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THE BORGIAS
THE CENCI

VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED

P F COLLIER & SON
NEW YORK

Copyright 1910
By p. F. Collier & Son

CONTENTS

Volume I

PAGE

The Borgias . . . . ■ 7

The Cenci - . . . 359

) Volume II

. Massacres of the South 415

3

:>

Volume III
Mary Stuart 813

Volume IV

Karl-Ludwig Sand 11 33

,■ Urbain Grandier . 1231

NisiDA 1401

:^ Volume V

<j Derues 1473

^ La Constantin 1667

Volume VI

s

^ Joan of Naples 1785

J The Man in the Iron Mask 1957

\ Martin Guerre 2039

> Volume VII

H Ali Pacha 2117

* Countess de Saint-Geran 23x5

;; MuRAT 2397

5

Volume VIII

The Marquise de Brinvilliers 2467

Vaninka 2583

Marquise de Ganges 2679

I

Dumas — Vol. i — i.

'^■v^^.QO

NOTE

DUMAS'S Celebrated Crimes was not written
for children. The novelist has spared no
language — has minced no words — to describe
the violent scenes of a violent time.

In some instances facts appear distorted out
of their true perspective, and in others the
author makes unwarranted charges. It is not
within our province to edit the historical
side of Dumas, any more than it would be
to correct the obvious errors in Dickens's
Child's History of E7igla7id. The careful,
mature reader, for whom the books are in-
tended, will recognize, and allow for, this
fact.

INTRODUCTION

THE contents of these volumes of Celebrated
Crimes, as well as the motives which led to
their inception, are unique. They are a series of
stories based upon historical records, from the pen
of Alexandre Dumas, pere, when he was not "the
elder," nor yet the author of D'Artagnan or Monte
Cristo, but was a rising young dramatist and a lion
in the literary set and world of fashion.

Dumas, in fact, wrote his Crimes Celehres just
prior to launching upon his wonderful series of his-
torical novels, and they may therefore be considered
as source books, whence he was to draw so much
of that far-reaching and intimate knowledge of
inner history which has perennially astonished his
readers. The Crimes were published in Paris, in
1839-40, in eight volumes, comprising eighteen
titles — all of which now appear in the present care-
fully translated text. The success of the original
work was instantaneous. Dumas laughingly said
that he thought he had exhausted the subject of
famous crimes, until the work was off the press,
when he immediately became deluged with letters

3

INTRODUCTION

from every province in France, supplying him with
material upon other deeds of violence! The sub-
jects which he has chosen, however, are of both
historic and dramatic importance, and they have the
added value of giving the modern reader a clear
picture of the state of semi-lawlessness which ex-
isted in Europe, during the middle ages. "The
Borgias, the Cenci, Urbain Grandier, the Marchion-
ess of Brinvilliers, the Marchioness of Ganges, and
the rest — what subjects for the pen of Dumas!"
exclaims Garnett.

Space does not permit us to consider in detail the
material here collected, although each title will be
found to present points of special interest. The
first volume comprises the annals of the Borgias
and the Cenci. The name of the noted and no-
torious Florentine family has become a synonym
for intrigue and violence, and yet the Borgias have
not been without stanch defenders in history.

Another famous Italian story is that of the Cenci.
The beautiful Beatrice Cenci — celebrated in the
painting of Guido, the sixteenth century romance of
Guerrazi, and the poetic tragedy of Shelley, not to
mention numerous succeeding works inspired by
her hapless fate — will always remain a shadowy
figure and one of infinite pathos.

The second volume chronicles the sanguinary
deeds in the south of France, carried on in the name

4

INTRODUCTION

of religion, but drenching in blood the fair country-
round about Avignon, for a long period of years.

The third volume is devoted to the story of
Mary Queen of Scots, another v^oman who suf-
fered a violent death, and around whose name an
endless controversy has waged. Dumas goes care-
fully into the dubious episodes of her stormy ca-
reer, but does not allow these to blind his sympathy
for her fate. Mary, it should be remembered, was
closely allied to France by education and marriage,
and the French never forgave Elizabeth the part
she played in the tragedy.

The fourth volume comprises three widely dis-
similar tales. One of the strangest stories is that
of Urbain Grandier, the innocent victim of a cun-
ning and relentless religious plot. His story was
dramatised by Dumas, in 1850. A famous German
crime is that of Karl-Ludwig Sand, whose murder
of Kotzebue, Councillor of the Russian Legation,
caused an international upheaval which was not to
subside for many years.

An especially interesting volume is number six,
containing, among other material, the famous
" Man in the Iron Mask." This unsolved puzzle
of history was later incorporated by Dumas in one
of the D'Artagnan Romances — a section of the
Vicomte de Bragelonne, to which it gave its name.
But in this later form, the true story of this sin-

5

INTRODUCTION

gular man doomed to wear an iron vizor over his
features during his entire lifetime could only be
treated episodically. While as a special subject in
the Crimes, Dumas indulges his curiosity, and
that of his reader, to the full. Hugo's unfinished
tragedy, Les Jiimeaux, is on the same subject;
as also are others by Fournier, in French, and
Zschokke, in German.

Other stories can be given only passing mention.
The beautiful poisoner. Marquise de Brinvilliers,
must have suggested to Dumas his later portrait of
Miladi, in the Three Musketeers, the most cele-
brated of his woman characters. The incredible
cruelties of Ali Pacha, the Turkish despot, should
not be charged entirely to Dumas, as he is said to
have been largely aided in this by one of his
" ghosts," Mallefille.

" Not a mere artist " — writes M. de Villemessant,
founder of the Figaro, — " he has nevertheless been
able to seize on those dramatic effects which have
so much distinguished his theatrical career, and to
give those sharp and distinct reproductions of char-
acter which alone can present to the reader the mind
and spirit of an age. Not a mere historian, he has
nevertheless carefully consulted the original sources
of information, has weighed testimonies, elicited
theories, and . . . has interpolated the poetry of
history with its most thorough prose."

6

THE BORGIAS

PROLOGUE

ON the 8th of April, 1492, in a bedroom of the
Carneggi Palace, about three miles from
Florence, were three men grouped about a bed
whereon a fourth lay dying.

The first of these three men, sitting at the foot
of the bed, and half hidden, that he might conceal
his tears, in the gold-brocaded curtains, was
Ermolao Barbaro, author of the treatise On Celibacy,
and of Studies in Pliny: the year before, when he
was at Rome in the capacity of ambassador of the
Florentine Republic, he had been appointed Patriarch
of Aquileia by Innocent viii.

The second, who was kneeling and holding one
hand of the dying man between his own, was Angelo
Poliziano, the Catullus of the fifteenth century, a
classic of the lighter sort, who in his Latin verses
might have been mistaken for a poet of the
Augustan age.

The third, who was standing up and leaning
against one of the twisted columns of the bed-head,
following with profound sadness the progress of the
malady which he read in the face of his departing
friend, was the famous Pico della Mirandola, who

7

CELEBRATED CRIMES

at the age of twenty could speak twenty-twO' lan-
guages, and who had offered to reply in each of
these languages to any seven hundred questions
that might be put to him by the twenty most learned
men in the whole world, if they could be assembled
at Florence.

The man on the bed was Lorenzo the Magnificent,
who at the beginning of the year had been attacked
by a severe and deep-seated fever, to which was
added the gout, a hereditary ailment in his family.
He had found at last that the draughts containing
dissolved pearls which the quack doctor, Leoni di
Spoleto, prescribed for him (as if he desired to
adapt his remedies rather to the riches of his patient
than to his necessities) were useless and unavailing,
and so he had come to understand that he must part
from those gentle-tongued women of his, those
sweet-voiced poets, his palaces and their rich hang-
ings ; therefore he had summoned to give him abso-
lution for his sins — in a man of less high place they
might perhaps have been called crimes — the Domini-
can, Girolamo Francesco Savonarola.

It was not, however, without an inward fear,
against which the praises of his friends availed noth-
ing, that the pleasure-seeker and usurper awaited
that severe and gloomy preacher by whose words
all Florence was stirred, and on whose pardon hence-
forth depended all his hope for another world.

8

THEBORGIAS

Indeed, Savonarola was one of those men of stone,
coming, like the statue of the Commandante, to
knock at the door of a Don Giovanni, and in the
midst of feast and orgy to announce that it is even
now the moment to begin to think of Heaven. He
had been born at Ferrara, whither his family, one
of the most illustrious of Padua, had been called by
Niccolo, Marchese d'Este, and at the age of twenty-
three, summoned by an irresistible vocation, had fled
from his father's house, and had taken the vows
in the cloister of Dominican monks at Florence.
There, where he was appointed by his superiors to
give lessons in philosophy, the young novice had
from the first to battle against the defects of a voice
that was both harsh and weak, a defective pronuncia-
tion, and above all, the depression of his physical
powers, exhausted as they were by too severe
abstinence.

Savonarola from that time condemned himself to
the most absolute seclusion, and disappeared in the
depths of his convent, as if the slab of his tomb had
already fallen over him. There, kneeling on the
flags, praying unceasingly before a wooden crucifix,
fevered by vigils and penances, he soon passed out
of contemplation into ecstasy, and began to feel in
himself that inward prophetic impulse which sum-
moned him to preach the refonnation of the Church.

Nevertheless, the reformation of Savonarola, more
9

CELEBRATED CRIMES

reverential than Luther's, which followed about five-
and-twenty years later, respected the thing while
attacking the man, and had as its aim the altering of
teaching that was human, not faith that was of God.
He did not work, like the German monk, by reason-
ing, but by enthusiasm. With him logic always gave
way before inspiration : he was not a theologian, but
a prophet. Yet, although hitherto he had bowed his
head before the authority of the Church, he had
already raised it against the temporal power. To
him religion and liberty appeared as two virgins
equally sacred ; so that, in his view, Lorenzo in sub-
jugating the one was as culpable as Pope Innocent
VIII in dishonouring the other. The result of this
was that, so long as Lorenzo lived in riches, happi-
ness, and magnificence, Savonarola had never been
willing, whatever entreaties were made, to sanction
by his presence a power which he considered illegiti-
mate. But Lorenzo on his deathbed sent for him,
and that was another matter. The austere preacher
set forth at once, bareheaded and barefoot, hoping to
save not only the soul of the dying man but also the
liberty of the republic.

Lorenzo, as we have said, was awaiting the arrival
of Savonarola with an impatience mixed with un-
easiness; so that, when he heard the sound of his
steps, his pale face took a yet more deathlike tinge,
while at the same time he raised himself on his

10

THE BORGIAS

elbow and ordered his three friends to go away.
They obeyed at once, and scarcely had they left by
one door than the curtain of the other was raised,
and the monk, pale, immovable, solemn, appeared on
the threshold. When he perceived him, Lorenzo dei
Medici, reading in his marble brow the inflexibility
of a statue, fell back on his bed, breathing a sigh so
profound that one might have supposed it was his
last.

The monk glanced round the room as though to
assure himself that he was really alone with the
dying man; then he advanced with a slow and
solemn step towards the bed. Lorenzo watched his
approach with terror ; then, when he was close beside
him, he cried —

" O my father, I have been a very great sinner ! "

" The mercy of God is infinite," replied the monk ;
" and I come into your presence laden with the
divine mercy."

" You believe, then, that God will forgive my
sins ? " cried the dying man, renewing his hope as he
heard from the lips of the monk such unexpected
words.

" Your sins and also your crimes, God will forgive
them all," replied Savonarola. " God will forgive
your vanities, your adulterous pleasures, your ob-
scene festivals; so much for your sins. God will
forgive you for promising two thousand florins re-
ward to the man who should bring you the head of

IL-

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Dietisalvi, Nerone Nigi, Angelo Antinori, Niccolo
Soderini, and twice the money if they were handed
over alive ; God will forgive you for dooming to the
scaffold or the gibbet the son of Papi Orlandi,
Francesco di Brisighella, Bernardo Nardi, Jacopo
Frescobaldi, Amoretto Baldovinetti, Pietro Bal-
ducci, Bernardo di Bandino, Francesco Frescobaldi,
and more than three hundred others whose names
were none the less dear to Florence because they
were less renowned; so much for your crimes." And
at each of these names which Savonarola pronounced
slowly, his eyes fixed on the dying man, he replied
with a groan which proved the monk's memory to
be only too true. Then at last, when he had finished,
Lorenzo asked in a doubtful tone —

" Then do you believe, my father, that God will
forgive me everything, both my sins and my
crimes? "

" Everything," said Savonarola, " but on three
conditions."

" What are they? " asked the dying man.

" The first," said Savonarola, " is that you feel a
complete faith in the power and the mercy of God."

" My father," replied Lorenzo eagerly, " I feel this
faith in the very depths of my heart."

" The second," said Savonarola, " is that you give
back the property of others which you have un-
justly confiscated and kept."

12

THE BORGIAS

" My father, shall I have time ? " asked the dying
man.

" God will give it to you/' replied the monk.

Lorenzo shut his eyes, as though to reflect more at
his ease ; then, after a moment's silence, he replied —

" Yes, my father, I will do it."

" The third," resumed Savonarola, " is that you
restore to the republic her ancient independence and
her former liberty."

Lorenzo sat up on his bed, shaken by a convulsive
movement, and questioned with his eyes the eyes
of the Dominican, as though he would find out if he
had deceived himself and not heard aright.
Savonarola repeated the same words.

" Never ! never ! " exclaimed Lorenzo, falling back
on his bed and shaking his head, — " never ! "

The monk, without replying a single word, made
a step to withdraw.

" My father, my father," said the dying man, " do
not leave me thus : have pity on me ! "

" Have pity on Florence," said the monk.

" But, my father," cried Lorenzo, " Florence is
free, Florence is happy."

" Florence is a slave, Florence is poor," cried
Savonarola, " poor in genius, poor in money, and
poor in courage; poor in genius, because after you,
Lorenzo, will come your son Piero ; poor in money,
because from the funds of the republic you have

13

CELEBRATED CRIMES

kept up the magnificence of your family and the
credit of your business houses ; poor in courage, be-
cause you have robbed the rightful magistrates of
the authority which was constitutionally theirs, and
diverted the citizens from the double path of military
and civil life, wherein, before they were enervated
by your luxuries, they had displayed the virtues of
the ancients ; and therefore, when the day shall dawn
which is not far distant," continued the monk, his
eyes fixed and glowing as if he were reading in the
future, " whereon the barbarians shall descend from
the mountains, the walls of our towns, like those of
Jericho, shall fall at the blast of their trumpets."

" And do you desire that I should yield up on my
deathbed the power that has made the glory of my
whole life? " cried Lorenzo dei Medici.

" It is not I who desire it; it is the Lord," replied
Savonarola coldly,

" Impossible, impossible ! " murmured Lorenzo.

" Very well ; then die as you have lived ! " cried
the monk, " in the midst of your courtiers and flat-
terers; let them ruin your soul as they have ruined
your body ! " And at these words, the austere Do-
minican, without listening to the cries of the dying
man, left the room as he had entered it, with face and
step unaltered ; far above human things he seemed to
soar, a spirit already detached from the earth.

At the cry which broke from Lorenzo dei Medici
14

THE BORGIAS

when he saw him disappear, Ermolao, Poliziano, and
Pico della Mirandola, who had heard all, returned
into the room, and found their friend convulsively
clutching in his arms a magnificent crucifix which
he had just taken down from the bed-head. In vain
did they try to reassure him with friendly words.
Lorenzo the Magnificent only replied with sobs ; and
one hour after the scene which we have just related,
his lips clinging to the feet of the Christ, he breathed
his last in the arms of these three men, of whom
the most fortunate — though all three were young —
was not destined to survive him more than two
years. ** Since his death was to bring about many
calamities," says Niccolo Macchiavelli, " it was the
will of Heaven to show this by omens only too
certain: the dome of the church of Santa Reparata
was struck by lightning, and Roderigo Borgia was
elected pope.

IS

CHAPTER I

TOWARDS the end of the fifteenth century
— that is to say, at the epoch when our his-
tory opens — ^the Piazza of St. Peter's at Rome was
far from presenting so noble an aspect as that which
is offered in our own day to anyone who approaches
it by the Piazza dei Rusticucci.

In fact, the Basilica of Constantine existed no
longer, while that of Michael Angelo, the master-
piece of thirty popes, which cost the labour of three
centuries and the expense of two hundred and sixty
millions, existed not yet. The ancient edifice, which
had lasted for eleven hundred and forty-five years,
had been threatening to fall in about 1440, and
Nicholas v, artistic forerunner of Julius 11 and Leo
X, had had it pulled down, together with the temple
of Probus Anicius which adjoined it. In their place
he had had the foundations of a new temple laid by
the architects Rossellini and Battista Alberti ; but
some years later, after the death of Nicholas v,
Paul 11, the Venetian, had not been able to give
more than five thousand crowns to continue the pro-
ject of his predecessor, and thus the building was

16

THE BORGI AS

arrested when it had scarcely risen above the ground,
and presented the appearance of a still-born edifice,
even sadder than that of a ruin.

As to the piazza itself, it had not yet, as the reader
will understand from the foregoing explanation,
either the fine colonnade of Bernini, or the dancing
fountains, or that Egyptian obelisk which, according
to Pliny, was set up by the Pharaoh at Heliopolis,
and transferred to Rome by Caligula, who set it up in
Nero's Circus, where it remained till 1586. Now, as
Nero's Circus was situated on the very ground where
St. Peter's now stands, and the base of this obelisk
covered the actual site where the vestry now is, it
looked like a gigantic needle shooting up from the
middle of truncated columns, walls of unequal
height, and half-carved stones.

On the right of this building, a ruin from its
cradle, arose the Vatican, a splendid Tower of Babel,
to which all the celebrated architects of the Roman
school contributed their work for a thousand years :
at this epoch the two magnificent chapels did not
exist, nor the twelve great halls, the two-and-twenty
courts, the thirty staircases, and the two thousand
bedchambers ; for Pope wSixtus v, the sublime swine-
herd, who did so many things in a five years' reign,
had not yet been able to add the immense building
which on the eastern side towers above the court of
St. Damasius ; still, it was truly the old sacred edifice,

^7.

CELEBRATED CRIMES

with its venerable associations, in which Charle-
magne received hospitaHty when he was crowned
emperor by Pope Leo iii.

All the same, on the 9th of August, 1492, the
whole of Rome, from the People's Gate to the Coli-
seum and from the Baths of Diocletian to the castle
of Sant' Angelo, seemed to have made an appoint-
ment on this piazza : the multitude thronging it was
so great as to overflow into all the neighbouring
streets, which started from this centre like the rays
of a star. The crowds of people, looking like a
motley moving carpet, were climbing up into the
basilica, grouping themselves upon the stones, hang-
ing on the columns, standing up against the walls;
they entered by the doors of houses and reappeared
at the windows, so numerous and so densely packed
that one might have said each window was walled
up with heads. Now all this multitude had its eyes
fixed on one single point in the Vatican ; for in the
Vatican was the Conclave, and as Innocent viii had
been dead for sixteen days, the Conclave was in
the act of electing a pope.

Rome is the town of elections : since her foundation
down to our own day — that is to say, in the course
of nearly twenty-six centuries — she has constantly
elected her kings, consuls, tribunes, emperors, and
popes : thus Rome during the days of Conclave ap-
pears to be attacked by a strange fever which drives

18

THE BORGIAS

everyone to the Vatican or to Monte Cavallo, accord-
ing as the scarlet-robed assembly is held in one or the
other of these two palaces : it is, in fact, because the
raising up of a new pontiff is a great event for every-
body ; for, according to the average established in the
period between St. Peter and Gregory xvi, every
pope lasts about eight years, and these eight years,
according to the character of the man who is elected,
are a period either of tranquillity or of disorder, of
justice or of venality, of peace or of war.

Never perhaps since the day when the first succes-
sor of St. Peter took his seat on the pontifical throne
until the interregnum which now occurred, had so
great an agitation been shown as there was at this
moment, when, as we have shown, all these people
were thronging on the Piazza of St. Peter and in
the streets which led to it. It is true that this was
not without reason ; for Innocent viii — who was
called the father of his people because he had added
to his subjects eight sons and the same number of
daughters — had, as we have said, after living a life
of self-indulgence, just died, after a death-struggle
during which, if the journal of Stefano Infessura
may be believed, two hundred and twenty murders
were committed in the streets of Rome. The author-
ity had then devolved in the customary way upon
the Cardinal Camerlengo, who during the interreg-
num had sovereign powers; but as he had been

19

CELEBRATED CRIMES

obliged to fulfil all the duties of his office — that is,
to get money coined in his name and bearing his
arms, to take the fisherman's ring from the finger of
the dead pope, to dress, shave and paint him, to
have the corpse embalmed, to lower the coffin after
nine days' obsequies into the provisional niche where
the last deceased pope has to remain until his suc-
cessor comes to take his place and consign him to his
final tomb; lastly, as he had been obliged to wall up
the door of the Conclave and the window of the
balcony from which the pontifical election is pro-
claimed, he had not had a single moment for busying
himself with the police; so that the assassinations
had continued in goodly fashion, and there were
loud cries for an energetic hand which should make
all these swords and all these daggers retire into
their sheaths.

Now the eyes of this multitude were fixed, as we
have said, upon the Vatican, and particularly upon
one chimney, from which would come the first signal,
when suddenly, at the moment of the Ave Maria —
that is to say, at the hour when the day begins to
decline — great cries went up from all the crowd
mixed with bursts of laughter, a discordant murmur
of threats and raillery, the cause being that they
had just perceived at the top of the chimney a thin
smoke, which seemed like a light cloud to go up per-
pendicularly into the sky. This smoke announced

20

THE BORGIAS

that Rome was still without a master, and that the
world still had no pope; for this was the smoke of
the voting tickets which were being burned, a proof
that the cardinals had not yet come to an agreement.
Scarcely had this smoke appeared, to vanish al-
most immediately, when all the innumerable crowd,
knowing well that there was nothing else to wait for,
and that all was said and done until ten o'clock the
next morning, the time when the cardinals had their
first voting, went off in a tumult of noisy joking,
just as they would after the last rocket of a firework
display ; so that at the end of one minute nobody was
there where a quarter of an hour before there had
been an excited crowd, except a few curious lag-
gards, who, living in the neighbourhood or on the
very piazza itself, were less in a hurry than the rest
to get back to their homes; again, little by little,
these last groups insensibly diminished; for half-past
nine had just struck, and at this hour the streets of
Rome began already to be far from safe; then after
these groups followed some solitary passer-by, hur-
rying his steps ; one after another the doors were
closed, one after another the windows were dark-
ened; at last, when ten o'clock struck, with the
single exception of one window in the Vatican
where a lamp might be seen keeping obstinate vigil,
all the houses, piazzas, and streets were plunged in
the deepest obscurity.

21

CELEBRATED CRIMES

At this moment a man wrapped in a cloak stood
up like a ghost against one of the columns of the
uncompleted basilica, and gliding slowly and care-
fully among the stones which were lying about round
the foundations of the new church, advanced as far
as the fountain which formed the centre of the
piazza, erected in the very place where the obelisk
is now set up of which we have spoken already;
when he reached this spot he stopped, doubly con-
cealed by the darkness of the night and by the shade
of the monument, and after looking around him to
see if he were really alone, drew his sword, and
with its point rapping three times on the pavement
of the piazza, each time made the sparks fly. This
signal, for signal it was, was not lost: the last
lamp which still kept vigil in the Vatican went out,
and at the same instant an object thrown out of the
window fell a few paces off from the young man
in the cloak: he, guided by the silvery sound it had
made in touching the flags, lost no time in laying
his hands upon it in spite of the darkness, and
when he had it in his possession hurried quickly
away.

Thus the unknown walked without turning round
half-way along the Borgo Vecchio; but there he
turned to the right and took a street at the other
end of which was set up a Madonna with a lamp:
he approached the light, and drew from his pocket

22.

THE BORGIAS

the object he had picked up, which was nothing else
than a Roman crown piece; but this crown un-
screwed, and in a cavity hollowed in its thickness
enclosed a letter, which "the man to whom it was
addressed began tO' read at the risk of being recog-
nised, so great was his haste to know what it
contained.

We say at the risk of being recognised, for in his
eagerness the recipient of this nocturnal missive
had thrown back the hood of his cloak, and as his
head was wholly within the luminous circle cast
by the lamp, it was easy to distinguish in the light
the head of a handsome young man of about five or
six and twenty, dressed in a purple doublet slashed
at the shoulder and elbow to let the shirt come
through, and wearing on his head a cap of the same
colour with a long black feather falling to his
shoulder. It is true that he did not stand there
long; for scarcely had he finished the letter, or
rather the note, which he had just received in so
strange and mysterious a manner, when he replaced
it in its silver receptacle, and readjusting his cloak
so as to hide all the lower part of his face, resumed
his walk with a rapid step, crossed Borgo San
Spirito, and took the street of the Longara, which he
followed as far as the church of Regina Cceli.
When he arrived at this place, he gave three rapid
knocks on the door of a house of good appearance,

23

CELEBRATED CRIMES

which immediately opened; then slowly mounting
the stairs he entered a room where two women were
awaiting him with an impatience so unconcealed
that both as they saw him exclaimed together —

" Well, Francesco, what news ? "

"Good news, my mother; good, my sister,"
replied the young man, kissing the one and giving
his hand to the other. " Our father has gained three
votes to-day, but he still needs six to have the
majority."

"Then is there no means of buying them?"
cried the elder of the two women, while the younger,
instead of speaking, asked him with a look.

" Certainly, my mother, certainly," replied the
young man; "and it is just about that that my
father has been thinking. He is giving Cardinal
Orsini his palace at Rome and his two castles of
Monticello and Soriano; to Cardinal Colonna his
abbey of Subiaco; he gives Cardinal Sant' Angelo
the bishopric of Porto, with the furniture and cellar;
to the Caidinal of Parma the town of Nepi ; to the
Cardinal of Genoa the church of Santa Maria-in-
Via-Lata ; and lastly, to Cai;dinal Savelli the church
of Santa Maria Maggiore and the town of Civita
Castellana; as to Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, he knows
already that the day before yesterday we sent to
his house four mules laden with silver and plate,
and out of this treasure he has engaged to give

24

THE BORGIAS

five thousand ducats to the Cardinal Patriarch of
Venice."

" But how shall we get the others to know the
intentions of Roderigo?" asked the elder of the
two women.

" My father has provided for everything, and
proposes an easy method ; you know, my mother,
with what sort of ceremonial the cardinals' dinner
is carried in."

" Yes, on a litter, in a large basket with the arms
of the cardinal for whom the meal is prepared."

" My father has bribed the bishop who examines
it : to-morrow is a feast-day ; to the Cardinals Orsini,
Colonna, Savelli, Sant' Angelo, and the Cardinals of
Parma and of Genoa, chickens will be sent for hot
meat, and each chicken will contain a deed of gift
duly drawn up, made by me in my father's name,
of the houses, palaces, or churches which are des-
tined for each."

"Capital!" said the elder of the two women;
" now, I am certain, all will go well."

" And by the grace of God," added the younger,
with a strangely mocking smile, " our father will
be pope."

" Oh, it will be a fine day for us ! " cried Fran-
cesco.

" And for Christendom," replied his sister, with
a still more ironical expression.

25

CELEBRATED CRIMES

"Lucrezia, Lucrezia," said the mother, "you do
not deserve the happiness which is coming to us."

" What does that matter, if it comes all the
same? Besides, you know the proverb, mother:
' Large families are blessed of the Lord ' ; and
still more so our family, which is so patriarchal."

At the same time she cast on her brother a look
so wanton that the young man blushed under it:
but as at the moment he had to think of other things
than his illicit loves, he ordered that four servants
should be awakened; and while they were getting
armed to accompany him, he drew up and signed
the six deeds of gift which were to be carried the
next day to the cardinals ; for, not wishing to be seen
at their houses, he thought he would profit by the
night-time to carry them himself to certain persons
in his confidence who would have them passed in,
as had been arranged, at the dinner-hour. Then,
when the deeds were quite ready and the servants
also, Francesco went out with them, leaving the
two women to dream golden dreams of their future
greatness.

From the first dawn of day the people hurried
anew, as ardent and interested as on the evening
before, to the Piazza of the Vatican, where, at the
ordinary time, — that is, at ten o'clock in the morn-
ing,— the smoke rose again as usual, evoking
laughter and murmuring, as it announced that none

26

THE BORGIAS

of the cardinals had secured the majority. A report,
however, began to be spread about that the chances
were divided between three candidates, who were
Roderigo Borgia, Giuliano della Rovera, and
Ascanio Sforza; for the people as yet knew nothing
of the four mules laden with plate and silver which
had been led to Sforza's house, by reason of which
he had given up his own votes to his rival. In the
midst of the agitation excited in the crowd by this
new report a solemn chanting was heard; it pro-
ceeded from a procession, led by the Cardinal Camer-
lengo, with the object of obtaining from Heaven
the speedy election of a pope: this procession,
starting from the church of Ara Coeli at the Capitol,
was to make stations before the principal Madonnas
and the most frequented churches. As soon as the
silver crucifix was perceived which went in front,
the most profound silence prevailed, and everyone
fell on his knees ; thus a supreme calm followed the
tumult and uproar which had been heard a few
minutes before, and which at each appearance of
the smoke had assumed a more threatening charac-
ter : there was a shrewd suspicion that the procession,
as well as having a religious end in view, had a po-
litical object also, and that its influence was
intended to be as great on earth as in heaven. In
any case, if such had been the design of the Cardinal
Camerlengo, he had not deceived himself, and the

27

CELEBRATED CRIMES

effect was what he desired : when the procession had
gone past, the laughing and joking continued, but
the cries and threats had completely ceased.

The whole day passed thus ; for in Rome nobody
works. You are either a cardinal or a lacquey, and
you live, nobody knows how. The crowd was still
extremely numerous, when, towards two o'clock
in the afternoon, another procession, which had
quite as much power of provoking noise as the first
of imposing silence, traversed in its turn the Piazza
of St. Peter's: this was the dinner procession. The
people received it with the usual bursts of laughter,
without suspecting, for all their irreverence, that this
procession, more efficacious than the former, had
just settled the election of the new pope.

The hour of the Ave Maria came as on the even-
ing before ; but, as on the evening before, the waiting
of the whole day was lost; for, as half-past eight
struck, the daily smoke reappeared at the top of the
chimney. But when at the same m_oment rumours
which came from the inside of the Vatican were
spread abroad, announcing that, in all probability,
the election would take place the next day, the good
people preserved their patience. Besides, it had been
very hot that day, and they were so broken with
fatigue and roasted by the sun, these dwellers in
shade and idleness, that they had no strength left
to complain.

28

THE BORGIAS

The morning of the next day, which was the nth
of August, 1492, arose stormy and dark; this did
not hinder the multitude from thronging the piazzas,
streets, doors, houses, churches. Moreover, this dis-
position of the weather was a real blessing from
Heaven; for if there were heat, at least there would
be no sun. Towards nine o'clock threatening storm-
clouds were heaped up over all the Trastevere; but
to this crowd what mattered rain, lightning, or
thunder? They were preoccupied with a concern of
a very different nature ; they were waiting for their
pope : a promise had been made them for to-day,
and it could be seen by the manner of all, that if the
day should pass without any election taking place,
the end of it might very well be a riot; therefore,
in proportion as the time advanced, the agitation
grew greater. Nine o'clock, half-past nine, a quarter
to ten struck, without anything happening to con-
firm or destroy their hopes. At last the first stroke
of ten was heard ; all eyes turned towards the
chimney : ten o'clock struck slowly, each stroke vi-
brating in the heart of the multitude. At last the
tenth stroke trembled, then vanished shuddering into
space, and a great cry breaking simultaneously from
a hundred thousand breasts followed the silence :
" Non v'e fumo! There is no smoke! " In other
words, " We have a pope."

At this moment the rain began to fall ; but no one
29

CELEBRATED CRIMES

paid any attention to it, so great were the trans-
ports of joy and impatience among all the people.
At last a little stone was detached from the walled
window which gave on the balcony and upon which
all eyes were fixed : a general shout saluted its fall ;
little by little the aperture grew larger, and in a
few minutes it was large enough to allow a man to
come out on the balcony.

The Cardinal Ascanio Sforza appeared ; but at
the moment when he was on the point of coming
out, frightened by the rain and the lightning, he
hesitated an instant, and finally drew back: imme-
diately the multitude in their turn broke out like a
tempest into cries, curses, howls, threatening to tear
down the Vatican and to go and seek their pope
themselves. At this noise Cardinal Sforza, more
terrified by the popular storm than by the storm in
the heavens, advanced on the balcony, and between
two thunderclaps, in a moment of silence astonishing
to anyone who had just heard the clamour that went
before, made the following proclamation: —

" I announce to you a great joy : the most Eminent
and most Reverend Signor Roderigo Lenzuolo Bor-
gia, Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal-Deacon of
San Nicolao-in-Carcere, Vice-Chancellor of the
Church, has now been elected Pope, and has as-
sumed the name of Alexander vi.""

The news of this nomination was received with

30

THE BORGIAS

strang"e joy. RoderJgo Borgia had the reputation of
a dissolute man, it is true, but libertinism had
mounted the throne with Sixtus iv and Innocent viii,
so that for the Romans there was nothing new in
the singular situation of a pope with a mistress and
five children. The great thing for the moment was
that the power fell into strong hands; and it was
more important for the tranquillity of Rome that
the new pope inherited the sword of St. Paul than
that he inherited the keys of St. Peter.

And so, in the feasts that were given on this occa-
sion, the dominant character was much more war-
like than religious, and would have appeared rather
to suit with the election of some young conqueror
than the exaltation of an old pontiff: there was no
limit to the pleasantries and prophetic epigrams on
the name of Alexander, which for the second time
seemed to promise the Romans the empire of the
world; and the same evening, in the midst of bril-
liant illuminations and bonfires, which seemed to turn
the town into a lake of flame, the following epigram
was read, amid the acclamation of the people: —

" Rome under Caesar's rule in ancient story
At home and o'er the world victorious trod;
But Alexander still extends his glory:
Caesar was man, but Alexander God."

As to the new pope, scarcely had he completed the
formalities of etiquette which his exaltation imposed

31

CELEBRATED CRIMES

upon him, and paid to each man the price of his
simony, when from the height of the Vatican he cast
his eyes upon Europe, a vast pohtical game of
chess, which he cherished the hope of directing at
the will of his own genius.

32

CHAPTER II

THE world had now arrived at one of those
supreme moments of history when every-
thing is transformed between the end of one
period and the beginning of another: in the
East Turkey, in the South Spain, in the West
France, and in the North Germany, all were going
to assume, together with the title of great Powers,
that influence which they were destined to exert in
the future over the secondary States. Accordingly we
too, with Alexander vi^ will cast a rapid glance over
them, and see what were their respective situations
in regard to Italy, which they all coveted as a prize.

Constantine, Palseologos Dragozes, besieged by
three hundred thousand Turks, after having ap-
pealed in vain for aid to the whole of Christendom,
had not been willing to survive the loss of his em-
pire, and had been found in the midst of the dead,
close to the Tophana Gate ; and on the 30th of May,
1453, Mahomet 11 had made his entry into Constan-
tinople, where, after a reign which had earned for
him the surname of Fatile, or the Conqueror, he had
died leaving two sons, the elder of whom had
ascended the throne under the name of Bajazet 11.

The accession of the new sultan, however, had not
taken place with the tranquillity which his right as
Dumas — Vol. 1 — 2 33

CELEBRATED CRIMES

elder brother and his father's choice of him should
have promised. His younger brother, D'jem, bet-
ter known under the name of Zizimeh, had argued
that whereas he was bom in the purple — that is, born
during the reign of Mahomet — Bajazet was born
prior to his epoch, and was therefore the son of a
private individual. This was rather a poor trick;
but where force is all and right is naught, it was
good enough to stir up a war. The two brothers,
each at the head of an army, met accordingly in
Asia in 1482. D'jem was defeated after a seven
hours' fight, and pursued by his brother, who gave
him no time to rally his army: he was obliged to
embark from Cilicia, and took refuge in Rhodes,
where he implored the protection of the Knights of
St. John. They, not daring to give him an asylum in
their island so near to Asia, sent him to France,
where they had him carefully guarded in one of
their commanderies, in spite of the urgency of Cait
Bey, Sultan of Egypt, who, having revolted against
Bajazet, desired to have the young prince in his army
to give his rebellion the appearance of legitimate
warfare. The same demand, moreover, with the
same political object, had been made successively
by Mathias Corvinus, King of Hungary, by Ferdi-
nand, King of Aragon and Sicily, and by Ferdi-
nand, King of Naples.

On his side Bajazet, who knew all the importance
34

THE BORGIAS

of such a rival, if he once allied himself with any one
of the princes with whom he was at war, had sent
ambassadors to Charles viii, offering, if he would
consent to keep D'jem with him, to give him a
considerable pension, and to give to France the
sovereignty of the Holy Land, so soon as Jerusalem
should be conquered by the Sultan of Egypt. The
King of France had accepted these terms.

But then Innocent viii had intervened, and in his
turn had claimed D'jem, ostensibly to give support
by the claims of the refugee to a crusade which he
was preaching against the Turks, but in reality to
appropriate the pension of 40,000 ducats to be given
by Bajazet to any one of the Christian princes who
would undertake to be his brother's gaoler. Charles
VIII had not dared to refuse to the spiritual head of
Christendom a request supported by such holy rea-
sons; and therefore D'jem had quitted France, ac-
companied by the Grand Master d'Aubusson, under
whose direct charge he was; but his guardian had
consented, for the sake of a cardinal's hat, to yield
up his prisoner. Thus, on the 13th of March, 1489,
the unhappy young man, cynosure of so many in-
terested eyes, made his solemn entry into Rome,
mounted on a superb horse, clothed in a magnificent
oriental costume, between the Prior of Auvergne,
nephew of the Grand Master d'Aubusson, and Fran-
cesco Cibo, the son of the pope,

35

CELEBRATED CRIMES

After this he had remained there, and Bajazet,
faithful to promises which it was so much his in-
terest to fulfil, had punctually paid to the sovereign
pontiff a pension of 40,000 ducats.

So much for Turkey.

Ferdinand and Isabella were reigning in Spain,
and were laying the foundations of that vast power
which was destined, five-and-twenty years later, to
make Charles v declare that the sun never set on
his dominions. In fact, these two sovereigns, on
whom history has bestowed the name of Catholic,
had reconquered in succession nearly all Spain, and
driven the Moors out of Granada, their last en-
trenchment; while two men of genius, Bartolome
Diaz and Christopher Columbus, had succeeded,
much to the profit of Spain, the one in recovering
a lost world, the other in conquering a world yet
unknown. They had accordingly, thanks to their
victories in the ancient world and their discoveries 1
in the new, acquired an influence at the court of <
Rome which had never been enjoyed by any of their
predecessors.

So much for Spain.

In France, Charles viii had succeeded his father,
Louis XI, on the 30th of August, 1483. Louis by
dint of executions, had tranquillised his kingdom and
smoothed the way for a child who ascended the
throne under the regency of a woman. And the

36

THE BORGIAS

regency had been a glorious one, and had
put down the pretensions of princes of the blood,
put an end to civil wars, and united to the
crown all that yet remained of the great
independent fiefs. The result was that at the epoch
where we now are, here was Charles viii, about
twenty-two years of age, a prince (if we are to
believe La Tremouille) little of body but great of
heart; a child (if we are to believe Commines) only
now making his first flight from the nest, destitute
of both sense and money, feeble in person, full of
self-will, and consorting rather with fools than with
the wise ; lastly, if we are to believe Guicciardini,
who was an Italian, might well have brought a some-
what partial judgment to bear upon the subject, a
young man of little wit concerning the actions of
men, but carried away by an ardent desire for rule
and the acquisition of glory, a desire based far more
on his shallow character and impetuosity than on any
consciousness of genius: he was an enemy to all
fatigue and all business, and when he tried to give
his attention to it he showed himself always totally
wanting in prudence and judgment. If anything in
him appeared at first sight to be worthy of praise, on
a closer inspection it was found to be something
nearer akin to vice than to virtue. He was liberal,
it is true, but without thought, with no measure and
no discrimination. He was sometimes inflexible in

37

CELEBRATED CRIMES

will; but this was through obstinacy rather than a
constant mind; and what his flatterers called good-
ness deserved far more the name of insensibility to
injuries or poverty of spirit.

As to his physical appearance, if we are to believe
the same author, it was still less admirable, and
answered marvellously to his weakness of mind and
character. He was small, with a large head, a short
thick neck, broad chest, and high shoulders; his
thighs and legs were long and thin; and as his face
also was ugly — and was only redeemed by the dig-
nity and force of his glance — and all his limbs were
disproportionate with one another, he had rather the
appearance of a monster than a man. Such was he
whom Fortune was destined to make a conqueror,
for whom Heaven was reserving more glory than
he had power to carry.

So much for France.

The Imperial throne was occupied by Frederic iii,
who had been rightly named the Peaceful, not for
the reason that he had always maintained peace, but
because, having constantly been beaten, he had
always been forced to make it. The first
proof he had given of this very philosophical for-
bearance was during his journey to Rome, whither
he betook himself to be consecrated. In cross-
ing the Apennines he was attacked by bri-
gands. They robbed him, but he made no

38

THE BORGIAS

pursuit. And so, encouraged by example and
by the impunity of lesser thieves, the greater ones
soon took part in the robberies. Amurath seized
part of Hungary. Mathias Corvinus took Lower
Austria, and Frederic consoled himself for these
usurpations by repeating the maxim. For get fulness
is the best cure for the losses we suffer. At the time
we have now reached, he had just, after a reign of
fifty-three years, affianced his son Maximilian to
Marie of Burgundy and had put under the ban of
the Empire his son-in-law, Albert of Bavaria, who
laid claim to the ownership of the Tyrol. He was
therefore too full of his family affairs to be troubled
about Italy. Besides, he was busy looking for a
motto for the house of Austria, an occupation of the
highest importance for a man of the character of
Frederic iii. This motto, which Charles v was
destined almost to render true, was at last discov-
ered, to the great joy of the old emperor, who,
judging that he had nothing more to do on earth
after he had given this last proof of sagacity, died
on the 19th of August, 1493, leaving the empire
to his son Maximilian.

This motto was simply founded on the five
vowels, a, e, i, 0, u, the initial letters of these
five words —

"austriae est imperare orbi universo/'
39

CELEBRATED CRIMES

This means —

" It is the destiny of Austria to rule over the whole
world."

So much for Germany.

Now that we have cast a glance over the four
nations which were on the way, as we said before,
to become European Powers, let us turn our atten-
tion to those secondary States which formed a circle
more contiguous to Rome, and whose business it was
to serve as armour, so to speak, to the spiritual queen
of the world, should it please any of these political
giants whom we have described to make encroach-
ments with a view to an attack, on the seas or the
mountains, the Adriatic Gulf or the Alps, the Medi-
terranean or the Apennines.

These were the kingdom of Naples, the duchy of
Milan, the magnificent republic of Florence, and the
most serene republic of Venice.

The kingdom of Naples was in the hands of the
old Ferdinand, whose birth was not only illegitimate,
but probably also well within the prohibited degrees.
His father, Alfonso of Aragon, received his crown
from Giovanna of Naples, who had adopted him as
her successor. But since, in the fear of having no
heir, the queen on her deathbed had named two
instead of one, Alfonso had to sustain his rights
against Rene. The two aspirants for some time

40

THE BORGIAS

disputed the crown. At last the house of Aragon
carried the day over the house of Anjou, and in
the course of the year 1442, Alfonso definitely
secured his seat on the throne. Of this sort were
the claims of the defeated rival which we shall see
Charles viii maintaining later on, Ferdinand had
neither the courage nor the genius of his father, and
yet he triumphed over his enemies, one after another :
he had two rivals, both far superior in merit to him-
self. The one was his nephew, the Count of Viana,
whoi, basing his claim on his uncle's shameful birth,
commanded the whole Aragonese party; the other
was Duke John of Calabria, who commanded the
whole Angevin party. Still he managed to hold the
two apart, and to keep himself on the throne by
dint of his prudence, which often verged upon
duplicity. He had a cultivated mind, and had
studied the sciences — above all, law. He was of
middle height, with a large handsome head, his
brow open and admirably framed in beautiful white
hair, which fell nearly down to his shoulders.
Moreover, though he had rarely exercised his
physical strength in arms, this strength was so
great that one day, when he happened to be on the
square of the Mercato Nuovo at Naples, he seized
by the horns a bull that had escaped and stopped him
short, in spite of all the efforts the animal made to
escape from his hands. Now the election of Alexan-

41

CELEBRATED CRIMES

der had caused him great uneasiness, and in spite of
his usual prudence he had not been able to restrain
himself from saying before the bearer of the news
that not only did he fail to rejoice in this election,
but also that he did not think that any Christian
could rejoice in it, seeing that Borgia, having always
been a bad man, would certainly make a bad pope.
To this he added that, even were the choice an
excellent one and such as would please everybody
else, it would be none the less fatal to the house of
Aragon, although Roderigo was born her subject
and owed to her the origin and progress of his for-
tunes; for wherever reasons of state come in, the
ties of blood and parentage are soon forgotten, and,
a fortiori, relations arising from the obligations of
nationality.

Thus one may see that Ferdinand judged Alexan-
der VI with his usual perspicacity; this, however,
did not hinder him, as we shall soon perceive, from
being the first to contract an alliance with him.

The duchy of Milan belonged nominally to John
Galeazzo, grandson of Francesco Sforza, who had
seized it by violence on the 26th of February, 1450,
and bequeathed it to his son, Galeazzo Maria, father
of the young prince now reigning; we say nominally,
because the real master of the Milanese was at this
period not the legitimate heir who wae supposed to
possess it, but his uncle Ludovico, sumamed il Moro,

42

THE BORGI AS

because of the mulberry tree which he bore in his
arms. After being exiled with his two brothers,
Philip who died of poison in 1479, and Ascanio who
became the cardinal, he returned to Milan some days
after the assassination of Galeazzo Maria, which
took place on the 26th of December, 1476, in St.
Stephen's Church, and assumed the regency for the
young duke, who at that time was only eight years
old. From now onward, even after his nephew had
reached the age of two-and-twenty, Ludovico con-
tinued to rule, and according to all probabilities was
destined to rule a long time yet; for, some days after
the poor young man had shown a desire to take the
reins himself, he had fallen sick, and it was said, and
not in a whisper, that he had taken one of those slow
but mortal poisons of which princes made so fre-
quent a use at this period, that, even when a malady
was natural, a cause was always sought connected
with some great man's interests. However it may
have been, Ludovico had relegated his nephew, now
too weak to busy himself henceforward with the
affairs of his duchy, to the castle of Pavia, where he
lay and languished under the eyes of his wife Isa-
bella, daughter of King Ferdinand of Naples.

As to Ludovico, he was an ambitious man, full
of courage and astuteness, familiar with the sword
and with poison, which he used alternately, accord-
ing to the occasion, without feeling any repugnance

43

CELEBRATED CRIMES

or any predilection for either of them; but quite
decided to be his nephew's heir whether he died or
Hved.

Florence, although she had preserved the name of
a republic, had little by little lost all her liberties, and
belonged in fact, if not by right, to Piero dei Medici,
to whom she had been bequeathed as a paternal
legacy by Lorenzo, as we have seen, at the risk of
his soul's salvation.

The son, unfortunately, was far from having the
genius of his father: he was handsome, it is true,
whereas Lorenzo, on the contrary, was remarkably
ugly; he had an agreeable, musical voice, whereas
Lorenzo had always spoken through his nose; he
was instructed in Latin and Greek, his conversation
was pleasant and easy, and he improvised verses
almost as well as the so-called Magnificent; but he
was both ignorant of political affairs and haughtily
insolent in his behaviour to those who had made
them their study. Added to this, he was an ardent
lover of pleasure, passionately addicted to women,
incessantly occupied with bodily exercises that
should make him shine in their eyes, above all with
tennis, a game at which he very highly excelled: he
promised himself that, when the period of mourning
was past, he would occupy the attention not only of
Florence but of the whole of Italy, by the splendour
of his courts and the renown of his fetes. Piero dei

44

THE BORGIAS

I\Icdici had at any rate formed this plan ; but Heaven
decreed otherwise.

As to the most serene repubHc of Venice, whose
doge was Agostino Barbarigo, she had attained, at
the time we have reached, to her highest degree of
power and splendour. From Cadiz to the Palus
Mseotis, there was no port that was not open to her
thousand ships; she possessed in Italy, beyond the
coastline of the canals and the ancient duchy of
Venice, the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Crema,
Verona, Vicenza, and Padua; she owned the
marches of Treviso, which comprehend the dis-
tricts of Feltre, Belluno, Cadore, Polesella of Ro-
vigo, and the principality of Ravenna; she also
owned the Friuli, except Aquileia; Istria, except
Trieste; she owned, on the east side of the Gulf,
Zara, Spalatro, and the shore of Albania; in the
Ionian Sea, the islands of Zante and Corfu; in
Greece, Lepanto and Patras ; in the Morea, Morone,
Corone, Neapolis, and Argos; lastly, in the Archi-
pelago, besides several little towns and stations on
the coast, she owned Candia and the kingdom of
Cyprus.

Thus from the mouth of the Po to the eastern
extremity of the Mediterranean, the most serene
republic was mistress of the whole coastline, and
Italy and Greece seemed to be mere suburbs of
Venice.

45

CELEBRATED CRIMES

In the intervals of space left free between Naples,
Milan, Florence, and Venice, petty tyrants had
arisen who exercised an absolute sovereignty over
their territories : thus the Colonnas were at Ostia
and at Nettuna, the Montefeltri at Urbino, the Man-
fred! at Faenza, the Bentivogli at Bologna, the
Malatesta family at Rimini, the Vitelli at Citta di
Castello, the Baglioni at Perugia, the Orsini at
Vicovaro, and the princes of Este at Ferrara.

Finally, in the centre of this immense circle, com-
posed of great Powers, of secondary States, and of
little tyrannies, Rome was set on high, the most ex-
alted, yet the weakest of all, without influence,
without lands, without an army, without gold. It
was the concern of the new pope to secure all this :
let us see, therefore, what manner of man was this
Alexander vi_, for undertaking and accomplishing
such a project.

46

CHAPTER III

RODERIGO LENZUOLO was born at Va-
lencia, in Spain, in 1430 or 143 1, and
on his mother's side was descended, as some
writers declare, of a family of royal blood, which
had cast its eyes on the tiara only after cherishing
hopes of the crowns of Aragon and Valencia.
Roderigo from his infancy had shown signs of a
marvellous quickness of mind, and as he grew older
he exhibited an intelligence extremely apt for the
study of sciences, especially law and jurisprudence:
the result was that his first distinctions were gained
in the law, a profession wherein he soon made a
great reputation by his ability in the discussion of
the most thorny cases. All the same, he was not
slow to leave this career, and abandoned it quite
suddenly for the military profession, which his
father had followed; but after various actions
which served to display his presence of mind and
courage, he was as much disgusted with this pro-
fession as with the other; and since it happened
that at the very time he began to feel this disgust
his father died, leaving a considerable fortune, he
resolved to do no more work, but to live according
to his own fancies and caprices. About this time

47

Celebrated crimes

he became the lover of a widow who had two daugh-
ters. The widow dying, Roderigo took the girls
under his protection, put one into a convent, and as
the other was one of the loveliest women imaginable,
made her his mistress. This was the notorious Rosa
Vanozza, by whom he had five children — Francesco,
Caesar, Lucrezia, and Goffredo; the name of the fifth
is unknown.

Roderigo, retired from public affairs, was given
up entirely to the affections of a lover and a father,
when he heard that his uncle, who loved him like a
son, had been elected pope under the name of
Calixtus III. But the young man was at this time
so much a lover that love imposed silence on ambi-
tion, and indeed he was almost terrified at the ex-
altation of his uncle, which was no doubt destined
to force him once more into public life. Conse-
quently, instead of hurrying to Rome, as anyone
else in his place would have done, he was content to
indite to His Holiness a letter in which he begged
for the continuation of his favours, and wished him
a long and happy reign.

This reserve on the part of one of his relatives,
contrasted with the ambitious schemes which beset
the new pope at every step, struck Calixtus iii in a
singular way: he knew the stuff that was in young
Roderigo, and at a time when he was besieged on
all sides by mediocrities, this powerful nature hold-

48

THE BORGIAS

ing modestly aside gained new grandeur in his eyes :
so he repHed instantly to Roderigo that on the re-
ceipt of his letter he must quit Spain for Italy,
Valencia for Rome.

This letter uprooted Roderigo from the centre
of happiness he had created for himself, and where
he might perhaps have slumbered on like an ordinary
man, if fortune had not thus interposed to drag him
forcibly away. Roderigo was happy, Roderigo was
rich; the evil passions which were natural to him
had been, if not extinguished, at least lulled ; he was
frightened himself at the idea of changing the quiet
life he was leading for the ambitious, agitated career
that was promised him ; and instead of obeying his
uncle, he delayed the preparations for departure,
hoping that Calixtus would forget him. It was not
so : two months after he received the letter from the
pope, there arrived at Valencia a prelate from Rome,
the bearer of Roderigo's nomination to a benefice
worth 20,000 ducats a year, and also a positive order
to the holder of the post to come and take possession
of his charge as soon as possible.

Holding back was no longer feasible: so Roderigo
obeyed ; but as he did not wish to be separated from
the source whence had sprung eight years of happi-
ness, Rosa Vanozza also left Spain, and while he
was going to Rome, she betook herself to Venice,
accompanied by two confidential servants, and under

49

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the protection of a Spanish gentleman named Manuel
Melchior.

Fortune kept the promises she had made to
Roderigo : the pope received him as a son, and made
him successively Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal-
Deacon, and Vice-Chancellor. To all these favours
Calixtus added a revenue of 40,000 ducats, so that
at the age of scarcely thirty-five Roderigo found
himself the equal of a prince in riches and power.

Roderigo had had some reluctance about accept-
ing the cardinalship, which kept him fast at Rome,
and would have preferred to be General of the
Church, a position which would have allowed him
more liberty for seeing his mistress and his family;
but his uncle Calixtus made him reckon with the
possibility of being his successor some day, and from
that moment the idea of being the supreme head of
kings and nations took such hold of Roderigo, that
he no longer had any end in view but that which his
uncle had made him entertain.

From that day forward, there began to grow up
in the young cardinal that talent for hypocrisy which
made of him the most perfect incarnation of the devil
that has perhaps ever existed ; and Roderigo was no
longer the same man : with words of repentance and
humility on his lips, his head bowed as though he
were bearing the weight of his past sins, disparaging
the riches which he had acquired, and which, ac-

50

THEBORGIAS

cording to him, were the wealth of the poor and
ought to return to the poor, he passed his Hfe in
churches, monasteries, and hospitals, acquiring, his
historian tells us, even in the eyes of his enemies, the
reputation of a Solomon for wisdom, of a Job for
patience, and of a very Moses for his promulgation
of the word of God : Rosa Vanozza was the only
person in the world who could appreciate the value
of this pious cardinal's conversion.

It proved a lucky thing for Roderigo that he had
assumed this pious attitude, for his protector died
after a reign of three years three months and nine-
teen days, and he was now sustained by his own
merit alone against the numerous enemies he had
made by his rapid rise to fortune: so during the
whole of the reign of Pius ii he lived always apart
from public affairs, and only reappeared in the days
of Sixtus IV, who made him the gift of the abbacy
of Subiaco, and sent him in the capacity of ambassa-
dor tO' the kings of Aragon and Portugal. On his
return, which took place during the pontificate of
Innocent viii, he decided to fetch his family at last
to Rome : thither they came, escorted by Don Manuel
Melchior, who from that moment passed as the
husband of Rosa Vanozza, and took the name of
Count Ferdinand of Castile. The Cardinal Roderigo
received the noble Spaniard as a countryman and a
friend ; and he, who expected to lead a most retired

51

CELEBRATED CRIMES

life, engaged a house in the street of the Lungara,
near the church of Regina Coeh, on the banks of the
Tiber. There it was that, after passing the day in
prayers and pious works, Cardinal Roderigo used
to repair each evening and lay aside his mask. And
it was said, though nobody could prove it, that in
this house infamous scenes passed : Report said
the dissipations were of so dissolute a character
that their equals had never been seen in Rome.
With a view to checking the rumours that began to
spread abroad, Roderigo sent Caesar to study at
Pisa, and married Lucrezia to a young gentleman
of Aragon ; thus there only remained at home Rosa
Vanozza and her two sons : such was the state of
things when Innocent viii died and Roderigo Borgia
was proclaimed pope.

We have seen by what means the nomination was
effected ; and so the five cardinals who had taken no
part in this simony — namely, the Cardinals of
Naples, Siena, Portugal, Santa Maria-in-Porticu,
and St. Peter-in-Vinculis — protested loudly against
this election, which they treated as a piece of jobbery ;
but Roderigo had none the less, however it was
done, secured his majority; Roderigo was none the
less the two hundred and sixtieth successor of St.
Peter.

Alexander vi, however, though he had arrived at
his object, did not dare throw off at first the mask

52

THE BORGI AS

which the Cardinal Borgia had worn so long, al-
though when he was apprised of his election he
could not dissimulate his joy; indeed, on hearing the
favourable result of the scrutiny, he lifted his hands
to heaven and cried, in the accents of satisfied am-
bition, " Am I then pope ? Am I then Christ's vicar?
Am I then the keystone of the Christian world?"

" Yes, holy father," replied Cardinal Ascanio
Sforza, the same who had sold to Roderigo the nine
votes that were at his disposal at the Conclave for
four mules laden with silver ; " and we hope by your
election to give glory tO' God, repose to the Church,
and joy to Christendom, seeing that you have been
chosen by the Almighty Himself as the most worthy
among all your brethren."

But in the short interval occupied by this reply,
the new pope had already assumed the papal au-
thority, and in a humble voice and with hands crossed
upon his breast, he spoke :

" We hope that God will grant us His powerful
aid, in spite of our weakness, and that He will do for
us that which He did for the apostle when aforetime
He put into his hands the keys of heaven and en-
trusted to him the government of the Church, a
government which without the aid of God would
prove too heavy a burden for mortal man ; but God
promised that His Spirit should direct him; God
will do the same, I trust, for us ; and for your part,

53

CELEBRATED CRIMES

we fear not lest any of you fail in that holy obedience
which is due unto the head of the Church, even as
the flock of Christ was bidden to follow the prince
of the apostles."

Having spoken these words, Alexander donned
the pontifical robes, and through the windows of the
Vatican had strips of paper thrown out on which
his name was written in Latin. These, blown by
the wind, seemed to convey to the whole world the
news of the great event which was about to change
the face of Italy. The same day couriers started for
all the courts of Europe.

