. Thus everything went
well for the triumphant march of Charles: the gates of towns opened of
themselves at his approach, his enemies fled without waiting for his
coming, and before he had fought a single battle he had won for himself
the surname of Conqueror.

The day after at dawn the army started once more, and after marching the
whole day, stopped in the evening at Velletri. There the king, who had
been on horseback since the morning, with Cardinal Valentine and D'jem,
left the former at his lodging, and taking D'jem with him, went on to
his own. Then Caesar Borgia, who among the army baggage had twenty very
heavy waggons of his own, had one of these opened, took out a splendid
cabinet with the silver necessary for his table, and gave orders for his
supper to be prepared, as he had done the night before. Meanwhile,
night had come on, and he shut himself up in a private chamber, where,
stripping off his cardinal's costume, he put on a groom's dress. Thanks
to this disguise, he issued from the house that had been assigned for
his accommodation without being recognised, traversed the streets,
passed through the gates, and gained the open country. Nearly half a
league outside the town, a servant awaited him with two swift horses.
Caesar, who was an excellent rider, sprang to the saddle, and he and his
companion at full gallop retraced the road to Rome, where they arrived
at break of day. Caesar got down at the house of one Flores, auditor of
the rota, where he procured a fresh horse and suitable clothes; then he
flew at once to his mother, who gave a cry of joy when she saw him; for
so silent and mysterious was the cardinal for all the world beside, and
even for her, that he had not said a word of his early return to Rome.
The cry of joy uttered by Rosa Vanozza when she beheld her son was far
mare a cry of vengeance than of love. One evening, while everybody was
at the rejoicings in the Vatican, when Charles VIII and Alexander VI
were swearing a friendship which neither of them felt, and exchanging
oaths that were broken beforehand, a messenger from Rosa Vanozza had
arrived with a letter to Caesar, in which she begged him to come at once
to her house in the Via delta Longara. Caesar questioned the messenger,
but he only replied that he could tell him nothing, that he would learn
all he cared to know from his mother's own lips. So, as soon as he was
at liberty, Caesar, in layman's dress and wrapped in a large cloak,
quit