On returning from Milan Caesar immediately--September 10th--went to Imola to meet Cardinal Borgia, Bishop of Elne, and Don Remiro de Lorca, Governor of Romagna. Leonardo da Vinci had just completed his inspection of the Romagnol stronghold and castles, and had drawn up plans for strengthening them; he had also made designs for certain engines of war. Caesar remained in Imola until the 16th conferring with his lieutenants. In the meantime Alexander had sent an envoy to Bologna to demand that Giovanni Bentivoglio submit to his authority. At this juncture Claude de Seyssel, ambassador of Louis XII.--who had returned to France--appeared in Bologna to make known the wishes of his master, who had always regarded himself as the protector of the city. The Bentivoglio were loyally supported by the citizens, who refused to allow Giovanni’s sons, who had been summoned to the Vatican, to go to Rome; and the political parties, which had divided Bologna, laid aside their differences in the face of the threatening danger. The Bolognese had found allies in Caesar’s own camp. The Orsini, the Baglioni, and Vitellozzo Vitelli had become estranged from him by his treatment of Bentivoglio and his efforts to compel Vitelli to surrender Milan to Florence. The condottieri, in Caesar’s name, had entered into an alliance of friendship with Bentivoglio during the last campaign; it therefore is not surprising that they refused to break this treaty and finally took sides with the House of Bologna against him. Caesar was now isolated, and his only support was the small army of Romagna, which was not sufficient to permit him to attack Bologna; nevertheless, counting on the French lances which the King had promised him at Milan, he prepared to make an assault upon the city. CHAPTER IX