"'Soldiers and Comrades, I have assembled you here, in order that you may fully learn my mind and intentions, and that I may know yours. I therefore acquaint you that I have arranged with your leaders, who have promised, and bound themselves by articles, to accompany me into my state of Urbino, and to re-establish me in my home, and to maintain me there during life, indifferent to pay or remuneration beyond such as I may be able to give,—I confiding to them my state and person, in reliance upon your good faith. I now wish to know if you are all agreed to follow me in this enterprise; and, should this be your pleasure, I desire from you an oath never to abandon me on any contingency that may occur, and that, in case of being forced to quit me by the pressure of events without completing our undertaking, you will oblige yourselves to return to this place as a rendezvous, and, further, that you shall not desert me for any offers or bribes of the enemy. Avowing to you at the same time that, at this moment, I have not above a ducat a-piece to give you, I nevertheless feel confident our gains will be great, unless fortune be more than adverse; and I promise that all the booty will be yours, and that I shall be your comrade, never sparing my life while it lasts. If you accept these my terms, you must all swear to observe them; otherwise I shall not move from this territory of my brother-in-law.' Whereupon they all, with extended hands, took an oath never to abandon him during life; and so they set forth in the name of God, on the 17th of January, led by Federigo di Bozzolo."
The Pontiff was taken at unawares, for, believing his enemy utterly crushed, he made light of such warnings as had reached him of a contemplated movement against the duchy; but now that the expedition was matured, he knew well the slight hold which the usurper had upon the affections of his nominal subjects. Nor was he more at ease as to the inclinations of his new allies in Lombardy, whose stipendiaries had thus suddenly turned their arms against him. His anxiety was in no way diminished by the representations of his confidential friend Bibbiena, who, actuated perhaps by some lurking kindness for the house of Urbino, urged him to abandon the Borgian policy he had in hand, until such persuasions were silenced by the threatened poignard of Lorenzo. Ere effectual precautions could be adopted in Romagna, Francesco Maria had rallied round him eight thousand infantry and fifteen hundred horse, most of them veterans, and with these he marched about the middle of January. Passing Rimini, where his rival lay "sorely perplexed and bewildered" (to use the phrase of Minio, the Venetian envoy), he advanced under every discouragement of an inclement season, his men wading through snow to the middle, and swimming frequent-swollen torrents. From the secrecy of his preparations and the poverty of his resources, his commissariat was altogether inadequate; but, on reaching his frontier, the refusal of Gradara to submit afforded his men an excuse for compensating their privations by its sack.
His subjects had been prepared by emissaries for a general revolt. On the 1st of February, Count Carlo Gabrielli raised the cry of "Feltro! Feltro!" at Gubbio, and it was enthusiastically responded to through the smaller towns. On the 5th, the Duke was within a few miles of Urbino, then held by Bishop Vitelli, with a garrison of two thousand men, who, distrusting the inhabitants, summoned their militia to muster at S. Bernardino, and closed the gates as soon as the city had thus been cleared of its able-bodied men, refusing to readmit them on pain of instant death. The excluded citizens vented their indignation at this trick, in threats and abuse of the garrison from under the very walls, which at length provoked a sortie of four hundred infantry in order to disperse them. At this juncture, a squadron of one hundred cavalry, sent on by Francesco Maria under Benedetto Giraldi of Mondolfo, for the purpose of supporting the expected rising in his favour, arrived three miles below Urbino, and, whilst breathing their horses, heard that the enemy were abroad. Benedetto immediately left his little force in charge of his brother Annibale, and rode on with but five officers to reconnoitre. The adventure which followed, equally worthy of a bold knight-errant and a Christian soldier, must be told as in the Dialogue of his nephew Tranquillo. "Coming suddenly upon the detachment, about half a mile from the town, Benedetto exclaimed, 'Look there! as these are the first of our master's foes we have fallen in with, it would surely be a shame to let them get back to the city without a taste of us: I am therefore resolved to make a dash at them, and if you will follow me, by God's grace we shall have the first victory.' This said, he rushed into the midst of them, with vizor up and lance in rest, overthrowing many by the shock. His weapon having broken, he performed prodigies with his sword, and, aided by his followers, who had not shrunk from his summons, the enemy's leaders were slain, and their whole battalion dispersed in panic through the fields, where most of them were put to death by the excluded townsfolk, who had mustered at the first alarm. I, too, came up with our squadron, in time to cut off a good many of them; but I had little cause to congratulate myself upon that success, for, passing near my brother [Benedetto], he said to me, 'Annibale, I am killed.' Whereupon, looking towards him, I observed a cut in his face, and told him to fear nothing, as face wounds were not mortal; but he replied, 'It's worse than that, for I am run through the body by a pike.' At these words my heart seemed riven asunder; yet, in order not to alarm him, I desired him to cheer up, and commend himself to God Almighty, and to the most glorious Mother of the Saviour, and to vow his armour and horse to Loreto, adding that I too would offer a housing worth twenty-five ducats. 'I am content,' answered he, 'to give this horse, a gallant Turkish charger bestowed upon me by the Marquis of Mantua, along with these arms; but I have only one favour to ask of the Saviour of mankind, which is, that he will permit me to live long enough to confess myself.' As he said this an Observantine friar, who had on former occasions confessed him, came up, and, after thanking God for having heard his prayer, he summoned the monk, and returning to Cavallino confessed himself. There being no surgeon at hand, a gentleman of Mantua named Stigino cleansed the wound by suction, and ascertained that the bowels were not pierced, which afforded me much hope. I sent for many surgeons. The first that arrived was Maccione of Fossombrone, who dressed the wound with charmed bandages, a thing that much displeased my brother; and for conscience-sake he refused to be doctored in that way, until persuaded by a friar, who assured him there was no sin, seeing that there had been no diabolical incantation used; and, being told of numerous miracles effected by these cloths, he submitted to them, and ere long was restored to health."