Caesar Borgia learned the news of his father's
election at the University of Pisa, where he was a
student. His ambition had sometimes dreamed of
such good fortune, yet his joy was little short of
madness. He was then a young man, about twenty-
two or twenty-four years of age, skilful in all bodily
exercises, and especially in fencing; he could ride
barebacked the most fiery steeds, could cut off the
head of a bull at a single sword-stroke ; moreover, he
was arrogant, jealous, and insincere. According to
Tommasi, he was great among the godless, as his
brother Francesco was good among the great. As
to his face, even contemporary authors have left
utterly different descriptions ; for some have painted
him as a monster of ugliness, while others, on the
contrary, extol his beauty. This contradiction is

54

THEBORGIAS

due to the fact that at certain times of the year, and
especially in the spring, his face was covered with
an eruption which, so long as it lasted, made him an
object of horror and disgust, while all the rest of the
year he was the sombre, black-haired cavalier with
pale skin and tawny beard whom Raphael shows us
in the fine portrait he made of him. And historians,
both chroniclers and painters, agree as to his fixed
and powerful gaze, behind which burned a ceaseless
flame, giving to his face something infernal and
superhuman. Such was the man whose fortune was
to fulfil all his desires. He had taken for his motto,
Aut Caesar J aui nihil: Caesar or nothing.

Caesar posted to Rome with certain of his friends,
and scarcely was he recognised at the gates of the
city when the deference shown to him gave instant
proof of the change in his fortunes: at the Vatican
the respect was twice as great; mighty men bowed
down before him as before one mightier than them-
selves. And so, in his impatience, he stayed not to
visit his mother or any other member of his family,
but went straight to the pope to kiss his feet; and
as the pope had been forewarned of his coming, he
awaited him in the midst of a brilliant and numerous
assemblage of cardinals, with the three other broth-
ers standing behind him. His Holiness received
Caesar with a gracious countenance ; still, he did not
allow himself any demonstration of his paternal love,

55

CELEBRATED CRIMES

but, bending towards him, kissed him on the fore-
head, and inquired how he was and how he had
fared on his journey. C?esar replied that he was
wonderfully well, and altogether at the service of
His Holiness: that, as to the journey, the trifling
inconveniences and short fatigue had been com-
pensated, and far more than compensated, by the
joy which he felt in being able to adore upon the
papal throne a pope who was so worthy. At these
words, leaving Cfesar still on his knees, and reseating
himself — for he had risen from his seat to embrace
him — the pope assumed a grave and composed ex-
pression of face, and spoke as follows, loud enough
to be heard by all, and slowly enough for everyone
present to be able to ponder and retain in his mem-
ory even the least of his words : —

" We are convinced, Caesar, that you are peculiarly
rejoiced in beholding us on this sublime height, so
far above our deserts, whereto it has pleased the
Divine goodness to exalt us. This joy of yours is
first of all our due because of the love we have
always borne you and which we bear you still, and
in the second place is prompted by your own personal
interest, since henceforth you may feel sure of re-
ceiving from our pontifical hand those benefits which
your own good works shall deserve. But if your
joy — and this we say to you as we have even now
said to your brothers — if your joy is founded on

56

THE BORGIAS

aught else than this, you are very greatly mistaken,
Cassar, and you will find yourself sadly deceived.
Perhaps v^^e have been ambitious — we confess this
humbly before the face of all men — passionately and
immoderately ambitious to attain to the dignity of
sovereign pontiff, and to reach this end we have
followed every path that is open to human industry ;
but we have acted thus, vowing an inward vow that
when once we had reached our goal, we would follow
no other path but that which conduces best to the
service of God and to the advancement oi the Holy
See, so that the glorious memory of the deeds that
we shall do may efface the shameful recollection of
the deeds we have already done. Thus shall we, let
us hope, leave to those who follow us a track where-
upon if they find not the footsteps of a saint, they
may at least tread in the path of a true pontiff. God,
who has furthered the means, claims at our hands
the fruits, and we desire to discharge to the full this
mighty debt that we have incurred to Him; and
accordingly we refuse to arouse by any deceit the
stern rigour of His judgments. One sole hindrance
could have power to shake our good intentions, and
that might happen should we feel too keen an in-
terest in your fortunes. Therefore are we armed
beforehand against our love, and therefore have we
prayed to God beforehand that we stumble not be-
cause of you; for in the path of favouritism a pope

57

CELEBRATED CRIMES

cannot slip without a fall, and cannot fall without
injury and dishonour to the Holy See. Even to
the end of our life we shall deplore the faults which
have brought this experience home to us ; and may it
please God that our uncle Calixtus of blessed mem-
ory bear not this day in purgatory the burden of our
sins, more heavy, alas, than his own! Ah, he was
rich in every virtue, he was full of good intentions;
but he loved too much his own people, and among
them he loved me chief. And so he suffered this love
to lead him blindly astray, all this love that he bore
to his kindred, who to him were too truly flesh of
his flesh, so that he heaped upon the heads of a few
persons only, and those perhaps the least worthy,
benefits which would more fittingly have rewarded
the deserts of many. In truth, he bestowed upon
our house treasures that should never have been
amassed at the expense of the poor, or else should
have been turned to a better purpose. He severed
from the ecclesiastical State, already weak and poor,
the duchy of Spoleto and other wealthy properties,
that he might make them fiefs to us ; he confided to
our weak hands the vice-chancellorship, the vice-pre-
fecture of Rome, the generalship of the Church, and
all the other most important ofiices, which, instead
of being monopolised by us, should have been con-
ferred on those who were most meritorious. More-
over, there were persons who were raised on our

58

THE BORGIAS

recommendation to posts of great dignity, although
they had no claims but such as our undue partiality
accorded them ; others were left out with no reason
for their failure except the jealousy excited in us
by their virtues. To rob Ferdinand of Aragon of the
kingdom of Naples, Calixtus kindled a terrible war,
which by a happy issue only served to increase our
fortune, and by an unfortunate issue must have
brought shame and disaster upon the Holy See.
Lastly, by allowing himself to be governed by men
who sacrificed public good to their private interests,
he inflicted an injury, not only upon the pontifical
throne and his own reputation, but what is far
worse, far more deadly, upon his own conscience.
And yet, O wise judgments of God ! hard and inces-
santly though he toiled to establish our fortunes,
scarcely had he left empty that supreme seat which
we occupy to-day, when we were cast down from
the pinnacle whereon we had climbed, abandoned to
the fury of the rabble and the vindictive hatred of
the Roman barons, who chose to feel offended by
our goodness to their enemies. Thus, not only, we
tell you, Caesar, not only did we plunge headlong
from the summit of our grandeur, losing the worldly
goods and dignities which our uncle had heaped at
our feet, but for very peril of our life we were con-
demned to a voluntary exile, we and our friends, and
in this way only did we contrive to escape the storm

59

CELEBRATED CRIMES

which our too good fortune had stirred up against
us. Now this is a plain proof that God mocks at
men's designs when they are bad ones. How great
an error is it for any pope to devote more care to
the welfare of a house, which cannot last more than
a few years, than to the glory of the Church, which
will last for ever! What utter folly for any public
man whose position is not inherited and cannot be
bequeathed to his posterity, to support the edifice
of his grandeur on any other basis than the noblest
virtue practised for the general good, and to suppose
that he can ensure the continuance of his own for-
tune otherwise than by taking all precautions against
sudden whirlwinds which are wont to arise in the
midst of a calm, and to blow up the storm-clouds —
I mean the host of enemies. Now any one of these
enemies who does his worst can cause injuries far
more powerful than any help that is at all likely to
come from a hundred friends and their lying prom-
ises. If you and your brothers walk in the path of
virtue which we shall now open for you, every wish
of your heart shall be instantly accomplished; but
if you take the other path, if you have ever hoped
that our affection will wink at disorderly life, then
you will very soon find out that we are truly pope.
Father of the Church, not father of the family; that,
vicar of Christ as we are, we shall act as we deem
best for Christendom, and not as you deem best for

60

THE BORGTAS

your own private good. And now that we have
come to a thorough understanding, Csesar, receive
oui pontifical blessing." And with these words,
Alexander vi rose up, laid his hands upon his son's
head, for Csesar was still kneeling, and then retired
into his apartments, without inviting him to follow.

The young man remained awhile stupefied at this
discourse, so utterly unexpected, so utterly de-
structive at one fell blow to his most cherished hopes.
He rose giddy and staggering like a drunken man,
and at once leaving the Vatican, hurried to his
mother, whom he had forgotten before, but sought
now in his despair. Rosa Vanozza possessed all the
vices and all the virtues of a Spanish courtesan ; her
devotion to the Virgin amounted to superstition, her
fondness for her children to weakness, and her love
for Roderigo to sensuality. In the depth of her heart
she relied on the influence she had been able to exer-
cise over him for nearly thirty years; and like a
snake, she knew how to envelop him in her coils when
the fascination of her glance had lost its power.
Rosa knew of old the profound hypocrisy of her
lover, and thus she was in no difficulty about re-
assuring Caesar.

Lucrezia was with her mother when Csesar ar-
rived ; the two young people exchanged a lover-like
kiss beneath her very eyes : and before he left Csesar
had made an appointment for the same evening with

6i

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Lucrezia, who was now living — apart from her hus-
band, to whom Roderigo paid a pension — in her pal-
ace of the Via del Pelegrino, opposite the Campo dei
Fiori, and there enjoying perfect liberty.

In the evening, at the hour fixed, Caesar appeared
at Lucrezia's; but he found there his brother Fran-
cesco. The two young men had never been friends.
Still, as their tastes were very different, hatred with
Francesco was only the fear of the deer for the hun-
ter; but with Caesar it was the desire for vengeance
and that lust for blood which lurks perpetually in
the heart of a tiger. The two brothers none the
less embraced, one from general kindly feeling, the
other from hypocrisy; but at first sight of one an-
other the sentiment of a double rivalry, first in their
father's and then in their sister's good graces, had
sent the blood mantling to the cheek of Francesco,
and called a deadly pallor into Caesar's. So the two
young men sat on, each resolved not to be the first
to leave, when all at once there was a knock at
the door, and a rival was announced before whom
both of them were bound to give way : it was their
father.

Rosa Vanozza was quite right in comforting
Caesar. Indeed, although Alexander vi had repu-
diated the abuses of nepotism, he understood very
well the part that was to be played for his benefit
by his sons and his daughter ; for he knew he could

62

THE BORGIAS

always count on Lucrezia and Caesar, if not on
Francesco and Goffredo. In these matters the sister
was quite worthy of her brother. Lucrezia was
wanton in imagination, godless by nature, ambitious
and designing: she had a craving for pleasure, ad-
miration, honours, money, jewels, gorgeous stuffs,
and magnificent mansions. A true Spaniard be-
neath her golden tresses, a courtesan beneath her
frank looks, she carried the head of a Raphael Ma-
donna, and concealed the heart of a MessaHna. She
was dear to Roderigo both as daughter and as mis-
tress, and he saw himself reflected in her as in a
magic mirror, every passion and every vice. Lu-
crezia and Caesar were accordingly the best beloved
of his heart, and the three composed that diabolical
trio which for eleven years occupied the pontifical
throne, like a mocking parody of the heavenly
Trinity.

Nothing occurred at first to give the lie to
Alexander's professions of principle in the dis-
course he addressed to Caesar, and the first year of
his pontificate exceeded all the hopes of Rome at
the time of his election. He arranged for the
provision of stores in the public granaries with such
liberality, that within the memory of man there had
never been such astonishing abundance ; and with a
view to extending the general prosperity to the
lowest class, he organised numerous doles to be paid

63

CELEBRATED CRIMES

out of his private fortune, which made it possible
for the very poor to participate in the general banquet
from which they had been excluded for long enough.
The safety of the city was secured, from the very
first days of his accession, by the establishment of a
strong and vigilant police force, and a tribunal con-
sisting of four magistrates of irreproachable char-
acter, empowered to prosecute all nocturnal crimes,
which during the last pontificate had been so com-
mon that their very numbers made impunity certain :
these judges from the first showed a severity which
neither the rank nor the purse of the culprit could
modify. This presented such a great contrast to the
corruption of the last reign, — in the course of which
the vice-chamberlain one day remarked in public,
when certain people were complaining of the venality
of justice, "God wills not that a sinner die, but that
he live and pay," — that the capital of the Christian
world felt for one brief moment restored to the
happy days of the papacy. So, at the end of a year,
Alexander vi had reconquered that spiritual credit,
so to speak, which his predecessors lost. His politi-
cal credit was still to be established, if he was to
carry out the first part of his gigantic scheme. To
arrive at this, he must employ two agencies — alli-
ances and conquests. His plan was to begin with
alliances. The gentleman of Aragon who had
married Lucrezia when she was only the daughter

64

THE BORGIAS

of Cardinal Roderigo Borgia was not a man power-
ful enough, either by birth and fortune or by intel-
lect, to enter with any sort of effect into the plots and
plans of Alexander vi; the separation was there-
fore changed into a divorce, and Lucrezia Borgia
was now free to remarry. Alexander opened up
two negotiations at the same time: he needed an
ally to keep a watch on the policy of the neighbour-
ing States. John Sforza, grandson of Alexander
Sforza, brother of the great Francis i, Duke of
Milan, was lord of Pesaro; the geographical situa-
tion of this place, on the coast, on the way between
Florence and Venice, was wonderfully convenient
for his purpose; so Alexander first cast an eye upon
him, and as the interest of both parties was evidently
the same, it came about that John Sforza was very
soon Lucrezia's second husband.

At the same time overtures had been matie to
Alfonso of Aragon, heir presumptive to the Crown
of Naples, to arrange a marriage between Doiia
Sancia, his illegitimate daughter, and Goffredo, the
pope's third son ; but as the old Ferdinand wanted
to make the best bargain he could out of it, he
dragged on the negotiations as long as possible,
urging that the two children were not of marriage-
able age, and so, highly honoured as he felt in such
a prospective alliance, there was no hurry about
the engagement. Alatters stopped at this point, to

Duinas — Vol. 1 — 3 65

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the great annoyance of Alexander vi, who saw
through this excuse, and understood that the post-
ponement was nothing more or less than a refusal.
Accordingly Alexander and Ferdinand remained in
statu quo, equals in the political game, both on the
watch till events should declare for one or other.
The turn of fortune was for Alexander.

Italy, though tranquil, was instinctively conscious
that her calm was nothing but the lull which goes
before a storm. She was too rich and too happy to
escape the envy of other nations. As yet the plains
of Pisa had not been reduced to marsh-lands by the
combined negligence and jealousy of the Florentine
Republic, neither had the rich country that lay
around Rome been converted into a barren desert
by the wars of the Colonna and Orsini families ; not
yet had the Marquis of Marignan razed to the
ground a hundred and twenty villages in the republic
of Siena alone; and though the Maremma was un-
healthy, it was not yet a poisonous marsh: it is a
fact that Flavio Blondo, writing in 1450, describes
Ostia as being merely less flourishing than in the
days of the Romans, when she had numbered 50,000
inhabitants, whereas now in our own day there are
barely 30 in all.

The Italian peasants were perhaps the most blest
on the face of the earth : instead of living scattered
about the country in solitary fashion, they lived in

66

THE BORGIAS

villages that were enclosed by walls as a protection
for their harvests, animals, and farm implements;
their houses — at any rate those that yet stand —
prove that they lived in much more comfortable and
beautiful surroundings than the ordinary townsman
of our day. Further, there was a community of in-
terests, and many people collected together in the for-
tified villages, with the result that little by little they
attained to an importance never acquired by the boor-
ish French peasants or the German serfs ; they bore
arms, they had a common treasury, they elected their
own magistrates, and whenever they went out to
fight, it was to save their common country.

Also commerce was no less flourishing than agri-
culture; Italy at this period was rich in industries —
silk, wool, hemp, fur, alum, sulphur, bitumen; those
products which the Italian soil could not bring forth
were imported, from the Black Sea, from Egypt,
from Spain, from France, and often returned whence
they came, their worth doubled by labour and fine
workmanship. The rich man brought his merchan-
dise, the poor his industry : the one was sure of find-
ing workmen, the other was sure of finding work.

Art also was by no means behindhand: Dante,
Giotto, Brunelleschi, and Donatello were dead, but
Ariosto, Raphael, Bramante, and Michael Angelo
were now living. Rome, Florence, and Naples had
inherited the masterpieces of antiquity ; and the man-

67

CELEBRATED CRIMES

uscripts of ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides had
come (thanks to the conquest of Mahomet ii) to
rejoin the statue of Xanthippus and the works of
Phidias and Praxiteles. The principal sovereigns of
Italy had come to understand, when they let their
eyes dwell upon the fat harvests, the wealthy vil-
lages, the flourishing manufactories, and the mar-
vellous churches, and then compared with them the
poor and rude nations of fighting men who sur-
rounded them on all sides, that some day or other
they were destined to become for other countries
what America was for Spain, a vast gold-mine for
them to work. In consequence of this, a league
offensive and defensive had been signed, about
1480, by Naples, Milan, Florence, and Ferrara, pre-
pared to take a stand against enemies within or with-
out, in Italy or outside. Ludovico Sforza, who was
more than anyone else interested in maintaining this
league, because he was nearest to France, whence
the storm seemed to threaten, saw in the new pope's
election means not only of strengthening the league,
but of making its power and unity conspicuous in
the sight of Europe.

68

CHAPTER IV

ON the occasion of each new election to the
papacy, it is the custom for all the Christian
States to send a solemn embassy to Rome, to renew
their oath of allegiance to the Holy Father. Ludo-
vico Sforza conceived the idea that the ambassadors
of the four Powers should unite and make their
entry into Rome on the same day, appointing one of
their envoys, viz. the representative of the King of
Naples, to be spokesman for all four. Unluckily, this
plan did not agree with the magnificent projects of
Piero dei Medici. That proud youth, who had been
appointed ambassador of the Florentine Republic,
had seen in the mission entrusted to him by his fel-
low-citizens the means of making a brilliant display
of his own wealth. From the day of his nomination
onwards, his palace was constantly filled with tailors,
jewellers, and merchants of priceless stuffs; mag-
nificent clothes had been made for him, embroidered
with precious stones which he had selected from the
family treasures. All his jewels, perhaps the richest
in Italy, were distributed about the liveries of his
pages, and one of them, his favourite, was to wear a
collar of pearls valued by itself at 100,000 ducats, or
almost a million of our francs. In his party the

69

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Bishop of Arezzo, Gentile, who had once been Lo-
renzo dei Medici's tutor, was elected as second am-
bassador, and it was his duty to speak. Now Gentile,
who had prepared his speech, counted on his elo-
quence to charm the ear quite as much as Piero
counted on his riches to dazzle the eye. But the
eloquence of Gentile would be lost completely if
nobody was to speak but the ambassador of the King
of Naples ; and the magnificence of Piero- dei Medici
would never be noticed at all if he went to Rome
mixed up with all the other ambassadors. These
two important interests, compromised by the Duke
of Milan's proposition, changed the whole face of
Italy.

Ludovico Sforza had already made sure of Ferdi-
nand's promise to conform to the plan he had in-
vented, when the old king, at the solicitation of
Piero, suddenly drew back. Sforza found out how
this change had come about, and learned that it was
Piero's influence that had overmastered his own.
He could not disentangle the real motives that had
promised the change, and imagined there was some
secret league against himself : he attributed the
changed political programme to the death of Lorenzo
dei Medici. But whatever its cause might be, it was
evidently prejudicial to his own interests: Florence,
Milan's old ally, was abandoning her for Naples.
He resolved to throw a counter weight into the

70

THEBORGIAS

scales ; so, betraying to Alexander the policy of Piero
and Ferdinand, he proposed to form a defensive and
offensive alliance w^ith him and admit the republic
of Venice; Duke Hercules in of Ferrara v^as also
to be summoned to pronounce for one or other of
the two leagues. Alexander vi, wounded by Ferdi-
nand's treatment of himself, accepted Ludovico
Sforza's proposition, and an Act of Confederation
was signed on the 22nd of April, 1493, by which the
new allies pledged themselves to set on foot for the
maintenance of the public peace an army of 20,000
horse and 6,000 infantry.

Ferdinand was frightened when he beheld the
formation of this league; but he thought he could
neutralise its effects by depriving Ludovico Sforza
of his regency, which he had already kept beyond the
proper time, though as yet he was not strictly an
usurper. Although the young Galeazzo, his nephew,
had reached the age of two-and-twenty, Ludovico
Sforza none the less continued regent. Now Ferdi-
nand definitely proposed to the Duke of Milan that he
should resign the sovereign power into the hands
of his nephew, on pain of being declared an usurper.

This was a bold stroke; but there was a risk of
inciting Ludovico Sforza to start one of those po-
litical plots that he was so familiar with, never re-
coiling from any situation, however dangerous it
might be. This was exactly what happened : Sforza,

71

CELEBRATED CRIMES

uneasy about his duchy, resolved to threaten Ferdi-
nand's kingdom.

Nothing- could be easier : he knew the warlike no-
tions of Charles viii^ and the pretensions of the
house of France to the kingdom of Naples. He
sent two ambassadors to invite the young king to
claim the rights of Anjou usurped by Aragon; and
with a view to reconciling Charles to sO' distant and
hazardous an expedition, offered him a free and
friendly passage through his own States.

Such a proposition was welcome to Charles viii,
as we might suppose from our knowledge of his
character ; a magnificent prospect was opened to him
as by an enchanter: what Ludovico Sforza was of-
fering him was virtually the command of the Medi-
terranean, the protectorship of the whole of Italy ; it
was an open road, through Naples and Venice, that
well might lead to the conquest of Turkey or the
Holy Land, if he ever had the fancy to avenge
the disasters of Nicopolis and Mansourah. So' the
proposition was accepted, and a secret alliance was
signed, with Count Charles di Belgiojoso and the
Count of Cajazzo acting for Ludovico Sforza, and
the Bishop of St. Malo and Seneschal de Beaucaire
for Charles viii. By this treaty it was agreed —

That the King of France should attempt the con-
(juest of the kingdom of Naples;

That the Duke of Milan should grant a passage
72

THE BORGIAS

to the King of France through his territories, and
accompany him with five hundred lances ;

That the Duke of Milan should permit the King
of France to send out as many ships of war as he
pleased from Genoa;

Lastly, that the Duke of Milan should lend the
King of France 200,000 ducats, payable when he
started.

On his side, Charles viii agreed —

To defend the personal authority of Ludovico
Sforza over the duchy of Milan against anyone who
might attempt to turn him out;

To keep two hundred French lances always in
readiness to help the house of Sforza, at Asti, a
town belonging to the Duke of Orleans by the in-
heritance of his mother, Valentina Visconti ;

Lastly, to hand over to his ally the principality
of Tarentum immediately after the conquest of
Naples was effected.

This treaty was scarcely concluded when Charles
viii^ who exaggerated its advantages, began to
dream of freeing himself from every let or hin-
drance to the expedition. Precautions were neces-
sary; for his relations with the great Powers were
far from being what he could have wished.

Indeed, Henry vii had disembarked at Calais with
a formidable army, and was threatening France
with another invasion.

71

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, if they had not
assisted at the fall of the house of Anjou, had at
any rate helped the Aragon party with men and
money.

Lastly, the war with the emperor acquired a fresh
impetus when Charles viii sent back Margaret of
Burgundy to her father Maximilian, and contracted
a marriage with Anne of Brittany.

By the treaty of Etaples, on the 3rd of November,
1492, Henry vii cancelled the alliance with the King
of the Romans, and pledged himself not to follow
his conquests.

This cost Charles viii 745,000 gold crowns and
the expenses of the war with England.

By the treaty of Barcelona, dated the 19th of Jan-
uary, 1493, Ferdinand the Catholic and Isabella
agreed never to grant aid to their cousin, Ferdinand
of Naples, and never to put obstacles in the way of
the French king in Italy.

This cost Charles viii Perpignan, Roussillon, and
the Cerdagne, which had all been given to Louis
XI as a hostage for the sum of 300,000 ducats by
John of Aragon ; but at the time agreed upon, Louis
XI would not give them up for the money, for the
old fox knew very well how important were these
doors to the Pyrenees, and proposed in case of war
to keep them shut.

Lastly, by the treaty of Senlis, dated the 23rd of
74

THE BORGIAS

May, 1493, Maximilian granted a gracious pardon
tc France for the insult her king had offered him.

It cost Charles viii the counties of Burgundy, Ar-
tois, Charolais, and the seignioiy of Noyers, which
had come to him as Margaret's dowry, and also the
towns of Aire, Hesdin, and Bethune, which he
promised to deliver up to Philip of Austria on the
day he came of age.

By dint of all these sacrifices the young king made
peace with his neighbours, and could set on foot
the enterprise that Ludovico Sforza had proposed.
We have already explained that the project came in-
to Sforza's mind when his plan about the deputa-
tion was refused, and that the refusal was due to
Piero dei Medici's desire to make an exhibition of
his magnificent jewels, and Gentile's desire to make
his speech.

Thus the vanity of a tutor and the pride of his
scholar together combined to agitate the civilized
world from the Gulf of Tarentum to the Pyrenees.

Alexander vi was in the very centre of the im-
pending earthquake, and before Italy had any idea
that the earliest shocks were at hand he had profited
by the perturbed preoccupation of other people to
give the lie to that famous speech we have reported.
He created cardinal John Borgia, a nephew, who
during the last pontificate had been elected Arch-
bishop of Montreal and Governor of Rome. This

75

CELEBRATED CRIMES

promotion caused no discontent, because of John's
antecedents ; and Alexander, encouraged by the suc-
cess of this, promised to Caesar Borgia the arch-
bishopric of Valencia, a benefice he had himself en-
joyed before his elevation to the papacy. But here
the difficulty arose on the side of the recipient. The
young man, full-blooded, with all the vices and nat-
ural instincts of a captain of condottieri, had very
great trouble in assuming even the appearance of
a Churchman's virtue ; but as he knew from his own
father's mouth that the highest secular dignities
were reserved for his elder brother, he decided to
take what he could get, for fear of getting noth-
ing; but his hatred for Francesco grew stronger,
for from henceforth he was doubly his rival, both in
love and ambition.

Suddenly Alexander beheld the old King Ferdi-
nand returning to his side, and at the very moment
when he least expected it. The pope was too clever
a politician to accept a reconciliation without finding
out the cause of it ; he soon learned what plots were
hatching at the French court against the kingdom of
Naples, and the whole situation was explained.

Now it was his turn to impose conditions.

He demanded the completion of a marriage be-
tween Goffredo, his third son, and Dona Sancia, Al-
fonso's illegitimate daughter.

He demanded that she should bring her husband
76

THE BORGIAS

as dowry the principality of Squillace and the county
of Cariati, with an income of 10,000 ducats and the
office of protonotary, one of the seven great crown
offices which are independent of royal control.

He demanded for his eldest son, whom Ferdinand
the Catholic had just made Duke of Gandia, the
principality of Tricarico, the counties of Chiara-
monte, Lauria, and Carinola, an income of 12,000
ducats, and the first of the seven great offices which
should fall vacant.

He demanded that Virginio Orsini, his ambassa-
dor at the Neapolitan court, should be given a third
great office, viz. that of Constable, the most impor-
tant of them all.

Lastly, he demanded that Giuliano della Rovere,
one of the five cardinals who had opposed his elec-
tion and was now taking refuge at Ostia, where the
oak whence he took his name and bearings is still
to be seen carved on all the walls, should be driven
out of that town, and the town itself given over
to him.

In exchange, he merely pledged himself never to
withdraw from the house of Aragon the investiture
of the kingdom of Naples accorded by his predeces-
sors. Ferdinand was paying somewhat dearly for
a simple promise ; but on the keeping of this promise
the legitimacy of his power wholly depended. For
the kingdom of Naples was a fief of the Holy See;

77.

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and to the pope alone belonged the right of pro-
nouncing on the justice of each competitor's preten-
sions; the continuance of this investiture was there-
fore of the highest conceivable importance to Ara-
gon just at the time when Anjou was rising up with
an army at her back to dispossess her.

For a year after he mounted the papal throne,
Alexander vi had made great strides, as we see, in
the extension of his temporal power. In his own
hands he held, to be sure, only the least in size of
the Italian territories; but by the marriage of his
daughter Lucrezia with the lord of Pesaro he was
stretching out one hand as far as Venice, while by
the marriage of the Prince of Squillace with Dona
Sancia, and the territories conceded to the Duke of
Gandia, he was touching with the other hand the
boundary of Calabria.

When this treaty, so advantageous for himself,
was duly signed, he made Csesar Cardinal of San-
ta Maria Novella, for Csesar was always complain-
ing of being left out in the distribution of his fa-
ther's favours.

Only, as there was as yet no precedent in Church
history for a bastard's donning the scarlet, the pope
hunted up four false witnesses who declared that
Csesar was the son of Count Ferdinand of Castile;
who was, as we know, that valuable person Don
Manuel Melchior, and who played the father's part

78

THE BORGI AS

with just as much solemnity as he had played the
husband's.

The wedding of the two bastards was most splen-
did, rich with the double pomp of Church and King.
As the pope had settled that the young bridal pair
should live near him, Caesar Borgia, the new cardi-
nal, undertook to manage the ceremony of their en-
try into Rome and the reception, and Lucrezia, who
enjoyed at her father's side an amount of favour
hitherto unheard of at the papal court, desired on
her part to contribute all the splendour she had it
in her power to add. He therefore went to receive
the young people with a stately and magnificent es-
cort of lords and cardinals, while she awaited them
attended by the loveliest and noblest ladies of Rome,
in one of the halls of the Vatican. A throne was
there prepared for the pope, and at his feet were
cushions for Lucrezia and Doiia Sancia. " Thus,"
writes Tommaso Tommasi, " by the look of the as-
sembly and the sort of conversation that went on
for hours, you would suppose you were present at
some magnificent and voluptuous royal audience of
ancient Assyria, rather than at the severe consistory
of a Roman pontiff, whose solemn duty it is to ex-
hibit in every act the sanctity of the name he bears.
But," continues the same historian, " if the Eve of
Pentecost was spent in such worthy functions, the
celebrations of the coming of the Holy Ghost on the

79

CELEBRATED CRIMES

following day were no less decorous and becoming to
the spirit of the Church; for thus writes the master
of the ceremonies in his journal :

" 'The pope made his entry into the Church of
the Holy Apostles, and beside him on the marble
steps of the pulpit where the canons of St. Peter
are wont to chant the Epistle and Gospel, sat Lu-
crezia his daughter and Sancia his son's wife : round
about them, a disgrace to the Church and a public
scandal, were grouped a number of other Roman
ladies far more fit to dwell in Messalina's city than
in St. Peter's.' "

So at Rome and Naples did men slumber while
ruin was at hand ; so did they waste their time and
squander their money in a vain display of pride ; and
this was going on while the French, thoroughly
alive, were busy laying hands upon the torches with
which they would presently set Italy on fire.

Indeed, the designs of Charles viii for conquest
were no longer for anybody a matter of doubt. The
young king had sent an embassy to the various Ital-
ian States, composed of Perrone dei Baschi, Brigon-
net, d'Aubigny, and the president of the Provengal
Parliament. The mission of this embassy was to
demand from the Italian princes their co-operation
in recovering the rights of the crown of Naples for
the house of Anjou.

The embassy first approached the Venetians, de-
80

THEBORGIAS

manding aid and counsel for the king their master.
But the Venetians, faithful to their political tra-
dition, which had gained for them the sobriquet of
" the Jews of Christendom," replied that they were
not in a position to give any aid to the young king,
so long as they had to keep ceaselessly on guard
against the Turks ; that, as to advice, it would be too
great a presumption in them to give advice to a
prince who was surrounded by such experienced
generals and such able ministers.

Perrone dei Baschi, when he found he could get
no other answer, next made for Florence. Piero
dei Medici received him at a grand council, for he
summoned on this occasion not only the seventy, but
also the gonfalonieri who had sat for the last thirty-
four years in the Signoria. The French ambassador
put forward his proposal, that the republic should
permit their army to pass through her States, and
pledge herself in that case to supply for ready money
all the necessary victual and fodder. The magnifi-
cent republic replied that if Charles viii had been
marching against the Turks instead of against Fer-
dinand, she would be only too ready to grant every-
thing he wished; but being bound to the house of
Aragon by a treaty, she could not betray her ally
by yielding to the demands of the King of France.

The ambassadors next turned their steps to Siena.
[The poor little republic, terrified by the honour of

8i

CELEBRATED CRIMES

being considered at all, replied that it was her de-
sire to preserve a strict neutrality, that she was too
weak to declare beforehand either for or against
such mighty rivals, for she would naturally be
obliged to join the stronger party. Furnished with
this reply, which had at least the merit of frank-
ness, the French envoys proceeded to Rome, and
were conducted into the pope's presence, where they
demanded the investiture of the kingdom of
Naples for their king.

Alexander vi replied that, as his predecessors had
granted this investiture to the house of Aragon, he
could not take it away, unless it were first estab-
lished that the house of Anjou had a better claim
than the house that was to be dispossessed. Then
he represented to Perrone dei Baschi that, as Naples
was a fief of the Holy See, to the pope alone the
choice of her soverign properly belonged, and that
in consequence to attack the reigning sovereign was
to attack the Church itself.

The result of the embassy, we see, was not very
promising for Charles viii; so he resolved to rely
on his ally Ludovico Sforza alone, and to relegate all
other questions to the fortunes of war.

A piece of news that reached him about this time
strengthened him in this resolution : this was the
death of Ferdinand. The old king had caught a se-
vere cold and cough on his return from the hunt-

82

THE BORGIAS

ing-field, and in two days he was at his last gasp.
On the 25th of January, 1494, he passed away, at the
age of seventy, after a thirty-six years' reign, leav-
ing the throne to his elder son, Alfonso, who was
immediately chosen as his successor.

Ferdinand never belied his title of " the happy
ruler." His death occurred at the very moment
when the fortune of his family was changing.

The new king, Alfonso, was not a novice in
arms: he had already fought successfully against
Florence and Venice, and had driven the Turks out
of Otranto; besides, he had the name of being as
cunning as his father in the tortuous game of poli-
tics so much in vogue at the Italian courts. He did
not despair oi counting among his allies the very
enemy he was at war with when Charles viii first
put forward his pretensions, we mean Bajazet 11.
So he despatched to Bajazet one of his confidential
ministers, Camillo Pandone, to give the Turkish em-
peror to understand that the expedition to Italy was
to the King of France nothing but a blind for ap-
proaching the scene of Mahomedan conquests, and
that if Charles viii were once at the Adriatic it would
only take him a day or two to get across and at-
tack Macedonia; from there he could easily go by
land to Constantinople. Consequently he suggested
th»,t Bajazet for the maintenance of their common
interests should supply six thousand horse and six

83

CELEBRATED CRIMES

thousand infantry; he himself would furnish their
pay so long as they were in Italy. It was settled
that Pandone should be joined at Tarentum by Gior-
gio Bucciarda, Alexander vi's envoy, who was com-
missioned by the pope to engage the Turks to help
him against the Christians. But while he was wait-
ing for Bajazet's reply, which might involve a delay
of several months, Alfonso requested that a meeting
might take place between Piero dei Medici, the pope,
and himself, to take counsel together about impor-
tant affairs. This meeting was arranged at Vico-
varo, near Tivoli, and the three interested parties
duly met on the appointed day.

The intention of Alfonso, who before leaving
Naples had settled the disposition of his naval
forces, and given his brother Frederic the command
of a fleet that consisted of thirty-six galleys, eighteen
large and twelve small vessels, with injunctions to
wait at Livorno and keep a watch on the fleet Charles
VIII was getting ready at the port of Genoa, was
above all things to check with the aid of his allies
the progress of operations on land. Without count-
ing the contingent he expected his allies to furnish,
he had at his immediate disposal a hundred squad-
rons of heavy cavalry, twenty men in each, and
three thousand bowmen and light horse. He pro-
posed, therefore, to advance at once into Lombardy,
to get up a revolution in favour of his nephew

84

I

THE BORGIAS

Galeazzo, and to drive Ludovico Sforza out of Milan
before he could get help from France; so that
Charles viii, at the very time of crossing the Alps,
would find an enemy to fight instead of a friend who
had promised him a safe passage, men, and money.

This was the scheme of a great politician and a
bold commander ; but as everybody had come in pur-
suit of his own interests, regardless of the common
good, this plan was very coldly received by Piero
dei Medici, who was afraid lest in the war he should
play only the same poor part he had been threatened
with in the affair of the embassy; by Alexander vi
it was rejected, because he reckoned on employing
the troops of Alfonso on his own account. He re-
minded the King of Naples of one of the condi-
tions of the investiture he had promised him, viz.
that he should drive out the Cardinal Giuliano della
Rovere from the town of Ostia, and give up the town
to him, according to the stipulation already agreed
upon. Besides, the advantages that had accrued to
Virginio Orsini, Alexander's favourite, from his
embassy to Naples had brought upon him the ill-will
of Prospero and Fabrizio Colonna, who owned near-
ly all the villages round about Rome. Now the pope
could not endure to live in the midst of such power-
ful enemies, and the most important matter was to
deliver him from all of them, seeing that it was really
of moment that he should be at peace who was the

85

CELEBRATED CRIMES

head and soul of the league whereof the others were
only the body and limbs.

Although Alfonso had clearly seen through the
motives of Piero's coldness, and Alexander had not
even given him the trouble of seeking his, he was
none the less obliged to bow to the will of his allies,
leaving the one to defend the Apennines against the
French, and helping the other to shake himself free
of his neighbours in the Romagna. Consequently he
pressed on the siege of Ostia, and added to Vir-
ginio's forces, which already amounted to two hun-
dred men of the papal army, a body of his own
light horse ; this little army was to be stationed round
about Rome, and was to enforce obedience from the
Colonnas. The rest of his troops Alfonso divided
into two parties: one he left in the hands of his son
Ferdinand, with orders to scour the Romagna and
worry the petty princes into levying and supporting
the contingent they had promised, while with the
other he himself defended the defiles of the Abruzzi.

On the 23rd of April, at three o'clock in the morn-
ing, Alexander vi was freed from the first and
fiercest of his foes; GiuHano della Rovere, seeing
the impossibility of holding out any longer against
Alfonso's troops, embarked on a brigantine which
was to carry him to Savona.

From that day forward Virginio Orsini began
that famous partisan warfare which reduced the

86

THE BORGIAS

country about Rome to the most pathetic desolation
the world has ever seen. During all this time
Charles viii was at Lyons, not only uncertain as to
the route he ought to take for getting into Italy,
but even beginning to reflect a little on the chances
and risks of such an expedition. He had found no
sympathy anywhere except with Ludovico Sforza;
so it appeared not unlikely that he would have to
fight not the kingdom of Naples alone, but the whole
of Italy to boot. In his preparations for war he had
spent almost all the money at his disposal ; the Lady
of Beaujeu and the Duke of Bourbon both con-
demned his enterprise ; Brigonnet, who had advised it,
did not venture to support it now ; at last Charles, more
irresolute than ever, had recalled several regiments
that had actually started, when Cardinal Giuliano
della Rovere, driven out of Italy by the pope, arrived
at Lyons, and presented himself before the king.
The cardinal, full of hatred, full of hope, hastened
to Charles, and found him on the point of abandon-
ing that enterprise on which, as Alexander's enemy,
della Rovere rested his whole expectation of ven-
geance. He informed Charles of the quarrelling
among his enemies ; he showed him that each of them
was seeking his own ends — Piero dei Medici the
gratification of his pride, the pope the aggrandise-
ment of his house. He pointed out that armed fleets
were in the ports of Villefranche, Marseilles, and

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Genoa, and that these armaments would be lost; he
reminded him that he had sent Pierre d'Urfe, his
grand equerry, on in advance, to have splendid ac-
commodation prepared in the Spinola and Doria pal-
aces. Lastly, he urged that ridicule and disgrace
would fall on him from every side if he renounced
an enterprise so loudly vaunted beforehand, for
whose successful execution, moreover, he had been
obliged to sign three treaties of peace that were all
vexatious enough, viz. with Henry vii, with Alaxi-
milian, and with Ferdinand the Catholic. Giuliano
della Rovere had exercised true insight in probing
the vanity of the young king, and Charles viii did
not hesitate for a single moment. He ordered his
cousin, the Duke of Orleans (who later on became
Louis XII ), to take command of the French fleet
and bring it to Genoa; he despatched a courier to
Antoine de Bessay, Baron de Tricastel, bidding
him take to Asti the 2000 Swiss foot-soldiers he
had levied in the cantons; lastly, he started himself
from Vienne, in Dauphine, on the 23rd of August,
1494, crossed the Alps by Mont Genevre, without
encountering a single body of troops to dispute his
passage, descended into Piedmont and Monferrato,
both just then governed by women regents, the
sovereigns of both principalities being children,
Charles John Aime and William John, aged respect-
ively six and eight.

88

THE BORGIAS

The two regents appeared before Charles viii, one
at Turin, one at Casale, each at the head of a nu-
merous and brilliant court, and both glittering with
jewels and precious stones. Charles, although he
quite well knew that for all these friendly demonstra-
tions they were both bound by treaty to his enemy,
Alfonso of Naples, treated them all the same with
the greatest politeness, and when they made protes-
tations of friendship, asked them to let him have a
proof of it, suggesting that they should lend him
the diamonds they were covered with. The two re-
gents could do no less than obey the invitation which
was really a command. They took off necklaces,
rings, and earrings. Charles viii gave them a re-
ceipt accurately drawn up, and pledged the jewels
for 24,000 ducats. Then, enriched by this money,
he resumed his journey and made his way towards
Asti. The Duke of Orleans held the sovereignty
of Asti, as we said before, and hither came to meet
Charles both Ludovico Sforza and his father-in-law,
Hercules d'Este, Duke of Ferrara. They brought
with them not only the promised troops and money,
but also a court composed of the loveliest women in
Italy.

The balls, fetes, and tourneys began with a mag-
nificence surpassing anything that Italy had ever
seen before. But suddenly they were interrupted
by the king's illness. This was die first example

89

CELEBRATED CRIMES

in Italy of the disease brought by Christopher Co-
lumbus from the New World, and was called by Ital-
ians the French, by Frenchmen the Italian disease.
The probability is that some of Columbus's crew who
were at Genoa or thereabouts had already brought
over this strange and cruel complaint that counter-
balanced the gains of the American gold-mines.

The king's indisposition, however, did not prove
so grave as was at first supposed. He was cured
by the end of a few weeks, and proceeded on his
way towards Pavia, where the young Duke John
Galeazzo lay dying. He and the King of France
were first cousins, sons of two sisters of the house
of Savoy. So Charles viii was obliged to see him,
and went to visit him in the castle where he lived
more like prisoner than lord. He found him half
reclining on a couch, pale and emaciated, some said
in consequence of luxurious living, others from the
effects of a slow but deadly poison. But whether
or not the poor young man was desirous of pouring
out a complaint to Charles, he did not dare say a
word ; for his uncle, Ludovico Sforza, never left the
King of France for an instant. But at the very mo-
ment when Charles viii was getting up to go, the
door opened, and a young woman appeared and
threw herself at the king's feet; she was the wife of
the unlucky John Galeazzo, and came to entreat his
cousin to do nothing against her father Alfonso,

90

p

THE BORGIAS

nor against her brother Ferdinand. At sight of her,
Sforza scowled with an anxious and threatening as-
pect, for he knew not what impression might be
produced on his ally by this scene. But he was soon
reassured; for Charles replied that he had advanced
too far to draw back now, and that the glory of his
name was at stake as well as the interests of his
kingdom, and that these two motives were far too
important to be sacrificed to any sentiment of pity
he might feel, however real and deep it might be and
was. The poor young woman, who had based her
last hope on this appeal, then rose from her knees
and threw herself sobbing into her husband's arms.
Charles viii and Ludovico Sforza took their leave:
John Galeazzo was doomed.

Two days after, Charles viii left for Florence, ac-
companied by his ally ; but scarcely had they reached
Parma when a messenger caught them up, and an-
nounced to Ludovico that his nephew was just dead :
Ludovico at once begged Charles to excuse his leav-
ing* him to finish the journey alone; the interests
which called him back to Milan were so important,
he said, that he could not under the circumstances
stay away a single day longer. As a fact he had to
make sure of succeeding the man he had assas-
sinated.

But Charles viii continued his road not without
some uneasiness. The sight of the young prince on

91

CELEBRATED CRIMES

his deathbed had moved him deeply, for at the bot-
tom of his heart he was convinced that Ludovico
Sforza was his murderer; and a murderer might
very well be a traitor. He was going forward
into an unfamiHar country, with a declared en-
emy in front of him and a doubtful friend behind:
he was now at the entrance to the mountains, and as
his army had no store of provisions and only lived
from hand to mouth, a forced delay, however short,
would mean famine. In front of him was Fiviz-
zano, nothing, it iz true, but a village surrounded by
walls, but beyond Fivizzano lay Sarzano and Pietra
Santa, both of them considered impregnable fort-
resses; worse than this, they were coming into a
part of the country that was especially unhealthy
in October, had no natural product except oil, and
even procured its own com from neighbouring prov-
inces; it was plain that a whole anny might perish
there in a few days either from scarcity of food or
from the unwholesome air, both of which were more
disastrous than the impediments offered at every
step by the nature of the ground. The situation was
grave; but the pride of Piero dei Medici came once
more to the rescue of the fortunes of Charles viii.

92

CHAPTER V

PIERO DEI MEDICI had, as we may remem-
ber, undertaken to hold the entrance to Tus-
cany against the French ; when, however, he saw his
enemy coming down from the Alps, he felt less con-
fident about his own strength, and demanded help
from the pope ; but scarcely had the rumour of for-
eign invasion began to spread in the Romagna, than
the Colonna family declared themselves the French
king's men, and collecting all their forces seized
Ostia, and there awaited the coming of the French
fleet to offer a passage through Rome. The pope,
therefore, instead of sending troops to Florence, was
obliged to recall all his soldiers to be near the capi-
tal; the only promise he made to Piero was that
if Bajazet should send him the troops that he had
been asking for, he would despatch that army for
him to make use of. Piero dei Medici had not
yet taken any resolution or formed any plan, when
he suddenly heard two startling pieces of news. A
jealous neighbour of his, the Marquis of Torderi-
ovo, had betrayed to the French the weak side of
Fivizzano, so that they had taken it by storm, and
had put its soldiers and inhabitants to the edge of

93

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the sword ; on another side, Gilbert of Montpensier,
who had been hghting up the sea-coast so as to keep
open the communications between the French army
and their fleet, had met with a detachment sent by
Paolo Orsini to Sarzano, to reinforce the garrison
there, and after an hour's fighting had cut it to
pieces. No quarter had been granted to any of
the prisoners ; every man the French could get hold
of they had massacred.

This was the first occasion on which the Italians,
accustomed as they were to the chivalrous contests
of the fifteenth century, found themselves in contact
with savage foreigners, who, less advanced in civili-
sation, had not yet come to consider war as a clever
game, but looked upon it as simply a mortal conflict.
So the news of these two butclieries produced a tre-
mendous sensation at Florence, the richest city in
Italy, and the most prosperous in commerce and in
art. Every Florentine imagined the French to be
like an army of those ancient barbarians who were
wont to extinguish fire with blood. The prophecies
of Savonarola, who had predicted the foreign inva-
sion and the destruction that should follow it, were
recalled to the minds of all ; and so much perturba-
tion was evinced that Piero dei Medici, bent on get-
ting peace at any price, forced a decree upon the re-
public whereby she was to send an embassy to the
conqueror ; and obtained leave, resolved as he was to

94

THEBORGIAS

deliver himself in person into the hands of the
French monarch, to act as one of the ambassadors.
He accordingly quitted Florence, accompanied by-
four other messengers, and on his arrival at Pietra
Santa, sent to ask from Charles viii a safe-conduct
for himself alone. The day after he made this re-
quest, Brigonnet and de Piennes came to fetch him,
and led him into the presence of Charles viii.

Piero dei Medici, in spite of his name and influ-
ence, was in the eyes of the French nobility, who- con-
sidered it a dishonourable thing to concern oneself
with art or industry, nothing more than a rich mer-
chant, with whom it would be absurd to stand upon
any very strict ceremony. So Charles viii received
him on horseback, and addressing him with a haugh-
ty air, as a master might address a servant, demand-
ed whence came this pride of his that made him
dispute his entrance into Tuscany. Piero dei Medici
replied that, with the actual consent of Louis xi, his
father Lorenzo had concluded a treaty of alliance
with Ferdinand of Naples; that accordingly he had
acted in obedience to prior obligations, but as he
did not wish to push too far his devotion to the
house of Aragon or his opposition to France, he was
ready to do whatever Charles viii might demand of
him. The king, who had never looked for such hu-
mility in his enemy, demanded that Sarzano should
be given up to him: to this Piero dei Medici at

95

CELEBRATED CRIMES

once consented. Then the conqueror, wishing- to see
how far the ambassador of the magnificent republic
would extend his politeness, replied that this con-
cession was far from satisfying him, and that he
still must have the keys of Pietra Santa, Pisa, Libra-
fatta, and Livorno. Piero saw no more difficulty
about these than about Sarzano, and consented on
Charles's mere promise by word of mouth to re-
store the town when he had achieved the conquest
of Naples. At last Charles viii, seeing that this
man who had been sent out to negotiate with him
was very easy to manage, exacted as a final condi-
tion, a sme qua non, however, of his royal protec-
tion, that the magnificent republic should lend him
the sum of 200,000 florins. Piero found it no hard-
er to dispose of money than of fortresses, and re-
plied that his fellow-citizens would be happy to ren-
der this service to their new ally. Then Charles viii
set him on horseback, and ordered him to go on in
front, so as to begin to carry out his promises by
yielding up the four fortresses he had insisted on
having. Piero obeyed, and the French army, led by
the grandson of Cosimo the Great and the son of
Lorenzo the Magnificent, continued its triumphal
march through Tuscany.

On his arrival at Lucca, Piero dei Medici learnt
that his concessions to the King of France were
making a terrible commotion at Florence. The mag-

96

^ Pope Alessandro A'l— Portrait taken from the fresco in the
Appartemente Borji:ia " in the Vatican, being part of the Resur-
rection ])ainted by Pinturricchio. The apartments were closed up
l\y Juhus II, the implacable enemy of Alexander, and were not
o))ened for hundreds of years until the reign of His Holiness,

THE BORGIAS

nificent republic had supposed that what Charles viii
wanted was simply a passage through her territory,
so when the news came there was a general feeling
of discontent, which was augmented by the return
of the other ambassadors, whom Piero had not even
consulted when he took action as he did. Piero con-
sidered it necessary that he should return, so he
asked Charles's permission to precede him to the
capital. As he had fulfilled all his promises, except
the matter of the loan, which could not be settled
anywhere but at Florence, the king saw no objec-
tion, and the very evening after he quitted the
French army Piero returned incognito tO' his palace
in the Via Larga.

The next day he proposed to present himself be-
fore the Signoria, but when he arrived at the Piazza
del Palazzo Vecchio, he perceived the gonfaloniere
Jacopo de Nerli coming towards him, signalling to
him that it was useless to attempt to go farther, and
pointing out to him the figure of Luca Corsini
standing at the gate, sword in hand : behind him
stood guards, ordered, if need were, to dispute his
passage. Piero dei Medici, amazed by an opposition
that he was experiencing for the first time in his
life, did not attempt resistance. He went home, and
wrote to his brother-in-law, Paolo Orsini, to come
and help him with his gendarmes. Unluckily for
him, his letter was intercepted. The Signoria con-
Dumas— Vol. 1 — i 97

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sidered that it was an attempt at rebellion. They
summoned the citizens to their aid ; they armed has-
tily, sallied forth in crowds, and thronged about the
piazza of the palace. Meanwhile Cardinal Gian dei
Medici had mounted on horseback, and under the
impression that the Orsini were coming to the res-
cue, was riding about the streets of Florence, ac-
companied by his servants and uttering his battle-
cry, " Palle, Palle." But times had changed : there
was no echo to the cry, and when the cardinal reach-
ed the Via dei Calizaioli, a threatening murmur was
the only response, and he understood that instead of
trying to arouse Florence he had much better get
away before the excitement ran too high. He
promptly retired to his own palace, expecting to find
there his two brothers, Piero and Giuliano. But
they, under the protection of Orsini and his gen-
darmes, had made their escape by the Porto San
Gallo, The peril was imminent, and Gian dei
Medici wished to follow their example; but wher-
ever he went he was met by a clamour that grew
more and more threatening. At last, as he saw that
the danger was constantly increasing, he dismounted
from his horse and ran into a house that he found
standing open. This house by a lucky chance com-
municated with a convent of Franciscans; one of
the friars lent the fugitive his dress, and the car-
dinal, under the protection of this humble incognito,

98

THE BORGIAS

contrived at last to get outside Florence, and Joined
his two brothers in the Apennines.

The same day the Medici were declared traitors
and rebels, and ambassadors were sent to the King
of France. They found him at Pisa, where he was
granting independence to the town which eighty-
seven years ago had fallen under the rule of the
Florentines. Charles viii made no reply to the en-
voys, but merely announced that he was going to
march on Florence.

Such a reply, one may easily understand, terrified
the republic. Florence had no time to prepare a de-
fence, and no strength in her present state to make
one. But all the powerful houses assembled and
armed their own servants and retainers, and awaited
the issue, intending not to begin hostilities, but to
defend themselves should the French make an at-
tack. It was agreed that if any necessity should
arise for taking up arms, the bells of the various
churches in the town should ring a peal and so serve
as a general signal. Such a resolution was perhaps
of more significant moment in Florence than it could
have been in any other town. For the palaces that
still remain from that period are virtually fortresses
and the eternal fights between Guelphs and Ghibel-
lines had familiarised the Tuscan people with street
warfare.

The king appeared, on the 17th of November, in

99

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the evening, at the gate of San Friano. He found
there the nobles of Florence clad in their most mag-
nificent apparel, accompanied by priests chanting
hymns, and by a mob who were full of joy at any
prospect of change, and hoped for a return of lib-
erty after the fall of the Medici. Charles viii stop-
ped for a moment under a sort of gilded canopy that
had been prepared for him, and replied in a few
evasive words to the welcoming speeches which were
addressed to him by the Signoria ; then he asked
for his lance, he set it in rest, and gave the order to
enter the town, the whole of which he paraded with
his army following him with arms erect, and then
went down to the palace of the Medici, which had
been prepared for him.

The next day negotiations commenced ; but every-
one was out of his reckoning. The Florentines had
received Charles viii as a guest, but he had entered
the city as a conqueror. So when the deputies of
the Signoria spoke of ratifying the treaty of Piero
dei Medici, the king replied that such a treaty no
longer existed, as they had banished the man who
made it; that he had conquered Florence, as he
proved the night before, when he entered lance in
hand; that he should retain the sovereignty, and
would make any further decision whenever it
pleased him to do so; further, he would let them
know later on whether he would reinstate the Medici

ICO

THE BORGI AS

or whether he would delegate his authority to the
Signoria : all they had to do was to come back the
next day, and he would give them his ultimatum in
writing.

This reply threw Florence into a great state of
consternation; but the Florentines were confirmed
in their resolution of making a stand. Charles, for
his part, had been astonished by the great number of
the inhabitants; not only was every street he had
passed through thickly lined with people, but every
house from garret to basement seemed overflowing
with human beings. Florence indeed, thanks to her
rapid increase in population, could muster nearly
150,000 souls.

The next day, at the appointed hour, the deputies
made their appearance to meet the king. They were
again introduced into his presence, and the discus-
sion was reopened. At last, as they were coming
to no sort of understanding, the royal secretary,
standing at the foot of the throne upon which
Charles viii sat with covered head, unfolded a paper
and began to read, article by article, the conditions
imposed by the King of France. But scarcely had
he read a third of the document when the discus-
sion began more hotly than ever before. Then
Charles viii said that thus it should be, or he would
order his trumpets to be sounded. Hereupon Piero
Capponi, secretary to the republic, commonly called

lOI

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the Scipio of Florence, snatched from the royal sec-
retary's hand the shameful proposal of capitulation,
and tearing it to pieces, exclaimed —

" Very good, sire ; blow your trumpets, and we
will ring our bells."

He threw the pieces in the face of the amazed
reader, and dashed out of the room to give the ter-
rible order that would convert the street of Florence
into a battlefield.

Still, against all probabilities, this bold answer
saved the town. The French supposed, from such
audacious words, addressed as they were to men who
so far had encountered no single obstacle, that the
Florentines were possessed of sure resources, to them
unknown: the few prudent men who retained any
influence over the king advised him accordingly to
abate his pretensions; the result was that Charles
VIII offered new and more reasonable conditions,
which were accepted, signed by both parties, and
proclaimed on the 26th of November during mass in
the cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore.

These were the conditions: —

The Signoria were to pay to Charles viii, as sub-
sidy, the sum of 120,000 florins, in three instal-
ments ;

The Signoria were to remove the sequestration
imposed upon the property of the Medici, and to re-
call the decree that set a price on their heads;

102

THE BORGIAS

The SIgnoria were to engage to pardon the Pi-
sans, on condition of their again submitting to the
rule of Florence;

Lastly, the Signoria were to recognise the claims
of the Duke of Milan over Sarzano and Pietra San-
ta, and these claims thus recognised, were to be set-
tled by arbitration.

In exchange for this, the King of France pledged
himself to restore the fortresses that had been given
up to him, either after he had made himself master
of the town of Naples, or when this war should be
ended by a peace or a two years' truce, or else when,
for any reason whatsoever, he should have quitted
Italy.

Two days after this proclamation, Charles viii,
much to the joy of the Signoria, left Florence, and
advanced towards Rome by the route of Poggibondi
and Siena.

The pope began to be affected by the general ter-
ror: he had heard of the massacres of Fivizzano, of
Lunigiane, and of Imola; he knew that Piero dei
Medici had handed over the Tuscan fortresses, that
Florence had succumbed, and that Catherine Sforza
had made terms with the conqueror; he saw the
broken remnants of the Neapolitan troops pass dis-
heartened through Rome, to rally their strength in
the Abruzzi, and thus he found himself exposed to
an enemy who was advancing upon him with the

103

CELEBRATED CRIMES

whole of the Romagna under his control from one
sea to the other, in a hne of march extending from
Piombino to Ancona,

It was at this juncture that Alexander vi received
his answer from Bajazet ii : the reason of so long
a delay was that the pope's envoy and the Neapoli-
tan ambassador had been stopped by Gian della
Rovere, the Cardinal Giuliano's brother, just as they
were disembarking at Sinigaglia. They were
charged with a verbal answer, which was that the
sultan at this moment was busied with a triple war,
first with the Sultan of Egypt, secondly with the
King of Hungary, and thirdly with the Greeks of
Macedonia and Epirus; and therefore he could not,
with all the will in the world, help His Holiness with
armed men. But the envoys were accompanied by
a favourite of the sultan's bearing a private letter to
Alexander vi^ in which Bajazet offered on certain
conditions to help him with money. Although, as
we see, the messengers had been stopped on the way,
the Turkish envoy had all the same found a means
of getting his despatch sent to the pope : we give it
here in all its naivete.

