This was the recompense for the treason of Francesco to the State of Milan.

It was for such successes that he passed his life in perfidy, privation, and danger.' In these rapid successions we trace, besides the demoralization of the Sforza family, the action of new forces from without.

France, Germany, and Spain appeared upon the stage; and against these great powers the policy of Italian despotism was helpless.
[1] In the castle of Loches, there is said to be a roughly painted wall-picture of a man in a helmet over the chimney in the room known as his prison, with this legend, _Voila un qui n'est pas content_.
Tradition gives it to Il Moro.
We have now reached the threshold of the true Renaissance, and a new period is being opened for Italian politics.

The despots are about to measure their strength with the nations of the North.

It was Lodovico Sforza who, by his invitation of Charles VIII.