ntivogli
and his horse from Forli to quell the rioting. The direct outcome of
this was that--the Ghibellines predominating in council--Cesena sent an
embassy to Rome to beg his Holiness to give the lordship of the fief
to the Duke of Valentinois. To this the Pope acceded, and on August
2 Cesare was duly appointed Lord Vicar of Cesena. He celebrated his
investiture by remitting a portion of the taxes, abolishing altogether
the duty on flour, and by bringing about a peace between the two
prevailing factions.

By the end of September Cesare's preparations for the resumption of the
campaign were completed, and early in October (his army fortified in
spirit by the Pope's blessing) he set out, and made his first halt at
Nepi. Lucrezia was there, with her Court and her child Roderigo, having
withdrawn to this her castle to mourn her dead husband Alfonso; and
there she abode until recalled to Rome by her father some two months
later.

Thence Cesare pushed on, as swiftly as the foul weather would allow him,
by way of Viterbo, Assisi, and Nocera to cross the Apennines at Gualdo.
Here he paused to demand the release of certain prisoners in the hill
fortress of Fossate, and to be answered by a refusal. Angered by this
resistance of his wishes and determined to discourage others from
following the example of Fossate, he was swift and terrible in his
rejoinder. He seized the Citadel, and did by force what had been refused
to his request. Setting at liberty the prisoners in durance there, he
gave the territory over to devastation by fire and pillage.

That done he resumed his march, but the weather retarded him more and
more. The heavy and continuous rains had reduced the roads to such a
condition that his artillery fell behind, and he was compelled to call
a halt once more, at Deruta, and wait there four days for his guns to
overtake him.

In Rimini the great House of Malatesta was represented by
Pandolfo--Roberto Malatesta's bastard and successor--a degenerate so
detested by his subjects that he was known by the name of Pandolfaccio
(a contumelious augmentative, expressing the evil repute in which he was
held).

Among his many malpractices and the many abuses to which he resorted
for the purposes of extorting money from his long-suffering subjects
was that of compelling the richer men of Rimini to purchase from him the
estates which he confiscated from the fuorusciti--those who had sought
in exile safety from the anger provok