" Bajazet the Sultan, son of the Sultan Mahomet
II, by the grace of God Emperor of Asia and Eu-
rope, to the Father and Lord of all the Christians,
Alexander vi, Roman pontiff and pope by the will
of heavenly Providence, first, greetings that we owe

104

THE BORGIAS

him and bestow with all our heart. We make known
to your Highness, by the envoy of your Mightiness,
Giorgio Bucciarda, that we have been apprised of
your convalescence, and received the news thereof
with great joy and comfort. Among other matters,
the said Bucciarda has brought us word that the
King of France, now marching against your High-
ness, has shown a desire to take under his protection
our brother D'jem, who is now under yours — a
thing which is not only against our will, but which
would also be the cause of great injury to your
Highness and to all Christendom. In turning the
matter over with your envoy Giorgio, we have de-
vised a scheme most conducive to peace and most
advantageous and honourable for your Highness ; at
the same time satisfactory to ourselves personally;
it would be well if our aforesaid brother D'jem, who
being a man is liable to death, and who is now in
the hands of your Highness, should quit this world
as soon as possible, seeing that his departure, a real
good to him in his position, would be of great use
to your Highness, and very conducive to your peace,
while at the same time it would be very agreeable
to us, your friend. H this proposition is favourably
received, as we hope, by your Highness, in your
desire to be friendly towards us, it would be ad-
visable both in the interests of your Highness and
for our own satisfaction that it should occur rather

105

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sooner than later, and by the surest means you might
be pleased to employ; so that our said brother D'jem
might pass from the pains of this world into a bet-
ter and more peaceful life, where at last he may
find repose. If your Highness should adopt this
plan and send us the body of our brother, we, the
above-named Sultan Bajazet, pledge ourselves to
send to your Highness, wheresoever and by whatso-
ever hands you please, the sum of 300,000 ducats,
with which sum you could purchase some fair do-
main for your children. In order to facilitate this
purchase, we would be willing, while awaiting the
issue, to place the 300,000 ducats in the hands of a
third party, so that your Highness might be quite
certain of receiving the money on an appointed day,
in return for the despatch of our brother's body.
Moreover, we promise your Highness herewith, for
your greater satisfaction, that never, so long as you
shall remain on the pontifical throne, shall there be
any hurt done to the Christians, neither by us, nor
by our servants, nor by any of our compatriots, of
whatsoever kind or condition they may be, neither
on sea nor on land. And for the still further sat-
isfaction of your Highness, and in order that no
doubt whatever may remain concerning the fulfil-
ment of our promises, we have sworn and affirmed
in the presence of Bucciarda, your envoy, by the true
God whom we adore and by our holy Gospels, that

106

THE BORGI AS

they shall be faithfully kept from the first point unto
the last. And now for the final and complete as-
surance of your Highness, in order that no doubt
may still remain in your heart, and that you may
be once again and profoundly convinced of our good
faith, we the aforesaid Sultan Bajazet do swear by
the true God, who has created the heavens and the
earth and all that therein is, that we will religiously
observe all that has been above said and declared, and
in the future will do nothing and undertake nothing
that may be contrary to the interests of your High-
ness.

"Given at Constantinople, in our palace, on the
I2th of September a.d. 1494."

This letter was the cause of great joy to the Holy
Father: the aid of four or five thousand Turks
would be insufficient under the present circum-
stances, and would only serve to compromise the
head of Christendom, while the sum of 300,000 duc-
ats— that is, nearly a million francs — was good to
get in any sort of circumstances. It is true that, so
long as D'jem lived, Alexander was drawing an in-
come of 180,000 livres, which as a life annuity rep-
resented a capital of nearly two millions; but when
one needs ready money, one ought to be able to
make a sacrifice in the way of discount. All the same,
Alexander formed no definite plan, resolved on act-
ing as circumstances should indicate.

107

CELEBRATED CRIMES

But it was a more pressing business to decide how
he should behave to the King of France : he had
never anticipated the success of the French in Italy,
and we have seen that he laid all the foundations of
his family's future grandeur upon his alliance with
the house of Aragon. But here was this house tot-
tering, and a volcano more terrible than her own
Vesuvius was threatening to swallow up Naples.
He must therefore change his policy, and attach
himself to the victor, — no easy matter, for Charles
VIII was bitterly annoyed with the pope for hav-
ing refused him the investiture and given it to
Aragon.

In consequence, he sent Cardinal Francesco Picco-
lomini as an envoy to the king. This choice looked
like a mistake at first, seeing that the ambassador
was a nephew of Pius ii, who had vigorously op-
posed the house of Anjou ; but Alexander in acting
thus had a second design, which could not be dis-
cerned by those around him. In fact, he had di-
vined that Charles would not be quick to receive
his envoy, and that, in the parleyings to which his
unwillingness must give rise, Piccolomini would
necessarily be brought into contact with the young
king's advisers. Now, besides his ostensible mis-
sion to the king, Piccolomini had also secret in-
structions for the more influential among his coun-
sellors. These were Brigonnet and Philippe de Lux-

io8

THE BORGIAS

embourg; and Piccolomini was authorised to
promise a cardinal's hat tO' each of them. The re-
sult was just what Alexander had foreseen : his
envoy could not gain admission to Charles, and was
obliged tO' confer with the people about him. This
was what the pope wished. Piccolomini returned to
Rome with the king's refusal, but with a promise
from Brigonnet and Philippe de Luxembourg that
they would use all their influence with Charles in
favour of the Holy Father, and prepare him to re-
ceive a fresh embassy.

But the French all this time were advancing, and
never stopped more than forty-eight hours in any
town, so that it became more and more urgent to
get something settled with Charles. The king had
entered Siena and Viterbo without striking a blow ;
Yves d'AIegre and Louis de Ligny had taken over
Ostia from the hands of the Colonnas; Civita Vec-
chia and Corneto had opened their gates; the Or-
sini had submitted; even Gian Sforza, the pope's
son-in-law, had retired from the alliance with Ara-
gon. Alexander accordingly judged that the mo-
ment had come to abandon his ally, and sent to
Charles the Bishops of Concordia and Terni, and
his confessor, Monsignore Graziano. They were
charged to renew to Brigonnet and Philippe de Lux-
embourg the promise of the cardinalship, and had
full powers of negotiation in the name of their mas-

109

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ter, both in case Charles should wish to include Al-
fonso II in the treaty, and in case he should refuse
to sign an agreement with any other but the pope
alone. They found the mind of Charles influenced
now by the insinuation of Giuliano della Rovere,
who, himself a witness of the pope's simony,
pressed the king to summon a council and depose
the head of the Church, and now by the secret sup-
port given him by the Bishops of Mans and St.
Malo. The end of it was that the king decided to
form his own opinion about the matter and settle
nothing beforehand, and continued this route, send-
ing the ambassadors back to the pope, with the addi-
tion of the Marechal de Gie, the Seneschal de Beau-
caire, and Jean de Gannay, first president of the
Paris Parliament. They were ordered to say to the
pope —

(i) That the king wished above all things to be
admitted into Rome without resistance; that, on
condition of a voluntary, frank, and loyal admission,
he would respect the authority of the Holy Father
and the privileges of the Church ;

(2) That the king desired that D'jem should
be given up to him, in order that he might make
use of him against the sultan when he should carry
the war into Macedonia or Turkey or the Holy
Land;

(3) That the remaining conditions were so unim-

iio

THE BORGIAS

portant that they could be brought forward at the
first conference.

The ambassadors added that the French army
was now only two days distant from Rome, and that
in the evening of the day after next Charles would
probably arrive in person to demand an answer from
His Holiness.

It was useless to think of parleying with a prince
who acted in such expeditious fashion as this. Alex-
ander accordingly warned Ferdinand to quit Rome
as soon as possible, in the interests of his own per-
sonal safety. But Ferdinand refused to listen to a
word, and declared that he would not go out at one
gate while Charles viii came in at another. His so-
journ was not long. Two days later, about eleven
o'clock in the morning, a sentinel placed on a watch-
tower at the top of the Castle S. Angelo, whither
the pope had retired, cried out that the vanguard
of the enemy was visible on the horizon. At once
Alexander and the Duke of Calabria went up on the
terrace which tops the fortress, and assured them-
selves with their own eyes that what the soldier
said was true. Then, and not till then, did the duke
of Calabria mount on horseback, and, to use his
own words, went out at the gate of San Sebastiano
at the same moment that the French vanguard halt-
ed five hundred feet from the Gate of the People.
This was on the 31st of December 1494.

HI

CELEBRATED CRIMES

At three in the afternoon the whole army had ar-
rived, and the vanguard began their march, drums
beating, ensigns unfurled. It was composed, says
Paolo Giove, an eye-witness (book ii, p. 41 of his
History), of Swiss and German soldiers, with short
tight coats of various colours : they were armed with
short swords, with steel edges like those of the an-
cient Romans, and carried ashen lances ten feet long,
with straight and sharp iron spikes: only one-
fourth of their number bore halberts instead of
lances, the spikes cut into the form of an axe and
surmounted by a four-cornered spike, to be used
both for cutting like an axe and piercing like a bay-
onet : the first row of each battalion wore helmets
and cuirasses which protected the head and chest,
and when the men were drawn up for battle they
presented to the enemy a triple array of iron spikes,
which they could raise or lower like the spines of a
porcupine. To each thousand of the soldiery were
attached a hundred fusiliers: their officers, to dis-
tinguish them from the men, wore lofty plumes on
their helmets.

After the Swiss infantry came the archers of Gas-
cony: there were five thousand of them, wearing
a very simple dress, that contrasted with the rich
costume of the Swiss soldiers, the shortest of whom
would have been a head higher than the tallest of
the Gascons. But they were excellent soldiers, full of

112

THE BORGIAS

courage, very light, and with a special reputation for
quickness in stringing and drawing their iron bows.
Behind them rode the cavalry, the flower of the
French nobility, with their gilded helmets and neck-
bands, their velvet and silk surcoats, their swords
each of which had its own name, their shields each
telling of territorial estates, and their colours each
telling of a lady-love. Besides defensive arms, each
man bore a lance in his hand, like an Italian gen-
darme, with a solid grooved end, and on his saddle-
bow a quantity of weapons, some for cutting and
some for thrusting. Their horses were large and
strong, but they had their tails and ears cropped ac-
cording to the French custom. These horses, unlike
those of the Italian gendarmes, wore no caparisons
of dressed leather, which made them more exposed
to attack. Every knight was followed by three
horses — the first ridden by a page in armour like
his own, the two others by equerries who were called
lateral auxiliaries, because in a fray they fought
to right and left of their chief. This troop was
not only the most magnificent, but the most consid-
erable in the whole army; for as there were 2500
knights, they formed each with their three followers
a total of 10,000 men. Five thousand light horse
rode next, who carried huge wooden bows, and
shot long arrows from a distance like English arch-
ers. They were a great help in battle, for moving

113

CELEBRATED CRIMES

rapidly wherever aid was required, they could fly
in a moment from one wing to another, from the rear
to the van, then when their quivers were empty
could go off at so swift a gallop that neither in-
fantry or heavy cavalry could pursue them. Their
defensive armour consisted of a helmet and half-
cuirass ; some of them carried a short lance as well,
with which to pin their stricken foe to the ground;
they all wore long cloaks adorned with shoulder-
knots, and plates of silver whereon the arms of their
chief were emblazoned.

At last came the young king's escort ; there were
four hundred archers, among whom a hundred Scots
formed a line on each side, while two hundred of the
most illustrious knights marched on foot beside the
prince, carrying heavy arms on their shoulders. In
the midst of this magnificent escort advanced
Charles viii, both he and his horse covered with
splendid armour; on his right and left marched Car-
dinal Ascanio Sforza, the Duke of Milan's brother,
and Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, of whom we
have spoken so often, who was afterwards Pope
Julius II. The Cardinals Colonna and Savelli fol-
lowed immediately after, and behind them came
Prospero and Fabrizio Colonna, and all the Italian
princes and generals who had thrown in their lot
with the conqueror, and were marching intermingled
with the great French lords.

114

THE BORGIAS

For a long time the crowd that had collected to see
all these foreign soldiers go by, a sight sO' new and
strange, listened uneasily to a dull sound which got
nearer and nearer. The earth visibly trembled, the
glass shook in the windows, and behind the king's
escort thirty-six bronze cannons were seen to advance,
bumping along as they lay on their gun-carriages.
These cannons were eight feet in length ; and as their
mouths were large enough to hold a man's head, it
was supposed that each of these terrible machines,
scarcely known as yet to the Italians, weighed nearly
six thousand pounds. After the cannons came cul-
verins sixteen feet long, and then falconets, the
smallest of which shot balls the size of a grenade.
This formidable artillery brought up the rear of the
procession, and formed the hindmost guard of the
French army.

It was six hours since the front guard entered the
town; and as it was now night and for every six
artillery-men there was a torch-bearer, this illumina-
tion gave to the objects around a more gloomy char-
acter than they would have shown in the sunlight.
The young king was to take up his quarters in the
Palazzo di Venezia, and all the artillery was directed
towards the plaza and the neighbouring streets.
The remainder of the army was dispersed about the
town. The same evening, they brought to the king,
less to do honour to him than to assure him of his

115

CELEBRATED CRIMES

safety, the keys of Rome and the keys of the Belve-
dere Garden. Just the same thing had been done
for the Duke of Calabria.

The pope, as we said, had retired to the Castle
S. Angelo with only six cardinals, so from the day
after his arrival the young king had around him a
court of very different brilliance from that of the
head of the Church. Then arose anew the question
of a convocation to prove Alexander's simony and
proceed to depose him ; but the king's chief counsel-
lors, gained over, as we know, pointed out that this
was a bad moment to excite a new schism in the
Church, just when preparations were being made
for war against the infidels. As this was also the
king's private opinion, there was not much trouble in
persuading him, and he made up his mind to treat
with His Holiness.

But the negotiations had scarcely begun when
they had to be broken off ; for the first thing Charles
VIII demanded was the surrender of the Castle S.
Angelo, and as the pope saw in this castle his only
refuge, it was the last thing he chose to give up^
Twice, in his youthful impatience, Charles wanted
to take by force what he could not get by goodwill,
and had his cannons directed towards the Holy
Father's dwelling-place; bu the pope was unmoved
by these demonstrations; and obstinate as he was,
this time it was the French king who gave way.

ii6

THE BORGIAS

This article, therefore, was set aside, and the fol-
lowing conditions were agreed upon : —

That there should be from this day forward be-
tween His Majesty the King of France and the
Holy Father a sincere friendship and a firm alliance ;

Before the completion of the conquest of the
kingdom of Naples, the King of France should oc-
cupy, for the advantage and accommodation of his
army, the fortresses of Civita Vecchia, Terracina,
and Spoleto;

Lastly, the Cardinal Valentino (this was now the
name of Caesar Borgia, after his archbishopric of
Valencia) should accompany the king in the capacity
of apostolic ambassador, really as a hostage.

These conditions fixed, the ceremonial of an inter-
view was arranged. The king left the Palazzo di
Venezia and went to live in the Vatican. At the
appointed time he entered by the door of a garden
that adjoined the palace, while the pope, who had
not had to quit the Castle S. Angelo, thanks to a
corridor communicating between the two palaces,
came down into the same garden by another gate.
The result of this arrangement was that the king
the next moment perceived the pope, and knelt down,
but the pope pretended not tO' see him, and the king
advancing a few paces, knelt a second time; as His
Holiness was at that moment screened by some
masonry, this supplied him with another excuse, and

117

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the king went on with the performance, got up
again, once more advanced several steps, and was on
the point of kneeling down the third time face to
face, when the Holy Father at last perceived him,
and, walking towards him as though he would
prevent him from kneeling, took off his own hat,
and pressing him to his heart, raised him up and
tenderly kissed his forehead, refusing to cover until
the king had put his cap upon his head, with the aid
of the pope's own hands. Then, after they had stood
for a moment, exchanging polite and friendly
speeches, the king lost no time in praying His Holi-
ness to be so good as to receive into the Sacred
College William Brigonnet, the Bishop of St. Malo.
As this matter had been agreed upon beforehand by
that prelate and His Holiness, though the king was
not aware of it, Alexander was pleased to get credit
by promptly granting the request ; and he instantly
ordered one of his attendants to go to the house
of his son, Cardinal Valentino, and fetch a cape and
hat. Then taking the king by the hand, he conducted
him into the hall of Papagalli, where the ceremony
was to take place of the admission of the new cardi-
nal. The solemn oath of obedience which was to be
taken by Charles to His Holiness as supreme head
of the Christian Church was postponed till the fol-
lowing day.

When that solemn day arrived, every person im-
n8

THE BORGIAS

portant in Rome, noble,. cleric, or soldier, assembled
around His Holiness. Charles, on his side, made
his approach to the Vatican with a splendid follow-
ing of princes, prelates, and captains. At the thresh-
old of the palace he found four cardinals who had
arrived before him: two of them placed themselves
one on each side of him, the two others behind him,
and all his retinue following, they traversed a long
line of apartments full of guards and servants, and
at last arrived in the reception-room, where the pope
was seated on his throne, with his son, Csesar Borgia,
behind him. On his arrival at the door, the King of
France began the usual ceremonial, and when he
had gone on from genuflexions to kissing the feet,
the hand, and the forehead, he stood up, while the
first president of the Parliament of Paris, in his turn
stepping forward, said in a loud voice —

" Very Holy Father, behold my king ready to
offer to your Holiness that oath of obedience that
he owes to you; but in France it is customary that
he who offers himself as vassal to his lord shall re-
ceive in exchange therefor such boons as he may
demand. His Majesty, therefore, while he pledges
himself for his own part to behave unto your Holi-
ness with a munificence even greater than that where-
with your Holiness shall behave unto him, is here to
beg urgently that you accord him three favours.
These favours are: first, the confirmation of privi-

119

CELEBRATED CRIMES

leges already granted to the king, to the queen his
wife, and to the dauphin his son; secondly, the in-
vestiture, for himself and his successors, of the king-
dom of Naples; lastly, the surrender to him of the
person of the sultan D'jem, brother of the Turkish
emperor."

At this address the pope was for a moment stupe-
fied; for he did not expect these three demands,
which were moreover made so publicly by Charles
that no manner of refusal was possible. But quickly
recovering his presence of mind, he replied to the
king that he would willingly confirm the privileges
that had been accorded to the house of France by his
predecessors; that he might therefore consider his
first demand granted; that the investiture of the
kingdom was an affair that required deliberation in a
council of cardinals, but he would do all he possibly
could to induce them to accede to the king's desire ;
lastly, he must defer the affair of the sultan's brother
till a time more opportune for discussing it with the
Sacred College, but would venture to say that, as
this surrender could not fail to be for the good of
Christendom, as it was demanded for the purpose of
assuring further the success of a crusade, it would
not be his fault if on this point also the king should
not be satisfied.

At this reply, Charles bowed his head in sign
of satisfaction, and the first president stood up,

120

THE BORGI AS

uncovered, and resumed his discourse as fol-
lows : —

" Very Holy Father, it is an ancient custom among
Christian kings, especially the Most Christian kings
of France, to signify, through their ambassadors, the
respect they feel for the Holy See and the sovereign
pontiffs whom Divine Providence places thereon ; but
the Most Christian king, having felt a desire to visit
the tombs of the holy apostles, has been pleased to
pay this religious debt, which he regards as a sacred
duty, not by ambassadors or by delegates, but in his
own person. This is why. Very Holy Father, His
Majesty the King of France is here to acknowledge
you as the true vicar of Christ, the legitimate suc-
cessor of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and
with promise and vow renders you that filial and
respectful devotion which the kings his predecessors
have been accustomed to promise and vow, devoting
himself and all his strength to the service of your
Holiness and the interests of the Holy See."

The pope arose with a joyful heart; for this oath,
so publicly made, removed all his fears about a coun-
cil; so inclined from this moment to yield to the
King of France anything he might choose to ask, he
took him by his left hand and made him a short and
friendly reply, dubbing him the Church's eldest son.
The ceremony over, they left the hall, the pope al-
ways holding the king's hand in his, and in this way

121

CELEBRATED CRIMES

they walked as far as the room where the sacred
vestments are put off; the pope feigned a wish to
conduct the king to his own apartments, but the king
would not suffer this, and, embracing once more,
they separated, each to retire to his own domicile.

The king remained eight days longer at the Vati-
can, then returned to the Palazzo San Marco. Dur-
ing these eight days all his demands were debated
and settled to his satisfaction. The Bishop of Mans
was made cardinal; the investiture of the kingdom
of Naples was promised to the conqueror; lastly, it
was agreed that on his departure the King of France
should receive from the pope's hand the brother of
the Emperor of Constantinople, for a sum of 120,000
livres. But the pope, desiring to extend to the utmost
the hospitality he had been bestowing, invited D'jem
to dinner on the very day that he was to leave Rome
with his new protector.

When the moment of departure arrived, Charles
mounted his horse in full armour, and with a numer-
ous and brilliant following made his way to the
Vatican; arrived at the door, he dismounted, and
leaving his escort at the Piazza of St. Peter, went up
with a few gentlemen only. He found His Holiness
waiting for him, with Cardinal Valentino on his
right, and on his left D'jem, who, as we said before,
was dining with him, and round the table thirteen
cardinals. The king at once, bending on his knee,

122

THE BORGIAS

demanded the pope's benediction, and stooped to
kiss his feet. But this Alexander would not suffer ;
he took him in his arms, and with the lips of a
father and heart of an enemy, kissed him
tenderly on his forehead. Then the pope introduced
the son of Mahomet ii, who was a fine young man,
with something noble and regal in his air, presenting
in his magnificent oriental costume a great contrast
in its fashion and amplitude to the narrow, severe
cut of the Christian apparel. D'jem advanced to
Charles without humility and without pride, and,
like an emperor's son treating with a king, kissed his
hand and then his shoulder; then, turning towards
the Holy Father, he said in Italian, which he spoke
very well, that he entreated he would recommend him
to the young king, who was prepared to take him un-
der his protection, assuring the pontiff that he should
never have to repent giving him his liberty, and tell-
ing Charles that he hoped he might some day be
proud of him, if after taking Naples he carried out
his intention of going on to Greece. These words
were spoken with so much dignity and at the same
time with such gentleness, that the King of France
loyally and frankly grasped the young sultan's hand,
as though he were his companion-in-arms. Then
Charles took a final farewell of the pope, and went
down to the piazza. There he was awaited by Cardi-
nal Valentino, who was about to accompany him, as

123

CELEBRATED CRIMES

we know, as a hostage, and who had remained behind
to exchange a few words with his father. In a mo-
ment Csesar Borgia appeared, riding on a splendidly
harnessed mule, and behind him were led six mag-
nificent horses, a present from the Holy Father to the
King of France. Charles at once mounted one of
these, to do honour to the gift the pope had just
conferred on him, and leaving Rome with the rest of
his troops, pursued his way towards Marino, where
he arrived the same evening.

He learned there that Alfonso, belying his repu-
tation as a clever politician and great general, had
just embarked with all his treasures in a flotilla of
four galleys, leaving the care of the war and the
management of his kingdom to his son Ferdinand.
Thus everything went well for the triumphant march
of Charles : the gates of towns opened of themselves
at his approach, his enemies fled without waiting for
his coming, and before he had fought a single battle
he had won for himself the surname of Conqueror.

The day after at dawn the army started once more,
and after marching the whole day, stopped in the
evening at Velletri. There the king, who had been
on horseback since the morning, with Cardinal Val-
entino and D'jem, left the former at his lodging,
and taking D'jem with him, went on to his own.
Then Caesar Borgia, who among the army baggage
had twenty very heavy waggons of his own, had

124

THE BORGIAS

one of these opened, took out a splendid cabinet
with the silver necessary for his table, and gave
orders for his snpper to be prepared, as he had done
the night before. Meanwhile, night had come on,
and he shut himself up in a private chamber, where,
stripping off his cardinal's costume, he put on a
groom's dress. Thanks to this disguise, he issued
from the house that had been assigned for his ac-
commodation without being recognised, traversed
the streets, passed through the gates, and gained the
open country. Nearly half a league outside the
town, a servant awaited him with two swift horses.
Caesar, who was an excellent rider, sprang to the
saddle, and he and his companion at full gallop re-
traced the road to Rome, where they arrived at
break of day. Caesar got down at the house of one
Flores, auditor of the rota, where he procured a
fresh horse and suitable clothes; then he flew at
once to his mother, who gave a cry of joy when she
saw him; for so silent and mysterious was the car-
dinal for all the world beside, and even for her,
that he had not said a word of his early return to
Rome. The cry of joy uttered by Rosa Vanozza
when she beheld her son was far more a cry of
vengeance than of love. One evening, while every-
body was at the rejoicings in the Vatican, when
Charles viii and Alexander vi were swearine a
friendship which neither of them felt, and exchang-

125

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ing oaths that were broken beforehand, a mes-
senger from Rosa Vanozza had arrived with a
letter to Csesar, in which she begged him to come
at once to her house in the Via della Longara.
Caesar questioned the messenger, but he only
replied that he could tell him nothing, that
he would learn all he cared to know from his
mother's own lips. So, as soon as he was at lib-
erty, Csesar, in layman's dress and wrapped in
a large cloak, quitted the Vatican and made
his way towards the church of Regina Cceli,
in the neighbourhood of which, it will be re-
membered, was the house where the pope's mistress
lived.

As he approached his mother's house, Caesar be-
gan to observe the signs of strange devastation. The
street was scattered with the wreck of furniture and
strips of precious stuffs. As he arrived at the foot
of the little flight of steps that led to the entrance
gate, he saw that the windows were broken and the
remains of torn curtains were fluttering in front of
them. Not understanding what this disorder could
mean, he rushed into the house and through several
deserted and wrecked apartments. At last, seeing
light in one of the rooms, he went in, and there
found his mother sitting on the remains of a chest
made of ebony all inlaid with ivory and silver.
When she saw Csesar, she rose, pale and dishevelled,

126

THE BORGIAS

and pointing to the desolation around her, ex-
claimed—

" Look, Caesar ; behold the work of your new
friends."

"But what does it mean, mother?" asked the
cardinal. " Whence comes all this disorder? "

" From the serpent," replied Rosa Vanozza,
gnashing her teeth, — " from the serpent you have
warmed in your bosom. He has bitten me, fear-
ing no doubt that his teeth would be broken on
you."

" Who has done this? " cried Caesar. " Tell me,
and, by Heaven, mother, he shall pay, and pay in-
deed!"

" Who ? " replied Rosa. " King Charles viii has
done it, by the hands of his faithful allies, the
Swiss. It was well known that Melchior was away,
and that I was living alone with a few wretched
servants; so they came and broke in the doors, as
though they were taking Rome by storm, and while
Cardinal Valentino was making holiday with their
master, they pillaged his mother's house, loading her
with insults and outrages which no Turks or Sara-
cens could possibly have improved upon."

"Very good, very good, mother," said Caesar;
" be calm ; blood shall wash out disgrace. Consider
a moment; what we have lost is nothing compared
with what we might lose; and my father and I,

127

CELEBRATED CRIMES

you may be quite sure, will give you back more than
they have stolen from you."

" I ask for no promises," cried Rosa; " I ask for
revenge."

" My mother," said the cardinal, " you shall be
avenged, or I will lose the name of son."

Having by these words reassured his mother, he
took her to Lucrezia's palace, which in consequence
of her marriage with Pesaro was unoccupied, and
himself returned to the Vatican, giving orders that
his mother's house should be refurnished more mag-
nificently than before the disaster. These orders
were punctually executed, and it was among her new
luxurious surroundings, but with the same hatred in
her heart, that Csesar on this occasion found his
mother. This feeling prompted her cry of joy when
she saw him once more.

The mother and son exchanged a very few words ;
then Csesar, mounting on horseback, went to the
Vatican, whence as a hostage he had departed two
days before. Alexander, who knew of the flight
beforehand, and not only approved, but as sovereign
pontiff had previously absolved his son of the per-
jury he was about to commit, received him joyfully,
but all the same advised him to lie concealed, as
Charles in all probability would not be slow to re-
claim his hostage.

Indeed, the next day, when the king got up, the
128

THE BORGIAS

absence of Cardinal Valentino was observed, and as
Charles was uneasy at not seeing him, he sent to in-
quire what had prevented his appearance. When the
messenger arrived at the house that Caesar had left
the evening before, he learned that he had gone out
at nine o'clock in the evening and not returned since.
He went back with this news to the king, who at
once suspected that he had fled, and in the first flush
of his anger let the whole army know of his perjury.
The soldiers then remembered the twenty waggons,
so heavily laden, from one of which the cardinal, in
the sight of all, had produced such magnificent gold
and silver plate; and never doubting that the cargo
of the others was equally precious, they fetched them
down and broke them to pieces ; but inside they found
nothing but stones and sand, which proved to the
king that the flight had been planned a long" time
back, and incensed him doubly against the pope. So
without loss of time he despatched to Rome Philippe
de Bresse, afterwards Duke of Savoy, with orders to
intimate to the Holy Father his displeasure at this
conduct. But the pope replied that he knew nothing
whatever about his son's flight, and expressed the
sincerest regret to His Majesty, declaring that
he knew nothing of his whereabouts, but was certain
that he was not in Rome. As a fact, the pope was
speaking the truth this time, for Caesar had gone
with Cardinal Orsino to one of his estates, and was
Dumas— Vol. 1—5 1 29

CELEBRATED CRIMES

temporarily in hiding there. This reply was con-
veyed to Charles by two messengers from the pope,
the Bishops of Nepi and of Sutri, and the people
also sent an ambassador in their own behalf. He was
Monsignore Porcari, dean of the rota, who was
charged to communicate to the king the displeasure
of the Romans when they learned of the cardinal's
breach of faith. Little as Charles was disposed to
content himself with empty words, he had to turn
his attention to more serious affairs; so he continued
his march to Naples without stopping, arriving there
on Sunday, the 22nd of February, 1495.

Four days later, the unlucky D'jem, who had
fallen sick at Capua, died at Castel Nuovo. When
he was leaving, at the farewell banquet, Alexander
had tried on his guest the poison he intended to use
so often later on upon his cardinals, and whose effects
he was destined to feel himself, — such is poetical
justice. In this way the pope had secured a double
haul ; for, in his twofold speculation in this wretched
young man, he had sold him alive to Charles for
120,000 livres, and sold him dead to Bajazet for
300,000 ducats.

But there was a certain delay about the second
payment ; for the Turkish emperor, as we remember,
was not bound to pay the price of fratricide till he
receh^ed the corpse, and by Charles's order the corpse
had been buried at Gaeta.

130

THE BORGI AS

When Caesar Borgia learned the news, he rightly
supposed that the king would be so busy settling him-
self in his new capital that he would have too much
to think of to be worrying about him; so he went to
Rome again, and, anxious to keep his promise to his
mother, he signalised his return by a terrible ven-
geance.

Cardinal Valentino had in his service a certain
Spaniard whom he had made the chief of his
bravoes ; he was a man of five-and-thirty or forty,
whose whole life had been one long rebellion against
society's laws; he recoiled from no action, provided
only he could get his price. This Don Michele Cor-
reglia, who earned his celebrity for bloody deeds
under the name of Michelotto, was just the man
Caesar wanted; and whereas Michelotto felt an un-
bounded admiration for Caesar, Caesar had unlimited
confidence in Michelotto. It was to him the cardinal
entrusted the execution of one part of his vengeance ;
the other he kept for himself.

Don Michele received orders to scour the Cam-
pagna and cut every French throat he could find.
He began his work at once; and very few days
elapsed before he had obtained most satisfactory re-
sults : more than a hundred persons were robbed or
assassinated, and among the last the son of Cardinal
de St. Malo, who was on his way back to France, and
on whom Michelotto found a sum of 3000 crowns.

131

CELEBRATED CRIMES

For himself, Csesar reserved the Swiss ; for it was the
Swiss in particular who had despoiled his mother's
house. The pope had in his service about a hundred
and fifty soldiers belonging- to their nation, who had
settled their families in Rome, and had grown rich
partly by their pay and partly in the exercise of
various industries. The cardinal had every one of
them dismissed, with orders to quit Rome within
twenty-four hours and the Roman territories within
three days. The poor wretches had all collected to-
gether to obey the order, with their wives and chil-
dren and baggage, on the Piazza of St. Peter, when
suddenly, by Cardinal Valentino's orders, they were
hemmed in on all sides by two thousand Spaniards,
who began to fire on them with their guns and
charge them with their sabres, while Csesar and his
mother looked down upon the carnage from a win-
dow. In this way they killed fifty or perhaps sixty;
but the rest coming up, made a charge at the assas-
sins, and then, without suffering any loss, managed
to beat a retreat to a house, where they stood a siege,
and made so valiant a defense that they gave the
pope time — he knew nothing of the author of this
butchery — to send the captain of his guard to the
rescue, who, with a strong detachment, succeeded
in getting nearly forty of them safely out of the
town : the rest had been massacred on the piazza or
killed in the house.

132

THE BORGIAS

But this was no real and adequate revenge; for it
did not touch Charles himself, the sole author of all
the troubles that the pope and his family had ex-
perienced during- the last year. So Caesar soon
abandoned vulgar schemes of this kind and busied
himself with loftier concerns, bending all the force
of his genius to restore the league of Italian princes
that had been broken by the defection of Sforza, the
exile of Piero dei Medici, and the defeat of Alfonso.
The enterprise was more easily accomplished than the
pope could have anticipated. The Venetians were
very uneasy when Charles passed so near, and they
trembled lest, when he was once master of Naples, he
might conceive the idea of conquering the rest of
Italy. Ludovico Sforza, on his side, was beginning
to tremble, seeing the rapidity with which the King
of France had dethroned the house of Aragon, lest
he might not make much difference between his
allies and his enemies. Maximilian, for his part, was
only seeking an occasion to break the temporary
peace which he had granted for the sake of the con-
cession made to him. Lastly, Ferdinand and Isabella
were allies of the dethroned house. And so it came
about that all of them, for different reasons, felt a
common fear, and were soon in agreement as to the
necessity of driving out Charles viii, not only from
Naples, but from Italy, and pledged themselves to
work together to this end, by every means in their

133

CELEBRATED CRIMES

power, by negotiations, by trickery, or by actual
force. The Florentines alone refused to take part
in this general levy of arms, and remained faithful
to their promises.

According to the articles of the treaty agreed up-
on by the confederates, the alliance was to last for
five-and-twenty years, and had for ostensible object
the upholding of the majority of the pope, and the
interests of Christendom; and these preparations
might well have been taken for such as would precede
a crusade against the Turks, if Bajazet's ambassador
had not always been present at the deliberations, al-
though the Christian princes could not have dared for
very shame to admit the sultan by name into their
league. Now the confederates had to set on foot an
army of 34,000 horse and 20,000 infantry, and each
of them was taxed for a contingent; thus the pope
was to furnish 4000 horse, Maximilian 6000, the
King of Spain, the Duke of Milan, and the republic
of Venice, 8000 each. Every confederate was, in
addition to this, to levy and equip 4000 infantry in
the six weeks following the signature of the treaty.
The fleets were to be equipped by the Maritime
States ; but any expenses they should incur later on
were to be defrayed by all in equal shares.

The formation of this league was made public on
the 1 2th of April, 1495, Palm Sunday, and in all the
Italian States, especially at Rome, was made the occa-

134

THE BORGTAS

sion of fetes and immense rejoicing's. Almost as
soon as the publicly known articles were announced
the secret ones were put into execution. These
obliged Ferdinand and Isabella to send a fleet of
sixty galleys to Ischia, where Alfonso's son had
retired, with six hundred horsemen on board and
five thousand infantry, to help him to ascend the
throne once more. Those troops were to be put un-
der the command of Gonzalvo of Cordova, who had
gained the reputation of the greatest general in Eu-
rope after the taking of Granada. The Venetians,
with a fleet of forty galleys under the command of
Antonio Grimani, were to attack all the French sta-
tions on the coast of Calabria and Naples. The Duke
of Milan promised for his part to check all re-
inforcements as they should arrive from France, and
to drive the Duke of Orleans out of Asti.

Lastly, there was Maximilian, who had promised
to make invasions on the frontiers, and Bajazet, who
was to help with money, ships, and soldiers either the
Venetians or the Spaniards, according as he might
be appealed to by Barberigo or by Ferdinand the
Catholic.

This league was all the more disconcerting for
Charles, because of the speedy abatement of the en-
thusiasm that had hailed his first appearance. What
had happened to him was what generally happens to
a conqueror who has more good luck than talent ; in-

135

CELEBRATED CRIMES

otead of making himself a party among the great
Neapolitan and Calabrian vassals, whose roots would
be embedded in the very soil, by confirming their
privileges and aiiginenting their power, he had
wounded their feelings by bestowing all the titles,
offices, and fiefs on those alone who had followed him
from France, so that all the important positions in
the kingdom were filled by strangers.

The result was that just when the league was made
known, Tropea and Amantea, which had been pre-
sented by Charles to the Seigneur de Precy, rose in
revolt and hoisted the banner of Aragon; and the
Spanish fleet had only to present itself at Reggio, in
Calabria, for the town to throw open its gates, being
more discontented with the new rule than the old :
and Don Federigo, Alfonso's brother and Ferdi-
nand's uncle, who had hitherto never quitted Brin-
disi, had only to appear at Tarentum to be received
there as a liberator.

136

CHAPTER VI

CHARLES learned all this news at Naples, and,
tired of his late conquests, which necessitated
a labour in organisation for wdiich he was quite
unfitted, turned his eyes towards France, where vic-
torious fetes and rejoicings were awaiting the vic-
tor's return. So he yielded at the first breath of his
advisers, antl retraced his road to his kingdom,
threatened, as was said, by the Germans on the north
and the Spaniards on the south. Consequently, he
appointed Gilbert de Montpensier, of the house of
Bourbon, viceroy ; d'Aubigny, of the Scotch Stuart
family, lieutenant in Calabria; Etienne de Vese, com-
mander at Gaeta ; and Don Juliano, Gabriel de j\Iont-
faucon, Guillaume de Villeneuve, George de Lilly,
the bailiff of Vitry, and Graziano Guerra respectively
governors of Sant' Angelo, Manfredonia, Trani, Ca-
tanzaro, Aquila, and Sulmone ; then leaving behind in
evidence of his claims the half of his Swiss, a party
of his Gascons, eight hundred French lances, and
about five hundred Italian men-at-anns, the last un-
der the command of the prefect of Rome, Prospero
and Fabrizio Colonna, and Antonio Savelli, he left
Naples on the 20th of May at two o'clock in the

^Z7

CELEBRATED CRIMES

afternoon, to traverse the whole of the Itahan pen-
insula with the rest of his army, consisting- of eight
hundred French lances, two hundred gentlemen of
his guard, one hundred Italian men-at-arms, three
thousand Swiss infantry, one thousand French and
one thousand Gascon. He also expected to be joined
by Camillo Vitelli and his brothers in Tuscany, who
were to contribute two hundred and fifty men-at-
arms.

A week before he left Naples, Charles had sent to
Rome Monseigneur de Saint-Paul, brother of Car-
dinal de Luxembourg; and just as he was starting he
despatched thither the new Archbishop of Lyons.
The}^ both were commissioned to assure Alexander
that the King of France had the most sincere desire
and the very best intention of remaining his friend.
In truth, Charles wished for nothing so much as to
separate the pope from the league, so as to secure
him as a spiritual and temporal support ; but a young
king, full of fire, ambition, and courage, was not the
neighbour to suit Alexander; so the latter would
listen to nothing, and as the troops he had demanded
from the doge and Ludovico Sforza had not been
sent in sufficient number for the defense of Rome,
he was content with provisioning the castle of S.
Angelo, putting in a fonnidable garrison, and leav-
ing Cardinal Sant' Anastasio to receive Charles viii,
while he himself withdrew with Caesar to Orvieto.

138

THE BORGIAS

Charles only stayed in Rome three days, utterly de-
pressed because the pope had refused to receive him
in spite of his entreaties. And in these three days,
instead of listening to Giuliano della Rovere, who
was advising him once more to call a council and
depose the pope, he rather hoped to bring the pope
round to his side by the virtuous act of restoring the
citadels of Terracina and Civita Vecchia to the
authorities of the Romagna, only keeping for him-
self Ostia, which he had promised Giuliano to give
back to him. At last, when the three days had
elapsed, he left Rome, and resumed his march in
three columns towards Tuscany, crossed the States
of the Church, and on the 13th reached Siena, where
he was joined by Philippe de Commines, who had
gone as ambassador extraordinary to the Venetian
Republic, and now announced that the enemy had
forty thousand men under arms and were preparing
for battle. This news produced no other effect on
the king and the gentlemen of his army than to
excite their amusement beyond measure; for they
had conceived such a contempt for their enemy by
their easy conquest, that they could not believe that
any army, however numerous, would venture to
oppose their passage.

Charles, however, was forced to give way in the
face of facts, when he heard at San Teranza that his
vanguard, commanded by Marechal de Gie, and

139

CELEBRATED CRIMES

composed of six hundred lances and fifteen hundred
Swiss, when it arrived at Fornovo had come face to
face with the confederates, who had encamped at
Guiarole. The marechal had ordered an instant
halt, and he too had pitched his tents, utilising for
his defence the natural advantages of the hilly
ground. When these first measures had been taken,
he sent out, first, a herald to the enemy's camp to ask
from Francesco di Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua,
generalissimo of the confederate troops, a passage
for his king's army and provisions at a reasonable
price; and secondly, he despatched a courier to
Charles viii, pressing him to hurry on his march
with the artillery and rearguard. The confederates
had given an evasive answer, for they were ponder-
ing whether they ought to jeopardise the whole Ital-
ian force in a single combat, and, putting all to the
hazard, attempt to annihilate the King of France
and his army together, so overwhelming the con-
queror in the ruins of his ambition. The messenger
found Charles busy superintending the passage of
the last of his cannon over the mountain of Pontre-
moli. This was no easy matter, seeing that there
was no sort of track, and the guns had to be lifted
up and lowered by main force, and each piece needed
the arms of as many as two hundred men. At last,
when all the artillery had arrived wnthout accident
on the other side of the Apennines, Charles started

140

THE BORGIAS

in hot haste for Fornovo, where he arrived with all
his following on the morning of the next day.

From the top of the mountain where the Marechal
de Gie had pitched his tents, the king beheld both
his own camp and the enemy's. Both were on the
right bank of the Taro, and were at either end of
a semicircular chain of hills resembling an amphi-
theatre ; and the space between the two camps, a vast
basin filled during the winter floods by the torrent
which now only marked its boundary, was nothing
but a plain covered with gravel, where all manoeu-
vres must be equally difficult for horse and infantry.
Besides, on the western slope of the hills there was
a little wood which extended from the enemy's army
to the French, and was in the possession of the
Stradiotes, who, by help of its cover, had already
engaged in several skirmishes with the French
troops during the two days of halt while they were
waiting for the king.

The situation was not reassuring. From the top
of the mountain which overlooked Fornovo, one
could get a view, as we said before, of the two
ramps, and could easily calculate the numerical dif-
ference between them. The French army, weak-
ened by the establishment of garrisons in the various
towns and fortresses they had won in Italy, were
scarcely eight thousand strong, while the combined
forces of Milan and Venice exceeded a total of

141

CELEBRATED CRIMES

thirty-five thousand. So Charles decided to try once
more the methods of conciliation, and sent Corn-
mines, who, as we know, had joined him in Tus-
cany, to the Venetian proweditori, whose acquaint-
ance he had made when on his embassy; he having
made a great impression on these men, thanks to a
general high opinion of his merits. He was com-
missioned to tell the enemy's generals, in the name
of the King of France, that his master only desired
to continue his road without doing or receiving any
harm; that therefore he asked to be allowed a free
passage across the fair plains of Lombardy, which
he could see from the heights where he now stood,
stretching as far as the eye could reach, away to the
foot of the Alps. Commines found the confederate
army deep in discussion: the wish of the Milanese
and Venetian party being to let the king go by, and
not attack him ; they said they were only too happy
that he should leave Italy in this way, without caus-
ing any further harm ; but the ambassadors of Spain
and Germany took quite another view. As their
masters had no troops in the army, and as all the
money they had promised was already paid, they
must be the gainer in either case from a battle,
whichever way it went: if they won the day they
would gather the fruits of victory, and if they lost
they would experience nothing of the evils of defeat.
This want of unanimity was the reason why the

142

THE BORGIAS

answer to Commines was deferred until the follow-
ing day, and why it was settled that on the next day
he should hold another conference with a plenipoten-
tiary to be appointed in the course of that night.
The place of this conference was to be between the
two armies.

The king passed the night in great uneasiness. All
day the weather had threatened to turn to rain, and
we have already said how rapidly the Taro could
swell ; the river, f ordable to-day, might from to-mor-
row onwards prove an insurmountable obstacle ; and
possibly the delay had only been asked for with a
view to putting the French army in a worse position.
As a fact the night had scarcely come when a terrible
storm arose, and so long as darkness lasted, great
rumblings were heard in the Apennines, and the sky
was brilliant with lightning. At break of day, how-
ever, it seemed to be getting a little calmer, though
the Taro, only a streamlet the day before, had be-
come a torrent by this time, and was rapidly rising.
So at six in the morning, the king, ready armed and
on horseback, summoned Commines and bade him
make his way to the rendezvous that the Venetian
provveditori had assigned. But scarcely had he con-
trived to give the order when loud cries were heard
coming from the extreme right of the French army.
The Stradiotes, under cover of the wood stretching
between the two camps, had surprised an outpost,

143

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and first cutting the soldiers' throats, were carrying
off their heads in their usual way at the saddle-bow.
A detachment of cavalry was sent in pursuit; but,
like wild animals, they had retreated to their lair in
the woods, and there disappeared.

This unexpected engagement, in all probability
arranged beforehand by the Spanish and Gennan
envoys, produced on the whole army the effect of a
spark applied to a train of gunpowder, Commines
and the Venetian proweditori each tried in vain to
arrest the combat on either side. Light troops, eager
for a skirmish, and, in the usual fashion of those
days, prompted only by that personal courage which
led them on to danger, had already come to blows,
rushing down into the plain as though it were an
amphitheatre where they might make a fine display
of arms. For a moment the young king, drawn on
by example, was on the point of forgetting the re-
sponsibility of a general in his zeal as a soldier;
but this first impulse was checked by Marechal de
Gie, iMessire Claude de la Chatre de Guise, and M.
de la Trimouille, who persuaded Charles to adopt
the wiser plan, and to cross the Taro without seeking
a battle, at the same time without trying to avoid it,
should the enemy cross the river from their camp
and attempt to block his passage. The king accord-
ingly, following the advice of his wisest and bravest
captains, thus arranged his divisions,

144

THE BORGIAS

The first comprised the van and a body of troops
whose duty it was to support them. The van con-
sisted of three hundred and fifty men-at-arms, the
best and bravest of the army, under the command
of Marechal de Gie and Jacques Trivulce; the
corps following them consisted of three thousand
Swiss, under the command of Engelbert de Cleves
and de Lornay, the queen's grand equerry; next
came three hundred archers of the guard, whom
the king had sent to help the cavalry by fighting in
the spaces between them.

The second division, commanded by the king in
person and forming the middle of the army, was
composed of the artillery, under Jean de Lagrange,
a hundred gentlemen of the guard with Gilles Car-
rone for standard-bearer, pensioners of the king's
household under Aymar de Prie, some Scots, and
two hundred crossbowmen on horseback, with
French archers besides, led by M. de Crussol.

Lastly, the third division, i.e. the rear, preceded
by six thousand beasts of burden bearing the
baggage, was composed of only three hundred
men-at-arms, commanded by de Guise and by de
la Trimouille : this was the weakest part of the
army.

When this arrangement was settled, Charles
ordered the van to cross the river, just at the little
town of Fornovo. This was done at once, the riders

145

CELEBRATED CRIMES

getting wet up to their knees, and the footmen hold-
ing to the horses' tails. As soon as he saw
the last soldiers of his first division on the opposite
bank, he started himself to follow the same road and
cross at the same ford, giving orders to de Guise
and de la Trimouille to regulate the march of the
rear guard by that of the centre, just as he had reg-
ulated their march by that of the van. His orders
were punctually carried out ; and about ten o'clock in
the morning the whole French army was on the left
bank of the Taro : at the same time, when it seemed
certain from the enemy's arrangements that battle
was imminent, the baggage, led by the captain, Odet
de Reberac, was separated from the rear guard, and
retired to the extreme left.

Now, Francisco de Gonzaga, general-in-chief of
the confederate troops, had modelled his plans on
those of the King of France; by his orders. Count
de Cajazzo, with four hundred men-at-arms and two
thousand infantry, had crossed the Taro where the
Venetian camp lay, and was to attack the French
van; while Gonzaga himself, following the right
bank as far as Fornovo, would go over the river by
the same ford that Charles had used, with a view to
attacking his rear. Lastly, he had placed the
Stradiotes between these two fords, with orders to
cross the river in their turn, so soon as they saw the
French army attacked both in van and in the rear,

146

THE BORGIAS

and to fall upon its flank. Not content with offensive
measures, Gonzaga had also made provision for re-
treat by leaving three reserve corps on the right
bank, one to guard the camp under the instruction
of the Venetian provveditori, and the other two
arranged in echelon to support each other, the first
commanded by Antonio di Montefeltro, the second
by Annibale Bentivoglio.

Charles had observed all these arrangements, and
had recognised the cunning Italian strategy which
made his opponents the finest generals in the world ;
but as there was no means of avoiding the danger,
he had decided to take a sideway course, and had
given orders to continue the march ; but in a minute
the French army was caught between Count di
Cajazzo, barring the way with his four hundred
men-at-anns and his two thousand infantry, and
Gonzaga in pursuit of the rear, as we said before,
leading six hundred men-at-arms, the flower of his
army, a squadron of Stradiotes, and more than five
thousand infantry : this division alone was stronger
than the whole of the French army.

When, however, M. de Guise and M. de la
Trimouille found themselves pressed in this way,
they ordered their two hundred men-at-arms to turn
right about face, while at the opposite end — that is,
at the head of the army — Marechal de Gie and
Trivulce ordered a halt and lances in rest. Mean-

147

CELEBRATED CRIMES

while, according to custom, the king, who, as we
said, was in the centre, was conferring knighthood
on those gentlemen who had earned the favour either
by virtue of their personal powers or the king's spe-
cial friendship.

Suddenly there was heard a terrible clash behind :
it was the French rearguard coming to blows with
the Marquis of Mantua. In this encounter, where
each man had singled out his own foe as though it
were a tournament, very many lances were broken,
especially those of the Italian knights ; for their
lances were hollowed so as to be less heavy, and in
consequence had less solidity. Those who were thus
disarmed at once seized their swords. As they were
far more numerous than the French, the king saw
them suddenly outflanking his right wing and appar-
ently prepared to surround it ; at the same moment
loud cries were heard from a direction facing the
centre : this meant that the Stradiotes were crossing
the river to make their attack.

The king at once ordered his division into two
detachments, and giving one to Bourbon the bastard,
to make head against the Stradiotes. he hurried with
the second to the rescue of the van, flinging himself
into the very midst of the melee, striking out like a
king, and doing as steady work as the lowest in rank
of his captains. Aided by the reinforcement, the
rearguard made a good stand, though the enemy

148

THE BORGIAS

were five against one, and the combat in this part
continued to rage with wonderful fury.

Obeying his orders, Bourbon had thrown himself
upon the Stradiotes; but unfortunately, carried off
by his horse, he had penetrated so far into the
enemy's ranks that he was lost to sight : the dis-
appearance of their chief, the strange dress of their
new antagonists, and the peculiar method of their
fighting produced a considerable effect on those who
were to attack them; and for the moment disorder
was the consequence in the centre, and the horse-
men scattered instead of serrying their ranks and
fighting in a body. This false move would have
done them serious harm, had not most of the Strad-
iotes, seeing the baggage alone and undefended,
rushed after that in hope of booty, instead of follow-
ing up their advantage. A great part of the troop
nevertheless stayed behind to fight, pressing on the
French cavalry and smashing their lances with their
fearful scimitars. Happily the king, who had just
repulsed the Marquis of Mantua's attack, perceived
what was going on behind him, and riding back at all
possible speed to the succour of the centre, together
with the gentlemen of his household fell upon the
Stradiotes, no longer armed with a lance, for that
he had just broken, but brandishing his long sword,
which blazed about him like lightning, and — either
because he was whirled away like Bourbon by his

149

CELEBRATED CRIMES

own horse, or because he had allowed his courage to
take him too far — he suddenly found himself in the
thickest ranks of the Stradiotes, accompanied only
by eight of the knights he had just now created, one
equerry called Antoine des Ambus, and his standard-
bearer. " France, France ! " he cried aloud, to rally
round him all the others who had scattered; they,
seeing at last that the danger was less than they had
supposed, began to take their revenge and to pay
back with interest the blows they had received from
the Stradiotes. Things were going still better for
the van, which the Marquis de Cajazzo was to at-
tack; for although he had at first appeared to be
animated with a terrible purpose, he stopped short
about ten or twelve feet from the French line and
turned right about face without breaking a
single lance. The French wanted to pursue,
but the Marechal de Gie, fearing that this
flight might be only a trick to draw off the vanguard
from the centre, ordered every man to stay in his
place. But the Swiss, who were German, and did
not understand the order, or thought it was not
meant for them, followed upon their heels, and
although on foot caught them up and killed a hun-
dred of them. This was quite enough to throw
them into disorder, so that some were scattered
about the plain, and others made a rush for the
water, so as to cross the river and rejoin their camp.

150

THE BORGIAS

When the Marechal de Gie saw this, he detached a
hundred of his own men to go to the aid of the king,
who was continuing to fight with unheard-of courage
and running the greatest risks, constantly separated
as he was from his gentlemen, who could not follow
him; for wherever there was danger, thither he
rushed, with his cry of " France," little troubling
himself as to whether he was followed or not. And
it was no longer with his sword that he fought;
that he had long ago broken, like his lance, but with
a heavy battle-axe, whose every blow was mortal
whether cut or pierced. Thus the Stradiotes, already
hard pressed by the king's household and his pen-
sioners, soon changed attack for defence and defence
for flight. It was at this moment that the king was
really in the greatest danger ; for he had let himself
be carried away in pursuit of the fugitives, and pres-
ently found himself all alone, surrounded by these
men, who, had they not been struck with a mighty
terror, would have had nothing tO' do but unite and
crush him and his horse together; but, as Commines
remarks, " He whom God guards is well guarded,
and God was guarding the King of France."

All the same, at this moment the French were
sorely pressed in the rear ; and although de Guise and
de la Trimouille held out as firmly as it was possible
to hold, they would probably have been compelled to
yield to superior numbers had not a double aid ar-

151

CELEBRATED CRIMES

rived in time : first the indefatigable Charles, who,
having nothing more to do among the fugitives,
once again dashed into the midst of the fight, next
the servants of the army, who, now that they were
set free from the Stradiotes and saw their enemies
put to flight, ran up armed with the axes they
habitually used to cut down wood for building their
huts : they burst into the middle of the fray, slashing
at the horses' legs and dealing heavy blows that
smashed in the visors of the dismounted horsemen.

The Italians could not hold out against this double
attack ; the fiiria francese rendered all their strategy
and all their calculations useless, especially as for
more than a century they had abandoned their fights
of blood and fury for a kind of tournament they
chose to regard as warfare; so, in spite of all Gon-
zaga's efforts, they turned their backs upon the
French rear and took to flight ; in the greatest haste
and with much difficulty they recrossed the torrent,
which was swollen even more now by the rain that
had been falling during the whole time of the battle.

Some thought fit to pursue the vanquished, for
there was now such disorder in their ranks that they
were fleeing in all directions from the battlefield
where the French had gained so glorious a victory,
blocking up the roads to Panna and Bercetto. But
Marechal de Gie and de Guise and de la Trimouille,
who had done quite enough to save them from the

152

THE BORGIAS

suspicion of quailing before imaginary dangers, put
a stop to this enthusiasm, by pointing out that it
would only be risking the loss of their present advan-
tage if they tried to push it farther with men and
horses so worn out. This view was adopted in spite
of the opinion of Trivulce, Camillo Vitelli, and
Francesco Secco, who were all eager to follow up
the victory.

The king retired to a little village on the left bank
of the Taro, and took shelter in a poor house. There
he disarmed, being perhaps among all the captains
and all the soldiers the man who had fought best.

During the night the torrent swelled so high that
the Italian army could not have pursued, even if
they had laid aside their fears. The king did not
propose to give the appearance of flight after a vic-
tory, and therefore kept his army drawn up all day,
and at night went on to sleep at Medesano, a little
village only a mile lower down than the hamlet
where he rested after the fight. But in the course
of the night he reflected that he had done enough for
the honour of his arms in fighting an army four
times as great as his own and killing three thousand
men, and then waiting a day and a half to give them
time to take their revenge ; so two hours before day-
break he had the fires lighted, that the enemy might
suppose he was remaining in camp ; and every man
mounting noiselessly, the whole French army, almost

153

CELEBRATED CRIMES

out of danger by this time, proceeded on their march
to Borgo San Donnino.

While this was going on, the pope returned to
Rome, where news highly favourable to his schemes
was not slow to reach his ears. He learned that
Ferdinand had crossed from Sicily into Calabria
with six thousand volunteers and a considerable
number of Spanish horse and foot, led, at the com-
mand of Ferdinand and Isabella, by the famous
Gonzalva de Cordova, who arrived in Italy with a
great reputation, destined to suffer somewhat from
the defeat at Seminara. At almost the same time
the French fleet had been beaten by the Aragonese;
moreover, the battle of the Taro, though a complete
defeat for the confederates, was another victory for
the pope, because its result was to open a return to
France for that man whom he regarded as his dead-
liest foe. So, feeling that he had nothing more to
fear from Charles, he sent him a brief at Turin,
where he had stopped for a short time to give aid to
Novara, therein commanding him, by virtue of his
pontifical authority, to depart out of Italy with his
army, and to recall within ten days those of his
troops that still remained in the kingdom of Naples,
on pain of excommunication, and a summons to
appear before him in person.

Charles viii replied —

(i) That he did not understand how the pope,

154

THE BORGTAS

the chief of the league, ordered him to leave Italy,
whereas the confederates had not only refused him a
passage, but had even attempted, though unsuccess-
fully, as perhaps His Holiness knew, to cut off his
return into France;

(2) That, as to recalling his troops from Naples,
he was not so irreligious as to do that, since they
had not entered the kingdom without the consent and
blessing of His Holiness;

(3) That he was exceedingly surprised that the
pope should require his presence in person at the
capital of the Christian world just at the present
time, when six weeks previously, at the time of his
return from Naples, although he ardently desired an
interview with His Holiness, that he might offer
proofs of his respect and obedience. His Holiness,
instead of according this favour, had quitted Rome
so hastily on his approach that he had not been able
to come up with him by any efforts whatsoever. On
this point, however, he promised to give His Holi-
ness the satisfaction he desired, if he would engage
this time to wait for him : he would therefore return
to Rome so soon as the affairs that brought him
back to his own kingdom had been satisfactorily
settled.

