But he was soon reassured; far Charles replied that he had advanced too far to draw back now, and that the glory of his name was at stake as well as the interests of his kingdom, and that these two motives were far too important to be sacrificed to any sentiment of pity he might feel, however real and deep it might be and was.  The poor young woman, who had based her last hope an this appeal, then rose from her knees and threw herself sobbing into her husband’s arms.  Charles viii and Ludavico Sforza, took their leave:  John Galeazzo was doomed.

Two days after, Charles viii left for Florence, accompanied by his ally; but scarcely had they reached Parma when a messenger caught them up, and announced to Ludovico that his nephew was just dead:  Ludovico at once begged Charles to excuse his leaving him to finish the journey alone; the interests which called him back to Milan were so important, he said, that he could not under the circumstances stay away a single day longer.  As a fact he had to make sure of succeeding the man he had assassinated.

But Charles viii continued his road not without some uneasiness.  The sight of the young prince on his deathbed had moved him deeply, for at the bottom of his heart he was convinced that Ludovico Sforza was his murderer; and a murderer might very well be a traitor.  He was going forward into an unfamiliar country, with a declared enemy in front of him and a doubtful friend behind:  he was now at the entrance to the mountains, and as his army had no store of provisions and only lived from hand to mouth, a forced delay, however short, would mean famine.  In front of him was Fivizzano, nothing, it is true, but a village surrounded by walls, but beyond Fivizzano lay Sarzano and Pietra Santa, both of them considered impregnable fortresses; worse than this, they were coming into a part of the country that was especially unhealthy in October, had no natural product except oil, and even procured its own corn from neighbouring provinces; it was plain that a whole army might perish there in a few days either from scarcity of food or from the unwholesome air, both of which were more disastrous than the impediments offered at every step by the nature of the ground.  The situation was grave; but the pride of Piero dei Medici came once more to the rescue of the fortunes of Charles viii.

CHAPTER V

Piero dei Medici had, as we may remember, undertaken to hold the entrance to Tuscany against the French; when, however, he saw his enemy coming dawn from the Alps, he felt less confident about his own strength, and demanded help from the pope; but scarcely had the rumour of foreign invasion began to spread in the Romagna, than the Colonna family declared themselves the French king’s men, and collecting all their forces seized Ostia, and there awaited the coming of the French fleet to offer a passage through