336 ITALIAN WARS. TART In short, every member of the league, after the "' first alarm subsided, had shown itself ready to sac- rifice the common weal to its own private ends. With these causes of disgust, the Spanish govern- ment consented to a truce with France, to begin for itself on the 5th of March, and for the allies, if they chose to be included in it, seven weeks later, and to continue till the end of October, 1497. This truce was subsequently prolonged, and, after the death of Charles the Eighth, terminated in a definitive treaty of peace, signed at Marcoussi, August 5th, 1498. ^ Ferdinand's In the discussions to which these arrangements views re- "^ Naples." gave rise, the project is said to have been broach- ed for the conquest and division of the kingdom of Naples by the combined powers of France and Spain, which was carried into effect some years later. According to Comines, the proposition originated with the Spanish court, although it saw fit, in a subsequent period of the negotiations, to disavow the fact. ^ The Spanish writers, on the other hand, impute the first suggestion of it to the French, who, they say, went so far as to specify the details of the partition subsequently adopted ; according to which the two Calabrias were assigned to Spain. However this may be, there is little 8 C4uicciarciini, Istorin, lib. 3, p. completely outwitted by the supe- 178. — Zurita, Hist, del Rey Her- rior management of the Spanish nando, lib. 2, cap. 44 ; lib. 3, cap. ffovernment ; who intended nothing 13, 19, 21, 26. — Comines, Mt- lurther at this time by the proposal moires, liv. 8, chap. 23. of a division, than to amuse the 9 Comines gives some curious de- French court until the fate of Na- tails respecting the French embas- pies should be decided. Memoircs, sy, which he considers to have been liv. 8, chap. 23.
