Undoubtedly, the petty lords of Italy were fearful of the vipers of Milan.

It was thus that they denominated the Visconti family, in allusion to their coat of arms, which represented an immense serpent swallowing a child, though the device was not their own, but borrowed from a standard which they had taken from the Saracens.

The submission of Genoa alarmed the whole of Italy.

The Venetians took measures to form a league against the Visconti; and the Princes of Padua, Modena, Mantua, and Verona joined it, and the confederated lords sent a deputation to the Emperor, to beg that he would support them; and they proposed that he should enter Italy at their expense.

The opportunity was too good to be lost; and the Emperor promised to do all that they wished.