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 because
of the affection felt towards Caesar by the King of France. Accordingly,
when he perceived that the Duke of Valentinois was marching against him,
he assembled in hot haste all those of his vassals who were capable of
bearing arms, together with the few foreign soldiers who were willing to
come into his pay, and collecting victual and ammunition, he took up his
position with them inside the town.

By these defensive preparations Caesar was not greatly, disconcerted;
he commanded a magnificent army, composed of the finest troops of
France and Italy; led by such men as Paolo and Giulio Orsini, Vitellozzo
Vitelli and Paolo Baglione, not to steak of himself--that is to say, by
the first captains