“To-day, the 27th of the month, at the twenty-third hour we received a letter from Cipriano, our chancellor, written yesterday in Siena, from which we learn that you have failed to execute the stipulations contained in the treaty into which we entered. If by the day named you have not expelled Pandolfo from your city and domain we shall proceed against you; we will make you understand that we are not to be deceived by you. We have justly conceived such contempt for your conduct that we are unable to find words to express it in a letter; and we swear by God that when you have received this letter, if you have not already driven forth, without any more delay, the said Pandolfo we will regard each one of you as the same as Pandolfo, and forthwith proceed to the total destruction of all your subjects, goods, and domain, and of your city and of yourselves.” Then he scolds them for their ingratitude, and reminds them that with his own troops and without their aid and with no expense whatsoever to the Republic he stands ready to relieve their country of a scheming tyrant. He signs the letter _Caesar Borgia de Francia Dux Romandiolae Valentiaeque Princeps_. The Sienese refused to comply, and Caesar proceeded to execute his threat by sending out troops to ravage the country. The towns of Pienza, Chiusi, Castel della Pieve, and San Quirico were destroyed and the inhabitants put to the sword; the people of Viterbo, Acquapendente, and Montefiascono suffered the same fate; old men and women were tortured and killed; the fruit-trees were cut down and everything that might offer shelter for the fugitives was destroyed. Burchard records that at San Quirico Caesar’s soldiers suspended two old men and nine old women by the arms and lighted fires under their feet to torture them into revealing where they had hidden their valuables; they, however, would not disclose the place, and died in torment. The people of Siena, terrified by the cruelties of Caesar’s troops, sent a delegation to the _Balia_ to say that it was wrong for all to be destroyed for the sake of one. Petrucci thereupon decided to leave, and he authorised the Council to treat in his name, but he reserved the right to remove with all his troops. Caesar and the Pope, knowing the city was well supplied with men and munitions of war and admirably situated for withstanding a siege, decided it was wise not to impose too harsh conditions. The Sienese were brave and determined, and they had the support of Giampaolo Baglioni, an able captain. Furthermore, Siena, which enjoyed the favour of the King of France, had never been part of the papal domain. The undertaking against Siena was therefore abandoned for the time being. Caesar and the Pope may have thought that the Orsini in and about Rome were becoming too dangerous; they and their followers were swearing vengeance for the murder of their kinsmen Paolo and Francesco, and the imprisonment of the cardinal, Giambattista Orsini.