y honour's sake than for the new influence that this title might
confer. Then the pope went on to bestow the twelve cardinals' hats that
had been sold. The new princes of the Church were Don Diego de Mendoza,
archbishop of Seville; Jacques, archbishop of Oristagny, the Pope's
vicar-general; Thomas, archbishop of Strigania; Piero, archbishop of
Reggio, governor of Rome; Francesco Bargia, archbishop of Cosenza,
treasurer-general; Gian, archbishop of Salerno, vice-chamberlain; Luigi
Bargia, archbishop of Valencia, secretary to His Holiness, and brother of
the Gian Borgia whom Caesar had poisoned; Antonio, bishop of Coma; Gian
Battista Ferraro, bishop of Modem; Amedee d'Albret, son of the King of
Navarre, brother-in-law of the Duke of Valentinois; and Marco Cornaro, a
Venetian noble, in whose person His Holiness rendered back to the most
serene republic the favour he had just received.

Then, as there was nothing further to detain the Duke of Valentinois at
Rome, he only waited to effect a loan from a rich banker named Agostino
Chigi, brother of the Lorenzo Chigi who had perished on the day when the
pope had been nearly killed by the fall of a chimney, and departed far
the Romagna, accompanied by Vitellozzo Vitelli, Gian Paolo Baglione, and
Jacopo di Santa Croce, at that time his friends, but later on his
victims.

His first enterprise was against Pesaro: this was the polite attention of
a brother-in-law, and Gian Sforza very well knew what would be its
consequences; for instead of attempting to defend his possessions by
taking up arms, or to venture an negotiations, unwilling moreover to
expose the fair lands he had ruled so long to the vengeance of an
irritated foe, he begged his subjects, to preserve their former affection
towards himself, in the hope of better days to come; and he fled into
Dalmatia. Malatesta, lord of Rimini, followed his example; thus the Duke
of Valentinois entered both these towns without striking a single blow.
Caesar left a sufficient garrison behind him, and marched on to Faenza.

But there the face of things was changed: Faenza at that time was under
the rule of Astor Manfredi, a brave and handsome young man of eighteen,
who, relying on the love of his subjects towards his family, had resolved
on defending himself to the uttermost, although he had been forsaken by
the Bentivagli, his near relatives, and by his allies, the Venetian and
Florentines, who had not dared to send him any aid becaus