By burying a bronze or stone equestrian statue, which he had
produced by astrological or magical arts, he believed that he had
defended the city from ruin, and even from capture and plunder. When
Cardinal Albornoz was governor of Romagna some sixty years later, the
statue was accidentally dug up and then shown to the people, probably
by the order of the Cardinal, that it might be known by what means the
cruel Montefeltro had defended himself against the Roman Church. And
again, half a century later, when an attempt to surprise Forli had
failed, men began to talk afresh of the virtue of the statue, which had
perhaps been saved and reburied. It was the last time that they could
do so; for a year later Forli was really taken. The foundation of
buildings all through the fifteenth century was associated not only
with astrology but also with magic. The large number of gold and silver
medals which Paul II buried in the foundation of his buildings was
noticed, and Platina was by no means displeased to recognize an old
pagan Telesma in the fact. Neither Paul nor his biographer were in any
way conscious of the mediaeval religious significance of such an
offering.
But this official magic, which in many cases only rests on hearsay, was
comparatively unimportant by the side of the secret arts practiced for
personal ends.
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