for his letter and the information it contains, and assure him that it is only the absolute want of time that prevents my writing to him; please read this letter to his Eminence.

I wish to avoid all pomp and ceremony on my arrival, if the locality will serve as an excuse for it, and if it comports with the dignity of our republic; for I should rejoice more at one good service rendered to our most illustrious Signoria than at a thousand demonstrations. And I believe that it would suffice if it were publicly understood at Florence that the omission of ceremonies was at my own particular request. I am entirely ready, however, to accommodate myself altogether to whatever his Eminence may deem proper, for in minimis et in maximis, I desire to conform to his judgment and advice, for it was with that determination that I started from Florence.

If it be not deemed improper that I should enter the city this evening alone and accompanied by only one servant, I will do so; and I would mount at once, leaving all my other servants behind, unless it be deemed better that I should stay over at Tosignano with all my servants, for if I were to arrive alone it might be regarded as though I were not there. I have with me eight mounted servants, my son and my son-in-law, a steward Ser Agostino, and two grooms and my courier, all in good order and well mounted. I have also four other cavaliers with me, one of whom is of the family of the Peruzzi and one of the Venturi, who have some business here at court. We started together, and they have kept me company all the way, and intend to lodge in the same place with me. I mention all this to you so that you may know the extent of accommodation I require. After having written from Florence to his Eminence and to yourself, I learned that Messer Neroni is charged with the matter of lodgings, and so I wrote to him to procure me good lodgings, for there is some relationship between us. I shall dine to-day at Pian Caldoli, but send my courier all the way through, and beg you will send him back to me, as I shall remain at Tosignano until you inform me as to the order of proceeding which I shall have to follow, upon which point you will consult with his Eminence. Say to the Archdeacon that I do not reply to his letter, there being no occasion for it, as I shall do so in person. Recommend me to him, et bene valete.

Francesco de Pepi, Doctor and Ambassador. Florence, 25 October, 1506, 13th hour

The letter is addressed on the back: —

“Spectabili Viro Nicc. de Maclavellis

“Mandatorio Flor. apud summum Pontificum, Imolæ.”

^*When Pope Julius II. heard that the Emperor Maximilian wascoming down into Italy to assume the imperial crown, he resolved to send a Legate to him in Germany, and appointed for this purpose the Spaniard Bernardino Caravajal, “Cardinal of Santa Croce in Jerusalemme.” As this Legate had to traverse Tuscany in going to Germany, the Signoria of Florence, uncertain as to what they ought to do, and uninformed as to the number of persons in the Legate’s suite, and at the same time not wishing either to go too far in showing him too much honor, or to fall short of doing their duty to so illustrious a stranger, resolved to send their Secretary to Sienna, where they knew that the Cardinal would stop a few days, so as to find out and report to them all they wished to know about him. Machiavelli’s letters treat the matter according to his instructions; but it seems that the Ten did not write to him during this mission, as no letters from them on the subject have been found in the archives. — Edition of Machiavelli’s Works by Passerini and Milanesi.

^*The prisons at Florence were familiarly called “Stinche,” after a castle by that name in the Val di Greve in Tuscany, the inhabitants of which had rebelled. The Florentines surrounded this castle with a line of palisades, thus converting it into a prison in which all the inhabitants were shut up. By assimilation the new prisons in Florence were afterwards called the Stinche.

^*The two Reports“On the Affairs of Germany,” and the “Discourse on the Affairs of Germany and on the Emperor,” printed in this volume, are the result of the observations made by Machiavelli during this mission.

Upon the report of the Emperor’s coming into Italy to have himself crowned, and upon his demand for money of the Florentine government, they had sent Francesco Vettori as ambassador to the Emperor, with instructions to agree to the payment of the amount asked for, or not, according as he should find what truth there was in the Emperor’s contemplated coming into Italy, which had caused alarm to the Florentines lest it should in some way prove prejudicial to their interests. Machiavelli was sent with an ultimatum agreement, in case it should be necessary to conclude one with the Emperor, and for the purpose of gathering precise information respecting this threatened visit; it seeming to the Gonfalonier Soderini that Vettori was not very consistent in his reports. The Emperor, however, did not come, owing to the obstacles interposed by the Venetians.

Respecting this intended visit of the Emperor’s, see also Guicciardini, Lib. VII.

^*These despatches of Francesco Vettori are given here, because they were in great part written by Machiavelli, and serve to explain this mission.

