CHAPTER II.

ALLIANCES AND COUNTER-ALLIANCES. PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. Dangerous Position and Measures of Precaution—Donato Acciaiuoli in Rome—The Florentines and the Papacy—Demands of Sixtus IV.—Florentines in the Castle of St. Angelo—Cardinal Riario in Florence—His Return to Rome—Bull of Excommunication against Lorenzo de’ Medici—King Ferrante and Lorenzo—Relations of the King with Florence and Siena—The Papacy and Bologna—Sixtus IV.’s Observations on the Events at Florence—The Republic of Venice and the…