Although in this reply there was a touch of mock-
ery and defiance, Charles was none the less compelled
by the circumstances of the case to obey the pope's

155

CELEBRATED CRIMES

stranj^e brief. His presence was so much needed in
France that, in spite of the arrival of a Swiss
reinforcement, he was compelled to conclude a peace
with Ludovico Sforza, whereby he yielded No vara to
him; while Gilbert de Montpensier and d'Aubigny,
after defending, inch by inch, Calabria, the Basili-
cate, and Naples, were obliged to sign the capitula-
tion of Atella, after a siege of thirty-two days, on
the 20th of July, 1496. This involved giving back
to Ferdinand 11, King of Naples, all the palaces and
fortresses of his kingdom ; which indeed he did but
enjoy for three months, dying of exhaustion on the
7th of September following, at the Castello della
Somma, at the foot of Vesuvius ; all the attentions
lavished upon him by his young wife could not repair
the evil that her beauty had wrought.

His uncle Frederic succeeded ; and so, in the three
years of his papacy, Alexander vi had seen five kings
upon the throne of Naples, while he was establishing
himself more firmly upon his own pontifical seat —
Ferdinand i. Alfonso i, Charles viii, Ferdinand 11,
and Frederic. All this agitation about his throne,
this rapid succession of sovereigns, was the best
thing possible for Alexander ; for each new monarch
became actually king only on condition of his receiv-
ing the pontifical investiture. The consequence was
that Alexander was the only gainer in power and
credit by these changes; for the Duke of Milan and

156

THE BORGIAS

the republics of Florence and Venice had successively
recognised him as supreme head of the Church, in
spite of his simony; moreover, the five kings of
Naples had in turn paid him homage. So he thought
the time had now come for founding a mighty fam-
ily; and for this he relied upon the Duke of Gandia,
who was to hold all the highest temporal dignities;
and upon Caesar Borgia, who was to be appointed to
all the great ecclesiastical offices. The pope made
sure of the success of these new projects by electing
four Spanish cardinals, who brought up the number
of his compatriots in the Sacred College to twenty-
two, thus assuring him a constant and certain
majority.

The first requirement of the pope's policy was to
clear away from the neighbourhood of Rome all
those petty lords whom most people call vicars of
the Church, but whom Alexander called the shackles
of the papacy. We saw that he had already begun
this work by rousing the Orsini against the Colonna
family, when Charles viii's enterprise compelled him
to concentrate all his mental resources, and also the
forces of his States, so as to secure his own per-
sonal safety.

It had come about through their own imprudent
action that the Orsini, the pope's old friends, were
now in the pay of the French, and had entered the
kingdom of Naples with them, where one of them,

157

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Virgihio, a very important member of their power-
ful house, had been taken prisoner during the war,
and was Ferdinand ii's captive. Alexander could
not let this opportunity escape him ; so, first ordering
the King of Naples not to release a man who, ever
since the ist of June, 1496, had been a declared rebel,
he pronounced a sentence of confiscation against
Virginio Orsini and his whole family in a secret
consistory, which sat on the 26th of October follow-
ing— that is to say, in the early days of the reign
of Frederic, whom he knew to be entirely at his
command, owing to the King's great desire of getting
the investiture from him ; then, as it was not enough
to declare the goods confiscated, without also dispos-
sessing the owners, he made overtures to the Colonna
family, saying he would commission them, in proof
of their new bond of friendship, to execute the order
given against their old enemies under the direction of
his son Francesco, Duke of Gandia. In this fashion
he contrived to weaken his neighbours each by means
of the other, till such time as he could safely attack
and put an end to conquered and conqueror alike.
The Colonna family accepted this proposition, and
the Duke of Gandia was named General of the
Church : his father in his pontifical robes bestowed on
him the insignia of this office in the church of St.
Peter's at Rome.

158

CHAPTER VII

MATTERS went forward as Alexander had
wished, and before the end of the year the
pontifical army had seized a great number of
castles and fortresses that belonged tO' the Orsini,
who thought themselves already lost when Charles
VIII came to the rescue. They had addressed them-
selves to him without much hope that he could be of
real use to them, with his want of armed troops and
his preoccupation with his own affairs. He, however,
sent Carlo Orsini, son of Virginio, the prisoner, and
Vitellozzo Vitelli, brother of Camillo Vitelli, one of
the three valiant Italian condottieri who had joined
him and fought for him at the crossing of the Taro.
These two captains, whose courage and skill were
well known, brought with them a considerable sum
of money from the liberal coffers of Charles viii.
Now, scarcely had they arrived at Citta di Castello,
the centre of their little sovereignty, and expressed
their intention of raising a band of soldiers, when
men presented themselves from all sides to fight
under their banner; so they very soon assembled a
small army, and as they had been able during their
stay among the French to study those matters of

159

CELEBRATED CRIMES

military organisation in which France excelled, they
now applied the result of their learning to their own
troops: the improvements were mainly certain
changes in the artillery which made their manoeuvres
easier, and the substitution for their ordinary
weapons of pikes similar in form to the Swiss pikes,
but two feet longer. These changes effected, Vitel-
lozzo Vitelli spent three or four months in exercising
his men in the management of their new weapons;
then, when he thought them fit to make good use of
these, and when he had collected more or less help
from the towns of Perugia, Todi, and Narni, where
the inhabitants trembled lest their turn should come
after the Orsini's, as the Orsini's had followed on
the Colonnas', he marched towards Bracciano, which
was being besieged by the Duke of Urbino, who had
been lent to the pope by the Venetians, la virtue of
the treaty quoted above.

The Venetian general, when he heard of Vitelli's
approach, thought he might as well spare him half
his journey, and marched out to confront him : the
two armies met in the Soriano road, and the battle
straightway began. Tlie pontifical army had a body
of eight hundred Germans, on which the Dukes of
Urbino and Gandia chiefly relied, as well they might,
for they were the best troops in the world ; but Vitelli
attacked these picked men with his infantry, who,
armed with their formidable pikes, ran them through,

1 60

THE BORGIAS

while they with arms four feet shorter had no chance
even of returning the blows they received ; at the
same time Vitelli's light troops wheeled upon the
flank, following their most rapid movements, and
silencing the enemy's artillery by the swiftness and
accuracy of their attack. The pontifical troops were
put to flight, though after a longer resistance than
might have been expected when they had to sustain
the attack of an army so much better equipped than
their own; with them they bore to Ronciglione the
Duke of Gandia, wounded in the face by a pike-
thrust, Fabrizio Colonna, and the envoy; the Duke
of Urbino, who was fighting in the rear to aid the
retreat, was taken prisoner with all his artillery and
the baggage of the conquered army. But this success,
great as it was, did not so swell the pride of Vitel-
lozzo Vitelli as to make him oblivious of his position.
He knew that he and the Orsini together were too
weak to sustain a war of such magnitude; that the
little store of money to which he owed the existence
of his army would very soon be expended and his
army would disappear with it. So he hastened to
get pardoned for the victory by making propositions
which he would very likely have refused had he been
the vanquished party ; and the pope accepted his con-
ditions without demur; during the interval having
heard that Trivulce had just recrossed the Alps and
re-entered Italy with three thousand Swiss, and fear-
Dumas — Vol. 1 — 6 i6l

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ing- test the Italian general might only be the advance
guard of the King of France. So it was settled that
the Orsini should pay 70,000 florins for the expenses
of the war, and that all the prisoners on both sides
should be exchanged without ransom with the single
exception of the Duke of Urbino. As a pledge for
the future payment of the 70,000 florins, the Orsini
handed over to the Cardinals Sforza and San
Severino the fortresses of Angnillara and Cervetri ;
then, when the day came and they had not the neces-
sary money, they gave up their prisoner, the Duke
of Urbino, estimating his worth at 40,000 ducats —
nearly all the sum required — and handed him over
to Alexander on account; he, a rigid observer of
engagements, made his own general, taken prisoner
in his service, pay to himself the ransom he owed
to the enemy.

Then the pope had the corpse of Virginio sent
to Carlo Orsini and Vitellozzo Vitelli, as he could
not send him alive. By a strange fatality the pris-
oner had died, eight days before the treaty was
signed, of the same malady — at least, if we may
judge by analogy — that had carried off Bajazet's
brother.

As soon as the peace was signed, Prospero
Colonna and Gonzalvo de Cordova, whom the Pope
had demanded from Frederic, arrived at Rome with
an army of Spanish and Neapolitan troops. Alexan-

162

THE BORGIAS

der, as he could not utilise these against the Orsini,
set them the work of recapturing Ostia, not desiring
to incur the reproach of bringing them to Rome for
nothing. Gonzalvo was rewarded for this feat by
receiving the Rose of Gold from the pope's hand —
that being the highest honour His Holiness can
grant. He shared this distinction with the Emperor
Maximilian, the King of France, the Doge of Venice,
and the Marquis of Mantua.

In the midst of all this occurred the solemn festi-
val of the Assumption, in which Gonzalvo was
invited to take part. He accordingly left his palace,
proceeded in great pomp in the front of the pontifical
cavalry, and took his place on the Duke of Gandia's
left hand. The duke attracted all eyes by his personal
beauty, set off as it was by all the luxury he thought
fit to display at this festival. He had a retinue of
pages and servants, clad in sumptuous liveries,
incomparable for richness with anything heretofore
seen in Rome, that city of religious pomp. All these
pages and servants rode magnificent horses, capari-
soned in velvet trimmed with silver fringe, and bells
of silver hanging down every here and there. He
himself was in a robe of gold brocade, and wore at
his neck a string of Eastern pearls, perhaps the finest
and largest that ever belonged to a Christian prince,
while on his cap was a gold chain studded with
diamonds of which the smallest was worth more than

163

CELEBRATED CRIMES

20,000 ducats. This magnificence was all the more
conspicuous by the contrast it presented to Caesar's
dress, whose scarlet robe admitted of no ornaments.
The result was that Caesar, doubly jealous of his
brother, felt a new hatred rise up within him when
he heard all along the way the praises of his fine
appearance and noble equipment. From this moment
Cardinal Valentino decided in his own mind the fate
of this man, this constant obstacle in the path of his
pride, his love, and his ambition. Very good reason,
says Tommaso, the historian, had the Duke of Gan-
dia to leave behind him an impression on the public
mind of his beauty and his grandeur at this fete, for
this last display was soon to be followed by the ob-
sequies of the unhappy young man.

Lucrezia also had come to Rome, on the pretext of
taking part in the solemnity, but really, as we shall
see later, with the view of serving as a new instru-
ment for her father's ambition. As the pope was not
satisfied with an empty triumph of vanity and dis-
play for his son, and as his war with the Orsini had
failed to produce the anticipated results, he decided
to increase the fortune of his firstborn by doing the
very thing which he had accused Calixtus in his
speech of doing for him, viz., alienating from the
States of the Church the cities of Benevento, Terra-
cino, and Pontecorvo to form a duchy as an appa-
nage to his son's house. Accordingly this proposition

164

THE BORGTAS

' was put forward in a full consistory, and as the col-
lege of cardinals was entirely Alexander's, there was
no difficulty about carrying his point. This new fa-
vour to his elder brother exasperated Caesar, al-
though he was himself getting a share of the paternal
gifts; for he had just been named envoy a latere at
Frederic's court, and was appointed to crown him
with his own hands as the papal representative. But
Lucrezia, when she had spent a few days of pleasure
with her father and brothers, had gone into retreat
at the convent of San Sisto. No one knew the real
motive of her seclusion, and no entreaties of Caesar,
whose love for her was strange and unnatural, had
induced her to defer this departure from the world
even until the day after he left for Naples. His sis-
ter's obstinacy wounded him deeply, for ever since
the day when the Duke of Gandia had appeared in
the procession so magnificently attired, he fancied he
had observed a coldness in the mistress of his illicit
affection, and so far did this increase his hatred of
his rival that he resolved to be rid of him at all costs.
So he ordered the chief of his sbirri to come and see
him the same night.

Michelotto was accustomed to these mysterious
messages, which almost always meant his help was
wanted in some love affair or some act of revenge.
As in either case his reward was generally a large
one, he was careful to keep his engagement, and at

165

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the appointed hour was brought into the presence of
his patron.

Csesar received him leaning against a tall chimney-
piece, no longer wearing his cardinal's robe and hat,
but a doublet of black velvet slashed with satin of the
same colour. One hand toyed mechanically with his
gloves, while the other rested on the handle of a
poisoned dagger which never left his side. This was
the dress he kept for his nocturnal expeditions, so
Michelotto felt no surprise at that; but his eyes
burned with a flame more gloomy than their wont,
and his cheeks, generally pale, were now livid.
Michelotto had but to cast one look upon his master
to see that Csesar and he were about to share some
terrible enterprise.

He signed to him to shut the door. Michelotto
obeyed. Then, after a moment's silence, during
which the eyes of Borgia seemed to burn into the soul
of the bravo, who with a careless air stood bare-
headed before him, he said, in a voice whose slightly
mocking tone gave the only sign of his emotion —

" Michelotto, how do you think this dress suits
me?"

Accustomed as he was to his master's tricks of cir-
cumlocution, the bravo was so far from expecting
this question, that at first he stood mute, and only
after a few moments' pause was able to say —

" Admirably, monsignore ; thanks to the dress,
1 66

THE BORGIAS

your Excellency has the appearance as well as the
true spirit of a captain."

" I am glad you think so," replied Caesar. " And
now let me ask you, do you know who is the cause
that, instead of wearing this dress, which I can only
put on at night, I am forced to disguise myself in the
daytime in a cardinal's robe and hat, and pass my
time trotting about from church to church, from
consistory to consistory, when I ought properly to be
leading a magnificent army in the battlefield, where
you would enjoy a captain's rank, instead of being
the chief of a few miserable sbirri ? "

" Yes, monsignore," replied Michelotto, who had
divined Caesar's meaning at his first word ; " the man
who is the cause of this is Francesco, Duke of Gan-
dia, and Benevento, your elder brother."

" Do you know," Caesar resumed, giving no sign
of assent but a nod and a bitter smile, — " do you
know who has all the money and none of the genius,
who has the helmet and none of the brains, who has
the sword and no hand to wield it ? "

" That too is the Duke of Gandia," said Michel-
otto.

" Do you know," continued Caesar, " who is the
man whom I find continually blocking the path of my
ambition, my fortune, and my love ? "

" It is the same, the Duke of Gandia," said Michel-
otto.

167

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" And what do you think of it? " asked Caesar.

" I think he must die," repHed the man coldly.

" That is my opinion also, Michelotto," said Cae-
sar, stepping- towards him and grasping his hand ;
" and my only regret is that I did not think of it
sooner; for if I had carried a sword at my side in-
stead of a crosier in my hand when the King of
France was marching through Italy, I should now
have been master of a fine domain. The pope is
obviously anxious to aggrandise his family, but he
is mistaken in the means he adopts : it is I who ought
to have been made duke, and my brother a cardinal.
There is no doubt at all that, had he made me duke,
I should have contributed a daring and courage to
his service that would have made his power far
weightier than it is. The man who would make his
way to vast dominions and a kingdom ought to tram-
ple under foot all the obstacles in his path, and boldly
grasp the very sharpest thorns, whatever reluctance
his weak flesh may feel ; such a man, if he would open
out his path to fortune, should seize his dagger or
his sword and strike out with his eyes shut ; he should
not shrink from bathing his hands in the blood of
his kindred; he should follow the example offered
him by every founder of empire from Romulus to
Bajazet, both of whom climbed to the throne by the
ladder of fratricide. Yes, Michelotto', as you say,
such is my condition, and I am resolved I will not

1 68

THE BORGIAS

shrink. Now you know why I sent for you : am I
wrong in counting upon you ? "

As might have been expected, Michelotto, seeing
his own fortune in this crime, replied that he was
entirely at Caesar's service, and that he had nothing
to do but to give his orders as to time, place, and
manner of execution. Caesar replied that the time
must needs be very soon, since he was on the point
of leaving Rome for Naples ; as to the place and the
mode of execution, they would depend on circum-
stances, and each of them must look out for an op-
portunity, and seize the first that seemed favourable.

Two days after this resolution had been taken,
Caesar learned that the day of his departure was
fixed for Thursday the 15th of June: at the same
time he received an invitation from his mother to
come to supper with her on the 14th. This was a
farewell repast given in his honour. Michelotto re-
ceived orders to be in readiness at eleven o'clock at
night.

The table was set in the open air in a magnificent
vineyard, a property of Rosa Vanozza's in the neigh-
bourhood of San Piero-in-Vinculis : the guests were
Caesar Borgia, the hero of the occasion; the Duke
of Gandia ; Prince of Squillace ; Dona Sancha, his
wife; the Cardinal of Monte Reale, Francesco Bor-
gia, son of Calixtus iii ; Don Roderigo Borgia, cap-
tain of the apostolic palace; Don Goffredo, brother

169

CELEBRATED CRIMES

of the cardinal ; Gian Borgia, at that time ambassa-
dor at Perugia; and lastly, Don Alfonso Borgia, the
pope's nephew : the whole family therefore was pres-
ent, except Lucrezia, who was still in retreat, and
would not come.

The repast was magnificent : Caesar was quite as
cheerful as usual, and the Duke of Gandia seemed
more joyous than he had ever been before.

In the middle of supper a man in a mask brought
him a letter. The duke unfastened it, colouring up
with pleasure ; and when he had read it answered in
these words, " I will come " : then he quickly hid the
letter In the pocket of his doublet; but quick as he
was to conceal it from every eye, Caesar had had
time to cast a glance that way, and he fancied he
recognised the handwriting of his sister Lucrezia.
Meanwhile the messenger had gone off with his
answer, no one but Caesar paying the slightest
attention to him, for at that period it was the cus-
tom for love messages to be conveyed by men in
domino or by women whose faces were concealed
by a veil.

At ten o'clock they rose from the table, and as the
air was sweet and mild they walked about a while
under the magnificent pine trees that shaded the
house of Rosa Vanozza, while Caesar never for an
instant let his brother out of his sight. At eleven
o'clock the Duke of Gandia bade good-night to his

170

THE BORGIAS

mother. Caesar at once followed suit, alleging his
desire to go to the Vatican to bid farewell to the
pope, as he would not be able to fulfil this duty on
the morrow, his departure being fixed at daybreak.
This pretext was all the more plausible since the pope
was in the habit of sitting up every night till two or
three o'clock in the morning.

The two brothers went out together, mounted
their horses, which were waiting for them at the
door, and rode side by side as far as the Palazzo
Borgia, the present home of Cardinal Ascanio
Sforza, who had taken it as a gift from Alexander
the night before his election to the papacy. There
the Duke of Gandia separated from his brother, say-
ing with a smile that he was not intending to go
home, as he had several hours to spend first with a
fair lady who was expecting him. Caesar replied
that he was no doubt free to make any use he liked
best of his opportunities, and wished him a very
good night. The duke turned to the right, and Cae-
sar to the left; but Caesar observed that the street
the duke had taken led in the direction of the convent
of San SistO', where, as we said, Lucrezia was in
retreat ; his suspicions were confirmed by this obser-
vation, and he directed his horse's steps to the Vati-
can, found the pope, took his leave of him, and re-
ceived his benediction.

From this moment all is wrapped in mystery and
171

CELEBRATED CRIMES

darkness, like that in which the terrible deed was
done that we are now to relate.

This, however, is what is believed : —
The Duke of Gandia, when he quitted Caesar, sent
away his servants, and in the company of one con-
fidential valet alone pursued his course towards the
Piazza della Giudecca. There he found the same
man in a mask who had come to speak to him at
supper, and forbidding his valet to follow any far-
ther, he bade him wait on the piazza where they then
stood, promising to be on his way back in two hours'
time at latest, and to take him up as he passed. And
at the appointed hour the duke reappeared, took
leave this time of the man in the mask, and retraced
his steps towards his palace. But scarcely had he
turned the corner of the Jewish Ghetto, when four
men on foot, led by a fifth who was on horseback,
flung themselves upon him. Thinking they were
thieves, or else that he was the victim of some mis-
take, the Duke of Gandia mentioned his name; but
instead of the name checking the murderers' dag-
gers, their strokes were redoubled, and the duke very
soon fell dead, his valet dying beside him.

Then the man on horseback, who had watched the
assassination with no sign of emotion, backed his
horse towards the dead body: the four murderers
lifted the corpse across the crupper, and walking by
the side to support it, then made their way down the

172

THE BORGIAS

lane that leads to the Church of Santa Maria-in-
Monticelli. The wretched valet they left for dead
upon the pavement. But he, after the lapse of a few
seconds, regained some small strength, and his
groans were heard by the inhabitants of a poor little
house hard by; they came and picked him up, and
laid him upon a bed, where he died almost at once,
unable to give any evidence as to the assassins or any
details of the murder.

All night the duke was expected home, and all the
next morning ; then expectation was turned into fear,
and fear at last into deadly terror. The pope was
approached, and told that the Duke of Gandia had
never come back to his palace since he left his
mother's house. But Alexander tried to deceive
himself all through the rest of the day, hoping that
his son might have been surprised by the coming of
daylight in the midst of an amorous adventure, and
was waiting till the next night to get away in that
darkness which had aided his coming thither. But
the night, like the day, passed and brought no news.
On the morrow, the pope, tormented by the gloomi-
est presentiments and by the raven's croak of the
vox populi, let himself fall into the depths of de-
spair : amid sighs and sobs of grief, all he could say
to any one who came to him was but these words,
repeated a thousand times: " Search, search; let us
know how my unhappy son has died."

173

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Then everybody joined in the search; for, as we
have said, the Duke of Gandia was beloved by all;
but nothing could be discovered from scouring- the
town, except the body of the murdered man, who
was recognised as the duke's valet; of his master
there was no trace whatever: it was then thought,
not without reason, that he had probably been thrown
into the Tiber, and they began to follow along its
banks, beginning from the Via della Ripetta, ques-
tioning every boatman and fisherman who might pos-
sibly have seen, either from their houses or from their
boats, what had happened on the river banks during
the two preceding nights. At first all inquiries were
in vain; but when they had gone up as high as the
Via del Fantanone, they found a man at last who
said he had seen something happen on the night of
the 14th which might very possibly have some bear-
ing on the subject of inquiry. He was a Slav named
George, who was taking up the river a boat laden
with wood to Ripetta. The following are his own
words : —

" Gentlemen," he said, "last Wednesday evening,
when I had set down my load of wood on the bank,
I remained in my boat, resting in the cool night air,
and watching lest other men should come and take
away what I had just unloaded, when, about two
o'clock in the morning, I saw coming out of the lane
on the left of San Girolamo's Church two men on

174

THE BORGI AS

foot, who came forward into the middle of the
street, and looked so carefully all around that they
seemed to have come to find out if anybody was go-
ing along the street. When they felt sure that it
was deserted, they went back along the same lane,
whence issued presently two other men, who used
similar precautions to make sure that there was noth-
ing fresh ; they, when they found all as they wished,
gave a sign to their companions to come and join
them; next appeared one man on a dapple-grey
horse, which was carrying on the crupper the body
of a dead man, his head and arms hanging over on
one side and his feet on the other. The two fellows
I had first seen exploring were holding him up by
the arms and legs. The other three at once went
up to the river, while the first two kept a watch on
the street, and advancing to the part of the bank
where the sewers of the town are discharged into
the Tiber, the horseman turned his horse, backing on
the river ; then the two who were at either side tak-
ing the corpse, one by the hands, the other by the
feet, swung it three times, and the third time threw
it out into the river with all their strength ; then at
the noise made when the body splashed into the
water, the horseman asked, *Is it done ? ' and the
others answered, *Yes, sir,' and he at once turned
right about face; but seeing the dead man's cloak
floating, he asked what was that black thing swim-

175

CELEBRATED CRIMES

ming about. ' Sir/ said one of the men, ' it is his
cloak ' ; and then another man picked up some stones,
and running to the place where it was still floating,
threw them so as to make it sink under ; as soon as
it had quite disappeared, they went off, and after
walking a little way along the main road, they went
into the lane that leads to San Giacomo. That was
all I saw, gentlemen, and so it is all I can answer to
the questions you have asked me."

At these words, which robbed o-f all hope any who
might yet entertain it. one of the pope's servants
asked the Slav why, when he was witness of such a
deed, he had not gone to denounce it to the governor.
But the Slav replied that, since he had exercised his
present trade on the riverside, he had seen dead men
thrown into the Tiber in the same way a hundred
times, and had never heard that anybody had been
troubled about them ; so he supposed it would be the
same with this corpse as the others, and had never
imagined it was his duty to speak of it, not thinking
it would be any more important than it had been
before.

Acting on this intelligence, the servants of His
Holiness summoned at once all the boatmen and
fishermen who were accustomed to go up and down
the river, and as a large reward was promised to any-
one who should find the duke's body, there were soon
more than a hundred ready for the job; so that be-

176

THE BORGIAS

fore the evening of the same clay, which was Friday,
two men were drawn out of the water, of whom one
was instantly recognised as the hapless duke. At the
very first glance at the body there could be no doubt
as to the cause of death. It was pierced with nine
wounds, the chief one in the throat, whose artery
was cut. The clothing had not been touched : his
doublet and cloak were there, his gloves in his waist-
band, gold in his purse ; the duke then must have
been assassinated not for gain but for revenge.

The ship which carried the corpse went up the Ti-
ber to the Castello Sant' Angelo, where it was set
down. At once the magnificent dress was fetched
from the duke's palace which he had worn on the day
of the procession, and he was clothed in it once more :
beside liim were placed the insignia of the general-
ship of the Church. Thus he lay in state all day, but
his father in his despair had not the courage to come
and look at him. At last, when night had fallen, his
most trusty and honoured servants carried the body
to the church of the Madonna del Popolo, with all
the pomp and ceremony that Church and State com-
bined could devise for the funeral of the son of the
pope.

Meantime the bloodstained hands of Caesar Borgia
were placing a royal crown upon the head of Fred-
eric of Aragon.

This blow had pierced Alexander's heart very
177

CELEBRATED CRIMES

deeply. As at first he did not know on whom his
suspicions should fall, he gave the strictest orders for
the pursuit of the murderers; but little by little the
infamous truth was forced upon him. He saw that
the blow which struck at his house came from that
very house itself, and then his despair was changed
to madness: he ran through the rooms of the Vati-
can like a maniac, and entering the consistory with
torn garments and ashes on his head, he sobbingly
avowed all the errors of his past life, owning that the
disaster that struck his offspring through his off-
spring was a just chastisement from God; then he
retired to a secret dark chamber of the palace, and
there shut himself up, declaring his resolve to die
of starvation. And indeed for more than sixty hours
he took no nourishment by day nor rest by night,
making no answer to those who knocked at his door
to bring him food except with the wailings of a
woman or a roar as of a wounded lion; even the
beautiful Giulia Farnese, his new mistress, could not
move him at all, and was obliged to go and seek
Lucrezia, that daughter doubly loved, to conquer his
deadly resolve. Lucrezia came out from the retreat
where she was weeping for the Duke of Gandia, that
she might console her father. At her voice the door
did really open, and it was only then that the Duke
of Segovia, who had been kneeling almost a whole
day at the threshold, begging His Holiness to take

178

THE BORGIAS

heart, could enter with servants bearing wine and
food.

The pope remained alone with Lucrezia for three
days and nights ; then he reappeared in public, out-
wardly calm, if not resigned; for Guicciardini as-
sures us that his daughter had made him understand
how dangerous it would be to himself to show too
openly before the assassin, who was coming home,
the immoderate love he felt for his victim.

179

CHAPTER VIII

C^SAR remained at Naples, partly to give time
to the paternal grief to cool down, and partly
to get on with another business he had lately
been charged with, nothing else than a proposition
of marriage between Lucrezia and Don Alfonso of
Aragon, Duke of Bicelli and Prince of Salerno,
natural son of Alfonso ii and brother of Dona
Sancha. It was true that Lucrezia was already mar-
ried to the lord of Pesaro, but she was the daughter
of a father who had received from Heaven the right
of uniting and disuniting. There was no need to
trouble about so trifling a matter : when the two were
ready to marry, the divorce would be effected. Alex-
ander was too' good a tactician to leave his daughter
married to a son-in-law who was becoming useless to
him.

Towards the end of August it was announced that
the ambassador was coming back to Rome, having
accomplished his mission to the new king to his great
satisfaction. And thither he returned on the 5th of
September, — that is, nearly three months after the
Duke of Gandia's death, — and on the next day, the
6th, from the church of Santa Maria Novella, where,

180

THE BORGIAS

according- tO' custom, the cardinals and the Spanish
and Venetian ambassadors were awaiting him on
horseback at the door, he proceeded to the Vatican,
where His HoHness was sitting-; there he entered the
consistory, was admitted by the pope, and in accord-
ance with the usual ceremonial received his benedic-
tion and kiss; then, accompanied once more in the
same fashion by the ambassadors and cardinals, he
was escorted to his own apartments. Thence he pro-
ceeded to the pope's, as soon as he was left alone; for
at the consistory they had had no speech with one
another, and the father and son had a hundred things
to talk about, but of these the Duke of Gandia was
not one, as might have been expected. His name was
not once spoken, and neither on that day nor after-
wards was there ever again any mention of the
unhappy young man : it was as though he had never
existed.

It was the fact that Caesar brought good news.
King Frederic gave his consent to the proposed
union; so the marriage of Sforza and Lucrezia was
dissolved on a pretext of nullity. Then Frederic
authorised the exhumation of D'jem's body, which,
it will be remembered, was worth 300,000 ducats.

After this, all came about as Caesar had desired;
he became the man who was all-powerful after the
pope; but when he was second in command it was
soon evident to the Roman people that their city was

181

CELEBRATED CRIMES

making a new stride in the direction of rain. There
was nothing but balls, fetes, masquerades ; there were
magnificent hunting parties, when Caesar, who had
begun to cast off his cardinal's robe, — weary perhaps
of the colour, — appeared in a French dress, followed,
like a king, by cardinals, envoys, and bodyguard. The
whole pontifical town, given up like a courtesan to
orgies and debauchery, had never been more the
home of sedition, luxury, and carnage, according to
the Cardinal of Viterbo, not even in the days of Nero
and Heliogabalus. Never had she fallen upon days
more evil; never had more traitors done her dis-
honour or sbirri stained her streets with blood. The
number of thieves was so great, and their audacity
such, that no one could with safety pass the gates of
the town ; soon it was not even safe within them. No
house, no castle, availed for defence. Right and
justice no longer existed. Money, force, pleasure,
ruled supreme.

Still, the gold was melting as in a furnace at these
fetes; and, by Heaven's just punishment, Alexander
and Caesar were beginning to covet the fortunes of
those very men who had risen through their simony
to their present elevation. The first attempt at a new
method of coining money was tried upon the Cardi-
nal of Cosenza. The occasion was as follows. A cer-
tain dispensation had been granted some time before
to a nun who had taken the vows : she was the only

182

THE BORGI AS

surviving heir to the throne of Portugal, and by
means of the dispensation she had been wedded to the
natural son of the last king. This marriage was more
prejudicial than can easily be imagined to the
interests of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain; so
they sent ambassadors to Alexander to lodge a com-
plaint against a proceeding of this nature, especially
as it happened at the very moment when an alliance
was to be formed between the house of Aragon and
the Holy See. Alexander understood the complaint,
and resolved that all should be set right. So' he
denied all knowledge of the papal brief — though he
had as a fact received 60,000 ducats for signing it —
and accused the Archbishop of Cosenza, secretary
for apostolic briefs, of having granted a false dis-
pensation. By reason of this accusation, the arch-
bishop was taken to the castle of Sant' Angelo, and
a suit was begun.

But as it was no easy task to prove an accusation
of this nature, especially if the archbishop should
persist in maintaining that the dispensation was
really granted by the pope, it was resolved to employ
a trick with him which could not fail to succeed.
One evening the Archbishop of Cosenza saw Car-
dinal Valentino come into his prison; with that
frank air of affability which he knew well how to
assume when it could serve his purpose, he
explained to the prisoner the embarrassing situation

183

CELEBRATED CRIMES

in which the pope was placed, from which the arch-
bishop alone, whom His Holiness looked upon as
his best friend, could save him.

The archbishop replied that he was entirely at tlie
service of His Holiness.

Caesar, on his entrance, found the captive seated,
leaning his elbows on a table, and he took a seat
opposite him and explained the pope's position : it
was an embarrassing one. At the very time of con-
tracting so important an alliance with the house of
Aragon as that of Lucrezia and Alfonso, His Holi-
ness could not avow to Ferdinand and Isabella that,
for the sake of a few miserable ducats, he had signed
a dispensation which would unite in the husband
and wife together all the legitimate claims to a
throne to which Ferdinand and Isabella had no
right at all but that of conquest. This avowal
would necessarily put an end to all negotiations, and
the pontifical house would fall by the overthrow of
that very pedestal which was to have heightened its
grandeur. Accordingly the archbishop would under-
stand what the pope expected of his devotion and
friendship : it was a simple and straight avowal that
he had supposed he might take it upon himself to
accord the dispensation. Then, as the sentence to
be passed on such an error would be the business
of Alexander, the accused could easily imagine
beforehand how truly paternal such a sentence

184

THE BORGIAS

would be. Besides, the reward was in the same
hands, and if the sentence was that of a father, the
recompense would be that of a king. In fact, this
recompense would be no less than the honour of
assisting as envoy, with the title of cardinal, at the
marriage of Lucrezia and Alfonso — a favour which
would be very appropriate, since it would be thanks
to his devotion that the marriage could take place.
The Archbishop of Cosenza knew the men he was
dealing with ; he knew that to save their own ends
they would hesitate at nothing; he knew they had a
poison like sugar to the taste and to the smell,
impossible to discover in food — a poison that would
kill slowly or quickly as the poisoner willed and
would leave no trace behind; he knew the secret of
the poisoned key that lay always on the pope's man-
telpiece, so that .when His Holiness wished to
destroy some one of his intimates, he bade him
open a certain cupboard : on the handle of the key
there was a little spike, and as the lock of the cup-
board turned stiffly the hand would naturally press,
the lock would yield, and nothing would have come
of it but a trifling scratch : the scratch was mortal.
He knew, too, that Caesar w^ore a ring made like
two lions' heads, and that he would turn the stone
on the inside when he was shaking hands with a
friend. Then the lions' teeth became the teeth of
a viper, and the friend died cursing Borgia. So he

185

CELEBRATED CRIMES

yielded, partly through fear, partly blinded by the
thought of the reward; and Caesar returned to the
Vatican armed with a precious paper, in which the
Archbishop of Cosenza admitted that he was the
only person responsible for the dispensation granted
to the royal nun. Two days later, by means of the
proofs kindly furnished by the archbishop, the pope,
in the presence of the governor of Rome, the auditor
of the apostolic chamber, the advocate, and the
fiscal attorney, pronounced sentence, condemning
the archbishop to the loss of all his benefices and
ecclesiastical offices, degradation from his orders,
and confiscation of his goods; his person was to be
handed over to the civil arm. Two days later the
civil magistrate entered the prison to fulfil his office
as received from the pope, and appeared before the
archbishop, accompanied by a clerk, two servants,
and four guards. The clerk unrolled the paper he
carried and read out the sentence; the two servants
untied a packet, and, stripping the prisoner of his
ecclesiastical garments, they reclothed him in a dress
of coarse white cloth which only reached down to
his knees, breeches of the same, and a pair of
clumsy shoes. Lastly, the guards took him, and led
him into one of the deepest dungeons of the castle
of Sant' Angelo, where for furniture he found noth-
ing but a wooden crucifix, a table, a chair, and a
bed; for occupation, a Bible and a breviary, with a

1 86

THE BORGIAS

lamp to read by; for nourishment, two pounds of
bread and a little cask of water, which were to be
renewed every three days, together with a bottle of
oil for burning in his lamp.

At the end of a year the poor archbishop died of
despair, not before he had gnawed his own arms in
his agony.

The very same day that he was taken into the
dungeon, Caesar Borgia, who had managed the
affair so ably, was presented by the pope with all the
belongings of the condemned prisoner.

But the hunting parties, balls, and masquerades
were not the only pleasures enjoyed by the pope and
his family : from time to time strange spectacles
were exhibited. We will only describe two — one of
them a case of punishment, the other no more nor
less than a matter of the stud farm. But as both of
these give details with which we would not have our
readers credit our imagination, we will first say that
they are literally translated from Burchard's Latin
journal.

"About the same time — that is, about the begin-
ning of 1499 — a certain courtesan named La Cor-
setta was in prison, and had a lover who came to
visit her in woman's clothes, a Spanish Moor, called
' from his disguise * the Spanish lady from Barbary.'
As a punishment, both of them were led through
the town, the woman without petticoat or skirt, but

187

CELEBRATED CRIMES

wearing only the Moor's dress unbuttoned in front;
the man wore his woman's garb ; his hands were
tied behind his back, and the skirt fastened up to
his middle, with a view to complete exposure before
the eyes of all. When in this attire they had made
the circuit of the town, the Corsetta was sent back
to the prison with the Moor. But on the 7th of
April following, the Moor was again taken out and
escorted in the company of two thieves towards the
Campo dei Fiori. The three condemned men were
preceded by a constable, who rode backwards on an
ass, and held in his hand a long pole, on the end of
which were hung, still bleeding, the amputated
limbs of a poor Jew who had suffered torture and
death for some trifling crime. \Mien the proces-
sion reached the place of execution, the thieves
were hanged, and the unfortunate Moor was tied
to a stake piled round with wood, where he was to
have been burnt to death, had not rain fallen in
such torrents that the fire would not burn, in spite
of all the efforts of the executioner."

This unlooked-for accident, taken as a miracle by
the people, robbed Lucrezia of the most exciting
part of the execution ; but her father was holding
in reserve another kind of spectacle to console her
with later. We inform the reader once more that
a few lines we are about to set before him are a
translation from the journal of the worthy German

188

THE BORGIAS

Burchard, who saw nothing in the bloodiest or
most wanton performances but facts for his
journal, which he duly registered with the impas-
sibility of a scribe, appending- no remark or moral
reflection.

"On the nth of November a certain peasant was
entering Rome with two stallions laden with wood,
when the servants of His Holiness, just as he passed
the Piazza of St. Peter's, cut their girths, so that
their loads fell on the ground with the pack-saddles,
and led off the horses to a court between the palace
and the gate ; then the stable doors were opened, and
four stallions, quite free and unbridled, rushed out
and in an instant all six animals began kicking,
biting and fighting each other until several were
killed. Roderigo and Madame Lucrezia, who sat at
the window just over the palace gate, took the
greatest delight in the struggle and called their
courtiers to witness the gallant battle that was be-
ing fought below them.

Now Caesar's trick in the matter of the Arch-
bishop of Cosenza had had the desired result, and
Isabella and Ferdinand could no longer impute to
Alexander the signature of the brief they had com-
plained of : so nothing was now in the way of the
marriage of Lucrezia and Alfonso; this certainty
gave the pope great joy, for he attached all the more
importance to this marriage because he was already

189

CELEBRATED CRIMES

cogitating a second, between Caesar and Dona
Carlota, Frederic's daughter.

Ccesar had shown in all his actions since his
brother's death his want of vocation for the ecclesi-
astical life ; so no one was astonished when, a con-
sistory having been summoned one morning by
Alexander, Caesar entered, and addressing the pope,
began by saying that from his earliest years he had
been drawn towards secular pursuits both by natural
inclination and ability, and it had only been in
obedience to the absolute commands of His Holiness
that he entered the Church, accepted the cardinal's
scarlet, other dignities, and finally the sacred order
of the diaconate ; but feeling that in his situation it
was improper to follow his passions, and at his age
impossible to resist them, he humbly entreated His
Holiness graciously to yield to the desire he had
failed to overcome, and to permit him to lay aside
the dress and dignities of the Church, and enter
once more into the world, there to contract a lawful
marriage; also he entreated the lord cardinals to
intercede for him with His Holiness, to whom he
would freely resign all his churches, abbeys, and
benefices, as well as every other ecclesiastical dignity
and preferment that had been accorded him. The
cardinals, deferring to Caesar's wishes, gave a
unanimous vote, and the pope, as we may suppose,
like a good father, not wishing to force his son's

190

THE BORGIAS

inclinations, accepted his resignation, and yielded to
the petition; thus Cassar put off the scarlet robe,
which was suited to him, says his historian, Tom-
maso Tommasi, in one particular only — that it was
the colour of blood.

In truth, the resignation was a pressing necessity,
and there was no time to lose. Charles viii one day
after he had come home late and tired from the
hunting-field, had bathed his head in cold water,
and going straight to table, had been struck down
by an apoplectic seizure directly after his supper,
and was dead, leaving the throne to the good Louis
xii_, a man of two conspicuous weaknesses, one as
deplorable as the other: the first was the wish to
make conquests; the second was the desire to have
children. Alexander, who was on the watch for
all political changes, had seen in a moment what he
could get from Louis xii''s accession to the throne,
and was prepared to profit by the fact that the new
king of France needed his help for the accomplish-
ment of his twofold desire. Louis needed, first, his
temporal aid in an expedition against the duchy of
Milan, on which, as we explained before, he had
inherited claims from Valentina Visconti, his grand-
mother; and, secondly, his spiritual aid to dissolve
his marriage with Jeanne, the daughter of Louis xi,
a childless and hideously deformed woman, whom
he had only married by reason of the great fear he

191

CELEBRATED CRIMES

entertained for her father. Now Alexander was
willing to do all this for Louis xii and to give in
addition a cardinal's hat to his friend George
d'Amboise, provided only that the King of France
would use his influence in persuading the young
Dona Carlota, who was at his court, to marry his
son Caesar.

So, as this business was already far advanced on
the day when Caesar doffed his scarlet and donned
a secular garb, thus fulfilling the ambition so long
cherished, when the lord of Villeneuve, sent by Louis
and commissioned to bring Csesar to France, pre-
sented himself before the ex-cardinal on his arrival
at Rome, the latter, with his usual extravagance of
luxury and the kindness he knew well how to
bestow on those he needed, entertained his guest for
a month, and did all the honours of Rome. After
that, they departed, preceded by one of the pope's
couriers, who gave orders that every town they
passed through was to receive them with marks of
honour and respect. The same order had been
sent throughout the whole of France, where the illus-
trious visitors received so numerous a guard, and
were welcomed by a populace so eager to behold
them, that after they passed through Paris, Caesar's
gentlemen-in-waiting wrote to Rome that they had
not seen any trees in France, or houses, or walls, but
only men, women, and sunshine.

192

Cesare Borgia.
From the orUjinal in the Correr Museum, Venice

THE BORGIAS

The king, on the pretext of going out hunting,
went to meet his guest two leagues outside the town.
As he knew Caesar was very fond of the name of
Valentino, which he had used as cardinal, and still
continued to employ with the title of Count, although
he had resigned the archbishopric which gave him
the name, he there and then bestowed on him the
investiture of Valence, in Dauphine, with the title of
Duke and a pension of 20,000 francs; then, when he
had made this magnificent gift and talked with him
for nearly a couple of hours, he took his leave, to
enable him to prepare the splendid entry he was pro-
posing to make.

It was Wednesday, the i8th of December 1498,
when Coesar Borgia entered the town of Chinon, with
pomp worthy of the son of a pope who is about to
marry the daughter of a king. The procession began
with four-and-twenty mules, caparisoned in red,
adorned with escutcheons bearing the duke's arms,
laden with carved trunks and chests inlaid with ivory
and silver; after them came four-and-twenty more,
also caparisoned, this time in the livery of the King
of France, yellow and red; next after these came ten
other mules, covered in yellow satin with red cross-
bars ; and lastly another ten, covered with striped
cloth of gold, the stripes alternately raised and flat
gold.

Behind the seventy mules which led the procession

Dumas — Vol. 1 — 7 IQ3

CELEBRATED CRIMES

there pranced sixteen handsome battle-horses, led
by equerries who marched alongside ; these were fol-
lowed by eighteen hunters ridden by eighteen pages,
who were about fourteen or fifteen years of age;
sixteen of them were dressed in crimson velvet, and
two in raised gold cloth ; so elegantly dressed were
these two children, who were also the best looking
of the little band, that the sight of them gave rise
to strange suspicions as to the reason for this prefer-
ence, if one may believe what Brantome says. Final-
ly, behind these eighteen horses came six beautiful
mules, all harnessed with red velvet, and led by six
valets, also in velvet to match.

The third group consisted of, first, tv/o mules
quite covered with cloth of gold, each carrying two
chests in which it was said that the duke's treasure
was stored, the precious stones he was bringing to
his fiancee, and the relics and papal bulls that his
father had charged him to convey for him to Louis
XII. These were followed by twenty gentlemen
dressed in cloth of gold and silver, among whom
rode Paul Giordano Orsino and several barons and
knights among the chiefs of the state ecclesiastic.

Next came two drums, one rebeck, and four
soldiers blowing trumpets and silver clarions; then,
in the midst of a party of four-and-twenty lacqueys,
dressed half in crimson velvet and half in yellow silk,
rode Messire George d'Amboise and Monseigneur

194

THE BORGIAS

the Duke of Valentinois, Caesar was mounted on a
handsome tall courser, very richly harnessed, in a
robe half red satin and half cloth of gold, embroid-
ered all over with pearls and precious stones; in his
cap were two rows of rubies, the size of beans, which'
reflected so brilliant a light that one might have
fancied they were the famous carbuncles of the
Arabian Nights; he also wore on his neck a collar
worth at least 200,000 livres; indeed, there was no
part of him, even down to his boots, that was not
laced with gold and edged with pearls. His horse
was covered with a cuirass in a pattern of golden
foliage of wonderful workmanship, among which
there appeared to grow, like flowers, nosegays of
pearls and clusters of rubies.

Lastly, bringing up the rear of the magnificent
cortege, behind the duke came twenty-four mules
with red caparisons bearing his arms, carrying his
silver plate, tents, and baggage.

What gave to all the cavalcade an air of most won-
derful luxury and extravagance was that the horses
and mules were shod with golden shoes, and these
were so badly nailed on that more than three-
quarters of their number were lost on the road. For
this extravagance Caesar was greatly blamed, for it
was thought an audacious thing tO' put on his
horses' feet a metal of which king's crowns are
made.

195

CELEBRATED CRIMES

But all this pomp had no effect on the lady for
whose sake it had been displayed; for when Dona
Carlota was told that Caesar Borgia had come to
France in the hope of becoming her husband, she
replied simply that she would never take a priest for
her husband, and, moreover, the son of a priest; a
man who was not only an assassin, but a fratricide;
not only a man of infamous birth, but still more
infamous in his morals and his actions.

But, in default of the haughty lady of Aragon,
Caesar soon found another princess of noble blood
who consented to be his wife: this was Mademoiselle
d'Albret, daughter of the King of Navarre. The
marriage, arranged on condition that the pope sho.uld
pay 200,000 ducats as dowry to the bride, and should
make her brother cardinal, was celebrated on the
loth of May; and on the Whitsunday following the
Duke of Valentinois received the order of St.
Michael, an order founded by Louis xi., and esteemed
at this period as the highest in the gift of the kings
of France. The news of this marriage, which made
an alliance with Louis xii certain, was received with
great joy by the pope, who at once gave orders for
bonfires and illuminations all over the town.

Louis XII was not only grateful to the pope for
dissolving his marriage with Jeanne of France and
authorizing his union with Anne of Brittany, but he
considered it indispensable to his designs in Italy to

196

THE BORGIAS

have the pope as his ally. So he promised the Duke
of Valentinois to put three hundred lances at his
disposal, as soon as he had made an entry into Milan,
to be used to further his own private interests, and
against whomsoever he pleased except only the allies
of France. The conquest of Milan should be under-
taken so soon as Louis felt assured of the support of
the Venetians, or at least of their neutrality, and he
had sent them ambassadors authorised to promise in
his name the restoration of Cremona and Ghiera
d'Adda when he had completed the conquest of Lom-
bardy.

197

CHAPTER IX

EVERYTHING from without was favouring
Alexander's encroaching policy, when he
was compelled to turn his eyes from France to-
wards the centre of Italy: in Florence dwelt a
man, neither duke, nor king, nor soldier, a man
whose power was in his genius, whose armour was
his purity, who owned no offensive weapon but his
tongue, and whO' yet began to grow more dangerous
for him than all the kings, dukes, princes, in the
whole world could ever be; this man was the poor
Dominican monk Girolamo Savonarola, the same
who had refused absolution to Lorenzo del Medici
because he would not restore the liberty of Florence.
Girolamo Savonarola had prophesied the invasion
of a force from beyond the Alps, and Charles viii
had conquered Naples; Girolamo Savonarola had
prophesied to Charles viii that because he had failed
to fulfil the mission of liberator entrusted to him by
God, he was threatened with a great misfortune as a
punishment, and Charles was dead ; lastly, Savon-
arola had prophesied his own fall like the man who
paced around the holy city for eight days, crying,
" Woe to Jerusalem ! " and on the ninth day, " Woe

198

THE BORGIAS

be on my own head ! " None the less, the Florentine
refonner, who could not recoil from any danger,
was determined to attack the colossal abomination
that was seated on St. Peter's holy throne; each
debauch, each fresh crime that lifted up its brazen
face to the light of day or tried to hide its shameful
head beneath the veil of night, he had never failed
to point out to the people, denouncing it as the off-
spring of the pope's luxurious living and lust of
power. Thus had he stigmatised Alexander's new
amour with the beautiful Giulia Farnese, who in the
preceding April had added another son to the pope's
family; thus had he cursed the Duke of Gandia's
murderer, the lustful, jealous fratricide; lastly, he
had pointed out to the Florentines, who were
excluded from the league then forming, what sort of
future was in store for them when the Borgias should
have made themselves masters of the small principali-
ties and should come to attack the duchies and re-
publics. It was clear that in Savonarola, the pope
had an enemy at once temporal and spiritual, whose
importunate and threatening voice must be silenced
at any cost.

But mighty as the pope's power was, to accom-
plish a design like this was no easy matter. Savon-
arola, preaching the stern principles of liberty, had
united to his cause, even in the midst of rich,
pleasure-loving Florence, a party of some size,

199

CELEBRATED CRIAIES

known as the Piagnoni, or the Penitents : this band
was composed of citizens who were anxious for
reform in Church and State, who accused the Medici
of enslaving the fatherland and the Borgias of upset-
ting the faith, who demanded two things, that the
republic should return to her democratic principles,
and religion to a primitive simplicity. Towards the
first of these projects considerable progress had been
made, since they had successively obtained, first, an
amnesty for all crimes and delinquencies committed
under other governments ; secondly, the abolition of
the halia, which was an aristocratic magistracy;
thirdly, the establishment of a sovereign council,
composed of i,8oo citizens; and lastly, the substitu-
tion of popular elections for drawing by lot and for
oligarchical nominations: these changes had been
effected in spite of two other factions, the
Arrahiati, or Madmen, who, consisting of the richest
and noblest youths of the Florentine patrician fam-
ilies, desired to have an oligarchical government;
and the Bigi, or Greys, so called because they always
held their meetings in the shade, who desired the
return of the Medici.

The first measure Alexander used against the
growing power of Savonarola was to declare him
heretic, and as such banished from the pulpit; but
Savonarola had eluded this prohibition by making
his pupil and friend, Domenico Bonvicini di Pescia,

200

THE BORGIAS

preach in his stead. The result was that the master's
teachings were issued from other Hps, and that was
all; the seed, though scattered by another hand, fell
none the less on fertile soil, where it would soon
burst into flower. MoreoA^er, Savonarola now set an
example that was followed tO' good purpose by-
Luther, when, twenty-two years later, he burned
Leo x's bull of excommunication at Wittenberg; he
was weary of silence, so he declared, on the authority
of Pope Pelagius, that an unjust excommunication
had no efficacy, and that the person excommunicated
unjustly did not even need to get absolution. So on
Christmas Day, 1497, he declared that by the inspi-
ration of God he renounced his obedience to a corrupt
master; and he began to preach once more in the
cathedral, with a success that was all the greater for
the interruption, and an influence far more formid-
able than before, because it was strengthened by that
sympathy of the masses which an unjust persecution
always inspires.

Then Alexander made overtures to Leonardo dei
Medici, vicar of the archbishopric of Florence, to
obtain the punishment of the rebel: Leonardo, in
obedience to the orders he received from Rome,
issued a mandate forbidding the faithful to attend
at Savonarola's sermons. After this mandate, any
who should hear the discourses of the excommuni-
cated monk would be refused communion and con-

201

CELEBRATED CRIMES

fession; and as when they died they would be con-
taminated with heresy, in consequence of their
spiritual intercourse with a heretic, their dead
bodies would be dragged on a hurdle and deprived
of the rights of sepulture; Savonarola appealed
from the mandate of his superior both to the people
and to the Signoria, and the two together gave
orders to the episcopal vicar to leave Florence within
two hours : this happened at the beginning of the
year 1498.

The expulsion of Leonardo dei Medici was a new
triumph for Savonarola, so, wishing to turn to good
moral account his growing influence, he resolved to
convert the last day of the carnival, hitherto given
up to worldly pleasures, into a day of religious sac-
rifice. So actually on Shrove Tuesday a considerable
number of boys were collected in front of the cathe-
dral, and there divided into bands, which traversed
the whole town, making a house-to-house visitation,
claiming all profane books, licentious paintings,
lutes, harps, cards and dice, cosmetics and perfumes
— in a word, all the hundreds of products of a
corrupt society and civilisation, by the aid of which
Satan at times makes victorious war on God. The
inhabitants of Florence obeyed, and came forth to
the Piazza of the Duomo, bringing these works of
perdition, which were soon piled up in a huge stack,
which the youthful reformers set on fire, singing

202

I

THE BORGIAS

religious psalms and hymns the while. On this pile
were burned many copies of Boccaccio and o£ Mor-
gante Maggiore, and pictures by Fra Bartolommeo,
who' from that day forward renounced the art of
this world to consecrate his brush utterly and
entirely to the reproduction of religious scenes.

A reform such as this was terrifying to Alexan-
der; so he resolved on fighting Savonarola with his
own weapons — that is, by the force of eloquence.
He chose as the Dominican's opponent a preacher of
recognised talent, called Fra Francesco di Paglia;
and he sent him to Florence, where he began to
preach in Santa Croce, accusing Savonarola of
heresy and impiety. At the same time the pope, in
a new brief, announced to the Signoria that unless
they forbade the arch-heretic to preach, all the goods
of Florentine merchants who lived on the papal
territory would be confiscated, and the republic laid
under an interdict and declared the spiritual and
temporal enemy of the Church. The Signoria,
abandoned by France, and aware that the material
power of Rome was increasing in a frightful man-
ner, was forced this time to yield, and to issue to
Savonarola an order to leave off preaching. He
obeyed, and bade farewell to his congregation in a
sermon full of strength and eloquence.

But the withdrawal of Savonarola, so far from
calming the ferment, had increased it : there was

203

CELEBRATED CRIMES

talk about his prophecies being fulfilled; and some
zealots, more ardent than their master, added
miracle to inspiration, and loudly proclaimed that
Savonarola had offered to go down into the vaults
of the cathedral with his antagonist, and there bring
a dead man to life again, to prove that his doctrine
was true, promising to declare himself vanquished
if the miracle were performed by his adversan,-.
These rumours reached the ears of Fra Francesco,
and as he was a man of warm blood, who' counted
his own life as nothing if it might be spent to help
his cause, he declared in all humility that he felt he
was too great a sinner for God to work a miracle in
his behalf; but he proposed another challenge: he
would try with Savonarola the ordeal of fire. He
knew, he said, that he must perish, but at least he
should perish avenging the cause of religion, since
he was certain to involve in his destruction the
tempter who plunged so many souls beside his own
into eternal damnation.

The proposition made by Fra Francesco was
taken to Savonarola ; but as he had never proposed
the earlier challenge, he hesitated to accept the sec-
ond ; hereupon his disciple, Fra Domenico Bonvicini,
more confident than his master in his own power,
declared himself ready to accept the trial by fire in
his stead, so certain was he that God would perfonn
a miracle by the intercession of Savonarola, His

204

THE BORGIAS

prophet. Instantly the report spread through Flor-
ence that the mortal challenge was accepted ; Savona-
rola's partisans, all men of the strongest convictions,
felt no doubt as to the success of their cause. His
enemies were enchanted at the thought of the heretic
giving himself to the flames; and the indifferent
saw in the ordeal a spectacle of real and terrible
interest.

But the devotion of Fra Bonvicini of Pescia was
not what Fra Francesco was reckoning with. He
was willing, no doubt, to die a terrible death, but on
condition that Savonarola died with him. What
mattered to him the death of an obscure disciple like
Fra Bonvicini? It was the master he would strike,
the great teacher who must be involved in his own
ruin. So he refused to enter the fire except with
Savonarola himself, and, playing this terrible game
in his own person, would not allow his adversary to
play it by proxy.

Then a thing happened which certainly no one
could have anticipated. In the place of Fra Fran-
cesco, who would not tilt with any but the master,
two Franciscan monks appeared to tilt with the
disciple. These were Fra Nicholas de Pilly and Fra
Andrea Rondinelli. Immediately the partisans of
Savonarola, seeing this arrival of reinforcements for
their antagonist, came forward in a crowd to try
the ordeal. The Franciscans were unwilling to be

205

CELEBRATED CRIMES

behindhand, and everybody took sides with equal
ardour for one or other party. All Florence was
like a den of madmen ; everj^one wanted the ordeal,
everyone wanted to go into the fire; not only did
men challenge one another, but women and even
children were clamouring to be allowed to try. At
last the Signoria, reserving this privilege for the
first applicants, ordered that the strange duel should
take place only between Fra Domenico Bonvicini
and Fra Andrea Rondinelli ; ten of the citizens were
to arrange all details ; the day was fixed for the 7th
of April, 1498, and the place the Piazza del Palazzo.

The judges of the field made their arrangements
conscientiously. By their orders scaffolding was
erected at the appointed place, five feet in height,
ten in width, and eighty feet long. This scaffolding
was covered with faggots and heath, supported by
cross-bars of the very driest wood that could be
found. Two narrow paths were made, two feet
wide at most, their entrance giving on the Loggia
dei Lanzi, their exit exactly opposite. The loggia
was itself divided into two by a partition, so that
each champion had a kind of room to make his
preparations in, just as in the theatre every actor has
his dressing-room; but in this instance the tragedy
that was about to be played was not a fictitious one.

The Franciscans arrived on the piazza and entered
the compartment reserved for them without making

206

THE BORGIAS

any religious demonstration; while Savonarola, on
the contrary, advanced to his own place in the pro-
cession, wearing the sacerdotal robes in which he
had just celebrated the Holy Eucharist, and holding
in his hand the sacred host for all the world to see,
as it was enclosed in a crystal tabernacle. Fra
Domenico di Pescia, the hero of the occasion, fol-
lowed, bearing a crucifix, and all the Dominican
monks, their red crosses in their hands, marched
behind singing a psalm; while behind them again
followed the most considerable of the citizens of
their party, bearing torches, for, sure as they were
of the triumph of their cause, they wished to fire the
faggots themselves. The piazza was so crowded
that the people overflowed into all the streets around.
In every door and window there was nothing to be
seen but heads ranged one above the other; the
terraces were covered with people, and curious spec-
tators were observed on the roof of the Duomo and
on the top of the Campanile.