^*“The king” here means the King of the Romans, a title borne by the Emperor Maximilian and other German Emperors.

^*Pigello Portinari, a Florentine.

^*Matthew Lang was secretary, minister, and favorite of the Emperor Maximilian. He afterwards became successively Bishop of Gurck (a city in Carinthia between Villach and Gratz), and Cardinal. He played an important part in all the affairs of the Emperor.

^*From here on to page 97 the letter is in cipher.

^*Here ends the cipher.

^*This P. S. is written in cipher.

^*All within the quotation marks was written in cipher in this, as well as in the subsequent letters.

^*The Florentine republic never had anything more at heart than to be able to put an end once for all to the protracted and costly war with Pisa; and in the spring of 1508, whilst Machiavelli was in Germany, the first trial was made of the militia of the country, which were employed by Niccolo Capponi to lay waste the Pisan territory, where everything was destroyed up to the very walls of the town of Pisa. In adopting so barbarous a way of making war it was evidently the aim of the Florentines to constrain the people of the country to seek refuge within the walls of the city, where, by thus increasing the number of mouths and at the same time the want of provisions, the horrors of famine would soon be produced, with their usual consequences of disturbances and riots, which are the most powerful auxiliaries of a besieging army. In the following month of August the Florentines wanted to repeat this experiment of devastation by destroying all the standing corn and what little had escaped the first attempt; and accordingly Machiavelli was charged with the operation, giving him thus the opportunity of seeing the working of that militia system for the establishment of which he had labored so hard.

^*No letters from Machiavelli relating to this mission have been found; but there are in the National Library (Florence) three letters from the Ten, one from Niccolo Capponi, Commissary-General, and one from Pietro Soderini to Machiavelli, in relation to this mission.

^*The devastation of the Pisan territory by the Florentines had greatly excited the displeasure of the king of France, who disliked this mode of making war; although he subsequently found it to his advantage, after the republic had replied rather bluntly to his threats, and still more so after their having satisfied his avarice by the present of one hundred thousand francs. Thereupon the siege of Pisa was pressed with great activity, and in February, 1509, “the Ten” sent their Secretary to the camp to watch the progress of the siege, provide all necessaries, and to direct the efforts made for preventing succor from reaching the besieged by vessels coming up from the mouth of the Arno.

How admirably Machiavelli fulfilled his duties and how well he deserved of his country in carrying out the objects of his mission, is attested by the letters addressed to him by the Ten, the Commissary-General Capponi, and others in authority, which are on file in the National Library at Florence. So that one of his recent biographers said of him, very justly, that “he was the very soul of the siege of Pisa, whilst the militia which he had organized were the instruments of a victory which was followed by a surrender of Pisa in the month of June.”

Whilst with the army before Pisa, Machiavelli was sent on a special mission to Piombino, and afterwards to Pistoja, but in both instances he returned to the camp after a few days’ absence. The instructions to Machiavelli by Marcellus Virgilius, etc., and his reports upon these missions, are inserted amongst the despatches relating to the siege of Pisa.

^*Whilst Machiavelli was in camp with the besieging army, the Pisans applied to the lord of Piombino to act as mediator in bringing about a peace with the Florentines; either because they really wished to negotiate a peace, or, as seemed most likely, because they hoped in this way to gain time and a relaxation of the rigors of the war. Jacopo d’ Appiano sent a confidential agent (Giovanni Cola) to Florence to make this known to the Signoria, and to beg them to send ambassadors to Piombino. But suspecting some fraud, the Ten, before engaging in any negotiations, wished Machiavelli to go there and find out what foundation there really was for the proposed negotiations. Machiavelli accordingly went to Piombino, and very quickly ascertained the real state of things, of which he gives full account to the Ten in his letter of the 15th of March, from Piombino.

^*This Alfonso del Mutulo was a Pisan, and being made prisoner by the Florentines he agreed fraudulently with them to deliver Pisa into their hands if they would liberate him. He was consequently exchanged for a Florentine prisoner. And having returned to Pisa he caused at a given signal a company of Florentine soldiers to approach the walls, and began to introduce them one by one into the city by hoisting them up on to the walls by means of a rope. The twentieth man had hardly been drawn up when, casting his eyes into the city as he reached the top of the wall, he saw that of his comrades who had been hoisted over before him some had been killed and others bound. On perceiving this he uttered a cry, and made known the treason of Alfonso. The Pisans at once opened a general fire of artillery, by which Paolo da Paranno, who is mentioned in this letter, was mortally wounded. They attempted at the same time a sortie and an attack upon the remainder of the Florentine troops, but were repulsed.

