the circumstances of the Papal States made no unfavourable impression on the ambassador is proved by his remark that the Popes were prudent and well-advised, and the inhabitants of the States would be the happiest people in the world but for the quarrels of the Colonna and the Orsini, for they paid no taxes nor any impositions worthy of consideration. After a few days, Philippe de Commines was again in Florence without having accomplished anything. We shall speak of his later activity further on. CHAPTER III. THE CAMPAIGN OF 1478. WHEN the Florentines saw that war was inevitable, they appointed, on June 13, the magistracy usual in such cases, the Ten of War, among whom, beside Lorenzo de’ Medici, were Tommaso Soderini, Luigi Guicciardini, Bongianni Gianfigliazzi, &c. At first the opinion prevailed that it would be advisable not only to put the frontier in a state of defence on the side of Siena and Umbria, but to make a dangerous diversion for the enemy by an attack on Imola, the city and territory of Girolamo, a plan, however, which they were compelled to abandon by the swift and powerful inroad of the enemy in the Chiana valley. They were not prepared for war, and had to provide for everything in a hurry, and were thus unable to gain an advantage over the enemy. It was to Lombardy that they turned for leaders and men, and also for horses and all materials for war. Among the captains chosen was Niccolo Orsini, Count of Pitigliano, who in later years made himself a name in the service of the Republic of Venice, which he retained even after the defeat at the battle of Ghiaradadda in the war of the League of Cambray; Rodolfo Gonzaga, brother of Federigo, Marquis of Mantua, with two of his sons; and several others. Venice and Milan sent auxiliaries, the former under Galeotto Pico, lord of Mirandola; those of Milan under Gian Jacopo Trivulzio, who, then thirty-seven years old, was destined to become a celebrated leader in the transformation of Italian tactics, Alberto Visconti, and Giovanni Conti. The assistance of Milan was far less than had been hoped for in Florence, owing to her own need. King Ferrante managed to make a formidable diversion for the duchess-regent. Even before the present complication began, he seems to have been gained over by Sforza Maria, Duke of Bari, who had been in Naples since the November of the preceding year, while the Duchess of Calabria took part with her brothers against her sister-in-law, so that when the war against Florence began, the king, with the aid of the exiles, attempted a new enterprise, which we shall soon describe more fully, against Genoa, the weakest point of the territory of Sforza. An enterprise so well begun must have been the cause of very great anxiety and fear to the regent, and made the Florentines tremble for their frontier on the side of Liguria, where Sarzana might be exposed to an attack; and to be prepared for this the Marchesi Gabriello and Leonardo Malaspina were