Florence indeed, thanks to her rapid increase in population, could muster nearly 150,000 souls.
The next day, at the appointed hour, the deputies made their appearance to meet the king.

They were again introduced into his presence, and the discussion was reopened.

At last, as they were coming to no sort of understanding, the royal secretary, standing at the foot of the throne upon which Charles viii sat with covered head, unfolded a paper and began to read, article by article, the conditions imposed by the King of France.

But scarcely had he read a third of the document when the discussion began more hotly than ever before.

Then Charles VIII said that thus it should be, or he would order his trumpets to be sounded.
Hereupon Piero Capponi, secretary to the republic, commonly called the Scipio of Florence, snatched from the royal secretary's hand the shameful proposal of capitulation, and tearing it to pieces, exclaimed:-- "Very good, sire; blow your trumpets, and we will ring our bells." He threw the pieces in the face of the amazed reader, and dashed out of the room to give the terrible order that would convert the street of Florence into a battlefield.
Still, against all probabilities, this bold answer saved the town.