[1] Pp. 358, 359.

Of the breach of faith of Francis, after he had left his Spanish prison, Vettori speaks in terms of the very highest commendation.[1] His refusal to cede Burgundy to Charles was just and patriotic.  That he broke his faith was no crime; for, though a man ought rather to die than forswear himself, yet his first duty is to God, his second to his country, Francis was clearly acting for the benefit of his kingdom; and had he not left his two sons as hostages in Spain?  The whole defense is a good piece of specious pleading, and might be used to illustrate the chapter on the Faith of Princes in the Principe.

    [1] P. 362.

By far the most striking passage in Vettori’s Sommario is the description of the march of Frundsberg’s and De Bourbon’s army upon Rome.[1] He makes it clear to what extent the calamity of the sack was due to the selfishness and cowardice of the Italian princes.  First of all the Venetians refused to offer any obstacles before the passage of the Po, feeling that by doing so they might draw trouble on their own provinces.  Then the Duke of Ferrara supplied the Lutherans with artillery, of which they hitherto had stood in need.  The first use they made of their fire-arms was to shoot the best captain in Italy, Giovanni de’ Medici of the Black Bands.  The Duke of Urbino, the Marquis of Saluzzo, and Guido Rangoni watched them cross the river and proceed by easy stages through the district of Piacenza, ’following them like lacqueys waiting on their lords.’  The same thing happened at Parma and Modena, while the Duke of Ferrara kept supplying the foreigners with food and money.  Clement meanwhile was penniless in Rome.  Rich as the city was, he had so utterly lost credit that he dared not ask for loans, and was so feeble that he could not rob.  The Colonnesi, moreover, who had recently plundered the Vatican, kept him in a state of terror.  As the invaders, now commanded by the Constable de Bourbon, approached Tuscany, the youth of Florence demanded to be armed in defense of their hearths and homes.  The Cardinal of Cortona, fearing a popular rising, refused to grant their request.  A riot broke out, and the Medici were threatened with expulsion:  but by the aid of influential citizens a revolution was averted.  The Constable, avoiding Florence and Siena, marched straight on Rome, still watched but unmolested by the armies of the League.  He left his artillery on the road, and, as is well known, carried the walls of Rome by assault on the morning of May 3, dying himself at the moment of victory.  From what has just been rapidly narrated, it will be seen how utterly abject was the whole of Italy at this moment, when a band of ruffians, headed by a rebel from his sovereign, in disobedience to the viceroy of the king he pretended to serve, was not only allowed but actually helped to traverse rivers, plains, and mountains, on their way to Rome.  What happened after the capture