^*Paolo da Paranno was mortally wounded on the occasion of the treason of Alfonso del Mutulo.

^*Machiavelli, having been called to Florence by the Ten to receive special and important instructions, was sent by them to inspect and report upon the condition of the several camps of the forces engaged in the siege of Pisa. He returned within a couple of days to his post. During his absence this letter was written by Antonio de Filicaja; and in the following letter Machiavelli makes his report to the Ten on the strength and condition of the forces at the different camps.

^*The Florentines entered Pisa on the 8th of June, 1509. The letter of the Commissaries giving an account of their entrance has not been found with the others given above. A full account of the surrender of Pisa, and of the extremity to which the inhabitants had been reduced, will be found in the eighth book of Guicciardini’s History, and in Biagio Buonaccorsi’s Journal, page 14.

^*After the fatal League of Cambray against the republic of Venice, the soil of Italy was overrun, in the spring of 1509, by foreign armies, who from the first had easy victories. But the Emperor Maximilian was less fortunate than the other members of the league; for although his troops succeeded at the first rush in taking Padua and Treviso, yet these cities soon freed themselves from this new domination, and returned to their submission to the Venetians. When the Emperor thereupon crossed the Alps in person, he began at once to molest the Italian states with demands for money; and, most naturally, the first called upon was the republic of Florence, who sent ambassadors to the Emperor at Verona, and concluded a treaty with him. By the articles of this treaty the Emperor obligates himself to guarantee to the republic of Florence all her possessions, and pledges himself not to disturb the actual government of Florence nor the liberties of the state, nor permit his generals to do so. The Florentines, on the other hand, obligate themselves to pay the Emperor the sum of forty thousand ducats, in four instalments: the first, in the course of the month of October; the second, on the 25th of November, which is the present one, to which this mission relates; the third, in the course of January; and the fourth and last, in February. See Buonaccorsi’s Diary, p. 144, and Guicciardini, Lib. VIII.

Having to make the second payment of ten thousand ducats in the middle of November at Mantua, the Signoria of Florence commissioned Machiavelli to proceed there for that purpose, giving him the following instructions.

^*Marchesco, an adherent of St. Mark, or of Venice.

^*This mission of Machiavelli to France relates to the first movements of Pope Julius II. against the French. The Pope had been the originator of the celebrated League of Cambray against the Venetians; but as those had been completely crushed by the French at Vaila, the jealousy of Julius II. was excited by this victory and the advantages which France secured by the terms of the treaty with the league. He became suddenly reconciled to the Venetians, and formed an alliance with that republic; and thenceforward he directed all his efforts against the French, with the view of driving them out of Italy. The republic of Florence feared to become compromised in the war which was about to break out between the king of France, Louis XII., and Pope Julius II. Machiavelli was sent to France mainly for the purpose of having Florence released from openly furnishing assistance to the French, and at the same time to relieve the republic of the suspicion of having become alienated from France, and of having an understanding with the Pope. Machiavelli remained at the court of France until he was replaced by Robert Acciaiuoli, who was sent there as ambassador.

For particulars relating to the war which resulted in consequence, see Guicciardini, Lib. IX., Buonaccorsi’s Diary, and other historians of that period.

^*The instructions from the Magistracy of the Ten to Machiavelli have not been found.

^*The Cardinal d’Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, had died at Lyons on the 25th of May, 1510.

^*Marc Antonio had been sent by the Pope to stir up the city of Genoa against the king of France; but he did not succeed in the attempt, and came very near being taken prisoner and stripped.

^*Alluding to the rebellion of Arezzo, which was excited by the Duke of Valentinois in 1502.

^*Those portions of this letter comprised in quotation marks were written in cipher, and are not given in the “Italia” edition of Machiavelli’s works, from which this translation is chiefly made, nor in any other edition published prior to 1877. I have found them, however, in the edition published at Florence in 1877, under the direction of L. Passerini and G. Milanesi, which unfortunately remains incomplete owing to the death of one of the editors.

^*The Marquis of Mantua had been made prisoner of war by the Venetians on the 7th of August, 1509.

