John Bond

“ The pope was a severe and expert censor in the matter of feminine clothes and gave a good deal of attention to the wardrobe of the young dancing girls who, according to one eye-witness, swarmed all about the "sacred palaces." Nothing annoyed His Holiness more than to see long skirts on his favorite dancers. ”

“ He addressed a note of reproach and admonition to the cardinal, describing as particularly reprehensible the party at Siena, into the details of which he entered quite freely. The young cardinal's answer was little better than a polite sneer. It amounted to this: Even cardinals must sow their wild oats, when they are young, wealthy and full of virility. Borgia kept on with his dissolute life, provoking one public scandal after another and drew other rebukes from the pope, which he persistently ignored. ”

“ In the final stages of the orgy the most bestial of human instincts were running riot. Burckard speaks of a "final assault." While the men and women were half mad in their frenzied movements prizes were awarded by the pope to those performers who had distinguished themselves by the audacity of their excesses.
The disgusting "Dance of the Chestnuts" took place on the eve of one of the solemn feasts of the Roman Church, the Day of All Saints. It was well toward noon on November 1, 1501, when the debauch ended. ”