end the rare administrative ability which not
even his bitterest detractors have denied him.

He sent a castellan to Forlimpopoli and fetched from Imola a Podesta for
Forli.(1) He confirmed the Council of Forty that ruled Forli--being
ten for each quarter of the city--and generally made sound and wise
provision for the town's well-being, which we shall presently see
bearing fruit.

1 It was customary throughout Italy that the Podesta, or chief
magistrate, should never be a native of the town--rarely of the
State--in which he held his office. Thus, having no local interests or
relationships, he was the likelier to dispense justice with desirable
single-mindedness.

Next the repairing of the fortress claimed his attention, and he
disposed for this, entrusting the execution of his instructions to
Ramiro de Lorqua, whom he left behind as governor. In the place where
the breach was opened by his cannon he ordered the placing of a marble
panel bearing his arms; and there it is to be seen to this day: Dexter,
the sable bars of the House of Lenzol; Sinister, the Borgia bull in
chief, and the lilies of France; and, superimposed, an inescutcheon
bearing the Pontifical arms.

All measures being taken so far as Forli was concerned, Cesare turned
his attention to Pesaro, and prepared to invade it. Before leaving,
however, he awaited the return of his absent cousin, the Cardinal
Giovanni Borgia, who, as papal legate, was to receive the oath of fealty
of the town; but, instead of the cardinal whom he was expecting, came a
messenger with news of his death of fever at Fossombrone.

Giovanni Borgia had left Forli on December 28 to go to Cesena, with
intent, it was said, to recruit to his cousin's army those men of
Rimini, who, exiled and in rebellion against their tyrant Malatesta,
had sought shelter in that Pontifical fief. Thence he had moved on
to Urbino, where--in the ducal palace--he awaited news of the fall of
Forli, and where, whilst waiting, he fell ill. Nevertheless, when the
tidings of Cesare's victory reached him, he insisted upon getting to
horse, to repair to Forli; but, discovering himself too ill to keep the
saddle, he was forced to abandon the journey at Fossombrone, whilst the
outcome of the attempt was an aggravation of the fever resulting in the
cardinal's death.

Cesare appears to have been deeply grieved by the loss of Giovanni,
and there is every cause to suppose that a sincere attachment prevailed
be