his guard, and oppose any insurrection that might happen in the city. But, not long after, hearing a great cry of “Liberty, Liberty,” and seeing the people assembled in arms, he left the city according to the prudent advice that was given him by Ursini; but it was a sad parting for him, for in power and riches he and his predecessors, since the time of Cosmo, had been equal to the greatest princes, and on that day fortune began to be adverse, and he lost both authority and estate. I was at Venice myself, but the news was communicated to me by the Florentine ambassador, who was there, and I was extremely concerned at it; for I had a great affection for his father. Had this Peter believed me formerly, he had not then been in that condition; for upon my first arrival at Venice I wrote to him, and offered to make his peace with the king, and it was in my power to have done it; for I had verbal commission, from both the Seneschal of Beaucaire and Brissonet, to do it, and the king would have been contented with passage for his troops, or, at the worst, to have had Leghorn put into his hands, in return for which, he would have done whatever Peter could have desired; but, by the persuasion and ill counsel of Peter Capponi, whom I have mentioned before, he did but laugh at me for the offer I made him. The next morning the Florentine ambassador delivered a letter to the Signory of Venice, importing that Peter de Medicis was banished from Florence for endeavouring to make himself sovereign of that city, by the assistance of the Ursini, and of the house of Arragon; with other complaints besides against him, which were not true. But such are the accidents of this world; he who is beaten and flies, is not only sure to be pursued by his enemies, but is forsaken, and perhaps persecuted by his friends; as was too visible in the behaviour of this ambassador, Paul Anthony Soderini[307] (one of the wisest statesmen in all Italy). The day before the delivery of this letter he mentioned Peter de Medicis to me with the respect due to his sovereign lord, but now he declared himself his enemy by order from the State; but, to do him justice, he said nothing of his own feelings. The next day I was informed that Peter de Medicis was coming to Venice, that the king had made his triumphal entry into Florence, and that the senate had recalled their ambassador, telling him, that “he must sail with that wind.” I saw their letter myself, for he showed it me upon his leaving Venice. Two days after his departure, Peter de Medicis arrived at Venice, in the disguise of a servant in livery. The Venetians were at a loss how to behave themselves towards him; they were afraid of disobliging the king, and yet they could not in reason refuse to give him protection; however, they made him wait outside the town for two days, and desired to know of me how my master would take it: I had never received any orders from the king to resent it, and,