PARTITION OF NAPLES. 2] ed to crush their common victim between them, chapter Thej could scarcely credit, says Guicciardini, that 1^_ Louis the Twelfth could be so blind as to reject the proffered vassalage and substantial sovereignty of Naples, in order to share it with so artful and dan- gerous a rival as Ferdinand.^^ The unfortunate Frederic, who had been advised for some time past of the unfriendly dispositions of the Spanish government,^^ saw no refuge from the dark tempest mustering against him on the opposite quarters of his kingdom. He collected such troops as he could, however, in order to make battle with the nearest enemy, before he should cross the threshold. On the 28th of June, the French army resumed its march. Before quitting Rome, a brawl arose between some French soldiers and Spaniards resident in the capital ; each party asserting the paramount right of its own sovereign to the crown of Naples. From words they soon came to blows, and many lives were lost before the fray could be quelled ; a melancholy augury for the permanence of the concord so unrighteously established between the two governments.^^ On the 8th of July, the French crossed the Nea- success and criieUies of politan frontier. Frederic, who had taken post at "»e French. ■27 Guicciardini, Istoria, torn. i. plained of the late hour at which lib. 5, p. 266. — Ulloa, Vita di this intelligence was given, which Carlo v., fol. 8. effectually prevented an accommo- 28 In the month of April the dation he might otherwise have kingof Naples received letters from made with King Louis. Lanuza, his envoys in Spain, written by Historias, lib. 1, cap. 14. — Zurita, command of King Ferdinand, in- Hist, del Rey Hernando, tom. i. forming him that he had nothing to lib. 4, cap. 37. expect from that monarch in case 29 j)'^Qt(,jj jjjgt^ jgLouysXII., of an invasion of his territories by part. I, chap. 48. France. Frederic bitterly com-