But, brought face to face with the ordeal, the
Franciscans raised such difficulties that it was very
plain the heart of their champion was failing him.
The first fear they expressed was that Fra Bonvicini
was an enchanter, and so carried about him some
talisman or charm which would save him from the
fire. So they insisted that he should be stripped of
all his clothes and put on others to be inspected by

207

CELEBRATED CRIMES

witnesses. Fra Bonvicini made no objection, though
the suspicion was humihating; he changed shirt,
dress, and cowl. Then, when the Franciscans
observed that Savonarola was placing the tabernacle
in his hands, they protested that it was profanation
to expose the sacred host to the risk of burning,
that this was not in the bond, and if Bonvicini would
not give up this supernatural aid, they for their part
would give up the trial altogether. Savonarola
replied that it was not astonishing that the champion
of religion who put his faith in God should bear in
his hands that very God tO' whom he entrusted his
salvation. But this reply did not satisfy the Fran-
ciscans, who were unwilling to let go their conten-
tion. Savonarola remained inflexible, supporting his
own right, and thus nearly four hours passed in the
discussion of points which neither party would give
up, and affairs remained in statu quo. Meanwhile
the people, jammed together in the streets, on the
terraces, on the roofs, since break of day, were
suffering from hunger and thirst and beginning to
get impatient: their impatience soon developed into
loud murmurs, which reached even the champions'
ears, so that the partisans of Savonarola, who felt
such faith in him that they were confident of a
miracle, entreated him to yield to all the conditions
suggested. To this Savonarola replied that if it
were himself making the trial he would be less

208

THE BORGIAS

inexorable ; but since another man was incurring the
danger, he could not take too many precautions.
Two more hours passed, while his partisans tried in
vain to combat his refusals. At last, as night was
coming on and the people grew ever more and more
impatient and their murmurs began to assume a
threatening tone, Bonvicini declared that he was
ready to walk through the fire, holding nothing in
his hand but a crucifix. No one could refuse him
this; so Fra Rondinelli was compelled to accept his
proposition. The announcement was made tO' the
populace that the champions had come to terms and
the trial was about to take place. At this news the
people calmed down, in the hope of being compen-
sated at last for their long wait; but at that very
moment a storm which had long been threatening
broke over Florence with such fury that the faggots
which had just been lighted were extingiu'shed by the
rain, leaving no possibility of their rekindling. From
the moment when the people suspected that they had
been fooled, their enthusiasm was changed into deri-
sion. They were ignorant from which side the diffi-
culties had arisen that had hindered the trial, so they
laid the responsibility on both champions without
distinction. The Signoria, foreseeing the disorder
that was now imminent, ordered the assembly to
retire; but the assembly thought otherwise, and
stayed on the piazza, waiting for the departure of

209

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the two champions, in spite of the fearful rain that
still fell in torrents. Rondinelli was taken back amid
shouts and hootings, and pursued with showers of
stones. Savonarola, thanks to his sacred garments
and the host which he still carried, passed calmly
enough through the midst of the mob — a miracle
quite as remarkable as if he had passed through the
fire unscathed.

But it was only the sacred majesty of the host
that had protected this man, who was indeed from
this moment regarded as a false prophet : the crowd
allowed Savonarola to return to his convent, but
they regretted the necessity, so excited were they
by the Arrahhiati party, who had always denounced
him as a liar and a hypocrite. So when the next
morning, Palm Sunday, he stood up in the pulpit to
explain his conduct, he could not obtain a moment's
silence for insults, hooting, and loud laughter. Then
the outcry, at first derisive, became menacing:
Savonarola, whose voice was too weak to subdue
the tumult, descended from his pulpit, retired into
the sacristy, and thence to his convent, where he
shut himself up in his cell. At that moment a cry
was heard, and was repeated by everybody present:
** To San Marco, to San Marco ! " The rioters, few
at first, were recruited by all the populace as they
swept along the streets, and at last reached the con-
vent, dashing like an angry sea against the wall.

2IO

THE BORGI AS

The doors, closed on Savonarola's entrance, soon
crashed before the vehement onset of the Dowerful
multitude, which struck down on the instant every
obstacle it met: the whole convent was quickly
flooded with people, and Savonarola, with his two
confederates, Domenico Bonvicini and Silvestro
Maruffi, was arrested in his cell, and conducted to
prison amid the insults of the crowd, who, always
in extremes, whether of enthusiasm or hatred, would
have liked to tear them to pieces, and would not be
quieted till they had exacted a promise that the
prisoners should be forcibly compelled to make the
trial of fire which they had refused to make of their
own free will.

Alexander vi, as we may suppose, had not been
without influence in bringing about this sudden and
astonishing reaction, although he was not present in
person ; and had scarcely learned the news of Savon-
arola's fall and arrest when he claimed him as subject
to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. But in spite of the
grant of indulgences wherewith this demand was
accompanied, the Signoria insisted that Savonarola's
trial should take place at Florence, adding a request
— so as not to appear to withdraw the accused com-
pletely from the pontifical authority — that the pope
would send two ecclesiastical judges to sit in the
Florentine tribunal. Alexander, seeing that he
would get nothing better from the magnificent

211

CELEBRATED CRIINIES

republic, sent as deputies Gioacchino Turriano of
Venice, General of the Dominicans, and Francesco
Ramolini, doctor in law: they practically brought
the sentence with them, declaring Savonarola and
his accomplices heretics, schismatics, persecutors of
the Church and seducers of the people.

The firmness shown by the Florentines in claiming
their rights of jurisdiction were nothing but an
empty show to save appearances; the tribunal, as a
fact, was composed of eight members, all known to
be fervent haters of Savonarola, whose trial began
with the torture. The result was that, feeble in
body and constitutionally nervous and irritable, he
had not been able to endure the rack, and, overcome
by agony just at the moment when the executioner
had lifted him up by the wrists and then dropped
him a distance of two feet to the ground, he had
confessed, in order to get some respite, that his
prophecies were nothing more than conjectures. It
is true that, so soon as he went back to prison, he
protested against the confession, saying that it was
the weakness of his bodily organs and his want of
firmness that had wrested the lie from him, but that
the truth really was that the Lord had several times
appeared to him in his ecstasies and revealed the
things that he had spoken. This protestation led to
a new application of the torture, during which
Savonarola succumbed once more to the dreadful

212

THE BORGIAS

pain, and once more retracted. But scarcely was he
unbound, and was still lying on the bed of torture,
when he declared that his confessions were the fault
of his torturers, and the vengeance would recoil
upon their heads; and he protested yet once more
against all he had confessed and might confess
again. A third time the torture produced the same
avowals, and the relief that followed it the same
retractions. The judges therefore, when they
condemned him and his two disciples to the flames,
decided that his confession should not be read aloud
at the stake, according to custom, feeling certain
that on this occasion also he would give it the lie,
and that publicly, which, as anyone must see who
knew the versatile spirit of the public, would be a
most dangerous proceeding.

On the 23rd of May, the fire which had been
promised tO' the people before was a second time
prepared on the Piazza del Palazzo, and this time
the crowd assembled quite certain that they would
not be disappointed of a spectacle so long antici-
pated. And towards eleven o'clock in the morning,
Girolamo Savonarola. Domenico Bonvicini, and
Silvestro Maruffi were led to the place of execution,
degraded of their orders by the ecclesiastical judges,
and bound all three to the same stake in the centre
of an immense pile of wood. Then the bishop Pagna-
noli told the condemned men that he cut them off

213

CELEBRATED CRIMES

from the Church. "Ay, from the Church militant,"
said Savonarola, who from that very hour, thanks
to his martyrdom, was entering into the Church
triumphant. No other words were spoken by the
condemned men, for at this moment one of the
Arrahhiati, a personal enemy of Savonarola, break-
ing through the hedge of guards around the scaffold,
snatched the torch from the executioner's hand and
himself set fire to the four comers of the pile. Savon-
arola and his disciples, from the moment when they
saw the smoke arise, began to sing a psalm, and the
flames enwrapped them on all sides with a glowing
veil, while their religious song was yet heard mount-
ing upward to the gates of heaven.

Pope Alexander vi was thus set free from perhaps
the most formidable enemy who had ever risen
against him, and the pontifical vengeance pursued
the victims even after their death: the Signoria,
yielding to his wishes, gave orders that the ashes
of the prophet and his disciples should be thrown in-
to the Arno. But certain half-burned fragments
were picked up by the very soldiers whose business
it was to keep the people back from approaching the
fire, and the holy relics are even now shown, black-
ened by the flames, to the faithful, who if they no
longer regard Savonarola as a prophet, revere him
none the less as a martyr.

214

CHAPTER X

THE French amiy was now preparing to cross
the Alps a second time, under the command
of Triviilce. Louis xii had come as far as Lyons in
the company of Caesar Borgia and Giuliano della
Rovere, on whom he had forced a reconcihation, and
towards the beginning of the month of May had
sent his vanguard before him, soon to be followed by
the main body of the army. The forces he was em-
ploying in this second campaign of conquest were
1600 lances, 5000 Swiss, 4000 Gascons, and 3500
infantry, raised from all parts of France. On the
13th of August this whole body, amounting to nearly
15,000 men, who were to combine their forces with
the Venetians, arrived beneath the walls of Arezzo,
and immediately laid siege to the town.

Ludovico Sforza's position was a terrible one:
he was now suffering from his imprudence in calling
the French into Italy; all the allies he had thought
he might count upon were abandoning him at the
same moment, either because they were busy about
their own affairs, or because they were afraid of
the powerful enemy that the Duke of Milan had

215

CELEBRATED CRIMES

made for himself. Maximilian, who had promised
him a contribution of 400 lances, to make up for
not renewing the hostilities with Louis xii that had
been interrupted, had just made a league with the
circle of Swabia to war against the Swiss, whom
he had declared rebels against the Empire. The
Florentines, who had engaged to furnish him with
300 men-at-arms and 2000 infantry, if he would
help them to retake Pisa, had just retracted
their promise because of Louis xii^s threats, and
had undertaken to remain neutral. Frederic,
who was holding back his troops for the defence
of his own States, because he supposed, not with-
out reason, that, ]\Iilan once conquered, he would
again have to defend Naples, sent him no help, no
men, no money, in spite of his promises. Ludo-
vico Sforza was therefore reduced to his own
proper forces.

But as he was a man powerful in arms and clever
in artifice, he did not allow himself to succumb at
the first blow, and in all haste fortified Annona,
Novarro, and Alessandria, sent off Cajazzo with
troops to that part of the Milanese territory which
borders on the states of Venice, and collected on the
Po as many troops as lie could. But these precau-
tions availed him nothing against the impetuous
onslaught of the French, who in a few days had
taken Annona, Arezzo, Novarro, Voghiera, Castel-

216

THE BORGIAS

nuovo, Ponte Corona, Tortone, and Alessandria
while Trivulce was on the march to Milan.

Seeing the rapidity of this conquest and their
numerous victories, Ludovico Sforza, despairing of
holding out in his capital, resolved to retire to Ger-
many, with his children, his brother. Cardinal As-
canio Sforza, and his treasure, which had been re-
duced in the course of eight years from 1,500,000
to 200,000 ducats. But before he went he left
Bernardino da Corte in charge of the castle of
Milan. In vain did his friends warn him to dis-
trust this man, in vain did his brother Ascanio offer
to hold the fortress himself, and offer to hold it to
the very last; Ludovico refused to make any change
in his arrangements, and started on the 2nd of Sep-
tember, leaving in the citadel three thousand foot
and enough provisions, ammunition, and money to
sustain a siege of several months.

Two days after Ludovico's departure, the French
entered Milan. Ten days later Bernardino da
Corte gave up the castle before a single gun had
been fired. Twenty-one days had sufficed for the
French to get possession of the various towns, the
capital, and all the territories of their enemy.

Louis XII received the news of this success while
he was at Lyons, and he at once started for Milan,
where he was received with demonstrations of joy
that were really sincere. Citizens of every rank had

217

CELEBRATED CRIMES

come out three miles' distance from the gates to
receive him, and forty boys, dressed in cloth of
gold and silk, marched before him singing hymns
of victory composed by poets of the period, in
which the king was styled their liberator and the
envoy of freedom. The great joy of the Milanese
people was due to the fact that friends of Louis had
been spreading reports beforehand that the King of
France was rich enough to abolish all taxes. And so
soon as the second day from his arrival at Milan
the conqueror made some slight reduction, granted
important favours to certain Milanese gentlemen,
and bestowed the town of Vigavano on Trivulce as
a reward for his swift and glorious campaign. But
Caesar Borgia, who had followed Louis xii with a
view to playing his part in the great hunting-ground
of Italy, scarcely waited for him to attain his end
when he claimed the fulfilment of his promise, which
the king with his accustomed loyalty hastened to per-
form. He instantly put at the disposal of Caesar
three hundred lances under the command of Yves
d'Alegre, and four thousand Swiss under the com-
mand of the bailiff of Dijon, as a help in his work
of reducing the Vicars of the Church.

We must now explain to our readers who these
new personages were whom we introduce upon the
scene by the above name.

During the eternal wars of Guelphs and Ghibel-

2l8

THE BORGIAS

lines and the long" exile of the popes at Avignon,
most of the towns and fortresses of the Romagna
had been usurped by petty tyrants, who for the most
part had received from the Empire the investiture of
their new possessions; but ever since German influ-
ence had retired beyond the Alps, and the popes had
again made Rome the centre of the Christian world,
all the small princes, robbed of their original pro-
tector, had rallied round the papal see, and received
at the hands of the pope a new investiture, and now
they paid annual dues, for which they received the
particular title of duke, count, or lord, and the gen-
eral name of Vica?' of the Church.

It had been no difficult matter for Alexander, scru-
pulously examining the actions and behaviour of
these gentlemen during the seven years that had
elapsed since he was exalted to St. Peter's throne, to
find in the conduct of each one of them something
that could be called an infraction of the treaty made
between vassals and suzerain; accordingly he
brought forward his complaints at a tribunal estab-
lished for the purpose, and obtained sentence from
the judges to the effect that the vicars of the Church,
having failed to fulfil the conditions of their investi-
ture, were despoiled of their domains, which would
again become the property of the Holy See. As the
pope was now dealing with men against whom it
was easier to pass a sentence than to get it carried

219

CELEBRATED CRIMES

out, he had nominated as captain-general the new
Duke of Valentinois, who was commissioned to re-
cover the territories for his own benefit. The lords
in question were the Malatesti of Rimini, the Sforza
of Pesaro, the Manfredi of Faenza, the Riarii of
Imola and Forii, the Variani of Camerino, the
Montefeltri of Urbino, and the Caetani of Ser-
moneta.

But the Duke of VaJentinois, eager to keep as
warm as possible his great friendship with his ally
and relative Louis xii, was, as we know, staying with
him at Milan so long as he remained there, where,
after a month's occupation, the king retraced his
steps to his own capital, the Duke of V'alentinois
ordered his men-at-arms and his Swiss to await him
between Parma and Modena, and departed post-
haste for Rome, to explain his plans to his father
viva voce and to receive his final instructions. When
he arrived, he found that the fortune of his sister
Lucrezia had been greatly augmented in his absence,
not from the side of her husband Alfonso, whose
future was very uncertain now in consequence of
Louis's successes, which had caused some coolness
between Alfonso and the pope, but from her father's
side, upon whom at this time she exercised an influ-
ence more astonishing than ever. The pope had de-
clared Lucrezia Borgia of Aragon life-governor of
Spoleto and its duchy, with all emoluments, rights,

220

THE BORGIAS

and revenues accruing thereunto. This had so
greatly increased her power and improved her posi-
tion, that in these days she never showed herself in
public without a company of two hundred horses
ridden by the most illustrious ladies and noblest
knights of Rome. Moreover, as the twofold affec-
tion of her father was a secret to nobody, the first
prelates in the Church, the frequenters of the Vat-
ican, the friends of His Holiness, were all her most
humble servants ; cardinals gave her their hands
when she stepped from her litter or her horse, arch-
bishops disputed the honour of celebrating mass in
her private apartments.

But Lucrezia had been obliged to quit Rome in
order to take possession of her new estates; and as
her father could not spend much time away from
his beloved daughter, he resolved to take into his
hands the town of Nepi, which on a former occasion,
as the reader will doubtless remember, he had be-
stowed on Ascanio Sforza in exchange for his
suffrage. Ascanio had naturally lost this town
when he attached himself to the fortunes of the Duke
of Milan, his brother; and when the pope was about
to take it again, he invited his daughter Lucrezia to
. hi him there and be present at the rejoicings held
::( iionour of his resuming its possession.

Lucrezia's readiness in giving way to her father's
v.ishes brought her a new gift from him : this was

221

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the town and territory of Sermoneta, which be-
longed to the Caetani. Of course the gift was as
yet a secret, because the two owners of the seigneury
had first to be disposed of, one being Monsignore
Giacomo Caetano, apostohc protonotary, the other
Prospero Caetano, a young cavaHer of great
promise ; but as both lived at Rome, and entertained
no suspicion, but indeed supposed themselves to be
in high favour with His Holiness, the one by virtue
of his position, the other of his courage, the matter
seemed to present no great difficulty. So directly
after the return of Alexander to Rome, Giacomo
Caetano was arrested, on what pretext we know not,
was taken to the castle of Sant' Angelo, and there
died shortly after, of poison : Prospero Caetano was
strangled in his own house. After these two deaths,
which both occurred so suddenly as to give no time
for either to make a will, the pope declared that Ser-
moneta and all other property appertaining to the
Caetani devolved upon the apostolic chamber; and
they were sold to Lucrezia for the sum of 80,000
crowns, which her father refunded to her the day
after. Though Caesar hurried to Rome, he found
when he arrived that his father had been before-
hand with him, and had made a beginning of his
conquests.

Another fortune also had been making prodigious
strides during Csesar's stay in France, viz. the for-

222

THE BORGT AS

tune of Gian Borgia, the pope's nephew, who had
been one of the most devoted friends of the Duke
of Gandia up to the time of his death. It was said
in Rome, and not in a whisper, that the young cardi-
nal owed the favours heaped upon him by His Holi-
ness less to the memory of the brother than to the
protection of the sister. Both these reasons made
Gian Borgia a special object of suspicion to Caesar,
and it was with an inward vow that he should not
enjoy his new dignities very long that the Duke of
Valentinois heard that his cousin Gian had just been
nominated cardinal a latere of all the Christian
world, and had quitted Rome to make a circuit
through all the pontifical states with a suite of arch-
bishops, bishops, prelates, and gentlemen, such as
would have done honour to the pope himself.

Csesar had only come to Rome to get news ; so he
only stayed three days, and then, with all the troops
His Holiness could supply, rejoined his forces on
the borders of the Euza, and marched at once to
Imola. This town, abandoned by its chiefs, who
had retired to Forli, was forced to capitulate. Imola
taken, Csesar marched straight upon Forli. There he
met with a serious check; a check, moreover, which
came from a woman. Caterina Sforza, widow of
Girolamo and mother of Ottaviano Riario, had re-
tired to this town, and stirred up the courage of the
garrison by putting herself, her goods and her

223

CELEBRATED CRIMES

person, under their protection. Caesar saw that it
was no longer a question of a sudden capture, but of
a regular siege ; so he began to make all his arrange-
ments with a view to it, and placing a battery of
cannon in front of the place where the walls seemed
to him weakest, he ordered an uninterrupted fire,
to be continued until the breach was practicable.

When he returned to the camp after giving this
order, he found there Gian Borgia, who had gone to
Rome from Ferrara and was unwilling to be so
near Caesar without paying him a visit : he was re-
ceived with effusion and apparently the greatest
joy, and stayed three days; on the fourth day all
the officers and members of the court were invited to
a grand farewell supper, and C?esar bade farewell to
his cousin, charging him with despatches for the
pope, and lavishing upon him all the tokens of affec-
tion he had shown on his arrival.

Cardinal Gian Borgia posted off as soon as he
left the supper-table, but on arriving at Urbino he
was seized with such a sudden and strange indisposi-
tion that he was forced to stop ; but after a few
minutes, feeling rather better, he went on ; scarcely,
however, had he entered Rocca Contrada when he
again felt so extremely ill that he resolved to go no
farther, and stayed a couple of days in the town.
Then, as he thought he was a little better again, and
as he had heard the news of the taking of Forli and

224

THE BORGI AS

also that Caterina Sforza had been taken prisoner
while she was making- an attempt to retire into the
castle, he resolved to go back to Caesar and con-
gratulate him on his victory ; but at Fossombrone
he was forced to stop a third time, although he had
given up his carriage for a litter. This was his last
halt: the same day he sought his bed, never to rise
from it again; three days later he was dead.

His body was taken to Rome and buried without
any ceremony in the church of Santa Maria del
Popolo, where lay awaiting him the corpse of his
friend the Duke of Gandia; and there was now no
more talk of the young cardinal, high as his rank
had been, than if he had never existed. Thus in
gloom and silence passed away all those who were
swept to destruction by the ambition of that terrible
trio, Alexander, Lucrezia, and Csesar,

Almost at the same time Rome was terrified by
another murder. Don Giovanni Cerviglione, a gen-
tleman by birth and a brave soldier, captain of the
pope's men-at-arms, was attacked one evening by
the sbirri, as he was on his way home from supping
with Don Elisio Pignatelli. One of the men asked
his name, and as he pronounced it, seeing that there
was no mistake, plunged a dagger into his breast,
while a second man with a back stroke of his sword
cut off his head, which lay actually at his feet before
his body had time to fall.

Dumas— Vol. 1—8 22 5

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The gfovernor of Rome lodged a complaint
against tliis assassination with the pope ; but quickly
perceiving, by the way his intimation was received,
that he would have done better to say nothing, he
stopped the inquiries he had started, so that neither
of the murderers was ever arrested. But the rumour
was circulated that Caesar, in the short stay he had
made at Rome, had had a rendezvous with Cer-
viglione's wife, who was a Borgia by birth, and
that her husband when he heard of this infringe-
ment of conjugal duty had been angry enough to
threaten her and her lover, too: the threat had
reached Caesar's ears, who, making a long arm of
Michelotto, had, himself at Forli, struck down Cer-
viglione in the streets of Rome.

Another unexpected death followed so quickly
on that of Don Giovanni Cerviglione that it could
not but be attributed to the same originator, if not
to the same cause. Monsignore Agnelli of ^lantua,
archbishop of Cosenza, clerk of the chamber and
vice-legate of Viterbo, having fallen into disgrace
with His Holiness, how it is not known, was poi-
soned at his own table, at which he had passed a good
part of the night in cheerful conversation with three
or four guests, the poison gliding meanwhile through
his veins ; then going to bed in perfect health, he was
found dead in the morning. His possessions were
at once divided into three portions: the land and

226

THE BORGIAS

houses were given to the Duke of Valentinois; the
bishopric went to Francesco Borgia, son of Calixtus
III; and the office of clerk of the chamber was sold
for 5000 ducats to Ventura Bonnassai, a merchant of
Siena, who produced this sum for Alexander, and
settled down the very same day in the Vatican.

This last death served the purpose of determining
a point of law hitherto uncertain: as Monsignore
Agnelli's natural heirs had made some difficulty
about being disinherited, Alexander issued a brief,
whereby he took from every cardinal and every
priest the right of making a will, and declared that all
their property should henceforth devolve upon him.

But Caesar was stopped short in the midst of his
victories. Thanks to the 200,000 ducats that yet
remained in his treasury, Ludovico Sforza had levied
500 men-at-arms from Burgundy and 8000 Swiss in-
fantry, with whom he had entered Lombardy. So
Trivulce, to face this enemy, had been compelled to
call back Yves d'Alegre and the troops that Louis xii
had lent to Csesar; consequently Caesar, leaving be-
hind a body of pontifical soldiery as garrison at
Forii and Imola, betook himself with the rest of
his force to Rome.

It was Alexander's wish that his entry should be
a triumph ; so when he learned that the quartermas-
ters of the army were only a few leagues from the
town, he sent out runners to invite the royal am*

227

CELEBRATED CRIMES

bassadors, the cardinals, the prelates, the Roman
barons, and municipal dignitaries to make procession
with all their suite tO' meet the Duke of Valentinois ;
and as it always happens that the pride of those
who command is surpassed by the baseness of those
who obey, the orders were not only fulfilled to the
letter, but beyond it.

The entry of Csesar took place on the 26th of
February, 1500. Although this was the great Jubi-
lee year, the festivals of the carnival began none the
less for that, and were conducted in a manner even
more extravagant and licentious than usual ; and
the conqueror after the first day prepared a new
display of ostentation, which he concealed under the
veil of a masquerade. As he was pleased to identify
himself with the glory, genius, and fortune of the
great man whose name he bore, he resolved on a
representation of the triumph of Julius Csesar, to
be given on the Piazzi di Navona, the ordinary place
for holding the carnival fetes. The next day, there-
fore, he and his retinue started from that square,
and traversed all the streets of Rome, wearing
classical costumes and riding in antique cars, on one
of which C-esar stood, clad in the robe of an em-
peror of old, his brow crowned with a golden laurel
wreath, surrounded by lictors, soldiers, and ensign-
bearers, who carried banners whereon was inscribed
the motto, Ant Caesar ant nihil.

228

THE BORGIAS

Finally, on the fourth Sunday, in Lent, the pope
conferred upon Caesar the dignity he had so long
coveted, and appointed him general and gonfaloniere
of the Holy Church.

In the meanwhile Sforza had crossed the Alps
and passed the Lake of Como, amid acclamations
of joy from his former subjects, who had quickly
lost the enthusiam that the French army and
Louis's promises had inspired. These demonstra-
tions were so noisy at Milan, that Trivulce, judg-
ing that there was no safety for a French garrison
in remaining there, made his way to Novarra. Ex-
perience proved that he was not deceived ; for
scarcely had the Milanese observed his preparations
for departure when a suppressed excitement began
to spread through the town, and soon the streets
were filled with armed men. This murmuring crowd
had to be passed through, sword in hand and lance
in rest; and scarcely had the French got outside the
gates when the mob rushed out after the army into
the country, pursuing them with shouts and hooting
as far as the banks of the Tesino. Trivulce left 400
lances at Novarra as well as the 3000 Swiss that
Yves d'Alegre had brought from the Romagna, and
directed his course with the rest of the army to-
wards Mortara, where he stopped at last to await
the help he had demanded from the King of France.
Behind him Cardinal Ascanio and Ludovico en-

229

CELEBRATED CRIIMES

tered Milan amid the acclamations of the whole
town.

Neither of them lost any time, and wishing to
profit by this enthusiasm, Ascanio undertook to be-
siege the castle of ^Milan while Ludovico should
cross the Tesino and attack Novarra.

There besiegers and besieged were sons of the
same nation; for Yves d'Alegre had scarcely as
many as 300 French with him, and Ludovico 500
Italians. In fact, for the last sixteen years the
Swiss had been practically the only infantry in
Europe, and all the Powers came, purse in hand,
to draw from the mighty reservoir of their moun-
tains. The consequence was that these rude chil-
dren of William Tell, put up to auction by the na-
tions, and carried away from the humble, hardy life
of a mountain people into cities of wealth and pleas-
ure, had lost, not their ancient courage, but that
rigidity of principle for which they had been dis-
tinguished before their intercourse with other na-
tions. From being models of honour and good
faith they had become a kind of marketable ware, al-
ways ready for sale to the highest bidder. The
French were the first to experience this venality,
which later on proved so fatal to Ludovico Sforza,

Now the Swiss in the garrison at Novarra had
been in communication with their compatriots in
the vanguard of the ducal army, and when they

230

THE BORGIAS

found that they, who as a fact were unaware that
Luclovico's treasure was nearly exhausted, were bet-
ter fed as well as better paid than themselves, they
offered to give up the town and go over to the
Milanese, if they could be certain of the same pay.
Ludovico, as we may well suppose, closed with this
bargain. The whole of Novarra was given up to
him except the citadel, which was defended by
Frenchmen : thus the enemy's army was recruited by
3000 men. Then Ludovico made the mistake of
stopping to besiege the castle instead of marching
on to Mortara with the new reinforcement. The
result of this was that Louis xii, to whom runners
had been sent by Trivulce, understanding his perilous
position, hastened the departure of the French gen-
darmerie who were already collected to cross into
Italy, sent off the bailiff of Dijon to levy new Swiss
forces, and ordered Cardinal Amboise, his prime
minister, tO' cross the Alps and take up a position
at Asti, to hurry on the work of collecting the
troops. There the cardinal found a nest-egg of
3000 men. La Trimouille added 1500 lances and
6000 French infantry ; finally, the bailiff of Dijon ar-
rived with 10,000 Swiss ; so that, counting the troops
which Trivulce had at Mortara, Louis xii found
himself master on the other side of the Alps of the
first army any French king had ever led out to
battle. Soon, by good marching, and before Lu-

231

CELEBRATED CRIMES

dovico knew the strength or even the existence of
this army, it took up a position between Novarra and
Milan, cutting off all communication between the
duke and his capital. He was therefore compelled,
in spite of his inferior numbers, to prepare for a
pitched battle.

But it so happened that just when the preparations
for a decisive engagement were being made on
both sides, the Swiss Diet, learning that the sons of
Helvetia were on the point of cutting one another's
throats, sent orders to all the Swiss serving in
either army to break their engagements and return
to the fatherland. But during the two months that
had passed between the surrender of Novarra and
the arrival of the French army before the town,
there had been a very great change in the face of
things, because Ludovico Sforza's treasure was now
exhausted. New confabulations had gone on be-
tween the outposts, and this time, thanks to the
money sent by Louis xii, it was the Swiss in the
service of France who were found to be the better
fed and better paid. The worthy Helvetians, since
they no longer fought for their own liberty, knew
the value of their blood too well to allow a single
drop of it to be spilled for less than its weight in
gold : the result was that, as they had betrayed Yves
d'Alegre, they resolved to betray Ludovico Sforza
too ; and while the recruits brought in by the bailiff

232

THE BORGIAS

of Dijon were standing firmly by the French flag,
careless of the order of the Diet, Ludovico's auxili-
aries declared that in fighting against their Swiss
brethren .they would be acting in disobedience to
the Diet, and would risk capital punishment in the
end — a danger that nothing would induce them to
incur unless they immediately received the arrears
of their pay. The duke, who had spent the last
ducat he had with him, and was entirely cut off
from his capital, knew that he could not get money
till he had fought his way through to it, and there-
fore invited the Swiss to make one last effort, prom-
ising them not only the pay that was in arrears but
a double hire. But unluckily the fulfilment of this
promise was dependent on the doubtful issue of a
battle, and the Swiss replied that they had far too
much respect for their country to disobey its decree,
and that they loved their brothers far too well to
consent to shed their blood without reward ; and
therefore Sforza would do well not to count upon
them, since indeed the very next day they proposed
to return to their homes. The duke then saw that
all was lost, but he made a last appeal to their
honour, adjuring them at least to ensure his personal
safety by making it a condition of capitulation. But
they replied that even if a condition of such a kind
would not make capitulation impossible, it would
certainly deprive them of advantages which they

^2>Z

CELEBRATED CRIMES

had a right to expect, and on which they counted as
indemnification for the arrears of their pay. They
pretended, however, at last that they were touched
by the prayers of the man whose orders they
had obeyed so long, and offered tO' conceal him
dressed in their clothes among their ranks. This
proposition was barely plausible; for Sforza was
short and by this time an old man, and he could not
possibly escape recognition in the midst of an army
where the oldest was not past thirty and the shortest
not less than five foot six. Still, this was his last
chance, and he did not reject it at once, but tried to
modify it so that it might help him in his straits.
His plan was to disguise himself as a Franciscan
monk, so that mounted on a shabby horse he might
pass for their chaplain ; the others, Galeazzo di San
Severino, who commanded under him, and his two
brothers, were all tall men, so, adopting the dress
of common soldiers, they hoped they might escape
detection in the Swiss ranks.

Scarcely were these plans settled when the duke
heard that the capitulation was signed between
Trivulce and the Swiss, who had made no stipula-
tion in favour of him and his generals. They were
to go over the next day with arms and baggage
right into the French army; so the last hope of the
wretched Ludovico and his generals must needs be
in their disguise. And so it was. San Severino and

234

THE BORGIAS

his brothers took their place in the ranks of the in-
fantry, and Sforza took his among the baggage, clad
in a monk's frock, with the hood pulled over his
eyes.

The army marched off; but the Swiss, who had
first trafficked in their blood, now trafficked in their
honour. The French were warned of the disguise of
Sforza and his generals, and thus they were all
four recognised, and Sforza was arrested by Tri-
mouille himself. It is said that the price paid for
this treason was the town of Bellinzona ; for it then
belonged to the French, and when the Swiss returned
to their mountains and took possession of it, Louis
XII took no steps to get it back again.

When Ascanio Sforza, who, as we know, had
stayed at Milan, learned the news of this cowardly
desertion, he supposed that his cause was lost and
that it would be the best plan for him to fly, before
he found himself a prisoner in the hands of his
brother's old subjects : such a change of face on the
people's part would be very natural, and they might
propose perhaps to purchase their own pardon at the
price of his liberty; so he fled by night with the
chief nobles of the Ghibelline party, taking the road
to Piacenza, on his way to the kingdom of Naples.
But when he arrived at Rivolta, he remembered
that there was living in that town an old friend of
his childhood, by name Conrad Lando, whom he

235

CELEBRATED CRIMES

had helped to much wealth in his days of power;
and as Ascanio and his companions were extremely
tired, he resolved to beg his hospitality for a single
night. Conrad received them with every sign of
joy, putting all his house and serv'ants at their dis-
posal. But scarcely had they retired to bed when
he sent a runner to Piacenza, to inform Carlo Orsini,
at that time commanding the Venetian garrison,
that he was prepared to deliver up Cardinal Ascanio
and the chief men of the Milanese army. Carlo
Orsini did not care to resign to another so important
an expedition, and mounting hurriedly with twenty-
five men, he first surrounded Conrad's house, and
then entered sword in hand the chamber wherein
Ascanio and his companions lay, and being surprised
in the middle of their sleep, they yielded without
resistance. The prisoners were taken to Venice,
but Louis XII claimed them, and they were given
up. Thus the King of France found himself master
of Ludovico Sforza and of Ascanio, of a legitimate
nephew of the great Francesco Sforza named
Hermes, of two bastards named Alessandro and
Cortino, and of Francesco, son of the unhappy Gian
Galeazzo who had been poisoned by his uncle.

Louis xii^ wishing to make an end of the whole
family at a blow, forced Francesco to enter a
cloister, shut up Cardinal Ascanio in the tower of
Bourges, threw into prison Alessandro, Cortino, and

236

THE BORGIAS

Hermes, and finally, after transferring the wretched
Ludovico from the fortress of Pierre-Eucise to Lys-
Saint-George, he relegated him for good and all to
the castle of Loches, where he lived for ten years in
captivity in absolute solitude and utter destitution,
and there died, cursing the day when the idea first
came into his head of enticing the French into
Italy.

The news of the catastrophe of Ludovico and his
family caused the greatest joy at Rome, for, while
the French were consolidating their power in Milan-
ese territory, the Holy See was gaining ground in
the Romagna, where no further opposition was
offered to Caesar's conquest. So the runners who
brought the news were rewarded with valuable pres-
ents, and it was published throughout the whole
town of Rome to the sound of the trumpet and
drum. The war-cry of Louis, France, France, and
that of the Orsini, Orso, Orso, rang through all the
streets, which in the evening were illuminated, as
though Constantinople or Jerusalem had been taken.
And the pope gave the people fetes and fireworks,
without troubling his head the least in the world
either about its being Holy Week, or because the
Jubilee had attracted more than 200,000 people to
Rome; the temporal interests of his family seeming
to him far more important than the spiritual inter
ests of his subjects.

2Z7

CHAPTER XI

ONE thing alone was wanting to assure the suc-
cess of the vast projects that the pope and his
son were founding upon the friendship of Louis
and an alHance with him — that is, money. But
Alexander was not the man to be troubled about
a paltry worry of that kind ; true, the sale of bene-
fices was by now exhausted, the ordinary and ex-
traordinary taxes had already been collected for the
whole year, and the prospect of inheritance from
cardinals and prelates was a poor thing now that
the richest of them had been poisoned; but Alex-
ander had other means at his disposal, which were
none the less efficacious because they were less often
used.

The first he employed was to spread a report that
the Turks were threatening an invasion of Christen-
dom, and that he knew for a positive fact that be-
fore the end of the summer Bajazet would land two
considerable armies, one in Romagna, the other in
Calabria; he therefore published two bulls, one to
levy tithes of all ecclesiastical revenues in Europe,
of whatever nature they might be, the other to force
the Jews into paying an equivalent sum : both bulls

238

THE BORGIAS

contained the severest sentences of excommunication
against those who refused to submit, or attempted
opposition.

The second plan was the selling of indulgences, a
thing which had never been done before: these in-
dulgences affected the people who had been pre-
vented by reasons of health or business from coming
to Rome for the Jubilee; the journey by this expedi-
ent was rendered unnecessary, and sins were par-
doned for a third of what it would have cost, and
just as completely as if the faithful had fulfilled
every condition of the pilgrimage. For gathering in
this tax a veritable army of collectors was instituted,
a certain Ludovico della Torre at their head. The
sum that Alexander brought into the pontifical treas-
ury is incalculable, and some idea of it may be gath-
ered from the fact that 799,000 livres in gold was
paid in from the territory of Venice alone.

But as the Turks did as a fact make some sort of
demonstration from the Hungarian side, and the
Venetians began to fear that they might be coming
in their direction, they asked for help from the pope,
who gave orders that at twelve o'clock in the day in
all his States an Ave Maria should be said, to pray
God to avert the danger which was threatening the
most serene republic. This was the only help the
Venetians got from His Holiness in exchange for
the 799,000 livres in gold that he had got from them.

239

CELEBRATED CRIMES

But it seemed as though God wished to show His
strange vicar on earth that He was angered by this
mockery of sacred things, and on the Eve of St.
Peter's Day, just as the pope was passing the Cam-
panile on his way to the tribune of benedictions, an
enormous piece of iron broke off and fell at his feet;
and then, as though one warning had not been
enough, on the next day, St. Peter's, when the pope
happened to be in one of the rooms of his ordinary
dwelling with Cardinal Capuano and Monsignore
Poto, his private chamberlain, he saw through the
open windows that a very black cloud was coming
up. Foreseeing a thunderstorm, he ordered the car-
dinal and the chamberlain to shut the windows. He
had not been mistaken; for even as they were obey-
ing his command, there came up such a furious gust
of wind that the highest chimney of the Vatican was
overturned, just as a tree is rooted up, and was
dashed upon the roof, breaking it in ; smashing the
upper flooring, it fell into the very room where they
were. Terrified by the noise of this catastrophe,
which made the whole palace tremble, the cardinal
and Monsignore Poto turned round, and seeing the
room full of dust and debris, sprang out upon the
parapet and shouted to the guards at the gate, "The
pope is dead, the pope is dead!" At this cry, the
guards ran up and discovered three persons lying in
the rubbish on the floor, one dead and the other two

240

THE BORGIAS

dying. The dead man was a gentleman of Siena
called Lorenzo Chigi, and the dying were two resi-
dent officials of the Vatican. They had been walk-
ing across the floor above, and had been flung down
with the debris. But Alexander was not to be found ;
and as he gave no answer, though they kept on call-
ing to him, the belief tliat he had perished was con-
firmed, and very soon spread about the town. But
he had only fainted, and at the end of a certain time
he began to come to himself, and moaned, whereupon
he was discovered, dazed with the blow, and in-
jured, though not seriously, in several parts of his
body. He had been saved by little short of a miracle:
a beam had broken in half and had left each of its
two ends in the side walls; and one of these had
formed a sort of roof over the pontifical throne; the
pope, whO' was sitting there at the time, was pro-
tected by this overarching beam, and had received
only a few contusions.

The two contradictory reports of the sudden death
and the miraculous preservation of the pope spread
rapidly through Rome; and the Duke of Valentinois,
terrified at the thought of what a change might be
wrought in his own fortunes by any slight accident
to the Holy Father, hurried to the Vatican, unable
to assure himself by anything less than the evidence
of his own eyes. Alexander desired to render public
thanks to Heaven for the protection that had been

241

CELEBRATED CRIMES

granted him, and on the very same day was carried
to the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, escorted
by a numerous procession of prelates and men-at-
arms, his pontifical seat borne by two valets, two
equerries, and two grooms. In this church were
buried the Duke of Gandia and Gian Borgia, and
perhaps Alexander was drawn thither by some relics
of devotion, or may be by the recollection of his love
for his former mistress, Rosa Vanozza, whose image,
in the guise of the Madonna, was exposed for the
veneration of the faithful in a chapel on the left of
the high altar. Stopping before this altar, the pope
offered to the church the gift of a magnificent chalice
in which were three hundred gold crowns, which the
Cardinal of Siena poured out into a silver paten
before the eyes of all, much to the gratification of
the pontifical vanity.

But before he left Rome to complete the conquest
of the Romagna, the Duke of Valentinois had been
reflecting that the marriage, once so ardently desired,
between Lucrezia and Alfonso had been quite useless
to himself and his father. There was more than this
to be considered : Louis xii's rest in Lombardy was
only a halt, and Milan was evidently but the stage
before Naple. It was very possible that Louis was
annoyed about the marriage which converted his
enemy's nephew into the son-in-law of his ally.
Whereas, if Alfonso were dead, Lucrezia would be

242

THE BORGIAS

in the position to marry some powerful lord of Fer-
rara or Brescia, who would be able to help his
brother-in-law in the conquest of Romag^a. Alfonso
was now not only useless but dangerous, which to
anyone with the character of the Borgias perhaps
seemed worse. The death of Alfonso was resolved
upon. But Lucrezia's husband, who had understood
for a long time past what danger he incurred by
living near his terrible father-in-law, had retired to
Naples. Since, however, neither Alexander nor
Caesar had changed in their perpetual dissimulation
towards him, he" was beginning to lose his fear,
when he received an invitation from the pope and
his son to take part in a bull-fight which was to be
held in the Spanish fashion in honour of the duke
before his departure. In the present precarious
position of Naples it would not have been good
policy for Alfonso to afford Alexander any sort of
pretext for a rupture, so he would not refuse with-
out a motive, and betook himself to Rome. It was
thought of no use to consult Lucrezia in this affair,
for she had two or three times displayed an absurd
attachment for her husband, and they left her undis-
turbed in her government of Spoleto.

Alfonso was received by the pope and the duke
with every demonstration of sincere friendship,
and rooms in the Vatican were assigned to him
that he had inhabited before with Lucrezia, in that

243

CELEBRATED CRIMES

part of the building which is known as the Torre
Nuova.

Great Hsts were prepared on the Piazza of St.
Peter's ; the streets about it were barricaded, and the
windows of the surrounding houses serv^ed as boxes
for the spectators. The pope and his court took
their places on the balconies of the Vatican.

The fete was started by professional toreadors:
after they had exhibited their strength and skill, Al-
fonso and Caesar in their turn descended tO' the
arena, and to offer a proof of their mutual kind-
ness, settled that the bull which pursued Caesar
should be killed by Alfonso, and the bull that pursued
Alfonso by Caesar.

Then Caesar remained alone on horseback within
the lists, Alfonso going out by an improvised door
which was kept ajar, in order that he might go back
on the instant if he judged that his presence was
necessary. At the same time, from the opposite side
of the lists the bull was introduced, and was at the
same moment pierced all over with darts and ar-
rows, some of them containing explosives, which
took fire, and irritated the bull to such a point that
he rolled about with pain, and then got up in a fury,
and perceiving a man on horseback, rushed instantly
upon him. It was row, in this narrow arena, pur-
sued by his swift enemy, that Caesar displayed all
that skill which made him one of the finest horsemen

244

THE BORGIAS

of the period. Still, clever as he was, he could not
have remained safe long in that restricted area from
an adversary against whom he had no other re-
source than flight, had not Alfonso appeared sud-
denly, just when the bull was beginning to gain upon
him, waving a red cloak in his left hand, and hold-
ing in his right a long delicate Aragon sword. It
was high time : the bull was only a few paces dis-
tant from Caesar, and the risk he was running ap-
peared so imminent that a woman's scream was
heard from one of the windows. But at the sight of
a man on foot the bull stopped short, and judging
that he would do better business with the new enemy
than the old one, he turned upon him instead. For a
moment he stood motionless, roaring, kicking up the
dust with his hind feet, and lashing his sides with his
tail. Then he rushed upon Alfonso, his eyes all
bloodshot, his horns tearing up the ground. Alfonso
awaited him with a tranquil air ; then, when he was
only three paces away, he made a bound to one side,
and presented instead of his body his sword, which
disappeared at once to the hilt; the bull, checked in
the middle of his onslaught, stopped one instant
motionless and trembling, then fell upon his knees,
uttered one dull roar, and lying down on the very
spot where his course had been checked, breathed
his last without moving a single step forward.
". Applause resounded on all sides, so rapid and

245

CELEBRATED CRIIMES

clever had been the blow. Caesar had remained on
horseback, seeking to discover the fair spectator who
had given so lively a proof of her interest in him,
without troubling himself about what was going on:
his search had not been unrewarded, for he had rec-
ognized one of the maids of honour to Elizabeth,
Duchess of Urbino, who was betrothed to Gian Bat-
tista Carraciuolo, captain-general of the republic of
Venice.

It was now Alfonso's turn to run from the bull,
Caesar's to fight him : the young men changed parts,
and when four mules had reluctantly dragged the
dead bull from the arena, and the valets and other
servants of His Holiness had scattered sand over the
places that were stained with blood, Alfonso mounted
a magnificent Andalusian steed of Arab origin, light
as the wind of Sahara that had wedded with his
mother, while Caesar, dismounting, retired in his
turn, to reappear at the moment when Alfonso
should be meeting the same danger from which he
had just now rescued him.

Then a second bull was introduced upon the scene,
excited in the same manner with steeled darts and
flaming arrows. Like his predecessor, when he per-
ceived a man on horseback he rushed upon him, and
then began a marvellous race, in which it was im-
possible to see, so quickly did they fly over the
ground, whether the horse was pursuing the bull or

246

THE BORGI AS

the bull the horse. But after five or six rounds, the
bull began to gain upon the son of Araby, for all his
speed, and it was plain to see who fled and who pur-
sued ; in another moment there was only the length
of two lances between them, and then suddenly
Csesar appeared, arnied with one of those long two-
handed swords which the French are accustomed to
use, and just when the bull, almost close upon Don
Alfonso, came in front of Caesar he brandished the
sword, which flashed like lightning, and cut off his
head, while his body, impelled by the speed of the
run, fell to the ground ten paces farther on. This
blow was so unexpected, and had been performed
with such dexterity, that it was received not with
mere clapping but with wild enthusiasm and frantic
outcry. Caesar, apparently remembering nothing
else in his hour of triumph but the scream that had
been caused by his former danger, picked up the
bull's head, and, giving it to one of his equerries,
ordered him to lay it as an act of homage at the
feet of the fair Venetian who had bestowed upon
him so lively a sign of interest. This fete, besides
affording a triumph to each of the young men, had
another end as well; it was meant to prove to the
populace that perfect goodwill existed between the
two, since each had saved the life of the other. The
result was that, if any accident should happen to
Caesar, nobody would dream of accusing Alfonso;

247

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and also if any accident should happen to Alfonso,
nobody would dream of accusing Caesar,

There was a supper at the Vatican. Alfonso made
an elegant toilet, and about ten o'clock at night pre-
pared to go from the quarters he inhabited into those
where the pope lived ; but the door which separated
the two courts of the building was shut, and knock
as he would, nO' one came to open it. Alfonso then
thought that it was a simple matter for him to go
round by the Piazza of St. Peter's; so he went out
unaccompanied through one of the garden gates of
the Vatican and made his way across the gloomy
streets whf-'h led to the stairway which gave on the
piazza. But scarcely had he set his foot on the
first step when he w^as attacked by a band of armed
men. Alfonso- would have drawn his sword; but
before it was out of the scabbard he had received
two blows from a halberd, one on his head, the other
on his shoulder; he was stabbed in the side, and
wounded both in the leg and in the temple. Struck
down by these five blows, he lost his footing and
fell to the ground unconscious; his assassins, sup-
posing he was dead, at once remounted the stairway,
and found on the piazza forty horsemen waiting
for them : by them they were calmly escorted from
the city by the Porta Portesa. Alfonso was found
at the point of death, but not actually dead, by
some passers-by, some of whom recognised him,

248

THE BORGIAS

and instantly conveyed the news of his assassination
to the Vatican, while t!ie others, lifting- the wounded
man in their arms, carried him to his quarters in
the Torre Nuo'va. The pope and Caesar, who learned
this news just as they were sitting down to table,
showed great distress, and leaving their companions,
at once went to see Alfonso, to be quite certain
whether his wounds were fatal or not; and on the
next morning, to divert any suspicion that might be
turned towards themselves, they arrested Alfonso's
maternal uncle, Francesco Gazella, who had come to
Rome in his nephew's company. Gazella was found
guilty on the evidence of false witnesses, and was
consequently beheaded.

But they had only accomplished half of what they
wanted. By some means, fair or foul, suspicion had
been sufficiently diverted from the true assassins;
but Alfonso was not dead, and, thanks to the strength
of his constitution and the skill of his doctors, who
had taken the lamentations of the pope and Caesar
quite seriously, and thought to please them by cur-
ing Alexander's son-in-law, the wounded man was
making progress towards convalescence: news ar-
rived at the same time that Lucrezia had heard of
her husband's accident, and was starting to come
and nurse him herself. There was no time to lose,
and Caesar summoned Michelotto.

" The same night," says Burcardus, " Don Al-
249

CELEBRATED CRIMES

fonso, who would not die of his wounds, was found
strangled in his bed."

The funeral took place the next day with a cere-
mony not unbecoming in itself, though unsuited to
his high rank. Don Francesca Borgia, Archbishop
of Cosenza, acted as chief mourner at St. Peter*s,
where the body was buried in the chapel of Santa
Maria delle Febbre.

Lucrezia arrived the same evening: she knew her
father and brother too well to be put on the wrong
scent; and although, immediately after Alfonso's
death, the Duke of Valentinois had arrested the doc-
tors, the surgeons, and a poor deformed wretch who
had been acting as valet, she knew perfectly well
from what quarter the blow had proceeded. In fear,
therefore, that the manifestation of a grief she felt
this time too well might alienate the confidence of her
father and brother, she retired to Nepi with her
whole household, her whole court, and more than
six hundred cavaliers, there to spend the period of
her mourning.

This important family business was now settled,
and Lucrezia was again a widow, and in consequence
ready to be utilised in the pope's new political
machinations. Caesar only stayed at Rome to re-
ceive the ambassadors from France and Venice ; but
as their arrival was somewhat delayed, and consider-
able inroads had been made upon the pope's treasury

250

THE BORGIAS

by the recent festivities, the creation of twelve new
cardinals was arranged : this scheme was to have two
effects, viz., to bring 600,000 ducats into the pon-
tifical chest, each hat having been priced at 50,000
ducats, and to assure the pope of a constant majority
in the sacred council.

The ambassadors at last arrived: the first was
M. de Villeneuve, the same who had come before
to see the Duke of Valentinois in the name of
France. Just as he entered Rome, he met on the
road a masked man, who, without removing his
domino, expressed the joy he felt at his arrival.
This man was Caesar himself, who did not wish to
be recognised, and who took his departure after a
short conference without uncovering his face. M. de
Villeneuve then entered the city after him, and at
the Porta del Popolo found the ambassadors of the
various Powers, and among them those of Spain
and Naples, whose sovereigns were not yet, it is
true, in declared hostility to France, though there
was already some coolness. The last-named, fear-
ing to compromise themselves, merely said to their
colleague of France, by way of complimentary ad-
dress, " Sir, you are welcome " ; whereupon the mas-
ter of the ceremonies, surprised at the brevity of
the greeting, asked if they had nothing else to say.
When they replied that they had not, J\I. de Ville-
neuve turned his back upon them, remarking that

251

CELEBRATED CRIMES

those who had nothing to say required no answer:
he then took his place between the Archbishop of
Reggia, governor of Rome, and the Archbishop of
Ragusa, and made his way to the palace of the
Holy Apostles, which had been got ready for his
reception.

Some days later, Maria Giorgi, ambassador ex-
traordinary of Venice, made his arrival. He was
commissioned not only to arrange the business on
hand with the pope, but also to convey to Alexander
and Caesar the title of Venetian nobles, and to inform
them that their names were inscribed in the Golden
Book — a favour that both of them had long coveted,
less for the empty honour's sake than for the new
influence that this title might confer. Then the
pope went on to bestow the twelve cardinals' hats
that had been sold. The new princes of the Church
were Don Diego de Mendoza, archbishop of Seville;
Jacques, archbishop of Oristagny, the Pope's vicar-
general ; Thomas, archbishop of Strigonia ; Piero,
archbishop of Reggio, governor of Rome; Francesco
Borgia, archbishop of Cosenza, treasurer-general;
Gian, archbishop of Salerno, vice-chamberlain;
Luigi Borgia, archbishop of Valencia, secretary to
His Holiness, and brother of the Gian Borgia whom
Cassar had poisoned ; Antonia, bishop of Como ; Gian
Battista Ferraro, bishop of Modena; Amedee
d'Albret, son of the King of Navarre, brother-in-

252

THE BORGI AS

law of the Duke of Valentinois ; and Marco Comaro,
a Venetian noble, in whose person His HoHness ren-
dered back to the most serene repubhc the favour
he had just received.

Then, as there was nothing further to detain the
Duke of Valentinois at Rome, he only waited to
effect a loan from a rich banker named Agostino
Chigi, brother of the Lorenzo Chigi who had per-
ished on the day when the pope had been nearly
killed by the fall of a chimney, and departed for the
Romagna, accompanied by Vitellozzo Vitelli, Gian
Paolo Baglione, and Jacopo di Santa Croce, at that
time his friends, but later on his victims.

His first enterprise was against Pesaro: this was
the polite attention of a brother-in-law, and Gian
Sforza very well knew what would be its conse-
quences; for instead of attempting to defend his
possessions by taking up arms, or to venture on
negotiations, unwilling moreover to expose the fair
lands he had ruled so long to the vengeance of an
irritated foe, he begged his subjects to preserve their
former affection towards himself, in the hope of bet-
ter days to come ; and he fled into Dalrnatia. Mala-
testa, lord of Rimini, followed his example; thus
the Duke of Valentinois entered both these towns
without striking a single blow. Csesar left a suf-
ficient garrison behind him, and marched on to
Faenza.

CELEBRATED CRIMES

But there the face of things was changed : Faenza
at that time was under the rule of Aster Manfredi,
a brave and handsome young man of eighteen, who,
relying on the love of his subjects towards his family,
had resolved on defending himself to the uttermost,
although he had been forsaken by the Bentivogli, his
near relatives, and by his allies, the Venetians and
Florentines, who had not dared to send him any aid
because of the affection felt towards Csesar by the
King of France. Accordingly, when he perceived
that the Duke of Valentinois was marching against
him, he assembled in hot haste all those of his vassals
who were capable of bearing arms, together with the
few foreign soldiers who were willing to come into
his pay, and collecting victual and ammunition, he
took up his position with them inside the town.

By these defensive preparations Csesar was not
greatly disconcerted; he commanded a magnificent
army, composed of the finest troops of France and
Italy, led by such men as Paolo and Giulio Orsini,
Vitellozzo Vitelli and Paolo Baglione, not to speak
of himself — that is to say, by the first captains of
the period. So, after he had reconnoitred, he at once
began the siege, pitching his camp between the two
rivers, Amona and Marziano, placing his artillery
on the side which faces on Forli, at which point the
besieged party had erected a powerful bastion.

At the end of a few days busy with entrenchments,
254

THE BORGTAS

the breach became practicable, and the Duke of
Valentinois ordered an assault, and gave the ex-
ample to his soldiers by being the first to march
against the enemy. But in spite of his courage and
that of his captains beside him, Astor Manfredi made
so good a defence that the besiegers were repulsed
with great loss of men, while one of their bravest
leaders, Honorio Savello, was left behind in the
trenches.

But Faenza, in spite of the courage and devotion
of her defenders, could not have held out long
against so formidable an army, had not winter come
to her aid. Surprised by the rigour of the season, with
no houses for protection and no trees for fuel, as the
peasants had destroyed both beforehand, the Duke
of Valentinois was forced to raise the siege and take
up his winter quarters in the neighbouring towns, in
order to be quite ready for a return next spring; for
Caesar could not forgive the insult of being held in
check by a little town which had enjoyed a long time
of peace, was governed by a mere boy, and deprived
of all outside aid, and had sworn to take his revenge.
He therefore broke up his army into three sections,
sent one-third to Imola, the second to Forli, and
himself took the third to Cesena, a third-rate town,
which was thus suddenly transformed into a city of
pleasure and luxury.

Indeed, for Ccesar's active spirit there must needs

255

CELEBRATED CRIMES

be no cessation of warfare or festivities. So, when
war was interrupted, fetes began, as magnificent and
as exciting as he knew how to make them : the days
were passed in games and displays of horsemanship,
the nights in dancing and gallantry ; for the loveliest
women of the Romagiia — and that is to say of the
whole world — had come hither to make a seraglio
for the victor which might have been envied by the
Sultan of Egypt or the Emperor of Constantinople.

While the Duke of Valentinois was making one
of his excursions in the neighbourhood of the town
with his retinue of flattering nobles and titled cour-
tesans, who were always about him, he noticed a
cortege on the Rimini road so numerous that it
must surely indicate the approach of someone of im-
portance. Caesar, soon perceiving that the principal
person was a woman, approached, and recognised the
very same lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Urbino
who, on the day of the bull-fight, had screamed when
Caesar was all but touched by the infuriated beast.
At this time she was betrothed, as we mentioned, to
Gian Carracciuolo, general of the Venetians. Eliza-
beth of Gonzaga, her protectress and godmother, was
now sending her with a suitable retinue to Venice,
where the marriage was to take place.

Caesar had already been struck by the beauty of
this young girl, when at Rome ; but when he saw
her again she appeared more lovely than on the first

256

THE BORGIAS

occasion, so he resolved on the instant that he would
keep this fair flower of love for himself : having
often before reproached himself for his indifference
in passing her by. Therefore he saluted her as an
old acquaintance, inquired whether she were staying
any time at Cesena, and ascertained that she was
only passing through, travelling by long stages, as
she was awaited with much impatience, and that she
would spend the coming night at Forli. This was all
that Caesar cared to know ; he summoned Michelotto,
and in a low voice said a few words to him, which
were heard by no one else.

