The Life of Pope Leo X in Four Books

He discussed the cruelty and perfidy of his enemies with such gravity and moderation of mind that he drew tears from many; he brought over citizens who were doubtful or even hostile before to his side; and finally, having now clearly become the prince of all citizens, he began to administer the Republic at his own discretion. Now Alfonsus had arrived in the territory of Siena with the Pontifical and paternal forces, and arms were being prepared by other generals of the Pontiff in the borders of Flaminia so that they might accomplish with true force and open war what they had been unable to accomplish by deceit, perfidy, and wicked ambushes. Xystus also added to his profane arms the terrible weapon of religion and forbade the Florentines the Christian sacraments because they had immediately killed the Archbishop Salviatus, a consecrated man, without a trial, since the punishment of the crime he had committed pertained entirely to the judgment of the Pontiff himself. Furthermore, Laurentius, with almost all his enemies either condemned or punished, fortified by the firmest benevolence of men, collected money and prepared an army. He requested aid from the Sforzas by right of the alliance and implored the faith of the Venetian Senate, which was accustomed to protect free cities against the force of impotent princes and to defend the injuries of allies outstandingly. But Alfonsus, having advanced with a sharp impetus into the Florentine territory, before a just army could be gathered, took several castles with artillery, drove away great spoils of cattle and men from every side, and filled the whole region, famous for its frequency of villas and farmers, with the terror of war. Meanwhile, Federicus Gonzaga and Hercules d’Este arrived in Etruria with picked forces, and Carolus Montonius was hired, who had veterans of the Braccian militia and also Perugian exiles under his banners, so that he might hold the pontifical forces in Umbria in fear of losing Perugia. Regarding these matters, war was waged in several places with varied but no memorable outcome. For Robertus Sanseverinus, who was campaigning under the auspices of the Pontiff and Ferdinandus, had made a predatory excursion from the Lunigiana into the Pisan territory, and the Tifernates were greatly vexed by Nicolaus Vitellius, an enemy of the Pontiff, when he sought his homeland back with arms. Many months had already passed, and the war was being dragged out with somewhat greater equipment and profit for the generals and soldiers than with virtue or glory, when the Pontiff’s forces were defeated by the Florentine generals at Lake Trasimene, and Sanseverinus was bravely pushed back into the Lunigiana. However, in the camp at Poggio Imperiale, a very bloody military sedition flared up between the horsemen of Gonzaga and Este. This matter, just as it had divided the army into factions, later gave Alfonsus and Federicus of Urbino the occasion to engage the battle happily. For at their sudden arrival, the Florentine forces were disturbed and turned their backs, throwing away their arms foully with singular cowardice. But Laurentius, although the fortune of war had alternated the turns of the parties with equal prosperous and adverse successes, was nevertheless tormented by the greatest cares, while abroad, he could bear with the greatest difficulty the not only vehement but lasting attacks of the greatest king and most bitter Pontiff, unequal in almost all things.