ures of the winter had not diverted Caesar's mind from his
plans about Faenza. Scarcely did the spring season allow him to go into
the country than he marched anew upon the town, camped opposite the
castle, and making a new breach, ordered a general assault, himself
going up first of all; but in spite of the courage he personally
displayed, and the able seconding of his soldiers, they were repulsed by
Astor, who, at the head of his men, defended the breach, while even the
women, at the top of the rampart, rolled down stones and trunks of trees
upon the besiegers. After an hour's struggle man to man, Caesar was
forced to retire, leaving two thousand men in the trenches about
the town, and among the two thousand one of his bravest condottieri,
Valentino Farnese.

Then, seeing that neither excommunications nor assaults could help him,
Caesar converted the siege into a blockade: all the roads leading to
Faenza were cut off, all communications stopped; and further, as various
signs of revolt had been remarked at Cesena, a governor was installed
there whose powerful will was well known to Caesar, Ramiro d'Orco, with
powers of life and death over the inhabitants; he then waited quietly
before Faenza, till hunger should drive out the citizens from those
walls they defended with such vehement enthusiasm. At the end of a
month, during which the people of Faenza had suffered all the horrors
of famine, delegates came out to parley with Caesar with a view to
capitulation. Caesar, who still had plenty to do in the Romagna, was
less hard to satisfy than might have been expected, and the town
yielded an condition that he should not touch either the persons or the
belongings of the inhabitants, that Astor Manfredi, the youthful ruler,
should have the privilege of retiring whenever he pleased, and should
enjoy the revenue of his patrimony wherever he might be.

The conditions were faithfully kept so far as the inhabitants were
concerned; but Caesar, when he had seen Astor, whom he did not know
before, was seized by a strange passion for this beautiful youth, who
was like a woman: he kept him by his side in his own army, showing him
honours befitting a young prince, and evincing before the eyes of all
the strongest affection for him: one day Astor disappeared, just as
Caracciuolo's bride had disappeared, and no one knew what had become of
him; Caesar himself appeared very uneasy, saying that he had no doubt
made his escape somewhere, and