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Pope Julius the Second went to work impetuously in all his

affairs, and found the times and circumstances conform so well to

that line of action that he always met with success. Consider his

first enterprise against Bologna, Messer Giovanni Bentivogli

being still alive. The Venetians were not agreeable to it, nor

was the King of Spain, and he had the enterprise still under

discussion with the King of France; nevertheless he personally

entered upon the expedition with his accustomed boldness and

energy, a move which made Spain and the Venetians stand

irresolute and passive, the latter from fear, the former from

desire to recover the kingdom of Naples; on the other hand, he

drew after him the King of France, because that king, having

observed the movement, and desiring to make the Pope his friend

so as to humble the Venetians, found it impossible to refuse him.