I conclude, therefore, with several pious and religious men, and the general voice of the people (which is the voice of God), that God intended to make an example of these princes, that by their chastisement others might be excited to conform their lives according to his commandments. For these princes of Arragon lost their honour, their kingdom, and their treasure, besides their rich furniture of all sorts, which has been so strangely dispersed, it is hardly to be known what is become of it; and, finally, they died themselves, three in one year[336], or a little more; but I hope their souls are in paradise. For King Ferrand, who was natural son to Alphonso the Great[337] (a wise, good, and honourable prince), was highly concerned to see his kingdoms invaded with such a powerful army, and to find himself not in a condition to oppose it. He was also sensible of the notoriously bad lives that he and his son had led, and that they had become odious to the people. And besides, in the pulling down of a chapel (as I have been assured by several of his nearest relations), there was a book found with this title, _Truth, with its secret Counsel_[338], in which (it is said) was contained a full prophecy of his misfortunes; but there were only three persons who had a sight of it, for as soon as he had read it, he committed it to the flames. Another thing that troubled him was, that neither his son Alphonso, nor his grandson Ferdinand, could be persuaded of the king’s coming into Italy; but they talked arrogantly and contemptuously of him, hectoring and threatening that they would go as far as the mountains to meet him. But some were so wise as to make it their solemn petition to God Almighty that a king of France might never come into Italy; for they had only seen a poor indigent prince of the family of Anjou, who had troubled all Italy before it could get rid of him, namely, Duke John, King René’s son. Ferrand laboured hard, by means of his ambassador Camillo Pandone[339], to stop the king’s expedition into Italy before he left France, offering him a tribute of fifty thousand ducats a year, and to do him homage for his kingdom. But finding he could neither purchase his peace with the King of France, nor compose the differences of the city of Milan, he fell sick, confessed his sins, and died[340], and, I hope, repented of his wickedness. His son Alphonso, who was so cruel and terrible, and in such reputation for his experience in military affairs before the King of France’s departure from Rome, renounced the crown, and was seized with such a panic fear, that in the night he would cry out he heard the French, and that the stones and trees shouted, “France, France.” Nor durst he ever stir boldly out of Naples; but upon his son’s return from Rome he resigned the government of his kingdom to him, and caused him to be crowned, and carried on horseback through the streets of Naples, attended by the chief persons of the city, to wit, his brother