His recent comrades having sworn to recover Urbino, Guidobaldo di Montefeltre gave himself up for lost. In vain some of his loyal subjects urged him to resist; at Valbona the women offered him their jewels to procure means to secure troops and supplies, but he decided to flee. Before doing so he had the strongholds of Pergola and Cagli razed. Early in December Paolo Orsini entered the domain of the Montefeltre and, halting a few miles from Urbino, sent a messenger to ask for an interview with Guidobaldo, who was suffering from an attack of the gout and had to be borne on a litter to the place of meeting. December 7th he took leave of such of his subjects as had remained faithful, and two days later Paolo Orsini entered Urbino and assumed the office of Governor of the domain of the Montefeltre, although the four strongest castles in the territory, San Leo, Maggiolo, Montecuccolo, and San Marino were still held by Vitelli, who, notwithstanding the fact that he had signed the agreement with Caesar, still seemed to be hesitating as to his course. December 10th Valentino departed for Forli and from there he went to Cesena, where he made preparations to go to Rome by way of Ancona. It had been decided to make war on Sinigaglia, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere having failed to convince the Pope and the King that he had not aided Guidobaldo di Montefeltre in the last rebellion. The Cardinal exerted himself to save his nephew’s estates but failed. The day before Caesar left Cesena for Pesaro a terrible sight met the eyes of the peasants as they entered the town in the early morning bringing supplies. Thrown in the public square was a bleeding and headless corpse clothed in a rich costume; near by, impaled on a pike, was the head, which the inhabitants of the capital of Romagna immediately recognised as that of their Governor, Don Remiro de Lorca. One of Caesar’s political maxims was: leniency for small offenders, severity for great ones. Numerous charges of malfeasance in office--among others that of having sold for his own profit grain which Valentino had imported--had been made against the Governor and he had been tried “to satisfy justice and our honour, and that of those he had injured--and as a salutary example for all public officials present and to come,” condemned, and executed. Machiavelli, who saw the body exposed in the public square, observes: “It is not clearly known what was the cause of his death--unless it was simply the pleasure of the prince, who shows that he knows how to make and unmake men according to their deserts.” There were rumours, however, that Don Remiro had been plotting with Caesar’s enemies. The 29th of the month, while in Fano, which had remained faithful to him, Valentino received a delegation from the citizens of Ancona, who had come to assure him of their loyalty. With them was a messenger from Vitelli, bringing news of the capture of Sinigaglia, after a feeble resistance, about the end of December, 1502.