Procrastination was the first weapon used by the wily Cesare, who trusted that time would sow among his rebel captains suspicion and dissension.  He next made overtures to the leaders separately, and so far succeeded in his perfidious policy as to draw Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, Paolo Orsini, and Francesco Orsini, Duke of Gravina, into his nets at Sinigaglia.  Under pretext of fair conference and equitable settlement of disputed claims, he possessed himself of their persons, and had them strangled—­two upon December 31, and two upon January 18, 1503.  Of all Cesare’s actions, this was the most splendid for its successful combination of sagacity and policy in the hour of peril, of persuasive diplomacy, and of ruthless decision when the time to strike his blow arrived.

CORTONA

After leaving La Magione, the road descends upon the lake of Thrasymene through oak-woods full of nightingales.  The lake lay basking, leaden-coloured, smooth and waveless, under a misty, rain-charged, sun-irradiated sky.  At Passignano, close beside its shore, we stopped for mid-day.  This is a little fishing village of very poor people, who live entirely by labour on the waters.  They showed us huge eels coiled in tanks, and some fine specimens of the silver carp—­Reina del Lago.  It was off one of the eels that we made our lunch; and taken, as he was, alive from his cool lodging, he furnished a series of dishes fit for a king.

Climbing the hill of Cortona seemed a quite interminable business.  It poured a deluge.  Our horses were tired, and one lean donkey, who, after much trouble, was produced from a farmhouse and yoked in front of them, rendered but little assistance.

Next day we duly saw the Muse and Lamp in the Museo, the Fra Angelicos, and all the Signorellis.  One cannot help thinking that too much fuss is made nowadays about works of art—­running after them for their own sakes, exaggerating their importance, and detaching them as objects of study, instead of taking them with sympathy and carelessness as pleasant or instructive adjuncts to our actual life.  Artists, historians of art, and critics are forced to isolate pictures; and it is of profit to their souls to do so.  But simple folk, who have no aesthetic vocation, whether creative or critical, suffer more than is good for them by compliance with mere fashion.  Sooner or later we shall return to the spirit of the ages which produced these pictures, and which regarded them with less of an industrious bewilderment than they evoke at present.

I am far indeed from wishing to decry art, the study of art, or the benefits to be derived from its intelligent enjoyment.  I only mean to suggest that we go the wrong way to work at present in this matter.  Picture and sculpture galleries accustom us to the separation of art from life.  Our methods of studying art, making a beginning of art-study while traveling, tend to perpetuate this separation.  It is only on reflection, after long experience, that we come to perceive that the most fruitful moments in our art education have been casual and unsought, in quaint nooks and unexpected places, where nature, art, and life are happily blent.