ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
rapacity, and of the Duke’s refusal to hear the prayers 
of the unhappy peasants who came to him for redress. 
From Pesaro, from Rimini and Forli, from all parts of 
the distracted land we hear the same cry. “ The 
Duke’s soldiers have no money, and do all manner 
of damage wherever they lodge. These men are given 
over to the devil and to his work, and the Duke listens 
to no complaint and does no justice.” 1 Meanwhile 
Caesar himself was spending his brief interval of leisure 
in feasting and dancing, and in his favourite pastime 
of patrolling the streets at the head of a troop of 
masked men-at-arms. In January he was still at 
Cesena, “giving himself to pleasure, and taking an 
active part in hunting expeditions and masquerades. 
In February he rose up suddenly like a lion from 
his lair and stormed the Rocca of Ressi, and took 
and sacked the prosperous little town of Solarolo 
near Faenza. Early in March he was back at Imola. 
There he summoned his chief captains together and 
held a council of war to decide the fate of Faenza. 
There were two parties in the camp, Soranzo heard 
from his trusted knight at Imola. Some of the 
leaders were in favour of an immediate assault, but 
the more prudent advised delay until the expected 
French reinforcements had arrived. “And on Sunday, 
March 7, they held a festd and danced all night, 
1 Marino Sanudo Diarii, iii. 1064. 
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