RISE OF ABSOLUTISM 637 had been commissioned to make a colossal statue of the pope at Bologna, asked Julius if he should represent j u h us n him with a book in his hand, the warlike pope re- and Venice plied, "No, with a sword!" Venice now reaped the bitter fruit of her fifteenth-century policy of expansion and ag- gression in northern Italy, when she quarreled with Julius at the same time that she was already at war with Maximil- ian. The powerful League of Cambray was formed against her in 1508, consisting not only of the pope and the emperor, but also of France and Ferdinand and a number of small Italian states. Venice naturally received a crushing defeat and had to surrender her possessions in the peninsula. They preferred her government, however, and many of them took the first opportunity that offered itself to revolt from their new masters and return to her rule. Venice also was able later to repudiate the complete submission to the papal de- mands in ecclesiastical matters which she had to make at the moment. But she never quite recovered from the blow which the League of Cambray dealt her, and which, to- gether with the loss to Portugal of so much of her Eastern trade, resulted in time in her decline. Having taught Venice a lesson, Julius II turned about and formed with her in 151 1 a Holy League directed against The Holy France. Ferdinand, who was always on the win- League ning side, joined them, as did young Henry VI II of England, the Swiss Confederates, and finally Maximilian. In short, all Europe now turned against Louis XII just as before all had picked on Venice. The French were driven out of Genoa and Milan, and the Swiss won a slice of Mil- anese territory. Ferdinand conquered Navarre for himself, the Medici were restored to power in Florence, Julius II recovered Romagna for the Papal States. Maximilian had entered the league too late and had contributed too little toward its success to receive much reward, and Henry VIII, who had expected Ferdinand to help him conquer Guienne, found that his father-in-law had made a fool of him, and learned the bitter lesson of distrust in humanity. Julius II died in 15 13 and Louis XII two years later.
