XII
As he descended from Monte Albano the sun was setting. The pointed cypresses were black against the golden sky; the receding mountains tender and translucent as amethyst. The wind had subsided. He was approaching Anchiano, and the hill town of Vinci was already in sight.
He stopped, and murmured:—
'From the mountain which takes its name from the conqueror (Vinci—Vincere) Man shall take his first flight!'
And gazing at his birthplace, there at the foot of the White Mountain, he repeated: 'Eternal glory to the nest from whence he sprang!'
The letter from Messer Agapito announced the approaching siege of Faenza, and demanded the immediate presence of the new engineer and architect in Cæsar Borgia's camp.
Two days later Leonardo left Florence for Romagna.
BOOK XII
'Aut Cæsar aut Nihil.'
Cæsar Borgia.
1500-1503
'A prince must be a beast as well as a man.'
Niccolò Machiavelli.—Il Principe.