to the suggestion of his parasites at Milan, who whispered that the general was becoming dangerously powerful.  He recalled him, and threw him without trial into the dungeons of the Forni at Monza.  Here Colleoni remained a prisoner more than a year, until the Duke’s death in 1447, when he made his escape, and profited by the disturbance of the Duchy to reacquire his lordships in the Bergamasque territory.  The true motive for his imprisonment remains still buried in obscure conjecture.  Probably it was not even known to the Visconti, who acted on this, as on so many other occasions, by a mere spasm of suspicious jealousy, for which he could have given no account.

From the year 1447 to the year 1455, it is difficult to follow Colleoni’s movements, or to trace his policy.  First, we find him employed by the Milanese Republic, during its brief space of independence; then he is engaged by the Venetians, with a commission for 1500 horse; next, he is in the service of Francesco Sforza; once more in that of the Venetians, and yet again in that of the Duke of Milan.  His biographer relates with pride that, during this period, he was three times successful against French troops in Piedmont and Lombardy.  It appears that he made short engagements, and changed his paymasters according to convenience.  But all this time he rose in personal importance, acquired fresh lordships in the Bergamasque, and accumulated wealth.  He reached the highest point of his prosperity in 1455, when the Republic of S. Mark elected him General-in-Chief of their armies, with the fullest powers, and with a stipend of 100,000 florins.  For nearly twenty-one years, until the day of his death, in 1475, Colleoni held this honourable and lucrative office.  In his will he charged the Signory of Venice that they should never again commit into the hands of a single captain such unlimited control over their military resources.  It was indeed no slight tribute to Colleoni’s reputation for integrity, that the jealous Republic, which had signified its sense of Carmagnola’s untrustworthiness by capital punishment, should have left him so long in the undisturbed disposal of their army.  The Standard and the Baton of S. Mark were conveyed to Colleoni by two ambassadors, and presented to him at Brescia on June 24, 1455.  Three years later he made a triumphal entry into Venice, and received the same ensigns of military authority from the hands of the new Doge, Pasquale Malipiero.  On this occasion his staff consisted of some two hundred officers, splendidly armed, and followed by a train of serving-men.  Noblemen from Bergamo, Brescia, and other cities of the Venetian territory, swelled the cortege.  When they embarked on the lagoons, they found the water covered with boats and gondolas, bearing the population of Venice in gala attire, to greet the illustrious guest with instruments of music.  Three great galleys of the Republic, called Bucentaurs, issued from the crowd of smaller craft.  On the