Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/285

261 EXPEDITION OF CHARLES VIII. 261 The government of Milan was at this time chapter under the direction of Lodovico Sforza, or Lodo- '- vico the Moor, as he is commonly called ; an epithet suggested by his complexion, but which he will- ingly retained, as indicating the superior craftiness on which he valued himself. '' He held the reins in the name of his nephew, then a minor, until a convenient season should arrive for assuming them in his own. His cool, perfidious character was stained with the worst vices of the most profligate class of Italian statesmen of that period. The central parts of Italy were occupied by the republic of Florence, which had ever been the rallying point of the friends of freedom, too often of faction ; but which had now resigned itself to the dominion of the Medici, whose cultivated tastes and munificent patronage shed a splendid illusion over their administration, which has blinded the eyes of contemporaries, and even of posterity. The papal chair was filled by Alexander the Sixth, a pontiff whose licentiousness, avarice, and unblushing effrontery have been the theme of un- mingled reproach, with Catholic as well as Protes- tant writers. His preferment was effected by lavish bribery, and by his consummate address, as well as energy of character. Although a native Spaniard, his election was extremely unpalatable to Ferdi- more exquisite than that conveyed Tu tibi vel reges cives facis ; o decus ! O lux in thpsp fpw 1inp=! whprp Sqnnn Ausoniffi, per quam libera turba sumus ; in tnese lew lines, wnere oanna- pg^ ^^^^^ barbaries nobis non imperat, zaro notices her position as the et Sol bulwark of Christendom. Exoriens nostro clarius orbe micat !" Opera Latina, lib. 3, eleg. 1, 95- "^""'RomT '"'^'° ^" P"'""""" 7 Guicciardini, Istoria, torn. i. .Emula, quae terris, quas dominaris aquis! lib. 3, p. 147.