rse the charges of brutality against the man which are contained
in Cesare's letter.

CHAPTER XVII. "THE BEAUTIFUL STRATAGEM"

Cesare left Cesena very early on the morning of December 26--the morning
of Ramiro's execution--and by the 29th he was at Fano, where he received
the envoys who came from Ancona with protestations of loyalty, as well
as a messenger from Vitellozzo Vitelli, who brought him news of the
surrender of Sinigaglia. The citadel itself was still being held by
Andrea Doria--the same who was afterwards to become so famous in Genoa;
this, it was stated, was solely because Doria desired to make surrender
to the duke himself. The Prefectress, Giovanna da Montefeltre, had
already departed from the city, which she ruled as regent for her
eleven-year old boy, and had gone by sea to Venice.

The duke returned answer to Vitelli that he would be in Sinigaglia
himself upon the morrow, and he invited the condottieri to receive him
there, since he was decided to possess himself of the citadel at once,
whether Doria chose to surrender it peacefully or not; and that, to
provide for emergencies, he would bring his artillery with him. Lastly,
Vitelli was bidden to prepare quarters within the new town for the
troops that would accompany Cesare. To do this it was necessary to
dispose the soldiers of Oliverotto da Fermo in the borgo. These were the
only troops with the condottieri in Sinigaglia; the remainder of their
forces were quartered in the strongholds of the territory at distances
of from five to seven miles of the town.

On the last day of that year 1502 Cesare Borgia appeared before
Sinigaglia to receive the homage of those men who had used him so
treacherously, and whom--with the exception of Paolo Orsini--he now
met face to face for the first time since their rebellion. Here were
Francesco Orsini, Duke of Gravina, with Paolo and the latter's son
Fabio; here was Oliverotto, the ruffianly Lord of Fermo, who had won his
lordship by the cold-blooded murder of his kinsman, and concerning whom
a rumour ran in Rome that Cesare had sworn to choke him with his own
hands; and here was Vitellozzo Vitelli, the arch-traitor of them all.

Gianpaolo Baglioni was absent through illness--a matter less fatal to
him than was their health to those who were present--and the Cardinal
and Giulio Orsini were in Rome.

Were these captains mad to suppose that such a man as Cesare Borgia
could so forget the wrong they had done