The Pontiff "evinced extreme grief" at so untoward an accession to the mishaps of this ill-advised and unlucky campaign. It had hitherto been conducted by Renzo da Ceri and Vitellozzo Vitelli, who were supposed to thwart the usurper from an apprehension that he might become another Cesare Borgia. The Cardinal de' Medici, however, attributed these successive miscarriages to the incapacity of Renzi, and seriously complained to the Venetian envoy that, in consequence of his reputation in the Signory's service, "we engaged him for this undertaking, and don't perceive that he has effected anything. While he commanded a small infantry force, he appeared never to be idle for a day, yet, since he has been at the head of an entire army, he has contrived to demean himself very ill, and to show that he is not a man of great exploits." It will be curious to find this very officer afterwards employed by the Cardinal when Pope, and fully bearing out the mean opinion here expressed of him, when his present impugner had the folly to instruct him with the defence of Rome itself. Neither the dissatisfaction of his subjects nor the coldness of his allies inclined Leo to abandon an enterprise which exhausted his resources and bathed Italy in civil blood. Thundering forth a new and more severe excommunication against Francesco Maria and his abettors, he, on the 30th of March, despatched a cardinal legate to the camp, under whose command things went from bad to worse. The defence of Mondolfo was protracted with extraordinary resolution. Even after a large space of wall had been thrown down by two mines, the besiegers were kept at bay during ten hours of hard fighting, whilst the women supplied missiles and coppers of boiling water, and the priests, waving aloft their crucifixes, mingled absolution of the dying with prayers for the survivors. This vain struggle against fearful odds ended in an ill-observed capitulation, in defiance of which the town was sacked and set on fire. Two incidents may illustrate the undisciplined state of the troops. Before entering the place, two Spanish and a Ferrarese soldier agreed to share equally their respective booty. Whilst the Italian fought, his comrades were plundering, and eventually refused to divide the spoil according to stipulation, an evasion in which they were backed by their countrymen. The Ferrarese, with permission of his officers, challenged his faithless partners, and a ring, or rather square, having been cleared, by tying together eight pikes, he sprang into it, armed but with sword and half-shield, offering to fight them both at once, a proposal which they prudently evaded by surrendering a just portion of their plunder. After the town had capitulated, "a wrangle arose between an Italian and a German about a flagon of wine, the former raising the shout of 'Italy! Italy!' the latter responding 'Germany! Germany!' Whereupon the infantry came to blows, and many