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The fame of ordinary tyrants was confined to their own districts,

and every district had its tyrant; but the fame of this

extraordinary man was spread throughout the Milanese; his life

was the subject of popular tales, and his name carried with it

something powerful and mysterious. Every tyrant was suspected of

alliance with him, every assassin of acting under his orders; at

every extraordinary crime, of the author of which they were

ignorant, the name of this man was uttered, whom, thanks to the

circumspection of our historians, we are obliged to call the

Unknown.