his lithe young man, who could
behead a bull at a single stroke of a spadoon and break a horseshoe in
his fingers. The diary in question, you will have gathered, is that of
a pedant, prim and easily scandalized. So much being obvious, it is
noteworthy that Cesare's conduct should have afforded him no subject
for graver strictures than these, Cesare being such a man as has been
represented, and the time being that of carnival when licence was
allowed full play.

The Pope accounted that the check endured by Cesare before Faenza was
due not so much to the foul weather by which his army had been beset as
to the assistance which Giovanni Bentivogli had rendered his grandson
Astorre, and bitter were the complaints of it which he addressed to
the King of France. Alarmed by this, and fearing that he might have
compromised himself and jeopardized the French protection by his action
in the matter, Bentivogli made haste to recall his troops, and did in
fact withdraw them from Faenza early in December, shortly after Cesare
had gone into winter quarters. Nevertheless, the Pope's complaints
continued, Alexander in his secret, crafty heart no doubt rejoicing that
Bentivogli should have afforded him so sound a grievance. As Louis
XII desired, for several reasons, to stand well with Rome, he sent an
embassy to Bentivogli to express his regret and censure of the latter's
intervention in the affairs of Faenza. He informed Bentivogli that the
Pope was demanding the return of Bologna to the States of the Church,
and, without expressing himself clearly as to his own view of the
matter, he advised Bentivogli to refrain from alliances with the
enemies of the Holy See and to secure Bologna to himself by some sound
arrangement. This showed Bentivogli in what danger he stood, and his
uneasiness was increased by the arrival at Modena of Yves d'Allegre,
sent by the King of France with a condotta of 500 horse for purposes
which were not avowed but which Bentivogli sorely feared might prove to
be hostile to himself.

At the beginning of February Cesare moved his quarters from Cesena to
Imola, and thence he sent his envoys to demand winter quarters for his
troops in Castel Bolognese. This flung Bentivogli into positive terror,
as he interpreted the request as a threat of invasion. Castel Bolognese
was too valuable a stronghold to be so lightly placed in the duke's
hands. Thence Bentivogli might, in case of need, hold the duke in check,
the fortress