“Moorish Jew, thou liest in the throat!” and drawing his sword, threw himself upon the Spaniard. The fight was of brief duration. Despite the assistance of his companions, the knight was pierced to the heart. The Spaniards descended into the piazza and came to blows with the populace, who killed some and put the others to flight. Lavagna fearing the vengeance of Phillip took refuge in the province of Piacenza. Don Phillip did not relinquish the hope of reducing Genoa to the condition of a province, and he was encouraged by Gonzaga, Figuerroa and the Duke of Alba. The plan of the new fortress was again taken up. The partisans of Spain reasoned that the popular hostility to Spain constantly threatened the city with revolution and that so stubborn a people needed a strong rein. It was reasonable enough they said that Doria, when he was in the full vigour of life, should have opposed the erection of the citadel, but now when he was old and infirm almost to decrepitude he ought no longer to resist the will of Cæsar. Charles sent to Genoa a certain Sigismondi Fransino with instructions to confer with Doria and Centurione and endeavour to gain their consent to the fortification. Some engineers also came secretly, for the purpose of selecting the most convenient site. They renounced the plan of fortifying Pietra Minuta and recommended that the fortress of Castelletto should be restored. Doria hearing of this new plan and wishing to finish once for all with these projects for the humiliation of Genoa, sent Adamo Centurione into Flanders to confer with Cæsar and convince him that there was imminent peril of losing the Republic altogether unless these schemes were renounced. Charles made the most formal pledges that he would put a stop to the intrigue and never again raise the question. The advice of Don Bernardino Mendozza probably had more weight with Charles than the remonstrances of Centurione. Mendozza was a man of infinite cunning and dexterity in politics. He pointed out to his sovereign the excessive devotion of the Genoese to the acquisition of wealth, and advised him to employ every artifice to get their money into the imperial treasury in the form of loans secured upon lands, privileges, feuds and jurisdictions in Sicily, Naples and Spain. “Thus,” said the adroit politician, “you will bind the Genoese to the fortunes of your kingdom by a voluntary chain; since when their riches are in your hands they will be naturally inclined to increase and maintain your power. This hold upon their affections will be worth more than any fortress.”