The contest had, from Borgia's dilatory policy, quickly declined to a guerilla war, most harassing to the Urbinites, whose alarm was aggravated by the rumours of an arrangement between him and the confederates, which prevailed in the beginning of November. When the treaty transpired, the Duke, upon the 17th, laid his case before the principal inhabitants of his state, offering to place himself in their hands, and either to retire or to live and die with them, as they might decide. Resistance to the death was their option, and so great was the enthusiasm, that a deputation of ladies waited upon him to applaud the resolution, and to lay at his feet their jewels and ornaments for the common cause. All was now busy preparation over the duchy. Men were hastily levied and drilled, free captains were enrolled, fortresses were repaired.
But a new access of gout proved how little fit their sovereign was for the field, and in so desperate a crisis the maintenance of their independence seems scarcely to have been contemplated by the most sanguine. Still, by showing a good front, they calculated upon making better terms for themselves and the Duke; nor were their opponents' views such as to render hopeless such an issue. The chiefs having bound themselves to make common cause with Guidobaldo for the re-establishment of his rights, they were anxious that he should fall easily after their desertion, and willingly lent their mediation to obtain for him such conditions as might save them from being the instruments of his utter destruction. Cesare, too, had his own reasons for seeking a more prompt solution of the dilemma than was promised by a winter campaign in the most inaccessible country of Italy and against its bravest people, fighting for their hearths and in support of a beloved dynasty. The horrors of such a war possessed no charm for him, for he had already planned a sanguinary vengeance which risked nothing, and to his crooked mind treachery was more attractive than fair fighting. Besides, he was awaiting the arrival of three thousand Swiss mercenaries, and in the interval lent himself to negotiations, conducted on his part by Gian-Paolo Vitelli, and on that of the Duke of Urbino by Ottaviano Fregosa.
At length, on the 4th of December, an arrangement was published, by which S. Leo and three other fortresses were to remain in the hands of Guidobaldo, with permission to transport thither whatever property he chose, the remainder of the Duchy passing again to Borgia. During the next two days much of the Duke's valuables were removed, and on the 7th the palace was thrown open to general plunder; indeed, all law and order being suspended, there was a scramble by the citizens for the safety of their families and effects. Paolo Orsini, to calm the excitement, offered to guarantee the full amnesty stipulated in the surrender; but, enraged at a reverse which they attributed mainly to his perfidy and cowardice, they spurned his assurances, and, being unable to tear him to pieces, wreaked their indignation by hooting him as "the Lady Paul." To the Duke there remained no alternative but once more to withdraw; yet, before setting out, he advised his people to dismantle the other castles, as these could only serve to strengthen the usurper's hold upon his country, in the event of any new effort for his restoration,—a suggestion which they carried enthusiastically into effect ere Cesare could take means to prevent them. But to have punished their precipitancy would have been all the more impolitic, when there were no longer fortresses from which to overawe their obedience; so he had no alternative but conciliation, and on taking possession of the duchy he proclaimed a general amnesty, as provided in the capitulation.
The fatigues which Guidobaldo had undergone in reaching his capital had brought on a severe attack of his constitutional enemy, which disqualified him from active exertion during most of the anxious period of his stay there, and, indeed, generally confined him to his couch. A new exertion was, however, requisite, and he met it with his wonted firmness. On the 7th of December he made a parting address to his people, and explained to them that, after applying in vain for aid to all the powers of Italy, and unable singly to resist the Pope and his son, the interests of his state left him no choice but to retire. He recommended them resignation to an inevitable destiny, and advised them to remain quietly under their new sovereign until it should please God to send them better times. Next morning, at eight o'clock, he once more bade adieu to his dominions amid the lamentations of thousands, and retired to Città di Castello. There the Bishop entertained him hospitably until the 5th of January, when news of the tragedy at Sinigaglia suggested to them both the necessity of flight. The Duke soon found a kind welcome in the castle of Pittigliano, near Bolsena, from his old friend Count Nicolò Orsini, and obtained from the Venetians an injunction prohibiting Cesare from molesting him in that stronghold of their general. But he too well knew his daring enemy to trust much to such nominal protection, and on his approach took the road to Mantua. From Rovigo he addressed these hurried lines to
"The most serene Prince and most illustrious Lord my special Lord, Leonardo Loredano, by God's grace Doge of the Venetians:
"Most serene Prince and most illustrious Lord, my special Lord,
"This is only to make known to your Serenity how, after enduring many and infinite pains and perils, I am by God's grace safely brought back into your Serenity's territory and dominions, and have been most affectionately received and welcomed by the magnificent Messer Gianpaolo [Gradenigo, governor of Rovigo]; and, please God, I mean to be presently in Venice, where I consider myself at home. All this I have deemed it right to notify to your Serenity, to whom I ever commend myself. From Rovigo, 27th of January, 1503.
"Your servant,
"Guido Duke of Urbino, manu propria."
Sanuto, who has preserved this letter, continues the following detail of the wanderer's reception at Venice. "On this day [31st of January] there came into college the Duke Guido of Urbino, for whom the Signory sent the chiefs of the forty, and us sages for the orders, to be his escort. He was seen with favour by an immense concourse of persons, and there on the landing I addressed him, saying he was welcome, and that the Signory was anxious to embrace him, and rejoiced at his escape from so great perils. His Highness returned thanks, and then went up by the grand stone staircase. All were gladdened on seeing him; and, being seated near the Doge, he spoke some bland words, purporting how miraculously he had reached what he might term his own house, and added, that having neither state nor property, he could offer none such, but that his person was the Signory's until death. The Doge replied in congratulatory terms at his escape from so great dangers, the account of which he said gave him more satisfaction than if his own son had been rescued from shipwreck. He then inquired of the Duke how he got away, which his Lordship thus recounted.