Vitellozzo, the Pope said, had confessed before he died that all that Ramiro had told the duke was true, and at the Consistory of January 6, when the Sacred College begged for the release of the old Cardinal Orsini--who had been taken with the Archbishop of Florence, Giacomo di Santacroce, and Gianbattista da Virginio--the Pope answered by informing the cardinals of this plot against the duke's life.
These statements by Cesare and his father are perfectly consistent with each other and with the events.

Yet, for want of independent confirmation, they are not to be insisted upon as affording the true version--as, of course, the Pope may have urged what he did as a pretext to justify what was yet to follow.
It is readily conceivable that Ramiro, under torture, or in the hope perhaps of saving his life, may have betrayed the alleged plot to murder Cesare.

And it is perfectly consistent with Cesare's character and with his age that he should have entered into a bargain to learn what Ramiro might have to disclose, and then have repudiated it and given him to the executioner.

If Cesare, under such circumstances as these, had learnt what was contemplated, he would very naturally have kept silent on the score of it until he had dealt with the condottieri.

To do otherwise might be to forewarn them.