In the meantime--July 28th--in public consistory, the Pope announced Caesar’s departure for the field. August 7th the Venetian ambassador wrote that the Pope had told him Caesar would set forth the following day; at the same time his Holiness stated, placing his hand on his heart and swearing on the word of Christ’s Vicar, that it was not his intention to engage in any undertaking against any one, but simply to attend to his own affairs, and especially the state of Urbino, where, he said, “those in San Leo are constantly trying something new.” Then, turning to Cardinal Adriano, he said: “Bring these Florentine shopkeepers here to-morrow--I wish to assure them that the Duke’s expedition is not against them, or any one else, unless some one should justly provoke him”--and he displayed considerable impatience. The heat in Italy that year--1503--was intense, and the plague broke out in Rome and elsewhere. The 1st of August Cardinal Borgia of Monreale was stricken, and the 9th Alexander prepared a bull appointing the Cardinal of Este perpetual administrator of the diocese; the bull, however, was never issued, for the Pope himself and Valentino fell ill of the plague August 12th. The next day the Holy Father was bled and he seemed somewhat better, for he called a number of the cardinals to his bedside and interested himself in watching them play cards. The 14th the fever returned and again the 16th. The doors of the palace were closed and the physician and attendants were not allowed to leave his Holiness. Then they bethought them of a saintly woman who lived immured in a cell in the Vatican and asked her to pray for the Holy Father, but she said that there was no hope. August 18th the Pope confessed to the Bishop of Carniola and then, seated on the bed, received the Sacrament. The same evening the Bishop administered the extreme unction and, in the presence of the datary and a few officials of the palace, the monster who for eleven years had occupied the throne of St. Peter expired. On the death of Alexander all sorts of rumours were circulated, including, of course, one to the effect that he had been poisoned. It is, however, practically certain that he simply died of a tertian fever. Burchard’s notes are extremely clear and concise.