"The true, ancient, and cordial friendship which has ever existed between your lofty republic and my most illustrious house, and the recollection I retain how invariably my distinguished predecessors have been united in special good-will with your city of Siena, induce me, being of the same sentiments, to follow in the steps of my said most eminent ancestors, resolving that there shall never be any failure on my part towards your noble commonwealth. And in order that your Excellencies may at present have some proof of this, I have, for the peace and order of your town, adopted the resolution which your envoys will comprehend from the tenor hereof, and which I feel assured cannot be otherwise than welcome and acceptable to you. I therefore pray you not only readily to give the like credence to what these envoys will tell you on my part, as you would to myself, but also to bear in mind the close and affectionate amity wherein I am most ready to persevere, nor on your side restrain or fall short of our wonted and long-established kindliness, increasing, and, if possible, extending it by an ampler interchange of charity; for you will assuredly ever find me prepared and ready to benefit and uphold your republic as much as your Excellencies could ever desire, to whom I offer and commend myself. From Bonconvento, the 15th of January, 1522. "FRANCISCUS MARIA DUX URBINI."[287] [Footnote *286: Fabio, not Pandolfo Petrucci. The latter died at S. Quirico, in Osenna, in May, 1512. Borghese Petrucci, his son, soon became the "best hated man in Siena." Four years after his father's death both he and Fabio were declared rebels. Leo X. put Raffaello Petrucci in Borghese's place. Raffaello died in 1522, and then some of the _Nove_ brought back Fabio, who had married Caterina de' Medici, niece of the Pope. But after a rule of less than two years he was again an exile. "Thus," says Ferrari, "the Petrucci returned to their primitive obscurity." Cf. LANGTON DOUGLAS, _A History of Siena_ (Murray, 1902), p. 212.] [Footnote 287: From the Italian original in the Archivio Diplomatico at Siena.]