^*This passage within quotation marks was written in cipher, and has not appeared in any edition prior to that of Passerini and Milanesi.

^*All within quotation marks in this and the subsequent letters was originally written in cipher.

^*Roberto Acciaiuoli, Florentine Ambassador to the Court of France, where he arrived at the very moment of Machiavelli’s departure, after having fulfilled the object of his previous mission to France.

^*Certain initial acts had been done by the Council at Pisa on the 1st of September, to which allusion is made in the instructions.

^*The two preceding legations and the present commission to Pisa relate to the celebrated differences between Pope Julius II and Louis XII., king of France, at whose instigation a General Ecclesiastical Council had been convoked at Pisa, for the purpose of deposing Pope Julius II., who had contemptuously rejected all offers of peace, and had carried his violence so far as to have the French ambassador arrested, and had launched interdicts and excommunications against his enemies. The Emperor of Germany, Maximilian I., had joined the king of France in the project of deposing Pope Julius II. by a General Council; having himself the extraordinary idea of assuming the papal tiara with his imperial crown, in the event of Pope Julius’s deposition by the Council. The Florentines at the request of the king of France had consented to allow the Council to be held at Pisa; but they soon became alarmed at the dangers threatened in consequence by the vengeance and violence of the Pope, with the Venetian army at the north, and that of the Spaniards at the south. The Signoria saw no other way to avert these dangers than to endeavor to persuade the king of France to dissolve the Council and make peace with the Pope. It was for this purpose that Machiavelli had been sent on these missions to the court of France, where Roberto Acciaiuoli was at the time the accredited ambassador.

The Florentine Signoria had already sent several commissioners to Pisa to be present at the meetings of the Council; and after Machiavelli’s return from France, where he had successfully accomplished his mission, he was sent by the Signoria to take a body of troops to Pisa, as a guard to watch the Florentine interests; and above all to dispose the prelates to leave that city, which had been conceded with the utmost reluctance by the Florentine Signoria for the purpose of this Council.

^*It may not be amiss to give here the relation of the sessions of the Council held at Pisa, at which Machiavelli was present, and which were reported by the Commissioners, who, in writing to the Signoria at Florence, say that with regard to these reports they refer to the wisdom of Machiavelli himself, he having greater experience in these matters than themselves.

“This morning, the 5th of November, the most reverend Monsignore di Santa Croce celebrated a solemn mass in the cathedral, assisted by the other three cardinals, Monseigneur de Lautrec, and the other archbishops, bishops, and prelates, all seated in the greatest silence and devotion. After the mass, the deacon, who was the Abate Zaccaria, proclaimed twice in a loud voice, ‘Let all laymen leave the choir.’ And then all the bishops put on their mitres, and Monsignore di Santa Croce seated himself before the altar, turning his face towards the prelates and the people, and intoned the Psalm of David, ‘Deus qui glorificatur in Concilio Sanctorum, magnus et terribilis super omnes, qui in circuita ejus sunt”; and then exhorted all the prelates most earnestly to dispose themselves by prayers and vigils for this holy Council, appealing to them with many other words, etc., even unto tears. After this discourse Monsignore di Santa Croce said three prayers with the utmost devotion; and then the aforesaid deacon cried aloud, ‘Orate!’ Whereupon all made three genuflections, and, having taken off their mitres, prayed in the greatest silence. Then the litanies were sung by the chanters with great devotion, and when these were finished, being at the words, ‘Ut Ecclesiam tuam sanctam,’ the said President, that is to say Santa Croce, turned towards the prelates and the people giving them his benediction, and chanting in a loud voice, ‘Ut hanc sanctam Synodum benedicere, regere et conservare digneris’; to which all the prelates replied, ‘Te rogamus, audi nos.’ Thereupon the Bishop of Lodeve, son of the Cardinale di San Malo, with the cope on his shoulders and the mitre on his head, ascended the pulpit, and published four decrees passed at the first session of the Council. The first of these declared that the holy Council of Pisa, by the reasons alleged in the letters of convocation, was legitimately convoked and convened, and that the city of Pisa was deemed proper for the meeting of the said Council, unless some new impediments should occur that would necessitate the transfer of the Council to some other locality. The second decree declared all the interdicts, censures, and deprivations of office that have been or may be pronounced by Pope Julius II. against the said Council, its adherents and supporters, to be of no validity whatsoever; and as they are in fact, so they are declared, absolutely null, and are not to be obeyed in any way by any one. The third decree declares that all who had been summoned must appear, and if they do not make their appearance the sacred Council will proceed, as by right, without them in the prosecution of its object; and severe pains and penalties were fulminated against all who by any means attempt to interpose any obstacle, or in any way do any injury or damage to any adherent or supporter of the present Council. And it further declares the Council convoked by Pope Julius II. to be null by prevention, by the want of security in the place where it is to convene, and by the sins by which he has scandalized the Church of God; and which, being all chargeable to the head of the Church, deprive him of the right to convoke a Council. The fourth decree appoints officers of the sacred Council;namely, Monsignore di Santa Croce, President, although he has declared that he accepts the office only for one month; Monseigneur de Lautrec as guardian; and four prothonotaries, in allusion to the four Evangelists, whose duty it is to revise and correct all writings that may be made during the continuance of the Council; and besides these a number of minor officials. After this the Abate Zaccaria with cope and mitre went to ask, first the most reverend cardinals, and then each prelate, one after the other, whether the decrees that had just been read had their approbation. And although all had replied in the affirmative, he nevertheless returned to the altar and repeated the question, saying in a loud voice, ‘Placet?’ All replied, ‘Ita nobis placet.’

