[Footnote *11: This amazing route is inexplicable. The way by the Val di Chiana was, of course, a highway to Rome. The way by Perugia, "with a rendezvous at Orvieto," is inexplicable. No more fatuous proceeding can be imagined. From Florence he would keep the Via Aretina so far as Arezzo, following it indeed thence to Rigutino to Camuscia to the Case del Piano in the Perugino close to Trasimeno. If he went thence to Perugia he was merely trying to delay his march. It was off the main route, and would lead him into the valley of Spoleto. From Perugia to Orvieto there was no good road. If he wished for a road to Rome via Perugia he should have joined the Via Flaminia at Foligno and followed it directly to the Eternal City.] Three days were now passed in consultations among the leaders, of which we have varying accounts. Guicciardini of course represents them in the most unfavourable light for Francesco Maria.[*12] He tells us that neither the letters of the Pontiff, nor the entreaties of the Proveditori and the French general, could rouse the Duke's stubborn nature to active measures; and he describes him as full of zeal in words and proposals, but ever interposing obstacles to the execution of any definite plan. On the other hand, Baldi asserts that an onward movement, suggested by the Duke at Isola,[*13] was, to his great regret, overruled by these authorities, and by Guicciardini himself; whilst the Bishop of Cagli[14] pleads as his excuse for inaction, that the Venetians, finding their duty very different from field-days and muster-rolls, refused to follow him, and even retired home in great numbers. But, assuming the truth of the last averment, should not the blame of such lax discipline attach to the general who had led these troops through several campaigns? and may not the moral paralysis which impeded effective tactics in the army be fairly adduced in mitigation of their unauthorised furloughs? [Footnote *12: It is impossible to represent the Duke in a worse light than he appears. He behaved throughout the campaign like a selfish fool; he seems never to have understood the gravity of the situation or the enormity of his crime. His biographer does not seem to understand it either.] [Footnote *13: As we know, he did not reach Isola till the 22nd. Rome was then sacked. If Guicciardini delayed, as Baldi says, we know that it was for some good reason, for his integrity and his patriotism cannot be questioned. We may well doubt Baldi's tittle-tattle.]