Faenza was invested November 10th, and Caesar offered the besieged their lives if they would surrender; promises were followed by threats, but the inhabitants of the place remained firm. Winter was drawing near and Faenza was well protected with walls. Caesar established his camp on the side towards Forli, and attempted to storm the walls, but failed. Valentino had expected the youthful tyrant to offer him a pitched battle, but Manfredi wisely refrained, and Caesar’s troops suffered so from the severe weather that he decided to go into winter quarters. The people of Faenza had destroyed all the timber in the vicinity; the troops were encamped in a low, wet place, and they were constantly harassed by the enemy. Astorre’s men were well fed and sheltered, and were able to rest at night, while the besiegers were never secure; Caesar therefore decided to raise the siege, and announced he would return when the season was more favourable. He withdrew December 3rd, but was careful to secure all roads leading to Faenza, and to invest the city in such a manner that no provisions could be introduced into it. He passed the winter in Cesena, remaining until April, 1501. The time was spent in all sorts of spectacular sports and amusements, and when he departed he left behind him the memory of an amiable and affable lord, and at the same time that of an able governor and severe justiciary. The accounts we have of his daily life are chiefly by panegyrists who were enjoying his bounty and protection, consequently, as evidence of his actual character, they are worth little more than are the ferocious attacks of the enemies of the Borgia. While Caesar was in Forli, the usual number of avaricious artists and literary men flocked about him, greedy for money or honours, and clamouring for permission to dedicate their works--works for the most part now lost--to him. This servility is a curious phase of the literary character of those and even later days, and the ridiculously bombastic dedications of books to various tyrants and adventurers, stained with every crime, and incapable of appreciating anything upright and noble, is nauseating. However, the painters and poetasters who shone by the reflected light of some political adventurer as a rule passed away with him, and such of their works as have been spared by time are of a nature to console us for those which have been lost. All these dedications and panegyrics were inspired by the hope of reward in some form, and as evidence that the person addressed possessed any characteristics worthy of admiration they are of no value. The names of Caesar’s eulogists were legion, and in him they discerned every virtue, just as his political adversaries and their sycophants discovered every vice. While Caesar was in Cesena the youthful Manfredi, although definitely abandoned by both Bologna and Florence, was holding out bravely.