Florentine imagined the French to be like an army of those ancient
barbarians who were wont to extinguish fire with blood. The prophecies
of Savonarola, who had predicted the foreign invasion and the destruction
that should follow it, were recalled to the minds of all; and so much
perturbation was evinced that Piero dei Medici, bent on getting peace at
any price, forced a decree upon the republic whereby she was to send an
embassy to the conqueror; and obtained leave, resolved as he was to
deliver himself in person into the hands of the French monarch, to act as
one of the ambassadors. He accordingly quitted Florence, accompanied by
four other messengers, and an his arrival at Pietra Santa, sent to ask
from Charles VIII a safe-conduct for himself alone. The day after he
made this request, Brigonnet and de Piennes came to fetch him, and led
him into the presence of Charles VIII.

Piero dei Medici, in spite of his name and influence, was in the eyes of
the French nobility, who considered it a dishonourable thing to concern
oneself with art or industry, nothing more than a rich merchant, with
whom it would be absurd to stand upon any very strict ceremony. So
Charles VIII received him on horseback, and addressing him with a haughty
air, as a master might address a servant, demanded whence came this pride
of his that made him dispute his entrance into Tuscany. Piero dei Medici
replied, that, with the actual consent of Louis XI, his father Lorenzo
had concluded a treaty of alliance with Ferdinand of Naples; that
accordingly he had acted in obedience to prior obligations, but as he
did, not wish to push too far his devotion to the house of Aragon or his
opposition to France, he was ready to do whatever Charles VIII might
demand of him. The king, who had never looked for such humility in his
enemy, demanded that Sarzano should be given up to him: to this Piero dei
Medici at once consented. Then the conqueror, wishing to see how far the
ambassador of the magnificent republic would extend his politeness,