Страница 51 из 310

And because he knew that the past severity had caused some hatred

against himself, so, to clear himself in the minds of the people,

and gain them entirely to himself, he desired to show that, if

any cruelty had been practised, it had not originated with him,

but in the natural sternness of the minister. Under this pretence

he took Ramiro, and one morning caused him to be executed and

left on the piazza at Cesena with the block and a bloody knife at

his side. The barbarity of this spectacle caused the people to be

at once satisfied and dismayed.

[4] Ramiro d'Orco. Ramiro de Lorqua.