The cortege only made a halt at the neighbouring
town, as the fair bride had said, and started at once
for Forli, although the day was already far ad-
vanced; but scarcely had a league been covered
when a troop of horsemen from Cesena overtook
and surrounded them. Although the soldiers in
the escort were far from being in sufficient force,
they were eager to defend their general's bride;
but soon some fell dead, and others, terrified, took
to flight; and when the lady came down from her
litter to try to escape, the chief seized her in his
arms and set her in front of him on his horse ; then,
ordering his men to return to Cesena without him,
he put his horse to the gallop in a cross direction,
and as the shades of evening were now beginning to
fall, he soon disappeared into the darkness.

Dumas— Vol. 1—9 257

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Carracciuolo learned the news through one of
the fugitives, who declared that he had recognised
among the ravishers the Duke of Valentinois' sol-
diers. At first he thought his ears had deceived
him, so hard was it to believe this terrible intelli-
gence; but it was repeated, and he stood for one
instant motionless, and, as it were, thunderstruck;
then suddenly, with a cry of vengeance, he threw ofif
his stupor and dashed away to the ducal palace,
where sat the Doge Barberigo and the Council of
Ten; unannounced, he rushed into their midst, the
very moment after they had heard of Caesar's out-
rage.

" Most serene lords," he cried, " I am come to
bid you farewell, for I am resolved to sacrifice my
life to my private vengeance, though indeed I had
hoped to devote it to the service of the republic. I
have been wounded in the soul's noblest part — in
my honour. The dearest thing I possessed, my
wife, has been stolen from me, and the thief is
the most treacherous, the most impious, the most
infamous of men, it is Valentinois! My lords, I
beg you will not be offended if I speak thus of a
man whose boast it is to be a member of your noble
ranks and to enjoy your protection: it is not so;
he lies, and his loose and criminal life has made him
unworthy of such honours, even as he is unworthy
of the life whereof my sword shall deprive him. In

258

THE BORGIAS

truth, his very birth was a sacrilege; he is a fratri-
cide, an usurper of the goods of other men, an op-
pressor of the innocent, and a highway assassin;
he is a man who will violate every law, even the
law of hospitality respected by the veriest barbarian,
a man who will do violence to a virgin who is pass-
ing through his own country, where she had every
right to expect from him not only the consideration
due to her sex and condition, but also that which
is due to the most serene republic, whose condottiere
I am, and which is insulted in my person and in the
dishonouring of my bride; this man, I say, merits
indeed to die by another hand than mine. Yet,
since he who ought to punish him is not for him a
prince and judge, but only a father quite as guilty
as the son, I myself will seek him out, and I will
sacrifice my own life, not only in avenging my own
injury and the blood of so many innocent beings,
but also in promoting the welfare of the most serene
republic, on which it is his ambition to trample
when he has accomplished the ruin of the other
princes of Italy."

The doge and the senators, who, as we said,
were already apprised of the event that had brought
Carracciuolo before them, listened with great in-
terest and profound indignation; for they, as he
told them, were themselves insulted in the person of
their general : they all swore, on their honour, that

259

CELEBRATED CRIMES

if he would put the matter in their hands, and not
yield to his rage, which could only work his own
undoing, either his bride should be rendered up
to him without a smirch upon her bridal veil, or
else a punishment should be dealt out proportioned
to the affront. And without delay, as a proof of
the energy wherewith the noble tribunal would take
action in the affair, Luigi Manenti, secretary to
the Ten, was sent to Imola, where the duke was
reported to be, that he might explain to him the
great displeasure with which the most seren^ re-
public viewed the outrage perpetrated upon their
condottiere. At the same time the Council of Ten
and the doge sought out the French ambassador, en-
treating him to join with them and repair in person
with Manenti to the Duke of Valentinois, and
summon him, in the name of King Louis xii, imme-
diately to send back to Venice the lady he had
carried off.

The two messengers arrived at Imola, where they
found Csesar, who listened to their complaint with
every mark of utter astonishment, denying that he
had been in any way connected with the crime, nay,
authorising Manenti and the French ambassador
to pursue the culprits and promising that he would
himself have the most active search carried on. The
duke appeared to act in such complete good faith
that the envoys were for the moment hoodwinked,

260

THE BORGIAS

and themselves undertook a search of the most care-
ful nature. They accordingly repaired to the exact
spot and began to procure information. On the
highroad there had been found dead and wounded.
A man had been seen going by at a gallop, carrying
a woman in distress on his saddle; he had soon left
the beaten track and plunged across country. A
peasant coming home from working in the fields
had seen him appear and vanish again like a shadow,
taking the direction of a lonely house. An old
woman declared that she had seen him go into this
house. But the next night the house was gone, as
though by enchantment, and the ploughshare had
passed over where it stood ; so that none could say
what had become of her whom they sought, for
those who had dwelt in the house, and even the
house itself, were there no longer.

Manenti and the French ambassador returned
to Venice, and related what the duke had said, what
they had done, and how all search had been in vain.
No one doubted that Caesar was the culprit, but no
one could prove it. So the most serene republic,
which could not, considering their war with the
Turks, be embroiled with the pope, forbade Carac-
ciuolo to take any sort of private vengeance, and so
the talk grew gradually less, and at last the occur-
rence was no more mentioned.

But the pleasures of the winter had not diverted
261

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Caesar's mind from his plans about Faenza. Scarcely
did the spring season allow him to go into the
country than he marched anew upon the town,
camped opposite the castle, and making a new
breach, ordered a general assault, himself going up
first of all; but in spite of the courage he personally
displayed, and the able seconding of his soldiers,
they were repulsed by Astor, who, at the head of his
men, defended the breach, while even the women, at
the top of the rampart, rolled down stones and
trunks of trees upon the besiegers. After an hour's
struggle man to man, Caesar was forced to retire,
leaving two thousand men in the trenches about
the town, and among the two thousand one of his
bravest condottieri, Valentino Farnese.

Then, seeing that neither excommunications nor
assaults could help him, Caesar converted the siege
into a blockade : all the roads leading to Faenza were
cut off, all communications stopped ; and further, as
various signs of revolt had been remarked at
Cesena, a governor was installed there whose pow-
erful will was well known to Caesar, Ramiro d'Orco,
with powers of life and death over the inhabitants;
he then waited quietly before Faenza, till hunger
should drive out the citizens from those walls they
defended with such vehement enthusiasm. At the
end of a month, during which the people of Faenza
had suffered all the horrors of famine, delegates

262

THE BORGIAS

came out to parley with Caesar with a view to capitu-
lation. Caesar, wlio still had plenty to do in the
Romagna, was less hard to satisfy than might have
been expected, and the town yielded on condition
that he should not touch either the persons or the
belongings of the inhabitants, that Astor Manfredi,
the youthful ruler, should have the privilege of re-
tiring whenever he pleased, and should enjoy the
revenue of his patrimony wherever he might be.

The conditions were faithfully kept so far as the
inhabitants were concerned ; but Csesar, when he had
seen Astor, whom he did not know before, was
seized by a strange passion for this beautiful youth,
who was like a woman : he kept him by his side in
his own army, showing him honours befitting a
young prince, and evincing before the eyes of all
the strongest affection for him: one day Astor
disappeared, just as Caracciuolo's bride had dis-
appeared, and no one knew what had become of
him; Caesar himself appeared very uneasy, saying
that he had no doubt made his escape somewhere,
and in order to give credence to this story, he sent
out couriers to seek him in all directions.

A year after this double disappearance, there was
picked up in the Tiber, a little below the Castle Sant'
Angelo, the body of a beautiful young woman, her
hands bound together behind her back, and also the
corpse of a handsome youth with the bowstring he

263

CELEBRATED CRIMES

had been strangled with tied round his neck. Tlie
girl was Caracciuolo's bride, the young man was
Astor.

During the last year both had been the slaves of
Caesar's pleasures; now, tired of them, he had had
them thrown into the Tiber.

The capture of Faenza had brought Caesar the
title of Duke of Romagna, which was first bestowed
on him by the pope in full consistory, and after-
wards ratified by the King of Hungary, the republic
of Venice, and the Kings of Castile and Portugal.
The news of the ratification arrived at Rome on the
eve of the day on which the people are accustomed
to keep the anniversary of the foundation of the
Eternal City; this fete, which went back to the
days of Pomponius Lsetus, acquired a new splendour
in their eyes from the joyful events that had just
happened to their sovereign. As a sign of joy can-
non were fired all day long; in the evening there
were illuminations and bonfires, and during part
of the night the Prince of Squillace, with the chief
lords of the Roman nobility, marched about the
streets, bearing torches, and exclaiming, "'Long
live Alexander! Long live Caesar! Long live the
Borgias! Long live the Orsini ! Long live the
Duke of Romagna! "

264

CHAPTER XII

CESAR'S ambition was only fed by victories:
scarcely was he master of Faenza before, ex-
cited by the Mariscotti, old enemies of the BentivogHo
family, he cast his eyes upon Bologna; but Gian di
BentivogHo, whose ancestors had possessed this town
from time immemorial, had not only made all prepa-
rations necessary for a long resistance, but he had
also put himself under the protection of France ; so,
scarcely had he learned that Caesar was crossing the
frontier of the Bolognese territory with his army,
than he sent a courier to Louis xii to claim the ful-
filment of his promise. Louis kept it with his ac-
customed good faith; and when Csesar arrived be-
fore Bologna, he received an intimation from th«
King of France that he was not to enter on any
undertaking against his ally BentivogHo ; Caesar, not
being the man to have his plans upset for nothing,
made conditions for his retreat, to which Ben-
tivogHo consented, only too happy to be quit of him
at this price: the conditions were the cession of
Castello Bolognese, a fortress between Imola and
Faenza, the payment of a tribute of 9000 ducats, and
the keeping for his service of a hundred men-at-

265

CELEBRATED CRIMES

arms and two thousand infantry. In exchange for
these favours, Caesar confided to Bentivoglio that
his visit had been due to the counsels of the Maris-
cotti; then, reinforced by his new ally's contingent,
he took the road for Tuscany. But he was scarcely
out of sight when Bentivoglio shut the gates of
Bologna, and commanded his son Hermes tO' assas-
sinate with his own hand Agamemnon Mariscotti,
the head of the family, and ordered the massacre of
four-and-thirty of his near relatives, brothers, sons,
daughters, and nephews, and two hundred other of
his kindred and friends. The butchery was carried
out by the noblest youths of Bologna, whom Ben-
tivoglio forced to bathe their hands in this blood,
so that he might attach them to himself through
their fear of reprisals.

Csesar's plans with regard to Florence were now
no longer a mystery: since the month of January
he had sent to Pisa ten or twelve hundred men un-
der the Command of Regniero della Sassetta and
Piero di Gamba Corti, and as soon as the conquest
of the Romagna was complete, he had further des-
patched Oliverotto di Fermo with new detachments.
His own army he had reinforced, as we have seen,
by a hundred men-at-arms and two thousand in-
fantry; he had just been joined by Vitellozzo
Vitelli, lord of Citta di Castello, and by the Orsini,
who had brought him another two or three thou-

266

THE BORGIAS

sand men; so, without counting the troops sent to
Pisa, he had under his control seven hundred men-
at-arms and five thousand infantry.

Still, in spite of this formidable company, he en-
tered Tuscany declaring that his intentions were
only pacific, protesting that he only desired to pass
through the territories of the republic on his way to
Rome, and offering to pay in ready money for any
victual his army might require. But when he had
passed the defiles of the mountains and arrived at
Barberino, feeling that the town was in his power
and nothing could now hinder his approach, he be-
gan to put a price on the friendship he had at first
offered freely, and to impose his own conditions in-
stead of accepting those of others. These were that
Piero dei Medici, kinsman and ally of the Orsini,
should be reinstated in his ancient power; that six
Florentine citizens, to be chosen by Vitellozzo,
should be put into his hands that they might by
their death expiate that of Paolo Vitelli, unjustly
executed by the Florentines ; that the Signoria
should engage to give no aid to the lord of Piom-
bino, whom Caesar intended to dispossess of his
estates without delay; and further, that he himself
should be taken into the service of the republic, for
a pay proportionate to his deserts. But just as
Caesar had reached this point in his negotiations
with Florence, he received orders from Louis xii

267

CELEBRATED CRIMES

to get ready, so soon as he conveniently could, to
follow him with his army and help in the conquest
of Naples, which he was at last in a position to
undertake. Caesar dared not break his word to so
powerful an ally; he therefore replied that he was
at the king's orders, and as the Florentines were not
aware that he was quitting them on compulsion, he
sold his retreat for the sum of 36,000 ducats per
annum, in exchange for which sum he was to hold
three hundred men-at-arms always in readiness to
go to the aid of the republic at her earliest call and
in any circumstances of need.

But, hurried as he was, Csesar still hoped that
he might find time to conquer the territory of Piom-
bino as he went by, and take the capital by a single
vigorous stroke ; so he made his entry into the lands
of Jacopo IV of Appiano. The latter, he found,
however, had been beforehand with him, and, tOi rob
him of all resource, had laid waste his own country,
burned his fodder, felled his trees, torn down his
vines, and destroyed a few fountains that produced
salubrious waters. This did not hinder Csesar from
seizing in the space of a few days Severeto, Scarlino,
the isle of Elba, and La Pianosa ; but he was obliged
to stop short at the castle, which opposed a serious
resistance. As Louis xii's army was continuing its
way towards Rome, and he received a fresh order
to join it, he took his departure the next day, leav-

268

THE BORGIAS

ing behind him Vitellozzo and Gian Paolo Baglioni
to prosecute the siege in his absence.

Louis XII was this time advancing upon Naples,
not with the incautious ardour of Charles viii, but,
on the contrary, with that prudence and circumspec-
tion which characterised him. Besides his alliance
with Florence and Rome, he had also signed a secret
treaty with Ferdinand the Catholic, who had similar
pretensions, through the house of Duras, to the
throne of Naples to those Louis himself had through
the house of Anjou. By this treaty the two kings were
sharing their conquests beforehand : Louis would
be master of Naples, of the town of Lavore and the
Abruzzi, and would bear the title of King of Naples
and Jerusalem; Ferdinand reserved for his own
share Apulia and Calabria, with the title of Duke
of these provinces ; both were to receive the investi-
ture from the pope and to hold them of him. This
partition was all the more likely to be made, in
fact, because Frederic, supposing all the time that
Ferdinand was his good and faithful friend, would
open the gates of his towns, only to receive into his
fortresses conquerors and masters instead of allies.
All this perhaps was not very loyal conduct on the
part of a king who had so long desired and had
just now received the surname of Catholic, but it
mattered little to Louis, who profited by treasonable
acts he did not have to share.

269

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The French army, which the Duke of Valentinois
had just joined, consisted of looo lances, 4Cmdo
Swiss, and 6000 Gascons and adventurers; further,
Philip of Rabenstein was bringing by sea six Breton
and Provengal vessels, and three Genoese caracks,
carrying 6500 invaders.

Against this mighty host the King of Naples had
only 700 men-at-arms, 600 light horse, and 6000
infantry under the command of the Colonna, whom
he had taken into his pay after they were exiled
by the pope from the States of the Church; but he
was counting on Gonsalvo of Cordova, who was
to join him at Gaeta, and to whom he had con-
fidingly opened all his fortresses in Calabria.

But the feeling of safety inspired by Frederic's
faithless ally was not destined to endure long:
on their arrival at Rome, the French and Span-
ish ambassadors presented to the pope the treaty
signed at Grenada on the nth of November, 1500,
between Louis xii and Ferdinand the Catholic, a
treaty which up to that time had been secret. Alex-
ander, foreseeing the probable future, had, by the
death of Alfonso, loosened all the bonds that at-
tached him to the house of Aragon, and then began
by making some difficulty about it. It was demon-
strated that the arrangement had only been under-
taken to provide the Christian princes with another
weapon for attacking the Ottoman Empire, and

270

THE BORGIAS

before this consideration, one may readily suppose,
all the pope's scruples vanished; on the 25th of
June, therefore, it was decided to call a consistory
which was to declare Frederic deposed from the
throne of Naples. When Frederic heard all at
once that the French army had arrived at Rome,
that his ally Ferdinand had deceived him, and that
Alexander had pronounced the sentence of his down-
fall, he understood that all was lost ; but he did not
wish it to be said that he had abandoned his king-
dom without even attempting to save it. So he
charged his two new condottieri, Fabrizio Colonna
and Ranuzio di Marciano, to check the French be-
fore Capua with 300 men-at-arms, some light horse,
and 3000 infantry; in person he occupied Aversa
with another division of his army, while Prospero
Colonna was sent to defend Naples with the rest, and
make a stand against the Spaniards on the side of
Calabria.

These dispositions were scarcely made when
d'Aubigny, having passed the Volturno, approached
to lay siege to Capua, and invested the town on both
sides of the river. Scarcely were the French en-
camped before the ramparts than they began to set
up their batteries, which were soon in play, much
to the terror of the besieged, who, poor creatures,
were almost all strangers to the town, and had fled
thither from every side, expecting to find protec-

271

CELEBRATED CRIMES

tion beneath the walls. So, although bravely re-
pulsed by Fabrizio Colonna, the French, from the
moment of their first assault, inspired so great and
blind a terror that everyone began to talk of open-
ing the gates, and it was only with great difficulty
that Colonna made this multitude understand that
at least they ought to reap some benefit from the
check the besiegers had received and obtain good
terms of capitulation. When he had brought them
round to his view, he sent out to demand a parley
with d'Aubigny, and a conference was fixed for the
next day but one, in which they were to treat of
the surrender of the town.

But this was not Caesar Borgia's idea at all : he
had stayed behind to confer with the pope, and had
joined the French army with some of his troops on
the very day on which the conference had been ar-
ranged for two days later: and a capitulation of any
nature would rob him of his share of the booty and
the promise of such pleasure as would come from the
capture of a city so rich and populous as Capua. So
he opened up negotiations on his own account with
a captain who was on .guard at one of the gates :
such negotiations, made with cunning supported by
bribery, proved as usual more prompt and efficacious
than any others. At the very moment when Fabrizio
Colonna in a fortified outpost was discussing the con-
ditions of capitulation with the French captains, sud-

272

THE BORGIAS

denly great cries of distress were heard. These were
caused by Borgia, who without a word to anyone
had entered the town with his faithful army from
Romagna, and was beginning to cut the throats of
the garrison, which had naturally somewhat re-
laxed their vigilance in the belief that the capitula-
tion was all but signed. The French, when they saw
that the town was half taken, rushed on the gates
with such impetuosity that the besieged did not even
attempt to defend themselves any longer, and forced
their way into Capua by three separate sides : noth-
ing more could be done then to stop the issue.
Butchery and pillage had begun, and the work of
destruction must needs be completed : in vain did
Fabrizio Colonna, Ranuzio di Marciano, and Don
Ugo di Cardona attempt to make head against the
French and Spaniards with such men as they could
get together. Fabrizio Colonna and Don Ugo were
made prisoners ; Ranuzio, wounded by an arrow, fell
into the hands of the Duke of Valentinois; seven
thousand inhabitants were massacred in the streets,
among them the traitor who had given up the gate ;
the churches were pillaged, the convents of nuns
forced open ; and then might be seen the spectacle of
some of these holy virgins casting themselves into
pits or into the river to escape the soldiers. Three
hundred of the noblest ladies of the town took
refuge in a tower. The Duke of Valentinois broke

^7Z

CELEBRATED CRIMES

in the doors, chose out for himself forty of the most
beautiful, and handed over the rest to his army.

The pillage continued for three days.

Capua once taken, Frederic saw that it was useless
any longer to attempt defence. So he shut himself
up in Castel Nuovo and gave permission to Gaeta
and to Naples to treat with the conqueror. Gaeta
bought immunity from pillage with 60,000 ducats,
and Naples with the surrender of the castle. This
surrender was made to d'Aubigny by Frederic him-
self, on condition that he should be allowed to take
to the island of Ischia his money, jewels, and furni-
ture, and there remain with his family for six
months secure from all hostile attack. The terms of
this capitulation were faithfully adhered to on both
sides: d'Aubigny entered Naples, and Frederic re-
tired to Ischia.

Thus, by a last terrible blow, never to rise again,
fell this branch of the house of Aragon, which had
now reigned for sixty-five years. Frederic, its head,
demanded and obtained a safe-conduct to pass into
France, where Louis xii gave him the duchy of
Anjou and 30,000 ducats a year, on condition that
he should never quit the kingdom; and there, in
fact, he died, on the 9th of September 1504. His
eldest son, Don Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria, retired
to Spain, where he was permitted to marry twice,
but each time with a woman who was known to be

274

THE BORGIAS

barren; and there he died in 1550. Alfonso, the
second son, who had followed his father to France,
died, it is said, of poison, at Grenoble, at the age of
twenty-two; lastly Caesar, the third son, died at
Ferrara, before he had attained his eighteenth birth-
day.

Frederic's daughter Charlotte married in France
Nicholas, Count of Laval, governor and admiral of
Brittany; a daughter was born of this marriage,
Anne de Laval, who married Francois de la
Trimouille. Through her those rights were trans-
mitted to the house of La Trimouille which were
used later on as a claim upon the kingdom of the
Two Sicilies.

The capture of Naples gave the Duke of Valen-
tinois his liberty again; so he left the French army,
after he had received fresh assurances on his own
account of the king's friendliness, and returned to
the siege of Piombino, which he had been forced to
interrupt. During this interval Alexander had been
visiting the scenes of his son's conquests, and
traversing all the Romagna with Lucrczia, who was
now consoled for her husband's death, and had never
before enjoyed quite so much favour with His Holi-
ness ; so, when she returned to Rome, she no longer
had separate rooms from him. The result of this
recrudescence of affection was the appearance of
two pontifical bulls, converting the towns of Nepi

275

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and Sermoneta into duchies: one was bestowed on
Gian Borgia, an illegitimate child of the pope, who
was not the son of either of his mistresses, Rosa
Vanozza or Giulia Farnese, the other on Don Rod-
erigo of Aragon, son of Lucrezia and Alfonso: the
lands of the Colonna were in appanage to the two
duchies.

But Alexander was dreaming of yet another addi-
tion to his fortune; this was to come from a mar-
riage between Lucrezia and Don Alfonso d'Este,
son of Duke Hercules of Ferrara, in favour of which
alliance Louis xii had negotiated.

His Holiness was now having a run of good for-
tune, and he learned on the same day that Piombino
was taken and that Duke Hercules had given the
King of France his assent to the marriage. Both of
these pieces of news were good for Alexander, but
the one could not compare in importance with the
other; and the intimation that Lucrezia was to marry
the heir presumptive to the duchy of Ferrara was
received with a joy so great that it smacked of the
humble beginnings of the Borgian house. The Duke
of Valentinois was invited to return to Rome, to
take his share in the family rejoicing, and on the
day when the news was made public the governor of
St. Angelo received orders that cannon should be
fired every quarter of an hour from noon to mid-
night. At two o'clock, Lucrezia, attired as a

276

THE BORGI AS

■fiancee, and accompanied by her two brothers, the
Dukes of Valentinois and Squillace, issued from the
Vatican, followed by all the nobility of Rome, and
proceeded to the church of the Madonna del Popolo,
where the Duke of Gandia and Cardinal Gian Borgia
were buried, to render thanks for this new favour
accorded to her house by God; and in the evening,
accompanied by the same cavalcade, which shone the
more brightly under the torchlight and brilliant
illuminations, she made procession through the whole
town, greeted by cries of " Long live Pope Alexander
VI ! Long live the Duchess of Ferrara ! " which were
shouted aloud by heralds clad in cloth of gold.

The next day an announcement was made in the
town that a racecourse for women was opened be-
tween the castle of Sant' Angelo and the Piazza of
St. Peter's; that on every third day there would be a
bull-fight in the Spanish fashion ; and that from the
end of the present month, which was October, until
the first day of Lent, masquerades would be per-
mitted in the streets of Rome.

Such was the nature of the fetes outside ; the pro-
gramme of those going on within the Vatican was
not presented to the people; for by the account of
Bucciardo, an eye-witness, this is what happened : —

"On the last Sunday of the month of October, fifty
courtesans supped in the apostolic palace in the Duke
of Valentinois' rooms, and after supper danced with

277

CELEBRATED CRIMES

the equerries and servants, first wearing their usual
garments, afterwards in dazzling draperies; when
supper was over, the table was removed, candle-
sticks were set on the floor in a symmetrical pattern,
and a great quantity of chestnuts was scattered on
the ground : these the fifty women skilfully picked
up, running about gracefully, in and out between
the burning lights; the pope, the Duke of Valen-
tinois, and his sister Lucrezia, who were looking on
at this spectacle from a gallery, encouraged the
most agile and industrious with their applause, and
they received prizes of embroidered garters, velvet
boots, golden caps, and laces; then new diversions
took the place of these."

We humbly ask forgiveness of our readers, and
especially of our lady readers; but though we have
found words to describe the first part of the
spectacle, we have sought them in vain for the
second; suffice it to say that just as there had been
prizes for feats of adroitness, others were given now
to the dancers who were most daring and brazen.

Some days after this strange night, which calls to
mind the Roman evenings in the days of Tiberius,
Nero, and Heliogabalus, Lucrezia, clad in a robe of
golden brocade, her train carried by young girls
dressed in white and crowned with roses, issued
from her palace to the sound of trumpets and

I

THE BORGIAS

clarions, and made her way over carpets that were
laid down in the streets through which she had to
pass. Accompanied by the noblest cavahers and the
loveliest women in Rome, she betook herself to the
Vatican, where in the Pauline hall the pope awaited
her, with the Duke of Valentinois, Don Ferdinand,
acting as proxy for Duke Alfonso, and his cousin.
Cardinal d'Este. The pope sat on one side of the
table, while the envoys from Ferrara stood on the
other: into their midst came Lucrezia, and Don
Ferdinand placed on her finger the nuptial ring; this
ceremony over. Cardinal d'Este approached and pre-
sented to the bride four magnificent rings set with
precious stones; then a casket was placed on the
table, richly inlaid with ivory, whence the cardinal
drew forth a great many trinkets, chains, necklaces
of pearls and diamonds, of workmanship as costly
as their material; these he also begged Lucrezia to
accept, before she received those the bridegroom was
hoping to offer himself, which would be more worthy
of her. Lucrezia showed the utmost delight in
accepting these gifts; then she retired into the next
room, leaning on the pope's arm, and followed by
the ladies of her suite, leaving the Duke of Valen-
tinois to do the honours of the Vatican to the men.
That evening the guests met again, and spent half
the night in dancing, while a magnificent display of
fireworks lighted up the Piazza of San Paolo.

279

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The ceremony of betrothal over, the pope and the
Duke busied themselves with making preparations
for the departure. Tlie pope, who wished the jour-
ney to be made with a great degree of splendour,
sent in his daughter's company, in addition to the
two brothers-in-law and the gentlemen in their suite,
the Senate of Rome and all the lords who, by virtue
of their wealth, could display most magnificence in
their costumes and liveries. Among this brilliant
throng might be seen Olivero and Ramiro Mattei,
sons of Piero Mattei, chancellor of the town, and a
daughter of the pope whose mother was not Rosa
Vanozza; besides these, the pope nominated in con-
sistory Francesco Borgia, Cardinal of Sosenza,
legate a latere, to accompany his daughter to the
frontiers of the Ecclesiastical States.

Also the Duke of Valentinois sent out messengers
into all the cities of Romagna to order that Lucrezia
should be received as sovereign lady and mistress:
grand preparations were at once set on foot for the
fulfilment of his orders. But the messengers re-
ported that they greatly feared that there would be
some grumbling at Cesena, where it will be remem-
bered that Csesar had left Ramiro d'Orco as gov-
ernor with plenary powers, to calm the agitation of
the town. Now Ramiro d'Orco had accomplished his
task so well that there was nothing more to fear in
the way of rebellion ; for one-sixth of the inhabitants

280

THE BORGIAS

had perished on the scaffold, and the result of this
situation was that it was improbable that the same
demonstrations of joy could be expected from a town
plunged in mourning that were looked for from
Imola, Faenza, and Pesaro. The Duke of Valen-
tinois averted this inconvenience in the prompt and
efficacious fashion characteristic of him alone. One
morning the inhabitants of Cesena awoke to find a
scaffold set up in the square, and upon it the four
quarters of a man, his head, severed from the trunk,
stuck up on the end of a pike.

This man was Ramiro d'Orco.

No one ever knew by whose hands the scaffold
had been raised by night, nor by what executioners
the terrible deed had been carried out ; but when the
Florentine Republic sent to ask Macchiavelli, their
ambassador at Cesena, what he thought of it, he
replied : —

" Magnificent Lords, — T can tell you nothing

concerning the execution of Ramiro d'Orco, except

that Caesar Borgia is the prince who best knows how

to make and unmake men according to their deserts.

NiccoLO Macchiavelli."

The Duke of Valentinois was not disappointed,
and the future Ducliess of Ferrara was admirably
received in every town along her route, and par-
ticularly at Cesena.

281

CELEBRATED CRIMES

While Lucrezia was on her way to Ferrara to meet
her fourth husband, Alexander and the Duke of
Valentinois resolved to make a progress in the region
of their last conquest, the duchy of Piombino. The
apparent object of this journey was that the new
subjects might take their oath to Csesar, and the real
object was to form an arsenal in Jacopo d'Appiano's
capital within reach of Tuscany, a plan which neither
the pope nor his son had ever seriously abandoned.
The two accordingly started from the port of Cor-
neto with six ships, accompanied by a great number
of cardinals and prelates, and arrived the same even-
ing at Piombino. The pontifical court made a stay
there of several days, partly with a view of making
the duke known to the inhabitants, and also in order
to be present at certain ecclesiastical functions, of
which the most important was a service held on the
third Sunday in Lent, in which the Cardinal of
Cosenza sang a mass and the pope officiated in state
with the duke and the cardinals. After these solemn
functions the customary pleasures followed, and the
pope summoned the prettiest girls of the country and
ordered them to dance their national dances before
him.

Following on these dances came feasts of unheard-
of magnificence, during which the pope in the sight
of all men completely ignored Lent and did not fast.
The object of all these fetes was to scatter abroad a

282

THE BORGTAS

great deal of money, and so to make the Duke of
Valentinois popular, while poor Jacopo d'Appiano
was forgotten.

When they left Piombino, the pope and his son
visited the island of Elba, where they only stayed
long enough to visit the old fortifications and issue
orders for the building of new ones.

Then the illustrious travellers embarked on their
return journey to Rome; but scarcely had they put
out to sea when the weather became adverse, and
the pope not wishing to put in at Porto Ferrajo,
they remained five days on board, though they had
only two days' provisions. During the last three
days the pope lived on fried fish that were caught
under great difficulties because of the heavy weather.
At last they arrived in sight of Corneto, and there
the duke, who was not on the same vessel as the
pope, seeing that his ship could not get in, had
a boat put out, and so was taken ashore. The pope
was obliged to continue on his way towards Ponter-
cole, where at last he arrived, after encountering so
violent a tempest that all who were with him were
utterly subdued either by sickness or by the terror of
death. The pope alone did not show one instant's
fear, but remained on the bridge during the storm,
sitting on his arm-chair, invoking the name of Jesus
and making the sign of the cross. At last his ship
entered the roads of Pontercole, where he landed,

283

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and after sending to Cometo to fetch horses, he re-
joined the duke, who was there awaiting him. They
then returned by slow stages, by way of Civita
Vecchia and Palo, and reached Rome after an
absence of a month. Almost at the same time
d'Albret arrived in quest of his cardinal's hat. He
was accompanied by two princes of the house of
Navarre, who were received with not only those
honours which beseemed their rank, but also as
brothers-in-law to whom the duke was eager to show
in what spirit he was contracting this alliance

284

CHAPTER XIII

THE time had now come for the Duke of
Valentinois to continue the pursuit of his
conquests. So, since on the ist of May in the
preceding year the pope had pronounced sen-
tence of forfeiture in full consistory against Julius
Caesar of Varano, as punishment for the murder of
his brother Rudolph and for the harbouring of the
pope's enemies, and he had accordingly been mulcted
of his fief of Camerino, which was to be handed over
to the apostolic chamber, Caesar left Rome to put
the sentence in execution. Consequently, when he
arrived on the frontiers of Perugia, which belonged
to his lieutenant, Gian Paolo Baglioni, he sent Oli-
verotto da Fermo and Orsini of Gravina to lay
waste the March of Camerino, at the same time peti-
tioning Guido d'Ubaldo di Montefeltro, Duke of
Urbino, to lend his soldiers and artillery to help him
in this enterprise. This the unlucky Duke of Urbino,
who enjoyed the best possible relations with the
pope, and who had no reason for distrusting Caesar,
did not dare refuse. But on the very same day that
the Duke of Urbino's troops started for Camerino,

285

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Caesar's troops entered the duchy of Urbino, and
took possession of CagH, one of the four towns of
the httle State. The Duke of Urbino knew what
awaited him if he tried to resist, and fled inconti-
nently, disguised as a peasant ; thus in less than eight
days Csesar was master of his whole duchy, except
the fortresses of Maiolo and San Leone.

The Duke of Valentinois forthwith returned to
Camerino, where the inhabitants still held out,
encouraged by the presence of Julius Caesar di
Varano, their lord, and his two sons, Venantio and
Hannibal ; the eldest son, Gian Maria, had been sent
by his father to Venice.

The presence of Caesar was the occasion of parley-
ing between the besiegers and besieged. A capitula-
tion was arranged whereby Varano engaged to give
up the town, on condition that he and his sons were
allowed to retire safe and sound, taking with them
their furniture, treasure, and carriages. But this
was by no means Caesar's intention ; so, profiting by
the relaxation in vigilance that had naturally come
about in the garrison when the news of the capitula-
tion had been announced, he surprised the town in
the night preceding the surrender, and seized Caesar
di Varano and his two sons, who were strangled
a short time after, the father at La Pergola and the
sons at Pesaro, by Don Michele Correglio, who,
though he had left tlie position of sbirro for that of

286

THE BORGIAS

a captain, every now and then returned to his first
business.

Meanwhile Vitellozzo Vitelli, who had assumed
the title of General of the Church, and had under
him 800 men-at-arms and 3,000 infantry, was fol-
lowing the secret instructions that he had received
from Caesar by word of mouth, and was carrying
forward that system of invasion which was to
encircle Florence in a network of iron, and in the
end make her defence an impossibility. A worthy
pupil of his master, in whose school he had learned
to use in turn the cunning of a fox and the strength
of a lion, he had established an understanding
between himself and certain young gentlemen of
Arezzo to get that town delivered into his hands.
But the plot had been discovered by Guglielmo dei
Pazzi, commissary of the Florentine Republic, and
he had arrested two of the conspirators, whereupon
the others, who were much more numerous than was
supposed, had instantly dispersed about the town,
summoning the citizens to arms. All the republican
faction, who saw in any sort of revolution the means
of subjugating Florence, joined their party, set the
captives at liberty, and seized Guglielmo; then pro-
claiming the establishment of the ancient constitu-
tion, they besieged the citadel, whither Cosimo dei
Pazzi, Bishop of Arezzo, the son of Guglielmo, had
fled for refuge; he, finding himself invested on every

287

CELEBRATED CRIMES

side, sent a messenger in hot haste to Florence to ask
for help.

Unfortunately for the cardinal, Vitellozzo's troops
were nearer to the besiegers than were the soldiers of
the most serene republic to the besieged, and instead
of help — the whole army of the enemy came down
upon him. This army was under the command of
Vitellozzo, of Gian Paolo Baglioni, and of Fabio
Orsino, and with them were the two Medici, ever
ready to go wherever there was a league against
Florence, and ever ready at the command of Borgia,
on any conditions whatever, to re-enter the town
whence they had been banished. The next day more
help in the form of money and artillery arrived, sent
by Pandolfo Petrucci, and on the i8th of June the
citadel of Arezzo, which had received no news from
Florence, was obliged to surrender.

Vitellozzo left the men of Arezzo to look after
their town themselves, leaving also Fabio Orsino to
garrison the citadel with a thousand men. Then,
profiting by the terror that had been spread through-
out all this part of Italy by the successive captures of
the duchy of Urbino, of Camerino, and of Arezzo,
he marched upon Monte San Severino, Castiglione,
Aretino, Cortone, and the other towns of the valley
of Chiana, which submitted one after the other
almost without a struggle. When he was only ten or
twelve leagues from Florence, and dared not on his

288

THE BORGIAS

own account attempt anything- against her, he made
known the state of affairs to the Dnke of Valentinois.
He, fancying the hour had come at last for striking
the blow so long delayed, started off at once to
deliver his answer in person to his faithful lieu-
tenants.

But the Florentines, though they had sent no help
to Guglielmo dei Pazzi, had demanded aid from
Chaumont d'Amboise, governor of the Milanese, on
behalf of Louis xii, not only explaining the danger
they themselves were in but also Caesar's ambitious
projects, namely that after first overcoming the small
principalities and then the states of the second order,
he had now, it seemed, reached such a height of pride
that he would attack the King of France himself.
The news from Naples was disquieting; serio-us dif-
ferences had already occurred between the Count of
Armagnac and Gonzalvo di Cordova, and Louis
might any day need Florence, whom he had always
found loyal and faithful. He therefore resolved to
check Caesar's progress, and not only sent him orders
to advance no further step forwards, but also sent off,
to give effect to his injunction, the captain Imbaut
with 400 lances. The Duke of Valentinois on the
frontier of Tuscany received a copy of the treaty
signed between the republic and the King of France,
a treaty in which the king engaged to help his ally
against any enemy whatsoever, and at the same

Dumas— Vol. 1—10 289

CELEBRATED CRIMES

moment the formal prohibition from Louis to ad-
vance any further. Caesar also learned that beside
the 400 lances with the captain Imbaut, which were
on the road to Florence, Louis xii had as soon as he
reached Asti sent off to Parma Louis de la Trim-
ouille and 200 men-at-arms, 3000 Swiss, and a con-
siderable train of artillery. Li these two movements
combined he saw hostile intentions towards himself,
and turning right about face with his usual agility,
he profited by the fact that he had given nothing but
verbal instructions to all his lieutenants, and wrote
a furious letter to Vitellozzo, reproaching him for
compromising his master with a view to his own pri-
vate interest, and ordering the instant surrender to
the Florentines of the towns and fortresses he had
taken, threatening to march down witJi his own
troops and take them if he hesitated for a moment.
As soon as this letter was written, Caesar departed
for Milan, where Louis xii had just arrived, bring-
ing with him proof positive that he had b^en calum-
niated in the evacuation of the conquered towns. He
also was entrusted with the pope's mission to renew
for another eighteen months the title of legate a
latere in France to Cardinal d'Amboise, the friend
rather than the minister of Louis xii. Thus, thanks
to the public proof of his innocence and the private
use of his influence, Caesar soon made his peace with
the King of France.

290

THE BORGIAS

But this was not all. It was in the nature of
Csesar's genius to divert an impending calamity that
threatened his destruction so as to come out of it
better than before, and he suddenly saw the advan-
tage he might take from the pretended disobedience
of his lieutenants. Already he had been disturbed
now and again by their growing power, and coveted
their towns, now he thought the hour had perhaps
Come for suppressing them also, and in the usurpa-
tion of their private possessions striking a blow at
Florence, who always escaped him at the very
moment when he thought to take her. It was indeed
an annoying thing to have these fortresses and towns
displaying another banner than his own in the midst
of the beautiful Romagna which he desired for his
own kingdom. For Vitellozzo possessed Citta di
Castello, Bentivoglio Bologna, Gian Paolo Baglioni
was in command of Perugia, Oliverotto had just
taken Fermo, and Pandolfo Petrucci was lord of
Siena; it was high time that all these returned into
his own hands. The lieutenants of the Duke of
iValentinois, like Alexander's, were becoming too
powerful, and Borgia must inherit from them, unless
he were willing to let them become his own heirs.
He obtained from Louis xii three hundred lances
wherewith to march against them. As soon as Vitel-
lozzo Vitelli received Csesar's letter he perceived that
he was being sacrificed to the fear that the King of

291

CELEBRATED CRIMES

France inspired ; but he was not one of those victims
who suffer their throats to be cut in the expiation of
a mistake: he was a buffalo of Romagna who
opposed his horns to the knife of the butcher;
besides, he had the example of Varano and the Man-
fredi before him, and, death for death, he preferred
to perish in arms.

So Vitellozzo convoked at Maggione all whose
lives or lands were threatened by this new reversal
of Caesar's policy. These were Paolo Orsino, Gian
Paolo Baglioni, Hermes Bentivoglio, representing
his father Gian, Antonio di Venafro, the envoy of
Pandolfo Petrucci, Oliverotto da Fermo, and the
Duke of Urbino : the first six had everything to lose,
and the last had already lost everything.

A treaty of alliance was signed between the con-
federates : they engaged to resist whether he attacked
them severally or all together.

Csesar learned the existence of this league by its
first effects : the Duke of Urbino, who was adored
by his subjects, had come with a handful of soldiers
to the fortress of San Leone, and it had yielded at
once. In less than a week towns and fortresses fol-
lowed this example, and all the duchy was once more
in the hands of the Duke of Urbino.

At the same time, each member of the confederacy
openly proclaimed his revolt against the common
enemy, and took up a hostile attitude.

292

THE BORGIAS

Caesar was at Imola, awaiting the French troops,
but with scarcely any men ; so that BentivogHo, who
held part of the country, and the Duke of Urbino,
who had just reconquered the rest of it, could prob-
ably have either taken him or forced him to fly and
quit the Romagna, had they marched against him;
all the more since the two men on whom he counted,
viz., Don Ugo di Cardona, who had entered his
service after Capua was taken, and Michelotto had
mistaken his intention, and were all at once separated
from him. He had really ordered them to fall back
upon Rimini, and bring 200 light horse and 500
infantry of which they had the command; but, un-
aware of the urgency of his situation, at the very
moment when they were attempting to surprise La
Pergola and Fossombrone, they were surrounded by
Orsino of Gravina and Vitellozzo. Ugo di Cardona
and Michelotto defended themselves like lions; but
in spite of their utmost efforts their little band was
cut tO' pieces, and Ugo di Cardona taken prisoner,
while Michelotto only escaped the same fate by
lying down among the dead; when night came on,
he escaped to Fano.

Cut even alone as he was, almost without troops
at Imola, the confederates dared attempt nothing
against Caesar, whether because of the personal fear
he inspired, or because in him they respected the
ally of the King of France; they contented them-

293

CELEBRATED CRIMES

selves with taking the towns and fortresses in
the neighbourhood. Vitellozzo had retaken the
fortresses of Fossombrone, Urbino, CagH, and
Aggobbio; Orsino of Gravina had reconquered
Fano and the whole province; while Gian Maria
de Varano, the same who by his absence had
escaped being massacred with the rest of his
family, had re-entered Camerino, borne In triumph
by his people. Not even all this could destroy
Caesar's confidence in his own good fortune,
and while he was on the one hand urging on the
arrival of the French troops and calling into his
pay all those gentlemen known as "broken lances,'*
because they went about the country in parties of five
or six only, and attached themselves to anyone who
wanted them, he had opened up negotiations with
his enemies, certain that from that very day when he
should persuade them to a conference they were un-
done. Indeed, Csesar had the power of persuasion
as a gift from heaven; and though they perfectly
well knew his duplicity, they had no power of resist-
ing, not so much his actual eloquence as that air of
frank good-nature which Macchiavelli so greatly
admired, and which indeed more than once de-
ceived even him, wily politician as he was. In
order to get Paolo Orsino to treat with him at Imola,
Caesar sent Cardinal Borgia to the confederates
as a hostage; and on this Paolo Orsino hesitated

294

THE BORGIAS

no longer, and on the 25th of October, 1502, arrived
at Imola.

Caesar received him as an old friend from whom
one might have been estranged a few days because
of some slight passing differences; he frankly-
avowed that all the fault was no doubt on his side,
since he had contrived to alienate men who were
such loyal lords and also such brave captains; but
with men of their nature, he added, an honest, hon-
ourable explanation such as he would give must put
everything once more in statu quo. To prove that it
was goodwill, not fear, that brought him back to
them, he showed Orsino the letters from Cardinal
A.mboise which announced the speedy arrival of
French troops; he showed him those he had col-
lected about him, in the wish, he declared, that they
might be thoroughly convinced that what he chiefly
regretted in the whole matter was not so much the
loss of the distinguished captains who were the
very soul of his vast enterprise, as that he had led
the world to believe, in a way so fatal to his own
interest, that he could for a single instant fail to
recognise their merit; adding that he consequently
relied upon him, Paolo Orsino, whom he had al-
ways cared for most, to bring back the confederates
by a peace which would be as much for the profit
of all as a war was hurtful to all, and that he was
ready to sign a treaty in consonance with their

295

CELEBRATED CRIMES

wishes SO long as it should not prejudice his own
honour.

Orsino was the man Caesar wanted : full of pride
and confidence in himself, he was convinced of the
truth of the old proverb that says, " A pope cannot
reig-n eight days, if he has both the Colonnas and the
Orsini against him." He believed, therefore, if not
in Caesar's good faith, at any rate in the necessity
he must feel for making peace ; accordingly he signed
with him the following conventions — which only
needed ratification — on the i8th of October, 1502,
which we reproduce here as Macchiavelli sent them
to the magnificent republic of Florence.

" Agreement between the Duke of Valentinois
and the Confederates.

" Let it be known to the parties mentioned be-
low, and to all who shall see these presents, that His
Excellency the Duke of Romagna of the one part
and the Orsini of the other part, together with their
confederates, desiring to put an end to differences,
enmities, misunderstandings, and suspicions which
have arisen between them, have resolved as follows:

" There shall be between them peace and alliance
true and perpetual, with a complete obliteration of
wrongs and injuries which may have taken place
up to this day, both parties engaging to preserve
no resentment of the same; and in conformity with

296

THE BORGIAS

the aforesaid peace and union, His Excellency the
Duke of Romagna shall receive into perpetual con-
federation, league, and alliance all the lords afore-
said; and each of them shall promise to defend the
estates of all in general and of each in particular
against any power that may annoy or attack them
for any cause whatsoever, excepting always never-
theless the Pope Alexander vi and his Very Chris-
tian Majesty Louis xii, King of France: the lords
above named promising on the other part to unite
in the defence of the person and estates of His
Excellency, as also those of the most illustrious
lords, Don Goffredo Borgia, Prince of Squillace,
Don Roderigo Borgia, Duke of Sermoneta and
Biselli, and Don Gian Borgia, Duke of Camerino
and Nepi, all brothers or nephews of the Duke of
Romagna,

" Moreover, since the rebellion and usurpation
of Urbino have occurred during the above-men-
tioned misunderstandings, all the confederates
aforesaid and each of them shall bind themselves to
unite all their forces for the recovery of the estates
aforesaid and of such other places as have revolted
and been usurped.

"His Excellency the Duke of Romagna shall un-
dertake to continue to the Orsini and Vitelli their
ancient engagements in the way of military service
and on the same conditions.

297

CELEBRATED CRIMES

" His Excellency promises further not to insist
on the service in person of more than one of them,
as they may choose : the service that the others may
render shall be voluntary.

" He also promises that the second treaty shall
be ratified by the sovereign pontiff, who shall not
compel Cardinal Orsino to reside in Rome longer
than shall seem convenient to this prelate.

" Furthermore, since there are certain differences
between the Pope and the lord Gian Bentivoglio, the
confederates aforesaid agree that they shall be put
to the arbitration of Cardinal Orsino, of His Ex-
cellency the Duke of Romagna, and of the lord
Pandolfo Petrucci, without appeal.

" Thus the confederates engage, each and all, so
soon as they may be required by the Duke of Ro-
magna, to put into his hands as a hostage one of
the legitimate sons of each of them, in that place
and at that time which he may be pleased to indi-
cate.

" The same confederates promising moreover, all
and each, that if any project directed against any
one of them come to their knowledge, to give warn-
ing thereof, and all to prevent such project recipro-
cally.

" It is agreed, over and above, between the Duke
of Romagna and the confederates aforesaid, to re-
gard as a common enemy any who shall fail to

298

THE BORGIAS

keep the present stipulations, and to unite in the
destniction of any States not conforming- thereto.
"(Signed) C^sar, Paolo Orsino.
" Agapit, Secretary/'

At the same time, while Orsino was carrying to
the confederates the treaty drawn up between him
and the duke, Bentivoglio, not willing to submit to
the arbitration indicated, made an offer to Caesar
of settling their differences by a private treaty, and
sent his son to arrange the conditions: after some
parleying, they were settled as follows: —

Bentivoglio should separate his fortunes from the
Vitelli and Orsini ;

He should furnish the Duke of Valentinois with
a hundred men-at-arms and a hundred mounted
archers for eight years;

He should pay 12,000 ducats per annum to
Caesar, for the support of a hundred lances;

In return for this, his son Hannibal was to marry
the sister of the Archbishop of Enna, who was
Caesar's niece, and the pope was to recognise his
sovereignty in Bologna;

The King of France, the Duke of Ferrara, and
the republic of Florence were to be the guarantors
of this treaty.

But the convention brought to the confederates
by Orsino was the cause of great difficulties on their

299

CELEBRATED CRIMES

part. Vitellozzo Vitelli in particular, who knew
Caesar the best, never ceased to tell the other con-
dottieri that so prompt and easy a peace must needs
be the cover to some trap; but since Caesar had
meanwhile collected a considerable army at Imola,
and the four hundred lances lent him by Louis xii
had arrived at last, Vitellozzo and Oliverotto de-
cided to sign the treaty that Orsino brought, and
to let the Duke of Urbino and the lord of Camerino
know of it; they, seeing plainly that it was hence-
forth impossible to make a defence unaided, had
retired, the one to Citta di Castello and the other
into the kingdom of Naples.

But Caesar, saying nothing of his intentions,
started on the loth of December, and made his way
to Cesena with a powerful army once more under
his command. Fear began to spread on all sides,
not only in Romagna but in the whole of Northern
Italy; Florence, seeing him move away from her,
only thought it a blind to conceal his intentions;
while Venice, seeing him approach her frontiers,
despatched all her troops to the banks of the Po.
Caesar perceived their fear, and lest harm should be
done to himself by the mistrust it might inspire, he
sent away all French troops in his service as soon
as he reached Cesena, except a hundred tnen with
M. de Candale, his brother-in-law ; it was then seen
that he only had 2000 cavalry and 2000 infantry

300

THE BORGIAS

with him. Several days were spent in parleying,
for at Cesena Caesar found the envoys of the Vitelli
and Orsini, who themselves were with their army
in the duchy of Urbino; but after the preliminary
discussions as to the right course to follow in carry-
ing on the plan of conquest, there arose such dif-
ficulties between the general-in-chief and these
agents, that they could not but see the impossibility
of getting anything settled by intermediaries, and
the urgent necessity of a conference between Caesar
and one of the chiefs. So Oliverotto ran the risk
of joining the duke in order to make proposals to
him, either to march on Tuscany or to take Sini-
gaglia, which was the only place in the duchy of
Urbino that had not again fallen into Caesar's
power. Caesar's reply was that he did not desire
to war upon Tuscany, because the Tuscans were his
friends; but that he approved of the lieutenants'
plan with regard to Sinigaglia, and therefore was
marching towards Fano.

But the daughter of Frederic, the former Duke
of Urbino, who held the town of Sinigaglia, and
who was called the lady-prefect, because she had
married Gian della Rovere, whom his uncle, Sixtus
IV, had made prefect of Rome, judging that it would
be impossible to defend herself against the forces
the Duke of Valentinois was bringing, left the cita-
del in the hands of a captain, recommending him to

301

CELEBRATED CRIMES

get the best terms he could for the town, and took
boat for Venice.

Caesar learned this news at Rimini, through a
messenger from Vitelli and the Orsini, who said that
the governor of the citadel, though refusing to yield
to them, was quite ready to make terms with him,
and consequently they would engage to^ go to the
town and finish the business there. Caesar's reply
was that in consequence of this information he was
sending some of his troops to Cesena and Imola, for
tliey would be useless to him, as he should now have
theirs, which together with the escort he retained
would be sufficient, since his only object was the
complete pacification of the duchy of Urbino. He
added that this pacification would not be possible if
his old friends continued to distrust him, and to
discuss through intermediaries alone plans in which
their own fortunes were interested as well as his.
The messenger returned with this answer, and the
confederates, though feeling, it is true, the justice
of Caesar's remarks, none the less hesitated to com-
ply with his demand. Vitellozzo Vitelli in partic-
ular showed a want of confidence in him which
nothing seemed able to subdue ; but, pressed by Oli-
verotto, Gravina, and Orsino, he consented at last to
await the duke's coming; making concession rather
because he could not bear to appear more timid than
his companions, than because of any confidence he

302

THE BORGIAS

felt in the return of friendship that Borgia was
displaying.

The duke learned the news of this decision, so
much desired, when he arrived at Fano on the 20th
of December 1502. At once he summoned eight of
his most faithful friends, among whom were d'Enna,
his nephew, Michelotto, and Ugo di Cardona, and
ordered them, as soon as they arrived at Sinigaglia,
and had seen Vitellozzo, Gravina, Oliverotto, and
Orsino come out to meet them, on a pretext of do-
ing them honour, to place themselves on the right
and left hand of the four generals, two beside each,
so that at a given signal they might either stab or ar-
rest them; next he assigned to each of them his par-
ticular man, bidding them not quit his side until he
had re-entered Sinigaglia and arrived at the quar-
ters prepared for him; then he sent orders to such
of the soldiers as were in cantonments in the neigh-
bourhood to assemble to the number of 8000 on the
banks of the Metaunis, a little river of Umbria
which runs into the Adriatic and has been made fa-
mous by the defeat of Hasdrubal.

The duke arrived at the rendezvous given to his
army on the 31st of December, and instantly sent
out in front two hundred horse, and immediately
behind them his infantry; following close in the
midst of his men-at-arms, following the coast of the
Adriatic, with the mountains on his right and the

303

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sea on his left, which in part of the way left only
space for the army to march ten abreast.

After four hours' march, the duke at a turn of
the path perceived Sinigaglia, nearly a mile distant
from the sea, and a bowshot from the mountains;
between the army and the town ran a little river,
whose banks he had to follow for some distance.
At last he found a bridge opposite a suburb of the
town, and here Caesar ordered his cavalry to stop:
it was drawn up in two lines, one between the road
and the river, the other on the side of the country,
leaving the whole width of the road to the infantry:
which latter defiled, crossed the bridge, and entering
the town, drew themselves up in battle array in the
great square.

On their side, Vitellozzo, Gravina, Orsino, and
OHverotto, to make room for the duke's army, had
quartered their soldiers in little towns or villages in
the neighbourhood of Sinigaglia; Oliverotto alone
had kept nearly looo infantry and 150 horse, who
were in barracks in the suburb through which the
duke entered.

Caesar had made only a few steps towards the
town when he perceived Vitellozzo at the gate, with
the Duke of Gravina and Orsino, who all came out
to meet him; the last two quite gay and confident,
but the first so gloomy and dejected that you would
have thought he foresaw the fate that was in store

304

THE BORGIAS

for him ; and doubtless he had not been without
some presentiments ; for when he left his army to
come to Sinigaglia, he had bidden them farewell as
though never to meet again, had commended the
care of his family to the captains, and embraced his
children with tears — a weakness which appeared
strange to all who- knew him as a brave con-
dottiere.

The duke marched up to them holding out his
hand, as a sign that all was over and forgotten, and
did it with an air at once sO' loyal and so smiling
that Gravina and Orsino could no longer doubt the
genuine return of his friendship, and it was only
Vitellozzo still appeared sad. At the same moment,
exactly as they had been commanded, the duke's ac-
complices took their posts on the right and left of
those they were to watch, who were all there ex-
cept Oliverotto, whom the duke could not see, and
began to seek with uneasy looks; but as he crossed
the suburb he perceived him exercising his troops on
the square. C^sar at once despatched Michelotto
and d'Enna, with a message that it was a rash tiling
to have his troops out, when they might easily start
some quarrel with the duke's men and bring about
an affray : it would be much better to settle them in
barracks and then come to join his companions, who
were with Caesar. Oliverotto, drawn by the same
fate as his friends, made no objection, ordered his

305

CELEBRATED CRIMES

soldiers indoors, and put his horse to the gallop to
join the duke, escorted on either side by d'Enna and
Michelotto. Caesar, on seeing him, called him, took
him by the hand, and continued his march to the
palace that had been prepared for him, his four vic-
tims following after.

Arrived on the threshold, Caesar dismounted, andl
signing to the leader of the men-at-arms tO' await his
orders, he went in first, followed by Oliverotto, Gra-
vina, Vitellozzo Vitelli, and Orsino, each accompanied
by his two satellites ; but scarcely had they gone up-
stairs and into the first room when the door was
shut behind them, and Caesar turned round, saying,
"The hour has come!" This was the signal agreed
upon. Instantly the former confederates were
seized, thrown down, and forced to surrender with
a dagger at their throat Then, while they were be-
ing carried to a dungeon, Caesar opened the window,
went out on the balcony and cried out to the leader
of his men-at-arms, "Go forward!" The man was
in the secret, he rushed on with his band towards
the barracks where Oliverotto's soldiers had just
been consigned, and they, suddenly surprised and of?
their guard, were at once made prisoners; then the
duke's troops began to pillage the town, and he sum-
moned Macchiavelli.

Caesar and the Florentine envoy were nearly two
hours shut up together, and since Macchiavelli him-

306

THE BORGI AS

self recounts the history of this interview, we will
give his own words.

"He summoned me," says the Florentine ambas-
sador, "and in the calmest manner showed me his
joy at the success of this enterprise, which he as-
sured me he had spoken of to me the evening before ;
I remember that he did, but / did not at that time
understand zvhat he meamt; next he explained, in
terms of much feeling and lively affection for our
city, the different motives which had made him de-
sire your alliance, a desire to which he hopes you
will respond. He ended with charging me to lay
three proposals before your lordships: first, that
you rejoice with him in the destruction at a single
blow of the mortal enemies of the king, himself, and
you, and the consequent disappearance of all seeds
of trouble and dissension likely to waste Italy : this
service of his, together with his refusal to allow the
prisoners to march against you, ought, he thinks,
to excite your gratitude towards him; secondly, he
begs that you will at this juncture give him a strik-
ing proof of your friendliness, by urging your cav-
alry's advance towards Borgo, and there assembling
some infantry also, in order that they may march
with him, should need arise, on Castello or on
Perugia. Lastly, he desires — and this is his
third condition — that you arrest the Duke of
Urbino, if he should flee from Castello into

307

CELEBRATED CRIMES

your territories, when he learns that Vitellozzo is a
prisoner.

"When I objected that to give him up would not
beseem the dignity of the republic, and that you
would never consent, he approved of my words, and
said that it would be enough for you to keep the
duke, and not give him his liberty without His Ex-
cellency's permission. I have promised to give you
all this information, to which he awaits your reply."