The sally-party from the garrison having been repulsed by Giraldi's squadron, aided by a considerable force from Gubbio, Fossombrone, and Sinigaglia, which just then most opportunely appeared, they found little safety by returning to quarters. The citizens still within the walls rushed to arms, even the women and children showered missiles on the retreating soldiery, and the Bishop, dispirited by the disaster, capitulated next day. But being seized with a panic, his garrison withdrew ere their safe-conduct was signed, and were beset by the infuriated troops and inhabitants, who attacked them on every side with arms, bludgeons, and stones, slaying or capturing them to a man. The Duke thus entered his capital, and was welcomed with demonstrations of joy, only equalled by those which, fourteen years before, had hailed his uncle's return in similar circumstances.
As it was no easy task to restrain an army so composed from reaping the spoils of victory in a way opposite to wishes and the interests of Francesco Maria, he lost no time in employing them against Fano, a town which, not belonging to his state, might with less scruple be abandoned to plunder. The assault, however, miscarried through Maldonato, a Spanish captain, whose treasonable correspondence with Rome began already to be intercepted, and was ere long exposed. After this check, the troops were dispersed among the villages, until the inclement weather should pass; their head-quarters were at Montebaroccio, a very strong position midway between the upper part of the duchy, which acknowledged its legitimate sovereign, and the cities of Pesaro, Fano, and Sinigaglia, which were garrisoned by the ecclesiastical troops.
Meanwhile the Pope, trusting to time more than the sword for ridding him of an enemy destitute of all resources, had directed his nephew to leave them an open field, until his preparations for their destruction should be complete. He hastily called upon the Emperor and the Kings of France and Spain for assistance, whilst Lorenzo was mustering the ecclesiastical and Florentine militia, under Guido Rangone of Modena, Renzo da Ceri, and Vitello Vitelli. No expense was spared from the papal treasury to raise an overwhelming force, and Lorenzo borrowed 50,000 golden florins from his fellow-citizens. Charles contributed four hundred Neapolitan lances, and Francis promised three hundred more, on condition of the surrender by Leo of Modena to his ally the Duke of Ferrara. By these means was levied an army of fifteen to eighteen thousand infantry, a thousand men-at-arms, and at least as many light cavalry, with fourteen pieces of artillery.
The Lord of Urbino appears to have looked without reason for reinforcements from Venice,[*270] but Minio mentions that his army now consisted of twelve thousand foot, and that he had received a money subsidy from an unknown quarter, probably his father-in-law, the Marquis of Mantua. Yet his position was in all respects critical. In an enterprise depending on prompt success, each hour lost was the enemy's gain. His present life of bootless and bootyless inaction disgusted his Spaniards, who not only murmured, but, unmindful of their vow of service, began to desert to the ecclesiastical camp, attracted by superior pay. Worst of all, the enthusiasm that had enabled Guidobaldo to win back his state for a brief interval, now languished in the cause of his nephew, whose coup-de-main had failed, and whose resources were inadequate to a prolonged struggle, the burden whereof must fall upon his loyal subjects. In these circumstances, he resorted to an expedient which relieved the dull incidents of a petty campaign by one of a novel and romantic character. Hoping to bring the war to a speedy issue, he sent Suares de Lione, a Spanish officer, and his own Secretary, Orazio Florido, with the following instructions, and message to his adversary:—
"As it is creditable to a prince warring for any cause, to endeavour that his object should be effected with the least bloodshed and injury to the country, especially if it be his intention to become its sovereign, and as I conceive that the Lord Lorenzo must share in this sentiment, I have devised an expedient most convenient to both of us. For if he desire the acquisition of this state as ardently as appears from the late and present campaign, he will be delighted to satisfy that longing promptly, and without further burden to its inhabitants, by putting to the test his own bravery and that of his troops. I therefore empower you, Captain Suares and Orazio, to challenge him forthwith to combat in any place he likes; four thousand men against four thousand, or three, two, or one thousand, or five hundred, or one hundred, or twenty, or four, or any smaller number he may choose, provided he and I are included,—all to be on foot, with the usual arms of infantry; or lastly, if he will fight me alone with the readiest arms, so much the better, that thus, by the death or imprisonment of one of us, the victor may obtain the most satisfactory solution of his wishes, and relieve the lingering suspense of not a few.
"Relying on the courage of his Lordship, and many about him of not less honourable pretensions, that these so reasonable proposals will be received with pleasure, I shall await your return, promptly to prepare for whatever alternative he may accede to. I limit the answer to three days; adding that, if he prefer fighting in considerable numbers, he may do so with three hundred picked men of the light cavalry, armed with lance, sword poignard, and mace. Or, if none of the aforesaid conditions please him, which I cannot believe possible, remember to offer that, if he will engage with these three hundred light horse, and all my infantry, he may have the advantage of five hundred or a thousand foot beyond what I can bring into the field, equally armed. And the present memorandum you will deliver into his Lordship's hands."[271]