no doubt may still remain in your heart, and that you may be once again
and profoundly convinced of our good faith, we the aforesaid Sultan
Bajazet do swear by the true God, who has created the heavens and the
earth and all that therein is, that we will religiously observe all that
has been above said and declared, and in the future will do nothing and
undertake nothing that may be contrary to the interests of your Highness.

"Given at Constantinople, in our palace, on the 12th of September A.D.
1494."

This letter was the cause of great joy to the Holy Father: the aid of
four or five thousand Turks would be insufficient under the present
circumstances, and would only serve to compromise the head of
Christendom, while the sum of 300,000 ducats--that is, nearly a million
francs--was good to get in any sort of circumstances. It is true that,
so long as D'jem lived, Alexander was drawing an income of 180,000
livres, which as a life annuity represented a capital of nearly two
millions; but when one needs ready mangy, one ought to be able to make a
sacrifice in the way of discount. All the same, Alexander formed no
definite plan, resolved on acting as circumstances should indicate.

But it was a more pressing business to decide how he should behave to the
King of France: he had never anticipated the success of the French in
Italy, and we have seen that he laid all the foundations of his family's
future grandeur upon his alliance with the house of Aragon. But here was
this house tattering, and a volcano more terrible than her own Vesuvius
was threatening to swallow up Naples. He must therefore change his
policy, and attach himself to the victor,--no easy matter, for Charles
VIII was bitterly annoyed with the pope for having refused him the
investiture and given it to Aragon.