Cardinal Orsini had been in prison since January 2nd. For a time his mother, who was then eighty years old, was allowed to bring him his meals, but this was finally forbidden. In vain she and her son offered large sums for his liberty; she even sent the Pope a very valuable pearl which he had admired; he accepted it and again allowed her to furnish the cardinal his meals; “but it was believed he had already drunk the cup the Pope had prepared for him.” The Holy Father continued to tell Orsini to be of good cheer and to look to his health, and he informed the cardinals in consistory that he had directed his physicians to take the best of care of the prisoner. His age, the humiliation he had suffered, and the confinement were, however, more than he could withstand. About the middle of February it was rumoured that the cardinal was ill of the fever, and the 22nd of the month he passed away. Immediately the report spread that he had died of poison, and to disprove the rumour the Pope ordered the corpse to be carried to the church on an open litter and with the face uncovered, and he further commanded all the Orsini in Rome to attend the funeral. Giustinian clearly believed that the cardinal had been poisoned. In this connection it is worth remarking that while the Venetian ambassador is hostile to the Borgia he would not intentionally distort what he believed to be facts in his dispatches to his own Government; he was in Rome to watch Alexander and to keep the Senate fully informed of every event. Had he misled his Government his services would have been worthless and he would have been promptly recalled. Burchard’s comment is as follows: “To-day, February 22nd, Cardinal Orsini died in Castle S. Angelo--and may his soul rest in peace. Amen! His Holiness directed my colleague D. Bernardino Guttieri to take charge of the funeral of the deceased--therefore I did not wish to know anything more than was necessary, I was not present--and I took no part in it.” Soderini, the Florentine orator, in a letter of February 23rd, says: “Cardinal Orsini was buried yesterday at the twenty-fourth hour in S. Salvatore, the church of the Orsini; by the Pope’s order the corpse was accompanied by his family and by those of the cardinals of the palace. It lay uncovered on a cloth of gold, clad in a chasuble of red damascas silk embroidered with gold flowers. On the head was a white miter.” In the meantime, in defiance of the Pope and Caesar, the inhabitants of Siena remained faithful to Pandolfo Petrucci, and January 27, 1503, Valentino sent word from his camp in Pienza that he would give them twenty-four hours to expel their chieftain. The same day the Pope dispatched a brief to the officials of the _Balia_ of Siena containing a similar demand. Both documents are given by Alvisi. Caesar lays aside all diplomacy and writes in a tone of mastery and confidence:--