picion, but indeed supposed themselves to be in
high favour with His Holiness, the one by virtue of his position, the
other of his courage, the matter seemed to present no great difficulty.
So directly after the return of Alexander to Rome, Giacomo Caetano was
arrested, on what pretext we know not, was taken to the castle of Sant'
Angelo, and there died shortly after, of poison: Prospero Caetano was
strangled in his own house. After these two deaths, which both occurred
so suddenly as to give no time for either to make a will, the pope
declared that Sermoneta and all of her property appertaining to the
Caetani devolved upon the apostolic chamber; and they were sold to
Lucrezia for the cum of 80,000 crowns, which her father refunded to her
the day after. Though Caesar hurried to Rome, he found when he arrived
that his father had been beforehand with him, and had made a beginning
of his conquests.

Another fortune also had been making prodigious strides during Caesar's
stay in France, viz. the fortune of Gian Borgia, the pope's nephew, who
had been one of the most devoted friends of the Duke of Gandia up to the
time of his death. It was said in Rome, and not in a whisper, that the
young cardinal owed the favours heaped upon him by His Holiness less
to the memory of the brother than to the protection of the sister. Both
these reasons made Gian Borgia a special object of suspicion to Caesar,
and it was with an inward vow that he should not enjoy his new dignities
very long that the Duke of Valentinois heard that his cousin Gian had
just been nominated cardinal 'a latere' of all the Christian world, and
had quitted Rome to make a circuit through all the pontifical states
with a suite of archbishops, bishops, prelates, and gentlemen, such as
would have done honour to the pope himself.

Caesar had only come to Rome to get news; so he only stayed three days,
and then, with all the troops His Holiness could supply, rejoined his
forces on the borders of the Euza, and marched at once to Imola. This
town, abandoned by its chiefs, who had retired to Forli, was forced to
capitulate. Imola taken, Caesar marched straight upon Forli. There he
met with a serious check; a check, moreover, which came from a woman.
Caterina Sforza, widow of Girolamo and mother of Ottaviano Riario, had
retired to this town, and stirred up the courage of the garrison by
putting herself, her goods and her person, under their protection.
Caesar saw that it was