Tuscany were again harassed by the horrors of war. The proud mind of
the duke could not endure that the Venetians should possess Bergamo and
Brescia, and he was still further annoyed, by hearing, that they were
constantly in arms, and in the daily practice of annoying some portion
of his territories. He thought, however, that he should not only be able
to restrain them, but to recover the places he had lost, if the pope,
the Florentines, and the count could be induced to forego the Venetian
alliance. He therefore resolved to take Romagna from the pontiff,
imagining that his holiness could not injure him, and that the
Florentines, finding the conflagration so near, either for their own
sake would refrain from interference, or if they did not, could not
conveniently attack him. The duke was also aware of the resentment
of the Florentines against the Venetians, on account of the affair of
Lucca, and he therefore judged they would be the less eager to take
arms against him on their behalf. With regard to the Count Francesco,
he trusted that their new friendship, and the hope of his alliance would
keep him quiet. To give as little color as possible for complaint, and
to lull suspicion, particularly, because in consequence of his treaty
with the count, the latter could not attack Romagna, he ordered Niccolo
Piccinino, as if instigated by his own ambition to do so.

When the agreement between the duke and the count was concluded, Niccolo
was in Romagna, and in pursuance of his instructions from the duke,
affected to be highly incensed, that a connection had been established
between him and the count, his inveterate enemy. He therefore withdrew
himself and his forces to Camurata, a place between Furli and Ravenna,
which he fortified, as if designing to remain there some time, or till a
new enterprise should present itself. The report of his resentment being
diffused, Niccolo gave the pope to understand how much the duke was
under obligation to him, and how ungrateful he proved; and he was