You can surmise how she must have watered at the mouth to see so fine a morsel cast thus into her lap, and yet to know that the consumption of it might beget a woeful indigestion.

Venice shook her head regretfully.

She could not afford to quarrel with her ally, King Louis, and so she made answer--a thought contemptuously, it seems--that Giovanni should have made his offer while he was free to do so.
The Florentines exerted themselves to save Forli from the fate that threatened it.

They urged a league of Bologna, Ferrara, Forli, Piombino, and Siena for their common safety--a proposal which came to nothing, probably because Ferrara and Siena, not being threatened by the Bull, saw no reason why, for the sake of others, they should call down upon themselves the wrath of the Borgias and their mighty allies.
Venice desired to save Faenza, whose tyrant, Manfredi, was also attainted for non-payment of his tributes, and to this end the Republic sent an embassy to Rome with the moneys due.

But the Holy Father refused the gold, declaring that it was too late for payment.
Forli's attempt to avert the danger was of a different sort, and not exerted until this danger--in the shape of Cesare himself--stood in arms beneath her walls.