Town after town threw up its gates to the invaders, and Lodovico, seeing himself abandoned on all sides, sought in flight the safety of his own person.
Cesare took no part in the war, which, after all, was no war--no more than an armed progress.

He was at Lyons with the King, and he did not move into Italy until Louis went to take possession of his new duchy.
Amid the acclamations of the ever-fickle mob, hailing him as its deliverer, Louis XII rode triumphantly into Milan on October 6, attended by a little host of princes, including the Prince of Savoy, the Dukes of Montferrat and Ferrara, and the Marquis of Mantua.

But the place of honour went to Cesare Borgia, who rode at the king's side, a brilliant and arresting figure.

This was the occasion on which Baldassare Castiglione--who was in the Marquis of Mantua's suite--was moved to such praise of the appearance and gallant bearing of the duke, and of the splendid equipment of his suite, which outshone those of all that little host of attendant princes.
From this time onward Cesare signs himself "Cesare Borgia of France," and quarters on his shield the golden lilies of France with the red bull of the House of Borgia.
The conditions on which Alexander VI joined the league of France and Venice became apparent at about this time.

They were to be gathered from the embassy of his nephew, the Cardinal Giovanni Borgia, to Venice in the middle of September.