received into Bracciano, the chief place belonging to Virgil Ursini; it was a strong and beautiful castle, and well furnished with provisions. I have heard the king often commend the place, and the entertainment he met with there; for at that time his army was in great distress for want of provision, and indeed they could hardly have been in greater want; so that, if we do but consider how often this army was inclined to disband since its first arrival at Vienne in Dauphiny, and the many unexpected accidents by which it was supplied and advanced, it must of necessity be acknowledged that God Almighty conducted the enterprise. CH. XII.—How the King sent the Cardinal of St. Peter ad Vincula (who was afterwards Pope, by the name of Julius II.) to Ostia; what the Pope did at Rome in the Meantime; and how the King entered Rome, notwithstanding all the Endeavours of his Enemies to the contrary; and of the Factions between the Ursini and the Colonne in Rome.—1494. From Bracciano the king sent the Cardinal of St. Peter ad Vincula to Ostia, of which he was bishop. Ostia is a town of great importance, possessed by the Colonne, who had taken it formerly from the Pope; but not long before, it had been recovered from the said cardinal by the forces of the Church.[313] It is a town of no great strength, and yet it kept Rome in subjection a long time afterwards, by means of the said cardinal, who was a great friend to the Colonne, which family embraced our interest, at the instigation of Cardinal Ascanio[314] (the Duke of Milan’s brother, and vice-chancellor to the Pope), and in opposition to the Ursini, with whom they have been always at difference. The faction of these two houses has occasioned as great troubles in the states of the Church as the animosity betwixt the Luce and Grandmont families have been to us, or the Houcs and Caballans to the Dutch[315]; and were it not for this dissension, the territories of the Church would be one of the best habitations for subjects in the world; for they pay no taxes, their duties are few, and they would be sure to be well governed, for the popes are always wise, and have good councillors about them. But because of these emulations, they are subject to many calamities, as murders and plundering, of which we have seen frequent examples within these last four years; for since that time[316] the Colonne have been our enemies, much to their loss, for the king had given them estates of twenty thousand ducats a year and more in the kingdom of Naples, such as the county of Tagliacozzo, and other places (which were formerly the estates of the Ursini), besides whatever else they demanded, whether in men or money; so that what they did was done treacherously and unhandsomely, without any manner of provocation; but they had been always for the house of Arragon against the French, as being Ghibellines, and the Ursini (being Guelphs) were always on our side with the Florentines.