who obtained an inglorious celebrity under the surname of Il Moro, had been banished to France by the suspicious duke. From thence they returned as soon as they heard of his death, in the hopes of obtaining a share in the government. Simonetta managed to make them harmless beforehand by transferring to them the presidency in the senate of justice, and setting a considerable sum apart for all the uncles of the heir-apparent. Nothing, however, but the representations of the Marquis of Mantua and the foreign ambassadors persuaded the ambitious young men to comply with this arrangement, and it was to be foreseen that affairs would not remain so. Events in Genoa soon lent a pretext for executing the plans of the malcontents. The history of Genoa is the counterfoil to that of Venice. Since the end of the thirteenth century, peace and stability at home and great territorial and political power, long secured for the latter; while for the former, constant and sudden changes, which must have had an unfavourable effect on the position obtained abroad in the days of maritime greatness; the Genoese power on land being restricted to a narrow strip of coast, partly fertile indeed, and rich in good mariners, but mountainous and inaccessible. The Genoese could not even retain their national and political independence. Weakened by foreign wars and internal feuds, they had acknowledged first the supremacy of France, then that of the Visconti, and, having rebelled against both, they had submitted to Francesco Sforza, who, after having come to an understanding with King Louis XI. in 1464, united all Liguria to the Duchy of Milan. But even then the Genoese did not remain quiet, and after Galeazzo Maria’s death the faction of the Fregosi and Fieschi brought on a new insurrection, in consequence of which only the fort called Castelletto remained in the hands of the Milanese troops. But it served as a central point for the attack, when 12,000 Milanese troops advanced against Genoa under the command of Roberto da Sanseverino, with whom were Lodovico and Ottaviano Sforza. A defeat of the rebels soon led to a pacification, as the city was, as usual, divided. On April 11, 1477, Prospero Adorno was acknowledged as governor, and peace was restored. In Florence, where Milanese affairs were watched with great excitement, this result awakened great rejoicing. The Signoria had the bells rung and bonfires lighted on April 14, as if for a victory of the Republic.[213] But things soon took another turn: Lodovico, Sforza, and Ottaviano could as little remain quiet as the Genoese, and their influence in the army threatened the government itself immediately after their return. On command of the regent, one of their confidants, Donato del Conte, an old companion of Duke Francesco, was taken prisoner. The attempt of the brothers to liberate him by exciting a rebellion in Milan was defeated. Roberto Sanseverino, for whom had been destined the military management of a conspiracy which