Chapter 41 - Page 2

treaty became known at Milan, it grieved the citizens more
than the victory at Caravaggio had exhilarated them. The rulers of the
city mourned, the people complained, women and children wept, and all
exclaimed against the count as false and perfidious. Although they
could not hope that either prayers or promises would divert him from
his ungrateful design, they sent ambassadors to see with what kind of
color he would invest his unprincipled proceedings, and being admitted
to his presence, one of them spoke to the following effect;--"It is
customary with those who wish to obtain a favor, to make use either of
prayers, presents, or threats, that pity, convenience, or fear, may
induce a compliance with their requests. But as with cruel,
avaricious, or, in their own conceit, powerful men, these arguments
have no weight, it is vain to hope, either to soften them by prayers,
win them by presents, or alarm them by menaces. We, therefore, being
now, though late, aware of thy pride, cruelty, and ambition, come
hither, not to ask aught, nor with the hope, even if we were so
disposed, of obtaining it, but to remind thee of the benefits thou
hast received from the people of Milan, and to prove with what
heartless ingratitude thou hast repaid them, that at least, under the
many evils oppressing us, we may derive some gratification from
telling thee how and by whom they have been produced. Thou canst not
have forgotten thy wretched condition at the death of the duke
Filippo; the king and the pope were both thine enemies; thou hadst
abandoned the Florentines and the Venetians, who, on account of their
just indignation, and because they stood in no further need of thee,
were almost become thy declared enemies. Thou wert exhausted by thy
wars against the church; with few followers, no friends, or any money;
hopeless of being able to preserve either thy territories or thy
reputation. From these circumstances thy ruin must have ensued, but
for our simplicity; we received thee to our home, actuated by
reverence for the happy memory of our duke, with whom, being connected
by marriage and renewed alliance, we believed thy affection would
descend to those who had inherited his authority, and that, if to the
benefits he had conferred on thee, our own were added, the friendship
we sought to establish would not only be firm, but inseparable; with
this impression, we added Verona or Brescia to thy previous
appointments. What more could we either give or promise thee? What
else couldst thou, not from us merely, but from any others, have
either had or expected? Thou receivedst from us an unhoped-for
benefit, and we, in return, an unmerited wrong. Neither hast thou
deferred until now the manifestation of thy base designs; for no
sooner