On the 19th Cesare left Rome to set out for Genoa by way of Ostia, and
his departure threw Giustiniani into alarm--fearing that the duke would
now escape.

But there was no occasion for his fears. On the very day of Cesare's
departure Julius sent fresh briefs to the Romagna, different indeed
from those of November 3. In these he now expressed his disapproval of
Alexander's having conferred the vicarship of the Romagna upon Cesare
Borgia, and he exhorted all to range themselves under the banner of the
Church, under whose protection he intended to keep them.

Events followed quickly upon that. Two days later news reached the Pope
that the Venetians had captured Faenza, whereupon he sent a messenger
after Valentinois to suggest to the latter that he should surrender
Forli and the other fiefs into pontifical hands. With this Cesare
refused to comply, and, as a result, he was detained by the captain of
the navy, in obedience to the instructions from Julius. At the same time
the Pope broke the last link of the treaty with Cesare by appointing
a new Governor of Romagna in the person of Giovanni Sacchi, Bishop of
Ragusa. He commanded the latter to take possession of the Romagna in the
name of the Church, and he issued another brief--the third within three
weeks--demanding the State's obedience to the new governor.

On November 26, Remolino, who had been at Ostia with Cesar; came to
Rome, and, throwing himself at the feet of the Pontiff, begged for mercy
for his lord, whom he now accounted lost. He promised Julius that Cesare
should give him the countersigns of the strongholds, together with
security for their surrender. This being all that the Pope could desire,
he issued orders that Cesare be brought back to Rome, and in Consistory
advised the Sacred College--by way, no doubt, of exculpating himself
to men who knew that he was refusing to pay the price at which he had
bought the Papacy--that the Venetians in the Romagna were not moving
against the Church, but against Cesare himself--wherefore he had
demanded of Cesare the surrender of the towns he held, that thus there
might be an end to the war.

It was specious--which is the best that can be said for it.

As for putting an end to the war, the papal brief was far indeed from
achieving any such thing, as was instantly plain from the reception it
met with in the Romagna, which persisted in its loyalty to Cesare in
despite of the very Pope himself. When that brief was rea