made between Ferdinando,[1] King of Naples, Lorenzius Medices,[2] and Ludovicus Sforza,[3] potentates, the one of Florence, the other of Milan. Neither is the opinion of some of the schoolmen to be received, that a war cannot justly be made but upon a precedent[4] injury or provocation. For there is no question but a just fear of an imminent danger, though there be no blow given, is a lawful cause of a war.
For their wives; there are cruel examples of them. Livia is infamed[5] for the poisoning of her husband; Roxalana,[6] Solyman's wife, was the destruction of that renowned prince Sultan Mustapha,[7] and otherwise troubled his house and succession; Edward the Second[8] of England his[9] queen had the principal hand in the deposing and murther of her husband. This kind of danger is then to be feared
- ↑ Ferdinand II., 1469–1496, King of Naples.
- ↑ Lorenzo dei Medici, 1449–1492, 'the Magnificent,' Florentine statesman and patron of letters.
- ↑ Lodovico Sforza, 'II Moro,' 1451–1508, Duke of Bari, and de facto, of Milan.
- ↑ Precedent. Preceding.
- ↑ Infamed. Infamous. This Livia was sister to Germanicus and wife of Drusus Caesar, son of Tiberius. Tacitus says that Sejanus was responsible for the death of Drusus, and not Livia. P. Cornelii Taciti Annalium Liber IV. 3.
- ↑ The name of the Sultana Roxalana was really Khourrem, which means 'the joyous one.' She was a Russian and was frequently spoken of as 'La Rossa,' that is, 'the Russian woman.' La Rossa was afterwards euphonized into Roxalana. In 1553, through the machinations of the Sultana Khourrem and her son-in-law, the Grand Vizier, Roostem Pacha, Prince Mustapha was murdered, in order to make way for the succession of Khourrem's son, Prince Selim.
- ↑ Mustapha, eldest son of Solyman I.
- ↑ Edward II., 1284–1327, King of England from 1307 to 1327. His queen was Isabella of France.
- ↑ "Edward the Second of England his queen"; notice the peculiar use of the pronoun to take the place of the ending of the genitive case. It is almost always used with names of persons, particularly with those ending with the sound of s. The locution was common with the Elizabethans, but went out of use in the following century.