“Messer Ambrogio, whom we have already mentioned to your Lordships as Procurator of his Imperial Majesty, has asked that an authentic minute shall be made of all these acts, and has indicated the next session of the Council to be on Friday next at the third hour.

“Yesterday morning, November 7, the most reverend cardinals and the other prelates held the second session in the cathedral. Mass was chanted by the most reverend Cardinale di San Malo; and the same ceremonies were gone through as at the first session, and after mass the Abate Zaccaria chanted the Evangely, ‘Homo quidam fecit cœnam magnam et invitavit multos,’ etc.; and then he ascended the pulpit and delivered a sermon on the following text from St. John: ‘Lux venit in mundum, et magis dilexerunt homines tenebras quam lucem.’ His sermon related mainly to the reformation of the Church, and concluded with an exhortation that the most reverend cardinals and prelates ought to reform themselves before attempting to reform the Church. When he had finished, Monseigneur d’Haussun, ambassador of his Most Christian Majesty, ascended the chair, and published four decrees: —

“1st. A decree by the Council of Toledo on the profound silence to be observed in the Council, where no one is to speak except in his turn; and whoever contravenes this rule will be excommunicated for three days.

“2d. A decree which suspends all actions against the adherents of the Council, which cannot be judged except before the Council.

“3d. A decree appointing four bishops to hear the cases ‘fidei et reformationis Ecclesiæ, et ad examinandos testes, et ad referendum sacro Concilio,’ which would then proceed to the final sentence.

“4th. A decree appointing sundry officials, such as scrutators of votes, and messengers to announce and to summon.”

The third session of the Council was held, not on the 14th, but on the 12th; as may be seen from the following letter of the Commissioners. After this session the prelates prepared for leaving Pisa, where they had fallen into great disrepute with the people, and where they had been tolerated with no good will by the Florentines.

^*The Nine of Ordinance was a magistracy instituted when the national militia was established, in which Machiavelli had taken so prominent a part.

^*Machiavelli was sent to Sienna to condole with the Signoria of that republic on the death of Pandolfo Petrucci, which occurred at San Quirico on the 21st of May, on his return from the baths of San Filippo. Tizio, in his manuscript history of Sienna, speaking of this mission of Machiavelli to Sienna, says: “Die interea quarta anni 1512, Niccolo Machiavellus orator a Florentinis Senam destinatus est ad condolendam Pandulphi mortem, obtulit quidquid per Florentinos agi poterat.”

^*Borghese Petrucci, oldest son of Pandolfo, succeeded his father in authority.

^*Alfonso, brother of Borghese.

^*Barile, a piece of money so called formerly in consequence of its being levied as a tax on each barrel of wine.

^*This and the other letters that follow are relative to the measures taken by the republic to oppose the Spaniards, who were advancing for the purpose of changing the government of Florence, and to re-establish the Medici there, as in fact was afterwards done.

^*Balthasar Carducci was one of the persons sent to the Viceroy of Naples Generalissimo of the Spanish forces, for the purpose of negotiating a peace.

