Strona 283 z 310

Thereupon Castruccio seized Benedetto and put him to death, and

beheaded many other noble citizens, and drove their families into

exile. It now appeared to Castruccio that both Pisa and Pistoia

were thoroughly disaffected; he employed much thought and energy

upon securing his position there, and this gave the Florentines

their opportunity to reorganize their army, and to await the

coming of Carlo, the son of the King of Naples. When Carlo

arrived they decided to lose no more time, and assembled a great

army of more than thirty thousand infantry and ten thousand

cavalry-having called to their aid every Guelph there was in

Italy. They consulted whether they should attack Pistoia or Pisa

first, and decided that it would be better to march on the

latter-a course, owing to the recent conspiracy, more likely to

succeed, and of more advantage to them, because they believed

that the surrender of Pistoia would follow the acquisition of

Pisa.