The same night eight masked men descended to
the dungeon where the prisoners lay : they believed
at that moment that the fatal hour had arrived for
all. But this time the executioners had to do with
Vitellozzo and Oliverotto alone. When these two
captains heard that they were condemned, Oliverotto
burst forth into reproaches against Vitellozzo, say-
ing that it was all his fault that they had taken up
arms against the duke: not a word Vitellozzo an-
swered except a prayer that the pope might grant
him plenary indulgence for all his sins. Then the
masked men took them away, leaving Orsino and
Gravina to await a similar fate, and led away the
two chosen out to die to a secluded spot outside the
ramparts of the town, where they were strangled
and buried at once in two trenches that had been dug
beforehand.

The two others were kept alive until it should be
known if the pope had arrested Cardinal Orsino,

308

THE BORGIAS

archbishop of Florence and lord of Santa Croce;
and when the answer was received in the affirma-
tive from His HoHness, Gravina and Orsino, who
had been transferred to a castle, were likewise
strangled.

The duke, leaving instructions with Michelotto,
set off for Sinigaglia as soon as the first execution
was over, assuring Macchiavelli that he had never
had any other thought than that of giving tranquil-
lity to the Romagna and to Tuscany, and also that
he thought he had succeeded by taking and putting
to death the men who had been the cause of all the
trouble; also that any other revolt that might take
place in the future would be nothing but sparks that
a drop of water could extinguish.

The pope had barely learned that Csesar had his
enemies in his power, when, eager to play the same
winning game himself, he announced to Cardinal
Orsino, though it was then midnight, that his son
had taken Sinigaglia, and gave him an invitation to
come the next morning and talk over the good news.
The cardinal, delighted at this increase of favour,
did not miss his appointment. So, in the morning,
he started on horseback for the Vatican; but at a
turn of the first street he met the governor of Rome
with a detachment of cavalry, who congratulated
himself on the happy chance that they were taking
the same road, and accompanied him to the threshold

309

CELEBRATED CRIMES

of the Vatican. There the cardinal dismounted, and
began to ascend the stairs ; scarcely, however, had
he reached the first landing before his mules and
carriages were seized and shut in the palace stables.
When he entered the hall of the Perropont, he found
that he and all his suite were surrounded by armed
men, who led him into another apartment, called
the Vicar's Hall, where he found the Abbate Alvi-
ano, the protonotary Orsino, Jacopo Santa Croce,
and Rinaldo Orsino, who were all prisoners like
himself; at the same time the governor received or-
ders to seize the castle of Monte Giardino, which
belonged to the Orsini, and take away all the jewels,
all the hangings, all the furniture, and all the silver
that he might find.

The governor carried out his orders conscien-
tiously, and brought to the Vatican everything he
seized, down tO' the cardinal's account-book. On
consulting this book, the pope found out two things:
first, that a sum of 2000 ducats was due to the car-
dinal, no debtor's name being mentioned; secondly,
that the cardinal had bought three months before,
for 1500 Roman crowns, a magnificent pearl which
could not be found among the objects belonging to
him: on which Alexander ordered that from that
very moment until the negligence in the cardinal's
accounts was repaired, the men who were in the
habit of bringing him food twice a day on behalf

310

THE BORGIAS

of his mother should not be admitted into the Cas-
tle Sant' Angelo. The same day, the cardinal's
mother sent the pope the 2000 ducats, and the next
day his mistress, in man's attire, came in person to
bring the missing pearl. His Holiness, however,
was so struck with her beauty in this costume, that,
we are told, he let her keep the pearl for the same
price she had paid for it.

Then the pope allowed the cardinal to have his
food brought as before, and he died of poison on
the 22nd of February — that is, two days after his
accounts had been set right.

That same night the Prince of Squillace set off to
take possession, in tlie pope's name, of the lands of
the deceased.

311

CHAPTER XIV

THE Duke of Valentinois had continued his
road towards Citta di Castello and Perugia,
and had seized these two towns without strik-
ing a blow; for the Vitelh had fled from the
former, and the latter had been abandoned by Gian
Paolo Baglione with no attempt whatever at resist-
ance. There still remained Siena, where Pandolfo
Petrucci was shut up, the only man remaining of all
who had joined the league against Caesar.

But Siena was under the protection of the French.
Besides, Siena was not one of the States of the
Church, and Caesar had no rights there. Therefore
he was content with insisting upon Pandolfo Petruc-
ci's leaving the town and retiring to Lucca, which
he accordingly did.

Then all on this side being peaceful and the whole
of Romagna in subjection, Caesar resolved to return
to Rome and help the pope to destroy all that was
left of the Orsini.

This was all the easier because Louis xii, having
suffered reverses in the kingdom of Naples, had
since then been much concerned with his own affairs
to disturb himself about his allies. So Caesar, doing

312

THE BORGIAS

for the neighbourhood of the Holy See the same
thing that he had done for the Romagna, seized in
succession Vicovaro, Cera, Palombera, Lanzano, and
Cervetti ; when these conquests were achieved, hav-
ing nothing else to do now that he had brought the
pontifical States intO' subjection from the frontiers
of Naples to those of Venice, he returned to Rome
to concert with his father as to the means of con-
verting his duchy into a kingdom.

Caesar arrived at the right moment to share with
Alexander the property of Cardinal Gian Michele,
who had just died, having received a poisoned cup
from the hands of the pope.

The future King of Italy found his father preoc-
cupied with a grand project: he had resolved, for
the Feast of St. Peter's, to create nine cardinals.
What he had to gain from these nominations is as
follows : —

First, the cardinals elected would leave all their
offices vacant ; these offices would fall into the hands
of the pope, and he would sell them ;

Secondly, each of them would buy his election,
more or less dear according to his fortune ; the price,
left to be settled at the pope's fancy, would vary
from 10,000 to 40,000 ducats;

Lastly, since as cardinals they would by law lose
the right of making a will, the pope, in order to
inherit from them, had only to poison them : this

313

CELEBRATED CRIMES

put him in the position of a butcher who, if he needs
money, has only to cut the throat of the fattest sheep
in the flock.

The nomination came to pass : the new cardinals
were Giovanni Castellaro Valentino, archbishop of
Trani; Francesco Remolini, ambassador from the
King of Aragon ; Francesco Soderini, bishop of Vol-
terra; Melchiore Copis, bishop of Brissina; Nicolas
Fiesque, bishop of Frejus; Francesco di Sprate,
bishop of Leome; Adriano Castellense, clerk of the
chamber, treasurer-general, and secretary of the
briefs; Francesco Loris, bishop of Elva, patriarch
of Constantinople, and secretary to the pope; and
Giacomo Casanova, protonotary and private cham-
berlain to His Holiness.

The price of their simony paid and their vacated
offices sold, the pope made his choice of those he was
to poison: the number was fixed at three, one old
and two new ; the old one was Cardinal Casanova,
and the new ones Melchiore Copis and Adriano
Castellense, who had taken the name of Adrian of
Cometo from that town where he had been born,
and where, in the capacity of clerk of the chamber,
treasurer-general, and secretary of briefs, he had
amassed an immense fortune.

So, when all was settled between Caesar and the
pope, they invited their chosen guests to supper in a
vineyard situated near the Vatican, belonging to

314

THE BORGIAS

the Cardinal of Corneto. In the morning of this
day, the 2nd of August, they sent their servants and
the steward to make all preparations, and Caesar
himself gave the pope's butler two bottles of wine
prepared with the white powder resembling sugar
whose mortal properties he had so often proved, and
gave orders that he was to serve this wine only when
he was told, and only to persons specially indicated f
the butler accordingly put the wine on a sideboard
apart, bidding the waiters on no account to touch it,
as it was reserved for the pope's drinking.

Towards evening Alexander vi walked from
the Vatican leaning on Caesar's arm, and turned his
steps towards the vineyard, accompanied by Car-
dinal Caraffa; but as the heat was great and the
climb rather steep, the pope, when he reached the
top, stopped to take breath; then putting his hand
on his breast, he found that he had left in his bed-
room a chain that he always wore round his neck,

' The poison of the Borgias, say contemporary writers, was
of two kinds, powder and liquid. The poison in the form of
powder was a sort of white flour, almost impalpable, with the
taste of sugar, and called Contarella. Its composition is
unknown.

The liquid poison was prepared, we are told, in so strange a
fashion that we cannot pass it by in silence. We repeat here
what we read, and vouch for nothing ourselves, lest science
should give us the lie.

A strong dose of arsenic was administered to a boar ; as
soon as the poison began to take effect, he was hung up by his
heels; convulsions supervened, and a froth deadly and abun-
dant ran out from his jaws; it was this froth, collected into a
silver vessel and transferred into a bottle hermetically sealed,
that made the liquid poison.

CELEBRATED CRIMES

which suspended a gold medallion that enclosed the
sacred host. He owed this habit to a prophecy that
an astrologer had made, that so long as he carried
about a consecrated wafer, neither steel nor poison
could take hold upon him. Now, finding himself
without his talisman, he ordered Monsignore Ca-
raffa to hurry back at once to the Vatican, and told
him in which part of his room he had left it, so that
he might get it and bring it him without delay.
Then, as the walk had made him thirsty, he turned
to a valet, giving signs with his hand as he did so
that his messenger should make haste, and asked for
something to drink. Caesar, who was also thirsty,
ordered the man to bring two glasses. By a curious
coincidence, the butler had just gone back to the
Vatican to fetch some magnificent peaches that had
been sent that very day to the pope, but which had
been forgotten when he came here; so the valet
went to the under butler, saying that His Holiness
and Monsignore the Duke of Romagna were thirsty
and asking for a drink. The under butler, seeing
two bottles of wine set apart, and having heard
that this wine was reserved for the pope, took one,
and telling the valet to bring two glasses on a tray,
poured out this wine, which both drank, little think-
ing that it was what they had themselves prepared
to poison their guests.

Meanwhile Caraffa hurried to the Vatican, and,
316

THE BORGIAS

as he knew the palace well, went up to the pope's
bedroom, a light in his hand and attended by no
servant. As he turned round a corridor a puff of
wind blew out his lamp; still, as he knew the way.
he went on, thinking there was no need of seeing to
find the object he was in search of; but as he en-
tered the room he recoiled a step, with a cry of ter-
ror: he beheld a ghastly apparition; it seemed that
there before his eyes, in the middle of the room, be-
tween the door and the cabinet which held the me-
dallion, Alexander vi, motionless and livid, was ly-
ing on a bier at whose four corners there burned
four torches. The cardinal stood still for a moment,
his eyes fixed, and his hair standing on end, without
strength to move either backward or forward ; then
thinking it was all a trick of fancy or an apparition
of the devil's making, he made the sign of the cross,
invoking God's holy name; all instaatly vanished,
torches, bier, and corpse, and the seeming mortuary
chamber was once more in darkness.

Then Cardinal Caraffa, who has him.self recorded
this strange event, and who was afterwards Pope
Paul IV, entered boldly, and though an icy sweat ran
down his brow, he went straight to the cabinet, and
in the drawer indicated found the gold chain and
the medallion, took them, and hastily went out to
give them to the pope. He found supper served, the
guests arrived, and His Holiness ready to take his

CELEBRATED CRIMES

place at table; as soon as the cardinal was in sight,
His Holiness, who was very pale, made one step to-
wards him; Caraffa doubled his pace, and handed
the medallion to him ; but as the pope stretched forth
his arm to take it, he fell back with a cry, instantly
followed by violent convulsions : an instant later, as
he advanced to render his father assistance, Caesar
was similarly seized; the effect of the poison had
been more rapid than usual, for Csesar had doubled
the dose, and there is little doubt that their heated
condition increased its activity.

The two stricken men were carried side by side to
the Vatican, where each was taken to his own
rooms : from that moment they never met again.

As soon as he reached his bed, the pope was seized
with a violent fever, which did not give way to
emetics or to bleeding; almost immediately it be-
came necessary to administer the last sacraments of
the Church; but his admirable bodily constitution,
which seemed to have defied old age, was strong
enough to fight eight days with death; at last, after a
week of mortal agony, he died, without once utter-
ing the name of Csesar or Lucrezia, who were the
two poles around which had turned all his affections
and all his crimes. His age was seventy-two, and
he had reigned eleven years.

Caesar, perhaps because he had taken less of the
fatal beverage, perhaps because the strength of his

318

THl5 BDRGIAS

youth overcame the strength of the poison, or may-
be, as some say, because when he reached his own
rooms he had swallowed an antidote known only to
himself, was not so prostrated as to lose sight for a
moment of the terrible position he was in : he sum-
moned his faithful Michelotto, with those he could
best count on among his men, and disposed this band
in the various rooms that led to his own, ordering
the chief never to leave the foot of his bed, but to
sleep lying on a rug, his hand upon the handle of
his sword.

The treatment had been the same for Caesar as
for the pope, but in addition to bleeding and emetics
strange baths were added, which Csesar had him-
self asked for, having heard that in a similar case
they had once cured Ladislaus, King of Naples.
Four posts, strongly welded to the floor and ceiling,
were set up in his room, like the machines at which
farriers shoe horses; every day a bull was brought
in, turned over on his back and tied by his four legs
to the four posts; then, when he was thus fixed, a
cut was made in his belly a foot and a half long,
through which the intestines were drawn out ; then
Csesar slipped into this living bath of blood : when
the bull was dead, Csesar was taken out and rolled
up in burning hot blankets, where, after copious
perspirations, he almost always felt some sort of
relief.

319

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Every two hours Csesar sent to ask news of his
father: he hardly waited to hear that he was dead
before, though still at death's door himself, he sum-
moned up all the force of character and presence of
mind that naturally belonged to him. He ordered
Michelotto to shut the doors of the Vatican before
the report of Alexander's decease could spread about
the town, and forbade anyone whatsoever to enter
the pope's apartments until the money and papers
had been removed. Michelotto obeyed at once, went
to find Cardinal Casanova, held a dagger at his
throat, and made him deliver up the keys of the
pope's rooms and cabinets ; then, under his guidance,
took away two chests full of gold, which perhaps
contained 100,000 Roman crowns in specie, several
boxes full of jewels, much silver and many precious
vases; all these were carried to Csesar's chamber;
the guards of the room were doubled ; then the doors
of the Vatican were once more thrown open, and the
death of the pope was proclaimed.

Although the news was expected, it produced none
the less a terrible effect in Rome; for although Cse-
sar was still alive, his condition left everyone in sus-
pense : had the mighty Duke of Romagna, the pow-
erful condottiere who had taken thirty towns and
fifteen fortresses in five years, been seated, sword
in hand, upon his charger, nothing would have been
uncertain of fluctuating even for a moment; for, as

320

THE BORGIAS

Caesar afterwards told Macchiavelli, his ambitious
soul had provided for all things that could occur on
the day of the pope's death, except the one that he
should be dying himself; but being nailed down to
his bed, sweating off the effects the poison had
wrought; so, though he had kept his power of think-
ing he could no longer act, but must needs wait and
suffer the course of events, instead of marching on
in front and controlling them.

Thus he was forced to regulate his actions no
longer by his own plans but according to circum-
stances. His most bitter enemies, who could press
him hardest, were the Orsini and the Colonnas:
from the one family he had taken their blood, from
the other their goods.

So he addressed himself to those to whom he
could return what he had taken, and opened negotia-
tions with the Colonnas.

Meanwhile the obsequies of the poi>e were going
forward : the vice-chancellor had sent out orders
to the highest among the clergy, the superiors of
convents, and the secular orders, not to fail to ap-
pear, according to regular custom, on pain of being
despoiled of their office and dignities, each bringing
his own company to the Vatican, to be present at the
pope's funeral ; each therefore appeared on the day
and at the hour appointed at the pontifical palace,
whence the body was to be conveyed to the church of

Dumas— Vol. 1—11 321

CELEBRATED CRIMES

St. Peter's, and there buried. The corpse was found
to be abandoned and alone in the mortuary cham-
ber; for everyone of the name of Borgia, except Cae-
sar, lay hidden, not knowing what might come to
pass. This was indeed well justified; for Fabio Or-
sino, meeting one member of the family, stabbed
him, and as a sign of the hatred they had sworn to
one another, bathed his mouth and hands in the
blood.

The agitation in Rome was so great, that when
the corpse of Alexander vi was about to enter the
church there occurred a kind of panic, such as will
suddenly arise in times of popular agitation, in-
stantly causing so great a disturbance in the funeral
cortege that the guards drew up in battle array, the
clergy fled into the sacristy, and the bearers dropped
the bier.

The people, tearing off the pall which covered
it, disclosed the corpse, and everyone could see
with impunity and close at hand the man who, fif-
teen days before, had made princes, kings and em-
perors tremble, from one end of the world to the
other.

But in accordance with that religious feeling to-
wards death which all men instinctively feel, and
which alone survives every other, even in the heart of
the atheist, the bier was taken up again and carried
to the foot of the great altar in St. Peter's, where, set

322

THE BORGTAS

on trestles, it was exposed to public view; but the
body had become so black, so deformed and swollen,
that it was horrible to behold ; from its nose a bloody
matter escaped, the mouth gaped hideously, and the
tongue was so monstrously enlarged that it filled the
whole cavity ; to this frightful appearance was added
a decomposition so great that, although at the pope's
funeral it is customary to kiss the hand which bore
the Fisherman's ring, not one approached to offer
this mark of respect and religious reverence to the
representative of God on earth.

Towards seven o'clock in the evening, when the
declining day adds so deep a melancholy to the si-
lence of a church, four porters and two working
carpenters carried the corpse into the chapel where
it was to be interred, and, lifting it off the catafalque,
where it lay in state, put it in the coffin which was
to be its last abode; but it was found that the coffin
was too short, and the body could not be got in till
the legs were bent and thrust in with violent blows ;
then the carpenters put on the lid, and while one of
them sat on the top to force the knees to bend, the
others hammered in the nails amid those Shake-
spearian pleasantries that sound as the last orison
in the ear of the mighty; then, says Tommaso
Tommasi, he was placed on the right of the
great altar of St. Peter's, beneath a very ugly
tomb.

323

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The next morning this epitaph was found in-
scribed upon the tomb : —

"VENDIT ALEXANDER CLAVES, ALTARIA, CHRISTUM :
EMERAT ILLE PRIUS, VENDERE JURE POTEST";

that is,

"Pope Alexander sold the Christ, the altars, and the keys:
But anyone who buys a thing may sell it if he please."

324

CHAPTER XV

FROM the effect produced at Rome by Alexan-
der's death, one may imagine what happened
not only in the whole of Italy but also in the
rest of the world: for a moment Europe swayed,
for the column which supported the vault of the
political edifice had given way, and the star with
eyes of flame and rays of blood, round which all
things had revolved for the last eleven years, was
now extinguished, and for a moment the world, on
a sudden struck motionless, remained in silence and
darkness.

After the first moment of stupefaction, all who
had an injury to avenge arose and hurried to the
chase. Sforza retook Pesaro, Bagloine Perugia,
Guido and Ubaldo Urbino, and La Rovere Sini-
gaglia; the Vitelli entered Citta di Castello, the
Appiani Piombino, the Orsini Monte Giordano and
their other territories ; Romagna alone remained im-
passive and loyal, for the people, who have no con-
cern with the quarrels of the great, provided they do
not affect themselves, had never been so happy as
under the government of Caesar.

325

CELEBRATED CRIMES

The Colonnas were pledged to maintain a neu-
trality, and had been consequently restored to the
possession of their castles and the cities of Chiuzano,
Capo d'Anno, Frascati, Rocca di Papa, and Nettuno,
which they found in a better condition than when
they had left them, as the pope had had them em-
bellished and fortified.

Csesar was still in the Vatican with his troops,
who, loyal to him in his misfortune, kept watch
about the palace, where he was writhing on his bed
of pain and roaring like a wounded lion. The car-
dinals, who had in their first terror fled, each his
own way, instead of attending the pope's obsequies,
began to assemble once more, some at the Minerva,
others around Cardinal Caraffa. Frightened by the
troops that Caesar still had, especially since the com-
mand was entrusted to Michelotto, they collected all
the money they could to levy an army of 2000 sol-
diers with Charles Taneo at their head, with the
title of Captain of the Sacred College. It was then
hoped that peace was re-established, when it was
heard that Prospero Colonna was coming with 3000
men from the side of Naples, and Fabio Orsino from
the side of Viterbo with 200 horse and more than
ICKDO infantry. Indeed, they entered Rome at only
one day's interval one from another, by so similar
an ardour were they inspired.

Thus there were five armies in Rome: Caesar's
326

THE BORGIAS

army, holding the Vatican and the Borgo; the army
of the Bishop of Nicastro, who had received from
Alexander the guardianship of the Castle Sant' An-
gelo and had shut himself up there, refusing to yield ;
the army of the Sacred College, which was stationed
round about the Minerva ; the army of Prosper©
Colonna, which was encamped at the Capitol ; and
the army of Fabio Orsino, in barracks at the Ri-
petta.

On their side, the Spaniards had advanced to Ter-
racino, and the French to Nepi. The cardinals saw
that Rome now stood upon a mine which the least
spark might cause to explode: they summoned the
ambassadors of the Emperor of Germany, the Kings
of France and Spain, and the republic of Venice to
raise their voice in the name of their masters. The
ambassadors, impressed with the urgency of the sit-
uation, began by declaring the Sacred College in-
violable : they then ordered the Orsini, the Colonnas,
and the Duke of Valentinois to leave Rome and go
each his own way.

The Orsini were the first to submit: the next
morning their example was followed by the Colon-
nas. No one was left but Ccesar, who said he was
willing to go, but desired to make his conditions
beforehand: the Vatican was undemiined, he de-
clared, and if his demands were refused he and those
who came to take him should be blown up together.

CELEBRATED CRIMES

It was known that his were never empty threats:
they came to terms with him.^

Caesar promised to remain ten miles away from
Rome the whole time the Conclave lasted, and not
to take any action against the town or any other of
the Ecclesiastical States: Fabio Orsino and Pros-
pero Colonna had made the same promises.

The Venetian ambassador answered for the Or-
sini, the Spanish ambassador for the Colonnas, the
ambassador of France for Caesar.

At the day and hour appointed Caesar sent out
his artillery, which consisted of eighteen pieces of
cannon, and 400 infantry of the Sacred College, on
each of whom he bestowed a ducat : behind the ar-
tillery came a hundred chariots escorted by his ad-
vance guard.

The duke was carried out of the gate of the Vati-
can : he lay on a bed covered with a scarlet canopy,
supported by twelve halberdiers, leaning forward on
his cushions so that no one might see his face with
its purple lips and bloodshot eyes : beside him was
his naked sword, to show that, feeble as he was, he
could use it at need : his finest charger, caparisoned
in black velvet embroidered with his arms, walked

' It was agreed that Caesar should quit Rome with his army,
artillery, and baggage; and to ensure his not being attacked
or molested in the streets, the Sacred College should add to
his numbers 400 infantry, who, in case of attack or insult,
would fight for him.

328

THE BORGIAS

beside the bed, led by a page, so that Caesar could
mount in case of surprise or attack: before him
and behind, both right and left, marched his army,
their arms in rest, but without beating of drums or
blowing of trumpets : this gave a sombre, funereal
air to the whole procession, which at the gate of the
city met Prospero Colonna awaiting it with a con-
siderable band of men.

Csesar thought at first that, breaking his word as
he had so often done himself, Prospero Colonna was
going to attack him. He ordered a halt, and pre-
pared to mount his horse; but Prospero' Colonna,
seeing the state he was in, advanced to his bedside
alone : he came, against expectation, to offer him an
escort, fearing an ambuscade on the part of Fabio
Orsino, who had loudly sworn that he would lose
his honour or avenge the death of Paolo Orsino, his
father. Caesar thanked Colonna, and replied that
from the moment that Orsino stood alone he ceased
to fear him. Then Colonna saluted the duke, and re-
joined his men, directing them towards Albano,
while Caesar took the road to Citta Castellana, which
had remained loyal.

When there, Caesar found himself not only mas-
ter of his own fate but of others as well: of the
twenty-two votes he owned in the Sacred College
twelve had remained faithful, and as the Conclave
was composed in all of thirty-seven cardinals, he

329

CELEBRATED CRIMES

with his twelve votes could make the majority in-
cline to whichever side he chose. Accordingly he
was courted both by the Spanish and the French
party, each desiring the election of a pope of their
own nation. Caesar listened, promising nothing and
refusing nothing : he gave his twelve votes to Fran-
cesco Piccolomini, Cardinal of Siena, one of his
father's creatures who had remained his friend, and
the latter was elected on the 8th of October and
took the name of Pius iii.

Caesar's hopes did not deceive him. Pius iii was
hardly elected before he sent him a safe-conduct
to Rome : the duke came back with 250 men-at-arms,
250 light horse, and 800 infantry, and lodged in his
palace, the soldiers camping round about.

Meanwhile the Orsini, pursuing their projects of
vengeance against Caesar, had been levying many
troops at Perugia and the neighbourhood to bring
against him to Rome, and as they fancied that
France, in whose service they were engaged, was
humouring the duke for the sake of the twelve votes
which were wanted to secure the election of Car-
dinal Amboise at the next Conclave, they went over
to the service of Spain.

Meanwhile Caesar was signing a new treaty witli
Louis XII, by which he engaged to support him with
all his forces, and even with his person, so soon as he
could ride, in maintaining his conquest of Naples:

330

THE BORGI AS

Louis, on his side, guaranteed that he should retain
possession of the States he still held, and promised
his help in recovering those he had lost.

The day when this treaty was made known, Gon-
zalvo di Cordovo proclaimed to the sound of a
trumpet in all the streets of Rome that every Spanish
subject serving" in a foreign army was at once to
break his engagement on pain of being found guilty
of high treason.

This measure robbed Caesar of ten or twelve of his
best officers and of nearly 300 men.

Then the Orsini, seeing his army thus reduced,
entered Rome, supported by the Spanish ambassa-
dor, and summoned Caesar to appear before the pope
and the Sacred College and give an account of his
crimes.

Faithful to his engagements, Pius iii replied that
in his quality of sovereign prince the duke in his
temporal administration was quite independent and
was answerable for his actions to God alone.

But as the pope felt he could not much longer
support Caesar against his enemies for all his good-
will, he advised him to try to join the French army,
which was still advancing on Naples, in the midst of
which he would alone find safety. Caesar resolved
to retire to Bracciano, where Gian Giordano Orsino,
who had once gone with him to France, and who was
the only member of the family who had not declared

331

CELEBRATED CRIMES

against him, offered him an asylum in the name of
Cardinal d'Amboise : so one morning he ordered his
troops to march for this town, and, taking his place
in their midst, he left Rome.

But though Caesar had kept his intentions quiet,
the Orsini had been forewarned, and, taking out all
the troops they had by the gate of San Pancracio,
they had made a long detour and blocked Caesar's
way ; so, when the latter arrived at Storta, he found
the Orsini's army drawn up awaiting him in numbers
exceeding his own by at least one-half.

C^sar saw that to come to blows in his then feeble
state was to rush on certain destruction; so he or-
dered his troops to retire, and, being a first-rate
strategist, echelonned his retreat so skilfully that his
enemies, thoiigh they followed, dared not attack him,
and he re-entered the pontifical town without the loss
of a single man.

This time Caesar went straight to the Vatican, to
put himself more directly under the pope's protec-
tion; he distributed his soldiers about the palace, so
as to guard all its exits. Now the Orsini, resolved
to make an end of Caesar, had determined to attack
him wheresoever he might be, with no regard to the
sanctity of the place : this they attempted, but with-
out success, as Caesar's men kept a good guard on
every side, and offered a strong defence.

Then the Orsini, not being able to force the guard
332

THE BORGIAS

of the Castle Sant' Angela, hoped to succeed better
with the duke by leaving Rome and then returning
by the Torione gate; but Caesar anticipated this
move, and they found the gate guarded and barri-
caded. None the less, they pursued their design,
seeking by open violence the vengeance that they had
hoped to obtain by craft; and, having surprised the
approaches to the gate, set fire to it: a passage
gained, they made their way into the gardens of the
castle, where they found Caesar awaiting them at the
head of his cavalry.

Face to face with danger, the duke had found
his old strength : and he was the first to rush upon
his enemies, loudly challenging Orsino in the hope
of killing him should they meet; but either Orsino
did not hear him or dared not fight ; and after an
exciting contest, Caesar, who was numerically two-
thirds weaker than his enemy, saw his cavalry cut to
pieces; and after performing miracles of personal
strength and courage, was obliged to return to the
Vatican. There he found the pope in mortal agony :
the Orsini, tired of contending against the old man's
word of honour pledged to the duke, had by the in-
terposition of Pandolfo Petrucci, gained the ear of
llic pope's surgeon, who placed a poisoned plaster
rpon a wound in his leg.

The pope then was actually dying when Caesar,
c^rered with dust and blood, entered his room, pur-

333

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sued by his enemies, who knew no check till they
reached the palace walls, behind which the remnant
of his army still held their ground.

Pius III, who knew he was about tO' die, sat up in
his bed, gave Csesar the key of the corridor which
led to the Castle of Sant' Angelo, and an order ad-
dressed to the governor to admit him and his family,
to defend him to the last extremity, and to let him
go wherever he thought fit ; and then fell fainting on
his bed.

.Caesar took his two daughters by the hand, and,
followed by the little dukes of Sermoneta and Nepi,
took refuge in the last asylum open to him.

The same night the pope died: he had reigned
only twenty-six days.

After his death, Caesar, who had cast himself
fully dressed upon his bed, heard his door open at
two o'clock in the morning : not knowing what any-
one might want of him at such an hour, he raised
himself on one elbow and felt for the handle of his
sword with his other hand ; but at the first glance he
recognised in his nocturnal visitor Giuliano della
Rovere.

Utterly exhausted by the poison, abandoned by
his troops, fallen as he was from the height of his
power, Caesar, who could now do nothing for him-
self, could yet make a pope : Giuliano della Rovere
had come to buy the votes of his twelve cardinals.

334

THE BORGIAS

Caesar imposed his conditions, which were ac-
cepted.

If elected, Giuliano della Rovere was to help Cae-
sar to recover his territories in Romagna ; Caesar was
to remain general of the Church; and Francesco
Maria della Rovere, prefect of Rome, was to marry
one of Caesar's daughters.

On these conditions Caesar sold his twelve car-
dinals to Giuliano.

The next day, at Giuliano's request, the Sacred
College ordered the Orsini to leave Rome for the
whole time occupied by the Conclave.

On the 31st of October 1503, at the first scru-
tiny, Giuliano della Rovere was elected pope, and
took the name of Julius 11.

He was scarcely installed in the Vatican when he
made it his first care to summon Caesar and give him
his former rooms there; then, since the duke was
fully restored to health, he began to busy himself
with the re-establishment of his affairs, which had
suffered sadly of late.

The defeat of his army and his own escape to
Sant* Angelo, where he was supposed to be a pris-
oner, had brought about great changes in Romagna.
Sesena was once more in the power of the Church,
as formerly it had been; Gian Sforza had again en-
tered Pesaro; Ordelafi had seized Forli; Malatesta
was laying claim to Rimini ; the inhabitants of Imola

335

CELEBRATED CRIMES

had assassinated their governor, and the town was
divided between two opinions, one that it should be
put into the hands of the Riani, the other, into the
hands of the Church ; Faenza had remained loyal
longer than any other place ; but at last, losing hope
of seeing Caesar recover his power, it had summoned
Francesco, a natural son of Galeotto Manfredi, the
last surviving heir of this unhappy family, all whose
legitimate descendants had been massacred by
Borgia.

It is true that the fortresses of these different
places had taken no part in these revolutions, and
had remained immutably faithful to the Duke of
Valentinois.

So it was not precisely the defection of these
towns, which, thanks to their fortresses, might be
reconquered, that was the cause of uneasiness to
Caesar and Julius ii^ it was the difficult situation that
Venice had thrust upon them. Venice, in the spring
of the same year, had signed a treaty of peace with
the Turks : thus set free from her eternal enemy,
she had just led her forces to the Romagna, which
she had always coveted : these troops had been led
towards Ravenna, the farthermost limit of the Papal
estates, and put under the command of Giacopo
Venieri, who had failed to capture Cesena, and had
only failed through the courage of its inhabitants;
but this check had been amply compensated by the

THE BORGIAS

surrender of the fortresses of Val di Lamone and
Faenza, by the capture of ForHmpopoh", and the
surrender of Rimini, which Pandolfo Malatesta, its
lord, exchanged for the seigniory of Cittadella, in
the State of Padua, and for the rank of gentleman
of Venice.

Then Caesar made a proposition to Julius ii : this
was to make a momentary cession to the Church of
his own estates in Romagna, so that the respect felt
by the Venetians for the Church might save these
towns from their aggressors ; but, says Guicciardini,
Julius 11^ whose ambition, so natural in sovereign
rulers, had not yet extinguished the remains of recti-
tude, refused to accept the places, afraid of exposing
himself to the temptation of keeping them later on,
against his promises.

But as the case was urgent, he proposed to Caesar
that he should leave Rome, embark at Ostia, and
cross over to Spezia, where Michelotto was to meet
him at the head of loo men-at-arms and lOO light
horse, the only remnant of his magnificent army,
thence by land to Ferrara, and from Ferrara to
Imola, where, once arrived, he could utter his war-
cry so loud that it would be heard through the
length and breadth of Romagna.

This advice being after Caesar's own heart, he
accepted it at once.

The resolution submitted to the Sacred College

2,?>7

CELEBRATED CRIMES

was approved, and Caesar left for Ostia, accompanied
by Bartolommeo della Revere, nephew of His Holi-
ness.

Caesar at last felt he was free, and fancied himself
already on his good charger, a second time carrying
war into all the places where he had formerly fought.
When he reached Ostia, he was met by the cardinals
of Sorrento and Volterra, who came in the name of
Julius II to ask him to give up the very same citadels
which he had refused three days before: the fact
was that the pope had learned in the interim that
the Venetians had made fresh aggressions, and re-
cognised that the method proposed by Caesar was the
nnly one that would check them. But this time it
was Caesar's turn to refuse, for he was weary of
these tergiversations, and feared a trap; so he said
that the surrender asked for would be useless, since
by God's help he should be in Romagna before eight
days were past. So the cardinals of SorrentO' and
Volterra returned to Rome with a refusal.

The next morning, just as Caesar was setting foot
on his vessel, he was arrested in the name of Julius ii.

He thought at first that this was the end ; he was
used to this mode of action, and knew how short was
the space between a prison and a tomb; the matter
was all the easier in his case, because the pope, if
he chose, would have plenty of pretext for making
a case against him. But the heart of Julius was of

338

THE BORGI AS

another kind from his; swift to anger, but open to
clemency; so, when the duke came back to Rome
guarded, the momentary irritation his refusal had
caused was already calmed, and the pope received
him in his usual fashion at his palace, and with his
ordinary courtesy, although from the beginning it
was easy for the duke to see that he was being
watched. In return for this kind reception, Caesar
consented to yield the fortress of Cesena to the pope,
as being a town which had once belonged to the
Church, and now should return; giving the deed,
signed by Csesar, to one of his captains, called Pietro
d'Oviedo, he ordered him to take possession of the
fortress in the name of the Holy See. Pietro obeyed,
and starting at once for Cesena, presented himself
armed with his warrant before Don Diego Chifion,
a noble condottiere of Spain, who was holding the
fortress in Caesar's name. But when he had read
over the paper that Pietro d'Oviedo brought, Don
Diego replied that as he knew his lord and master
was a prisoner, it would be disgraceful in him to
obey an order that had probably been wrested from
him by violence, and that the bearer deserved to die
for undertaking such a cowardly office. He there-
fore bade his soldiers seize d'Oviedo and fling him
down from the top of the walls : this sentence was
promptly executed.

This mark of fidelity might have proved fatal to

339

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Caesar: when the pope heard how his messenger had
been treated, he flew into such a rage that the pris-
oner thought a second time that his hour was come ;
and in order to receive his hberty, he made the
first of those new propositions to JuHus ii, which
were drawn up in the form of a treaty and sanc-
tioned by a bull. By these arrangements, the Duke
of Valentinois was bound to hand over to His Holi-
ness, within the space of forty days, the fortresses
of Cesena and Bertinoro, and authorise the sur-
render of Forli. This arrangement was guaranteed
by two bankers in Rome who were to be responsible
for 15,000 ducats, the sum total of the expenses
which the governor pretended he had incurred in
the place on the duke's account. The pope on his
part engaged to send Caesar to Ostia under the sole
guard of the Cardinal of Santa Croce and two of-
ficers, who were to give him his full liberty on the
very day when his engagements were fulfilled:
should this not happen, Caesar was to be taken to
Rome and imprisoned in the Castle of Sant' Angelo.
In fulfilment of this treaty, Caesar went down the
Tiber as far as Ostia, accompanied by the pope's
treasurer and many of his servants. The Cardinal o{
Santa Croce followed, and the next day joined him
there.

But as Caesar feared that Julius 11 might keep him
a prisoner, in spite of his pledged word, after he had

340

THE BORGIAS

yielded up the fortresses, he asked, through the
mediation of Cardinals Borgia and Remolino, who,
not feeling safe at Rome, had retired to Naples, for
a safe-conduct to Gonzalvo of Cordova, and for two
ships to take him there; with the return of the
courier the safe-conduct arrived, announcing that
the ships would shortly follow.

In the midst of all this, the Cardinal of Santa
Croce, learning that by the duke's orders the gov-
ernors of Cesena and Bertinoro had surrendered
their fortresses to the captains of His Holiness, re-
laxed his rigour, and knowing that his prisoner
would some day or other be free, began to let him
go out without a guard. Then Caesar, feeling some
fear lest when he started with Gonzalvo's ships the
same thing might happen as on the occasion of his
embarking on the pope's vessel — that is, that he
might be arrested a second time — concealed himself
in a house outside the town ; and when night came
on, mounting a wretched horse that belonged to a
peasant, rode as far as Nettuno, and there hired a
little boat, in which he embarked for Monte Dragone,
and thence gained Naples. Gonzalvo received him
with such joy that Caesar was deceived as to his in-
tention, and this time believed that he was really
saved. His confidence was redoubled when, open-
ing his designs to Gonzalvo, and telling him that
he counted upon gaining Pisa and thence going on

341

CELEBRATED CRIMES

into Romagna, Gonzalvo allowed him to recruit as
many soldiers at Naples as he pleased, promising him
two ships to embark with. Caesar, deceived by these
appearances, stopped nearly six weeks at Naples,
every day seeing the Spanish governor and dis-
cussing his plans. But Gonzalvo was only waiting
to gain time to tell the King of Spain that his enemy-
was in his hands; and Caesar actually went to the
castle to bid Gonzalvo good-bye, thinking he was
just about to start after he had embarked his men
on the two ships. The Spanish governor received
him with his accustomed courtesy, wished him every
kind of prosperity, and embraced him as he left ; but
at the door of the castle Caesar found one of Gon-
zalvo's captains, Nuno Campejo by name, who ar-
rested him as a prisoner of Ferdinand the Catholic.
Caesar at these words heaved a deep sigh, cursing the
ill luck that had made him trust the word of an
enemy when he had so often broken his own.

He was at once taken to the castle, where the
prison gate closed behind him, and he felt no hope
that anyone would come to his aid; for the only
being who was devoted to him in this world was
Michelotto, and he had heard that Michelotto had
been arrested near Pisa by order of Julius ii. While
Caesar was being taken to prison an officer came to
him to deprive him of the safe-conduct given him
by Gonzalvo.

342

THE BORGIAS

The day after his arrest, which occurred on the
27th of May, 1504, Caesar was taken on board a
ship, which at once weighed anchor and set sail
for Spain: during the whole voyage he had but
one page to serve him, and as soon as he disembarked
he was taken to the castle of Medina del Campo.

Ten years later, Gonzalvo, who at that time was
himself proscribed, owned to Loxa on his dying bed
that now, when he was to appear in the presence
of God, two things weighed cruelly on his con-
science : one was his treason to Ferdinand, the other
his breach of faith towards Caesar.

343

1

CHAPTER XVI

C^SAR was in prison for two years, always
hoping that Louis xii would reclaim him as
peer of the kingdom of France ; but Louis, much dis-
turbed by the loss of the battle of Garigliano, which
robbed him of the kingdom of Naples, had enough
to do with his own affairs without busying himself
with his cousin's. So the prisoner was beginning to
despair, when one day as he broke his bread at
breakfast he found a file and a little bottle contain-
ing a narcotic, with a letter from Michelotto, saying
that he was out of prison and had left Italy for
Spain, and now lay in hiding with the Count of
Benevento in the neighbouring village : he added that
from the next day forward he and the count would
wait every night on the road between the fortress
and the village with three excellent horses; it was
now Caesar's part to do the best he could with his
bottle and file. When the whole world had aban-
doned the Duke of Romagna he had been remem-
bered by a sbirro.

The prison where he had been shut up for two
years was so hateful to Caesar that he lost not a

344

THE BORGIAS

single moment : the same day he attacked one of the
bars of a window that looked out upon an inner
court, and soon contrived so to manipulate it that
it would need only a final push to come out. But
not only was the window nearly seventy feet from
the ground, but one could only get out of the court
by using an exit reserved for the governor, of which
he alone had the key ; also this key never left him ;
by day it hung at his waist, by night it was under his
pillow : this then was the chief difficulty.

But prisoner though he was, Caesar had always been
treated with the respect due to his name and rank :
every day at the dinner-hour he was conducted from
the room that served as his prison to the governor,
who did the honours of the table in a grand and
courteous fashion. The fact was that Don Manuel
had served with honour under King Ferdinand, and
therefore, while he guarded Caesar rigorously, ac-
cording to orders, he had a great respect for so
brave a general, and took pleasure in listening to the
accounts of his battles. So he had often insisted that
Caesar should not only dine but also breakfast with
him ; happily the prisoner, yielding perhaps to some
presentiment, had till now refused this favour. This
was of great advantage to him, since, thanks to his
solitude, he had been able to receive the instruments
of escape sent by Michelotto. The same day he re-
ceived them, Caesar, on going back to his room, made

345

CELEBRATED CRIMES

a false step and sprained his foot ; at the dinner-hour
he tried to go down, but he pretended to be suffering
so cruelly that he gave it up. The governor came
to see him in his room, and found him stretched upon
the bed.

The day after, he was no better ; the governor had
his dinner sent in, and came to see him, as on the
night before; he found his prisoner so dejected and
gloomy in his solitude that he offered to come and
sup with him: Csesar gratefully accepted.

This time it was the prisoner who did the honours :
Ccesar was charmingly courteous; the governor
thought he would profit by this lack of restraint to
put to him certain questions as to the manner of his
arrest, and asked him as an Old Castilian, for whom
honour is still of some account, what the truth really
was as to Gonzalvo's and Ferdinand's breach of
faith with him. Csesar appeared extremely inclined
to give him his entire confidence, but showed by a
sign that the attendants were in the way. This pre-
caution appeared quite natural, and the governor
took no offense, but hastened to send them all away,
so as to be sooner alone with his companion. When
the door was shut, Caesar filled his glass and the
governor's, proposing the king's health : the governor
honoured the toast: Caesar at once began his tale;
but he had scarcely uttered a third part of it when,
interesting as it was, the eyes of his host shut as

346

THE BORGIAS

though by magic, and he slid under the table in a
profound sleep.

After half a hour had passed, the servants, hear-
ing no noise, entered and found the two, one on the
table, the other under it: this event was not so
extraordinary that they paid any great attention to
it : all they did was to carry Don Manuel to his room
and lift Csesar on the bed; then they put away the
remnant of the meal for the next day's supper, shut
the door very carefully, and left their prisoner alone.

Caesar stayed for a minute motionless and ap-
parently plunged in the deepest sleep; but when he
had heard the steps retreating, he quietly raised his
head, opened his eyes, slipped off the bed, walked
to the door, slowly indeed, but not to all appearance
feeling the accident of the night before, and applied
his ear for some minutes to the keyhole; then lifting
his head with an expression of indescribable pride,
he wiped his brow with his hand, and for the first
time since his guards went out, breathed freely with
full-drawn breaths.

There was no time to lose : his first care was to
shut the door as securely on the inside as it was al-
ready shut on the outside, to blow out the lamp, to
open the window, and to finish sawing through the
bar. When this was done, he undid the bandages
on his leg, took down the window and bed curtains,
tore them into strips, joined the sheets, table napkins

347

CELEBRATED CRIMES

and cloth, and with all these things tied together
end to end, formed a rope fifty or sixty feet long,
with knots every here and there. This rope he fixed
securely to the bar next to the one he had just cut
through ; then he climbed up to the window and be-
gan what was really the hardest part of his perilous
enterprise, clinging with hands and feet to this
fragile support. Luckily he was both strong and
skilful, and he went down the whole length of the
rope without accident ; but when he reached the
end and was hanging on the last knot, he sought in
vain to touch the ground with his feet; his rope
was too short.

The situation was a terrible one : the darkness of
the night prevented the fugitive from seeing how far
off he was from the ground, and his fatigue pre-
vented him from even attempting to climb up again.
Caesar put up a brief prayer, whether to God or
Satan he alone could say; then letting go the rope,
he dropped from a height of twelve or fifteen feet.

The danger was too great for the fugitive to
trouble about a few trifling contusions: he at once
rose, and guiding himself by the direction of his win-
dow, he went straight to the little door of exit; he
then put his hand into the pocket of his doublet, and
a cold sweat damped his brow; either he had for-
gotten and left it in his room or had lost it in his fall ;
anyhow, he had not the key.

348

THE BORGIAS

But summoning his recollections, he quite gave up
the first idea for the second, which was the only likely
one: again he crossed the court, looking for the
place where the key might have fallen, by the aid of
the wall round a tank on which he had laid his hand
when he got up; but the object of search was so
small and the night so dark that there was little
chance of getting any result ; still Caesar sought for
it, for in this key was his last hope: suddenly a
door was opened, and a night watch appeared, pre-
ceded by two torches. Caesar for the moment thought
he was lost, but remembering the tank behind him,
he dropped into it, and with nothing but his head
above water anxiously watched the movements of
the soldiers, as they advanced beside him, passed only
a few feet away, crossed the court, and then dis-
appeared by an opposite door. But short as their
luminous apparition had been, it had lighted up the
ground, and Caesar by the glare of the torches had
caught the glitter of the long-sought key, and as
soon as the door was shut behind the men, was again
master of his liberty.

Half-way between the castle and the village two
cavaliers and a led horse were waiting for him : the
two men were Michelotto and the Count of Bene-
vento. Caesar sprang upon the riderless horse,
pressed with fervour the hand of the count and the
sbirro; then all three galloped to the frontier of

349

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Navarre, where they arrived three days later, and
were honourably received by the king, Jean d'Albret,
the brother of Csesar's wife.

From Navarre he thought to pass into France, and
from France to make an attempt upon Italy, with the
aid of Louis xii ; but during Caesar's detention in the
castle of Medina del Campo, Louis had made peace
with the King of Spain; and when he heard of
Cesar's flight, instead of helping him, as there was
some reason to expect he would, since he was a rela-
tive by marriage, he took away the duchy of Valen-
tinois and also his pension. Still, Csesar had nearly
200,000 ducats in the charge of bankers at Genoa ; he
wrote asking for this sum, with which he hoped to
levy troops in Spain and in Navarre, and make an
attempt upon Pisa: 500 men, 200,000 ducats, his
name and his word were more than enough tO' save
him from despair.

The bankers denied the deposit.

Csesar was at the mercy of his brother-in-law.

One of the vassals of the King of Navarre, named
Prince Alarino, had just then revolted : Caesar then
took command of the army which Jean d'Albret was
sending out against him, followed by Michelotto,
who was as faithful in adversity as ever before.
Thanks to Czesar's courage and skilful tactics, Prince
Alarino was beaten in a first encounter ; but the day
after his defeat he rallied his army, and offered

350

THE BORGIAS

battle about three o^clock in the afternoon. Caesar
accepted it.

For nearly four hours they fought obstinately on
both sides ; but at length, as the day was going down,
Caesar proposed to decide the issue by making a
charge himself, at the head of a hundred men-at-
arms, upon a body of cavalry which made his ad-
versary's chief force. To his great astonishment,
this cavalry at the first shock gave way and took
flight in the direction of a little wood, where they
seemed to be seeking refuge. Caesar followed close
on their heels up to the edge of the forest; then
suddenly the pursued turned right about face, three
or four hundred archers came out of the wood to
help them, and Caesar's men, seeing that they had
fallen into an ambush, took to their heels like cow-
ards, and abandoned their leader.

Left alone, Caesar would not budge one step;
possibly he had had enough of life, and his heroism
was rather the result of satiety than courage: how-
ever that may be, he defended himself like a lion ;
but, riddled with arrows and bolts, his horse at last
fell, with Caesar's leg under him. His adversaries
rushed upon him, and one of them thrusting a
sharp and slender iron pike through a weak place
in his armour, pierced his breast ; Ccesar cursed God
and died.

But the rest of the enemy's army was defeated,

351

CELEBRATED CRIMES

thanks to the courage of Michelotto, who fought
like a vahant condottiere, but learned, on returning
to the camp in the evening, from those who had fled,
that they had abandoned Caesar and that he had
never reappeared. Then only too certain, from his
master's well-known courage, that disaster had oc-
curred, he desired to give one last proof of his
devotion by not leaving his body to the wolves and
birds of prey. Torches were lighted, for it was
dark, and with ten or twelve of those who had gone 9
with Caesar as far as the little wood, he went to
seek his master. On reaching the spot they fKDinted
out, he beheld five men stretched side by side; four
of them were dressed, but the fifth had been stripped
of his clothing and lay completely naked. Michel-
otto dismounted, lifted the head upon his knees, and
by the light of the torches recognised Caesar.

Thus fell, on the loth of March, 1507, on an
unknown field, near an obscure village called Viane,
in a wretched skirmish with the vassal of a petty
king, the man whom Macchiavelli presents to all
princes as the model of ability, diplomacy, and
courage.

As to Lucrezia, the fair Duchess of Ferrara, she
died full of years and honours, adored as a queen
by her subjects, and sung as a goddess by Ariosto
and by Bembo.

352

EPILOGUE

THERE was once in Paris, says Boccaccio, a
brave and good merchant named Jean de
Civigny, who did a great trade in drapery, and was
connected in business with a neighbour and fellow-
merchant, a very rich man called Abraham, who,
though a Jew, enjoyed a good reputation. Jean de
Civigny, appreciating the qualities of the worthy
Israelite, feared lest, good man as he was, his false
religion would bring his soul straight to eternal
perdition ; so he began to urge him gently as a
friend to renounce his errors and open his eyes to
the Christian faith, which he could see for himself
was prospering and spreading day by day, being
the only true and good religion; whereas his own
creed, it was very plain, was so quickly diminishing
that it would soon disappear from the face of the
earth. The Jew replied that except in his own
religion there was no salvation, that he was bom in
it, proposed to live and die in it, and that he knew
nothing in the world that could change his opinion.
Still, in his proselytising fervour Jean would not
think himself beaten, and never a day passed but he
demonstrated with those fair words the merchant
uses to seduce a customer, the superiority of the
Dumas— Vol. 1—12 353

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Christian religion above the Jewish; and although
Abraham was a great master of Mosaic law, he be-
gan to enjoy his friend's preaching, either because
of the friendship he felt for him or because the
Holy Ghost descended upon the tongue of the new
apostle; still obstinate in his own belief, he would
not change. The more he persisted in his error,
the more excited was Jean about converting him, so
that at last, by God's help, being somewhat shaken
by his friend's urgency, Abraham one day said —

"Listen, Jean : since you have it so much at heart
that I should be converted, behold me disposed to
satisfy you ; but before I go to Rome to see him
whom you call God's vicar on earth, I must study
his manner of life and his morals, as also those of
his brethren the cardinals; and if, as I doubt not,
they are in harmony with what you preach, I will
admit that, as you have taken such pains to show me,
your faith is better than mine, and I will do as you
desire; but if it should prove otherwise, I shall re-
main a Jew, as I was before ; for it is not worth while,
at my age, to change my belief for a worse one."

Jean was very sad when he heard these words;
and he said mournfully to himself, "Now I have
lost my time and pains, which I thought I had spent
so well when I was hoping to convert this unhappy
Abraham; for if he unfortunately goes, as he says
he will, to the court of Rome, and there sees the

354

THE BORGIAS

shameful life led by the servants of the Church,
instead of becoming a Christian the Jew will be
more of a Jew than ever." Then turning to Abra-
ham, he said, "Ah, friend, why do you wish to
incur such fatigue and expense by going to Rome,
besides the fact that travelling by sea or by land
must be very dangerous for so rich a man as you
are? Do you suppose there is no one here to bap-
tize you? If you have any doubts concerning the
faith I have expounded, v/here better than here
will you find theologians capable of contending with
them and allaying them? So, you see, this voyage
seems to me quite unnecessary: just imagine that
the priests there are such as you see here, and all the
better in that they are nearer to the supreme pastor.
If you are guided by my advice, you will postpone
this toil till you have committed some grave sin and
need absolution ; then you and I will go together."

But the Jew replied —

" I believe, dear Jean, that everything is as you tell
me; but you know how obstinate I am. I will go
to Rome, or I will never be a Qiristian."

Then Jean, seeing his great wish, resolved that
it was no use trying to thwart him, and wished him
good luck; but in his heart he gave up all hope;
for it was certain that his friend would come back
from his pilgrimage more of a Jew than ever, if the
court of Rome was still as he had seen it.

355

CELEBRATED CRIMES

But Abraham mounted his horse, and at his
best speed took the road to Rome, where on his
arrival he was wonderfully well received by his co-
religionists; and after staying there a good long
time, he began to study the behaviour of the pope,
the cardinals and other prelates, and of the whole
court. But much to his surprise he found out,
partly by what passed under his eyes and
partly by what he was told, that all from
the pope downward to the lowest sacristan
of St. Peter's were committing the sins of
luxurious living in a most disgraceful and un-
bridled manner, with no remorse and no shame, so
that pretty women and handsome youths could ob-
tain any favours they pleased. In addition to this
sensuality which they exhibited in public, he saw
that they were gluttons and drunkards, so much so
that they were more the slaves of the belly than are
the greediest of animals. When he looked a little
further, he found them so avaricious and fond of
money that they sold for hard cash both human
bodies and divine offices, and with less conscience
than a man in Paris would sell cloth or any other
merchandise. Seeing this and much more that it
would not be proper to set down here, it seemed to
Abraham, himself a chaste, sober, and upright man,
that he had seen enough. So he resolved to return
to Paris, and carried out the resolution with his

356

THE BORGIAS

usual promptitude. Jean de Civigny held a great
fete in honour of his return, although he had lost
hope of his coming back converted. But he left time
for him to settle down before he spoke of anything,
thinking there would be plenty of time to hear the
bad news he expected. But, after a few days of
rest, Abraham himself came to see his friend, and
Jean ventured to ask what he thought of the Holy
Father, the cardinals, and the other persons at the
pontifical court. At these words the Jew exclaimed,
"God damn them all ! I never once succeeded in find-
ing among them any holiness, any devotion, any good
works; but, on the contrary, luxurious living,
avarice, greed, fraud, envy, pride, and even worse,
if there is worse; all the machine seemed to be set
in motion by an impulse less divine than diabolical.
After what I saw, it is my firm conviction that your
pope, and of course the others as well, are using
all their talents, art, endeavours, to banish the Chris-
tian religion from the face of the earth, though
they ought to be its foundation and support; and
since, in spite of all the care and trouble they ex-
pend to arrive at this end, I see that your religion
is spreading every day and becoming more brilliant
and more pure, it is borne in upon me that the Holy
Spirit Himself protects it as the only true and the
most holy religion; this is why, deaf as you found
me to your counsel and rebellious to your wish, I

357

CELEBRATED CRIMES

am now, ever since I returned from this Sodom,
firmly resolved on becoming- a Christian. So let us
go at once to the church, for I am quite ready to
be baptized."

There is no need to say if Jean de Civigny, who
expected a refusal, was pleased at this consent.
Without delay he went with his godson to Notre
Dame de Paris, where he prayed the first priest he
met to administer baptism to his friend, and this was
speedily done; and the new convert changed his
Jewish name of Abraham into the Christian name
of Jean; and as the neophyte, thanks to his journey
to Rome, had gained a profound belief, his natural
good qualities increased so greatly in the practice of
our holy religion, that after leading an exemplary
life he died in the full odour of sanctity.

This tale of Boccaccio's gives so admirable an
answer to the charge of irreligion which some
might make against us if they mistook our inten-
tions, that as we shall not offer any other reply, we
have not hesitated to present it entire as it stands to
the eyes of our readers.

And let us never forget that if the papacy has
had an Innocent viii and an Alexander vi who are
its shame, it has also had a Pius vii and a Gregory
XVI who are its honour and glory.

358

THE CENCI

THE CENCI
1598

SHOULD you ever go to Rome and visit the villa
Pamphili, no doubt, after having sought under
its tall pines and along its canals the shade and fresh-
ness so rare in the capital of the Christian world,
you will descend towards the Janiculum Hill by a
charming road, in the middle of which you will find
the Pauline fountain. Having passed this monu-
ment, and having lingered a moment on the terrace
of the church of St. Peter Montorlo, which com-
mands the whole of Rome, you will visit the cloister
of Bramante, in the middle of which, sunk a few
feet below the level, is built, on the identical place
where St. Peter was crucified, a little temple, half
Greek, half Christian ; you will thence ascend by a
side door into the church itself. There, the atten-
tive cicerone will show you, in the first chapel to
the right, the Christ Scourged, by Sebastian del
Piombo, and in the third chapel to the left, an En-
tombment by Fiammingo; having examined these
two masterpieces at leisure, he will take you to each
end of the transverse cross, and will show you — on
one side a picture by Salviati, on slate, and on the
other a work by Vasari ; then, pointing out in melan-

361

CELEBRATED CRIMES

choly tones a copy of Guide's Martyrdom of St.
Peter on the high altar, he will relate to you how
for three centuries the divine Raffaelle's Transfig-
uration was worshipped in that spot; how it was
carried away by the French in 1809, and restored
to the pope by the Allies in 18 14. As you have
already in all probability admired this masterpiece
in the Vatican, allow him to expatiate, and search
at the foot of the altar for a mortuary slab, which
you will identify by a cross and the single word,
Orate; under this gravestone is buried Beatrice
Cenci, whose tragical story cannot but impress you
profoundly.

She was the daughter of Francesco Cenci.
Whether or not it be true that men are born in
harmony with their epoch, and that some embody
its good qualities and others its bad ones, it may
nevertheless interest our readers to cast a rapid
glance over the period which had just passed when
the events which we are about to relate took place.
Francesco Cenci will then appear to them as the
diabolical incarnation of his time.