^*After eight years of strictly private life Machiavelli reappeared in the public service through the efforts of the Cardinale Giulio de’ Medici, afterwards Pope Clement VII., and was sent by the Magistracy of the Eight of Practice as Nuncio or Ambassador to the Chapter of the Minorite Brothers, which was held at Carpi in 1521. The object of this mission was to induce this brotherhood to form a separate and distinct organization for the Florentine dominion, it being desired by these friars themselves, and especially by a certain Brother Hilarion of that order, who had the confidence of the above-named Cardinale de’ Medici, and was mainly instrumental in inducing him to have this mission decided upon. Machiavelli remained but a few days at Carpi, where he also received a commission from the Consuls of the Wool Guild to procure a good preacher for the Metropolitan Church of Florence for the next Lent.

^*The war which desolated Italy at this time, and in which the Pope, the Venetians, and the French were leagued together against Charles V., had the most disastrous termination for the League. It forms one of the most interesting subjects of history, and was most fruitful in events; amongst which the most noteworthy are the sack of Rome, the captivity of the Pope, and the change in the government of Florence from a republic to a monarchy. The famous historian Guicciardini was commissioner of the Pope with the army, and Machiavelli had been sent to be near him by the Florentine government. The correspondence between Guicciardini, Machiavelli, and Francesco Vettori, official as well as private, gives most precious accounts of the most secret intrigues in the affairs of the time.

From the instructions of Guicciardini it would appear that Machiavelli was near him, either voluntarily, or in virtue of a commission from the Florentine government; but that that commission was anterior to that which forms the object of this mission, because the siege of Cremona, which is spoken of in these instructions, occurred in the month of August, 1526.

^*Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, and Captain-General of the Venetian forces.

^*This was Giovanni de’ Medici, Capitano delle Bande Nere, who died on the 24th of November, 1526. He was the son of the famous Catharine Sforza and another Giovanni de’ Medici.

^*The truce so often referred to in these letters is the one concluded between Pope Clement VII. (Medici) with the Viceroy of Naples and other ministers of the Emperor. But it was never recognized either by the Imperial army that came from Lombardy or by the Constable de Bourbon, who commanded that army. The Pope, on the other hand, relied so thoroughly upon it that he disbanded his forces, and thus found himself entirely unprepared when the Constable de Bourbon directed his march unexpectedly upon Rome.

^*The Constable Duc de Bourbon actually entered Tuscany; but whether this was a mere ruse to lull the suspicions of the too credulous Pope, or whether it was that he really believed that no advantage could be gained from it, after having been a short time on the Arezzo territory the Constable suddenly turned and rapidly marched upon Rome, where the Pope was wholly unprepared, and when the troops of the League were no longer in time to prevent this movement.

^*Andrea Doria.

^*All this has reference to the march of the army of the League to liberate the Pope from the Castel San Angelo, where he was besieged, together with the whole court, after the taking of Rome on the 6th of May, 1527, by the Constable Bourbon. The artful delays by the Duke of Urbino, commander-in-chief of the forces of the League, have been made familiar by the historians of the time. He first permitted the Imperial army to march upon Rome and make themselves masters of it, and then refused to succor the Castel San Angelo, although he had always troops enough to oppose the Imperial army, and even to beat them.

^*This description is contained in an official letter written by Machiavelli to the Magistracy of the Ten at the very time when he was the Florentine envoy to the Duke Valentino. The slight difference between that letter and the description, is one of words only, and not of facts. The beginning of the letter is as follows: —

“Magnificent Signori, etc.: —

“As your Lordships have not received all my letters, which would in great part have informed you of the circumstances connected with the event that has taken place at Sinigaglia. I think it proper to give you by the present full particulars of the same. I have ample leisure to do so now, having intrusted to our magnificent ambassador all the business we have to attend to here at present. And I believe that it will be agreeable to you to know these details, on account of the character of the event, which is in all respects remarkable and memorable.”

^*This is Paolo de Lichtenstein, confidential agent of the Emperor Maximilian, mentioned by F. Vettori in his despatches to the Signoria of Florence. See Letter X. of the Mission to the Emperor, ante, page 132.

^*This pragmatic sanction was anterior to the concordat between Francis I. and Leo X. It was issued by Charles VII. in 1438, and was the foundation of the liberties of the Gallican Church.

^*This must be an error, and probably meant one hundred thousand.

^*This is undoubtedly an error, the same as in one of the preceding pages when speaking of the number of parishes; it means probably 100,000, instead of 1,000,000.