The bright, comprehensive, and sagacious picture which he now drew of the actual position and future prospects of the King of France, was perhaps unequalled by any of the most splendid efforts of the man with whom Macchiavelli himself found it hard to cope; and well might one so young and inexperienced as Lorenzo have been carried away by his eloquence, even if there had not been much truth in the details, much accuracy in the reasoning. But there was far more of both than of falsehood or rhetoric. He stripped the position of the King of France from its fictitious splendour: he painted him as in the midst of a foreign country, with no communications open behind him, without a fleet, and with an exhausted treasury, without a sincere friend in Italy, with a resolute enemy before him, and without one faithful ally behind. He showed and asserted he could prove that Ludovico Sforza was busily weaving the web of a confederation against him; that the Duke of Ferrara was already gained; that the Venetians were arming in haste, and that Florence was eager to avenge the humiliation she had received, by giving aid to the league; that even the Emperor and the King of Spain, though bought off for a time by sacrifices disastrous to France, showed signs already of wavering in their faith to the young king, and were only true to their policy of treachery.
"This splendid army will melt away," he continued, "by battle and disease; while that of the league against you will increase every hour. Where will you draw reinforcements? how will they reach you if they can be raised at all? To your enemies men will flow in from every quarter, and will find all roads open. The remnants of the great companies will easily be gathered together, all men practised in warfare under leaders of consummate skill. The Albanian bands of the Venetians will sweep the country of its provisions, and put a desert between you and France. What the sword spares, famine and pestilence will slay, and an expedition begun with festivals and successes will end in disaster and tears.
"Show me where I am wrong, and I will admit it; but this, Signor Visconti, is my view, and I give it you plainly and sincerely. Now you may ask what I would deduce from all this?--that the King of France should desist from his enterprise, and return with defeat and disgrace to his own land? Far from it; I would have him push on to Naples with all rapidity, before the plans of his enemies are mature, or their preparations made. He may subdue that kingdom rapidly, and with the command of the sea coast, and a new and defensible position, set his foes at defiance till his army can be recruited and reinforced. But I would not have him stay here and waste time, every moment of which is precious, in trying to humble a pontiff whom he is bound to reverence, or destroy a sovereign who is ready to be his friend. If such madness seizes him he is lost. How much better, at no loss of honour or of interest, but merely by that reverence for the Church, which, as a Christian king, he is bound to show--how much better to have a friendly power, though perhaps a weak one, between him and the enemies in his rear!"
"But what surety has the king that this will prove a friendly power," asked Lorenzo, "that these Roman States--this very city will not be armed against him as soon as he has passed on?"
"The pope will give him securities," said Cæsar Borgia, promptly, although a slight shade had come over his brow while the young man spoke. "He shall have ample guarantees; such fortresses to hold as will ensure him against that danger; and as for myself, I care not if I go as a hostage with his forces."
Lorenzo paused, and thought without reply, and Borgia added, "Nay more, Zizim shall be given into his hands, though perchance that act may bring down the wrath of Bajazet upon Italy, and we may again see our coasts ravaged by Turkish fleets."
"And who is Zizim?" asked Lorenzo, in surprise.
"It matters not," replied Borgia, "but whisper that name in the king's ear--only say you have somewhat to tell him regarding Zizim, and he will give eager audience to all the rest."
"But I must also tell him on what authority I speak," said Lorenzo.
"Do so!" exclaimed Cæsar Borgia, at once, "let him know that you have seen me in company with this good lord who sits silent here, who knows the truth of every word I speak."