On the nth of August, 1492, after the lingering
death-agony of Innocent viii, during which two
hundred and twenty murders were committed in the
streets of Rome, Alexander vi ascended the pon-
tifical throne. Son of a sister of Pope Calixtus iii,
Roderigo Lenzuoli Borgia, before being created

362

THE CENCI

cardinal, had five children by Rosa Vanozza, whom
he afterwards caused to be married to a rich Roman.
These children were —

Francis, Duke of Gandia;

Caesar, bishop and cardinal, afterwards Duke of
Valentinois ;

Lucrezia, who was married four times : her first
husband was Giovanni Sforza, lord of Pesaro,
whom she left owing to his impotence ; the second,
Alfonso, Duke of Bisiglia, whom her brother Caesar
caused to be assassinated ; the third, Alfonso d'Este,
Duke of Ferrara, from whom a second divorce sepa-
rated her; finally, the fourth, Alfonso of Aragon,
who was stabbed to death on the steps of the basilica
of St. Peter, and afterwards, three weeks later,
strangled, because he did not die soon enough from
his wounds, wdiich nevertheless were mortal ;

Giofre, Count of Squillace, of whom little is
known ;

And, finally, a youngest son, of whom nothing
at all is known.

The most famous of these three brothers was
Caesar Borgia. He had made every arrangement a
plotter could make to be King of Italy at the death
of his father the pope, and his measures were so
carefully taken as to leave no doubt in his own mind
as to the success of this vast project. Every chance
was provided against, except one ; but Satan himself

2^3

CELEBRATED CRIME^

could hardly have foreseen this particular one. The
reader will judge for himself.

The pope had invited Cardinal Adrien to supper
in his vineyard on the Belvidere; Cardinal Adrien
was very rich, and the pope wished to inherit his
wealth, as he already had acquired that of the Car-
dinals of Sant' Angelo, Capua, and Modena. To
effect this, Csesar Borgia sent two bottles of poisoned
wine to his father's cup-bearer, without taking him
into his confidence ; he only instructed him not to
serve this wine till he himself gave orders to do so ;
unfortunately, during supper the cup-bearer left his
post for a moment, and in this interval a careless
butler served the poisoned wine to the pope, to
Caesar Borgia, and to Cardinal Corneto.

Alexander vi died some hours afterwards ; Csesar
Borgia was confined to bed, and sloughed off his
skin; while Cardinal Corneto lost his sight and his
senses, and was brought to death's door.

Pius III succeeded Alexander vi, and reigned
twenty-five days; on the twenty-sixth he was poi-
soned also.

Csesar Borgia had under his control eighteen
Spanish cardinals who owed to him their places in
the Sacred College; these cardinals were entirely
his creatures, and he could command them abso-
lutely. As he was in a moribund condition and
could make no use of them for himself, he sold them

364

THE CENCI

to Giuliano della Rovere, and GiuHano della Rovere
was elected pope, under the name of Julius ii. To
the Rome of Nero succeeded the Athens of Pericles.

Leo X succeeded Julius ii, and under his pon-
tificate Christianity assumed a pagan character,
which, passing from art into manners, gives to this
epoch a strange complexion. Crimes for the mo-
ment disappeared, to give place to vices; but to
charming vices, vices in good taste, such as those
indulged in by Alcibiades and sung by Catullus.
Leo X died after having assembled under his reign,
which lasted eight years, eight months, and nineteen
days, Michael Angelo, Raffaelle, Leonardo da Vinci,
Correggio, Titian, Andrea del Sarto, Fra Bartolom-
meo, Giulio Romano, Ariosto, Guicciardini, and
Macchiavelli.

Giulio di Medici and Pompeo Colonna had equal
claims to succeed him. As both were skilful politi-
cians, experienced courtiers, and moreover of real
and almost equal merit, neither of them could obtain
a majority, and the Conclave was prolonged almost
indefinitely, to the great fatigue of the cardinals.
So it happened one day that a cardinal, more tired
than the rest, proposed to elect, instead of either
Medici or Colonna, the son, some say of a weaver,
others of a brewer of Utrecht, of whom no one had
ever thought till then, and who was for the moment
acting head of affairs in Spain, in the absence of

365

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Charles the Fifth. The jest prospered in the ears
of those who heard it; all the cardinals approved
their colleague's proposal, and Adrien became pope
by a mere accident.

He was a perfect specimen of the Flemish type,
a regular Dutchman, and could not speak a word
of Italian. When he arrived in Rome, and saw the
Greek masterpieces of sculpture collected at vast
cost by Leo x, he wished to break them to pieces,
exclaiming, ''Sunt idola anticorum." His first act
was to despatch a papal nuncio, Francesco Cheri-
gato, to the Diet of Nuremberg, convened to discuss
the reforms of Luther, with instructions which give
a vivid notion of the manners of the time.

"Candidly confess," said he, "that God has per-
mitted this schism and this persecution on account
of the sins of man, and especially those of priests
and prelates of the Church ; for we know that many
abominable things have taken place in the Holy
See."

Adrien wished to bring the Romans back to the
simple and austere manners of the early Church,
and with this object pushed reform to tlie minutest
details. For instance, of the hundred grooms main-
tained by Leo x, he retained only a dozen, in order,
he said, to have two more than the cardinals.

A pope like this could not reign long: he died
after a year's pontificate. The morning after his

366

THE CENCI

death his physician's door was found decorated with
garlands of flowers, bearing this inscription : "To
the hberator of his country."

Giuho di Medici and Pompeo Colonna were again
rival candidates. Intrigues recommenced, and the
Conclave was once more so divided that at one time
the cardinals thought they could only escape the
difficulty in which they were placed by doing what
they had done before, and electing a third com-
petitor; they were even talking about Cardinal Or-
sini, when Giulio di Medici, one of the rival candi-
dates, hit upon a very ingenious expedient. He
wanted only five votes; five of his partisans each
offered to bet five of Colonna's a hundred thousand
ducats to ten thousand against the election of
Giulio di Medici. At the very first ballot after the
wager, Giulio di Medici got the five votes he wanted ;
no objection could be made, the cardinals had
not been bribed; they had made a bet, that was
all.

Thus it happened,on the i8th of November, 1523,
Giulio di Medici was proclaimed pope under the
name of Clement vii. The same day, he generously
paid the five hundred thousand ducats which his
five partisans had lost.

It was under this pontificate, and during the seven
months in which Rome, conquered by the Lutheran
soldiers of the Constable of Bourbon, saw holy

367

CELEBRATED CRIMES

things subjected to the most frightful profanations,
that Francesco Cenci was born.

He was the son of Monsignor Nicolo Cenci, after-
wards apostohc treasurer during the pontificate of
Pius V. Under this venerable prelate, who occu-
pied himself much more with the spiritual than the
temporal administration of his kingdom, Nicolo
Cenci took advantage of his spiritual head's abstrac-
tion of worldly matters to amass a net revenue of a
hundred and sixty thousand piastres, about £32,000
of our money. Francesco Cenci, who was his only
son, inherited this fortune.

His youth was spent under popes so occupied with
the schism of Luther that they had no time to think
of anything else. The result was, that Francesco
Cenci, inheriting vicious instincts and master of an
immense fortune which enabled him to purchase
immunity, abandoned himself to all the evil passions
of his fiery and passionate temperament. Five times
during his profligate career imprisoned for abomin-
able crimes, ht only succeeded in procuring his
liberation by the payment of two hundred thousand
piastres, or about one million francs. It should be
explained that popes at this time were in great need
of money.

The lawless profligacy of Francesco Cenci first
began seriously to attract public attention under the
pontificate of Gregory xiii. This reign offered

368

THE CENCI

marvellous facilities for the development of a repu-
tation such as that which this reckless Italian Don
Juan seemed bent on acquiring. Under the Bo-
lognese Buoncampagno, a free hand was given to
those able to pay both assassins and judges. Rape
and murder were so common that public justice
scarcely troubled itself with these trifling things,
if nobody appeared to prosecute the guilty parties.
The good Gregory had his reward for his easy-
going indulgence; he was spared to rejoice over the
Massacre of St. Bartholomew.

Francesco Cenci was at the time of which we are
speaking a man of forty-four or forty-five years of
age, about five feet four inches in height, symmetri-
cally proportioned, and very strong, although rather
thin ; his hair was streaked with grey, his eyes were
large and expressive, although the upper eyelids
drooped somewhat ; his nose was long, his lips were
thin, and wore habitually a pleasant smile, except
when his eye perceived an enemy; at this moment
his features assumed a terrible expression ; on such
occasions, and whenever moved or even slightly
irritated, he was seized with a fit of nervous trem-
bling, which lasted long after the cause which pro-
voked it had passed. An adept in all manly exercises
and especially in horsemanship, he sometimes used
to ride without stopping from Rome to Naples, a
distance of forty-one leagues, passing through the

369

CELEBRATED CRIMES

forest of San Germano and the Pontine marshes
heedless of brigands, although he might be alone
and unarmed save for his sword and dagger. When
his horse fell from fatigue, he bought another ; were
the owner unwilling to sell he took it by force; if
resistance were made, he struck, and always with
the point, never the hilt. In most cases, being well
known throughout the Papal States as a free-handed
person, nobody tried to thwart him; some yielding
through fear, others from motives of interest. Im-
pious, sacrilegious, and atheistical, he never entered
a church except to profane its sanctity. It was said
of him that he had a morbid appetite for novelties
in crime, and that there was no outrage he would
not commit if he hoped by so doing to enjoy a new
sensation.

At the age of about forty-five he had married a
very rich woman, whose name is not mentioned by
any chronicler. She died, leaving him seven chil-
dren— ^five boys and two girls. He then married
Lucrezia Petroni, a perfect beauty of the Roman
type, except for the ivory pallor of her complexion.
By this second marriage he had no children.

As if Francesco Cenci were void of all natural
affection, he hated his children, and was at no pains
to conceal his feelings towards them : on one occa-
sion, when he was building. In the courtyard of his
magnificent palace, near the Tiber, a chapel dedi-

370

THE CENCI

cated to St. Thomas, he remarked to the architect,
when instructing him to design a family vault,
"That is where I hope to bury them all." The
architect often subsequently admitted that he was
so terrified by the fiendish laugh which accompanied
these words, that had not Francesco Cenci's work
been extremely profitable, he would have refused to
go on with it.

As soon as his three eldest boys, Giacomo, Cristo-
foro, and Rocco, were out of their tutors' hands,
in order to get rid of them he sent them to the Uni-
versity of Salamanca, where, out of sight, they were
out of mind, for he thought no more about them,
and did not even send them the means of subsistence.
In these straits, after struggling for some months
against their wretched plight, the lads were obliged
to leave Salamanca, and beg their way home, tramp-
ing barefoot through France and Italy, till they
made their way back to Rome, where they found
their father harsher and more unkind than ever.

This happened in the early part of the reign of
Clement viii, famed for his justice. The three
youths resolved to apply to him, to grant them an
allowance out of their father's immense income.
They consequently repaired to Frascati, where the
pope was building the beautiful Aldobrandini Villa,
and stated their case. The pope admitted the jus-
tice of their claims, and ordered Francesco to allow

371

CELEBRATED CRIMES

each of them two thousand crowns a year. He en-
deavoured by every possible means to evade this
decree, but the pope's orders were too stringent to
be disobeyed.

About this period he was for the third time im-
prisoned for infamous crimes. His tliree sons then
again petitioned the pope, alleging that their father
dishonoured the family name, and praying that the
extreme rigour of the law, a capital sentence, should
be enforced in his case. The pope pronounced this
conduct unnatural and odious, and drove them with
ignominy from his presence. As for Francesco, he
escaped, as on the two previous occasions, by the
payment of a large sum of money.

It will be readily understood that his sons' con-
duct on this occasion did not improve their father's
disposition towards them, but as their independent
pensions enabled them to keep out of his way, his
rage fell with all the greater intensity on his two
unhappy daughters. Their situation soon became
so intolerable, that the elder, contriving to elude
the close supervision under which she was kept,
forwarded to the pope a petition, relating the cruel
treatment to which she was subjected, and praying
His Holiness either to give her in marriage or place
her in a convent. Clement viii took pity on her;
compelled Francesco Cenci to give her a dowry of
sixty thousand crowns, and married her to Carlo

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THE CENCI

Gabrielli, of a noble family of Gubbio. Francesco
was driven nearly frantic with rage when he saw
this victim released from his clutches.

About the same time death relieved him from two
other encumbrances : his sons Rocco and Cristoforo
were killed within a year of each other; the latter
by a bungling medical practitioner whose name is un-
known ; the former by Paolo Corso di Massa, in the
streets of Rome. This came as a relief to Francesco,
whose avarice pursued his sons even after their
death, for he intimated to the priest that he would
not spend a farthing on funeral services. They
were accordingly borne to the paupers' graves which
he had caused to be prepared for them, and when
he saw them both interred, he cried out that he was
well rid of such good-for-nothing children, but that
he should be perfectly happy only when the remain-
ing five were buried with the first two, and that
when he had got rid of the last he himself w^ould
burn down his palace as a bonfire to celebrate the
event.

But Francesco took every precaution against his
second daughter, Beatrice Cenci, following the ex-
ample of her elder sister. She was then a child of
twelve or thirteen years of age, beautiful and inno-
cent as an angel. Her long fair hair, a beauty seen
so rarely in Italy, that Raffaelle, believing it divine,
has appropriated it to all his Madonnas, curtained a

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

lovely forehead, and fell in flowing locks over her
shoulders. Her azure eyes bore a heavenly expres-
sion; she was of middle height, exquisitely propor-
tioned ; and during the rare moments when a gleam
of happiness allowed her natural character to dis-
play itself, she was lively, joyous, and sympathetic,
but at the same time evinced a firm and decided
disposition.

To make sure of her custody, Francesco kept her
shut up in a remote apartment of his palace, the key
of which he kept in his own possession. There, her
unnatural and inflexible gaoler daily brought her
some food. Up to the age of thirteen, which she
had now reached, he had behaved to her with the
most extreme harshness and severity; but now, to
poor Beatrice's great astonishment, he all at once
became gentle and even tender. Beatrice was a
child no longer ; her beauty expanded like a flower ;
and Francesco, a stranger to no crime, however
heinous, had marked her for his own.

Brought up as she had been, uneducated, deprived
of all society, even that of her stepmother, Beatrice
knew not good from evil : her ruin was compara-
tively easy to compass ; yet Francesco, to accomplish
his diabolical purpose, employed all the means at
his command. Every night she was awakened by
a concert of music which seemed to come from
Paradise. When she mentioned this to her father,

374

THE CENCI

he left her in this behcf, adding that if she proved
gentle and obedient she would be rewarded by
heavenly sights as well as heavenly sounds.

One night it came to pass that as the young girl
was reposing, her head supported on her elbow, and
listening to a delightful harmony, the chamber door
suddenly opened, and from the darkness of her
own room she beheld a suite of apartments bril-
liantly illuminated, and sensuous with perfumes;
beautiful youths and girls, half clad, such as she
had seen in the pictures of Guido and Raffaelle,
moved to and fro in these apartments, seeming full
of joy and happiness: these were the ministers to
the pleasures of Francesco, who, rich as a king,
every night revelled in the orgies of Alexander, the
wedding revels of Lucrezia, and the excesses of
Tiberius at Capri. After an hour, the door closed,
and the seductive vision vanished, leaving Beatrice
full of trouble and amazement.

The night following, the same apparition again
presented itself, only, on this occasion, Francesco
Cenci, undressed, entered his daughter's room and
invited her to join the fete. Hardly knowing what
she did, Beatrice yet perceived the impropriety of
yielding to her father's wishes: she replied that,
not seeing her stepmother, Lucrezia Petroni, among
all these women, she dared not leave her bed to
mix with persons who were unknown to her. Fran-

375

CELEBRATED CRIMES

cesco threatened and prayed, but threats and pray-
ers were of no avail. Beatrice wrapped herself
up in the bedclothes, and obstinately refused to
obey.

The next night she threw herself on her bed
without undressing. At the accustomed hour the
door opened, and the nocturnal spectacle reap-
peared. This time, Lucrezia Petroni was among
the women who passed before Beatrice's door;
violence had compelled her to undergo this humilia-
tion. Beatrice was too far off to see her blushes and
her tears. Francesco pointed out her stepmother,
whom she had looked for in vain the previous
evening; and as she could no longer make any op-
position, he led her, covered with blushes and con-
fusion, into the middle of this orgy.

Beatrice there saw incredible and infamous
things. . . .

Nevertheless, she resisted a long time : an inward
voice told her that this was horrible; but Fran-
cesco had the slow persistence of a demon. To
these sights, calculated to stimulate her passions, he
added heresies designed to warp her mind ; he told
her that the greatest saints venerated by the Church
were the issue of fathers and daughters, and in the
end Beatrice committed a crime without even know-
ing it to be a sin.

His brutality then knew no bounds. He forced

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Liicrezia and Beatrice to share the same bed, threat-
ening his wife to kill her if she disclosed to his
daughter by a single word that there was anything
odious in such an intercourse. So matters went on
for about three years.

At this time Francesco was obliged to make a
journey, and leave the women alone and free. The
first thing Lucrezia did was to enlighten Beatrice
on the infamy of the life they were leading; they
then together prepared a memorial to the pope, in
which they laid before him a statement of all the
blows and outrages they had suffered. But, before
leaving, Francesco Cenci had taken precautions;
every person about the pope was in his pay, or
hoped to be. The petition never reached His Holi-
ness, and the two poor women, remembering that
Clement viii had on a former occasion driven
Giacomo, Cristoforo, and Rocco from his presence,
thought they were included in the same proscrip-
tion, and looked upon themselves as abandoned to
their fate.

When matters were in this state, Giacomo, taking
advantage of his father's absence, came to pay
them a visit with a friend of his, an abbe named
Guerra: he was a young man of twenty-five or
twenty-six, belonging to one of the most noble
families in Rome, of a bold, resolute, and courage-
ous character, and idolised by all the Roman ladies

377

CELEBRATED CRIMES

for his beauty. To classical features he added blue
eyes swimming in poetic sentiment; his hair was
long and fair, with chestnut beard and eyebrows;
add to these attractions a highly educated mind,
natural eloquence expressed by a musical and
penetrating voice, and the reader may form some
idea of Monsignor the Abbe Guerra.

No sooner had he seen Beatrice than he fell in
love with her. On her side, she was not slow to
return the sympathy of the young priest. The
Council of Trent had not been held at that time,
consequently ecclesiastics were not precluded from
marriage. It was therefore decided that on the
return of Francesco the Abbe Guerra should de-
mand the hand of Beatrice from her father, and
the women, happy in the absence of their master,
continued to live on, hoping for better things to
come.

After three or four months, during which no one
knew where he was, Francesco returned. The very
first night, he wished to resume his intercourse with
Beatrice; but she was no longer the same person,
the timid and submissive child had become a girl
of decided will ; strong in her love for the abbe,
she resisted alike prayers, threats, and blows.

The wrath of Francesco fell upon his wife, whom
he accused of betraying him; he gave her a violent
thrashing. Lucrezia Petroni was a veritable

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THE CEN CI

Roman she-wolf, passionate alike in love and venge-
ance; she endured all, but pardoned nothing.

Some days after this, the Abbe Guerra arrived
at the Cenci palace to carry out what had been ar-
ranged. Rich, young, noble, and handsome, every-
thing would seem to promise him success; yet he
was i-udely dismissed by Francesco. The first re-
fusal did not daunt him ; he returned to the charge
a second time and yet a third, insisting upon the
suitableness of such a union. At length Francesco,
losing patience, told this obstinate lover that a
reason existed why Beatrice could be neither his
wife nor any other man's. Guerra demanded what
this reason was. Francesco replied —

"Because she is my mistress."

Monsignor Guerra turned pale at this answer,
although at first he did not believe a word of it;
but when he saw the smile with which Francesco
Cenci accompanied his words, he was compelled to
believe that, terrible though it was, the truth had
been spoken.

For three days he souglit an interview with
Beatrice in vain; at length he succeeded in finding
her. His last hope was her denial of this horrible
story: Beatrice confessed all. Henceforth there
was no human hope for the two lovers ; an impass-
able gulf separated them. They parted bathed in
tears, promising to love one another always.

379

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Up to that time the two women had not formed
any criminal resolution, and possibly the tragical
incident might never have happened, had not Fran-
cesco one night returned into his daughter's room
and violently forced her into the commission of
fresh crime.

Henceforth the doom of Francesco was irrevo-
cably pronounced.

As we have said, the mind of Beatrice was sus-
ceptible to the best and the worst influences : it
could attain excellence, and descend to guilt. She
went and told her mother of the fresh outrage she
had undergone; this roused in the heart of the other
woman the sting of her own wrongs ; and, stimulat-
ing each other's desire for revenge, they decided
upon the murder of Francesco.

Guerra was called in to this council of death.
His heart was a prey to hatred and revenge. He
undertook to communicate with Giacomo Cenci,
without whose concurrence the women would not
act, as he was the head of the family, when his
father was left out of account.

Giacomo entered readily into the conspiracy. It
will be remembered what he had formerly suffered
from his father; since that time he had married,
and the close-fisted old man had left him, with his
wife and children, to languish in poverty. Guerra's
house was selected to meet in and concert matters.

380

THE CENCI

Giacomo hired a sbirro named Marzio, and Guerra
a second named Olympic.

Both these men had private reasons for com-
mitting the crime — one being actuated by love, the
other by hatred. Marzio, who was in the service
of Giacomo, had often seen Beatrice, and loved her,
but with that silent and hopeless love which de-
vours the soul. When he conceived that the pro-
posed crime would draw him nearer to Beatrice, he
accepted his part in it without any demur.

As for Olympio, he hated Francesco, because the
latter had caused him to lose the post of castellan
of Rocco Petrella, a fortified stronghold in the
kingdom of Naples, belonging to Prince Colonna.
Almost every year Francesco Cenci spent some
months at Rocco Petrella with his family; for
Prince Colonna, a noble and magnificent but needy
prince, had much esteem for Francesco, whose purse
he found extremely useful. It had so happened
that Francesco, being dissatisfied with Olympio,
complained about him to Prince Colonna, and he
was dismissed.

After several consultations between the Cenci
family, the abbe and the sbirri, the following plan
of action was decided upon.

The period when Francesco Cenci was accus-
tomed to go to Rocco Petrella was approaching : it
was arranged that Olympio, conversant with the

381

CELEBRATED CRIMES

district and its inhabitants, should collect a party
of a dozen Neapolitan bandits, and conceal them in
a forest through which the travellers would have to
pass. Upon a given signal, the whole family were
to be seized and carried off. A heavy ransom was
to be demanded, and the sons were to be sent back
to Rome to raise the sum ; but, under pretext of in-
ability to do so, they were to allow the time fixed
by the bandits to lapse, when Francesco was to be
put to death. Thus all suspicions of a plot would be
avoided, and the real assassins would escape justice.

This well-devised scheme was nevertheless un-
successful. When Francesco left Rome, the scout
sent in advance by the conspirators could not find
the bandits; the latter, not being warned before-
hand, failed to come down before the passage of
the travellers, who arrived safe and sound at Rocco
Petrella. The bandits, after having patrolled the
road in vain, came to the conclusion that their prey
had escaped, and, unwilling to stay any longer in
a place where they had already spent a week, went
off in quest of better luck elsewhere.

Francesco had in the meantime settled down in
the fortress, and, to be more free to tyrannise over
Lucrezia and Beatrice, sent back to Rome Giacomo
and his two other sons. He then recommenced his
infamous attempts upon Beatrice, and with such
persistence, that she resolved herself to accom-

382

T H 1? C E N C I

plish the deed which at first she desired to entrust
to other hands.

Olymplo and Marzio, who had nothing to fear
from justice, remained lurking about the castle; one
day Beatrice saw them from a window, and made
signs that she had something to communicate to
them. The same night Olympio, who having been
castellan knew all the approaches to the fortress,
made his way there with his companion. Beatrice
awaited them at a window which looked on to a
secluded courtyard ; she gave them letters which she
had written to her brother and to Monsignor
Guerra. The former was to approve, as he had
done before, the murder of their father; for she
would do nothing without his sanction. As for
Monsignor Guerra, he was to pay Olympio a thou-
sand piastres, half the stipulated sum ; Marzio acting
out of pure love for Beatrice, whom he worshipped
as a Madonna; which observing, the girl gave him
a handsome scarlet mantle, trimmed with gold lace,
telling him to wear it for love of her. As for the
remaining moiety, it was to be paid when the death
of the old man had placed his wife and daughter
in possession of his fortune.

The two sbirri departed, and the imprisoned con-
spirators anxiously awaited their return. On the
day fixed, they were seen again. Monsignor Guerra
had paid the thousand piastres, and Giacomo had

383

CELEBRATED CRIMES

given his consent. Nothing now stood in the way
of the execution of this terrible deed, which was
fixed for the 8th of September, the day of the
Nativity of the Virgin; but Signora Lucrezia, a
very devout person, having noticed this circum-
stance, would not be a party to the committal of a
double sin; the matter was therefore deferred till
the next day, the 9th.

That evening, the 9th of September, 1598, the
two women, supping with the old man, mixed some
narcotic with his wine so adroitly that, suspicious
though he was, he never detected it, and having
swallowed the potion, soon fell into a deep sleep.

The evening previous, Marzio and Olympio had
been admitted into the castle, where they had lain
concealed all night and all day; for, as will be re-
membered, the assassination would have been ef-
fected the day before had it not been for the re-
ligious scruples of Signora Lucrezia Petroni. To-
wards midnight, Beatrice fetched them out of their
hiding-place, and took them to her father's chamber,
the door of which she herself opened. The assas-
sins entered, and the two women awaited the issue
in the room adjoining.

After a moment, seeing the sbirri reappear pale
and nerveless, shaking their heads without speak-
ing, they at once inferred that nothing had been
done.

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THE CENCI

"What is the matter?" cried Beatrice; "and what
hinders you?"

"It is a cowardly act," replied the assassins, "to
kill a poor old man in his sleep. At the thought of
his age, we were struck with pity."

Then Beatrice disdainfully raised her head, and
in a deep firm voice thus reproached them : —

"Is it possible that you, who pretend to be brave
and strong, have not courage enough to kill a sleep-
ing old man? How would it be if he were awake?
And thus you steal our money! Very well: since
your cowardice compels me to do so, I will kill my
father myself; but you will not long survive him."

Hearing these words, the sbirri felt ashamed of
their irresolution, and, indicating by signs that they
would fulfil their compact, they entered the room,
accompanied by the two women. As they had said,
a ray of moonlight shone through the open window,
and brought into prominence the tranquil face of
the old man, the sight of whose white hair had so
affected them.

This time they showed no mercy. One of them
carried two great nails, such as those portrayed in
pictures of the Crucifixion; the other bore a mal-
let: the first placed a nail upright over one of the
old man's eyes ; the other struck it with the hammer,
and drove it into his head. The throat was pierced
in the same way with the second nail ; and thus the

Dumas— Vol. 1—13 ^ ^

CELEBRATED CRIMES

guilty soul, stained throughout its career with
crimes of violence, was in its turn violently torn
from the body, which lay writhing on the floor
where it had rolled.

The young girl then, faithful to her word, handed
the sbirri a large purse containing the rest of the
sum agreed upon, and they left.

When they found themselves alone, the women
drew the nails out of the wounds, wrapped the
corpse in a sheet, and dragged it through the rooms
towards a small rampart, intending to throw it
down into a garden which had been allowed to run
to waste. They hoped that the old man's death
would be attributed to his having accidentally fallen
off the terrace on his way in the dark to a closet
at the end of the gallery. But their strength failed
them when they reached the door of the last room,
and, while resting there, Lucrezia perceived the two
sbirri, sharing the money before making their
escape. At her call they came to her, carried the
corpse to the rampart, and, from a spot pointed out
by the women, where the terrace was unfenced by
any parapet, they threw it into an elder tree below,
whose branches retained it suspended.

When the body was found the following morning
hanging in the branches of the elder tree, everybody
supposed, as Beatrice and her stepmother had fore-
seen, that Francesco, stepping over the edge of the

386 -^

THE C E N C I

terrace in the dark, had thus met his end. The body
was so scratched and disfigured that no one noticed
the wounds made by the two nails. The ladies, as
soon as the news was imparted to them, came out
from their rooms, weeping and lamenting in so
natural a manner as to disarm any suspicions. The
only person who formed any was the laundress to
whom Beatrice entrusted the sheet in which her
father's body had been wrapped, accounting for its
bloody condition by a lame explanation, which the
laundress accepted without question, or pretended
to do so; and immediately after the funeral, the
mourners returned to Rome, hoping at length to
enjoy quietude and peace.

For some time, indeed, they did enjoy tranquillity,
perhaps poisoned by remorse, but ere long retribu-
tion pursued them. The court of Naples, hearing
of the sudden and unexpected death of Francesco
Cenci, and conceiving some suspicions of violence,
despatched a royal commissioner to Petrella to ex-
hume the body and make minute inquiries, if there
appeared to be adequate grounds for doing so. On
his arrival all the domestics in the castle were
placed under arrest and sent in chains to Naples.
No incriminating proofs, however, were found,
except in the evidence of the laundress, who de-
posed that Beatrice had given her a bloodstained
sheet to wash. This clue led to terrible con-

387

CELEBRATED CRIMES

sequences ; for, further questioned, she declared that
she could not believe the explanation given to ac-
count for its condition. The evidence was sent to
the Roman court ; but at that period it did not ap-
pear strong enough to warrant the arrest of the
Cenci family, who remained undisturbed for many-
months, during which time the youngest boy died.
Of the five brothers there only remained Giacomo,
the eldest, and Bernardo, the youngest but
one. Nothing prevented them from escaping
to Venice or Florence; but they remained quietly
in Rome.

Meantime Monsignor Guerra received private in-
formation that, shortly before the death of Fran-
cesco, Marzio and Olympio had been seen prowling
round the castle, and that the Neapolitan police had
received orders to arrest them.

The monsignor was a most wary man, and very
difficult to catch napping when warned in time.
He immediately hired two other sbirri to assassinate
Marzio and Olympio. The one commissioned to
put Olympio out of the way came across him at
Terni, and conscientiously did his work with a
poniard, but Marzio's man unfortunately arrived at
Naples too late, and found his bird already in the
hands of the police.

He was put to the torture, and confessed every-
thing. His deposition was sent to Rome, whither he

388

THE CENCI

shortly afterwards followed it, to be confronted*
with the accused. Warrants were immediately is-
sued for the arrest of Giacomo, Bernardo, Lucrezia,
and Beatrice ; they were at first confined in the Cenci
palace under a strong guard, but the proofs against
them becoming stronger and stronger, they were
removed to the castle of Corte Savella, where they
were confronted with Marzio; but they obstinately
denied both any complicity in the crime and any
knowledge of the assassin. Beatrice, above all,
displayed the greatest assurance, demanding to be
the first to be confronted with Marzio, whose
mendacity she affirmed with such calm dignity,
that he, more than ever smitten by her beauty, de-
termined, since he could not live for her, to save
her by his death. Consequently, he declared all his
statements to be false, and asked forgiveness from
God and from Beatrice ; neither threats nor tortures
could make him recant, and he died firm in his
denial, under frightful tortures. The Cenci then
thought themselves safe.

God's justice, however, still pursued them. The
sbirro who had killed Olympio happened to be ar-
rested for another crime, and, making a clean breast,
confessed that he had been employed by Monsignor
Guerra to put out of the way a fellow-assassin
named Olympio, who knew too many of the mon-
signor's secrets.

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

Luckily for himself, Monsignor Guerra heard of
this opportunely. A man of infinite resource, he
lost not a moment in timid or irresolute plans, but
as it happened that at the very moment when he was
warned, the charcoal dealer who supplied his house
with fuel was at hand, he sent for him, purchased
his silence with a handsome bribe, and then, buying
for almost their weight in gold the dirty old clothes
which he wore, he assumed these, cut off all his
beautiful cherished fair hair, stained his beard,
smudged his face, bought two asses, laden with
charcoal, and limped up and down the streets of
Rome, crying, "Charcoal! charcoal!" Then, whilst
all the detectives were hunting high and low for
him, he got out of the city, met a company of mer-
chants under escort, joined them, and reached
Naples, where he embarked. What ultimately be-
came of him was never known ; it has been asserted,
but without confirmation, that he succeeded in
reaching France, and enlisted in a Swiss regiment
in the pay of Henry iv.

The confession of the sbirro and the disappear-
ance of Monsignor Guerra left no moral doubt of
the guilt of the Cenci. They were consequently
sent from the castle to the prison ; the two brothers,
when put to the torture, broke down and confessed
their guilt. Lucrezia Petroni's full habit of body
rendered her unable to bear the torture of the rope,

390

THE CENCI

and, on being- suspended in the air, begged to be
lowered, when she confessed all she knew.

As for Beatrice, she continued unmoved ; neither
promises, threats, nor torture had any effect upon
her; she bore everything unflinchingly, and the
judge Ulysse Moscati himself, famous though he
was in such matters, failed to draw from her a
single incriminating word. Unwilling to take any
further responsibility, he referred the case to
Clement viii; and the pope, conjecturing that the
judge had been too lenient in applying the torture
to a young and beautiful noble Roman lady, took
it out of his hands and entrusted it to another judge,
whose severity and insensibility to emotion were
undisputed.

This latter reopened the whole interrogatory,
and as Beatrice up to that time had only been sub-
jected to the ordinary torture, he gave instructions
to apply both the ordinary and extraordinary. This
was the rope and pulley, one of the most terrible
inventions ever devised by the most ingenious of
tormentors.

To make the nature of this horrid torture
plain to our readers, we give a detailed description
of it, adding an extract of the presiding judge's
report of the case, taken from the Vatican
manuscripts.

Of the various forms of torture then used in

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

Rome the most common were the whistle, the fire,
the sleepless, and the rope.

The mildest, the torture of the whistle, was used
only in the case of children and old persons ; it con-
sisted in thrusting between the nails and the flesh
reeds cut in the shape of whistles.

The fire, frequently employed before the inven-
tion of the sleepless torture, was simply roasting
the soles of the feet before a hot fire.

The sleepless torture, invented by Marsilius, was
worked by forcing the accused into an angular
frame of wood about five feet high, the sufferer
being stripped and his arms tied behind his back to
the frame; two men, relieved every five hours, sat
beside him, and roused him the moment he closed
his eyes. Marsilius says he has never found a man
proof against this torture; but here he claims more
than he is justly entitled to. Farinacci states that,
out of one hundred accused persons subjected to it,
five only refused to confess — a very satisfactory re-
sult for the inventor.

Lastly comes the torture of the rope and pulley,
the most in vogue of all, and known in other Latin
countries as the strappado.

It was divided into three degrees of intensity —
the slight, the severe, and the very severe.

The first, or slight torture, which consisted mainly
in the apprehensions it caused, comprised the threat

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of severe torture, introduction into the torture
chamber, stripping, and the tying of the rope in
readiness for its appliance. To increase the terror
these preliminaries excited, a pang of physical pain
was added by tightening a cord round the wrists.
This often sufficed to extract a confession from
women or men of highly strung nerves.

The second degree, or severe torture, consisted
in fastening the sufferer, stripped naked, and his
hands tied behind his back, by the wrists to one
end of a rope passed round a pulley bolted
into the vaulted ceiling, the other end being at-
tached to a windlass, by turning which he could
be hoisted into the air, and dropped again, either
slowly or with a jerk, as ordered by the judge.
The suspension generally lasted during the recital
of a Pater Noster, an Ave Maria, or a Miserere;
if the accused persisted in his denial, it was doubled.
This second degree, the last of the ordinary torture,
was put in practice when the crime appeared reason-
ably probable but was not absolutely proved.

The third, or very severe, the first of the extraor-
dinary forms of torture, was so called when the
sufferer, having hung suspended by the wrists, for
sometimes a whole hour, was swung about by the
executioner, either like the pendulum of a clock, or
by elevating him with the windlass and dropping
him to within a foot or two of the ground. If he

393

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Stood this torture, a thing ahiiost unheard of, seeing
that it cut the flesh of the wrist to the bone and
dislocated the Hmbs, weights were attached to the
feet, thus doubHng the torture. This last form of
torture was only applied when an atrocious crime
had been proved to have been committed upon a
sacred person, such as a priest, a cardinal, a prince,
or an eminent and learned man.

Having seen that Beatrice was sentenced to the
torture ordinary and extraordinary, and having ex-
plained the nature of these tortures, we proceed to
quote the official report : —

"And as in reply to every question she would
confess nothing, we caused her to be taken by two
officers and led from the prison to the torture
chamber, where the torturer was in attendance;
there, after cutting off her hair, he made her sit
on a small stool, undressed her, pulled off her shoes,
tied her hands behind her back, fastened them to a
rope passed over a pulley bolted into the ceiling of
the aforesaid chamber, and wound up at the other
end by a four lever windlass, worked by two men.

"Before hoisting her from the ground we again
interrogated her touching the aforesaid parricide;
but notwithstanding the confessions of her brother
and her stepmother, which were again produced,
bearing their signatures, she persisted in denying
everything, saying, 'Haul me about and do what

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you like with me ; I have spoken the truth, and will
tell you nothing else, even if I were torn to pieces.'

"Upon' this we had her hoisted in the air by the
wrists to the height of about two feet from the
ground, while we recited a Pater Noster ; and then
again questioned her as to the facts and circum-
stances of the aforesaid parricide; but she would
make no further answer, only saying, 'You are
killing me! You are killing me!'

"We then raised her to the elevation of four feet,
and began an Ave Maria. But before our prayer
was half finished she fainted away, or pretended
to do so.

"We caused a bucketful of water to be thrown
over her head; feeling its coolness, she recovered
consciousness, and cried, *My God! I am dead!
You are killing me! My God!' But this was all
she would say.

"We then raised her higher still, and recited a
Miserere, during which, instead of joining in the
prayer, she shook convulsively and cried several
times, 'My God ! My God !'

"Again questioned as to the aforesaid parricide,
she would confess nothing, saying only that she
was innocent, and then again fainted away.

"We caused more water to be thrown over her;
then she recovered her senses, opened her eyes, and
cried, 'O cursed executioners ! You are killing me !

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

You are killing me!' But nothing more would she
say.

"Seeing which, and that she persisted in her de-
nial, we ordered the torturer to proceed to the
torture by jerks.

"He accordingly hoisted her ten feet from the
ground, and when there we enjoined her to tell the
truth; but whether she would not or could not
speak, she answered only by a motion of the head
indicating that she could say nothing.

"Seeing which, we made a sign to the executioner
to let go the rope, and she fell with all her weight
from the height of ten feet to that of two feet;
her arms, from the shock, were dislocated from
their sockets; she uttered a loud cry, and swooned
away.

"We again caused water to be dashed in her
face; she returned to herself, and again cried out,
'Infamous assassins ! You are killing me ; but were
you to tear out my arms, I would tell you nothing
else.'

"Upon this, we ordered a weight of fifty pounds
to be fastened to her feet. But at this moment the
door opened, and many voices cried, 'Enough!
Enough ! Do not torture her any more !' "

These voices were those of Giacomo, Bernardo,
and Lucrezia Petroni. The judges, perceiving the
obstinacy of Beatrice, had ordered that the accused,

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who had been separated for five months, should be
confronted.

They advanced into the torture chamber, and see-
ing Beatrice hanging by the wrists, her arms dis-
jointed, and covered with blood, Giacomo cried
out —

"The sin is committed ; nothing further remains
but to save our souls by repentance, undergo death
courageously, and not suffer you to be thus tor-
tured."

Then said Beatrice, shaking her head as if to
cast off grief —

"Do you then wish to die? Since you wish it,
be it so."

Then turning to the officers —

"Untie me," said she, "read the examination to
me; and what I have to confess, I will confess;
what I have to deny, I will deny."

Beatrice was then lowered and untied; a barber
reduced the dislocation of her arms in the usual
manner ; the examination was read over to her, and,
as she had promised, she made a full confession.

After this confession, at the request of the two
brothers, they were all confined in the same prison ;
but the next day Giacomo and Bernardo were taken
to the cells of Tordinona ; as for the women, they
remained where they were.

The pope was so horrified on reading the par-

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CELEBRATED CRIMES

ticulars of the crime contained in the confessions,
that he ordered the culprits to be dragged by wild
horses through the streets of Rome. But so bar-
barous a sentence shocked the public mind, so much
so tliat many persons of princely ranlc petitioned
the Holy Father on their knees, imploring him to
reconsider his decree, or at least allow the accused
to be heard in their defence.

"Tell me," replied Clement viii, "did they give
their unhappy father time to be heard in his own
defence, when they slew him in so merciless and
degrading a fashion?"

At length, overcome by so many entreaties, he
respited them for three days.

The most eloquent and skilful advocates in Rome
immediately busied themselves in preparing plead-
ings for so emotional a case, and on the day fixed
for hearing appeared before His Holiness.

The first pleader was Nicolo degli Angeli, who
spoke with such force and eloquence that the pope,
alarmed at the effect he was producing among the
audience, passionately interrupted him.

"Are there then to be found," he indignantly
cried, "among the Roman nobility children capable
of killing their parents, and among Roman lawyers
men capable of speaking in their defence? This is
a thing we should never have believed, nor even
for a moment supposed it possible!"

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All were silent upon this terrible rebuke, except
Farinacci, who, nerving- himself with a strong sense
of duty, replied respectfully but firmly —

"Most Holy Father, we are not here to defend
criminals, but to save the innocent; for if we suc-
ceeded in proving that any of the accused acted in
self-defence, I hope that they will be exonerated
in the eyes of your Holiness; for just as the law
provides for cases in which tlie father may legally
kill the child, so this holds good in the converse.
We will therefore continue our pleadings on re-
ceiving leave from your Holiness to do so."

Clement viii then showed himself as patient as
he had previously been hasty, and heard the argu-
ment of Farinacci, who pleaded that Francesco
Cenci had lost all the rights of a father from the
day tliat he violated his daughter. In support of
his contention he wished to put in the memorial
sent by Beatrice to His Holiness, petitioning him,
as her sister had done, to reinove her from the
paternal roof and place her in a convent. Un-
fortunately, this petition had disappeared, and not-
withstanding the minutest search among the papal
documents, no trace of it could be found.

The pope had all the pleadings collected, and <
dismissed the advocates, who then retired, excepting
d'Altieri, who knelt before him, saying —

"Most Holy Father, I humbly ask pardon for ap-
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CELEBRATED CRIMES

pearing before you in this case, but I had no choice
in the matter, being the advocate of the poor."

The pope kindly raised him, saying —

"Go; we are not surprised at your conduct, but
at that of others, who protect and defend criminals."

As the pope took a great interest in this case, he
sat up all night over it, studying it with Cardinal di
San Marcello, a man of much acumen and great ex-
perience in criminal cases. Then, having summed
it up, he sent a draft of his opinion to the advocates,
who read it with great satisfaction, and entertained
hopes that the lives of the convicted persons would
be spared; for the evidence all went to prove that
even if the children had taken their father's life,
all the provocation came from him, and that Bea-
trice in particular had been dragged into the part
she had taken in this crime by the tyranny, wicked-
ness, and brutality of her father. Under the in-
fluence of these considerations the pope mitigated
the severity of their prison life, and even allowed
the prisoners to hope that their lives would not be
forfeited.

Amidst the general feeling of relief afforded to
the public by these favours, another tragical event
changed the papal mind and frustrated all his
humane intentions. This was the atrocious murder
of the Marchese di Santa Croce, a man seventy
years of age, by his son Paolo, who stabbed him

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with a dagger in fifteen or twenty places, because
the father would not promise to make Paolo his
sole heir. The murderer fled and escaped.

Clement viii was horror-stricken at the increas-
ing frequency of this crime of parricide: for the
moment, however, he was unable to take action,
having to go to Monte Cavallo to consecrate a car-
dinal titular bishop in the church of Santa ^laria
degli Angeli ; but the day following, on Friday the
loth of September 1599. at eight o'clock in the
morning, he summoned Monsignor Taverna, gov-
ernor of Rome, and said to him —

"Monsignor. we place in your hands the Cenci
case, that you may carry out the sentence as speedily
as possible."

On his return to his palace, after leaving His
Holiness, the governor convened a meeting of all
the criminal judges in the city, the result of the
council being that all the Cenci were condemned to
death.

The final sentence was immediately k-nown: and
as this unhappy family inspired a constantly in-
creasing interest, many cardinals spent the whole
of the night either on horseback or in their car-
riages, making interest that, at least so far as the
women were a>ncemed. they should be put to death
privately and in the prison, and that a free pardon
should be granted to Bernardo, a poor lad only

401

CELEBRATED CRIMES

fifteen years of age, who, guiltless of any partic-
ipation in the crime, yet found himself involved in
its consequences. The one who interested himself
most in the case was Cardinal Sforza, who never-
theless failed to elicit a single gleam of hope, so
obdurate was His Holiness. At length Farinacci,
working on the papal conscience, succeeded, after
♦ long and urgent entreaties, and only at the last
moment, that the life of Bernardo should be
spared.

From Friday evening the members of the brother-
hood of the Conforteria had gathered at the two
prisons of Corte Savella and Tordinona. The prep-
arations for the closing scene of the tragedy had
occupied workmen on the bridge of Sant' Angelo all
night ; and it was not till five o'clock in the morning
that the registrar entered the cell of Lucrezia and
Beatrice to read their sentences to them.

Both were sleeping, calm in the belief of a re-
prieve. The registrar woke them, and told them
that, judged by man, they must now prepare to ap-
pear before God.

Beatrice was at first thunderstruck: she seemed
paralysed and speechless; then she rose from bed,
and staggering as if intoxicated, recovered her
speech, uttering despairing cries. Lucrezia heard
the tidings with more firmness, and proceeded to
dress herself to go to the chapel, exhorting Beatrice

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THE CENCI

to resignation; but she, raving, wrung her hands
and struck her head against the wall, shrieking,
"To die! to die! Am I to die unprepared, on a
scaffold ! on a gibbet ! My God ! my God !" This
fit led to a terrible paroxysm, after which the ex-
haustion of her body enabled her mind to recover
its balance, and from that moment she became an
angel of humility and an example of resignation.

Her first request was for a notary to make her
will. This was immediately complied with, and on
his arrival she dictated its provisions with much
calmness and precision. Its last clause desired her
interment in the church of San Pietro in Montorio,
for which she always had a strong attachment, as
it commanded a view of her father's palace. She
bequeathed five hundred crowns to the nuns of the
order of the Stigmata, and ordered that her dowry,
amounting to fifteen thousand crowns, should be
distributed in marriage portions to fifty poor girls.
She selected the foot of the high altar as tlie place
where she wished to be buried, over whicli hung the
beautiful picture of the Transfiguration, so often
admired by her during her life.

Following her example, Lucrezia in her turn
disposed of her property: she desired to be buried
in the church of San Giorgio di Velobre, and left
thirty-two thousand crowns to charities, with other
pious legacies. Having settled their earthly affairs,

403

CELEBRATED CRIMES

they joined in prayer, reciting psalms, litanies, and
prayers for the dying.

At eight o'clock they confessed, heard mass, and
received the sacraments; after which Beatrice, ob-
serving to her stepmother that the rich dresses they
wore were out of place on a scaffold, ordered two
to be made in nun's fashion — that is to say, gath-
ered at the neck, with long wide sleeves. That
for Lucrezia was made of black cotton stuff, Bea-
trice's of taffetas. In addition she had a small
black turban made to place on her head. These
dresses, with cords for girdles, were brought them ;
they were placed on a chair, while the women con-
tinued to pray.

The time appointed being near at hand, they were
informed that their last moment was approaching.
Then Beatrice, who was still on her knees, rose
with a trancjuil and almost joyful countenance.
"Mother," said she, "the moment of our suffering
is impending; I think we had better dress in these
clothes, and help one another at our toilet for the
last time." They then put on the dresses provided,
girt themselves with the cords; Beatrice placed her
turban on her head, and they awaited the last sum-
mons.

In the meantime, Giacomo and Bernardo, whose
sentences had been read to them, awaited also the
moment of their death. About ten o'clock the mem-

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THE CENCI

bers of the Confraternity of Mercy, a Florentine
order, arrived at the prison of Tordinona, and
halted on the threshold with the crucifix, awaiting
the appearance of the unhappy youths. Here a
serious accident had nearly happened. As many
persons were at the prison windows to see the pris-
oners come out, someone accidentally threw down
a large flower-pot full of earth, which fell into the
street and narrowly missed one of the Confrater-
nity who was amongst the torch-bearers just before
the crucifix. It passed so close to the torch as to
extinguish the flame in its descent.

At this moment the gates opened, and Giacomo
appeared first on the threshold. He fell on his
knees, adoring the holy crucifix with great devotion.
He was completely covered with a large mourning
cloak, under which his bare breast was prepared to
be torn by the red-hot pincers of the executioner,
which were lying ready in a chafing-dish fixed to
the cart. Having ascended the vehicle, in which
the executioner placed him so as more readily to
perform this office, Bernardo came out, and was
thus addressed on his appearance by the fiscal of
Rome : —

"Signor Bernardo Cenci, in the name of our
blessed Redeemer, our Holy Father the Pope spares
your life; with the sole condition that you accom-
pany your relatives to the scaffold and to their

405

CELEBRATED CRIMES

death, and never forget to pray for those with
whom you were condemned to die."

At this unexpected intelligence, a loud murmur
of joy spread among the crowd, and the members
of the Confraternity immediately untied the small
mask which covered the youth's eyes; for, owing
to his tender age, it had been thought proper to con-
ceal the scaffold from his sight.

Then the executioner, having disposed of Gia-
como, came down from the cart to take Bernardo;
whose pardon being formally communicated to him,
he took off his handcuffs, and placed him alongside
his brother, covering him up with a magnificent
cloak embroidered with gold, for the neck and
shoulders of the poor lad had been already bared,
as a preliminary to his decapitation. People were
surprised to see such a rich cloak in the possession
of the executioner, but were told that it was the
one given by Beatrice to Marzio to pledge him to
the murder of her father, which fell to the exe-
cutioner as a perquisite after the execution of the
assassin. The sight of the great assemblage of
people produced such an effect upon the boy that he
fainted.

The procession then proceeded to the prison of
Corte Savella, marching to the sound of funeral
chants. At its gates the sacred crucifix halted for
the women to join: they soon appeared, fell on

406

THE CENCI

their knees, and worshipped the holy symbol as the
others had done. The march to the scaffold was
then resumed.

The two female prisoners followed the last row of
penitents in single file, veiled to the waist, with the
distinction that Lucrezia, as a widow, wore a black
veil and high-heeled slippers of the same hue, with
bows of ribbon, as was the fashion ; whilst Beatrice,
as a young unmarried girl, wore a silk flat cap to
match her corsage, with a plush hood, which fell
over her shoulders and covered her violet frock;
white slippers with high heels, ornamented with
gold rosettes and cherry-coloured fringe. The
arms of both were untrammelled, except for a thin
slack cord which left their hands free to carr}^ a
crucifix and a handkerchief.

During the night a lofty scaffold had been
erected on the bridge of Sant' Angelo, and the plank
and block were placed thereon. Above tlie block
was hung, from a large cross beam, a ponderous
axe, which, guided by two grooves, fell with its
whole weight at the touch of a spring.

In this formation the procession wended its way
towards the bridge of Sant' Angelo. Lucrezia, the
more broken down of the two, wept bitterly; but
Beatrice was firm and unmoved. On arriving at
the open space before the bridge, the women were
led into a chapel, where they were shortly joined

407

CELEBRATED CRIMES

by Giacomo and Bernardo; they remained together
for a few moments, when the brothers were led
away to the scaffold, although one was to be exe-
cuted last, and the other was pardoned. But when
they had mounted the platform, Bernardo fainted
a second time ; and as the executioner was approach-
ing to his assistance, some of the crowd, supposing
that his object was to decapitate him, cried loudly,
"He is pardoned !" The executioner reassured them
by seating Bernardo near the block, Giacomo kneel-
ing on the other side.

Then the executioner descended, entered the
chapel, and reappeared leading Lucrezia, who was
the first to suffer. At the foot of the scaffold he
tied her hands behind her back, tore open the top
of her corsage so as to uncover her shoulders, gave
her the crucifix to kiss, and led her to the step
ladder, which she ascended with great difficulty, on
account of her extreme stoutness; then, on her
reaching the platform, he removed the veil which
covered her head. On this exposure of her features
to the immense crowd, Lucrezia shuddered from
head to foot ; then, her eyes full of tears, she cried
with a loud voice —

"O my God, have mercy upon me; and do you,
brethren, pray for my soul!"

Having uttered these words, not knowing what
was required of her, she turned to Alessandro, the

408

THE CENCI

chief executioner, and asked what she was to do;
he told her to bestride the plank and lie prone upon
it; which she did with great trouble and timidity;
but as she was unable, on account of the fullness
of her bust, to lay her neck upon the block, this had
to be raised by placing a billet of wood underneath
it; all this time the poor woman, suffering even
more from shame than from fear, was kept in sus-
pense ; at length, when she was properly adjusted,
the executioner touched the spring, the knife fell,
and the decapitated head, falling on the platfonu
of the scaffold, bounded two or three times in the
air, to the general horror; the executioner then
seized it, showed it to the multitude, and wrapping
it in black taffetas, placed it with the body on a
bier at the foot of the scaffold.

Whilst arrangements were being made for the
decapitation of Beatrice, several stands, full of spec-
tators, broke down ; some people were killed by this
accident, and still more lamed and injured.

The machine being now rearranged and washed,
the executioner returned to the chapel to take
charge of Beatrice, who, on seeing the sacred cruci-
fix, said some prayers for her soul, and on her hands
being tied, cried out, "God grant that you be binding
this body unto corruption, and loosing this soul unto
life eternal !" She then arose, proceeded to the plat-
form, where she devoutly kissed the stigmata ; then,

409

CELEBRATED CRIMES

leaving her slippers at the foot of the scaffold, she
nimbly ascended the ladder, and instructed before-
hand, promptly lay down on the plank, without ex-
posing her naked shoulders. But her precautions
to shorten the bitterness of death were of no avail,
for the pope, knowing her impetuous disposition,
and fearing lest she might be led into the commis-
sion of some sin between absolution and death, had
given orders that the moment Beatrice was ex-
tended on the scaffold a signal gun should be fired
from the castle of Sant' Angelo; which was done,
to the great astonishment of everybody, including
Beatrice herself, who, not expecting this explosion,
raised herself almost upright; the pope meanwhile,
who was praying at Monte Cavallo, gave her abso-
lution in articulo mortis. About five minutes thus
passed, during which the sufferer waited with her
head replaced on the block ; at length, when the exe-
cutioner judged that the absolution had been given,
he released the spring, and the axe fell.

A gruesome sight was then afforded : whilst the
head bounced away on one side of the block, on the
other the body rose erect, as if about to step back-
wards ; the executioner exhibited the head, and dis-
posed of it and the body as before. He wished to
place Beatrice's body with that of her stepmother,
but the brotherhood of Mercy took it out of his
hands, and as one of them was attempting to lay

410

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it on the bier, it slipped from him and fell from the
scaffold to the ground below; the dress being par-
tially torn from the body, which was so besmeared
with dust and blood that much time was occupied
in washing it. Poor Bernardo was so overcome by
this horrible scene that he swooned away for the
third time, and it was necessary tO' revive him
with stimulants to witness the fate of his elder
brother.

The turn of Giacomo at length arrived : he had
witnessed the death of his stepmother and his sister,
and his clothes were covered with their blood; the
executioner approached him and tore off his cloak,
exposing his bare breast covered with the wounds
caused by the grip of red-hot pincers ; in this state,
and half-naked, he rose to his feet, and turning to
his brother, said —

"Bernardo, if in my examination I have com-
promised and accused you, I have done so falsely,
and although I have already disavowed this declara-
tion, I repeat, at the moment of appearing before
God, that you are innocent, and that it is a cruel
abuse of justice to compel you to witness this
frightful spectacle."

The executioner then made him kneel down.
bound his legs to one of the beams erected on the
scaffold, and having bandaged his eyes, shattered
his head with a blow of his mallet ; then, in the sight

411

CELEBRATED CRIMES

of all, he hacked his body into four quarters. The
official party then left, taking with them Bernardo,
who, being in a state of high fever, was bled and
put to bed.

The corpses of the two ladies were laid out each
on its bier under the statue of St. Paul, at the foot
of the bridge, with four torches of white wax, which
burned till four o'clock in the afternoon ; then, along
with the remains of Giacomo, they were taken to
the church of San Giovanni Decollato; finally, about
nine in the evening, the body of Beatrice, covered
with flowers, and attired in the dress worn at her
execution, was carried to the church of San Pietro
in Montorio, with fifty lighted torches, and fol-
lowed by the brethren of the order of the Stigmata
and all the Franciscan monks in Rome ; there, agree-
ably to her wish, it was buried at the foot of the
high altar.

The same evening Signora Lucrezia was interred,
as she had desired to be, in the church of San Gior-
gio di Velobre.

All Rome may be said to have been present
at this tragedy, carriages, horses, foot people,
and cars crowding as it were upon one another.
The day was unfortunately so hot, and the sun so
scorching, that many persons fainted, others re-
turned home stricken with fever, and some
even died during the night, owing to sunstroke

412

THE CENCI

from exposure during the three Iiours occupied by
the execution.

The Tuesday following-, the I4t]i of September,
being the Feast of the Holy Cross, the brotherhood
of San Marcello, by special licence of the pope, set
at liberty the unhappy Bernardo Cenci, with the
condition of paying within the year two thousand
five hundred Roman crowns to the brotherhood of
the most Holv Trinity of Pope Sixtus, as may be
found to-day recorded in their archives.

Having now seen the tomb, if you desire to form
a more vivid impression of the principal actors in
this tragedy than can be derived from a narrative,
pay a visit to the Barberini Gallery, where you will
see, with five other masterpieces by Guido. the por-
trait of Beatrice, taken, some say the night before
her execution, others during her progress to the
scaffold; it is the head of a lovely girl, wearing a
headdress composed of a turban with a lappet. The
hair is of a rich fair chestnut hue ; the dark eyes are
moistened with recent tears ; a perfectly formed nose
surmounts an infantile mouth; unfortunately, the
loss of tone in the picture since it was painted has
destroyed the original fair complexion. The age
of the subject may be twenty, or perhaps twenty-
two years.

413

CELEBRATED CRIMES

Near this portrait is that of Lucrezia Petroni :
the small head indicates a person below the middle
height ; the attributes are those of a Roman matron
in her pride ; her high complexion, graceful contour,
straight nose, black eyebrows, and expression at the
same time imperious and voluptuous indicate this
character to the life; a smile still seems to linger
on the charming dimpled cheeks and perfect mouth
mentioned by the chronicler, and her face is ex-
quisitely framed by luxuriant curls falling from
her forehead in graceful profusion.

As for Giacomo and Bernardo, as no portraits
of them are in existence, we are obliged to gather
an idea of their appearance from the manuscript
which has enabled us to compile this sanguinaiy his-
tory; they are thus described by the eye-witness of
the closing scene : —

Giacomo was short, well-made and strong, with
black hair and beard; he appeared to be about
twenty-six years of age.

Poor Bernardo was the image of his sister, so
nearly resembling her, that when he mounted the
scaffold his long hair and girlish face led people to
suppose him to be Beatrice herself : he might be
fourteen or fifteen years of age.

The peace of God be with them!

414

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