In implement of these promises, the Count, on the 3rd of November, received a commission as lieutenant-general of the ecclesiastical forces, which he had hitherto led as captain-general, and under his authority pursued with energy the invasion of his enemy's territory. On the 20th of September he obtained Mondavio, whose inhabitants averted a sack by paying 3000 ducats. This was followed by a surrender of the whole vicariat of Sinigaglia and territory of Fano, which he did his best to save from the miseries of war: but as it was necessary to keep his soldiery in good humour, he at Barchi allowed all the people to remove; then closing the gates, and disarming his men, he gave the word for a general assault upon the abandoned fortress, whose pillage was thus in some degree divested of the horrors usually attendant on such scenes, which are described by Sanzi in these feeling terms:-- "Alas, the wailing, the heart-rending woe! The modest mansions and proud palaces, The towers and petty castles, all o'erthrown; Their dwellers madly rushing here and there, Their women weeping in dishevelled garb, Imploring mercy for their little ones! Ah, cruel fates, ah, tendencies accursed! Such, Malatesta! the embittered fruits Of thy dissensions and audacious deeds. Unwearied foe to peace! How numerous The victims of thy countless crimes, who thus Their substance see in ashes or despoiled, Themselves imprisoned and impoverished."