John Bond

“ More than four centuries have passed since Alexander VI, the second of the Borgia Popes, unwittingly drank of the poison brewed by his bastard son and closed his career of unparalleled infamy. In any other country or city four centuries sweep away sacred landmarks and alter even the face of the earth. It is not so in Rome. There you may delve into any age from the days of Romulus to the reign of the last pope or king and with a little patience you can dig out your chapter of history and in fancy re-animate the scenes of long ago. ”

“ All the underground prisons with secret traps leading to the Tiber were constructed by Alexander. During his reign the frightful holes were always filled with his victims. It is worthy of note that none of his successors ever dispensed with these hideous torture chambers, but kept on using them even unto the day of Rome's final liberation from the papal yoke. Everywhere the Borgia coat-of-arms is in evidence. ”

“ Every emperor has left some vestige of his power, and so has every pope. The yesterdays of Rome may be taken almost literally.
Numerous are the souvenirs of the Borgias. Of some of them I have spoken in other chapters, but all of them are interesting and valuable to the historian. Next to the Borgia apartments in the Vatican, mentioned elsewhere at some length, the one building richest in Borgia memorials is the famous Castel Sant' Angelo. Alexander, though he had not even a conscience in embryo, never ceased to dread the Roman populace. ”